Chapter 22
She’d stumbled through the past twenty-four hours in the funk to beat all funks. Missing Clay. Feeling terrible when she recalled the hurt in his eyes before she’d walked out. Suffering the worst kind of regret that she wasn’t the woman for him, wasn’t able to be what he wanted.
Her shift was almost over…the last shift she was scheduled to work. Macey and Derek would be back in town tomorrow. Then Andie would be free.
She’d gone into the back room to open a box of napkins when her cell phone rang in her purse.
Her first mistake was answering it, but if she was honest, some part of her had hoped it was Clay.
He had no reason to call her, but that’s what went through her head.
That’s what made her stop what she was doing and dig out her phone.
“Hello?”
“Andie.” The rough male voice was familiar.
A chill went through her even though it’d topped one hundred degrees outside today. She made a beeline for the door, away from Sean, who was at the grill, away from the crowd, out into the muggy evening.
“Hello? I know you’re there, angel.”
Bile burned her throat at the pet name he’d always called her.
“What do you want, Trevor?” she choked out, walking blindly away from the bar and everything that might give her comfort. This was her hell and she’d handle it by herself.
“After all this time, that’s the greeting I get?”
She could hear a smile in his voice. She picked up a rock and nailed the side of the hotel’s dumpster with it. Her hand shook—actually, her whole body shook.
“Get to your point or I’m hanging up.”
“I need to see you.”
Andie could swear her heart stopped. She fell to her knees in the sand.
“Andie? I didn’t scare you off, did I?”
She couldn’t let him know how much he scared her. “No.”
“We have unfinished business.” He paused and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Please.”
“We don’t have any business, Trevor. Ancient history.”
That wasn’t altogether true though. She had to face up to him one last time. Had to show herself she could do it. If she didn’t, he’d keep bothering her. She’d have to keep eluding him.
“I won’t hurt you, Andie. We can meet in public.”
She bent forward over her knees, resting her head on the ground.
“You still there?”
“I’m here,” she said, her voice hoarse. “When and where?”
“Tomorrow. Noon. There’s an outdoor bar at the Casa Del Mar.”
“Fine.” She ended the call and sat up, staring off at the foamy white outline of the waves in the moonlight. Fighting the nausea by taking in long, cleansing breaths.
By the time she’d stopped shaking and thought she could hide the tempest inside her, it was after ten and her shift was over. She made her way back to the Shack to tell Sean and Kevin good-bye. After she met with Trevor tomorrow, she was leaving.
For the first time in her life, she didn’t yet have at least a vague idea of where she’d be going.
Twelve hours later, Andie hadn’t been home yet. She hadn’t slept or eaten. Couldn’t have done either if she’d tried.
What she had done was walk. Miles. Down the beach all the way to the jetty. Around to the bay side. Up past the bridge to the mainland. All the way north on the island to Turtle Town.
One of the turtle caretakers had pulled up at seven a.m. and found Andie at the fence, peering in at the viewing windows of the biggest outdoor turtle tanks.
The workers all knew Andie by name from when her bike was in the shop. Yolanda had let her come in this morning and help with the chores. Feeding the turtles was calming. Watching them swim around their tanks, soothing.
But after helping for two and a half hours, she figured she better leave before anyone started wondering why she was hanging out for so long.
With every step she took away from Turtle Town, her fear came back in nauseating Technicolor.
She absolutely had to face Trevor. But she didn’t have to face him alone. Did she?
It wasn’t that she was afraid he would hurt her physically. As he’d said, they were meeting in public, and Andie knew enough self-defense now that he would never overpower her like he had in the past. That and she’d have her gun with her. Loaded.
While she was confident of her physical capabilities though, she was terrified he would cut through her mental ones.
Why had she ever stayed with him after the first time he’d knocked her around?
She’d loved him once. Would seeing him again negate all the progress she’d made toward getting her confidence and her self-esteem back?
She’d concluded at some point in the night that she couldn’t see him alone. Clay was the only one besides Jonas who knew anything about Trevor. Of course, he was the last person she wanted to ask, and he’d probably tell her exactly where she could go.
When she returned to the duplex, she packed her bags and got everything ready to go. The last thing she did was load her gun and put it into the small backpack she used instead of a purse. Then she went upstairs, empty-handed.
She knocked on the door, heart pounding.
No one answered and her nerve slipped a little.
She knocked again. Two times. A third. Tried the doorknob but it was locked.
Now what? She didn’t have a plan B yet.
She went down both sets of stairs toward her bike, not sure where she was heading or where to look for Clay but not ready to concede yet that he wouldn’t accompany her. Her shoulders sagged.
As she went to the garage for her Harley, noting the truck parked there and wondering where Clay and Payton could’ve gone on foot, she heard a noise in the distance.
Another Harley coming down the main road.
Turning onto Seagull. Toward her. She turned to see what it was that approached—something older than hers but bigger, she could tell by the sound.
A bright blue Fat Boy came around the corner, carrying two people. It looked maybe ten years old but was in good condition. The sound of the engine was like a lullaby.
Belatedly, she took note of the riders. A man and a girl, both wearing helmets. Her hope soared as she realized who it was.
Clay pulled up on the driveway and stopped close to the garage, on the opposite side from her.
“Miss Andie!” Payton squealed. “Look at us!” She yelled it over the sound of the engine before Clay turned it off.
“Hey, Pay.” She let her eyes roam over the motorcycle. “You got a bike,” she said stupidly, now focusing more on the people than the machine.
Clay nodded, eyebrows raised, clearly wondering what she wanted.
“I didn’t even know you could ride.”
“Part of my dark and troubled past,” he said.
Payton squirmed to get down and Andie helped her off. The little girl took her helmet off and ran to the garage to put it on a shelf.
“Do you have a minute?” she asked, scuffing her feet on the driveway.
He took several seconds to answer. “I suppose I do. What do you need?”
His tone toward her was different now. Less personal. Colder. Even though she’d been the one to walk away, it made her sad.
“Do you want to go upstairs?” She looked down the street, feeling exposed out here.
Clay shrugged. “Payton’s getting the sidewalk chalk.
Down here’s fine.” He climbed off the bike and ambled to the back of the truck.
He released the tailgate and sat on it. Andie wouldn’t let herself watch the way he moved or remember how that body felt.
She’d given that up, and thinking about it now would crush her at the soul level.
Clay stole a careful look at Andie while she studied the ground.
She looked like hell. Black jeans, the usual boots, black body-hugging T-shirt, and the same gray hoodie she’d been wearing the other night tied around her waist. Her hair looked stringy and tangled.
Shadows under her eyes told him she’d slept about like he had last night and, hell, the night before too.
She could roll through the dirt and get in a fist fight and he’d still want nothing more than to pull her to him and never let her go.
Dammit.
“What do you want, Andie?”
She looked up at him, startled.
“Is something wrong?”
She hesitated, then leaned against the tailgate. “You know the ex I told you about?”
He made sure Payton was far enough she wouldn’t overhear this conversation. “The bastard who hurt you?”
“That’s the one.” Andie folded her arms across her chest. “He’s on the island. I’m supposed to meet him today.”
“What the hell for?” He clenched his hands into fists.
“No idea. But I need to do it. For…closure, or something.”
Nothing good could come of that, but he didn’t air his opinion. It was no longer his right. Hadn’t ever been, come to think of it.
“So I decided to do it, but I don’t want to go alone.” She rushed through the last words so that he could barely make out what she said.
“If you’re looking for my opinion, you should take a SWAT team and have them take him out. Do the world a favor.”
The corner of her lips that he could see from this angle curved upward slightly.
“No one else knows about him here.”
“You haven’t told Macey and Selena?”
She shook her head. “It’s embarrassing.”
He didn’t want to care about her, didn’t want to worry about her, but he did and he would. He couldn’t just shut that off. “I’ll go with you.”
She looked at him. “You will?”
“Isn’t that why you’re here?”
Andie nodded. “I didn’t think you’d say yes.”
He fought not to touch her, to comfort her, to soothe away her fear. Losing the battle, he stood and turned her toward him. “You may frustrate me until I want to shake you, Andie, but I meant what I said. I love you. I’m not about to let anyone hurt you in any way.”
When she finally looked up at him, tears filled her eyes. “Thank you.”
He must be a glutton for punishment, because he pulled her to him and held on.