Heart of Light (6 page)

Cam closed his eyes, contemplating Benny’s words. They certainly rang true. Every time anyone attempted to introduce him to someone they knew, he always saw
her
in their appearance. But this time, there was such a strong similarity. The resemblance was making his heart break all over again.

Then he recalled the scared expression on her face, as if he held her fate in his hands. He had seen that frightened look before in so many of his female patients. He saw it on Marley’s face for years as she tried to hide behind her mask. The look that was cold and stoic, but one that Cam knew was a front to prevent anyone from seeing her true emotions. Remorse for his initial reaction overwhelmed him.

Meeting Benny’s eyes, he conceded. “Fine. She can stay at the house. But I just can’t…”

Benny and Cam jumped at the sound of the front door of the beach house opening and slamming shut, startling them both.

Benny’s expression grew wide when he saw Jolene descend the steps onto the sandy road, clutching her bag against her tall, slender frame. “Whoa!” he called out, running up to her. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I know when I’m not welcome,” Jolene explained, her voice shaky, trying with everything she had to show no emotion. “I don’t want to be a burden and it appears that’s what I am. I’ll find somewhere else to stay while I figure out what to do.”

She walked past Benny and continued heading south along the shore, not having any idea of where she was going.

“No! Hold up! You don’t have to go!” he shouted after her. He caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to stop.

She froze at the contact of his hand on her body. “Don’t. Touch. Me.” Her breathing increased and her entire body began to tremble.

“I’m sorry.” Benny quickly withdrew from her. “I just want to help you. Don’t go. I talked to him. He’s okay with you staying.”

Jolene shook her head before turning around to face him. “No. I’ll be fine on my own. Your friend doesn’t like me for some strange reason. If you ask me, he’s a bit of an asshole so I have no idea how someone as nice as you could even be friends with that prick.”

“He wasn’t always an ass. He used to be a great guy.”

“I highly doubt that.” Her tone was full of anger. “Don’t worry about me,” she said, lowering her voice. “I’ll be okay on my own. I’ve gotten along fine before, and I’ll be just fine again.”

She continued down the street, stopping short before nearly bumping into a hard body. She stilled, inhaling quickly as she stared at the well-defined chest she could faintly make out through his wetsuit. Raising her head, she looked into the intense silver-blue eyes of the owner of the house she had slept in last night. Although his gaze appeared cold on the outside, she could almost sense a warmth hidden layers beneath the hard exterior. Over the years, she had learned how to read people. She could tell from his expression and the way he carried himself that he had been hurt…just like she had.

“You can stay,” Cam said quietly.

“I don’t want to intrude.” She lowered her head to avoid his brilliant, yet confusing, eyes. “I’ll go find a cheap motel somewhere.”

“Don’t be stubborn. Just stay in my beach house. You can’t stay in a crappy motel. It’s not safe. If you don’t stay here, the house will just sit empty. Maybe having someone living there will bring some life back to the place,” he said softly, his heart racing when she raised her head.

Their eyes met and Cam saw that they were nothing like
hers
. They were vibrant, the deep blue almost out of place with the rest of her features. Or maybe he thought so because he wanted them to be brown. He looked deeper and immediately saw what Benny was talking about. He saw the pain. It was etched plain as day on her face. She wore it on her body.

“Please stay,” he said, his chest beginning to rise and fall in a quicker pattern. “I’ll feel incredibly guilty if you leave and something happens to you. I normally
am
a good guy. I just… I was an ass.”

“You’ve got that right,” she replied with venom in her voice as she scanned the beach and considered her options for several long moments. “Fine,” she hissed, straightening her back, her age-old defense mechanism kicking in.
Show no emotion, Jolene
, she reminded herself. “I’ll stay in your house, but not because you want me to. I’m staying because Benny wants me to. Unlike you, he’d actually feel bad if I went to a shitty motel and something happened to me.”

Cam opened his mouth to protest, not wanting her to think the worst of him, but he knew he didn’t really give her an alternative with the way he had behaved.

“And he’s my friend,” she said, not allowing him to say anything in response. “So thank you for your hospitality.” She spun on her heels. “Fucking dick,” she spat, making her way back up the block to the beach house, smiling at Benny as she walked past him.

Cam stared at her hips swaying back and forth, his mouth dropping. She certainly had a resemblance to
her
, but he began to get a strong feeling that the similarities would end there. She was feisty and spirited. He should hate that she called him a dick, but it made him chuckle a little. It made his soul feel alive for the first time in years.

Approaching him, Benny nudged him in the ribs, waking him from his thoughts. “You better apologize to her, man,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Fine,” Cam replied quietly, snapping out of his inappropriate intentions regarding the mystery girl’s amazing long legs. He raised his voice. “I’m sorry!”

“You should be!” Jolene hissed, refusing to face him.

“Do you have a name?!” he asked loudly as she climbed the stairs to the deck.

She turned around just as she was about to unlock the front door. “My friends call me Tomorrow!” she replied, smiling at Benny before returning her attention to Cam. “So I’m not quite sure what
you’ll
be calling me.” She smirked at him before entering the comfort of her temporary new home, those blazing silver eyes permanently ingrained in her mind.

J
OLENE
SPENT
THE
REMAINDER
of the morning trying to figure out what to think about Benny’s friend. She felt uneasy staying in the house that he owned when it was readily apparent that he didn’t want her there. But where else could she go? Any decent hotel would probably require a license and a credit card. She didn’t have either of those so she was essentially stuck for the time being.

After hours of anxiety about her predicament, she needed to clear her mind. Grabbing her bag with the only belongings she owned, she left the beach house, unsure of whether she would actually return.

“Where are you going, Tomorrow?” a soft voice called out as she headed south along the sandy road.

She spun around, shocked to see Benny’s friend smiling at her. It was such a different look from the harsh glare he had given her when they met. Even when he had softened his expression, it was still relatively stern. This look was something completely at odds with the man she met earlier this morning. It was warm and tender.

Scrunching her eyebrows in confusion, she crossed her arms in front of her body. “Why the sudden change of heart? And didn’t I say that only my
friends
call me Tomorrow, surfer boy?”

He took a step closer, lowering his voice. “First, I plan on calling you Tomorrow because I want to be your friend, despite what my behavior earlier today may have led you to believe. Second, I do have a name. It’s Cameron. Cameron Bowen, but everyone calls me Cam. Unlike some people, I actually don’t mind everyone knowing what my name is.”

She pulled her lip nervously between her teeth and stared out at the ocean. “It’s not that.”

“Then humor me,” he retorted with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“I’d rather not.” She quickly turned around and continued walking in the same direction.

“Hey!” Cam shouted after her. “Where are you going?”

“I’m hungry!” she yelled over her shoulder. “I’m going to find something to eat. I highly doubt that you fucking care where I’m going anyway, surfer boy.”

Cam chuckled. She had a spunk to her that brought forward feelings he hadn’t experienced the past few years. “Wait up! Let me take you to lunch.”

Jolene paused, facing him. “Why? You don’t even like me. And I’m not so sure I want to have a perfectly quiet lunch ruined by the company of a complete dick, pardon my French.”

A sly smile crept across Cam’s mouth. The anger in her eyes contrasted with her delicate, soft features. Her chest heaved in frustration and it was taking all of his resolve to keep his eyes trained on her face and not the rest of her body.

“I’m sorry for the way I acted earlier. It was immature and completely unacceptable for a man of my age.”

Jolene took a step closer, her obvious annoyance with him fading. “Which is?” She raised her eyebrows at him in a joking and somewhat flirtatious manner.

“Oh,
now
who wants more information?”

She blushed. “Fine. Don’t tell me.” She began walking away again, smiling to herself.

“I’m thirty-eight!” he called out.

Halting in her tracks, her smile widened as she spun around. “Well, Cam, if you don’t mind me calling you that.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Maybe you should consider acting your age.” Her voice was rather light before her expression turned intense. “Thanks for the lunch offer, but I don’t associate with assholes. I’ve had more than my fair share, and now that I’m in control of my own destiny…” She took a deep breath, wanting to finish her thought without letting him see the tears that she had been able to hide so well for years. “I will not waste my time on someone who treats people the way that you treated me earlier today.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked softly, taking several deliberate steps toward her. “What are you running from?”

“Like you care,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “Listen, let’s just go about our own little lives. Thank you for allowing me to stay in your beach house. I won’t stay long. I’ll get a place of my own as soon as I find a job that can pay me under the table…”

“What?” Cam interrupted. “Why?”

“I’ll just let you think the worst of me. I’m sure that’s what you want to do anyway.”

“Fine,” he said sadly. “I’ll let you go.”

“Thank you.” Jolene walked away once more. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed the defeated look on his face, a strange feeling of guilt washing over her.

“If you keep heading in that direction for about ten or fifteen minutes, you’ll run into a little place called Slider’s. Great food and cold beer. Benny’s girlfriend works there. Her name’s Elsie. She could probably get you a job there, too.”

Jolene reeled around again, her eyes on fire. “What’s your motive here? What’s with the Jekyll and Hyde personality? Are you on medication or something?”

Cam laughed hard, unable to control his response as she glared at him with an annoyed look on her face, her expression severe.

“Sorry. Didn’t realize that my question would be so amusing to you. I’ll just be on my way then.”

“Wait. No. I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you. More at the irony of it all. Let’s just say that I’m trying to make amends for acting like a dick earlier.”

Jolene stared long and hard at him, torn about whether she could put any faith in what he said. “Fine. I’ll let you try to fix the hole your attitude dug you into this morning. But you’re still not invited to lunch with me. See you later, Cam.”

He chuckled as he watched her walk away from him again, thinking to himself that he would never tire of that view. “I look forward to it, Tomorrow,” he muttered under his breath.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Y
OU
MUST
BE
THE
new girl in town,” a cheery raven-haired woman said just as Jolene walked through the front doors of a decent-sized restaurant set right on the beach.

“How do you know…?”

“I’m Elsie,” she said. “Cam called me. And Benny already said you don’t want anyone to know your name. I love that he calls you Tomorrow. He’s come up with much worse nicknames in the past, believe me. Come on. We’ll go talk at the bar and get you fed. We need to put some meat on your bones. You’re too skinny.”

In surprise and amusement, Jolene followed the spunky woman through a dining room toward a relatively empty bar. Elsie was tall and had a few extra pounds. She wasn’t overweight, but she wasn’t rail thin, either. In a word, she was stunning.

Jolene took a seat at the bar while Elsie made her way behind the counter and opened the beer cooler. “Red Stripe okay? Or do you want something else?” She pulled back her dark hair that contrasted nicely with her creamy skin.

Nodding, Jolene said, “I still don’t know how you knew it was me.”

Elsie slid the beer in front of her, her lips turning up in the corners. The bright red color seemed to match her personality. “You didn’t hear this from me, but Benny said you looked like this girl that Cam was madly in love with. I definitely see the similarity, except for the eyes. Your eyes are amazing. I love that shade of blue. Do you like grouper? We have a really good grouper sandwich.”

“Sure,” Jolene responded, laughing at how quickly Elsie could switch from one topic to another. She seemed so open and full of spirit. In another life, Jolene could see herself becoming good friends with her, but she couldn’t do that. She needed to protect everyone around her from the threat that could come after her at any moment. For all she knew,
he
was already on his way to find her. The fewer people who knew about who she really was, the better. And that meant remaining distant, even though she wanted a friend more than anything.

“So, Tomorrow. Talk to me,” Elsie said several minutes later, after checking on her tables and making her way back behind the bar. “Cam says you need a job, but don’t want any paperwork filed. You want to get paid under the table. Benny seems to think you’re running from something and he wants to help you. I’m sure Cam wants to help you, too, although by the way he’s been acting lately, you wouldn’t know it.” She rolled her eyes before returning her gaze to Jolene, giving her a sincere look and lowering her voice. “But, most importantly,
I
want to help you. You need a friend looking out for you. Let me be that friend.”