by Cyndi Raye
Yet another person he loved abandoned him.
After spending two days straight in the hospital and getting no answer to his phone calls and texts, he went in search of Angela only to be confronted by Mr. Dalton. With a self-satisfied smirk, her adopted father told Ben that Angela wanted nothing more to do with him and she moved to another city to put space between them.
He did not want to believe what the old man said but what else was he to think when her actions supported his claims?
Ben was almost certain she had shared his feelings. That she wanted a future with him.
How could he have been so wrong?
He should have known better than to open himself up to that hurt. The people he let into his heart always left him alone, one way or the other.
Still, he longed for her. She showed up in his dreams until he forfeited sleep just so he was not tortured by the image of her. Even while he was awake, he saw her.
Like now. He turned his head and she was standing next to him, looking soft and sexy in a baby blue tank top and Jean shorts.
"Ben." She said his name and touched his arm, dispelling the notion that this was a figment of his imagination.
“Ah, mystery solved,” Cole mused.
Ben wanted nothing more than to take Angela in his arms and forget the heartbreak he suffered the last few days. Instead, he pulled out a few dollars to pay for the beer he started drinking.
"Catch you later, Cole," he said and turned away from woman he loved.
He was tired of being the one left in the dust.
This time he would be the one to walk away first.
***
Angela almost doubled over in pain as Ben walked by her and left.
She stood still for several moments, frozen by fear and hurt. The partying throng continued around her as if nothing happened.
She took her sibling’s advice and began to rebuild her life. She had returned to Boot Key Harbor today and was in the process of securing a new apartment. Retrieving her cell phone from her old cottage, where her things were packed at the front door waiting on her to pick up, there were a few surprises in store. Angela uncovered that she had been offered a higher paying job at one of QTY Channel 14’s major competitors after word of her dismissal got out.
It had also revealed the texts and calls she had missed from Ben.
She came here tonight intending to explain to Ben what had happened. She hoped they would fall into each other’s arm and ride off into the sunset in typical happily ever after fashion when the discussion was done.
She had not counted on the closed off look she encountered in Ben’s eyes. She had caused this distance between them by running away instead of fighting for their relationship.
"Are you going to let him walk away?"
She looked over to Cole when he spoke. He was leaning against the bar, sipping on a beer and watching her with the quiet intensity she associated with him.
When she did not answer right away, he pressed, “Well, are you?”
No. She was done running away. No matter what, Angela Dalton was a fighter. She had not been acting the part recently but she was back in warrior form.
She turned around without answering and followed the man she planned to spend the rest of her life with. They were due for a serious talk and there was no better time than now.
She caught up with him just as he was boarding the dingy to take him to his sailboat. She rushed in and refused to budge even when he repeated for the umpteenth time, “We have nothing left to say to each other. Get off, Angela.”
“I am not going anywhere until we talk so get moving, mister. I’m going with you to your sailboat.”
He gave her a hard look and she returned it. They stared each other down until he started the engine and took them to his home on the water.
On-board, he stood apart from her as she explained the events that led to her actions the best she could. She moved into his arms, caressing his stiff body and touching her lips to his. She feared his rejection but a life without him in it was inconceivable.
“I have wanted to be with you for a long time but I was too scared of getting my heart broken to do something about it. Well, I’m not afraid any more. Maybe we were not ready to be together before but I can’t go another day without waking up with you next to me. I want to build a home with you and fill it with lots of babies with your smile and my eyes. I love you, Ben Trooper, with all my heart. Please say you want the same things.”
A shudder racked his body with those last words and his arms suddenly tightened around her.
“Damn, Angela. I want to stay mad and tell you to go away but I understand why you ran. I treated you wrong before and I don’t have the most outstanding record with women but I promise you, those days are behind me." He kissed her lips, slowly and thoroughly. “I love you too, now and for always. Marry me?”
"Yes," Angela answered, taking Boot Key Harbor's number one bad boy off the market.
- Keep reading for Cole’s story -
Cole
Chapter One
The rain beat a steady tattoo against the window. The drops ran into each other before sliding down the transparent plane.
Callie Tucker was curled into the nook of the window. Dressed in boy shorts and a worn tank top, her feet were tucked underneath a cushion and her favorite guitar rested against her thigh. The tiny bungalow was cozy, the closest thing to home she had, with furnishings and décor that were rustic and comfortable.
Most people knew her as Lexi, her stage name. When she performed, she was a diva extraordinaire with a big voice and an even bigger personality. That persona drew the crowd in and made them pant on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what she would do next.
In the end, it was just that. A performance. A fabrication for show.
When she was at home, make-up and stage clothes stripped away, she was plain ole Callie, a young introvert who happened to love singing and playing the guitar. Normally, Callie enjoyed a night like this, alone with her guitar with the rain beating down on the metal roof over her head. It usually centered her and brought a sense of peace.
Tonight, there was only grief and loneliness. Her mother died a few days ago. It was on a night just like this where nature howled and raged to match the feelings of injustice that crushed her heart.
It had been Callie and her mom for years. Callie’s father had left the two before Callie was born and had only contacted her once. On Callie’s sixteenth birthday, he showed up at the sweet sixteen party with a half-assed apology and all the reasons why it was better he left them all these years ago. The apology had not reached his eyes and he gave the waitress at the restaurant where the party was hosted more attention than he did her.
She had been disappointed and hurt by his nonchalance. Callie had never admitted it to her mother but she missed the male figure in her life sometimes. She had even fantasied about reuniting with the man whose seed brought her life.
In her mind, there would have been shared tears but he would have realized that he was missing out on a good thing and tried to be part of their lives.
He pulled another disappearing act the very next day and had not been seen or heard from again.
All that had been left of his impromptu presence was a brown teddy bear and a greeting card proclaiming Happy Sweet Sixteen.
Callie had dumped the gift and vowed never to fall for a man's false promises again.
Her mother was the best parent anyone could ask for and she focused on appreciating her instead of focusing on someone who did not deserve even her thoughts.
Regina had been a successful travel journalist and so the two females moved a lot. Their adventures took them all over the United States and beyond.
Callie discovered her musical talent early and she got to perform in several famous cities around the world as the infamous Lexi.
They were living the dream but it turned into a nightmare when her mom got involved with another man with a slick t
ongue backed by no action.
Tony Dennison had seemed like a decent man for about a year. Then he became controlling and abusing. Regina did not leave the toxic relationship right away but finding out he was running a drug ring from the basement of the house they occupied at the time opened her eyes. Regina called the cops on him and he was arrested.
Callie thought they would finally be free to enjoy their lives but a sandy-haired doctor destroyed that hope. A few months ago, Regina was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. The news took away the light Callie always associated with her mother. Regina always had a mysterious quality that drew people in. No matter what hardships she faced, she always smiled. Even through her relationship with Tony that smile did not falter.
Going through treatment took away Regina’s signature grin and replaced it with a cheap imitation. The hardest part of watching her mother succumb to cancer was not watching the deterioration of her body. It was watching her spirit die.
Given the advanced stage of the disease, they spent most of the last eight months in the hospital. It was fighting a losing battle though. None of the treatments were working and the toll on Regina’s body was visible.
Callie was lying next to her mother in the hospital bed when she died.
She placed the wooden instrument against her stomach, closed her eyes and played for Regina. Words left her mouth, a tribute to the woman who raised Callie on her own.
She wrote the song months ago while watching Regina struggle through chemo. The music flowed and swelled, drowning out the sounds of the storm outside.
The tempest inside made Callie feel like she was somehow connected to her mother. Even knowing it was an illusion, still, she clung to it. Her voice rose and her fingers strummed the instrument faster.
The music slid over her, under her and through her, engulfing Callie completely. The rest of the world fell into nothingness. It was just her and the music.
Sorrow took away the harmony suddenly and great big sobs shook Callie’s frame, leaving her voiceless and immobile. The guitar fell to the floor, the violent manifestation of her sadness pushing it off. Her guitar was her baby yet she couldn’t bring herself to care. She curled into herself.
When the tempest passed, she was numb. She fell asleep that way, welcoming the darkness that pushed her past this hollow consciousness.
Hours later, the darkness was interrupted by a sixth sense that told her she was no longer alone.
Her eyes flew open to find a male figure standing over her, cloaked by the night.
Callie's heart kicked into overdrive, her fight or flight response awakened. She did not get a change to do either. Her assailant used his greater weight and strength to subdue her before slapping a wet cloth over her mouth and nose. She struggled against her confines but it was futile. Her limbs and eyes grew heavy. Her last thought was that she should have taken the threats she received in the last few weeks a bit more seriously.
****
The pungent smell of gasoline stung Callie's nostrils and she snapped awake. Her eyes watered from the high concentration as she tried to figure out where she was.
The softness beneath her said she was lying in her bed.
Her head hurt like a hammer had been taken to it. She automatically lifted her hand but lethargy lingered. She only got it a few inches off the bed before dropping it in exhaustion.
She remembered the events leading up to this moment as she laid back, trying to gain her mental balance. Panic made her heart race and her breath came in rushed puffs.
A movement out of the corner of her eye had calmness crashing over her. There was someone standing a few feet away.
"Is someone there?" She asked, her voice emerging as a croak. "Please, help me!"
She strained to see who was there.
The person came closer, standing next to the bed. It was too dark to make out facial features or clothing but she could tell the figure was tall and bulky.
She recognized the outline as the person who drugged her and tried to shrink back even if there was nowhere to go.
Panic came back full force and fear licked at her spine. This person was here to hurt her.
"You're awake already? I thought that chloroform would have knocked you out for hours. It would have been merciful if you slept through what I have planned for you. Ah, well..." the voice came out of the darkness.
The tone was relaxed, as if this person did not intend to harm her.
White teeth flashed. "You should have taken heed to the warnings and left things that don't concern you alone, Callie girl."
Callie girl. There was only one person who called her that and she was scheduled to testify against him in court in a few weeks. Her mother had him arrested but somehow he made it out on bail. She did not need to see the man’s face to know his identity.
"Don’t do this," she implored.
The voice became hard. “No one crosses me and lives to tell about it. You’re a fine example to anyone else who thinks to do the same.”
With those parting words, Callie's tormentor turned and walked out of the bedroom.
"Tony, you bastard. Don’t add murder to your list of crimes. Let me go. ”
He stopped and she thought that she had gotten through to him.
The scrape of a matchstick echoed and dispelled that hope.
“Too late, Callie girl.”
Callie felt her pupils dilate as she watched the flame grow. The man held the stick away from his body then threw it toward the bed.
First there was silence. Then came the hiss and crackle of fire coming to life. Fed by the flammable liquid, the flames quickly surrounded the bed. As it grew, it cast an orange hue over everything.
“Please,” she screamed, her voice growing stronger in her hysteria.
Her pleas fell on deaf ears because her tormentor had already disappeared.
She kept on screaming, hoping the neighbors would hear and come to her rescue.
The blaze snapped, popped and roared, drowning out her calls. She never knew that fire was so loud. It swallowed her cries, twisted them in pitiful murmurs before spitting monstrous heat at her.
No one would hear her. No one would come to her rescue.
Her mother did not raise a quitter though. She would save herself.
It took all her strength to push up onto her elbows. Her feet were slower to respond so she pushed herself off the right side of the bed in a gap between the flames.
She landed hard, a throbbing pain shooting from her right shoulder and hip. She gasped from it but only swallowed smoke.
Hacking coughs choked her but she pushed forward, ignoring the pain. She used her arms and elbows to propel herself onward. She was not quick enough to completely dodge the menacing heat but eventually made it past the bedroom’s threshold.
To her dismay the flames were higher and bigger in the living room and kitchen. Everything was being consumed. The couch, table, refrigerator, stove, everything in her wake.
One of the beams supporting the ceiling caved. It fell just ahead of her and spit sparks at her.
Her chest hurt from trying to find clean air and her skin at once felt too tight, like it was melting.
She tried to continue going but her body no longer heeded her commands. She collapsed against the hot wood, coughing and praying. She thought she saw the front door burst in and a figure step through but surely it was a hallucination.
Her eyes became too heavy to keep open and her vision went dark.
****
Callie sprung awake at the boom of thunder. Icy shards of water pricked her skin and rain tortured her tender flesh.
“Argh!” she screamed.
The discomfort became secondary when she realized she was surrounded by male arms.
She fought against the confinement. There was loud roaring in her ears and all she knew was the need to get away. Even though her eyes were open, her vision was littered by multi-colored dots.
“Ma’am, please, calm down,” a voic
e penetrated her panic like static from a dysfunctional radio. “Fire Department.”
Her eyes caught up to her hearing, her peripheral shrouded in grey. She saw enough to make out a red and yellow vest. The man was talking to her, his lips moving beneath a tidy moustache. His eyes were kind and the fight left her body.
Her hearing went from sporadic to overly loud. Men were shouting and she saw more firemen battling the fire destroying her temporary home. The rain slapped the asphalt in rapid taps. Despite the help of Mother Nature, the fire was still large and menacing.
“You’re okay now, Ma’am. Everything is going to be okay,” the fire fighter holding her said.
She wanted to believe him.
No one crosses me and lives to tell about it.
The words echoed in her head and she knew that the attempt on her life that night was just the beginning.
Chapter 2
Cole Brown sipped his beer, listening to the laughter and ribbing thrown around the group gathered at Lenny’s Bar and Grill, the local hotspot in Boot Key Harbor. Everyone was in high spirits since their friend and co-worker, Zach Cody, was being released from Fisherman's Hospital the next day.
Zach was the youngest member of the dive team called BKH Bad Boys. The company specialized in ensuring underwater assets were protected against explosives. They also executed the removal of explosive material from underwater property, which was how Zach got injured a few weeks prior.
A teenager with too much time on his hands and something to prove to his friends had rigged the underwater columns of a nearby overwater resort with explosives. The team had not gotten to the site in time to defuse the bomb and Zach had gotten caught in the explosion.
Seeing a team member hurt had affected everyone, most likely bringing back similar memories of their times overseas. It was touch and go with Zach for several days after the incident but with some physical therapy he would be almost as good as new soon.