Never Leave a Rockstar (Never Trust Book 4)

by Sarah Darlington

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “You heard me—no. You’re going to have to shoot me first. I’m not going anywhere.”

  A gun fired. Not the girl’s gun, but a second gun. I jumped at the sound, the wooden boards close to my feet splintering. Someone else had shot at me. Holy shit. Stunned, I looked up—there was man standing on the top deck of my boat. He had the other gun. He had it pointed at me. He’d narrowly missed my feet. “Get the fuck on the boat. Use the duct tape like she asked.”

  I swallowed. The chubby man looked strung out and high. I could see him shaking from where I stood. He could have easily just shot me.

  Fuck!

  This just went from bad to worse.

  Leaving without Luce was the last thing I wanted. Was she safer stranded or safer if I demanded she come with these idiots? And then, from the corner of my eye, I saw her. A small glimpse of her blue bathing suit as she pulled herself from the water silently, climbing the back ladder onto my sundeck. She moved fast, neither girl noticing, and she disappeared into the living room.

  I closed my eyes, taking a breath.

  Shit, Luce. I couldn’t believe she’d just done that.

  “Fine,” I said. “Fine. I’ll come. I can wire transfer you some money. Or if you want to do it the old-fashioned way, I’m sure my brothers will pay my ransom and we can move past this without anyone having to shoot anyone, okay?”

  “Just get on the boat, Ollie.” April pushed at my shoulder. I moved, slowly, trying to give Luce time to hide. Fuck, I wish she would have just stayed put on the island.

  I was terrified.

  Not for my own life, but for hers.

  Goodbye island.

  Goodbye paradise.

  Because the island suddenly seemed a lot closer to paradise than the mess I knew I had in front of me.

  ~ CHAPTER 18 ~

  LUCE

  Well, this was just fucking peachy. I stood behind a bunch of clothes, in Ollie’s closest, clueless as to what to do next. The last time I’d been on his boat, the topless girl had grabbed me and over-powered me. She’d pushed me off the top deck when I’d tried to help Ollie the first time around.

  I wouldn’t be so stupid twice.

  But for now—all I’d done in the past hour was hide in his closet. At the very least, I’d changed out of my wet swimming suit. I’d been wearing it a week straight. So when faced with all his clothes, I’d slipped on a shirt and a pair of Ollie’s boxer briefs I’d found in his closet. I’d tried his shorts, but they kept slipping off. I could tell I’d lost some serious weight on the island judging by that alone.

  Then about ten minutes ago, I heard movement and commotion out in Ollie’s room. It was silent now, and I needed to take a peek. Get my bearings. Inching the door open, I snuck a glimpse at Ollie’s bedroom.

  Holy crap.

  There wasn’t much to his room. Just some circle windows showing off the ocean, and one king-sized bed. They’d duct taped Ollie to that bed. Jesus—about four pieces across his mouth, his legs bound together, and his hands taped to the headboard. These girls weren’t joking around.

  Feeling a little panicked, I tiptoed across the room straight to Ollie. His brown eyes were wide and on mine. The way he looked at me, I knew what he was thinking…

  Get back in the closet.

  Hell no.

  I couldn’t leave him like this.

  I grabbed a corner of duct tape that covered his mouth, and I ripped it hard and fast. He scrunched his face in pain. So much pain. I’d taken a patch of his beard along with the tape.

  “I’m sorry. Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” I moved onto the bed, tucking my legs under my body, trying to get closer to him. That had to have hurt. I hadn’t meant to hurt him.

  “Go hide,” he whispered.

  “I’m gonna get you out.” I tried to pull at the duct tape on his hands. They were wrapped so tight; his hands were turning white. I’d need a knife to get them free. Dammit. Sweat trickled down my back. My stomach was in knots. I didn’t know where the girls were on the boat or when they might come back.

  I tried harder to pull at the tape on his wrists. It wasn’t budging.

  “Luce, look at me.”

  Tears began rolling down my cheeks. I couldn’t get the tape. Why the fuck was it so tight? Why the fuck were these women doing this to him? Were they after revenge or were they simply insane?

  “Luce, baby, look at me.”

  Moving my shaky hands off his wrists. I did as he asked. I looked at him. If I wasn’t mistaken, his eyes looked a little misty too. They shined with sincerity.

  “Give me a kiss.”

  He wanted a kiss... now? Reluctantly, I pressed my lips to his. My heart was aching for him. I needed to be rescuing him, not kissing him.

  “Go get back in the closet,” he said as I broke away. “Don’t come out again. There’s a safe in there with money in it. The combo is 7-11-95. Wait until they dock somewhere, anywhere. Take all the money. Sneak the fuck off. Don’t look back. Get to the police or somewhere safe. Use that money to get yourself a hotel room or a plane ticket home. Whatever you need. Don’t fucking look back.”

  He wanted me to leave him?

  I heard the sound of someone coming down the steps. Crap. I was not going to leave him. Hell no. He didn’t know me very well if he thought I’d actually listen to him. I pushed the tape back on his lips so no one would notice anything odd. I moved silently off the bed, slipping into the closet just in the nick of time.

  I left the door cracked.

  I had to watch.

  April was back. But only April this time. Her face had a fresh layer of makeup. She’d changed into her bathing suit. The room smelled like her perfume as she approached Ollie, still helplessly stuck to the bed. My heart pounded with each step she took. I felt so helpless watching from the closet.

  She trailed a finger along his chest, over his muscles, his abs, across his navel, and then—holy shit—her had went straight under the edge of his swim trunks. She grabbed him, grabbed him under his swim trunks. “You’re much more fun when you can’t talk. I’m going to make you wish you’d called me back after that first time.”

  My mouth dropped open in surprise. Rage like I’d never felt in my life flooded me. I couldn’t breathe. I don’t care if Ollie had slept with this woman in the past—that gave her no right to touch him now or ever without his permission. She started to stroke him, and blind instinct took over.

  I found the safe Ollie had mentioned in the back of his closet. It was big and metal, and I picked it up. It was the only weapon I had. I came quietly out of the closet, lifting what felt like fifty pounds above my head, and I brought it down on her head.

  The woman and the safe clunked to the ground. I was trembling so hard, I nearly fell over with them.

  What had I done?

  But I hadn’t killed her. I quickly saw that. I hadn’t even knocked her out. On the floor, she had her hands on her head, moaning. “You bitch,” she softly sobbed. Somehow, I kept my shit together. I grabbed what was left of the duct tape roll they’d used on Ollie, and before the girl could shake off her pain, I bound her hands. Then taped her mouth. Next, her feet. When I finished, I’d used the remainder of the duct tape roll. I set the empty cardboard aside.

  Then I grabbed her under her arms, and I dragged the psycho into Ollie’s closet. After, I rushed back to Ollie. So many mixed emotions were pumping through me. Slowly this time, I pulled the tape off his mouth. It released much easier the second time.

  “There’s nail clippers in the drawer in my bathroom. That might work to cut the tape. It’s my only idea. Or maybe one of my razors.” His voice was low, direct. I couldn’t read him. I couldn’t tell if he was okay after being touched like that by April.

  I said nothing. I only listened. I got the nail clippers and went to work at the tape on his wrists. The other girl would soon notice that April wasn’t coming back. I had to move fast.

  After a mi
nute, I had one of Ollie’s hands free. Then a second. A couple minutes later, I clipped the last millimeter of tape to free his feet. He sat up immediately, and he kissed me. Really fucking kissed me. His mouth was hot and greedy on mine for one blissful, dizzying moment. Then he moved off his bed and for his closet. He grabbed a couple things before returning and closing the door on April once more.

  “Close your eyes, baby.”

  I did as he asked. He was pulling off his swim trunks, and he was naked for a brief moment next to me as he changed. When I opened my eyes again, he was in fresh clothes. He dipped down, opening his safe. He pocketed several rolls of money, and his passport. I guess at least one of us had our passport. I had no idea where my bag was with my stuff. But, frankly, my passport was the least of my worries.

  “We’re gonna swim,” he said. He moved to the circle window. “See that? That’s Paradise Island. That’s Nassau. They must be heading there. We should get to the bottom deck, jump off without them seeing, and swim for it.”

  “Them?”

  “There are two more. A man, too.”

  I hadn’t noticed a man. “I don’t know if I can swim that far in the open ocean. It’s choppy. Plus, sharks. Doesn’t the Bahamas have tons of sharks?”

  “We aren’t swimming for the island. But another boat. See all the other boats.”

  There were a few I could see from the portal window, mostly speed boats, probably people on vacation enjoying life and the sun. But Ollie’s plan felt half-baked and risky to me. I still had a fear of sharks. Once, while surfing, I swear one had brushed up against me. It had taken me a good six months to get back in the water afterwards. That fear still lingered.

  “Okay,” I whispered. “We have to try.”

  ~ CHAPTER 19 ~

  OLIVER

  I had Luce’s hand locked in mine. Hell, I wasn’t letting her go. Ever. She’d saved my life now, twice. And saved me from April’s unwanted attention.

  April touching me like that, especially when I knew Luce had seen, made me want to vomit. But I couldn’t dwell on that.

  Luce seemed concerned there might be sharks. I knew there were sharks. But would they mess with us? Would they even care? It’s not like humans were their usual food choice, right?

  Together, we snuck to the upper level. I could see the man at the wheel, driving my boat. His eyes were on the ocean in front of us. I couldn’t see Ms. Tits though. I opened the couch, silently pulling out two life vests. I handed one to Luce.

  We moved carefully to put them on. Then we both inched toward the back corner of the boat. We were moving fast, at least twenty knots, slicing across the water. We weren’t far from the harbor. We could easily swim from here—assuming no sharks ate us along the way. Or we didn’t injure ourselves with the initial jump.

  I glanced at Luce.

  She squeezed my hand, letting go. “Low. Jump low. Cannon ball in as best you can. Make sure your butt hits first.”

  Had she jumped off a moving boat before? I had no time to process before she started the whispered countdown. Three. Two. One.

  We jumped together off the side. Oh fuck—it hurt like a motherfucker. I tried to jump like she’d said, low and onto my butt. Instead my face slapped the water. I lost my orientation. Water went up my nose. I couldn’t tell up from down. It was the scariest few seconds of my life. I was coughing, choking on the water I’d swallowed. And then Luce grabbed me around the middle. “You okay?” she called out.

  I would be. It took me another minute to find my bearings. When I opened my eyes again, she was right there, clinging to me like a little sea monkey. My boat was long gone by now. Good. Finally I felt free.

  “I hate this,” she breathed. “I hate the open water like this. I hate being so far from the shore.”

  “You just jumped off that boat like double-oh-seven. You’re a badass. And there aren’t any sharks.” That sure seemed to have her freaked out. In an attempt to distract her, I gestured in front of us. “There. A boat.”

  There was something big moving not far from us. I started waving at it frantically. By some stroke of luck, it curved in our direction.

  As it came closer and closer, I felt relief. This was it. We were saved. No more island. No more kidnapping. Just safety.

  It was a snorkeling group. A whole boat load of tourists decked out in gear, ready to go see some fish. They let down a ladder, and we climbed aboard. “You two okay?” someone working on the boat asked.

  “Good, we fell off our boat. Too many margaritas,” I joked. “Can we get a ride back to Nassau?”

  “Of course. You don’t mind going on our snorkeling excursion first though, right? You’re welcome to join in.”

  “Sure thing.”

  “It’s Ollie Mills,” a teenage girl on the boat cried.

  “Ollie!” another shouted. “Can I get your picture?”

  “In a minute. I… we… need a minute first.”

  Luce looked shaken. She stood silent beside me. Maybe she was in shock. I tugged on her hand, pulling her into the shade beside a bar under the boat’s canopy. A man, the tannest white man I’d ever seen, was serving drinks to the passengers.

  “Water, please,” I told him.

  He handed over two water bottles. I drank mine, and Luce drank hers. It was possibly the most refreshing thing I’d ever tasted. I looked into her blue eyes and saw relief in them. Hope again. When the waters were gone, I pulled some money from my pocket. “Two Mai Tais,” I told the bartender this time. “And any food you might have.”

  “We don’t serve food. Just drinks.”

  “Then just the drinks.”

  He made them for us. Then I took the drinks and Luce to an open spot on one of the benches. I’d ordered the alcohol because I felt like we both needed something stronger than water after that ordeal. She took her drink from me without question or protest. On the bench, she lay her head down on my lap, and started nursing the drink.

  I brushed her wet hair out of her face. Bending over closer to her, I whispered, “we did it, we made it.”

  I didn’t know what else to say. I only kept holding her. If she was okay with it, I never wanted to be apart from her from this moment on.

  ~ CHAPTER 20 ~

  LUCE

  I sucked down the Mai Tai Ollie had bought me. Then I ate the pineapple garnish to the core. A woman—young, beautiful, and... well... clean—approached us during that time. She wanted a picture with Ollie.

  He frowned at her. “I need to freshen up a little first, ma’am,” he told her, touching his face and working some of that southern charm. This woman most certainly didn’t fall in the ‘ma’am’ category. In the time I’d spent with Ollie, other than a random ‘ya’ll’ here or there, he didn’t have much Tennessee twang in his voice. His brother Caleb, on the other hand, had a lot more than him. But Ollie, I guess he’d lost some of his accent somewhere in life. But I swear, the moment he talked to this random fan, that Tennessee twang was stronger than I’d ever heard it.

  “You mean shave?” the woman asked. “Because I brought my toiletries with me. You could borrow whatever. I don’t mind.”

  “That would be amazing.”

  He got up with the woman. Sure enough, from her beach bag, she pulled out a smaller bag. Ollie peaked inside, nodding. In my direction he mouthed, I’ll be right back.

  I sat up. I set my empty drink aside. I shouldn’t have had alcohol on my empty stomach. The boat reached its snorkel rendezvous point. The instructors leading the excursion began giving scuba pointers. If I didn’t feel like a mangy alley cat right this moment, I might have wanted to snorkel with them.

  After most of the group went into the water, Ollie reappeared.

  Fuck. Me. Sideways.

  Damn, the man was fine. I caught my breath. He’d shaved. He’d done something to his hair. He looked so handsome all cleaned up, I couldn’t make direct eye contact with him as he approached. My insides were swimming. He walked straight to me, and I felt my cheeks st
art to burn. “Where’d she go?” he asked.

  “Who?” I whispered. Seeing him like this gave me a lump in my throat. I worked up the courage to look straight at him. I hope he didn’t notice how I was nearly hyperventilating, fawning over him like an idiot. He ran a hand over his fresh face. He had a touch of black under his right eye from his ungraceful jump off the back of the boat. But, dammit, if that didn’t just add to his sexiness.

  “The woman who gave me the toiletries,” he clarified.

  “Oh. She’s snorkeling now.”

  “Good. Here. Use her stuff then, too.” He handed me the bag. Freshening up—it wasn’t on the top of my priority list. I was still trying get my footing, still working at processing everything. We’d gone from our slow island life to kidnapping to this snorkeling excursion, surrounded by strangers, and my mind was trying to play catch-up. But I took the bag and set off on wobbly feet for the bathroom.

  In the mirror, I looked terrifying. My hair was a tangled mess. My skin was red in patches from too much sun. I used the girl’s shampoo. I used all of it. I stripped off the lifejacket and Ollie’s wet clothes. Crap, I’d been walking around in front of people in his underwear and t-shirt. I washed my hair, washed my body, and shaved my legs around the big bites. All of it with one tiny sink that barely spit out water. I even used the girl’s toothbrush—because I didn’t give a crap right this second, not when I hadn’t brushed my teeth in a week. Then I put Ollie’s clothes back on, still damp. And I returned back to the top deck, back to Ollie and the few tourists too afraid to jump in the water with the rest.

  The pretty woman was back from snorkeling. Her swimsuit showed off her perfect-ten body. She sat beside Ollie on the bench. Why did I feel so jealous and uneasy over this innocent girl who was probably just excited to see her favorite celebrity?

  I felt shaken, and ridiculous for feeling shaken. I stepped closer, and even thought about finding a different spot on the boat to sit. There were plenty of empty seats while most were still in the water. I approached Ollie. He was listening to her, awfully politely, when he noticed I was back.