AllFreeNovel
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It was painful the first time. This time might cause damage to my heart. “We’ve definitely gotten ourselves into a predicament.”
“Who knew how much this Ball Boy would like the Island Girl?” I didn’t. For a few quiet moments, I revel in our embrace, knowing the end is near, but there’s nothing that can change it.
He drops his hands, each gripping a side of my hips. I can’t control the heat between my legs when his smile quirks to life. It’s like my arousal is connected to a damn string that flicks on when his lips curl up.
“Since you told me to go fuck myself, I think you owe me a dance.” He’s getting better at figuring out what I said in French. His fingers add pressure. “The one where these move really fast.”
I’ve missed his playful tone the last couple days and I need it more than ever now. But I don’t feel like dancing.
I dig my face into his shirt, letting his smell cocoon me. The tension in my shoulders release. “Whiskey, it’ll be okay,” he murmurs empty words because he has no idea. “Feel like making some cookies?”
I draw my head back. “You’re kidding, right?” Not the best time to request cookies.
“It’ll help you relax. Max has a stocked kitchen, and he said it was cool.”
“I don’t want to inconvenience him any more than I already have.” He waves me off before grabbing my hand, leading me out the door. Truth is, it will help. I haven’t been in the kitchen for a couple weeks and I miss it. It’s the one place I can tune out my problems and do what I do best.
But first, we need to talk. I stop walking, yanking on his arm, and he glances over his shoulder at me. “Wait, I have to tell you something,” I swallow the panic rising inside my chest. If he needs a reason to feel better about sending me home, I’m about to give it to him. “Remember when I told you about the foreigners I had affairs with?” He nods sharply. “Well, I looked one up. Because he’s a lawyer and I thought maybe he could help me.”
“I told you to trust Max.” He looks at the phone sitting on the bed. “Did you contact him?”
I shake my head. “No. He’s dead.” Panic courses through me. “I looked for the other two men out of curiosity. They’re dead too.” His eyes widen. “What if this has something to do with them? What if I’m cursed? Or you’re in danger because of me.”
He looks at me with an incredulous stare. “Whiskey, you’re overthinking things. I’m sure their deaths were a coincidence.”
God, I hope so.
I pause, hands covered in cookie dough, at the trill of a phone. Max answers from the living room and joins us in the kitchen. Ryker sits at the bar and we both stare at Max for an update. Three dozen cookies sit on the counter and I’m working on the fourth batch. The last hour I’ve immersed myself in sugar and flour, but the impending question has lingered in my mind. Why am I here?
Max holds the phone away from his ear and a male voice screams on the other end. “It’s for you,” Max says, handing the phone to Ryker. He sighs and takes it.
“Aiden, what’s going on?”
My fingers squeeze the dough, anticipation mixed with unease when Ryker closes his eyes and color fades from his cheeks.
“I have no idea. She doesn’t either.” He listens and his jaw tics as he paces the kitchen floor. “Why do they still have her?”
I gasp, holding my hand over my lips. They still have Addison? Ryker shakes his head at me and mouths, “It’s okay.” Is it? Because it doesn’t sound like it. It’s been hours already.
After a couple minutes, he hands the phone to Max, and he walks out of the kitchen to talk to Aiden in private.
“This is all my fault,” I cry. What’s worse, I don’t even know why.
“We don’t know that,” he lies. Even if I did nothing wrong, I’m still the reason everything is happening. “I’ll go talk to Max and see what’s happening next.”
When I hear them talking in the other room, I stay still and lean with my ear in their direction. They’re too far away for me to make out the words. At the sound of their footsteps, I start messing with the dough again. They both walk in with serious expressions.
“Aspen, Ryker told me about your indiscretions. Mainly about them being dead.” I chew on my bottom lip. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think there might be something to it.”
I peer at Ryker, and a pained expression mars his face. “Whiskey, I’m sorry. But with everything going on, I thought the more information he has, the better.” I flash a small smile. He’s probably right.
With a heavy sigh, I begin by telling him their names and their jobs. “After they left the island, I never heard from them again.”
“They were all married?”
Tears threaten and I whirl around to look outside the kitchen window, not wanting to see the judgments in their faces. My vision blurs. “I was stupid, young and so badly wanted to leave the island. Thought if they wanted me enough…” But they never did. I was used and tossed aside like a whore. It wasn’t until the third time that I felt like one.
“Aspen, I get it. Men know what to say to impressionable young women to get what they want. Did their wives know?”
