by Tamara Lush
She puts her hand on the back of my shoulder and eases me forward. Surely she can feel me shaking all over. “Let’s get you some water.”
I don’t know how I even make it over to her car. My fingers and hands are so sweaty that I can’t open the bottle of water and Sgt. Lawrence does it for me. I don’t know how I drink or swallow and eventually, I slump against the cruiser, defeated.
As a thousand questions run through my mind, I settle on one: what if the person who sent the photos of me naked is the same person who is holding Diego hostage? Since I’m on the other side of the driveway now, I have a clear view of the open front door and can see cops milling inside.
I look around for the sergeant but don’t see her. Then, a voice booms from the driveway: “ALL CLEAR.”
Dozens of SWAT-gear clad men come streaming out of the house. They stand around the driveway and in the blocked off part of the street, chatting and laughing. Another cop takes down the crime scene tape. What the fuck?
And that’s when I see Zelda. She pokes her head out the door and spies me. Excited, she shoots out the door and past two cops. I barrel toward her and scoop her up, sobbing, pressing my face into her fur.
I look up and there he is. Diego. He steps out the front door and squints into the sun. I let out a cry and sprint toward him, the dog in my arms.
“Hey,” one cop yells.
“Diego,” I shriek, and nearly knock him over when I throw myself onto his body.
“Cata?” He repeats my name over and over as he hugs both me and Zelda.
“What happened?” I sob. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine. Hey, it’s okay. Please don’t cry.”
I’m hysterical.
“Cata, we were swatted.”
I pull back to look at him.
“Someone called the cops on us, told them we had a hostage situation here. I was playing Call of Duty when they busted in. It was scary as hell. We were live when it happened.”
It must have been terrifying, because he was still trembling. Maybe more than me. I hug him again, tight.
“Are you okay?”
“What are you doing here?” he murmurs.
“I came back for you. Are you okay?”
He kisses my temple. “I’m okay. Shaken up. You came back for me?”
I nod and cry more, unable to talk.
“Let’s go inside. The cops still want to talk to me. But we don’t have to stand here in the doorway.”
Diego takes my hand and leads me inside. “Officer, we’ll be in here,” he says and points to the kitchen. He mutters something about how he hopes the cops don’t find Liam’s weed. But I don’t care about that, or Liam, or anything, now.
All that matters is Diego. And he’s okay. We’re alone now, and I can’t stop crying. I put the dog down and she sits at my feet.
“I almost lost you,” I blubber. “You and Zelda.”
“No, Cata. You didn’t. You’ll never lose me.”
He cradles my face in his hands and kisses me, slow and deep. I break away.
“I’m sorry for leaving like that. It was so wrong. I realize that, that, I love you.”
“I love you too, Catalina.”
“I want to make this work. I want us. If you’ll have me back. I should have trusted you on your word.”
Diego nods. “I do want us. And you have nothing to apologize for.”
We’re kissing when a cop pokes his head in the door.
“Sir? We need to have a word with you.”
“Wait, Diego? Officer?” I say. “I think I have a clue about who might have done this.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
DIEGO
I keep my hand on Cata’s back as she talks to the cop. I can tell she’s nervous by the way she keeps biting her thumbnail.
“I think this all started when we were in high school,” she says.
The cop gives her a stern look.
“Diego and I have known each other for that long. We were high school friends. Sweethearts,” she says, quickly. I fight back a grin.
“The summer after graduation, I sent him photos of me. Naked photos.” She takes a deep breath and looks at the floor. “They were supposed to be for him only, but he accidentally left his phone at work, and someone found the photos and spread them around to all the kids on the island.”
The cop nodded slowly. “Okay … and what does this have to do with today’s incident?”
“I think that one of the guys who got the photos had a crush on me. Maybe he even took Diego’s phone back then. I don’t know. His name is Jake. He was another gamer. He asked me to a dance my freshman year, and I said no.”
I broke in, not quite picking up what Cata was putting down. “He was an acquaintance in high school, but he didn’t have anything to do with the photos.”
The cop looked more confused than ever.
Cata’s voice rises a half-octave. “He had a crush on me in high school. And now he games for Diego on the weekends.”
The cop shakes his head. “You mean, games with?”
“No,” I say quickly. “We play video games here for an online audience. Jake’s a fill in gamer.”
“You get paid for playing video games?” The cop asks, skeptical.
“Um, yeah,” I mutter.
“Anyway,” Cata interjects, “I think he’s had my photos all this time. And I think he’s jealous of Diego because of a business deal. He’s really the one you should be looking at. Search his computer. You’ll see.”
“You think Jake would swat me?” I turn to Catalina.
“Yes,” she says. “Have you told him about the deal?”
I shrug. “I mentioned something before I went to Miami. Uh, he did kind of assume he’d go with me to Miami to meet with Sahara. But when I told him you were going, he seemed fine with it. I don’t know. I guess.”
Cata squeezes my arm and addresses the cop. “Sometimes my boyfriend doesn’t read social cues that well. Jake definitely needs to be investigated.”
“Now that I think about it, he did have a lot of questions about the deal.” I frown. It never occurred to me not to trust Jake. I thought he was a buddy, one of the inner circle.
“Okay, give me his details, and we’ll check it out. We might be able to get him for threatening you, and definitely for filing a false police report for today’s little stunt if he’s responsible. That could have gotten you all killed,” the cop says.
I can see tears well in Cata’s eyes. She blinks and looks down.
“You guys were totally professional,” I say, trying to be calm and soothe Cata by rubbing her back. “You were doing your job.”
The cop nods. “Thanks. We’ll be leaving soon, I want to talk to those other guys that were here when we busted in.”
The cop walks out, and I exhale. All of the adrenaline leaves my body, and all I want is to lie down next to Cata and sleep for days.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
CATALINA
I curl up next to Diego on the sofa in the office upstairs. Now I don’t care whether Sawyer and Liam see that we’re together.
“It’s totally Jake,” Sawyer says, pacing. “He asked me a ton of questions about Catalina the other day.”
“He did?” Diego’s voice is harsh. “Like what?”
“Whether she was gone for good, when she was coming back, if you guys had a fight. I told him I didn’t know anything.”
“Did he say anything else?”
“He asked me if I wanted to see the photos of you,” Sawyer blurts. He looks embarrassed.
“What?” Diego moves to rise from the sofa, but I pull him toward me, trying to calm him. He’s clenching his fists.
“I told him to fuck off,” Sawyer says. “He said that it was quite the scandal when you guys were younger and that he’s kept the photos ever since. He seemed to be offended that you’d take Cata to Miami to meet with Sahara and not him.”
“That dude always thought he knew more tha
n us,” Liam interjects. “I always thought he was kind of arrogant.”
“That motherfucker,” Diego growls. “That motherfucker.”
“You need to tell the cops this,” I say, swinging my legs over the side of the sofa. I scramble to my feet and walk to my desk so I can find the card with the detective’s number.
“Here,” I hand the card to Liam. He nods and grins.
“Actually, I have the number. That Sgt. Lawrence gave it to me.”
“Thank God she didn’t find any of your stash, bro,” Sawyer says. Liam grins. “Did you guys think that sergeant was kind of cute?”
I sink next to Diego again, relieved to be talking about something other than the photos of me and the swatting. “Now I know things are back to normal. Liam, tell us about flirting with that Palmira Police sergeant. How are you going to work that into your show?”
Diego squeezes my leg as the guys talk about the feasibility of Liam, of all people, dating a cop. Then Diego leans in and whispers in my ear.
“I missed you,” he says, making me melt once again.
Diego and I are sleeping when the detective calls the next morning.
“We arrested Jake,” the cop says. “It was him. We traced his cell phone records to the 911 call that came into dispatch about the alleged hostage situation. And we found photos of you, similar to the ones sent to you and Diego, printed out in his room. Once we started to question him, he confessed.”
I sink into the bed, relieved. Thanking the detective, I hang up then shake Diego awake.
“They arrested Jake,” I say.
Diego opens his eyes and stares at me.
“He’s in jail.”
“Good.”
I lean down and kiss Diego, not caring that we haven't brushed our teeth.
“I love you, Diego Rodriguez."
“And I love you, Kitty-with-the-beautiful-eyes.”
Epilogue
TWO MONTHS LATER
DIEGO
We’re on the beach at dawn. Even though we celebrated the half-billion dollar deal with Sahara at the Iguana with our friends, we’re up early. It’s my first day I’m officially free of Gamerhouse and in my mind, the first day of the rest of my life with Cata.
“Want to start with a sprint?” she asks.
“One…two…three, GO!” I yell.
We race down the semi-dark beach, laughing. Zelda’s nipping at our heels. Once we reach the rock jetty we all stop to catch our breath.
She reaches up to stretch, laughing as she reaches to the indigo sky. I grab her roughly in a hug and spin her around and Zelda barks twice.
“What are we going to do with all of our free time now that we don’t have Gamerhouse?” she asks.
“I have some ideas.” I set her down and kiss her forehead. The sun’s coming up.
“I do, too,” she laughs. We begin walking back toward the mansion. It’s not mine anymore. I signed the deed over to Sahara. I’m officially a homeless millionaire. It feels beyond weird to even think that. I almost don’t even want to say the words out loud. Like my good luck could all evaporate like the mist that’s in the air on the beach this morning.
I squeeze her hand. “Seriously. I have a plan. For the next month, anyway.”
She squeezes back. “And that plan is?”
“I’m taking you on a road trip. Out west. Go to Graceland. Maybe the Grand Canyon. Look at the stars, the mountains, anywhere you want.”
Cata pauses and stares, serious.
“What?” I ask.
“A road trip? What about Zelda?”
I shrug. “She’s coming with us. It’s why I traded in the Porsche SUV last week for that hybrid SUV. Better gas mileage.”
She squeals and wraps her arms around me. She stops and untangles her fingers from mine. “Really?”
“Yeah, baby. I wanted it to be a surprise. But I couldn’t resist telling you. We leave tomorrow. I mean, if you want.”
Cata does a little dance, then hugs me. “AHHHH! Thank you! You’re pretty amazing, have I told you that today? What’s after the road trip?”
With her arms still around my neck, she pulls back. The little crease in between her brows is back. I can tell she’s worried. About us. Our future.
“Where will you go?” Her voice is low.
I study at her. The sun’s peeking over the horizon now, a creamsicle kiss on the placid water. It makes Cata’s hair sparkle with threads of white gold. Like I imagine an angel’s hair would look.
“You mean, where will we go? You, me and Zelda?”
She smiles a little, then nods.
“Does it matter where, if we’re together?”
She shakes her head. “I’d go anywhere with you.”
I grab her by the waist and she lets out a loud giggle. Wraps her arms around me.
“You aren’t going to mind dropping out for a while? You won’t be a big-time gaming celebrity.”
I shake my head.
“You won’t miss being online day and night?”
I shake my head again. “I’m sick of being indoors. I want to live in the real world. I have for a while, I haven’t had anyone to be real with. Until now.”
“I love you, sweet boy.”
I reach for her and bury my face in her waves. A mist of Gulf water hits my bare arms, cooling my skin. I hug her tighter when I think about everything we’ve been through in the past few weeks. Everything that brought us together, and all that drove us apart.
“How about we go someplace really remote? Someplace without internet access. Someplace we can totally unplug.”
She giggles and rains kisses on my neck. “Is there such a place?”
My body tingles from her low murmur and I draw her closer.
“If there is, I think it should be our mission to find it.”
THE END
Also by Tamara Lush
THE STORY SERIES
The Story Series-THE COMPLETE NOVEL (Episodes 1-5)
Tell Me a Fantasy: Episode 6 (A standalone novella)
BURNING SECRETS SERIES
Hot Shade
Into the Heat
Hot Fix
Constant Craving (November 2017)
Find links to all of Tamara’s books on her website: www.tamaralush.com
About the Author
Tamara Lush was born in California and raised in Vermont. She graduated from Emerson College with a degree in broadcast journalism.
For the last several years, she’s worked as a reporter and is currently a correspondent in Florida with The Associated Press. She lives with her Italian husband and two dogs on the Gulf Coast. She was recently chosen as one of 24 writers for the Amtrak Residency program, and in 2017, she'll be riding trains and writing romance.
Published in September of 2015, her debut novel HOT SHADE received four stars from RT Book Reviews. Her most recent work, a serial novel called TELL ME A STORY, has "an engaging voice, sexy heroes and heroines and a wry sense of humor,” according to New York Times bestselling author Beth Kery.
Tamara is a fan of vintage pulp fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, 1980s fashion, tropical chill, kombucha, gin, tonic, beaches, iPhones, Art Deco, telenovelas, coloring books, street art, coconut anything, strong coffee and newspapers.
www.tamaralush.com
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