Bespoken: An Opposites-Attract Standalone Romance (Carmel Cove Book 2)

by Dr. Rebecca Sharp

  My life was a small price to pay.

  “You had me kidnapped. You let me be taken, knowing I would be hurt, all to help yourself,” I accused him. “More than that, you’ve tried to take from me every single choice I ever had about my life, my future, and my love.” I shook my head.

  “I don’t know what kind of woman you thought you raised”—I looked between them—“but this woman realizes that no matter how much I give, you will continue to take. And I can’t… I won’t give any more.”

  “Julia—”

  “No,” I cut her off with a heavy sigh. “It ends here. When I leave, I’m driving straight to the police station either to pick up the man I love as he walks away free and clear from that night, or I’m there to give my full statement about my attack. The choice is yours.”

  They just stood there astounded, disbelieving that I had betrayed and now blackmailed them.

  A few weeks ago… no, even a few days ago… I might have clung to the piece of my heart that wanted to make them understand—to plead with them to change the course they’d chosen, but sometimes people can’t believe the truth no matter how many ways you show it to them.

  “You are making a mistake.”

  “No,” I told him. “I’m just done making up for yours.”

  They knew I had them, and while disappointing on the deal with the cartel was going to cost them, it would be a private cost compared to the public one my confession would unleash.

  And my parents suffered all things in private so long as it would save face.

  Even though I didn’t feel like I was or wanted to cry, a tear slipped down my cheek—like when you equally know that you are losing something but also that it’s time to let go.

  “When I walk out these doors, it will be the last time. I will not come back. I will never ask anything of you, speak of you, think of you…” My head shook. “In truth, when I walk out of these doors, I will no longer know you.”

  A funeral-like silence stilled the room for the death of our family.

  Steeling my spine, I turned back to Laurel and Ace, and we walked through the sea of security congregated just outside the office doors.

  The worst part wasn’t that my parents didn’t try to stop me with an apology or swearing how much they loved me and that they would make this right. No, the worst part was that I hadn’t expected them to.

  “That was amazing, Jules,” Laurel said as we approached the entrance to the resort, reaching for my hand. “I’m so proud of you… Pap would be, too.”

  Giving her a brave smile, I stepped out the door and left my previous life behind.

  “Once you find your voice… your purpose… it’s hard to shut it up.”

  I started Mick’s truck and drove through the resort gates without looking back.

  Mick

  I sat quietly in the holding cell, my hands clasped in front of my mouth.

  I’d asked a hundred questions since I’d been put in the cop car, but they’d all gone unanswered. I’d asked for my phone call and I was told their phones weren’t working right now. The request for my lawyer was pushed off in the same manner.

  I didn’t even care about the lawyer, I just wanted to call Jules. I just wanted to know she was okay.

  My head sunk into my hands.

  “Mick.”

  My head jerked up to see Dex. I blinked twice, unsure if I was really seeing the middle Covington who preferred to spend his days behind a computer, being the mind of the operation paired to Ace’s muscle.

  “What are you doing here? Is Jules okay? Where is she?”

  “The Vandelsens aren’t the only ones with friends in the department, although I don’t know how long I’ve got back here before they kick me out,” he replied as I walked up to the walls of the cell.

  “Where is she?” I demanded with a ragged voice, gripping the bars.

  “Saving your ass.” He paused. “According to my brother.”

  My heart stopped.

  The only way to do that was to talk to her parents. Instantly, their plan became clear. I was the bargaining chip. My freedom for her servitude.

  I shook my head angrily. “No. No fucking no. You have to get me out of here. I can’t believe Ace went along with this.”

  I knew what they’d have her do. I knew they would make her marry that piece-of-shit drug lord and she’d do it, she’d do it to save me.

  My vision went black as I shook the bars of the cell.

  I never should’ve looked at her. Never should’ve touched her. I should’ve let her hate me when she realized I’d lied to her. This was all my fault. The big, dumb giant taking what didn’t belong to him.

  Pain ripped through my chest like a hot knife.

  “Why the fuck didn’t Ace stop her?” I demanded.

  “He didn’t say other than that she had a plan, so he went with her. Said there was no arguing with her,” Dex replied steadily, his voice always level as he assessed a situation.

  I banged my fist against the bars. “Her plan is agreein’ to whatever her parents want in order to get me out of here.” My eyes flung open and pinned him down. “I can’t let that happen. You have to get me out of here. I don’t care if it costs me life in prison, I’d take that over resigning her to a silent life for one minute longer.”

  I was blinded by a protectiveness that wasn’t rational—just like I had been the night I shot Blackman, just like the night I’d beat the shit out of that fruitcake at the bar. She was the piece of me I’d sacrifice every other piece over if it meant I could keep her safe.

  “You… we… don’t know that,” he hissed. “Laurel and Ace went with her. They won’t let that happen, alright? Now calm the fuck down and let’s work on getting you out of here.”

  My breath fumed when our attention was diverted by Officer Peters coming through the door to the holding cells with a bitter snarl on his face.

  “What the fuck are you doing here, Mr. Covington?” He looked at Dex.

  “Why the fuck has he been held without a phone call or a lawyer?” Dex shot back, nonchalantly resting his shoulder against the cell like he owned the place.

  “Doesn’t fucking matter,” he spat, his lip twitching. He pushed in front of Dex and shoved a key into the lock. “You’re free to go, Madison.”

  My eyes shot to Dex. I wasn’t sure anyone in the history of Carmel Cove had ever been angry to hear those words.

  I stalked out of the cell, cursing at Dex, “I swear to God, if the price of this was her going back to her parents, there will be hell to pay.”

  I didn’t wait for a response before I strode out of the station. My head whipped around realizing I had no cell and I had no keys.

  “Need a ride?” My shoulders tensed at Dex’s voice behind me.

  I saw his blacked-out Dodge Charger sitting two spots up on the road and as angry as I was, I did need a ride.

  “Yeah.”

  As soon as we turned to the car, I froze and scanned up the road, hearing the familiar roar of my work truck. A few seconds later, it pulled to a stop, flashing its hazards, as the driver door opened and Jules jumped down from it.

  “Jules,” I breathed out her name, her appearance restarting my heart.

  She cried out my name and bolted into my arms, almost knocking me over with the relief I felt.

  “Christ, darlin’, I was so worried, so fuckin’ worried,” I rasped into her hair as I held her tight, feeling how she began to shake against me. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”

  I pulled back so I could find her gaze. I needed to see her—to look at her and know that she was okay.

  “What happened? Please don’t tell me you gave in to them for me…that you handed them your future for me…”

  Her hands slid to my cheeks as she pulled my mouth to hers. I couldn’t deny her. I couldn’t deny the sweet haven of her mouth.

  “I remembered,” she murmured against my lips. “I remembered the rest of that night… what happened before Blackman took me
.”

  I blinked and scanned her eyes, already hating what I was about to hear even before she spoke.

  “My parents knew the whole time. T-They wanted the deed to Roasters because they owed the cartel money, and this was their payment. They knew they were sacrificing me, agreeing to my attack, so Blackman could get the deed.”

  “Motherfuckers—”

  She cut me off with another kiss.

  “It’s over, Mick.” I still hated them, but her promise was water against the flame. “I gave them my silence one last time for this—in exchange for your freedom.”

  I swallowed hard. “You don’t have to… you shouldn’t have to keep quiet about that. If they are involved, we need to go to the authorities.”

  Her head drifted back and forth even though she held my gaze. “I don’t want to fight about my past—and make no mistake, that’s what it would be. I want to take a stand for my future—the future that I want… the one that involves you.” Her thumb brushed over my cheek. “I don’t want to think about them anymore. And my consolation is that every day, they will have to think about me. Every day they have to bear the consequences of their mistakes, they will know that I am out here and happy.”

  I drowned in her eyes—in the strength and surety in them.

  For her, there was no doubt this was the only option and the more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right. Trying to bring charges against her parents would only give them a further hold on her—our future. And as much as they deserved it, we didn’t.

  “I love you so much, darlin’,” I swore and grabbed another hard kiss, my tongue needing to taste her to assure myself this was real, that I wasn’t going to wake up and find out she’d been married off to some asshole to make her parents happy.

  Finally drawing back from her embrace, I saw our group of friends standing and talking among themselves as they waited for our reunion to settle.

  “Everything good?” Eli asked.

  “Better than good,” I informed him, locking my arm around Jules’ waist as she turned. “Dex, man. Sorry for what I said in there…” I stepped forward and stuck out my hand. “I just—”

  “I know,” he said with a guarded voice. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “How about we take this reunion up to Roasters and have some Irish coffee?” Laurel suggested, glancing around to the wandering eyes that kept staring at us from the sidewalk and the street, my truck still blocking a lane of traffic with its flashers on.

  With everyone in agreement, we took both cars over to the coffee shop and sank down into the familiar seats with relief as Laurel warmed up the coffee machine and Eli grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the back.

  “What did they say?” I turned to Jules, who I hadn’t let leave my side since she got back to it.

  There was no pain, only resignation in her eyes as she gave me the play-by-play of what happened at Rock Beach.

  “I don’t know if it’s the worst part or the best part that I didn’t expect anything different. It was always about more for them, and I’d just been one more price they were willing to pay.”

  “Darlin’, look at me,” I commanded softly, my knuckles lifting her chin up. “I will always put you first. I’m swearin’ to you, here and now, that you will always come first for me.”

  “I love you so much.”

  Tears collected in her eyes and spilled over her cheeks. They made her lips taste salty-sweet as I claimed them once more.

  “So, what happens now?” Laurel directed her question to Ace as she and Eli set down the five mugs of spiked coffee in front of us.

  Ace hummed, tapping his fingers on the table for a moment thoughtfully. “Not much else we can do at the moment.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t think they are going to come after Jules again, not with what she knows. And I think they’ve given up on Roasters—or will have after this.”

  “But what about the cartel?”

  “Can’t say what they’ll do.” He took a long sip from his mug. “They’re putting a lot of effort to move into this town, I doubt this is going to make them leave. Even without her”—he nodded to Jules—“they’re still going to take over Rock Beach and work their business into town. Unfortunately, without any proof, there isn’t much else we can do.”

  “Do you think I could find some?” my girl offered even as my arm tensed around her.

  “You aren’t going back there,” I informed her.

  “But if it could help—”

  Ace ended whatever she was about to start by saying, “I don’t think you’ll find anything there but bad business on your parents’ part and a cover-up on the cartel’s. No, too much risk for nothing.”

  “So, we just wait?” Eli said over the rim of his mug.

  “Not much else we can do but watch and wait.” He paused for a second, looked up and nodded to the wall behind me. “Until we know more, we do what we can.”

  We all knew Ace and the Covington Security team would be doing a lot more than that in the background, but he told us that because this wasn’t our fight, not if he could help it.

  The next few minutes passed in silence as we finished our drinks and let the world settle back in around us.

  “Thank you,” Jules said softly, looking around the group. “Thank you for helping me… for trusting me.”

  “Of course,” Laurel murmured, reaching for Jules’ hand and squeezing it.

  Eli just nodded in reply, and Ace chimed in with a smirk. “Not every day the princess gets to save the prince. Plus, it was nice to finally see someone break Mick’s hero-streak.”

  “Dick,” I shot at him and downed the rest of my coffee.

  Jules laughed. “While I’m glad I switched up the trend, I don’t think I’m a princess anymore. Pretty sure I left my crown in the dust of the resort drive.”

  All teasing faded from Ace’s expression as his head tipped to the side. His lips thinned and he shook his head.

  “You’ve got friends… family… love…. Sorry, Princess, I think with all that, you took your crown and the kingdom with you.” Grabbing his mug, he stood and tipped his head to the rest of us, Dex following suit. “Any problems, you know where to find me.”

  A few minutes after they left, we rose and helped Laurel clean up the rest of the mugs.

  “Need to get you home, darlin’,” I bent down and growled into Jules’ ear. Wide, warm eyes rose and met mine as her pink lips parted. “My mind knows you’re here and you’re okay, but my body needs some convincin’ that you’re all mine.”

  Her cheeks bloomed pink, but her eyes, those glittered with desire.

  We thanked Laurel and Eli once again and walked out to my truck. Each step, each mile building the fire between us.

  “Upstairs. Now,” I ordered, tapping her delicious ass as it bounced up the stairs in front of me. As soon as she got to the top, she spun and wrapped her arms around my neck, crashing her lips onto mine.

  With a finesse I didn’t know I possessed, I kissed and carried her all the way to our apartment door, finding my keys in my pocket and managing to unlock it in record time.

  It had only been a few hours from the time they’d picked me up until I walked out of the police station, but those hours had taken years off my life, wondering… worrying I’d never see her or hold her like this again.

  And that meant I needed to spend the next few hours reassuring myself that she was here… that this princess was all mine, and I had a lifetime of holding her ahead of me.

  Jules

  One month later…

  “I have a large cappuccino for Miss Josie.” I turned with a smile to hand the older woman her second coffee of the day.

  She’d been in at the bakery earlier than usual this morning making fresh lemon-poppy seed muffins with her daughter, Cambria, so this was her afternoon treat.

  I was working full time at Roasters now, which was a good thing since business was booming, and Eve was on the verge of needing an IV-caffeine drip in order t
o keep up with everyone.

  Laurel had started the hiring process, reaching out to Eve’s sister to see if any of the girls at the Blooms’ house would be interested. She’d reluctantly admitted I wouldn’t be able to be here as much once I started school—if I got accepted. But there was still time before anything really changed.

  “Thank you so much, dear,” she said with the warmest smile. “Have you heard any news yet?”

  Since I’d cut ties with my parents and moved in with Mick, I’d found more and more people who treated me like family than I ever could have hoped. And Josie sat near the top of the list.

  Laurel had always been like a second daughter to her, and, as soon as I started working at Roasters more regularly, I felt as though I’d become a third. She was always bringing us snacks or lunch, always stopping by to check in on life and love.

  I sighed and shook my head. “Not yet. I’m hoping to soon, though.”

  She reached out and squeezed my arm. “I’m sure you’ll get in. You know how things with those schools work… they move at a snail’s pace.”

  I chuckled and nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Is Laurel here?”

  I looked around the busy room, only catching Eve’s glasses as she stood chatting with Ash and Taylor, but not Laurel’s bright red hair. “Let me check in the back.”

  I heard the front door ding just as I stepped into the hall and hoped Eve could handle whoever just walked in.

  “Laurel,” I yelled. “Josie wants to talk to you.”

  She peeked out from the storage room, her face bright red. “I-I’ll be right there.”

  My head tipped to the side, but then another voice spoke and I realized why her face matched the vibrant shade of her hair.

  “What does she want?” Eli grunted from around the corner where I couldn’t see him.

  My hand came up to my mouth and I bit back a smile, watching Laurel’s blush deepen. I couldn’t even pretend to scold her though for how many times Mick had stolen kisses… and some other things… in the storage room over the past four weeks.