SADIE
SLEEPING PILLS AND ALCOHOL DIDN’T mix well.
Nothing was more evident as I came to consciousness. Drowsiness, confusion, and alarm ticked in my mind.
I knew Simon had drugged me with some kind of sedative, I just wasn’t certain what it was or how much he had given me.
Had I been out for a couple of hours or a couple of days?
Feeling like I had a hangover from hell, I figured it had to be more than a short one hundred and twenty minutes.
I couldn’t manage to lift my eye lids. It was like they were glued shut. And my head was pounding in a way that felt like there was a nail being tapped against it. No, like someone was actually using a hammer and pounding on it.
My mouth was dry, and I licked my lips. When I did, a slight groan escaped my throat from just that small movement.
I wanted to fall back asleep, but then a warm hand wrapped around mine, and I instantly felt better.
Jaxson Cassidy.
I knew his touch. Warm and inviting, and full of promise. I knew his scent. Like the ocean on a beautiful day. I knew him, and I should have known he wouldn’t back down or stay away.
Drawing in a breath, I forced myself from my groggy state. I wanted to see him. I needed to see him.
His soft lips kissed my forehead. “Hey.” His voice sounded like warm caramel.
“Jaxson,” I whispered, trying to blink away the haze I was bathed in.
“Yes, my little thief, it’s me.”
Forcing my eyes open, I laughed at his nickname for me, even though it really wasn’t funny, and then cursed when the vibration split my skull in two. “Stop calling me that.”
He pressed his lips deeper against my forehead. “Never.”
“Please,” I croaked, managing to keep the small smile as I breathed in his scent.
He squeezed my hand. “I’ll think about it.”
The light was bright and I blinked a few times. “How long have I been out?”
“Eight hours, twenty-three minutes, and fifteen seconds, to be exact.”
“Too long,” I groaned, as everything that happened flashed before my eyes. The diary. The secrets. Jaxson. Riley. Someone else. The FBI. Simon being escorted out in handcuffs.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like death,” I said. “Simon put a sleeping pill in the bottle I drank from.”
Jaxson nodded. “We know. The hospital did a toxin screen. Thank fuck the dosage was mild.”
That information felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest and I could breathe so much better.
“Can I get you anything?” Jaxson asked, concern clear in his voice.
I touched my lips. They were swollen and tingled slightly. And my nose ached a little from where I’d face-planted on the floor. But other than the groggy headache, I was fine. I shook my head and then opened my eyes wider to catch his gaze. “No, not right now.”
Jaxson ran the fingertips of his free hand tenderly over the bruised flesh above my mouth. “You shouldn’t have left.”
A tear trickled down my cheek and I hastily tried to wipe it away. “I had to.”
He shook his head, hurt in his eyes.
Seeing him like that made me weak. He was a part of me, and it took almost losing everything to truly understand we belonged together. I reached for his hand to bring it closer to my lips, but when I did, the white bandages that covered his arms caught my attention. I couldn’t help the concern that flooded me. “Jaxson, your arms. How badly are you hurt?”
“I’m not. Just a few lacerations that will heal in no time. No big deal.”
Always the hero, I had to smile. “Are you sure, Superman?” I teased.
He pushed his arms up into the air as if he were the caped hero. “Positive. In fact, I’ve never been better.”
“I doubt that,” I told him. “And by the way, who was that guy who took Simon out with one kick?”
Jaxson laughed, and I loved the sound. “That was Dr. Jake Kissinger.”
My eyes went wide in surprise. “As in your ex-fiancée’s new husband?”
“None other,” he quirked. “Pretty cool guy actually. And I have to admit he has mad fighting skills.”
“Wait? What? How? Why?” My questions were endless.
Jaxson played with my fingers. “Long story, but the condensed version starts with you leaving before I could tell you what I’d found out and leaving your phone behind so I couldn’t reach you.”
I looked away, feeling ashamed.
He cupped my cheek, his thumb gently brushing over the bruise I knew I must have at the corner of my mouth. “We’ll discuss that further, a little later. But the bottom line was I needed his help, so I called him, and he delivered in more ways than I could have asked for.”
My eyelids fluttered in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“Well,” he frowned. “Since he’s a doctor, I called him to ask him to look into Riley’s condition, and he found out the truth.”
Everything suddenly made sense. “And the truth,” I managed to say, “is that Riley wasn’t really ever hurt in the way Simon had told me he was.”
Relief simmered in his eyes. “Not at all. The boy at the scene of the accident was actually Simon’s stepson, and part of his plan.”
“His plan to ruin me,” I sighed.
Jaxson leaned down and kissed me softly. “It’s over, Sadie. Time to let it go.”
Morality still played a huge part in this but for now I pushed myself further into the mattress and took a deep breath. When I let it out, I felt free for the first time in so long.
Jaxson raised a dubious brow.
“What?” I asked.
“About that note you left me,” he said darkly.
Peering at him from under my lashes, I sheepishly replied, “I’m sorry, Jaxson, but I had to leave. I had to take care of the situation I was in because of my poor decisions. And it was something I felt I had to do on my own.”
Grasping both of my hands in his, he said, “That’s just it Sadie, you’re not on your own anymore.”
I spotted the yellow ribbon tied around his wrist. Hope. He must have had more hope than me, and I was so very glad he did. “I know that, now.”
He found my lips again. “And don’t ever forget it.”
“I won’t.” I patted the bed. “Now sit down and tell me everything from the start.”
Jaxson went on to tell me about Mrs. Montague. Ewww. Just ewww. Details about the call to Jake. The news that Riley wasn’t the Riley Simon had concocted and who exactly he was. That the poor boy in the hospital had been hospitalized for pneumonia and Simon somehow got his name, keeping his con real. And everything else.
I turned and lightly rubbed my nose against his in an Eskimo kiss. “The nightmare is over. I’m really free,” I said, still finding the reality of what had happened hard to believe.
Jaxson lifted my fingers to his full lips and pressed them against the two soft pillows. “Yes, it’s over. Simon staged the entire thing from the start.”
Tears filled my eyes. “I’m pretty sure he’s the one who found me and gave the information to my father. He had this thing planned out for a long time. And the accident, too. I still can’t believe it wasn’t real. It felt so real.”
His eyes were red, his voice gruff, I could see he felt my pain. “That’s because that’s what he does. He’s a con artist. He’s been doing it for years, Sadie.”
“What if I hadn’t gone out that night?”
“Then it would have been another night. Hell, it might have been planned for days or weeks before or after, there’s no saying. He was stalking you, though, that’s for certain.”
I shivered. “I had no idea.”
“He’s behind bars now, and you’re safe.”
Yes, I was safe. I wasn’t going to prison, yet that didn’t change the fact that I’d made a bad decision. That my morality was in question. And I knew I’d spend the rest of my life pondering it.
“Hey,” he said. “It’s time to forgive yourself.”
I nodded. “I’m trying.”
“And you’ll keep trying until you do.”
I got to my elbows thinking about the right and wrong side. I knew from now on the right side of the law was exactly where I was staying.
“You can’t go back, Sadie. Only forward.”
“I know.” I sucked in a breath. “Did the police find the diary?” I asked.
He shook his head no. “Not that I’m aware of. Where was it?”
“Simon left it for me. I dropped it in the beach house somewhere. Maybe near the stairs.”
“Did you read it?”
With a single nod, I pulled him closer. “I have to tell you something.”
This time he brought a chair near the bed, rested his elbows on the mattress, and laced his fingers in mine. “What is it?”
Huddled like that, I told him about the secrets of Moon Island. What I’d learned from that diary, the terrible things that happened so many years ago, and how I knew them to be true.
Back and forth we discussed the consequences of telling the police and not telling them.
In the end, we decided to let those secrets stay buried. Outing my father and his friends for the murder of a man whose body had never been found, and who had killed my mother, didn’t seem like anything anyone would benefit from.
Simon, on the other hand, was going to pay for what he’d done to my father and to Harvey. Telling the police he’d murdered them with no evidence would be just hearsay, but it was a risk I was willing to take.
The nurse came in and asked Jaxson to leave. Under protest, he did. She checked my IV, helped me to the bathroom, and then left so I could take a shower. I felt so much better after washing my face and brushing my teeth.
When I came out, Jaxson was leaning against the wall, one leg propped up, putting his long, lean body on full display.
God, he was so incredibly sexy.
I smiled at him, a shy one that came out of nowhere.
He smiled back, a soft, easy grin that spoke of the secrets we shared, the intimacies we knew, the things we still needed to learn.
“I want to talk to you about something,” he said. He sounded nervous. My heart sank in disappointment. Had I gotten this all-wrong? Was he about to let me go? “It sounds serious. Should I sit?”
He looked down. “Probably a good idea.”
My knees wobbled and my breath sputtered as I dragged the IV pole along my side. I sat on the edge of my bed, my toes dangling and barely reaching the floor.
He was my everything, but maybe I wasn’t his.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the door swung open and the doctor came in. I thought he’d never leave. He told me I was dehydrated and fatigued, that I needed to stay in bed for a minimum of five days, and that I wouldn’t be released until the day after next.
The entire time Jaxson was pacing, looking worried, and maybe even on the verge of being physically ill. He was fidgeting with something in his hand that I couldn’t see and once the doctor left the room, he stuffed it into his pocket.
Finally alone, I asked him impatiently, “What’s going on?”
His eyes darkened, and he ran a hand through his already mussed, yet beautiful, dark hair. “I have to go back to Grenada in the morning and finish the shoot.”
Oh, okay.
The romantic in me wanted to tell him to take me with him, but the realist knew I couldn’t go. Not like this. I’d be way too much of a distraction for him. “Of course, you do.” I smiled tightly. “I’ll be fine here.”
He stopped pacing, placed both palms on the end of the bed and leaned forward, peering at me almost sheepishly from under his long lashes. “I know you will be because you’re going to stay with Jules and Jake on their farm until I get back.”
I frowned and shook my head. “I’ll stay at Harvey’s.”
“No,” he said tightly. “You won’t. First, there’s no furniture in the house and second the place is missing two windows.”
Oh, right. I forgot about that. “Boards aren’t expensive,” I offered as a solution, “And I’m sure I can find a cheap air mattress. I’ve slept in much worse places, trust me.”
His body physically quivered and his stare went even darker as his temper flared. “Absolutely not. You’ll stay where I know you’re safe. No negotiation, Sadie. I’ve already arranged it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You had no right to do that. I don’t even know them, and she’s, she’s—” I couldn’t say it.
“She’s my friend,” he finished for me, “and someone who cares about what happens to you. You need to get some rest and recover from all of this, Sadie. I wish I had a place for you to stay, but I don’t. Fuck, I’d stay here if I could and find us a place, but I have to finish my contract with SI or I won’t get paid. And although I’d like to say we could live off love, even I’m not that big of a romantic.”
My heart twisted, and I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling.
“What?” he said, narrowing his own gaze.
“You, a romantic?”
He stood tall, his muscled torso and broad shoulders practically flexing in challenge as he stormed around the bed and dropped to his knees.
Wide-eyed, I stared at him.
He smiled, slow and sexy. His eyes alight with something I’d never seen before.
Hope, maybe.
Uncertainty?
I couldn’t be sure.
He took my hand. “Until I met you, I didn’t know what love was. Sure, I thought I did, but I didn’t. Not really. I was living in the dark, but with you I’m living in the light. Because of you, I feel more alive than I have in my entire life.”
I gave him a tender smile, knowing exactly how he felt because I felt the same way. “Jaxson, I—”
He shook his head, silencing me. “I know I should probably wait and do this in the perfect moment with the perfect ring,” he said gruffly, “but I’m not perfect, and besides, I’ve never been good at waiting.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled something from it that glinted orange, yellow, blue, green, and violet in the sunlight.
It was a rainbow sitting on top of a gold band.
I bit my lip, peering at him from under my lashes.
What was this for?
On one knee like Prince Charming in Cinderella, Jaxson gently took my left hand in his. “Will you marry me, Sadie? Have my babies and grow old with me? Let me love you the way you were meant to be loved?”
My heart was about to beat right out of my chest. Any other person would have judged me for my actions, but Jaxson understood me, forgave me, saw the good in me. He wanted to marry me.
I sat there staring at the ring, knowing what it meant. I couldn’t breathe. This man wanted me. After everything, he still wanted me. My tear-filled gaze found his, and I speared him with my uncontained love. “Jaxson.” His name was a sob erupting from my throat.
He looked at me, uncertain. “Say yes, Sadie. Be mine to have and to hold for the rest of our lives.”
I was so nervous, I was shaking, but most of all, I was elated. My heart shuddered, swelled, and in that moment I swore I could feel the cracks filling in. There was only ever one answer. I leaped and knew the landing was going to be smooth. “Yes, yes, yes,” I cried. “I love you, Jaxson Cassidy, and I can’t wait to start a life together.”
Beaming from ear to ear, he slid the rainbow ring on my finger. “This ring is temporary. I promise I’ll get you a real ring as soon as I can.”
I let out a throaty chuckle. “I don’t know. I kind of like this one.”
He pushed up so he could lean down and press his nose to mine. “You’re one of a kind, little thief, one of a kind.”
Breathless giggles escaped my mouth. Once his own brand of laughter died down, he gathered me in his strong arms. I turned toward him and kissed his bicep, breathing in his scent.
For my entire life, I never knew where I wanted to be. I’d run and run and run, and never get anywhere.
But in this moment, I knew with all my heart, the only place I ever wanted to run to again . . . was right into his arms.