9781631056314TattooedHeartsJolieNC

by Mika Jolie

  She opened her mouth to say no and stopped. “I haven’t given that much thought.”

  “Then why are you going after a man whose heart belongs to a place you no longer call home?”

  There was that word again. Home. “I need more time.”

  “All right, but I can’t stop Hollywood from coming to you. The inquiring minds want to know why you’ve vanished.”

  The last thing she needed was paparazzi taking over the island. “We can ask Ava to release a statement. Something about me needing to be with my mother.”

  “Then everyone will want to know what’s wrong with your mother. I can see the headline now. Claire Peters’ mother in rehab or better yet, Claire Peters’ secret addiction to cocaine,” he teased.

  Claire shook her head. She always admired James’ sense of humor. Not today. Vapor’s door opened, her heart skipped with anticipation and Claire quickly looked up to see a gleaming Lily, a sick-looking Minka and a very quiet Keely entering the bar. She waved at them. “I have to go James. Two more weeks.”

  “That’s the first day of spring.”

  Perfect. That’s when the island would start coming back to life. More importantly, if things went accordingly, she’d be in Forrest’s bed the next morning. “Okay the day after.”

  “How about that Monday?” he proposed. “Since we’re talking about a Saturday.”

  “All right, Monday works.” Her stomach twisted at the thought of leaving. She ignored the pang, ended the call and turned her attention to the fraternal twins. Lily was at the bar making out with her husband. “Why such gloomy faces? Weren’t you supposed to be in Falmouth shopping for baby furniture?”

  Minka groaned.

  “Minka got sick on the boat,” a very subdued Keely replied. “She threw up on my shoes.”

  “Sorry,” Minka mumbled.

  Claire studied Minka, her friend looked tired and a little run down. “Good thing you had your personal Montgomery boat at your service and not the ferry. So did you take a test? We need to find out if you’re pregnant or not.”

  Lily pulled a chair and joined them. “We can get some pregnancy tests.”

  “Some?” Keely raised a brow.

  “Well, yeah,” Lily answered.

  “She took ten tests,” Minka informed the other women.

  Claire chuckled. “Two wasn’t enough to confirm you were carrying Adam’s baby?”

  Lily rubbed her protruding belly. “Minka doesn’t even have to take a test. I am now an expert on when a woman is pregnant. And she’s pregnant.”

  “I did take a test. Well, three to be sure,” Minka said faintly.

  Claire and Lily gasped then smiled. Keely reached for her phone and started tapping away.

  “So,” Lily said with a grin. “You’re going to make us suffer.”

  Minka brushed a strand of curls away from her face. “Well, Jason and I wanted to wait until we get the ultrasound before making the big announcement.”

  Claire pulled Minka into a hug. “Shit Minka. I’m so happy for you and that husband of yours.”

  Keely dropped her phone in her purse and hugged her sister. “Sis, that’s wonderful.”

  “Well, we don’t know for sure yet. I mean…the heartbeat and…”

  “I understand where you are,” Lily said gently. “I’ve been there. Everything will be fine.”

  “When is Jason coming home?” Claire asked with concern. She could always go back to the house with Minka and keep her company if needed. It wasn’t like the words were flowing anyway.

  “Later tonight.” Minka answered. “I’m going to head home and sleep until he gets here.”

  “I’ll drive you. Adam is preparing a salad for me, then we can leave.” Lily looked at the blank sheet of paper in front of Claire. “Making progress?”

  “Lots,” Claire replied dryly. “Has Adam spoken to Forrest?”

  Lily shook her head.

  “He hasn’t called Blake either,” Keely announced.

  “And definitely not Jason.” Minka picked up a glass of water, seemed to contemplate if it was a good idea to gulp down the liquid, and decided against it.

  “Your salad, beautiful.” Adam placed the to-go container in front of Lily.

  Lily beamed, turned, and planted a passionate kiss on Adam’s lips.

  “Seriously, get a room,” Keely mumbled.

  “It’s a slow day today.” Adam’s gold eyes flickered with mischief. “I’ll be home early. I love you.”

  They watched him walk away. Tall, dark, edgy, and sexy with a capital S. Even now happily married, women still let their gazes linger a second or two too long. Like Forrest, Jason, and Blake, Adam never seemed to care or notice.

  “God, he’s pulchritudinous,” Lily exclaimed.

  “Pulchritudinous?” Claire asked.

  “Beautiful,” Minka translated, her face still colorless.

  “Magnificent, charming,” Lily continued.

  “Sounds like an awful disease,” Keely said with a smile, appearing a bit more relaxed.

  Minka and Claire chuckled.

  “Whatever. All of them are,” Lily continued. She pushed her chair back and stood up. “Come on, ladies, I’ll drop you home.”

  “Keely,” Claire called after her friend, as the others walked ahead.

  “What’s up?” Her friend asked back at the table.

  “Is everything okay?” Keely smiled, but Claire noticed the usual joie de vivre was missing. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing.”

  Claire didn’t buy the answer, but chose not to push. After ten years of friendship, one knew when to take a back seat and let the other come to you when ready.

  “Have you bid on Forrest yet?” Keely asked.

  “No.”

  Keely smiled and squeezed her shoulder. “You should. The auction ends this week. I gotta go. Text you later.”

  After Keely joined the others and left, Claire sat in silence for a beat. Her mind drifted to the theme of Tattooed Hearts–feelings, unrestrained passion, the heart and the head constantly at war. Nothing about the plot was foreign. Now all she had to do was capture all those emotions in beautiful words.

  She picked up the pen again and stared at the white sheet of paper.

  Nothing. Writer’s block in full effect.

  “Hey, Claire.”

  She looked up at Tyler as he pulled a chair and made himself comfortable. Sandy brown hair and warm, friendly blue eyes, he was handsome and her first kiss. He didn’t shake her world then and still didn’t. A nice guy though, a sweetheart. Not her type, but as far as friends went, he was a keeper. “Collecting your ten dollars?” she teased and was glad to get a chuckle out of him.

  “Not today,” he answered in his good-natured way. “Would you headline a show for me this Friday?”

  Claire’s mouth gaped open. She’d toured the world, but never sang on the island.

  “It’s a charity event to raise some money for the boys and girls club on the island,” he added. “Adam and Jason have been working on it with me. Your name as headline would bring a huge audience.”

  “I’ll do it.” She’d always been a sucker for a charity event and always supported any effort to give back to the island.

  Tyler sat back, appearing a little more relaxed. “Awesome.” He clapped his hands. “I’ll tell Adam. The event will be here at Vapor.” He stood up and examined her for a moment. “He’ll come back eventually. The island is a part of him. He can’t stay away.”

  She watched Tyler walk to the bar, her thoughts back on Forrest. Martha’s Vineyard was his home. Tyler was right. In her heart of hearts she already knew it, but the reassurance from another local removed any doubts she might have had. She picked up her phone, swiped on the screen, and scrolled to Lily’s last text. Brows furrowed, she examined the link to the auction.

  Did she dare?

  Every fiber of her being was vibrating with anticipation. Gathering her scattered impulses into one single passion
ate act of courage, Claire clicked on the URL. Her heart skipped. Adrenaline fueling her system, she glanced over the fine print and selected the bidding option. Not giving herself any time to think things through, she keyed in a thousand dollars, doubling the last bid amount for a date with Forrest.

  * * * *

  Forrest checked Mrs. Kane’s IV filled with antibiotic. After checking her heart rate and temperature, he updated her chart. Mentally, he let out a huge breath, releasing the tightening in his stomach since the hospital called to tell him Mrs. Kane was admitted. “I will prescribe something for your muscle ache.”

  “Nothing a shot of bourbon can’t help.”

  Forrest smiled. “You are responding well to the IV. I’m going to keep you here until tomorrow.”

  Anne looked him over, a contemplative look on her face. “I had to get sick to get you back to the island.”

  “Anything for you, Anne.”

  Leaving the island had been spontaneous, a desperate need for solitude to escape everything and everyone. After leaving the potluck, he had gone straight home, packed his bag and left. A move that was completely out of character; typically he faced his problems head-on. But late in the night, he’d found himself driving to the event he decided to skip, for one reason only—to see Claire.

  Seeing her there, dancing with Tyler, laughing and looking like she had no worries in the world. Tyler’s face lit up brighter than a toothpaste commercial. It took all of Forrest’s strength not to punch his friend.

  In a jealous rage, he told her to go back to Los Angeles, when he really wanted to pin her against the wall and kiss her until she begged to be taken. Instead, he’d gone to New Hampshire and skied until his muscles burned. A last-ditch effort to block Claire out of his mind, and put all the crap going on his life on a temporary hold.

  “What about your mother?” Anne asked. “You can’t just get up and leave her all alone.”

  A sick feeling settled in his gut. “I’m here to make sure you’re okay.”

  “And that beautiful girl of yours?” she continued, “She’s still here, you know.”

  Forrest ignored the way his heart nearly stopped at the mention of Claire. He hadn’t expected her to still be on the island. Deep down, he’d hoped she had returned to L.A. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

  “I’m talking about Claire.”

  “I know who you are talking about.”

  “Still in denial.” Anne reached for her phone. “Oh by the way, someone just bid a thousand dollars on you.”

  “I don’t really follow the auction. It’s just a date.”

  “Username Tattooed Hearts. Sounds like a hidden message.”

  He thought of the permanent artwork on his forearm, a constant reminder of how devoted he’d been to Claire. He ignored the familiar pain in his chest. “It’s interesting.”

  “Don’t you have a tattoo?”

  “Drop it, Anne. Time for me to head home. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “Forrest, I mean Dr. Desvareaux, welcome home.”

  He smiled. “Thanks.”

  “We missed you. Don’t ever run away from us again.”

  “I needed a break.”

  She nodded. “You’re back for good?”

  “I’m back.” He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “See you first thing tomorrow.”

  About twenty minutes later, Forrest steered his Jeep onto State Road. Today had been his first time back at the hospital since Luc’s death. He scrubbed a hand over his face and tried to eradicate the memory, but this one was forever branded in his mind. Face pale, lips bloodless, chest weakly rising and falling, struggling for breath, eventually laying still form.

  Sickness bubbled in his stomach. In his profession, he’d seen many cadavers, worked on a few during medical school. He should be immune to this part of life. Through experience of having patients die, he’d learn not to dwell on what might go wrong and not to experience the full sense of pain and loss of a death. But, he’d never taken the class that taught people in his profession to handle the emotions when the loss was one of your own. In this instance, his father.

  Father. His stomach churned. Charles and his mother–their big secret, her infidelity, her face frozen in apology, the words on her lips he’d never be able to erase. His head hammered.

  He once read that brains were hardwired from caveman times to remember the bad stuff more, to help keep them alive. Which was ironic. What he needed was the good stuff, the fun days, the uplifting and hopeful. He wanted his father back.

  His eye twitched as he let out a yawn. Rolling his head from side to side, he tried to stretch out the fatigue. Two hours and forty minutes, driving from New Hampshire to Woods Hole, with his mind on edge the whole time had sucked all the energy out of him. If he stopped moving, he’d probably fall asleep. Just what he needed. Once home, he’d take a long hot shower, then fall asleep to ESPN.

  ESPN or Claire? The devil in him taunted.

  His hands moved of their own accord turning the wheel toward Edgartown, the opposite direction to his home in Vineyard Haven. Claire would be nice to have in his bed too, naked, riding him until the room shifted and hazed. He shook the fantasy out of his mind.

  He didn’t want her.

  He didn’t need her.

  He drove past Vapor and caught a glimpse of the black Audi. His heart kicked into high gear. Half of his brain told him to keep driving, the other half, the one owned by the devil, took over and hypnotized him. He steered the car into the empty space three cars ahead and before he knew it, exactly one month later, he was back inside Vapor.

  As usual, it seemed whoever dared to venture out in the cold was here. Beer, wine, food, and the jangle of voices greeted him. He spotted Adam at the bar, talking to Tyler. At the far corner, Claire sat with her face buried in a notebook. As if she felt him watching her, her head lifted and their eyes locked. All the noise in the room fizzled out. He looked her over–skinny jeans, oversized blush sweater, winter boots. Her hair pulled back in a ponytail, lips bare, with the touch of clear lip gloss. She looked innocent, vulnerable, and very much like the young girl he fell in love with. Forrest groaned and headed to the bar.

  “Look who decided to bless us with his presence,” Tyler nodded at him.

  “What are you doing here?” Forrest leaned on the edge of the barrel wood bar top, his eyes fixed firmly on the island’s favorite superstar. He’d bet his money Tyler was here to make a move on her. Not that he cared, she was free to date whomever she wanted.

  “Having a beer.” He followed Forrest’s gaze. “You left her all alone for two weeks.” Tyler shrugged. “Fair game.”

  “Aren’t you dating Gwen?”

  “Relax, big guy. I wanted to ask her for a favor. Oh, and she said yes.” He grinned and placed a bill on the bar. “Good to have you back on the island. I missed making you jealous.”

  “I’m not jealous.”

  Tyler smirked. “Must be tough knowing you’ll never be the first guy she kissed.”

  Adam chuckled. “You have a death wish, man.”

  Tyler laughed. Forrest mentally counted to fifty while reminding himself he actually liked the asshole.

  “What’s your poison?” Adam asked once Tyler left.

  Forrest’s gaze skated over Claire.

  Adam snorted. “A month later, she’s still here. Even after you got up and left.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “Tell me again she’s not here for you.”

  “She’s not here for me.” He continued to look in her direction again. Their eyes met once more. Just for a second, a small tight smile curled up the corners of her mouth before looking away. In his pocket, his phone vibrated, he ignored it and turned his attention back to the bar.

  “Look man, you have the right to be pissed off, but you’re treating Claire and Jason like shit.” Adam poured a shot of gold tequila and pushed the salt-rimmed glass in front of Forrest. “This one’s on me. I’d have a shot with you, but I’m
working.” He reached for another glass. “But then again, I own half this place.” He poured himself a two-finger shot of his favorite Scotch and raised the glass. “To us and the women we love.”

  Forrest lifted the glass and threw the liquor down his throat. He welcomed the burn.

  “By the way,” Adam continued, “Lily mentioned you’re catching up with me in the auction.”

  Forrest glanced at Claire again. She picked up her phone and scrunched her brows at the screen, seeming to contemplate whatever she was looking at, then quickly typed something in response. The powerful pull she had on him took over once more. “I’ll be back,” he said to Adam and headed to the corner table.

  She didn’t look up, didn’t need to. Her body movement, especially the one tucking imaginary loose strands of hair behind her ears, told him she was aware of him just as he was of her. He pulled out a chair and sat facing her across the table. Claire looked up from her phone again, smiling in that tense way she did when she was uncomfortable.

  “You’re back,” she said, in an even voice.

  “Mrs. Kane is in the hospital.”

  She nodded. Of course she knew. This was Martha’s Vineyard, the island where everyone knew everyone else’s business.

  “How is she feeling?”

  “Better.”

  She picked up her glass of water and drank in the silence between them. His eyes shifted to the open notebook. "How’s the songwriting?" he asked, filling the void with a noncommittal question.

  “Great. I wrote down the title five times.” She pushed out her lips just a little, and flashed him a big fake smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

  He dragged the open notebook away from her and examined the two words written several times on the paper. “Tattooed Hearts,” he said as realization seeped into him.

  “That’s the name of the movie.”

  She twiddled her hair in a seemingly absent-minded way, drawing his attention to the exquisite length of her neck. Easily, he could close the space between them and kiss her collarbone.

  Forrest cleared his throat. “You bid on me.”

  She ran her tongue over her bottom lip before tucking it back between glossed lips. Then she cocked her head to one side and stared at him. “I did.”