Her Forbidden Love (Indigo Island Book 2) (18 page)

“But are they married—I mean to other people?”

“Probably were. I’d say she’s seventyish. He’s older. They’re cute, really. Now, in another twenty minutes, Mr. McCurdy will appear, looking for booze. I’ll have to tell him the bar’s closed. He’ll slip me a twenty, and voilà, the bar will magically open. Just like it did for you,” Sam said.

Dorsey realized Sam was really lonely, eager to share his trade secrets with a fellow outcast. She was having trouble keeping her eyes open, even as she listened to his stories. She needed a room, if only to get a few hours of sleep before the ferry.

“So, say, do you have an extra room I could crash in? I need to get some rest before the early boat,” she said.

“Sure, let me check the system,” Sam said shrugging. He propped his feet, crossed at the ankles, up on the front desk.

Dorsey envisioned Paula fainting at the sight of Sam’s big, white, sweaty-boy feet on her front counter, dangerously close to the apples, and it made her smile.

“Oh hi, Mr. McCurdy. Bar’s closed,” Sam said, snapping to attention, preparing to pocket his twenty-dollar tip. The old man continued on to the bar. “Be right there. Hey, all those things I said—well, those were all our secrets, right?” Sam asked, holding onto the room key as if it were symbolic of their pact.

“Secret. Sure,” she agreed. Dorsey walked down the first-floor corridor to the very end, as Sam had instructed. She turned the key and opened the door to a magnificent ocean-front walk-out suite. It was beautiful, and excessive, and just added to the confusion of the evening. She found the huge bathroom, took a long hot shower, and finished by wrapping up in a plush white robe. She fell asleep on top of the covers of the bed, exhausted and broken-hearted.

Chapter 20

Jack

J
ack couldn’t find Dorsey. She wasn’t at her cottage, and she hadn’t come to his place. He’d been waiting for hours to apologize, jogging back and forth between their cottages. He’d been so pig-headed, yelling at her for doing her job and babysitting Tade. How could he not support her? And as for Steve, he was an expert at tricking people. She hadn’t meant to tell him the truth about their relationship, of course she hadn’t. She’d been through so much, with her father and then the body washed up. Of course, she’d freaked out.

But where was she now? Jack looked at his watch. Two a.m. He was back at his own cottage, pacing the living room. And then he had an idea. He’d call an old friend, Lila. Lila was a gorgeous brunette who had worked at the Kids Cottage the summer before and they’d become friends, well, friends with benefits, truth be told. She’d left Indigo suddenly after a run in with Steve.

She’d never even told Jack goodbye.

But he still had her number.

After catching up for a moment and apologizing for the late call, Jack said, “Lila, what happened with you and Steve?”

The woman was silent on the other end of the line, but Jack could hear her breathing.

“I’m not really comfortable talking about it,” Lila said. “But, Jack, he’s awful. He kept asking me out, sometimes in front of the kids. One night, I was locking up the club, it was late, after a midnight movie night, and he appeared, out of nowhere. He grabbed my wrist and started pulling me behind him. I screamed and luckily, a couple walking on the beach heard me and ran over. Steve sweet-talked them, told them I’d just been spooked. They walked me to the inn.”

“Lila, my God,” Jack said, his heart racing. “Why didn’t you tell me?” What had he done by not listening to Dorsey? They should have left the island a week ago.

“It was the scariest moment of my life. I thought he was going to rape me,” Lila said. Jack heard her take a deep breath, and he knew she was crying.

“I’m so sorry, Lila. I had no idea,” he said.

“I didn’t tell anyone, just my mom and dad. I called them from the inn and they arranged a flight home from Hilton Head the next day. Sam at the front desk gave me a room to sleep in, but I was too scared. I just sat with him, overnight, until the first ferry departed that morning.”

After they hung up, Jack called Sheriff Smith. He reported Dorsey’s beating, his beating and Lila’s incident.

“You need to believe me. Steve is responsible for all of this,” Jack said. His heart was pumping.

He heard the man sigh into the telephone. “Son, I only have three more days until retirement.”

Jack ran to the inn. Sam sat alone at the front desk, feet propped up, looking bored but quite awake.

“This night is ridiculous. What are you doing here, Jack?” Sam asked.

“Dorsey’s here, right? Tell me her room number,” Jack said. He knew he was being terse, but he needed to find her.

“She’s here, but what if she doesn’t want to see you? She’s leaving on the first ferry in the morning. Somebody has upset her, she’s running. I’m not leading him to her,” Sam said.

Jack blew out the breath he’d been holding. “Look man, I’m in love with Dorsey. I’d never hurt her. Steve on the other hand, would, has. Have you seen him around tonight?”

“Ya, he was here, twenty minutes ago.”

“Did he ask for Dorsey’s room.”

“Ya.”

“You didn’t. Oh my God.”

“It’s room 120, at the end of the hall. Follow me,” Sam said, as he leapt from behind the desk and the two men ran through the lobby and down the hall.

Chapter 21

Dorsey

D
orsey awoke with a hand clamped over her mouth. She was disoriented.

“Shhh, everything is okay,” Steve said whispering in her ear. “You were going to leave my island without saying goodbye? I just can’t believe that. I can’t have that happen again. Lila got away, but you won’t.”

Dorsey wanted to scream, to bite his hand, anything to get away. This had to be a bad dream. In the moonlit darkness, Steve looked like Uncle Rob, her dad’s partner in the practice.

Her dad’s murderer
. Her memory suddenly jumped to life. Her heart thudded.

Steve was talking again, while pressing his hand so hard over her mouth her teeth were cutting into her lips. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Since you have a lovely ground-floor suite, we’re just going to walk out the sliding doors here and have our special time together.”

Dorsey moaned and tried to move out from under him but he yanked her hair hard. He straddled her, pinning the bathrobe she wore to the bed with his knees. She tried to kick him, but he was too heavy to move.

“Stop fighting it, honey. You’re going to like this. You don’t want another beating, do you?” he asked. His breath was sour, and smelled like whiskey. Dorsey couldn’t move, even as he pressed his lips onto hers, trying to force his tongue inside her mouth.

How could she have let him trap her again? She couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly the lights turned on in the room and Jack was punching Steve, and Sam was helping her up and hurrying her out of the room.

“Jack,” she said as Sam pulled her into the hall.

“He’ll be fine, and the sheriff is on the way.”

Dorsey nodded and followed Sam into the ice room, where they barricaded the door and huddled together until Jack knocked on the door.

As Dorsey walked out of the closet, and into Jack’s open arms, she saw Steve, handcuffed and surrounded by three sheriff’s deputies.

Steve stared beady-eyed and scowling at Dorsey until she looked away. The hate was pure, deep, and reciprocated. She wrapped the white robe more tightly around herself as she began to shake.

“We’ll get your statement in a little while, miss,” Sheriff Smith said. “Get him out of here.”

Chapter 22

Jack

“I
need to tell you the rest of the story,” Dorsey said.

It was the second night of their Top Club paid stay at a five-star luxury hotel in Hilton Head. Dorsey sat up in bed, leaning against the headboard. She was wearing a new pair of soft green sweatpants and Jack’s oversized white t-shirt. She looked small and a little fragile. Jack wouldn’t leave her side, not ever again; he’d told her that as often as he’d told himself. He still felt responsible for Steve getting to Dorsey. If Jack hadn’t been angry, if he hadn’t turned her away, she never would have spent the night at the inn. He shook his head, automatically clenching his hands into fists at the thought.

Dorsey kept assuring him that it all worked out for a reason. The shock of Steve’s attack had brought her father’s murderer back to her consciousness. Finally, she had seen that face, the murderer’s face, and finally, she could tell Jack the whole story. And he was more than ready to listen, to help her heal. He wanted to pull her into his arms right now, but he knew she wanted to talk. He leaned back against the headboard and listened.

“I was in shock. I never could identify him. I could describe his arm, his black gloved hand but never his face. It was blank. No amount of counseling or hypnosis brought it back to me. For ten years, my dad’s killer was on the loose, because of me,” Dorsey said, finally revealing the shame that had held her back in life. “It was all my fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault. It was the gunman’s, Dorsey,” Jack said softly, reaching for her hand.

“That’s what everybody said, but I knew. I knew I was the only witness and I had failed my dad. He died in front of me and I couldn’t save him, or name his killer. My mom and I had to live in hiding for more than a year after he was killed. The FBI thought the killer might come after me.”

“It’s all going to be OK now,” Jack reminded her. After Steve’s arrest Dorsey had insisted on making a statement to Sheriff Smith who had insisted it was his last day and didn’t want any more work. But when she told him about her dad, the sheriff was all in. Dorsey’s Uncle Rob, her dad’s business partner, had been arrested that afternoon.

Dorsey smiled, reaching over and touching his still bruised knuckles.

“It must have felt great punching Steve,” Dorsey said for the millionth time. “I wish I could have.”

“I know, sweetie,” Jack said, kissing her gently on the cheek.

They’d ordered room service again, both of them in need of rest and to be out of the spotlight. The media inquiries had come quickly once word broke of the arrest in the long unsolved murder and the arrest of Steve on Indigo Island.

She popped a French fry in her mouth and smiled. “They told us, for all these years, that my father was murdered because he provided abortions as part of his practice. But now I know it was Uncle Rob. He did it to take over the practice. It’s unbelievable. He poisoned Rufus, dyed our swimming pool red, and then finally, one afternoon, shot my dad in our front yard.”

Dorsey couldn’t hold back the tears, the years of holding her secret inside had taken their toll. Once she started, she couldn’t stop. Jack knew with time it would get easier, everything did, especially now that she knew the whole truth.

“I was the only witness and I couldn’t provide a description. I blocked it all out, everything about that day, except my dad’s face, his eyes,” Dorsey said, a shiver running through her. “I’m surprised Rob didn’t kill me, too. He wasn’t even related, my dad just treated him like a brother. Some brother.”

“And your so-called boyfriend?”

“He stuck with me through high school, and college, sort of. I thought we were going to get married. But eventually, my family’s shame was too embarrassing.”

Jack shook his head. “I remember those looks from people, they gave it to my mom and me, too. Like, don’t get too close to those people, they’re bad luck. His brother died, stay away. As if tragedy is catching or something. It sucked. Still does.”

“It does, but at least I can help bring him to justice now,” Dorsey said. “Speaking of that, you beat up Steve pretty good. My hero.”

Jack smiled. He was proud he’d broken Steve’s jaw, cracked three ribs and gave him a black eye. A little taste of his own medicine. If the police hadn’t arrived, Jack was pretty sure he would’ve killed him.

“I can’t wait to get back to Indigo Island. It’s our place now. Everything is going to work out just right. I’m in management. You’ll get a promotion.”

“Maybe,” Dorsey said.

After a lot of pushing from Jack, Dorsey finally had agreed to take the ferry over for the day tomorrow, just to see what it felt like to her to be back on Indigo Island. He’d be with her every step of the way, he promised. And he had some surprises he couldn’t wait to share. Jack loved Indigo Island and he knew, in time, she would love it again, too.

“Let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”

Chapter 23

Dorsey

J
ack was her hero. Always would be. She could make this journey back for him, because he was with her and had saved her.

He held her tight throughout the forty-five minute ferry ride, even performing a little Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet move on the bow of the ship and making her laugh. He smelled like security, and home. As they neared the dock, Jack was like a little kid, bursting with excitement, unable to sit down even when the captain scolded him twice. Once the crew had tied up, he pulled her hand and led her up the metal gangway, stopping to look behind him and make sure she was doing okay. She was, as long as she was with him.