by Megyn Ward
Whatever he’s saying to her, she’s not buying it. Giving him a final parting shot, she runs for the parking lot, shouting for the camera crew to wait for her so they can drive her home.
I expect him to chase after her, begging for another chance but he doesn’t. As soon as she’s gone, he scrambles into his shorts and runs for the beach.
“Kylie.” He standing in the small palm grove I’d been hiding only minutes before. He spins around, searching the sand, straining to see into the water. “Kylie.”
Every time he yells my name my gut twists and my resistance falters. Until I can’t breathe, can’t feel any more. I don’t know how long he stays there, shouting my name. Long past when he has to know I was gone or hiding. Still, he calls for me.
I didn’t know I could hurt any worse, but when he gives up and leaves, I nearly break in half.
I sit here, knees drawn up to my chest, staring out across the water. I’m not sure how long. Maybe minutes. Maybe hours.
I hear footsteps in the sand and I stand because I don’t have the strength to hide anymore. I want to be with him. On any terms. In any way.
I slip from the shadow of the palapa, running toward him. But it isn’t Zach.
When she sees me, Liesa hesitates, feet planted in the sand, baggy jacket ballooned over her swimsuit, probably borrowed from one of the camera crew.
She moves, stumbling toward me, her tearstained cheeks shining in the moonlight. When she’s standing in front of me, she shoves her hands in her pockets. “Did you know?” Her bottom lip trembles and she pulls it between her tear to keep it from quivering. “Do you work for Jonas too?”
I shake my head, my throat too tight to allow more than a croak. “No.”
“Is he really your father?” She looks like she doesn’t know what to believe anymore. Who to trust. She looks so broken, so devastated that I want to reach out to her. Tell her that it’s me. I’m the one she can trust. That I would never hurt her but I can’t because it’s a lie.
I did hurt her.
She can’t trust me.
“Yes.” A breeze blows in off the water and stings my cheeks. Reaching up, I brush my fingertips across my cheeks and I realize that I’m crying.
For a moment I think she’s going to call me a liar. She doesn’t. She just pulls her hand out of her pocket and holds it out to me. “Here.”
Confused, I reach out and let her press something into my open hand.
A toothbrush.
She got me what I need to prove Jonas is my father and even after I betrayed her, she gave it to me. “I don’t understand.” Shame isn’t just burning a hole in my gut anymore, it’s burning me alive. “Why?”
She tilts her head slightly and he hand drops away from mine. “Because I said I would,” she says, giving me one last look before she turns and walks away.
The End
Need to know what happens next? Check out Hard Dive, book 2 in the Paradise Lost series.