Jenn grabbed her arm. “Maybe they won’t find out about Max.”
“It doesn’t matter. The beach is no fun when the water is blocked by those damn buzzards.”
“I’m so sorry.”
When she heard the roughness of tears in Jenn’s voice, Chloe reached to tug her over to lie down, too. She wrapped her arms around Jenn’s delicate shoulders and sighed as Jenn settled against the couch. “Thank you so much for this vacation. It’s been amazing. Mind-blowing, even.”
Jenn huffed out a watery laugh.
“You were right. It was just what I needed.”
“This’ll be over soon,” Jenn whispered. “A few days after the charges are filed, the story will get old.”
“Maybe. There are rumors of a federal prosecution, too. Filing a false flight plan. Crashing the plane…”
“Still…it has to get old before then. There’ll be another scandal.”
“I know. It’ll get old. We’ll be back to normal. Except we’ll all be single again. You and me and Anna. It’ll be so much fun.”
Jenn didn’t answer, but Chloe was too lost in her own twisting thoughts to care. The problem with these damn stories about her was that there was always a grain of truth in them. Some sharp-thorned detail that hooked into her skin and stuck there. In the past, it had been the claims that she’d cared more about the wedding than the groom. At some point, she had obviously gotten too caught up in the wedding plans to notice that her fiancé was willing to do anything to get away. Then she’d been so swept up by the drama that she’d forgotten to be heartbroken over the betrayal.
And now? Now she was very worried they were right about her heartless selfishness. She’d come here to deal with her shock and grief and pain. And yet she’d found herself enjoying hot sex and interesting conversation with a man who was a virtual stranger.
My God, what was wrong with her? Where was her grief and depression and rage and self-examination?
Even now, knowing that the shit was about to hit the fan, knowing Max could be swept up in this, all she could think was that this was going to be her last night on the island, and she wanted to spend it with him.
She didn’t care that the hearing was coming up, and that she’d learn more awful things about a man she’d supposedly loved. She didn’t care that Jenn was obviously whitewashing the gossip she fed her. She didn’t even care that Max was rightfully angry. She just wanted to crawl back into his bed and lose herself in the hottest chemistry she’d ever felt.
Tomorrow, Island Chloe would disappear, swallowed up by the inescapable wheels of the twenty-four-hour news cycle. Chloe didn’t want to let her go without a fight.
CHAPTER TWELVE
MAX PACED AROUND THE CABIN, crowded by the four walls and hunted by the photographers outside. He edged open the curtain just in time to see the last photographer packing it up as the sky turned from twilight to dusk. Three more of them had arrived on the second ferry, and even though Max hadn’t been their primary target, they’d all turned cameras on him whenever he’d opened the door. They didn’t know what connection he had to Chloe, but they’d seen him go into her place.
“I knew celibacy was a good idea,” he muttered to the windowpane before turning to glare at his brother. “I can’t believe you didn’t warn me.”
“I didn’t recognize her!” Elliott protested.
Oh, Elliott had confessed to knowing the whole damn jilted Bridezilla story. But he’d only overheard details in the office and had never connected a name or face to the story. Unfortunately.
“Let me see your phone again.”
Elliott groaned. “Why?”
“You know why.”
“You’ve looked at enough of those Web sites.”
Max dropped into the recliner he’d pulled in front of the window and let his head fall back against the cushion. He had looked at enough of the sites, but his hands itched to scroll through a few more. “None of it makes any sense. She doesn’t seem crazy at all.”
“So maybe she’s not.”
“Yeah, well, the next time a woman drives you to fake your own death, I’ll be sure to give her the benefit of the doubt.”
“Come on,” Elliott argued. “The guy is obviously a loser.”
Max slumped lower in the chair. “That doesn’t exactly recommend her, either, does it?”