by CoraLee June
My breath hitched. “But there’s one unknown variable. One problem I need to eliminate. The cops think I’m in Mexico. And in a couple of hours, I’ll be on a boat headed there.”
I gulped. I just needed to get out of here. But how?
Lex got up in my face, pressing the metal of the gun to my cheek. I flinched at the cold invasion of deadly intent. “Why was Chase Jones at the Sandals Resort?” Lex asked.
My eyes squinted in confusion. “What?” I asked.
Lex reared back and hit me in the temple with his gun. My skull blared with pain. “Answer my fucking question, Breeze!” Lex screamed. “Why was Chase at Sandals? What was he doing there? What did Violet tell you?”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. “She didn’t tell me anything,” I sobbed.
Lex grabbed my hair and yanked, my locks straining against his pull. “Don’t you fucking lie to me. Why did Chase go there, huh?”
“I found a hotel key in her shorts. We were trying to figure out who she was there with.” I didn’t know Chase had gone to the resort.
Lex let go of my hair and started pacing the room. “I know she told you,” Lex said. He sounded like a madman, whispering threats under his breath while scratching his scalp with the barrel of his gun. “Violet wasn’t planning on running into me at the hotel. Her and Daddy Dearest wanted a weekend away.” I was breathing heavily, looking around the room for some sort of escape. Lex continued. “I was just doing some business. I didn’t give two shits who she fucked. If some old bastard wanted to dip his dick in her loose pussy, it wasn’t any of my business. But she was worried. She thought I was going to tell Kai what I saw. She didn’t want anyone to know her dirty little secret.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. “I didn’t know. I swear I knew nothing about this.” I wanted Lex to stop talking. The more he revealed, the less likely he was to let me go.
“She went looking for me. Showed up at my fucking house. She shouldn’t have. And boy did she find me. Bet she wasn’t expecting to walk up on me stabbing some sorry motherfucker that tried to steal product from me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Oh fuck. Violet.
“I had a problem, you know. But I couldn’t just kill some rich bitch without the cops looking for me. But then I ran into your father. He was strolling downtown with your mom, not a care in the world. He almost pissed his pants when I asked him for a surfing lesson. I knew he recognized me from the resort. He couldn’t really say no, not unless he wanted his precious wife to be suspicious. It took a few threats, but he spilled all his dirty secrets. Turns out, we both wanted Violet to disappear. He couldn’t have some pregnant teen ruining his marriage, and I couldn’t have a witness going to the police. It didn’t take much. All I had to do was threaten to tell your idiot mother what was happening. I even sweetened the pot. I told him I’d take care of the competition.” Lex waved his arms, gesturing around the room. “I told him I’d burn this shop to the ground. Save his family. Save his business. It was supposed to be easy. No one would suspect Brian Shirley of doing anything, and I had no problem building an airtight alibi. The only unknown variable was you.”
“P-Please don’t do this. Violet didn’t tell me anything. I won’t tell a soul. You don’t have to kill me.”
Lex tilted his head back and laughed before speaking to me. “Of course I have to kill you. Brian wants to talk. Violet told you what she saw. But you know what, Breeze? I’m a man of my word. I’m going to burn this shop to the ground and eliminate the competition for your father’s shop like I promised. And while I’m on a boat to Mexico, the police will be delivering a handful of ashes to your mother.”
I choked on a sob. Oh my God. I wasn’t going to get out of here alive.
It turned out that Violet was a master at keeping secrets and spinning webs, and Lex himself was the one who unleashed the truth. A truth he was willing to kill me over. Violet never told me anything. There was nothing in her behavior that ever even hinted that she was involved with such dangerous people. She smiled and laughed like everything was one big party until the day she died. I could beg him and try to appeal to whatever humanity he had left, but he wouldn’t let me go. He couldn’t.
I decided that I wasn’t going to beg. If I was going to leave this world tonight, I wasn’t going to do it pleading for mercy. My pleas would fall on deaf ears anyway. Lex wasn’t human, he was an animal. I narrowed my eyes and stared at him in defiance.
“You think you’re tough, little girl?” Lex asked, noticing the shift in my demeanor. “Okay, let’s see how tough you can be. I bet I can put the fear back in your pretty eyes.”
He picked up his switchblade and gently dragged it along the bare skin of my thigh. It was a strange sensation, the cold blade tickling. He teased my skin with it, never taking his eyes off of mine, and then plunged the knife deep into my thigh. I flung my head back, screaming in pain as Lex laughed.
“Go ahead and scream, Breezy. There’s no one around to hear you. Let it all out. I like it,” he taunted.
I clenched my teeth to stop the shrieks from escaping my lips. I held my head as high as I could, doing my best to avoid looking at the knife handle sticking out of my flesh. He looked at his watch as if this whole thing was boring and taking too long.
“This has been fun, but I’ve got a boat to catch,” he said, taking one long stride back over to my chair and wrenching the blade out of my leg. A tidal wave of blood flowed freely from the wound, and I couldn’t stop the strangled cries that slipped from my lips.
“If I were you, I would pray that the smoke kills you before the flames,” Lex said calmly as he stroked my hair, getting blood on his hands in the process.
Lex started to walk away but turned abruptly and sent a fist into my eye and then my side. Between the earth-shattering pain and the punch to my side, it felt like the wind had been knocked right out of me. I couldn’t breathe. I could no longer hold my head up. I let it fall in front of me, and I could barely see. I was drifting in and out of consciousness.
The smell of gasoline registered in my brain. I didn’t feel the sting of it on my wounds, which meant he’d dumped it on the floor around me. I heard footsteps. Lex’s hand was holding my forehead up. I saw his eyes through my one good one. He let go, and my head fell forward. I heard the sound of a match striking the box. “Sweet dreams,” Lex whispered.
And then the flames—oh the flames. Heat licked at my skin, like the devil was in that very room and breathing down my neck. Smoke billowed out around me. This was it. I was going to die. My poor mother would be left all alone in this world. Chase would lose another person he loved. And Kai? Kai and I would never get our happily ever after. Like Violet, my life was cut short too soon, and I had so many things I wanted to do differently. So many things I wanted to change. At least I was going to see Violet again.
A crash sounded. Shouts.
“Help,” I whispered. I couldn’t scream. Couldn’t do anything. “Help.” Time passed slowly. Death felt like an ominous blanket on my soul. Too hot. Everything was too hot. “Help,” I whispered again as my awareness flickered in and out. Someone stood behind me, more voices jumbled together. My hands were free. Someone picked me up. Every time I tried to open my eyes, they burned.
“Help,” I croaked.
The person carrying me led me through the door of the office. I peered around the best I could, noticing a fallen display of heavy paddle boards and a body buried beneath them. Lex. It was Lex.
More fire circled me. The arms carrying me were covered with blood. Was that my blood? Flames blocked every visible exit. My mind became fuzzy as the back door was kicked open, and the fresh air greeted us with a vengeance. I gulped in the precious freedom. My lungs burned with every expanding breath. “Set her down. She’s bleeding.”
I whimpered as I was laid down on hard asphalt. The glow from the burning shop bled through my vision. Sirens could be heard in the distance. Everything hurt. “Fuck, Breeze. Hang on. The ambulance will be here s
oon.” He pushed my hair out of the way. I smiled. Chase was here. I was safe.
“You saved me,” I whispered.
Another figure hovered over me. A dark presence that somehow comforted me as the pain overwhelmed my senses. I could barely stay awake. “Don’t you dare leave me, Little Whisper,” was the last thing I heard before the entire world went black.
Kai
Seeing Breeze black and blue and fighting for her life in a hospital bed ignited a fire in me hotter than the flames that almost took her life. I hated my brother. I knew that I hadn’t fully processed my feelings over leaving him to burn, but right now I didn’t care. All I cared about was Breeze.
Chase stood on one side of the bed, and I stood on the other, both of us holding her hands. Breeze’s face was so swollen and covered in bandages that I wouldn’t have recognized her if I didn’t know that it was her in the bed. She looked so small and fragile, just a whisper of a girl.
Breeze’s mom was working, and she stopped by the room every five minutes to check on her. I overheard one of the nurses ask if she wanted to take the day off, but Mrs. Shirley declined. She said that she was going to be here at the hospital whether she was working or not, and at least this way, she could check on Breeze and keep herself busy at the same time. I completely understood.
Breeze started groaning and fluttering the eye that wasn’t swollen shut. I called out for her mom, not wanting to leave her side. I had been such a fucking ass over the last few weeks, and I would be damned if I wasn’t here for her when she woke up. Mrs. Shirley came running into the room and stood next to Chase. She reached out and stroked a small patch of skin on Breeze’s face that wasn’t purple.
“Mom,” she croaked out.
“I’m here, sweetie. We’re all here,” her mom said through tears. “Do you want some water?”
Breeze, my precious Little Whisper, nodded. Just that small movement filled with pain made me want to bring my fucking brother back to life just so I could murder him. I’d never get the image of her bloodied and blue out of my mind. I’d never forget the way Chase held his hand to the wound on her leg, trying to stop the bleeding. I’d never forget the way she passed out on the asphalt.
Mrs. Shirley held up a cup to Breeze’s mouth and let her take a sip. She winced as the room temperature water eased down her throat. “Where am I?”
“The hospital. You’ve been asleep for a while. We’re so lucky Chase carried you out of there in time. You didn’t get burned and have minimal smoke damage to your throat and lungs. Chase and Kai got you out before the fire had a chance to spread.” Mrs. Shirley’s voice broke when she mentioned the fire. “You do have a cracked rib, a stab wound on your thigh, a broken nose and concussion.”
Mrs. Shirley listed the injuries like a skilled nurse, but every item on that gruesome list made me want to punch the wall in. I didn’t even care that Chase fucking Jones got to look like the hero. I was just thankful that she was out of that damn surf shop and that Lex was no longer a problem—as fucked up as that sounded. If I had to choose between family and Breeze, I’d always choose her.
“Lex?” Breeze asked, the lilt in her tone full of questions and fear.
“He’s dead,” I answered. There was no remorse in my tone. “Got trapped in the fire. I couldn’t get him out.”
That was a lie. I probably could have done it. When Celeste told Chase that she saw Breeze leaving the competition with a guy in all black with a scar on his face, Chase found me immediately, and I called everyone on Lex’s client list, threatening them with the cops until someone could give me a clue as to where he was hiding. It wasn’t until one mentioned seeing him driving toward the Surf Shack that we got a decent lead. Chase and I kicked down the front door and stormed inside as flames filled the shop. And when I saw Lex, I acted purely on instinct, pushing over a display of heavy paddle boards to stop him. One of them knocked him out cold. I should have grabbed him. I should have saved his life. But I had someone more precious to worry about.
“H-he told Dad to kill Violet. Violet saw him kill someone. He thought I knew,” she whispered. I didn’t really understand what she was saying, but the machines she was hooked up to started beeping as her heart raced.
I hated myself at that moment. I hated how I had pushed her away, how I let my own guilt get between us. Breeze was taken because of my brother. I couldn’t even stand to be in my own skin, let alone stare at the evidence of her pain. This was my fault. I wasn’t there for her when I needed to be. How could I ever redeem myself after this?
“Shh,” I breathed before stroking her hair. I was a fucking bastard, didn’t deserve the right to touch her like this. Didn’t deserve the right to be here with Chase and Mrs. Shirley. But fuck if I didn’t care. I loved Breeze. I loved her so much, and the idea that she was almost killed was too much.
“You’re here?” Breeze asked me, her eyes filled with confusion and wonder. Of course I was fucking here. The doubt in her eyes made me want to punch something.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I promised, this time meaning it. I was done pushing her away.
She winced, as if in pain, and Mrs. Shirley let out a sigh. “I’m going to give you some medicine. You need more rest.”
“No,” Breeze whispered, but her voice was faint. Within seconds another nurse was waltzing in and administering morphine into Breeze’s IV. It didn’t take long until she was asleep. Mrs. Shirley stared at her daughter for a moment with tears in her eyes. You could practically feel the concern and worry rolling off of her. I felt so badly for her. Her family had suffered so much. With Brian in prison and her daughter in the hospital, I wasn’t sure how much more the poor woman could take.
“Watch her for me?” she asked Chase—I wanted her to ask that of me. The consequences of my distance these last few weeks were tearing me apart. “I’m going to go check on my other patients.”
“Always,” Chase promised. Of course Chase would always watch her. I never imagined the bastard would be the hero of this story, considering just a couple months ago he was a selfish, entitled, destructive drunk. The only reason he wasn’t still on my shit list was because he’d changed for Breeze. I guess she brought out the best in people.
Mrs. Shirley left the room, giving me an opportunity to thank Chase. I might be a jealous fucker, but that didn’t mean I was oblivious to the role he played. Chase saved her. Without him, Breeze could be… “Hey, man, thanks for finding me earlier. When Lex took Breeze.”
“You were our best chance at finding her. I wasn’t going to let whatever is going on with you two get her killed,” Chase said, shrugging his shoulders. Guilt crashed through me like a wrecking ball. In many ways, my involvement was the reason she was here right now. It’s why I tried giving us space before it got to this point. I knew I was bad news. I knew my brother would ruin every good thing in my life, and I wanted to spare Breeze from all the pain. I was pushing her away in some misguided attempt at saving her. Now I wished I hadn’t. “What is going on with you two?” Chase then asked. The nosy motherfucker.
I sighed. I really didn’t want to get into it with Chase, especially not before I could talk about it with Breeze. But I felt like I owed him; he saved her life today. I didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t come to get me when Breeze was taken. I didn’t know what to make of my new acceptance of Chase. Breeze loved him like a brother, but my only experience with family landed us in a hospital room with the love of my life knocked out. I knew that I needed to open up to him. If I wanted to be in Breeze’s life, he was a part of that.
“When Breeze’s dad was arrested, everything really hit me. How completely fucked up the whole situation is. My dead girlfriend was cheating on me with my current girlfriend’s dad who impregnated and then murdered her. On top of that, my brother took a special interest in Breeze, and it reminded me of all the sneaking around with Violet. I didn’t want Breeze to get hurt.” I looked at the floor. Saying it all out loud made it sound
unreal. Saying it to Chase was like rubbing sandpaper on my wounds. He and I had been enemies for so long that any sort of truce went against my very being. Change was a necessary but difficult thing. Hating him was like muscle memory, and I was retraining my hand to not form a fist every time we spoke.
“Yeah, I get it. But Breeze didn’t do anything, she was devastated, and then on top of it, she lost you too. You could have just fucking talked to her. You hid like a pussy. I don’t get how someone that dives headfirst into twelve-foot waves could just run away from the girl he supposedly loves,” Chase said, not breaking eye contact. I endured the verbal slap across the cheek. It stung, but I understood where he was coming from. His loyalty to Breeze made me like Chase even more. We might not have started out as friends, but Chase was—as much as I hated to admit it—a decent guy. He protected and defended Breeze.
“I know. I’m a complete ass for disappearing on Breeze. It wasn’t her fault, and I don’t deserve her forgiveness. I was trying to protect her from Lex, but it was more than just that. I felt so damn guilty every time I looked at her. Everything around us was crashing and burning. Everyone was in so much pain. Everyone around me was affected by at least some part of this shit show. And here I was—am—in love. My first real love. What kind of monster finds total happiness with his murdered girlfriend’s best friend?”
“You need to tell her that,” Chase said, motioning to the bed where Breeze still slept.
“I know, and I will when she is up to it. I just keep picturing her broken and bruised, surrounded by flames. If I had just talked to her at the competition when she tried, she wouldn’t have been alone, she wouldn’t have been taken. I will never forgive myself for that, and I will never let anything come between us again.” Being away from Breeze was torture. I couldn’t stand knowing I hurt her. At the competition, I was two seconds away from grabbing her and devouring her lips. If I could go back and do everything differently, I would. The fear of losing her might have dragged me out of my martyring, but I was already hanging by a thread. I couldn’t breathe without Breeze. I couldn’t exist without her.