The Sex On Beach Book Club

by Jennifer Apodaca

  For her? What was he telling her? Anything? Or was he just angry?

  Wes had had the courage to tell her he loved her. She hadn’t been able to do that. She regretted that now, hated that she hadn’t given him the words, when he’d given her so much more. He had taught her to believe in her own value as a partner. She dropped her gaze from his face and noticed that he had both his fists clenched.

  A glint of silver peeked out of his right fist.

  Holly didn’t let her expression change, but what was it? She could only see the smooth, curved edge…The utility knife! Quickly she looked back up.

  His green eyes were glued to her face. Willing her to stay alive, trust him, and work with him.

  She turned and looked at Helene. “The police have been looking for both you and Nora. Everyone knows who you are, Ashley.”

  She smiled, a slow, cold smile. “Good, because when I wrestle the gun from Nora, who gets shot in the process, they will know that Ashley Gaines is a heroine who tried to save the man who destroyed her husband.” She turned to look at Wes. “But I was too late.”

  Holly’s mouth was dry and it was hard to think, let alone talk. “That’s a little clichéd. Overdone.”

  Helene ignored her. “Let’s see how Nick likes watching his sister die.”

  Wes shoved Michelle behind him.

  “Okay, your girlfriend, then.” She turned the gun on Holly’s head.

  “No!” Wes roared.

  Helene laughed. “Which one, Nick? Your sister or your girlfriend?”

  Sweat rolled down Wes’s face. “Kill me.”

  “Oh, I will. After you watch everything you love and worked for die. Just like I did when you suddenly got a conscience. I’ve been waiting a long time to watch you squirm.”

  Holly looked over at Nora. She appeared broken. Her hands were tied behind her back and she didn’t seem to have any will left. But she looked from Helene to Holly. Then Nora said, “You’re a monster, Helene. You stole my gun.”

  “Shut up, Nora,” Helene said calmly. “Choose, Nick. Who dies first?”

  “Shoot me!” Nora said, trying to stand up. “Just get it over with!” The chair clanked against the table.

  Helene turned her head.

  Wes acted, drawing his arm back, flicking out the blade on the utility knife, and throwing it.

  At the same time, Holly dropped to her knees, using her left hand and reaching across Wes to get the gun from his leg. She was clumsy and couldn’t get his pant leg up. But suddenly the gun was put into her hand.

  She looked up and saw Michelle kneeling on the other side of Wes. She put the gun in Holly’s hand just as Helene screamed.

  Holly didn’t try to stand. She stayed on her knees and took stock. The utility knife hit the mark, slicing Helene’s right forearm. She dropped her gun.

  But she had Holly’s gun in her waist band. She pulled it out, oblivious to the blood pouring from the cut on her arm.

  Holly took aim with her left hand and fired.

  Helene was thrown back. The bullet hit her in the left shoulder and slammed her on top of the table behind her.

  Wes grabbed the gun from Holly’s hand, holding it on Helene and starting to walk forward. Behind them, the door burst open. Holly turned just in time to see Joe, in uniform and with backup, burst into the room. “Joe.” She was pretty sure she said the word out loud.

  Her brother reached her in seconds. “Ah, Holly.”

  He took hold of her good arm and sat her down in a chair. She looked into his blue eyes. Everything else tilted oddly, but she could see her brother’s blue eyes, full of concern. “I’m okay. Tell Wes I love him. I should have told him…”

  Wes’s voice interrupted. “Tell me yourself.” He dropped down in front of her and put his warm hands on her thighs.

  She was so cold, the warmth of his hands felt good. “I love—ouch, goddammit!” She looked over to see that Joe had a pad of something that he’d shoved up against the wound on her arm. She started to pant, the pain making her nauseous.

  “Where are the paramedics?” Wes roared out.

  “I hear them,” Joe said, but he wouldn’t let go of her arm.

  Holly swayed on the chair.

  Wes took the hand of her good arm. “Look at me, Holly.”

  She forced her eyes to stay open and fix on him.

  He smiled. “That’s my PI. I know it hurts. The cops wouldn’t let me near Helene, or I’d have kicked the shit out of her for shooting you.”

  She half-smiled. Then remembered what she had been going to tell him…“I’m sorry. I should have told you. I—”

  The paramedics rushed in.

  Wes stood up to get out of their way.

  “Wait. Wes…” It was too late. One paramedic peeled back the pad Joe had put on her arm, and the other took her vitals. And the cops dragged Wes away to get his statement.

  Wes found Holly later that night at her house, surrounded by her dad, brothers, George, Jodi, Kelly, and Tanya. Her face was white with pain and fatigue. The bullet had gone through the outside edge of her arm, missing vital bone, but needing a hell of a lot of stitches. She and George sat on the couch, both looking like hell.

  He and Michelle walked in and all talking stopped. Wes told them what he knew so far from his hours at the police station. “Ashley Gaines has been arrested on murder and attempted murder, and they are still adding charges. She’s under guard at the hospital. The real Helene has been contacted and admitted to the whole scheme of switching identities. And Knoll did have the flash drive to Cullen’s computer, the moron.” He said it all as he walked over to Holly.

  She looked up at him, her blue eyes fogged with pain medication and maybe a little shock. “Are you in trouble?”

  For a second, his breath caught and his chest ached. Seeing that bitch shoot Holly had snapped his mind, and thrown him into an uncontrollable rage. Holly had bared herself to him, body and soul, and as archaic as it sounded, she roused in him a fierce instinct to protect her. If Michelle hadn’t stopped him, he’d have gone after Helene in that second, getting them all killed. But his courageous PI kept going after that, working with him until they took down Helene together. And the first thing she worried about was his legal trouble, not the fact that she’d been shot. He leaned over her, putting his arm on the back of the couch behind her left shoulder, and answered her. “Some, but my lawyers assure me it’ll be fine. I have to start sorting it out tomorrow, which will mean going back to Los Angeles for a while. But tonight, I’m here to take care of you.” Careful of her thickly bandaged right arm, he slid his arms under her and lifted her up.

  Her eyes widened. “Wes, put me down. What about your sister?”

  He looked back at Michelle, knowing what she’d say because they’d already talked about it. Michelle knew he loved her, and that he’d never disappear on her again. But she also knew that he loved Holly, and tonight Holly needed him.

  She smiled at him. “I’m fine. I’ll sleep here on the couch.”

  George stood up. “No, I’ll take Michelle back to your house and stay there with her and that mutt you call a dog. We’ll be fine.”

  Wes nodded. George would take care of his sister. He had to take care of Holly. He went down to her bedroom and kicked the door closed behind them. He placed her on the bed and stripped her out of her clothes. Then he went into the bathroom and ran the water, wet a washcloth, and grabbed a towel.

  She eyed him as he came back. “What are you doing?”

  “Washing the blood off of you.” He gently cleaned where the blood had soaked through her shirt and pants. Once he was done, he dumped the cloth and towel in the bathroom. He went to her dresser, found a pair of black panties and a loose shirt he could get over her wounded arm.

  She started to sit up. “I can dress myself.”

  He sat down, reached behind her back, and helped her sit up. Then he worked the shirt over her injured arm, slid it over her head, got her second arm in, and pulled it down. He pic
ked up the panties and grinned at her. “Pay attention, Hillbaby. This is one of the few times you’ll see me putting these on you. Most of the time, I’m going to be doing my damnest to get you out of your panties.” He stood, put his hand behind her back, and helped her to lie down. Then he leaned over and slipped the panties over her feet and up her legs. Once he had her dressed, he pulled off his shoes, pants, and shirt. He turned off the light, got in the bed on the left side of her, and pulled the covers over them.

  “Wes.”

  He put his arm under her neck and slid up against her, careful not to jar her, but cradled her against him. “What?”

  Her voice was flat. “You have your life back now.”

  She thought it was going to change things between them. That she had been good enough while he was on the run and couldn’t do any better. It made him half angry that she believed that, and half scared to death that he’d lose her. “I’ve never met a woman like you, Holly. You fought for me from the first day. And tonight you saved our lives.”

  Her body tensed. “You did. You threw the utility knife. You still have quite an arm left over from your pitching days.”

  “And you backed me up. Like a partner.” He leaned over her and kissed her mouth. No tongue, no sexual tension, just a gentle kiss. Then he touched her face. “I love you, Holly. That’s not going to change.”

  He heard her breathing, felt her heart beating where he’d rested his hand on her chest. She said, “I want you to know for sure that you want a relationship.”

  “I do.” He didn’t quite understand what she was so worried about. “It’s not like we’re getting married in the next couple of days. We’ll take as much time as you need.”

  She shook her head. He felt a wave of pain wrench her body.

  “Don’t,” he told her. “Holly, please, don’t hurt yourself. Baby, you’re tired, hurt, and lost a lot of blood. Your body went into shock when you were shot.” God, he wanted her to keep believing in him.

  “Please, Wes.”

  For the first time since he’d met her, he touched her face and felt tears. Jesus. “Holly, don’t cry.” His own throat closed up painfully. “Tell me what you want.”

  She took a deep breath. “I want you to take care of everything, get to know your sister again. Take some time. You might find that you want to go back to Los Angeles, go back to your life there. You were rich and powerful, Wes. In fact, you weren’t even Wes, you were Nick. I don’t want some kind of guilt, or debt, keeping you with me until you can’t stand it anymore.” In the moonlight streaming through her window, she turned and looked at him with tear-filled eyes. “Take time to think about never having children. Never having a son to play baseball with.”

  That hurt, surprising him. Somewhere in his mind was an image of him teaching his son to play baseball.

  She touched his face with her left hand. “I’ve had time, Wes. I’ve come to terms with it. And now that I’ve met you, I know I’m still worth loving.” More tears spilled down her face. “I’d rather you find out what you want, then either come back or walk away clean. Better that than tarnish the memory of loving you by watching our relationship die a little each day because neither of us had the guts to face the truth.”

  Her courage and wisdom humbled him. She was right. He owed her the truth. Wes leaned over her, kissing her tears. “I’ll be back, Holly. I’ll always come back for you.”

  “You don’t know that. Not everybody comes back.” Her tears dried up. Her words were flat and matter-of-fact. “And that’s okay.”

  He knew she was right. And he did have to go. His lawyers were making arrangements now. He had to clear his name, or names, and resolve everything.

  But Holly Hillbay was the one woman who had never walked out on him. He would come back for her. He slid his body closer, needing the skin-to-skin contact with her. “I’ll be back.”

  Chapter 22

  Tanya raised her glass of beer. “To Holly! She was awesome today!”

  Holly rolled her eyes and drank her beer.

  “Tell us again,” Kelly said.

  Tanya adjusted her black tube top and laughed. “By the time Holly got done castrating Phil with the pictures proving he was screwing Bridget before my, ah, indiscretion with Cullen, his own lawyers told him he was a fool. They added that he had no choice, because of his own actions, but to pay me the entire amount of the prenuptial settlement and Holly’s fees for the investigation.” Her grin lit up the restaurant.

  Jodi looked at Holly. “Who did you get the pictures from?”

  She put her beer down. They were at the Elephant Bar, celebrating Tanya’s good news. Holly loved this shit, hunting down cheaters, any kind of cheater. “From the flash drive of Cullen’s computer. Cullen knew that Phil and Bridget were sleeping together, so he snapped pictures of them making out with his camera phone and e-mailed them to his computer.” She shrugged. “Cullen probably planned to use them to convince Tanya to sleep with him, but he didn’t need them. Obviously, since he was murdered right after seeing Tanya, the pictures meant Phil and Bridget were doing the deed before Tanya and Cullen were.”

  Seth shook his head. “Hard to believe Brad did something right.”

  Holly smiled at the memory. “Brad, the dumb shit, started realizing something was wrong about the time that Maggie stormed into his office and threw him a new one. The two of them made another copy of the flash drive. Brad and Maggie were in Save Their Ass mode. They found Helene/Ashley’s manuscript on the flash drive, checked the ending, and realized that Helene planned to murder Wes and Michelle in the bookstore.” Holly shook her head, still amazed. Helene or Ashley, whichever name she was called, was a true sociopath, but smart. “Helene knew we’d figure some of it out, so she made it look like the setup was at Brad’s office to talk about the book. Then she got Nora in the bookstore, held a gun to her, and forced her to call Wes, planning a dramatic murder, and an ending to her book. The plan had been to blame Nora, saying that she wanted revenge on Wes for her husband’s sports gambling, which led to him embezzling. It was crazy in a brilliant way.”

  Joe’s voice was cop-cold. “Brad didn’t call the police like he should have.”

  Holly smiled. “No, but Dad called you and Rodgers. Brad and Maggie were too busy coming up with a story to keep their sorry asses out of prison.” So much had happened. It had been a long month. But productive. Holly’s arm was healing nicely. She had more work than she could handle. Wes had sent her a large check, and a note telling her that if she didn’t take it, he’d just put the money directly in her account.

  God, she missed him. But she kept busy and tried not to think about him. Except at night, when she was alone. He was even with her in her dreams. For two weeks, she made herself believe he was coming back.

  The third week, it got harder.

  Now it was a constant pain in her stomach. But Holly knew she’d be all right. She’d go on. She’d live her life and cherish her memory of the man who loved her exactly as she was. At least for a while.

  Seth snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Wake up.”

  She smacked his hand away. “Don’t make me kick your ass in public. I was just thinking.”

  His understanding blue eyes rested on her face, but he didn’t ask about Wes. Instead, he said, “How’d you get Brad to give you the flash drive?”

  “The truth. I threatened him. I told him I’d tell the world that he’d dumped me the very day I lost his baby. Oh, and that I paid for most of his law school, ruining the self-made man he liked to brag about being.”

  Tanya set down her beer. “Holly, I…gosh, I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

  She waved her hand. “It was three years ago. But Brad is desperate to regain his dubious reputation. He gave me a copy of the flash drive.”

  Her dad sat beside her. “Tell them the rest.”

  She looked over at her dad. The rock of her life. He had always been there for her. She realized now that her mom may not have wanted her, ma
y have gone out and had perfect daughters to replace her, but Holly got the perfect dad. Her brothers were okay, too, when she didn’t want to kill them. “I made the creep crawl back to the human resources person of the manufacturing plant I used to do background checks for and tell them he lied about me. He had told them I was forced to quit the sheriff’s department, and they let me go.”

  Her dad’s eyes sparkled. “That’s my girl.”

  She picked up her beer and shrugged.

  Nora rushed in, looking frazzled but happy. “Sorry I’m late.” She went over to Tanya and hugged her. “I’m happy for you, Tanya. You can go on with your life now. Are you going to keep working for Holly?”

  “She’d better,” Holly muttered. “I’ve spent a lot of time training her.”

  Tanya laughed. “I have to. She needs me.”

  Nora sat down and ordered a glass of wine. “So, where’s George?”

  Jodi said, “He’s closing up the bookstore. He’ll come by.”

  Holly grinned. “Is he as overprotective as your previous boss?” She ignored the tightness in her chest that came automatically when she thought of Wes. George had offered to run the bookstore and watch out for Jodi and Kelly while Wes was gone. Wes was in and out of town, dealing with the police, the IRS, and his lawyers. He called once in a while, but it was too hard. She wanted Wes to make his own decision.

  Jodi rolled her eyes. “Heck, yeah. And he talks to our parents on the phone, too.”

  Kelly moved her glass of lemonade, smearing the condensation from the bottom of the glass on the table. “Wes is coming home today.”

  Everyone turned and looked at her. Holly kept her face blank.

  Nora saved her. “I have to thank him. I don’t know what I would have done without Wes. He got me the lawyer, who negotiated the deal for me. I didn’t deserve his help.” She blinked back tears and added, “Immunity for turning on Helene. I thought my life was over that day in the bookstore and I was sick for Ryan.”