JAXSON
I DRANK COFFEE ON THE porch, watching a family of green monkeys jump from tree to tree.
I was shooting on the interior of the island today, away from the coast. Something I hadn’t done yet. I had to work with the shadows of the landscape, modifying them with a strategically placed screen that Sadie would be holding.
She was getting really good at this assistant gig.
I shot the cover photo nine days ago when we first arrived in Barbados and sent it to Kylie, my editor, yesterday.
She called me immediately. Said it was fucking fantastic.
That she loved the Egyptian necklace. Sadie had picked that out, and I’d had my doubts. It was big and brought your eyes right there. Sadie rolled her own eyes, telling me that was the point. “Eyes on the breasts, Sundance,” she quipped.
It was the first time since I told her that was my name, she’d called me that. I didn’t like it. To the world I was Sundance. To her I was Jaxson. I made sure she knew it.
Kylie also went crazy for the gold chain bottoms. Said they were the perfect balance for going with the topless option, the more edgy one. Then she added that the turquoise water was exactly what she wanted in the background.
Score.
I did it.
I wanted to fist pump.
I’d shot the cover for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. I was still having a hard time processing it. This would give me carte blanche to just about any job I wanted. What I wanted though, that was what I had no fucking clue about.
I’d gotten rid of my life, basically. Packed up, sold, stored everything. I was free, but I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted to be anymore.
I walked down the hill to the beach. At the bottom was the main road with beach houses and rum shacks on one side and the coast on the other.
The beach went on for miles and miles and was inhabited by massive limestone boulders that separated it into smaller sections. So incredibly different from Antigua and yet so alike.
Shading my eyes, I glanced upward. Surrounded by tropical gardens, Sea-U Guest House Bathsheba Barbados Hotel B&B was the perfect quaint hotel for this segment of the shoot.
Hammocks were strung lazily between coconut palms and provided amazing panoramic ocean views. Everything was laid back and off beat. Nothing fussy or too elegant.
I glanced ahead and watched the waves break on tremendous limestone rocks. We were far removed from the hustle and bustle of the real world. And I knew I could get used to this kind of life.
But real life awaited me.
I pulled out my phone and called Finn. He’d called me last night and left me a message that he’d found something I wasn’t going to like and to call him back. He was in California now, training, and I knew I was going to wake him, but I had a shoot all day and didn’t want to wait until tonight to find out what he knew.
The call struggled to connect.
I looked over at the beach. There were tide pools the size of small swimming pools, and I saw a young couple with a baby soaking in the turquoise waters. It was the first time I ever thought of having a family of my own. Not even with Jules had I ever imagined children.
I did now.
“Hey,” he said into the phone, sounding surprisingly alert.
“Hey, man, sorry I missed your call last night, I was—” I let the words trail off. I couldn’t tell him I was busy fucking the girl I couldn’t seem to get enough of.
Finn didn’t ask me what I was doing. “Don’t worry about it. Listen, I don’t have a lot of time. I have to meet my trainer in ten.”
“Yeah, I know you’re busy and I really appreciate the effort you’ve been putting into this.”
“I wish I had more time because after pulling footage from that pawn shop in Miami of Sidney McRay, I ran his face through some facial recognition software, and guess who Sidney McRay is?”
I ran a rough hand through my hair. “Who?”
“Simon McCoy.”
“Mother fucker. What was he doing in Miami selling my camera?”
“Isn’t that the million dollar question? He’s either a real dumb shit or a very smart fucker. I’m not sure which. I’m also not sure if either of those names are actually his.”
Sadie Banks. Sarah Barnes. They were both his. I knew it. It was his MO. “His real name is Simon McCoy for certain, but I don’t think that means shit.”
“Me either. This could be just one of many identities he’s been living under. Look, I’m sending you his picture and what I found on this Sidney McRay—last address, places of work, vehicle registration, bank account, and I even got his credit card charges.”
“Thanks, man, I really appreciate this.”
“One more thing,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“I was able to breach the hospital server. And although I found a Riley Houston, I had a really hard time reading the medical records. I did the best I could navigating through it. The thing is, Sundance, I didn’t see anything about a spinal injury or a surgery.”
“But he was in the hospital?”
“Yeah, for sure. Of course, I had no idea what the fuck I was reading and I got booted out before I could finish looking around. However, I did see an address for the family. I’ll try to find it again and send it later. You know Jake is back, and I was thinking you could call him. Ask him to take a look and interpret it.”
Shit, I hadn’t even given my ex-fiancée or her new husband a second thought. It was the first time his name didn’t feel like tiny shards of metal being shoved under my fingernails. “No, I hate to get him involved.”
“Yeah, I know. Just a thought. I’ll keep at it and let you know if I find another way in. Gotta run.”
“Bye, man. See you.”
I hit the disconnect button and watched as someone cheered on a dog that had dove in the water.
Simon McCoy or Sidney McCray, or whatever the fuck he was called, had a life in Miami.
Money.
A car.
An apartment.
The question was why had he lied to Sadie?
And how the fuck was she going to accept that he had?
One of the young men who worked at the B&B was dragging a paddleboard toward me. “This is big enough to land a plane on,” he said, by way of invitation.
After days of watching everyone else stand up on a board, I decided what the fuck did I have to lose.
With the sun beating down on me, I attached the leash to my ankle, swam out in the water, and hurled myself onto the board with all the grace of a sea lion. It was in those few short moments that I managed to find my balance, that I knew what I had to do to make Sadie see the light.
And she wasn’t going to like it.