by Ellie Hall
“She has her security team handling things and we’re looking after her as well,” Blake assured.
“I wouldn’t be so sure, baby,” Jaxon said, turning his attention to Cece. “I’m not some internet crazy stalking you, and I seemed to get on this island and into your hut, just fine.”
“It’s a cabana, and it’ll be taken care of.” It did alarm her how easily her ex had managed to track her down and get into the resort. She was under the impression that there was high surveillance considering Blake had shot down the drone early on in her stay.
Jaxon paced around. “Yeah, I have no doubt the guy who threatened to kidnap you if you don’t agree to perform at the festival in Chicago at the end of the month and meet him afterward for a romantic rendezvous could easily get ahold of you here.”
She hadn’t heard of that particular issue. “He’s probably just some fanatic. Anyway, there’s nothing I can do to get you back on that tour never mind that it’s almost over.”
“Baby, did you even try?” he asked, stepping toward her. “I’m just looking out for you and your career. It seems like the simple thing to do would just go ahead with it to get him off your back.”
“It’s not up to me,” Cece answered.
“Even if it was, she doesn’t negotiate with maniacs.” Blake, hulking next to reedy Jaxon, angled himself between them.
Jaxon ignored him. “Can we at least talk, in private. I want to say I’m sorry and make it up to you.”
“I don’t need or want your apology or for you to make anything up to me. We’re through, Jaxon.”
“Don’t be that way, baby. I told you I made a mistake. I wasn’t thinking.”
“You broke up with me because I shaved my head.”
“And look, it’s growing back. You look good, baby.”
“Stop calling me baby. I’m not a baby; I’m not your baby. You should leave.”
Jaxon leaned in. “Listen, it’s not just about the threats, the concert, or getting back together. There are rumors. Is this guy actually taking care of you because a lot of people are speculating you and your sister were secretly using drugs? Is he your supplier?”
“This is insane. No. You know that my sister was sick. I cannot believe you’d suggest otherwise.”
“It’s common for people to want to numb the pain after a tragedy.” Jaxon stepped closer.
Cece’s shoulders started to shake. “How dare you come here and suggest—?”
Blake stepped into Jaxon’s path and shoved him backward. “You have nice teeth, Jaxon. A straight nose. You’re a real pretty boy DJ. I don’t believe in negotiating with words. But I’d be happy to knock a few of those teeth out of your mouth. And sorry, no numbing will be offered.”
Jaxon shrank back and craned his head so he could see Cece. “So you’re hooking up with this big thug. What about what we had? We made music together, baby.”
“How did you find me?” Cece asked, ignoring Jaxon’s other comments. She regretted ever texting with him after the breakup.
“Ask your bodyguard here. It wasn’t hard. Took a boat to the island, walked on land. Asked the woman at the front desk where you were staying. Easy as pie.”
Blake groaned.
“Seriously man, your security sucks. I’m actually worried about you, baby. You’re not safe here.”
“She’s always safe with me,” Blake said. “I’ll protect her from the paparazzo, crazy fans, and guys like you.”
Cece felt small, vulnerable, and wasn’t sure what was true.
“Guys like me? I only want what’s best for her. You should think about that if you’re actually her so-called bodyguard and the best you can do is shoot a drone out of the sky.”
“What do you mean? How do you know about that?”
Blake tilted his head ever so slightly in Cece’s direction.
“The photos of you were all over the internet,” Jaxon said simply.
“But there was no mention that Blake shot the drone.”
“Just a lucky guess.”
Something felt off and it wasn’t just that Jaxon had shown up, practically scaring her out of her wits and was trying to win her back. It was obvious all he wanted was his place on what remained of the festival circuit, but she sensed something more going on.
“How did you find me, Jaxon?” She repeated, giving him one more chance to tell the truth.
“I already told you, but it’s not that hard. You’d mentioned you were on an island and there are only so many in the Caribbean.”
“There are roughly seven-thousand islands,” Blake said.
Jaxon shrugged.
She rounded on Blake then, demanding an answer. One of them knew more than they were saying. “How did he find me?”
Blake exhaled. “I let him.” His voice was practically a growl.
The room was quiet for a moment.
“Yeah right, dude. I used the coordinates from the images we transferred from the drone.”
Cece gasped. “You were operating it to get images of me to sell to the paparazzi?”
“No, I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Ironic, since you hardly checked on me while my sister was dying.”
“Listen, baby, I don’t want to fight. I just want to make things right…You can use that line in a song if you want.” He lifted and lowered his eyebrows.
Jaxon was insufferable. “Still trying to use me for your career, huh?”
“I wasn’t using you. What we had was something special, don’t you think?”
“You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” She turned to Blake. “Please see him off the premises, and I recommend you improve your security, Blake.”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t want that guy who threatened to kidnap you if you don’t perform in Chicago.”
Blake tilted his head. “What was his email address again? The Hair something at something dot com?”
“The Hair Forever at EasyEmail dot com.”
Blake’s lips twisted and his eyes gleamed. “How’d you come across that, Jaxon? I was under the impression her security was keeping that detail under wraps to prevent copy cats.”
“I’m part of her life, of course I know things like that.”
“The email was sent after she came here.”
Cece flew into a rage. “How. Did. You. Know?” Was someone on her team leaking information? She had to find out who she could trust.
Jaxon’s face turned deep red as both Cece and Blake stared at him. “It isn’t difficult to find out information like that just like it wasn’t difficult to get on this so-called island sanctuary.” His tone was mocking.
“Wait a minute.” She looked up at Blake. “Something doesn’t add up. You weren’t the least bit surprised when Jaxon walked in.” Were they a secret team, Blake trying to woo her and Jaxon trying to win her back? But why?
Blake’s cockiest grin appeared on his face.
“You said you let him on the property and allowed this to happen. I don’t understand.”
He nodded and shrugged like it was no big deal. “I don’t ordinarily allow idiots like DJ Dirtbag onto my island, but I wanted you to know the truth since you’d still been texting with him all the time. We didn’t assess him to be a threat to your safety, rather, your sanity—especially the whole Chicago concert thing.”
“He’s behind that? Why?” Her mouth dropped.
“So he’d get back on the tour. So he’d be the opening act.”
Jaxon stumbled back. “It’s not what you think. I only wanted to be with you.”
She’d have time to thank Blake later. She strode toward Jaxon. “You disgust me. Leave now. I never want to see you again.”
A man wearing a black T-shirt and black cargo pants appeared in the doorway. “We good, Sir?”
Blake smirked. “You may take him into custody.”
“Wait. You can’t arrest me if you allowed me onto your property.”
“No, but you did threaten an international
pop star, illegally flew a drone, and seriously irked me—” Blake started.
“I wasn’t the one actually flying the drone. I paid someone to do it. Also, there’s no way you can trace the email back to me.”
Blake held up his phone. “Recorded the whole conversation, dude.”
“Looks like you messed with the wrong bodyguard,” Cece said.
Several other men in black stood outside the door. Although she agreed that Jaxon hardly posed a threat, she was glad to see Blake and his team were on task even if they’d hid it from her.
As though reading her thoughts he said, “We try to be discrete and don’t want anything making your stay unpleasant, but since I knew you were still in touch with Jaxon, I wanted you to know the truth.”
“Couldn’t you have just told me?”
“Would you have believed me?”
She shrugged. “Probably not.”
As the rain slowed, the shock and adrenaline from Jaxon’s sudden appearance dwindled and Cece felt sleepy. Tired. She grabbed her phone and mindlessly scrolled, wondering if, or rather when, the incident would make the gossip site rounds.
Blake took her hand and said, “Hey, truth or dare?”
“I’ve definitely had enough truths for one day.”
“Then a dare?” He reached for her hand and gripped tightly. His palm was rough and his fingers strong and felt perfect pressed against hers.
He led her to the beach where the sun played peek-a-boo as it set behind big, puffy clouds.
“I dare you to be here with me. Not on your phone. Not thinking about whatever storms there are in your life. Just be here. Sand beneath us. Water in front of us. The sky above us.” He wiggled closer. “My arm around you.”
Her heart started beating faster and her breathing felt loud in her ears. For so long she was so afraid to sit still. To just be. She feared what thoughts and fears would catch up with her and she’d have to face. But over the summer, she’d lived through it. She was still breathing. In fact, she’d learned to swim, to keep her head above water.
But just as the waves crashed down on her that first day, one came—nothing could change that her sister was gone. Another wave rolled over her, pinning her under. Nothing changed that she was the one who lived. She knew when she left the oasis of the island, more waves would come, each with a reminder of how her sister was no longer there. Hiring a new hairstylist, singing songs at concerts that her sister had helped her with, not having Serena there for big and little moments. What would she do then?
As beautiful and simple of a picture Blake had painted, it just wasn’t that easy for her. She’d tried. For the briefest moment, she’d captured the kind of peace he described, but then her mind tagged her and ran away like a teasing child. Taking away the relief she’d felt when she’d finally cried then wrote the song about Serena. The serenity she’d experienced when she’d gone scuba diving. The joy that Blake had brought into her life. The song that she’d written about them that filled her heart.
She just couldn’t forgive herself for being the one who’d lived.
She felt like she was slowly slipping under and she couldn’t face it because it would break them apart.
The sun vanished and the twilight purples and grays hid her distress, her secret, her silence.
Blake broke it. “I think it’s your turn to ask me, truth or dare.”
She lifted her eyebrows in question.
“I pick dare,” he answered.
“I dare you to make me dinner like you did that first night.”
“Easy.”
She nodded. She knew what was coming. He’d ask her a truth over the meal or afterward or in the days that followed.
Perhaps she wouldn’t be able to tell him the truth, but maybe she could sing it.
Chapter 12
Blake
Back in Cece’s cabana, Blake leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs after they’d both cleaned their plates. The water surrounding the island really did provide the best seafood. He was pleased he’d taken care of the little nuisance with Jaxon and Cece knew the extent of her ex-boyfriend’s deception.
He explained everything as it had occurred, from his team learning Jaxon was involved with the drone, to assigning them to investigate the email from The Hair Forever email, to quickly spotting Jaxon scoping out the island to make his play.
“In a way, because you didn’t tell me right away, you deceived me too,” she said. But her lips were flirtatious, playful.
“I was just doing my job.” They both knew it was more than that. “Up for another round of truth or dare?” He was hoping it involved dessert or was of the kissing variety.
“Tell me the truth about something. Are you just doing your job when you kiss me?”
“No, of course not.” He was more than happy to demonstrate how unprofessional he could be.
“Where are the lines?” She sat straighter, the joking between them slipping away.
“They’ve blurred, Cecelia.” He’d never let himself become romantically involved with a guest at the resort. Nor had he ever developed feelings beyond the physical when he hooked up with a girl. But he had done both with Cece. His feelings for her ran so deep he didn’t know if there was an end, a limit.
She seemed to contemplate his answer.
“My turn. Tell me the truth about us,” he said. Had she asked him the same question, he wouldn’t know how to answer but maybe she could help him understand what was unfamiliar, inexplicable.
She got to her feet, crooked her finger for him to follow, and moved to the couch. An acoustic guitar leaned against the side table. She placed it in her lap, arranged her hands on the strings, and played the opening chord of a song he’d heard faintly emitting from the studio recently.
The lyrics that filled the cabana, threading like a silky ribbon around him, tying themselves into knots were about timing and how two people who’re right for each other could enter each other’s lives at the wrong time. But then they somehow found each other again because it was meant to be.
“You found me. I lost you.
We were two, too early or late but now is new.
Now is forever.
You and me together.
Now is forever. Forever and ever.”
It was the song she mentioned that she’d written about them. There were moments while she sang when emotion was plain on her face, pinching the space around her eyes as she drew inward. At others, her chest lifted with the effort to hit the notes. It was as though her heart was leaping across the space between them and into his hands.
He lost himself in her voice.
He’d lost himself in her.
He never wanted to be found.
When she went quiet and the last chord faded, her eyes were closed and a long, shuddering breath escaped.
“What’s it called?” The words from his mouth were rough, low, gritty, and filled with desire.
“Not Then/Forever Now. It’s a follow-up. A happy ending.” She winked.
He ignored the word ending. His eyes, bright with an invitation into his arms, flicked to hers.
But she didn’t return his gaze.
Seconds turned into minutes.
Blake’s emotions, wildly high and happy, fled, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
The song was about them but given how he’d once broken her heart; he wasn’t sure he deserved a second chance. Maybe that was what she was trying to tell him without realizing it. She was glamour and glitz and hope. He wasn’t built for that kind of life. Living on the island, away from Hawk Ridge Hollow and the attention his family garnered, had taught him about himself. She was always on the road and lived in the spotlight. He preferred stillness and the peace of the sea.
When she opened her eyes, he passed her a small box wrapped in a ribbon.
“What’s this?” she asked, taking it in her hands.
He shrugged. “Just a little something I thought you might like.” He hoped she’d like it.
She tugged at the ribbon and lifted the lid. Her fingers landed on the dolphin charm on the end of a silver necklace. Her eyes filled and she held it up.
“It’s so you always have a reminder of Serena, me, and your strength learning to swim.”
“I love it,” she said, throwing her arms around him.
He welcomed her melting against his chest. He wanted to press pause, capture that. Maybe she should’ve named her song Not Then/Only Right Now. Because truly, that was all they had. They’d both learned that lesson. And even though she was still in the room, he felt like he was losing her.
She sat down next to him. Arms brushing. The edges of their thighs pressed together. But somehow the silence after the song felt like a goodbye.
In the following days, Cece and Blake watched the sunrise and sunsets together. In the time in between, they lounged by the pool, swam, snorkeled, and took full advantage of all the amenities the resort had to offer. It was almost like they were on vacation, but he couldn’t help but feel it was temporary and like all vacations would soon end, end too soon. It was inevitable. Blake didn’t want her to leave, but it wasn’t fair to either for them for her to stay.
On the days when he had to work, he arranged things for her to do: yoga, kayaking, and swimming with dolphins. One day, he had to go to another island for an annual visit with the bank so he set up a spa day for her, complete with a full body massage, seaweed wrap, exfoliation, a facial—the works.
Even though it was dusk when he returned, she was glowing when she emerged from the treatments and met him where he waited for her to join him for dinner.
His misgivings and insecurities came and went like the tides. She was still there. Things would be okay.
“How’d you enjoy your spa day, Cecelia?” he asked as they walked to the restaurant in the main building.
“Why do you call me by my full name?”
Because he loved the way it felt in his mouth, the way it sounded in his ears. She was a song, music. All of her. “Because I like to know that I’m speaking to the real you and not the stage persona.”
They paused on the lantern-lit path. He met her stormy eyes. The corner of his lip lifted in a smirk as he leaned in, ready to kiss the real her.