Besides, I’m not overly keen on being tossed overboard.
“There’s something else, though.”
“Oh?” Parker leans against the railing and holds on to one of the beams.
“Yeah. Lily and I are dating. We never meant to keep it from you, but we wanted privacy.” I meet his blue eyes, wide now in surprise. “I hope you can understand, man.”
Parker blinks at me a few times. “Dating? Like, you’re together, together?”
“Yes, we are.”
“Wow.” He shakes his head, and I let my hand drop from his shoulder. “I never knew.”
“I didn’t mean to go behind your back.”
Parker shakes his head again. It’s in disbelief, but so far, there’s no anger on his face. “And I thought she didn’t like you.”
“She didn’t, for a while,” I say truthfully. “She was angry at me for leaving.”
“I literally had no idea.”
I nod, glancing to where Rhys is standing at the front of the boat. He has his back turned to us, but I can see the tension in his shoulders. It’s clear his younger brother isn’t having the same reaction.
Parker follows my gaze. “Rhys didn’t take the news well.”
“No.”
“Well, he’s always been thorny. Ignore him. He’ll come around.”
“You think?”
“Absolutely.” A wide grin splits Parker’s tanned face. “You’re family in more ways than one now.”
“You’re okay with this?”
“Okay? Fuck, man, there’s no one I’d rather see my baby sister with.”
For a moment, all I can do is stare at him. It’s the absolute last response I was expecting. Parker, despite his usual smiles and laughs, has always been protective of Lily. He’d nearly been as bad as Rhys, despite teasing her when they were children.
He sees my confusion and breaks into laughter.
“What, you think you were good enough to be one of my best friends, but not good enough to date my sister? Get your head out of your ass, Hay.”
I can’t help the surprised laugh that slips out of me. “Mind telling your brother that?”
“Rhys will come around,” Parker says. “Damn. I’ll have to tell Turner to stop mooning around after her.”
My hand instinctively tightens around the railing. I know she doesn’t have any interest in him, but the familiar feeling of envy at his name and status is hard to ignore.
“What about you?” I ask. “I haven’t heard anything about women in your life lately, Parker. Your mom mentioned something about a girl…”
Parker’s eyes narrow but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he looks over at Rhys, who’s blatantly not paying us any attention. “I’ll talk to him,” he promises. “Text Lily and tell her to meet us at the marina when we get back. We’ll get a beer at the Yacht Club, all of us.”
I watch as he ducks under the beam and heads to the front of the boat to stand next to Rhys. They’re polar opposites—one dark and one light—but next to each other it’s clear that they’re cut from the same cloth.
I shoot Lily a text with the invitation. Reception is dodgy at best out here, but I watch as the little tick appears. Delivered.
It’s several hours later when we finally set course back to the marina. Rhys has, somewhat reluctantly, begun to talk to me again.
“I can’t believe Parker let you off easy,” he murmurs beside me, our hands moving fast over the rope, the knots as familiar to us as our own names.
“I guess he’s the smarter brother.”
Rhys sends me a sour look, but it’s tinged with amusement. “We won’t get rid of you this time around, will we?”
“No, you won’t.”
He nods, glancing out toward the glittering waves. “Good.”
The sun is low in the sky when we finally spot the marina in the distance. It’s been good, this, being out today. Reconnecting with her brothers. Gaining—somewhat surprisingly—Parker’s unequivocal support.
I check my phone again. I haven’t had service for hours, but the closer to shore, the higher the likelihood. I watch as my phone gets one… two bars of service. A text comes through from Lily, sent hours ago.
I’ll be there when you get back! And please ignore my family. It’s still just us, Hayden. You and me.
I smile at my screen at the same time as guilt rolls up inside me. She’s still afraid I’ll run or spook, like a skittish horse. I’ve given her reason to feel that way—my brave, proud girl, who was never afraid of charging headlong into new situations. Who climbed the tallest trees and woke up in the intensive care unit with a smile, who bought an art gallery on a whim.
Rhys, Parker and I barely need to communicate when we sail into Paradise Shores Marina. We know the boat and we know the docks here. It’s automatic, the movements and the teamwork.
Parker jumps onto the dock first, and I throw him the rope, holding a hand up to signal to Rhys to cut the engine.
We cruise to a smooth halt alongside the dock. The place is nearly empty, most people already done for the day or at the Yacht Club. I can see the lit terrace from here. There’s a faint sound of laughter and music.
I jump down from the boat, closely followed by Rhys.
Lily isn’t waiting by the Marchands’ dock.
“Didn’t you say she’d be here?” Parker asks, and I nod, finding my phone in my pocket.
“She said she would. I’ll call and see, maybe she went ahead.”
“Is this what we have to get used to now?” Rhys murmurs to Parker. “Hayden handling communications with our sister?”
Parker just shakes his head. “Shut it, man.”
“Whose side are you on?”
“Lily’s. Just like you should be.”
I shake my head at them and call her. Two dials go through before I’m clicked off the line. A chirpy, electronic voice tells me that the subscriber is unavailable.
“Her phone is off.”
“Damn it,” Parker says. “She always forgets to charge it.”
She often does, but I still feel uneasy. Lily wouldn’t say she’d be here and then not show up—or at least text one of us.
We head up to the Yacht Club. It takes me only a few seconds to scan the terrace. There’s no auburn hair in sight.
“She’s not here either.”
Rhys shakes his head. “Damn it, Lily.”
My mind runs through a list of things that might have happened, and for a second, I have to fight to keep the unease from turning into panic. We don’t know. She’s probably just late, even if it’s not terribly in character.
One of the girls at the Yacht Club stops us on the way out and throws us a winning smile.
“Heading out so soon?”
“Yes. Thanks.”
“No worries. Avoid Ocean Drive on the way back,” she says cheerfully.
My heart goes cold in my chest. “Why?”
“Haven’t you heard?” An uncertain note creeps into her voice as she looks at me. “There was an accident. The police have closed off the street entirely, no traffic in or out.”
There’s blood ringing in my ears.
If the waitress says anything else, I can’t hear it. I’m already out the door.
My hands are clenched at my side as I break into a half-run, heading to the parking lot. I’m aware of Rhys and Parker by my side, but if they’re speaking, I’m deaf to that too.
An accident.
Ocean Drive.
This can’t be happening again.
We get into Rhys’s car in silence. I want to strangle him for the extra few seconds it takes for him to turn the key in the ignition in his old Mustang. Fucking rich kids and fucking statement cars and goddamn fucking car accidents.
We’re halfway out of the marina when Parker swears loudly in the backseat. He answers the phone a second later.
The world spins when I hear his response. “Yeah, we’re already on our way there, Mom.”
Rhys spee
ds up.
It feels like a bad dream when I see the blinking lights in the distance. A police car is parked sideways in the middle of the road. Rhys hasn’t even pulled the car to a full stop before I’m out the door and running.
It’s her car. It’s her car, damn it, and it’s totaled. Crashed into one of the iron-wrought lampposts that line Ocean Drive.
A policewoman is roping off the area. She looks grim, hair pulled back. “What happened here?”
“An accident,” she says, clicking her tongue at my brusque tone. “A motorcyclist and a car.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“Yes.” Her eyes are stern, but they soften slightly as she looks at me. I don’t know what I must look like to be pitied, but I’m beyond caring. “One of the civilians involved had to be airlifted to the hospital.”
The edges of my vision flicker.
“Who?”
She shakes her head. “I couldn’t possibly—"
Rhys interrupts her. “Lily Marchand. What happened to her?”
“Over there,” the policewoman says with a nod. An ambulance is parked nearby. A woman is sitting on the back, a blanket around her shoulders.
I would recognize that hair anywhere.
“This is the scene of an accident. You can’t go inside—Hey!”
Nothing matters—not the angry shout from the police officer or the sound of her brothers behind me—as I run.
Images flash before my eyes of a different night, a different street. There had been so much blood then. We’d been alone, just her and me, my hands pulling her out of the wreckage. This is not that time. She’s whole—she’s safe.
Lily stands up to greet me, a faint wobble in her steps that sends my heart racing. I wrap my arms around her and pull her close. It’s need, pure and simple, to know that she’s safe.
Panic and adrenaline still pound through my body.
“Are you okay?”
Lily nods against my neck. Her hair smells like it always does, the same shampoo she’s used for well over a decade. “It was so stupid,” she whispers.
“And you’re sure you’re okay?” I loosen my grip, realizing I might be holding her too tight.
“Yes, yes. Just a few bruises.”
“God, Lily…” I pull back and tip her head up. Her eyes are wide and green as they stare into mine, but there isn’t a trace of pain or fear in them. I brush my thumb over her cheekbone, putting a hand on either side of her face. Her expression softens as she looks up at me.
“I’m okay,” she murmurs again. “I’m okay, Hayden.”
I lean my forehead against hers and close my eyes. My heart is beating fast, like I’ve run a marathon. “I thought…”
“I know. I know. But I’m okay.”
The decision to kiss her isn’t conscious. I need to know she’s okay, I need to feel it, and she’s just as eager as me. Our lips meet with soft, heated urgency, my hands pulling her closer against me. She’s real and she’s safe. I let my hands travel up her back to make sure, just in case.
Lily puts a hand on my neck and pulls me in closer, like she needs the reassurance just as much as I do. Her scent, her body, her taste is everything I feel—all of it telling me what I rationally know. She’s all right.
But more than that, I’m reminded of just how much I love her. How my life would come to a grinding halt if something were to happen to her, if I failed to keep her safe again.
Lily’s hands slide down my chest. I brush a final kiss to her lips, soft and sweet, my body aching for more of her. I’ll never get enough of her closeness.
She blinks up at me with a dazed smile on her lips. “Hayden, I—"
“Lily!”
We both turn to see her parents. Her mother’s eyes are frantic, sweeping over her daughter’s form, assessing her just like I did. I can see Rhys and Parker standing next to them. Both of their eyes are wide.
Shit. Well, at least they all know now. Really, properly know.
“I’m okay,” Lily says, loud enough for her entire family to overhear. “I’m completely okay.”
“What happened?” Rhys comes closer, the family in tow. “Lils, your car looks…”
“A motorcyclist was going crazy on the road,” she says. “Switching lanes, losing control of the motorcycle… I had to swerve, or I would have hit him.” She puts her head in her hands. “He had to be airlifted. I don’t know… it didn’t look good.”
I put my arm around her shoulders. I know I should let her parents get to her, her brothers—but I can’t let go of her yet.
“We’ll check on him, Lily,” her father says. “Don’t worry about that. God. You’re never getting in a car for the rest of your life.” He says it with as much sincerity as I feel. Twice is two times too many.
Rhys chuckles, but I can hear the strain in the sound. “Damn it, Lily. Why didn’t you call us right away?”
“My phone broke in the crash.”
Eloise Marchand sends me a curious look but says nothing as she leans in and hugs her daughter fiercely. “Let’s get you out of here,” she murmurs. “I’ve had enough of seeing my daughter in ambulances.”
I couldn’t agree more.
31
Lily
My car is towed—Parker and Rhys handle that, while my parents follow the ambulance to the hospital. Hayden rides with me. I feel fine, but the doctor takes a bunch of tests to make sure, X-rays and a CAT scan and a careful exam of my reflexes.
All the while, I see the same haunted, gaunt look on Hayden’s face. He’s a quiet shadow next to me, holding my hand. This is too much of a déjà vu. I can see it in all of their faces, bearing the same worried expressions I’d witnessed a decade earlier.
But it’s not like before. I’m barely hurt, yet it doesn’t matter how many times I say it, they don’t truly believe it until Dr. Rashid confirms it.
“You’re all clear,” he tells me.
Hayden clears his throat. “Is there a risk of delayed onset whiplash?”
My dad shoots him a surprised look. He hasn’t commented once on Hayden’s steady presence beside me.
“Not likely, no,” Dr. Rashid says. “But Lily, I want you to call me if you feel any pain in your neck in the coming days or even weeks. You can come in right away and we’ll take a look.”
“Okay. Thank you, I’ll do that. Do you know what happened to the motorcyclist?”
Dr. Rashid’s smile fades. “He’s in surgery. I don’t know more than that, Miss Marchand. But if it sets your mind at ease, I believe he had a history of epilepsy, which might unfortunately explain the erratic driving behavior.”
“Oh.” How terrible. “May I send him flowers somehow? Or is it all confidential?”
“I can ask his family for you, if you’d like.”
“Please do.”
It’s very, very late at night when Hayden finally opens the passenger door to his car. He’s still quiet—has been since we said goodbye to my parents.
He pulls out of the parking lot and onto the road back to Paradise Shores. His hands are clenched tight on the steering wheel.
“I’m taking you home,” he says. “And I’m staying the night.”
It had seemed like a foregone conclusion that he would. I try to smile at him, but his gaze is focused on the road ahead.
“That sounds great.”
Hayden nods once, but his profile is stark against the passing streetlights. His jaw is clenched, and tension radiates from him.
Tonight… It was too close to what happened a decade ago. It was too close for the both of us, but I know that while I wear the physical scars from that accident, Hayden mostly bears the psychological ones. He had been the one to pull me out and call 911. I have very little recollection of that night at all.
“Hayden… Are you all right?”
There’s faint surprise in his eyes, and then he reaches out and puts a large hand on my thigh. The connection between us is as it always has been—a safe anchor in a stormy sea. It calm
s me immediately, and I can see how his own tension lessens slightly.
“Don’t, Lils. I’m not the one who was in a car crash.”
I lean back against the seat. The adrenaline has left me, and together with the painkillers, all I feel is tired. I can’t wait to have his arms around me and drift into sleep.
I put my hand on his. “I know. But I also know it was… It was similar,” I whisper. “To what happened before.”
The tension is back. I can see how he locks down and retreats into his shell. “Not until we’re home,” he says, and I understand. He can’t break apart until we’re out of the car.
But I can’t help but notice that he called my place home, or the corresponding warmth that blooms in my chest.
We’ve always been home to each other.
He parks the car in silence and wraps an arm around my waist as we walk to my front door. I’m not hurt, and I don’t need the assistance, but I need the connection as much as he does.
Hayden gently takes the key from me and unlocks my front door. I shoot him a tired smile. “I’m fine, Hay.”
“I know,” he murmurs. “I know.”
He closes and locks the door behind us. I kick off my shoes and throw my bag to the side, and then we stand there, in my little hallway, just looking at each other.
Hayden’s eyes are a storm. There’s fear there, such furious fear that it nearly takes my breath away. I take a step toward him, and he toward me, and then I’m in his arms and he’s carrying me toward the bedroom. His arms are wrapped around me tight, like he’s afraid I might disappear. I’m holding him just as tightly.
“Christ. When I saw those flashing lights today…”
“I know. I know.”
“I can’t handle it, Lils. Not again.”
“I know.” I pull his face down to mine and press my lips against his feverish ones. “Neither can I. But I’m okay. We’re okay.”
“Thank God for that.” Hayden lays me down gently on the bed despite the urgency coursing through us both. He pulls me close, hugs me against his chest. I understand his need to touch me—to know I’m all right. I feel the same with him… touching him to know he’s here.
Rogue: A Paradise Shores Novel Page 23