Redemption (Desire Never Dies)

by Clara Grace Walker

  “She is.” Earl thought of the telephone calls she’d eavesdropped on, his meeting with her in her office, and the way she’d kept moving closer. “Although I think in my case, she wants to make sure her nose is the only one in my business.”

  “Ooh.” Mindy grimaced. “Has she actually tried hitting on you?”

  “Yeah. Lucky me.”

  “You’ll need to use extra caution when you head to the rehab center,” Nick said. “Our little pow-wow last night didn’t go unnoticed. Jim and Dennis kept a close eye on Scott and Mindy during morning calisthenics and breakfast. And Ryan’s been on my tail like a bloodhound. We’re lucky it’s just Rory at the pool today.”

  “We haven’t been careful enough.” The realization killed Earl. He was supposed to be helping Mindy, not endangering her further.

  Nick stared at him, hard and unflinching. “No. We haven’t been. And I should know better. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

  “You’re referring to the time you were held captive here.”

  Nick nodded. His eyes half-closed, he seemed to be re-living the event. “And everything leading up to it. Starting with my wife’s murder. I’ve been around dangerous individuals before. I know better than to let my guard down.”

  “You’re not to blame for any of this,” Earl said. For the first time, he imagined stepping into Nick’s shoes, playing him onscreen. He imagined experiencing the infidelity and murder of a woman he loved and fighting to save another woman he loved from meeting the same fate. He no longer saw a heartless man bent on rumor-mongering, just a man doing his best to get by. “I say we leave the blame where it belongs; with Shirley and her staff.”

  “Nice of you to say.” Nick offered a half-smile. “We should work on a Plan B for you, in case Plan A fails.”

  “I’ll make sure Plan A doesn’t fail,” Earl said, and hoped he was right. “I think I can work my way past Shirley. Maybe I’ll go ask her what Anthony Howard’s doing here.”

  “Anthony’s here?” Mindy’s voice barely masked her alarm. “Why?”

  “I don’t know, but whatever it is, I’m sure I’m not going to like it.” He reached out to stroke her cheek. “You okay?”

  She shrugged. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  She couldn’t possibly expect him to believe that. From her downcast eyes to her hunched shoulders, nothing about her said ‘I’m fine.’ “You’re worried about Anthony Howard,” he said. “You’re battling addiction and you’ve been locked inside the Jim Jones resort instead of an actual treatment facility. I can think of a lot of reasons why you might not be fine, but I’d like you to tell me what’s wrong and stop making me guess.”

  “I’m worried about Anthony.” She answered quickly. A bit too quickly.

  “And?” Earl prodded.

  “And what?”

  “What else?”

  She arched a thin, dark brow at him. “You think I’m not worried about Anthony?”

  “I’m sure you are. But I doubt that’s the only thing bothering you.”

  “Well...it’s like you said, I’m locked in the Jim Jones resort, whoever that is.”

  Nick smirked. “You should have known she’d be too young for that reference.”

  “True,” Earl agreed. “Let’s hope it doesn’t go full-on Jonestown around here.”

  Mindy pursed her lips together, scowling. “What?”

  “Never mind.” Earl waved the subject away with a swipe of his hand. “Forget I mentioned it.”

  “Fine. Why don’t we spend a few minutes talking about something happy instead? How are the kids doing? You haven’t mentioned them since before the phone lines went down.”

  She might as well have smacked him. His gut contracted like he’d just taken a punch, and the pathways connecting his brain to his mouth went dead.

  “What?” Her eyes met his, fear pooling in their emerald depths. “What aren’t you telling me? What’s wrong with my babies?”

  He opened his mouth, but his voice still wasn’t working.

  “Earl! What aren’t you telling me?” Panic pitched her voice higher. “Tell me. Please!”

  Nick gave him a hard look. “Whatever it is, you’d better tell her.”

  “Pretzel’s dead. He got hit by a car.”

  Hell! He hadn’t meant for it to come out like that.

  “What?!”

  The wail tearing from her broke his heart.

  “No!” You were supposed to take care of him. You weren’t supposed to let that happen!”

  Earl tried wrapping his arms around her, but she broke free, curling her arms around herself and shaking. Tears the size of raindrops spilled down her pretty face. Out of the corner of his eye, Earl caught Nick’s disapproving scowl, and he felt like scum. “Mindy, I’m so sorry. It happened the day the phones went down. Pretzel slipped his collar somehow and got past the electric fence and into the street. Carlita was distraught over it.”

  “Don’t you understand?” Her sobs came harder. “You were supposed to take care of him. How could I have been so stupid?”

  Chapter 58

  The world spun in a crazy circle and the ground blurred. Mindy closed her eyes, desperate to block the pain. She never knew anything could hurt so badly. Not Frank; or what he’d done. Not giving the little boy away. Not even losing Earl. The realization that her son, that tiny little bundle she’d held for just a minute might have already lived and died, shattered her.

  “Mindy, I’m sorry.”

  The sound of Earl’s voice brought her back to reality. She sucked back tears and shook. His eyes filled with sympathy. Nick’s too. They both stared at her, their sorrow and their pity painted in quiet expectation on their faces. But it was her fault. She had run off and left someone else to take care of Pretzel, just as she had done with her baby. How much would Earl blame her about Pretzel if he knew she’d done it with her own child, too?

  “I’m sorry,” Earl said again. “I really am. I took care of him as best I could. I never meant for this to happen.”

  She nodded, miserably sucking on her bottom lip, wishing she could dull the pain. All these years she’d imagined her son growing up with a nice family that loved him. It never occurred to her something bad might have happened to him. That he might already be dead. “It’s not your fault,” she said. “I never should have left him. I should have stayed and taken care of him.”

  Nick tilted his head in the direction of the pool. “I’m going to head back now. I think you could use some time alone.”

  As soon as Nick disappeared Earl took Mindy’s face in his hands. “Are you going to be okay?”

  “I’ll be fine,” she lied. All she wanted was to forget. And that was exactly how the drinking had started. Looking for something to take away the pain. But she couldn’t do that anymore. It never really helped anyway. It was like putting on a band-aid when she needed a tourniquet.

  Pressing into Earl, she sought refuge in his arms. Love was the only thing she could think of that might really help her heal.

  Earl pulled her mouth to his, settling a hungry kiss on her. She threw herself into the feel of his lips and his sensuous taste. As he pulled back, she looked into his gentle, blue eyes and wondered if he’d been her salvation all along. “You taste like Heaven,” she whispered.

  He grinned. “Not unless Heaven tastes like a man.”

  “You taste like that, too.”

  She gave into his next kiss completely, molding into the taut planes of his chest and the embrace of his strong arms. While his lips played against hers, the hardened shaft of his desire grew between them. Longing that already stirred in her loins intensified. She wanted him inside her.

  His hand tightened on her backside, pinching slightly into her flesh. “I love you, Mindy. When I make love to you this time, you are going to know it, and never doubt me again.”

  “Earl, I….” She wanted to tell him she had never doubted him, but how could she? It was true. She had never trusted him to completely love her.
All the good parts and all the bad parts, too. She let her words linger in the air and slid her hand down to the hard feel of him in his jeans.

  A low rumble escaped his throat. Grasping the straps of her one-piece bathing suit, he pulled them over her shoulders, skimming his hands over the sides of her breasts as he moved the material downward, allowing it to bunch at her waist. Stopping there, he lightly pinched her nipples, provoking a shudder that started at her breasts and exploded between her thighs. Dampness coated her intimate places, screaming need that sparked and flamed in an instant.

  With primal intensity, Earl pulled her close and squeezed her against him. Coarse strands of chest hair tickled her flesh, mixed with the heady perspiration of skin against skin. Waves of pleasure rippled down her thighs. She wanted more. All of him. As much as he could give.

  He bent down to taste her breasts and Mindy arched her back, moaning and stroking her fingers through his dark hair, threading it through her fingers and gripping tightly, while his tongue drew circles around the pink buds capping her breasts. His mouth and beard bathed her skin in moist, prickly heat, stoking the need burning inside. Already she felt impatient for him to take her. Instead he slid her bathing suit farther down, guiding it over her hips and allowing it to fall to the ground.

  Mindy stepped out of the suit and took Earl’s hand, placing it between her legs. He needed no further coaxing and slipped two fingers inside, penetrating her with his touch. Wetness rushed to greet his intrusion. Mindy pushed forward, rubbing against him. “You’re going to have to undress, too,” she said, her words coming between small, panting breaths. “I’m going to need your clothes to lie down on. And I don’t know how much longer I can wait.”

  “Whatever my lady wants.” He withdrew his fingers, pulled his t-shirt over his head and laid it flat on the ground. Folding her bathing suit, he placed it at the top of the shirt as a make-shift pillow.

  “Go on,” she prodded. “Continue.”

  “Just getting to it.”

  His smile stayed in place while he unbuttoned his jeans, slid down the zipper and stepped out of them. Freed from the confines of the denim, the fullness of his erection sprang to life, teasing Mindy’s need until its flames engulfed her.

  He laid the jeans next to the shirt, making a sweeping gesture with his hand. “Your bedding awaits.”

  The folded swimsuit made a decent pillow and the soft, cotton fabric of the shirt protected her back from the ground, though the growth of vines and ground cover poked beneath her. Under her hips and bottom, the rough texture of the denim sent a delightful chafing against her skin. Her gaze locked with Earl’s as he knelt between her legs, spreading them apart and lowering himself on top of her. Taking his swollen manhood in hand, he pressed the tip against the folds of her opening, pushing slowly inside. The stretch of him entering sent another wave of moistness washing through her as she accommodated his girth.

  He brushed a kiss along her forehead. “You weren’t kidding about being ready.”

  “Let’s not waste time talking.” Grabbing his backside, she pushed him deeper inside. “I don’t want to think about anything. I just want to be with you.”

  He plunged inside, withdrew and thrust all the way in, creating a friction delicious in its intensity. Mindy closed her eyes and let the rest of the world fall away. Whatever else life was going to throw at her; at least she had this moment.

  She moved beneath him, grazing her mouth along the hollow of his shoulder, tasting his passion and perspiration. Hot waves of desire pounded into her, moistening her inside. She was his; in every way that one person could belong to another. Pressing against him she held her breath, allowing the momentary release from living that only their lovemaking could bring.

  Chapter 59

  Depression fogged Jamie’s mood. She could almost bear the imprisonment if it was just her. But it wasn’t just her. And it wasn’t just Maggie. Charlotte and little Isabelle were trapped, too. And they didn’t understand why. The first room they’d been locked in, the bare office, the girls had cried and asked why they couldn’t go to Disney World. The room they’d been moved to at least had a bed, and the girls had curled up on it and gone to sleep.

  Jamie scanned the room, working through escape scenarios; just as she’d done the last time she’d been held captive. She saw nothing but a tragic outcome if they didn’t find a way out.

  “They won’t keep us alive indefinitely,” Maggie said. “We need to come up with an escape plan.”

  Jamie nodded. “I know. I’m having flashbacks of my last abduction.”

  Staring at the tangle of greenery beyond the wall, Maggie rested her head against the glass. “I’ve been having a few flashbacks of my own.”

  Jamie joined her beside the window, the one that wouldn’t open no matter how many times she tugged on it. “Remembering your close encounter of the crazy kind with Andy Clarke?”

  Maggie nodded, letting out a small sigh and pushing strands of black hair away from her face. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  They’d shared that bond all these years, each one held captive by a deranged parent of Taralynn Clarke. Somehow Jamie had spent the last few weeks unaware of its significance, making idle chit-chat, as if being kidnapped and nearly murdered was something so mundane as to not merit a passing comment. “Strange how connected we’ve been all these years. You with Andy and me with his wife and her bosom buddy.”

  Sadness misted Maggie’s eyes. “I should have asked how you were doing. I suppose I just didn’t want to relive my own kidnapping.”

  “No need to apologize.” Jamie turned her back to the wall and leaned against it, listening to the soft breathing of their sleeping daughters. “I never asked how you were doing for the very same reason. Though I’m starting to wonder if I have some bull’s eye painted on me that only whack jobs can see.”

  Maggie mustered a small laugh. “That’s funny. And sadly, true. It took me two years and a lot of therapy to stop having nightmares.”

  Jamie nodded. “It took me three years and a lot of therapy. I thought the knot in my stomach might be a permanent feature.” She thought for a moment, dredging up the unwanted details of her last ordeal. “What’s really ironic is that my last kidnapping took place here, too. Key Largo must be cursed.”

  Maggie laughed. “You know I live here, right?”

  “I know. Must be why we’ve never visited.”

  “Really?” Maggie grinned. “I thought it was because Preston and Nick didn’t like each other.”

  They both laughed then, long and hard, like they were two ladies out having lunch. They laughed until Jamie thought the guards outside their door must be questioning their sanity, and she feared they’d wake the girls. “My God,” Jamie gasped. “What a pair we must make.”

  Maggie sucked in her giggles. “My last kidnapping was on Lone Pine Key. And do you realize how sad it is we can both say the phrase my last kidnapping with a straight face?”

  Jamie nodded, her thoughts turning once more to escape. “We should compare notes. How did you get away from Andy Clarke?”

  A frown creased Maggie’s otherwise flawless face. “Andy had me drugged. I’m afraid most of the credit for my rescue goes to Preston. You took a more active role in your rescue, as I recall.”

  Jamie grinned. “Stabbed Pearl Watson with a hypodermic full of methadone.”

  “Good job.”

  They exchanged high-fives.

  “Thanks. Would’ve been better if she hadn’t shot Nick though.”

  “At least she only hit him in the arm.”

  “That’s what I tell him whenever he teases me about it.”

  Maggie smiled. “I knew you loved him when you came to see me that day in Palm Beach after Patrice died.”

  Jamie remembered that visit well. She’d still been fighting the attraction. “I thought you were a sappy romantic.”

  “That I am.” Maggie poked at the window in front of her. “What do you suppose will happen if we try breakin
g the glass and climbing through the window?”

  Jamie pointed at the door on the other side of the room. “I think Dennis will bust in and start shooting. Or is that one Jerry? I never did figure out which one was which.”

  “Hell if I know. I’m pretty sure they’re both trigger happy.”

  Jamie stared out the window. “If it were just the two of us, I’d be tempted to try, but there’s no way we’d get the girls out in time.”

  Maggie glanced over at them, curled together like little angels. “You’re right. We’ll have to think of something else.”

  Jamie surveyed their surroundings. Nothing inside but a bed, two pillows and a couple of blankets. The adjoining bathroom contained only toilet paper. And there was the metal fencing surrounding CRC, and the video cameras. And the armed guard at the gate. Making their way to freedom would prove tricky even if they did get out the window. “If I’d listened to my gut, I’d have forgotten about our phones and laptops, bulldozed past that girl at the front desk and told her to stuff her damn paperwork.

  Maggie placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault. I wasn’t really buying that story of hers either, but I followed her into that room right along with you. Besides, if we’d tried making a break for it we’d have just met up with the barrel of a gun a little sooner.”

  “I suppose.” Knowing Maggie was right didn’t make her feel any better. She continued searching for a way she could have avoided the trap.

  “Stop doing that,” Maggie said.

  “Doing what?”

  “Going through all the what-ifs. That falls into the category of circumstances beyond your control.”

  “You should have told me you were a mind reader.”

  “It’s not much of a trick. I’ve been having those thoughts myself.”

  “You?”

  “Don’t let the calm and collected act fool you. Inside I’m a blubbering mess.”

  Though it made little sense, knowing she wasn’t the only one on the verge of falling apart made Jamie feel stronger. She hugged Maggie. “Between the two of us, I think we can outsmart these idiots.”