Slow Burn - a Novel: The Elite

by KB Winters

  “Sure thing.” I gave him a slight wave and took off out the side door to the parking lot.

  I drove home, stewing over what Aaron had told me about Carly. It all fit together as more pieces to the puzzle that made up the incredible woman I’d fallen for. It wasn’t that I had some knight-in-shining-armor complex where I needed to be needed. I wasn’t looking for a damsel in distress to rescue. Far from it. Carly’s independence and fire were two insanely hot traits. She floored me with her take charge attitude and work ethic. However, if we were going to stand a chance at building something together, we had to merge paths, at least slightly. Otherwise we were just a ticking time bomb. Eventually we’d reach a rough patch and if nothing was mingled together, it would be too easy to go our separate ways instead of fighting for each other.

  In the past, that had always been the death knell for any of my relationships—if you could call them that. I was consumed with my life as a Marine, and never allowed myself to root too deeply into another person’s life. So, when friction crept in, it was easy enough to pull the rip cord and bail. Rebounding from a breakup was a lot faster when you didn’t have much invested.

  But that wasn’t good enough. Not this time. And not with Carly.

  I wanted more.

  * * * *

  A doggy whimper welcomed me home as I stepped inside my rental house. I smiled, having nearly forgotten about the small pup. “Hey there, Lady girl,” I said, stooping down to waggle my fingers at the side of the puppy playpen in the living room. The short fence provided Lady with enough room to play with her myriad of chew toys without tearing apart any of the furnishings. I’d set her up there after taking a late lunch when Gemma had come over to the museum with the pup and informed me that she was mine now.

  “You ready to go outside?” I leaned over the side and scooped the puppy into one hand. The puppy pads underneath her appeared to have been used, but I’d house trained a few dogs in my life, and knew that consistent trips outside were the key. I hooked a lightweight leash to her purple sparkly collar and we went out the back door onto the deck.

  A few steps down and I set her in the small, postage stamp patch of grass. The moon was bright over the ocean and I drew in a long, cleansing breath of the salty sea air. Lady was content chewing on a handful of grass so I sank into one of the deck chairs and watched her play, content to set aside the heavy thoughts I’d been wrestling with on the car ride home.

  After a shower, change of clothes, and dinner for both myself and my new four legged companion, I settled onto the couch. I positioned Lady—who was fast asleep—on one leg, and balanced my cell phone, face up, on the other. I tried to lose myself in a police show on TV but couldn’t stay focused long enough to follow the storyline as I obsessively checked my phone every few minutes.

  Where was Alesha? And, even more importantly, where was Carly?

  Chapter Twenty

  Carly

  “Alesha, this is the last time I’m calling. I don’t even know if you’re listening to these or not,” I paused to sigh and recollect my wandering thoughts before the voicemail system cut me off again. Like it had the last three messages I’d rambled through. As I’d hunted down clues, I’d continually called Alesha, and when the phone finally kicked on and let me record a message, I’d shot off three in rapid fire. An hour had passed since the last one, and still, nothing.

  “If I don’t hear from you in the next hour, I’m calling Dad and I’ll tell him that you stole the money. I don’t want to do that, Leash, so please don’t force my hand. Wherever you are, just come back—”

  Beep.

  “Shit!” I slammed the phone down on the counter. “Why the hell can’t I have more than thirty seconds! Bastards.”

  I dialed again, but hung up when the voicemail kicked on again. There was nothing left to say.

  I set the phone down—this time gently—and braced myself against my elbows. I muttered to myself as I rubbed my fingertips into my temples.

  After discovering that Alesha was gone, I’d circled back through town, casually asking if anyone had seen her. I made up a story that she’d left her phone at The Siren and that was why I was looking for her instead of calling her. After the fiasco last summer, I didn’t want everyone thinking she’d gone off on another bender. That had been embarrassing enough to last a lifetime. I knew I shouldn’t care what other people thought—but it was impossible not to. Especially in a small town like Holiday Cove where everyone was in everyone’s business. After that whole thing had gone down, I’d received nothing but feedback. Some people gave me long lectures on proper parenting—hello! She’s not my kid!—and I got pitying looks from everyone else.

  No, I didn’t want to go through that again. Until I knew—beyond a shadow of a doubt—that she was actually in trouble, I wasn’t going to alarm everyone to organize a search. Clearly she’d left of her own volition. Last time I checked, kidnappers didn’t let you take the time to pack all your belongings into suitcases prior to the abduction.

  But once she was on her own, anything could happen. The incident with the attacker in the bushes came back to me and a swirl of nausea rolled through me and I shuddered at the possibilities.

  I knew he was already locked up, but I had to find her before someone like him did.

  Memories of that night made me long for Nick and his strong arms that held me close and kept me safe. He’d be able to chase away the pounding fear that flooded my veins. Why had I been such a bitch to him on the phone? He’d only been trying to help and I’d all but hung up on him.

  “Carly, when are you gonna learn?” I asked myself, my voice barely above a whisper in the empty coffee shop.

  I straightened and reached for my phone. It was time to let go of some of my pride.

  With swift fingers, I flicked through the screens and found Nick’s name in my contact list. Right as my finger moved to tap the call button, a new call interrupted, flashing Alesha’s name on the screen.

  “Oh!” I gasped and hurried to answer. “Alesha? Alesha, where are you? Are you okay?”

  “Carly—” her voice sounded faint. Far away. “I—I’m so sorry.”

  She was crying. The realization made my heart plummet into my chest. The anger I felt slid to the back of my mind as my protective big sister mode switched into drive. “Where are you?” I repeated, keeping my voice steady.

  “At the Dolphin…”

  “The Dolphin?” I wrinkled my nose. The Dolphin was a rundown motel about an hour up the coast, right off the highway. It was a seedy place that attracted all the wrong kind of attention.

  My mind swam with questions. I wanted to know how she’d gotten there? Why had she left in the first place? Why she was there? Who she was with, if anyone? Everything was coming rapid fire, but I sucked in a breath and forced all the questions down. “Alesha, I’m coming to get you, okay?”

  “Carly, I…I think something’s wrong.”

  Like a rocket, my heart launched from my stomach back up and lodged in my throat, pounding at the hollow between my collarbones. “What do you mean? Is someone there?”

  “No…I just don’t feel good…”

  I pulled my keys from my pocket and jogged to the front door. “Should I call an ambulance? What’s wrong? Tell me how you’re feeling? Are you in pain?”

  Alesha didn’t answer, but I could hear labored breathing on the other end of the line. I flew from The Siren, locked the doors with shaking hands, and hustled to where I’d parked. “Alesha? Talk to me, please?”

  “My stomach hurts and I feel dizzy,” she said, panting between words.

  “I’m calling 911. What room are you in?”

  “No, Carly—”

  “This is not up for debate. What room?”

  She paused and I could see her face, twisted with pain in my mind. The image made me ache. I started the car and buckled in with one hand as I pressed the phone against my shoulder. “Alesha!”

  “Twenty-seven…Carly…hurry…”
<
br />   “I’m on my way, but the ambulance will get there first. I’m going to call them right now. Then I’m going to call you back. You have to answer, okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, Leash. Hang in there. Someone will be there soon!” I hesitated, not wanting to hang up on her in the middle of the crisis but I was alone, no one else could call 911.

  I cursed myself for not letting Nick come to help.

  Stupid girl.

  “I’ll call right back.” I clicked off the call and dialed 911 as I pulled out onto the road. Within minutes, I’d reported the situation and was assured an ambulance would be on its way to the hotel. The operator wanted to stay on the line, but I clicked off and hurried to call Alesha back.

  The line rang and rang.

  I sent out a silent prayer. “Please, please, Leash…answer…”

  Tears sprang from my eyes at the beginning of her voicemail message. I dialed again and when I got the message the second time, everything left of my resolve crumbled. Like a busted dam, everything broke loose. My body wracked with sobs as I merged onto the highway. I could barely see through my tear filled eyes but I got in my lane and slammed the gas pedal to the floor.

  What would have been an hour drive, took me less than forty minutes, and as I swung into the dinky parking lot of The Dolphin, I chalked it up to a miracle that I hadn’t been pulled over. The parking lot had a few run down looking cars but no sign of an ambulance. I was too late. I put the car in park but let the engine idle as I flipped through my phone to pull up the GPS and locate the nearest hospital. I gave a weak smile through my steady stream of tears as I realized that the closest hospital was Gemma’s, just a little way back down the highway, halfway between Holiday Cove and where The Dolphin was located off the exit.

  I threw the car into reverse and squealed out of the parking lot and barreled back down the highway to the hospital. When I arrived, I whipped into a spot, and ran into the Emergency Room. I spotted Gemma speaking with a scrub clad nurse behind the admitting counter. “Gemma!” A surge of relief washed over me at the sight of her. Everything was going to be okay. “Gemma!”

  Gemma’s head lifted and she offered a sad smile before beckoning me past the front desk. When I reached her, I threw my arms around her. “Is she here? Is she okay?”

  Gemma squeezed me back before guiding me down the hall off the main lobby. The corridor was filled with people going back and forth from room to room. I hadn’t been to this ER before—thankfully—but the busyness of it surprised me since Holiday Cove was such a small town.

  “Alesha is in this room,” Gemma said, coming to a stop outside a solid white door. I reached for the handle, but stilled with my fingers just on the metal lever. “She’s resting comfortably. I can’t tell you much because of privacy laws—”

  “But she’s a minor!”

  Gemma raised a hand. “I understand, but as you’re not her legal guardian…all I want to say is that she’s going through a lot right now, but she’ll be all right.”

  A bubble of anger swelled in my chest over the lack of helpful information she was providing, but I popped it before I could lash out. I gave a curt nod. “Can I go see her?”

  “Yes, of course.” Gemma waved at the door and I pushed inside.

  Alesha was curled into a ball under the thin coverlet on the hospital bed, her back facing me. “Leash?” I whispered, stepping gingerly into the room.

  Alesha stirred and craned her neck around to look at me. Gemma followed behind me and came to stand at the foot of the bed. I reached down and stroked a strand of Alesha’s hair away from her face as she looked up at me. Tears filled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Carly…for everything.”

  My fingertips smoothed away the hair and swept over her cheek, bare of any makeup. “It’s okay, Leash. We’ll figure everything out later. Right now, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

  Alesha didn’t answer me, instead, her eyes darted to Gemma and widened.

  “Alesha, it’s up to you what you want to tell your sister. I can explain everything if you’d like. But I need your permission to disclose since it is in regards to your medical record.”

  Alesha’s eyes danced between Gemma and me for a moment longer, the struggle evident on her face. After watching her war with herself for a minute, I squeezed her shoulder and leaned over the side of the bed. “It’s okay, Leash. Gemma’s right, it’s your business, but I’m here if you want to talk about what happened.”

  Her color was pale but I couldn’t be sure if that was from the lack of the thick makeup she usually wore, or if it was the lighting of the room, or something linked to whatever had happened to make her so sick. Possibly a little of all three. Other than the tone of her skin, I had no idea what had happened without getting the full story. She was hooked up to a handful of monitors that all made soft whooshing and beeping noises at regular intervals. Her pulse and blood pressure numbers looked right. But I couldn’t ignore the IV attached to her arm and wonder what was being fed into her system. Pain medication? Antibiotics?

  “You can tell her,” Alesha’s voice was frail, barely a whisper, and once the words left her mouth, she closed her eyes and waited.

  Gemma cleared her throat and I turned to look at her, my hand still resting on Alesha’s shoulder. “When the paramedics found her, she was passed out from severe dehydration and low blood sugar levels. We’re pushing liquids to get her back into the normal range.”

  “Alesha?” I said, alarmed by the thought that she hadn’t been drinking enough. “Does she have some kind of condition? Diabetes? Hypoglycemia?”

  Gemma shook her head. “No, Alesha told the doctor that saw her that she hasn’t been eating for at least a week.”

  “What? Why not?” I asked, careful to keep my tone soft even as alarms went off inside my head.

  Alesha’s eyes opened and locked with mine, shiny with tears. “I thought I was getting fat…I kept gaining weight every day. I thought it was from all the pastries and coffees and stuff…but…” She broke the eye contact and looked back at Gemma. “But it’s not that, Carly. I’m…I’m…pregnant.”

  The room spun and I grabbed ahold of the bars on the side of the bed to keep from falling backwards. “Pregnant?” The word sounded foreign on my tongue. My baby sister—my teenage sister—was going to have a baby? No…it couldn’t be right. Something had to have gone wrong with the test. I was under no illusion that Alesha was a virgin.

  But a baby?

  “Yes, she’s about fourteen weeks along,” Gemma filled in.

  “I’m sorry, Carly,” Alesha said, the tears spilling past her lashes.

  I leaned down and wrapped her in my arms as best as I could. “Honey, it’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not! Dad’s gonna kill me…” she sobbed against my shoulder.

  I held her tighter. “Shh, shh. No, he won’t, honey. We’re going to figure this all out.”

  Somehow.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Carly

  After getting Alesha calmed down, she fell asleep and I settled into a comfortable chair that Gemma had sent in for me to use, planning to spend the night in the hospital at Alesha’s bedside.

  “How’s she doing?”

  Gemma stepped into the room on ninja quiet feet. “She’s been sleeping for about an hour,” I replied.

  “Good,” she replied, smiling. She came over and perched on the arm of the chair. “How about you? It’s quite a bombshell that got dropped on you both today.”

  I laughed softly. “Understatement of the year. Truthfully, I don’t know how I feel.”

  Gemma nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, it takes some time to process. Not that it’s any of my business, but how do you think your dad will react?”

  “I’ve been trying to figure that out for the last hour,” I said softly. “I have no idea. The ironic thing is that his wife, our stepmom, has been bugging him to have a baby for years. So, in a way, I imagine the idea of having a teenager and a newbo
rn in the house was inevitable. With a twist. Obviously.”

  “For what it’s worth, I think Alesha took the news very well.”

  “She’s probably just relieved she’s not getting fat,” I scoffed, shaking my head. As soon as the words left my lips, I wished I could take them back. With a cringe, I glance up at Gemma. “That’s not exactly how I meant that to sound…”

  Gemma patted my shoulder. “Not here to judge. It’s not really my thing.”

  “I just want her to grow up, ya know? We got into this big argument because she couldn’t take care of a puppy. And now…less than a day later…this?”

  The room was starting to spin again.

  “Where is Lady now? She was a big hit with the kids this afternoon.”

  “She’s with…Nick.”

  Gemma’s lips made an O.

  “I guess I should call him too.” A flash of guilt flared in my stomach.

  “Sounds like a good idea to me,” Gemma agreed. “He’s a good guy, Carly.”

  Before I could respond, Gemma held up a finger and checked the beeper on her hip. “Sorry. I have to go.” She stood off the arm of the chair. “I’ll check back in later. Call Nick.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied, smiling as she scurried out of the room.

  After giving Alesha a long glance, I tiptoed from the room, shut the door, and fished my phone from my pocket. The corridor was quiet. Too quiet. I continued down the hall until I retraced my steps through the front lobby and went outside to make the call under the arched covering over the entrance. I sat on a stone bench beside a small garden space and dialed Nick. It was nearly ten o’clock, but I had a feeling he’d still be awake.

  “Hello?” His voice was thick, as though he’d been sleeping and my stomach swooped at the undeniably sexy sound, but it was quickly followed by a ping of guilt for waking him.

  “Hi, Nick. It’s Carly.”

  “Carly?”

  I smiled at his obvious disorientation. “Yeah, little pink-haired thing that gives you trouble down at the coffee shop.”