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“What happened?” I should have remembered this part, but it was escaping me.
“Don’t you know how to mind your own business?”
“I was never very good at that. How did he die?” Kavanaugh spun on me, stomping toward the door. I stepped in front of him, pressing my hand to his chest. “Hey, I’m not trying to be rude.”
“Rude was when I said I didn’t want to talk about it. Now you’re just pissing me off.”
I stared into his eyes, watching the hurt that swirled in their depths. Whatever happened, it greatly affected him. And why wouldn’t it? Losing a sibling must be horrible. “I’m sorry. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to lose someone.”
For just a moment, he truly let me see his pain, but then it was gone. “It was years ago.”
“But I thought—”
He scoffed, glancing away from me as his jaw clenched. “That’s what everyone thought.”
“How did it happen?” I asked quietly, hoping he wouldn’t be too upset.
I knew he wasn’t going to answer. He didn’t know me from any other client, but still…I couldn’t help but ask. What I wasn’t prepared for was the look on his face when he finally turned back to me.
“How did your mom die?”
I was so stunned by the question that I didn’t know how to answer. How did he even know about that? I stepped back, swallowing hard as my eyes dropped to the ground.
“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d want to talk about that.”
He stormed past me. The slamming of the door made me jump, nearly making me forget my real purpose of coming out here. I opened my hand and stared down at the keys to the Jeep and decided it was time to get out of here.
Glancing back at the hut, I felt slightly bad for what I was about to do. After all, they needed my help with whatever was going on with my boss, but you’d think they’d at least ask for help instead of just dragging me off to wherever they were going.
I sprinted across the sand until I reached the parking lot, then jumped inside. I knew as soon as I started the truck, they’d come running. I leaned over to the glove box and prayed there was a map for around town. I was not the best with directions, and since I’d only been here a day, I had no clue where to go.
Money was another problem. I didn’t have a lick of cash on me, nor did I have any credit cards. That posed a small problem, but surely there was someone that would help a poor American woman stranded in the Caribbean.
After mapping out a route to the docks, I took a deep breath and cranked the engine. As expected, the door to the hut flew open and Eli came running out. I shifted into reverse and hightailed it out of there. If there was one thing I knew about Eli, it was that he never gave up. I had to move fast.
I felt like Jason Bourne as I sped through the streets, watching for any vehicles that were trying to run me off the road or open fire. I half expected someone to jump from one building to the next above me, just trying to keep up with me. I took a few wrong turns on purpose, hoping to throw his team off the scent. The whole time, I didn’t actually see a single suspicious person. It actually kind of killed the thrill of it for me.
I screeched to a halt at the parking lot right across from the docks. A ferry was leaving soon. It didn’t matter where it was going, as long as I was on it and could escape these crazy men with their crazy ideas. I would not be getting on another plane, no matter how many times they told me it would be fine.
Jumping out, I locked the door and shoved the keys in my pocket, though it didn’t really matter since I wasn’t taking the Jeep with me. “Hey!” I shouted at a man that was just about to pull the rope from around the post on the dock.
“Yeah?”
“I need a ride. Any chance you could spare some room?”
He grinned at me, striding toward me. The predatory look in his eyes had me taking a step back. “Of course. Always happy to help a woman in need.”
Shit, this was not good. I thought he was just another guy working on a boat, but the vibes I was getting from this man told me I’d greatly miscalculated. Suddenly, that plane didn’t look so bad.
“Um…” I took another step back, hoping I could still escape him. “Actually, I just remembered my friend—”
“Yeah,” he huffed out a laugh. “There’s always a friend. Get on board,” he said, snaking his hand around my elbow before I could run.
With a shove, I stumbled onto the boat, falling to my knees. I got up and made a break for it, but he’d already untied the ropes. He grabbed me around the waist and held me back as the boat pulled away from the dock. I screamed for help, hoping someone would hear me, but his hand quickly muffled my cries.
I should have stayed with Eli. Hell, I shouldn’t have gone to work yesterday.
14
