Brock wakes up as our altitude drops. The lush green of a private island with a helicopter pad carved into a hillside looms below.
“That’s impressive,” I say. Brock looks over at me, a question in his gaze. “You can just sleep like that, anywhere?”
“Yes,” he answers. “It’s an excellent skill to have in my line of work.”
“I bet. How do you do it? I’d like to learn.”
“It’s a breathing technique. Takes practice but once you learn it, you can sleep anywhere, anytime.”
“Sounds amazing.”
The helicopter touches the ground and a uniformed staff member runs over in a crouch to open my door. “You’ll have to teach it to me,” I say.
“Anytime,” Brock promises, then slips his headphones off as the sound of the engine cuts. My door opens and Blue leaps out, frightening the shit out of the guy who opened it. He jumps back and yelps. Blue stretches and yawns.
“He’s friendly,” I promise.
The guy whose name tag reads “Rai” nods, not taking his eyes off my beast of a dog. I climb out, staying low to avoid the still-rotating blades, and then move with Blue to the edge of the pad, where another uniformed staff member waits. She’s a middle-aged woman with dark hair pulled back into a slick bun at the base of her neck. She smiles at me and gives a slight bow of welcome. Her name tag reads “Mahana”.
Brock, still wearing my small duffel, carries both weapons cases as he crosses to us. The head wrap stays in place even in the dying wind of the rotor. Rai waits by Robert’s door as he finishes whatever one needs to do after landing a helicopter. His mirror sunglasses flash in the dying light of the day and a thrill of something spikes through me. That’s my husband. The one who just coolly landed the helicopter. Yeah…that one. Oh my god, brain! Shut up!
Robert joins us moments later, taking one of the cases from Brock.
“May I take your luggage, sir?” Rai asks.
Robert shakes his head. “No, thank you.”
“This way,” Mahana says. “Your rooms are ready.”
We follow her down a wooden walkway set above the jungle floor. The lush vegetation bows over us, blocking out all but a thin sliver of sky.
A large palapa comes into view with open walls and a straw roof. Inside are seating areas, a check-in desk, and a shop with resort wear in the window—flowing kaftans and wide-brimmed hats.
We move through it without stopping for check-in and continue onto a new wooden walkway that leads out over the placid bay, passing bungalow suites that look eerily similar to the last hotel’s. Must be a Bora Bora thing. Blue’s nose brushes against my hip.
“Here is one of the rooms, sir,” Mahana says as she stops in front of a cottage.
“Thank you,” Brock answers.
“Go get cleaned up and then reach out to Yugi. I will call Brevnech,” Robert says. Brock takes off my bag and goes to hand it to Robert, but I intercept.
“I’ve got it, thanks,” I say, totally capable of carrying my little duffel around all by myself.
Brock nods and Robert doesn’t even say anything. Progress? Surely not.
Mahana continues down the wooden walkway suspended over the sea. The water is the same peachy blue as the sky and a soft breeze makes it ripple and dance. Mahana leads us to the largest, most private bungalow. “The honeymoon suite,” she says, unlocking the door with a key card and stepping inside. “Would you like a tour?”
“No, thank you,” Robert says. “You’ve been very helpful.” He hands her a tip and she smiles and nods before leaving us alone.
“Let me guess, this was the only room available?” I ask as the door clicks shut.
“No,” Robert answers. “It was the room I wanted.” He puts down the gun case and turns to me. “I’ll leave you to shower and dress—do you have any more clean clothing?” He eyes my small bag with mistrust.
“Yeah,” I answer. “What about you?” He’s still wearing the outfit he showed up in. “Where is your luggage?”
“I am going to go pick up something in the lobby shop. I’ll get something for you, too.”
“I’m fine.”
“Please.” He steps closer and I resist the urge to flinch back. “Allow me to buy my wife a gift.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever, I’m starving. So just be fast.”
“Your wish is my command.” I snort and Robert’s lips twist in a subtle smile. But he doesn’t leave. He just stands there staring at me. Blue sits by my side, sensing we are going to be here for a while. Don’t act like you understand our dynamic, Blue.
I clear my throat as if to speak but have nothing to say.
“I will leave tonight, instead of you,” Robert says.
“Huh?” I answer dumbly.
“I am the danger here. Fernando wants me dead. Not you.”
“I don’t know about that,” I say. “Wouldn’t killing your wife be some kind of awesome revenge? Or even better, kidnapping me and—” I stop because the look on Robert’s face is terrifying. His eyes are molten and the rage in them… “You okay?” I ask, my voice coming out almost a whisper. Like I’m afraid to rattle the beast staring back at me.
Robert swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing and jaw clenching. “You’re right. You should go.”
“Robert.” I smile at him, trying to look reassuring. I put a hand out, touching his arm lightly. “I’m fine. I mean, I’m good.” And eloquent. I laugh a little at myself. “What I’m trying to say is I can handle myself. I’m really hard to kill. Especially if I’m expecting it.”
Robert shakes his head, then glances down at where my hand is still on his bicep. I drop it, feeling like I’ve been caught doing something. Robert’s gaze stays on the spot when he speaks. “I don’t want to lose you, Sydney.”
“Don’t worry,” I say. “I’m not the one who dies. It’s just the people I love who…” I don’t finish the sentence. Hate that I almost said it out loud to Robert. I don’t share my heart with him. He is my enemy. But the thought has no bite.
“The people you love…what?” he says, his gaze tracking to mine, eyes narrowing, as if he’s seeing something in the distance and squinting will help him make it out.
“Nothing.” I turn away, but he reaches out, taking my arm. The hold is gentle—which is why I don’t immediately break it. And why Blue doesn’t growl.
“Tell me,” Robert says.
My stomach rumbles and hunger sweeps other thoughts away. “Later,” I lie. “I really need to eat.”
Robert releases my arm and nods, suddenly full of purpose. Feed the pregnant lady. “There should be snacks in the mini-bar. I will be back soon.” He turns and leaves quickly—a man on a mission.
I look down at Blue. “What do you think?” I ask. He begins to sniff the perimeter of the room, checking out all the corners and under the huge bed.
This bungalow villa is even larger than the last and has its own pool hovering above the calm and inviting sea, which seems like…overkill. My stomach growls again and I hunt out the mini-bar, finding a packet of mixed nuts that I demolish before heading into the bathroom.
Blue follows me in. He always wants to be by my side, but often I don’t let him join me in the bathroom because I don’t mind a few moments alone now and then. But right now, I want the company. Besides the bathroom is huge.
The walk-in shower has sand-colored tile dotted with fossils. The floor is black round stones. There is a sauna next to the shower…again, overkill. Who needs a sauna in the tropics?
Pushing away my judgments of the interior design choices, I strip off my outfit—the shirt is ruined but the pants are salvageable. Stepping under the spray of water, I close my eyes and empty my mind.
Learning to meditate through tai chi with Merl changed the way my brain worked, but it still can feel like a herd of cats yowling in there. Maybe now that you love Robert he really will die.
I take in a deep steam-filled breath and release that thought, allowing it to float by as a cloud does when one is lying on their back staring up at the sky. It morphs—as clouds do—from worry about his death to concern that he may live. If he doesn’t die, are you going to fuck him?
“Shit,” I mutter out loud, that thought winning—morphing from a little white cloud into a thunderhead growing in strength above me.
I can’t. It will mean he won. But you’ve admitted you want both him and Mulberry. He seems to be accepting that you will have them both.
Seems to is the operative phrase there. Robert is a snake. That much we know.
Yes, we can trust in his snakiness. He’s trying to get me to eat the forbidden fruit…yeah, but I’m not Eve. I’m just an ordinary woman. Who wants a man. Make that a couple of men.
Shut up!
Blue barks, a high sharp sound. Robert is back. I turn off the shower and grab a towel. It’s plush and long enough that it falls below my knees. I glance in the mirror. My skin is rosy from the steam and my hair is slicked to my head—so the scars that mark my face are in stark relief.
My mind wanders back to when I first met Robert. I instantly felt the slime coming off him. Oily and repulsive. He was married to another woman—Pammy. Young, gorgeous, hyper sexual, manipulative…the perfect partner for Bobby Maxim.
Pammy’s dog, Toby, was the reason I ended up in this mess. This mess I now consider my life. That dog ran away down a chilly, creepy alley and he found Saperstein’s dead body. I was just the dog walker chasing him.
What am I doing now?
Why do I have this sense that life is happening to me—that I haven’t stopped running since I chased that animal? I’ve tried to redirect myself—leave this mayhem. Desert this dangerous path, slow down and find my way back to the smooth pavement of normalcy but…it’s impossible. I’m so far from “normal” now I’ll never get back there.
Yet…my hand comes to my stomach again, cupping the bulge there. This is normal. Is there anything more normal than having a baby?
Even if I’m not doing it in a traditional way.
A knock on the door draws me from my thoughts, thank god. “Just a minute,” I say.
“We have a reservation in fifteen, is that enough time for you? Or would you prefer I call food to the room?” Robert asks.
“Let’s go out,” I say, hoping to avoid any more accidentally intimate situations tonight. “But don’t you need to shower?”
“I’ll just take a dip. I left your clothing on the bed.” Footsteps retreat.
I run a brush through my hair, then find a smaller towel and wrap it up. A bathrobe calls my name and I slip on the thick terry garment before heading out to find the clothing Robert left.
He’s not in the pool. Blue bounds over to the deck and barks down to the water. I resist the urge to go see. The sun is almost gone now and the first bright stars twinkle in the dusky blue sky. It’s time to eat. And get the information I came here for; there will be no more cavorting with Robert Maxim in the sea.
But don’t you want to?
Shut up brain, shut the fuck up.