CHAPTER 19
JOSH
The following week had turned into some sort of countdown. The wedding was set for our last week sailing and would take place on shore just before sunset, and then our small wedding party would move to the yacht where Allyson’s honeymoon tagalongs would be invited to celebrate our union.
Ella had asked Allyson if she’d wanted to invite the fifty some-odd others to the wedding, but Allyson had given her a firm ‘No.’
It seemed odd that Allyson never seemed to spend much time with anyone other than her husband, sister, and Ella. Why go through all the trouble to invite other friends and not spend any time with them?
“We escaped that shopping adventure by the skin of our teeth,” Alex said, cutting into my thoughts.
No longer on Salt Cay, but Middle Caicos, the island stretched a bit further with more room for homes and businesses which is how we came to be in a cab without the girls, heading to the home of a business acquaintance of Alex’s father. I had no idea what made Alex seek him out, but he promised me a much better time than finding a quiet spot to sit and wait while the women shopped.
Before we left, I’d pulled Ella aside with the context of saying our goodbyes. Neither of us were comfortable being split up, but there was no way of avoiding it.
“How are we supposed to communicate if something happens?” I asked, worried about leaving her even if it were for only a few hours.
The corner of Ella’s bottom lip disappeared between her teeth and then she said, “I don’t like it either. I’ll try to get through this as quick as possible and get us back on the boat. Alex didn’t say where he wants to take you?”
I shook my head. “Which is why it bothers me. We have no way to get in touch with each other. If something were to happen… Ella, if something happens here…”
“I’ll send up a smoke signal,” Ella said, reaching out to put her hand on my arm. “Don’t worry, it’ll be all right.”
“Smoke signal,” I huffed. “You better set a building on fire.”
“If something happens, I’ll set the biggest fire you’ve ever seen,” she replied. “Go, we’ll be fine.”
I’d left like she told me to. Got in the waiting cab Alex hailed and felt every single mile that stretched between us. If something happened, I wouldn’t know until it was too late.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to be off that damn boat and away from all those people,” Alex said, dropping the Mr. Perfect act and slumping down in his seat.
“All those people? Aren’t they your friends?” I asked, thrown a little by his confession.
Alex snorted. “No. I don’t even know half of them.”
That confused me. “So why are they sailing the high seas with you and your new bride?”
He sighed and then sat up, turning in the seat to face me. “The truth?”
I smirked. “Well, I mean, you are gonna be my best man, so really there shouldn’t be any lies between us.”
Alex laughed. “I like you, Josh. Can’t say that about many people.”
I shrugged, giving him a cheesy sort of grin. “I’m not like most people.”
“No. You’re really not. The truth then… those people on the boat? We didn’t invite them, her father did.”
“Seems a little more than interfering to me. It’s your honeymoon. What would make him think that it was okay to invite people to tag along?” I prodded.
“That’s putting it mildly,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’d give anything to have a week alone with my wife without someone tailing us, or being invited to wherever we go. Safety in numbers, he says. I call it sticking his interfering ass in our marriage.”
“He didn’t agree with your marriage?” I asked.
“Oh, he agreed with it. He put up a good fight as show, but underneath the smoke and mirrors, he was all too willing to join our families. Money breeds money and all that bullshit. When I told my father we were getting married, he practically drooled.”
“If they were so happy about it, then why are they sticking their nose in it? Or is it just Allyson’s father who’s doing it?” I asked.
The only intel we had came from Garett Baron, but what if there was more to the situation? What if we only had half the story? Two powerful men now linked through marriage could be a very dangerous thing for everyone involved.
“My father stuck his nose in too, which is why my oh-so-friendly cousin is sailing with us.”
“Yeah, I met him the first day. He seemed…”
“He’s a dick. Ignore him. That’s what I do,” Alex said as the car came to a stop.
Interesting. None of the people on board with us were their friends. It was as if they’d been hired like movie extras. Why go through the trouble? Why not tell them they could go so long as they had a security detail that would remain discreet, yet close when they left the boat? It damn sure would have saved money. Then again, Garett Baron seemed like the kind of guy that tossed money like confetti because he had so much of it.
“Garett gets a lot of threats,” Alex added as if he had some insight to my thoughts.
“What kind of threats?” I asked as the car rolled to a stop outside of a two story home bigger than any of the surrounding homes.
“The kind that would keep most people awake at night. I think he’s been threatened for so long that if he weren’t being threatened, that’s when he’d really start to worry.”
“That’s a crappy way to live,” I said, following Alex up to the front door.
“Makes me glad I’m not in oil.” Alex smirked and then reached out to press the doorbell.
“No, you’re just married to the heiress of it all,” I added, stuffing my hands in my pockets as we waited for someone to answer the door.
He nodded. “True. And that makes me want to sink my entire portfolio into windmills.”
The door swung open as we laughed. An old man with a walking cane that looked as if it had been carved of ivory welcomed us with a thick Spanish accent, “Welcome, Alexander. Your father said you would be stopping by.”
“Mr. Solomon. It’s good to see you again. This is my friend, Joshua,” Alex replied, slipping back into his polished manners as he introduced me.
“Yes, yes. You as well. A pleasure, Joshua,” he said, tipping his head in my direction and then shifted his keen old eyes back to Alex. “Tell me, how is your lovely new bride?”
“Wedding dress shopping with her closest and dearest friend, which is why we’re here.” Alex beamed.
The old man wheezed a laugh, tapping his cane soundly against the floor. “A wise man. The women, they shop, and the men, they find other worthy amusements. The bigger, the better. Sí?”
Mr. Solomon, I learned as we walked through his home, had once been a very active man. His fortune had been earned through the discovery of artifacts. From archeological digs, to sunken ships, he’d not only collected, but sold pieces to the highest bidder which was how Alex’s father knew him. What wasn’t sold was used to decorate the two-story house. I found my eyes darting all over the place to ensure I didn’t miss anything. He had so much history inside his wall that he could have easily turned the property into a museum and charged people at the door for the privilege of viewing it. Then again, if people knew what was hidden there, he’d probably be robbed blind. Especially since it didn’t seem like he had much in the way of security. That I could see anyway.
“To be young again,” Mr. Solomon said as we stepped through to the back patio.
“I’d switch places with you in a heartbeat, sir, if this were my view every day,” I replied, wishing Ella were there to see the absolute breathtaking view of the ocean less than a mile away.
The lawn, lush and green, spread out like a velvet carpet leading to the sea. Palm trees swayed, dancing in the wind, towering like pillars on each side of the yard. Flowers spilled from pedestal pots bigger than I could wrap my arms around, each spread out evenly, curving like half-moons from where we stood to th
e edge of the yard. Beneath the pots, in intervals, were more flowers. I had no idea what any of them were; I just knew it was one of the most beautiful places I’d ever set eyes on.
“I find my peace here,” Mr. Solomon said from beside me.
“I can understand why,” I replied.
“The flowers? Pah, those are beauty. Beauty comes and goes. A man needs more than beauty. A man needs power. A man needs strength and…”
“A cannon? Is that a cannon?” I said, cutting Mr. Solomon off in my excitement.
He didn’t seem to mind, or at least it didn’t sound so when he shouted something in Spanish to the two men with ropes as thick as my wrist slung over their shoulders as they hauled the mother of all cannons across the yard.
“Shall we try it out?” he asked, lifting his cane and poking it in the direction of the hulking mass creaking along on its massive wheels.
“Yes, we should and more than once,” I answered, feeling like a giddy kid.
Alex wore a smile that practically split his face. “I’ll take that thank you now,” he said, rubbing his hands together.
I laughed along with him, clapping him on the back as we watched the two men chalk the wheels and ready the cannon for fire. “I’ll not go shopping with you any day.”
“My most-prized possession,” Mr. Solomon said like a proud father.
“Where did it come from?” Alex asked.
“Right here on this very land we stand on,” he answered, beaming like a proud father.
“You bought the house and got a cannon? Not many people can say that,” Alex jested.
“Oh, no, young Alexander. I bought the cannon and got the house,” Mr. Solomon corrected with a sly wink.
CHAPTER 20
ELLA
“What is that all over you? You smell like…” I leaned closer and sniffed again. There was no mistaking the smell stuck in his clothes.
Josh was unable to keep the excitement from his voice as he beamed from ear to ear. “Gunpowder. I shot a cannon.”
I felt my brows pull tight. “A cannon?”
He nodded. “And Mr. Solomon, the owner, is letting us borrow it for the wedding.”
“For the wedding,” I repeated, trying to gauge if it was another one of his jokes. Judging by the goofy grin he wore, and the smell of gunpowder on his clothes, I was leaning toward it being very real.
“Looks like I can take two things off my list for the wedding. A cannon and a parrot,” he said with a laugh.
“Funny. You’re off shooting cannons while I was stuck wanting to shoot myself. That hardly seems fair,” I huffed as I slammed my hands on my hips.
I didn’t mean to snap at him. I was just annoyed I’d been stuck in wedding-planning hell, forced to choose between Allyson’s favorite color purple and Summer’s favorite color turquoise. I’d finally come up with a suitable solution—I’d choose both and the seamstress would make it work.
“Maybe if you’re nice, Mr. Solomon will let you shoot his cannon,” Josh said with a smirk.
“I’m always nice,” I snapped, storming away from him and closing myself in the bathroom.
I needed to get my anger under control. It wasn’t all Josh’s fault. The blame could be split right down the middle. Partners in crime paying for our lie.
There was a soft knock on the door as Josh said, “I don’t mean to rush you, but are you almost done in there? I’d like to get a shower before dinner.”
Opening the door, Josh slipped past me, turned on the shower, and then shucked out of his clothes as he asked, “Shopping wasn’t that fun, I take it?”
I crossed my arms and leaned against the sink with a grumble. “No. It wasn’t.”
He darted in and kissed my forehead. “I thought all women liked to shop?”
Rude words about what he thought struck the back of my teeth as I snapped them together. It was hard to keep focused when he hooked his thumbs over the waistband of his boxer briefs and then pulled them off.
I forced myself to look away. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I counted to ten. And then counted to ten again until the shower door closed behind him.
“I picked something up for you,” he said, breaking the silence between us.
“Unless it’s a one-way ticket back to Chicago, I’m not interested,” I said, leaving the bathroom.
Needing something to keep myself busy, I stuffed our dirty clothes into the linen laundry bag and tossed it over beside the door.
The shower shut off and a minute later, Josh wandered out of the bathroom. A towel was wrapped around his hips, the end tucked under to keep it in place as he scrubbed his head with another one.
Why did he have to look so good? Even when he was just drying his hair?
“Toss those over with the dirty clothes and I’ll call to have more towels brought up when we’re done with dinner,” I said, sitting on the end of the bed with a pitiful sigh.
He moved around the room, from drawer to closet, pulling on his clothes one piece at a time as I turned the TV on, settling on a channel that played music. Anything to redirect my thoughts away from how Josh standing in nothing but a towel affected me.
“You like country music?” he asked, tossing a plastic bag in my lap.
“Background noise,” I answered, opening the bag and dumping out, of all things, keychain finders.
“It’s the best thing I could come up with for now,” he said, picking up one of the packages.
I scowled. “What are we supposed to do with them?”
“Well, for starters, we take them out of the package and see if they even work.” He grabbed his knife from the nightstand, and then turned back to me, wiggling his eyebrows.
“And if they work?” I asked, still confused. What the hell would we do with keychain finders?
“The concept is you carry this with you,” he said, handing me a small fob from one package, and a flat circular piece from the other package. “If for some reason something happens when we’re apart, all we have to do is press this button.” He reached out and pressed the remote in my hand and the sensor in his flashed.
“Great… so if we’re within fifty feet of one another, it’ll work.” I eyed the cheap plastic in my hands with a grimace.
“Not true. The package says that once the button is pushed, it pings your location and sends the coordinates to your phone. We can test it out tomorrow and see how reliable it is, but on land. They aren’t waterproof,” he replied.
“Fine. Whatever.” I pushed myself up from the bed.
“Hey,” he said, catching me by the wrist.
I tugged my arm from him.
I hated that I noticed the hurt that flashed in his eyes. “What’s wrong? And don’t give me the typical girl answer and say it’s nothing, because I know it’s not,” he said, holding out his hand for the key finder in mine.
I dropped both pieces in his palm and huffed. I didn’t want to be mean to him. He didn’t deserve it. “I don’t know. That’s the honest-to-God truth. I really don’t know. I just can’t seem to sit still. I feel like I’m about to crawl out of my own skin. I don’t want to sit down at dinner and talk anymore wedding stuff. I don’t even want to think about it right now. I just…”
His features softened. “You just need some downtime. And you need to get off this ship. You’re getting stir crazy because everything that is happening isn’t what you expected to happen,” he said, pulling the words I couldn’t find right out of me.
I cocked my eyebrow at him. “And what did I expect since you seem to know me so well?”
He pulled me back down to sit at the end of the bed, and then turned sideways to face me. His finger tapped the end of my nose. “You were expecting someone to make a move by now, or maybe even receive intel from Oliver so we knew who to watch, but none of that has happened. It’s like waiting for the other shoe to drop, am I right?”
I shoved his shoulder. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
“Am I? Ella, you aren’t the mo
st patient person. You want things done and wrapped up so you can move on to the next thing. That’s not happening here. And worse? They’ve thrown a wrench into your norm. A wedding. A wedding you don’t want and you can’t walk away from unless you and I get into a huge argument and we break our engagement. But you won’t do that because then us working together wouldn’t work, so instead you bite your tongue and put up with all the nonsense. It’s eating you alive, and you don’t know how to not let it get to you.”
“And how do you know all that?” I said, anger flaring up because he’d spewed my thoughts back at me and made them make sense.
He shrugged. “I just do. I’m an observer. Always have been.”
“So that’s what’s going through your mind when you look at me? You’re analyzing my mood and putting it all together?” Why did that make me angry?
“No, not all the time. Sometimes I look at you and you and all I can think is, my God, she’s beautiful,” he said, blushing slightly.
“More like crazy,” I said, shaking my head. “And you’re right. This mission is driving me crazy. Why hasn’t anyone made a move? We’re bobbing out here in the water like a cork. Anyone watching us would see that this boat doesn’t have any sort of security. So what gives? Why hasn’t something happened?”
He tipped his head. “I don’t know. We just have to keep our guard up and get through the next couple of weeks. With any luck, nothing will happen and it’ll be back to Chicago with no harm done.”
“Maybe. Hopefully, but this waiting and not knowing sucks,” I said, tipping my head back with a groan.
“At least one good thing is coming out of this, well, two really,” he said, thumb catching my chin as he gently guided my head down so that I’d look at him. “For one, we aren’t getting fake married until the last week of the cruise. And two, we get to shoot a cannon.”
I rolled my eyes. “That was luck since you demanded Parrot Cay. The cannon, though? I’m totally with you on that one. Do we get to shoot a cannonball too?”
“A pirate has to have his balls,” he said, laughing when I shoved him hard enough that he slipped off the edge of the mattress and landed on the floor.
All We Are (The Six Series Book 5) Page 11
