Chapter 28
twenty-eight
“B laine. You scared me.” Rosalyn pressed her hand over her racing heart as she tugged her gear bag up on her shoulder. Shadows crisscrossed the tent, his form still partially obscured in darkness as he approached. “What are you doing?”
Relief that it wasn’t someone else—some unknown gangster—was so potent she almost didn’t care why he was there.
Almost.
Blaine came closer, into the glow of the fairy lights, his face flushed, collar unbuttoned. “We’ve got to go.”
Oh man. He’d lost it. Fear flickered, and then she remembered—he was a bully. She lifted her chin. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Then she pushed past him, out of the tent, into the festival grounds. The balmy night air caressed her sweaty neck, and she drew a steadying breath. The parking lot was to her right, and she strode toward it, heart thrumming. Don’t follow me, don’t follow ? —
His hand caught her wrist. “Wrong way, doll.”
“ Don’t call me that.” She whirled around, tugged free. “Let me go.”
“That’s a little bossy.” His eyes flashed. “Seeing how you have zero cards to play here.”
“Have you lost your mind?” She backstepped away from him, noting the whites of his eyes, the taut set of his shoulders, his mussed hair. This wasn’t the buttoned-up, professional Blaine she knew.
This was a desperate man.
“No, Rosalyn, you’re the crazy one if you don’t come with me.” He took her elbow, started hustling her toward the opposite end of the parking lot. “Do you have any idea who we’re dealing with?”
She started to resist his propelling her forward, then paused. Maybe if she went along with it, she could catch him off guard, get away long enough to run to her car. Her phone was zipped in her bag, nowhere near reach to send a subtle text.
She steeled her voice, hid her nerves. “You’re the one who took out the loan. Why are you worried about it now? I have the money—or most of it. Pay it off and be done with this. Then we can both stop looking over our shoulder.”
“You don’t get it.” His grip tightened on the sensitive skin about her elbow and she flinched. “It’s not just your loan…and you don’t have enough to pay it off, anyway.”
“What do you mean? I saw my accounts?—”
“You think you got it all figured out, don’t you?” Blaine shook her arm, made a tsk . “Don’t worry, I found a loophole—as I’d planned.”
She stopped hard, throwing him off balance. “ What are you talking about?”
He let go of her, squared off. Parking lot shadows sent sharp angles across his face. A cloud drifted in front of the moon, casting an eerie glow through the haze. “You might be a star, Rosalyn, but you’re so gullible. Do you really think marrying me was the only way out of Saudi Arabia?”
Her breath hitched. Surely he didn’t?—
“I knew you’d eventually wise up to your money being moved around, so I made a backup plan while I had the chance. Foreign country, you having that silly fit. All the puzzle pieces came together like magic.” He smirked. “Being Mr. Rosalyn Dupree now gives me all kinds of perks.”
It had all been a scam…Her stomach clenched. She wanted to throw up. “You lied to me.”
“Of course I lied, Rosalyn.” Blaine scoffed. He pulled his key fob from his pocket, and headlights from a silver Porsche flashed a few yards away. “Who doesn’t lie when they owe the Mafia an insane amount of gambling debt? You’re more naive than I thought.”
“You used my money—used me —as a launch pad for gambling?”
He tilted his head, shrugged. “If that’s what you want to call it.”
She wanted to punch him in the face.
He shifted his weight, eyes darting around the deserted lot. “I came here after you blocked me to try to convince you to see reason, partner up with me to get out of this mess. Which you didn’t.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You really thought a bouquet a flowers was going to make me okay with you stealing my money? Lying to me? Tricking me?” How had she ever trusted this person with her career? Her entire life? She’d been such a fool.
“You were way too lucrative of all my clients to let it go. So I did what I had to do.” He shoved his hand through his hair. “For the record, I never meant to get in this deep.”
Her heart stammered. So they were both in danger—and it sounded like he’d already spent more of her money. “You’re not going to get away with this. I’ll get a lawyer and?—”
“You better hope I do get away with it.” Blaine snorted. “You think they won’t use you to get to me? What you owe is chump change compared to my debt. And they’ll get it all, one way or another. We’ve got to work together to fix this.”
“I will never work with you again.”
“Come with me. It’s safer if we’re together. Then they can’t use you as collateral.”
“You expect me to trust you to keep me safe? When you put us in this mess?” She backstepped away. “You’re insane.”
His eyes darkened. “Rosalyn, get in the car. We’ll go somewhere safe, make a plan. We need to book you some bigger gigs now that your knee is?—”
“No.” She was done with this. She looked him in the eyes, held her ground. “I’m going home, Blaine. I suggest you do the same.”
On shaky legs, she turned toward her car.
She’d made it approximately six steps before arms wrapped around her from behind, pinning her own arms to her sides. Her bag fell to the ground.
“I said get in the car, Rosalyn!” Blaine lifted her off the sidewalk, swinging her toward his vehicle.
Her legs windmilled in the air and she shrieked. “Let me go!”
“This is the only way.” His arms were a vice around her middle. Adrenaline and panic seemed to be giving him unnatural strength.
But not enough. The second her feet touched the ground again, she kicked back and found traction in his shin.
He cursed and grappled with her as she flailed for freedom. She turned and slapped him and he grabbed her forearms in rough fists, holding tight. “As always, you’re making things way more complicated than they need to be.” He growled, his cheek flushed red from the contact.
“ Let go !” She briefly considered head butting him at this close range, but didn’t want to risk the injury to herself. She had to stay sharp.
“Just get in the car.” Blaine panted, his eyes feral. He shoved her toward the Porsche.
Rosalyn swallowed, gauging her next move. He’d already lied and stolen from her—now physical violence. What was next?
Her mouth went thick and dry. God, help me. The prayer tumbled from her anxious mind.
Surrender .
Now ? Rosalyn might be new to praying regularly, but that idea seemed like horrible timing.
She struggled against Blaine’s iron grip, but her fight only seemed to make him stronger. He was half-dragging, half-carrying her now. Her bad knee throbbed in protest. A few more steps and she’d be tossed inside the car, where escape would be much less likely.
Surrender .
Then the meaning hit her. She stopped fighting and went limp in Blaine’s arms. Her dead weight caught him off guard, and he faltered in his forward progress. “What are you doing? Stop!”
Fighting her instincts to struggle, she hung as heavy as she could, offering no resistance for him to use as leverage. He couldn’t get a grip on her, and her arms slid out of his sweaty grasp like wet noodles.
She crumbled to the warm pavement.
“Hey!” The word roared from behind, followed by the pounding of footsteps.
Rosalyn looked up in time to see Cade launch himself over the back end of the Porsche.
And slam his fist straight into Blaine’s jaw.
* * *
Where was Simon LeMoine when you needed him?
Cade shifted on the edge of the uncomfortable ER bed, the smell of antiseptic and sweat permeating the small space. His nose throbbed, along with his shoulder from where he and Blaine had ended up tousling on the ground as the cops arrived.
But he had a feeling he’d be riding the adrenaline wave of seeing Rosalyn taken against her will for hours to come.
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes against the harsh fluorescent lights not helping the pounding in his head. Was Rosalyn still in the waiting room? Sheriff Rubart was taking her statement there, or at least, had been when Cade was ushered through the swinging ER doors a half hour ago, blood dripping all over his favorite shirt and the hospital floor.
Blaine had a surprisingly solid head-butt.
The pale blue curtain surrounding his bed whooshed open and a middle-aged, dark-haired nurse in navy scrubs entered. “Here’s your meds and your cold pack, honey. We’re waiting on the X-ray results.”
He eagerly took the ice pack she handed over, pressed it against his sore face. “Thank you.”
She handed him a cup of water and some pain medicine, which he eagerly threw back.
Groaning sounded from the other side of the curtain, along with the clinking of handcuffs against a bedrail. Cade sat up a little straighter.
Maybe he didn’t need Simon after all.
The nurse raised her eyebrow at him, pursed her lips knowingly as if hiding a smile. “Let me know if you need anything else. The doctor will come back with the results.” She pulled the curtain shut as she left.
Cade swung his dangling feet against the side of the bed. He didn’t want to be stuck here. He wanted to find Rosalyn, finish his apology. Maybe she wouldn’t trust him again, after he’d treated her so poorly the other night—and she definitely had no reason to stay in Magnolia Bay—but he had to at least make sure she knew how he felt before she left.
The curtain whooshed back open.
He looked up. “That was fast—” Inhaled. Not the doctor.
Rosalyn.
“Hey.” He cleared his throat, his carefully practiced, profound apology fleeing his memory. “I—I wanted?—”
She came straight at him, a blur of citrus and hair spray and desperate warmth, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him.
Ow .
The best kind of pain.
He dropped the ice pack and cradled her head with the back of his hand—his knuckles hurt too, but man, he’d do it all again for her—and kissed her back, all salty tears and gratitude and longing. They were nearly the same height, him sitting on the high bed and her standing wedged between his legs, and she snuggled in closer, breaking the kiss to briefly rest her forehead against his.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
He pulled back to look at her, his fingers trailing down the soft arms of the hoodie she’d thrown on sometime over the past half hour. Her elaborate performance hairstyle was mussed, blonde hairs fraying free from her tousled, glittered braids. Dark makeup was smeared under her eyes, slightly bloodshot.
She’d never looked more beautiful.
Had she forgiven him? “A thank-you note would’ve been acceptable, but I’m not complaining.” He grinned, and she finally did too, her shoulders sagging as if a burden had lifted.
“Seriously.” Her smile faded. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up.”
“I have no doubt you’d have handled it. But I’m glad you didn’t have to.” He reached out, tucked back a stiff piece of hair-sprayed hair behind her ear. “What did Sheriff Rubart say?”
“That his wife was going to monogram Blaine a pillow for his extended stay in jail.” She snorted. “He had some other choice words, but those are the most repeatable.”
Good.
“There’s a lot to figure out legally. Sheriff is going to make some calls, try to get ahead of this Mafia threat.” She jerked her head toward the curtained area to their right, where Blaine still groaned. “Thanks to your right hook, Blaine isn’t currently able to get us the information he needs.”
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.”
“How did you know I was in trouble?” Rosalyn moved to sit beside him, and he scooted over to give her room. “You showed up out of nowhere.”
Cade relayed what he’d realized at his parents’ house, with the emails, the new log-in. “I knew there had to be another motivation driving him. It finally clicked. I prayed and felt the urge to go back to the last place you were. I didn’t know you’d be there, but God did.”
Rosalyn picked at the corner of the thin sheet beneath them. “I prayed a lot tonight too.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” He pulled in a breath, needing to know for sure. “Listen, I’m sorry about the other night. I assumed the worst, was a complete jerk.”
“I said awful things too.” She met his gaze, eyes watery with unshed tears. “I should’ve listened to you about Blaine—you tried to warn me.”
Cade shook his head. “You were conned—by someone you should have been able to trust. It’s not your fault.”
“Some of it is though. My quest for perfection has made me—ironically—take shortcuts. Seek approval and fame in lieu of wisdom.” She winced. “I’ve been prideful. I think that’s why I couldn’t admit you might be right about Blaine. I was afraid of what that meant about me…” She swallowed. “That I wasn’t perfect.”
“Being perfect—like being beautiful—is subjective anyway.” Cade met her gaze, held it. Took a chance. “I personally kind of think you’re both.”
Her cheeks flushed. “ There’s that Landry charm.” She bumped his shoulder this time. “What a night, huh?”
“Yeah, of the two of us, I didn’t think I’d be the one needing the hospital this evening.”
She shook her head. “We’re quite the team.”
“Hey, I’ll gladly take a broken nose if it means we’re on the same team this time.”
Rosalyn picked up the abandoned ice pack from the bed, held it gingerly against his face. The cold seeped into his aches, the warmth in her eyes filling the rest of the cracks. “This seems familiar.” She smiled. “Though I have to say an ice pack seems more effective than a cold beer mug.”
“Agreed.” He met her gaze, eyes dropping to her lips and then back to her eyes. “So you forgive me?”
“Yes. I would have, even if you hadn’t taken down a would-be kidnapper.” She adjusted the cold pack against his cheek. “Though that certainly helps when it comes to grand gestures.” She hesitated. “You know I still have to go back though, right?”
There it was. The pin in the balloon. He swallowed. “I wondered.”
“All this legal mess, upcoming scheduled shows…there’s a lot I need to wrap up before I can start over.” Rosalyn’s gaze softened. “Before I can think about coming home.”
He reached up, covered her hand that was holding the pack with his own. “ Are you going to come back to Magnolia Bay?”
Her eyes turned flirty. “Would it matter?”
He searched her gaze, feeling like he could take down a dozen monsters for her. Feeling like he could live in their banter and memories and teamwork for the rest of his life. “It might.”
“Then I might.”
Her lips curved into a smile before she pressed them back against his.