Island of Secrets and Scars

She raised an eyebrow, fanning herself with the bills. Inside, her stomach twisted, and her heart pounded. Negotiating with police officers had never been a normal pastime for her. A part of her hated Keso for putting her in this position. The guard looked around, then motioned for her to follow. Quickly, she weaved through the low gate and followed him to the back of the station. As she walked, she slipped her hand inside her bag, wrapping it around the cool butt of the pistol.

Coming to a stop, the man pulled a key ring from his belt and inserted the key into the lock. He watched Cameron as he turned the key. “You have something more than money?”

The way he watched her made her skin crawl. She couldn’t wait for a shower. Maybe then she wouldn’t feel like tiny bugs skittered over every inch of her.

“I’m his child’s mother, not a prostitute.” She smiled as she delivered the message. Inside her bag, her grip tightened.

The man grunted and jerked open the metal door that led to the cells. The stench of urine and vomit assaulted her nose. Holding her breath, she followed the man down the hall past cells where unwashed men lounged on soiled mattresses.

“Hola Bonita,” one inmate to her right, pushed his hand through the iron bars of his cell.

She dodged him only to have her arm grabbed by another on her left.

“Let go of me,” she bit out.

The man grinned, showing all four of his rotten teeth. With her free arm, she gripped his wrist, pushed into his pulse point, and twisted. He howled in pain and released his grip. Cameron didn’t let go. She twisted until he was on his knees on the other side of the bars. Before she released him, she raised her gaze to the weaselly guard. Arching her brow, she made sure he understood she wasn’t here to be fucked with. The man smirked and continued down the hall. Dropping the prisoner’s wrist, she followed.

Edmund hadn’t prepared her for what she saw when she reached Keso’s cell. He’d told her Roberts’s men had beaten Keso up pretty badly. She’s pictured black eyes and busted lips. Instead, Keso’s face was almost unrecognizable. If not for the guard watching her, she would’ve wept. Instead, she narrowed her gaze and hardened her face. “Get him out and I’ll pay extra.”

The man’s gaze fell to her breasts

“Money,” she assured him. “Or nothing at all.”

This time when he held his hand out, she slapped half of the bills into it.

“Help me get him out, and I’ll give you more.”

Pocketing the bills, the man opened the cell. “Get up.” He kicked Keso in the side.

The low, keening sound emitted from the lump on the floor had Cameron biting back a cry. The guard drug Keso to his feet, but her friend couldn’t stand on his own. Going to his side, she looped his arm over her shoulder and slipped her arm around his waist. Part of her wanted to leave him, to let him suffer for his own stupid recklessness. But she loved him too much to be unaffected by his pain.

“Doc,” he whispered through swollen, split lips. “You shouldn’t…”

Blood covered his torn T-shirt, but looking at his battered face, she couldn’t determine from where it originated.

“Let’s go.” She took most of his weight. “You can tell me what I shouldn’t do once we’re out of here. Now come on.”

Slowly, they inched their way out of the cells and back to the lobby. At the door, the guard held out his hand. She passed him the rest of the money, hoping he kept his end of the deal and let them leave. Satisfied, the man unlocked the door. He held it open, not bothering to help as she mostly drug Keso from the station.

* * *

Stepping into her cottage, Cameron breathed in the sweet smell of coffee. Her discarded shoes clattered to the floor, disrupting the quiet solitude.

“Bless you, Luci.” She ambled through the sitting room to the tiny kitchen. “I barely got any sleep last…”

Her words fell away. Ian stood in front of the coffee pot, a pair of shorts slung low on his hips and his chest bare.

At the sight of him, her heart squeezed in her chest. “What are you doing here?”

“Having coffee.” He didn’t look at her as he stepped to the pot for a refill.

“Is everything okay?” She found it hard to breathe through the emotions running wild through her. Until this moment, she hadn’t realized how much she missed sharing a home with him. Somehow, Ian made even sipping morning coffee special.

“Peachy.” His smile didn’t fool her. “Esmerelda was having trouble feeding the baby. Since I have no expertise in the area, I came to get you. Luckily, Luciana offered to help. So, I stayed with Arabella.”

“You stayed with Ara last night?” He’d spent the night in her home, taking care of her daughter? “Was she okay?”

“Of course. Though if her parents were so worried about her, they could’ve had their rendezvous on this island.”

“There was no rendezvous. I had to—”

“Don’t worry about it.” Finishing his coffee, he slammed his mug to the counter. “I’ll just get my things.”

This would be so much easier if she could just tell him the truth. The last thing she wanted was to keep secrets from him. But what was the point? Ian would be gone in a few days. She’d kept these secrets for years. Making him feel better wasn’t worth the risk.

He turned to the door, brushing against her in the small space.

She put a hand on his chest to stop him. When his dark, penetrating eyes met hers, she backed away. “Are you mad at me? I didn’t ask you to come here. Luci could’ve taken Ara with her, or one of the other women could’ve stayed with her. You didn’t have to—”

“I wanted to,” he yelled, then snapped his mouth shut. When he spoke again, his voice was hushed. “I wanted to spend time with her. I wanted to see you. I wanted to be here in this home that reminds me so much of that little loft we used to have in the city. I guess I didn’t realize how hard it would be to watch the woman I love do the walk of shame.”

* * *

Ian told himself he felt nothing as he watched Cameron’s beautiful face crumple and tears fill her eyes. She was the one ripping his heart out, sprinkling attention when the mood struck, then sailing off to fuck someone else.

She shook her head, the messy braid swinging back and forth down her back. “That’s not, I’m not—”

“That’s not what they call it here?” He fought to push his anger away. So, what if she wasn’t technically his? She belonged to him. She loved him. “Is it no big deal that you slept with me forty-eight hours ago? That you claim to love me?”

“I do love you,” she choked out.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he turned his head. Maybe if he concentrated hard enough, her words would calm the storm inside of him caused by the thought of another man touching her. He didn’t care that Keso was the father of her child and therefore important to her. She was his, damn it. “And yet you snuck off to be with him.”

Covering her eyes with her hands, she shook her head. “I can’t do this right now.” She turned to the counter. Bracing her hands on the tile, she dropped her head forward.

“Yeah.” Though he wanted to comfort her, he wouldn’t. “I’ll just get my things and get out of your way.”

He’d made it to the door when her low voice asked, “Why do you look so good here? Why do you look like you fit into my world when I know you won’t stay?”

He stopped his retreat. Did she want him to stay? So far, all she’d done was talk about him leaving. If he wanted to stay, would she make room for him here? He sighed. “Cam.”

Turning to him, she placed a shaking palm over his heart. He stood frozen as she leaned closer, replacing her hand with her lips. Pressing small kisses to his chest, she worked up his neck to his jaw. Finally, she took his lips with her own.

Need flowed through him, burning away rational thought, erasing the knowledge she’d spent the night with someone else. He returned her kiss, devouring her mouth. Maybe if he kissed her hard enough, loved her wildly enough, he’d ruin her for finding pleasure with anyone else. Just as she’d done to him.

He fisted his hand in her long hair and held her to him. With his other hand, he dug into her hip, pulling her body flush against his. Her hands slid down his body, fingers gliding under the waistband of his boxers. Pulling away from her, he gripped the hem of her dress and pushed it up her toned thighs. His hands slid over the cheeks of her ass, skimming her silky boy shorts. He spun her around so he could release the zipper at the back of her dress. She braced her hands on the counter. With his lips to her neck, he kissed her gently, then nipped her skin. Sliding the straps off her arms, he left the dress to fall to the floor around her bare feet. Returning his mouth to her neck, he clutched her waist, pulling her against him. Her hand snaked around his neck, holding him to her. And then she moved, grinding her hips against him. His head spun and his heart raced. The sound of their labored breathing filled the sparsely furnished space. He wanted, no needed, to slide down her sexy-as-fuck panties and plunge inside her heat. As she moved her hips against him, her breath came out quick and heavy.

“Mommy.”