AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He turned back to her. ‘It was a precaution.’
Sarah felt sick. ‘You knew they’d come looking for me.’
He shook his head. ‘No, I just wanted to be prepared for anything.’
Prepared? How do you prepare for this?
‘Sarah, there’s a lot more I need to tell you.’ He took her hand in his and she resisted the urge to pull free of his grip. ‘Please, can we just get on the ferry?’
She needed him to explain, to take away the doubts that had forced their way back into her mind. He’d asked her to trust him. Could she? She bit down on her lip. If she walked away now, she’d never know.
Sarah looked up into his eyes and knew she couldn’t give up on him so easily. With a ball of emotion in her throat, she nodded.
Relief flooded Alex’s face. He squeezed her hand and led them back to the queue. The lines were much shorter and in no time, Sarah found herself being motioned forward to a Border Control Officer sitting behind the plexi-glass booth.
The man appeared to be of Indian descent and he said nothing as he took the passport from Sarah. He glanced up, comparing her face to the picture in front of him.
‘First time out on the ferry?’
‘Pardon?’ Sarah could barely speak.
‘Your first time,’ the man repeated, ‘on the ferry to Holland?’
‘Oh, yes.’
Sarah jumped as the stamp left its imprint on the document.
‘Hope you don’t get seasick.’
‘Um, thank you.’ Sarah ducked her head as she took the passport and ticket back from the man and hurried past the booth.
Alex stood on the other side waiting for her. ‘Everything okay?’
She nodded, the unwilling outlaw.
The gangplank stood before them, inviting them aboard. Sarah forced one foot in front of the other. She was really doing this; she was leaving the country. With Alex; the man she’d loved from the moment they’d met.
Alex had said he had more to tell her. The stone of doubt sitting in her belly suggested she wouldn’t feel any better once she knew it all. Was she crazy?
ChapterTen
They sat facing each other in the small, air-conditioned cabin. Sarah sat on the lower bunk with her legs curled under her, the top bunk was folded up against the wall. Alex was opposite her on a red bench seat. It was an interior cabin with no window, however the round mirror on the far wall tried to compensate. Honey coloured timber veneer offset the plain white walls, reminding Sarah of the striped wood paneling that had adorned the walls of her parents’ dining room when she was a teenager.
‘You said you had more to tell me.’
Alex studied her face as though he was memorizing it. Eventually, he spoke.
‘That night at the pub, with the Mexican food?’
‘I remember.’ How could she forget that night a year ago when he’d cut short their romantic dinner, bundled her into a taxi and disappeared for three days without explanation.
‘I got a phone call and had to leave. I had to work.’ He paused, holding her gaze. ‘My job, at the club, I’m not just a mechanic. I’m an enforcer. That means I enforce the rules with our boys. It’s about making sure everyone understands the way things are.’
She nodded slowly, even though she didn’t really understand. Sarah had guessed he was more than a mechanic when they were together. An enforcer? She’d never heard of such a thing.
‘Sarah.’ He reached out and took her hand. There was an urgency in the action. ‘I’ve done things you’ll think are unforgivable.’ He closed his eyes for a moment. His grasp on her hand stayed firm. ‘Things thatareunforgivable.’
Her heart began to thud as her hand lay limply in his. She wanted to tell him to stop, she’d changed her mind. She didn’t want to know. If she didn’t know, it wouldn’t be real. Instead, the silence filled every space.
