by Alice Raine
‘OK? Is she OK?’ Sasha repeated, her volume rising with each word, her eyes piercing into mine with such ferocity that I had to look away. ‘Do you even have any idea the pain you’ve caused her? She fucking adored you, you son of a bitch! You were her entire world and you finish things with her on her wedding day in a letter! A fucking letter! You absolute coward.’ Sasha jabbed out a hand and poked me in the chest hard enough to make me wince and take a step back. ‘Think about it carefully, Oliver, how the fuck do you think she’s feeling?’
To be frank, I couldn’t even begin to imagine. Broken, hurt and confused, I supposed. This was all my fault. She was broken hearted, and it was all because of me. The slow ache of this realisation came in cold, relentless waves sickening me to the core. Pulling in a breath, I lifted a hand to my hair and scrubbed at my scalp until it hurt.
‘Do you know Alexandra from the club?’ I asked, making my statement brief in the hopes that I could make a quick explanation to Sasha and get her to tell me where Robyn was.
Sasha frowned at my question, but she nodded slowly. ‘Yeah. The blonde ice queen you fucked once upon a time. What about her? If you left Robyn for that fucking bitch I really will kill you, Oliver, police or no police.’
I winced at her description. Clearly Robyn had shared my history with Sasha. And “ice queen”? It was quite apt, really, because the entire time I’d been stuck with Alex in that hotel room I hadn’t seen one shred of real emotion cross her face.
‘On the day of the wedding she contacted me and told me to call it all off.’ Sasha’s eyes lit with anger and immediately I realised that she might be imagining all sorts of incorrect things about me and Alex reigniting our romance. ‘She blackmailed me, Sasha. She had a video of… well, it was basically a sex tape containing footage of me and Robyn and other images of someone that looked like me doing all sorts of unspeakably violent things to some woman.’
Sasha’s mouth dropped open in shock, her ballsy demeanour briefly calming down. ‘What the fuck?’
I nodded grimly and went on. ‘She had a full list of contact details for Robyn’s family, and she was planning on sending the tape out to them all if I didn’t call off the wedding.’
‘Why?’
‘Because she wanted me,’ I stated simply. There was no other way of sugar-coating it.
‘Jesus Christ, Oliver. You should have just told her to fuck off.’
Exhausted, I shook my head. ‘No, I couldn’t, believe me.’ My teeth gritted together from tension, making it difficult to continue speaking. ‘I couldn’t risk her parents seeing that tape.’
Frowning, Sasha tilted her head, no doubt trying to work out if I was bullshitting her. ‘Was it really bad enough for you to worry about? What exactly did it show?’
I nodded, grimacing as I recalled the explicit images. ‘It was horrific. She was planning on passing off the man in the tape as me and telling Robyn’s family that I liked to beat her till she bled. You know her father had that heart attack last year; I couldn’t risk the tape being sent to him… the idea that someone would hurt his little girl like the man in that tape?’ I shook my head. ‘I couldn’t imagine how it would make him feel.’
Sasha let out a whooshed breath, and her posture grew marginally less defensive as if she had finally decided to believe me. ‘Fucking hell. You’re right, he’s always been massively protective of her. It could have given him another attack.’ She nodded thoughtfully and then frowned. ‘But why the awful note and the hurtful phone call? It was torture to see Robyn as she read that letter, Oliver. And the conversation? I swear it nearly killed her when you said you didn’t want her.’
Pain and guilt stabbed at me with such force that I felt momentarily winded and had to recover my composure again before speaking. ‘I wanted to tell Robyn what was going on so badly, but Alex was very prepared. She had a gun aimed on me the whole time.’
‘Holy shit!’ Sasha exclaimed, her anger seeming to soften further as she leaned in closer to hear the rest of my tale.
‘So, basically, she was very set on winning me and she wanted to cause Robyn as much pain as possible in the process. She scripted that phone call. They were not my words.’
Sasha spun around on the spot and ran her hands roughly through her hair. ‘Jesus, this is screwed up. Where’s Alex now?’
I drew in a breath and tried to resist the urge to rub at the wound on my shoulder. ‘In jail on charges of attempted murder.’
Sasha’s eyes widened, but for once Robyn’s mouthy best mate seemed lost for words, so, with a heavy sigh, I elaborated.
‘She decided if she couldn’t have me she’d rather no one did,’ I informed her quietly. ‘She took a shot at me, but luckily it only scraped my shoulder and in the chaos that followed she got knocked unconscious.’ Pausing, I ran a shaky hand gently over the bandage under my shirt, a small dot of rust-coloured blood already seeping through. Scraped was a slight understatement, but it seemed easier than going into too many details.
Tiring of recounting my ordeal, I was now desperate to find Robyn. ‘I can explain it all in detail later, but right now I really want to find Robyn, Sasha. Please, where is she?’
Sasha folded her arms and blew out a breath. ‘Look, I don’t know where she is either, OK? She’s been with me for the last two days, but then this afternoon at lunch she was talking about needing some time alone. I nipped out to go to the toilet and when I came back she’d taken the rental car and gone.’ She chewed on her lower lip and fidgeted on the spot. ‘I’m really fucking worried that she’d going to do something stupid, Oliver. I’ve never seen her this upset.’
My blood ran cold at her words and I stiffened. Robyn wouldn’t do anything to harm herself. Would she? The Robyn I knew wouldn’t, she was independent and feisty. Together we were unstoppable, but what about apart? I’d never thought I would be so reliant on another human being, I’d always been arrogant and sure of myself, but the thought of being without Robyn made me feel like the weakest man on the planet.
Shit. I needed to find my girl, and I needed to find her fast.
‘I’ve checked all the hotels in the city, but maybe she’s gone back to the place you stayed on your first night here?’ Sasha nodded. ‘Maybe. I’ve just been scouring the city on foot, but I’m headed back to the hotel to check.’
‘Keep in touch, OK?’ I urged her, backing up my request with a firm stare.
‘Yeah, will do. You, too. Let me know if you find her.’
I agreed with a nod, and then we went our separate ways, but I still had no clue where to begin looking. As I stood in the evening sun, feeling totally lost and helpless, my phone began to ring in my pocket and I practically ripped the lining out of my suit in my haste to retrieve it.
Disappointment seared through me when it wasn’t Robyn’s number that greeted me, and I let out a sigh as I read “Matías Mobile” instead. I wasn’t really in the mood to speak to my old school friend but, seeing as he knew about my cluster-fuck of a week, I accepted the call and lifted it to my ear just in case he somehow had some news for me.
‘Matías,’ I greeted him bluntly, knowing that if he made one attempt at a joke about how I’d come to my bachelor senses and left Robyn at the altar I might well have to go over there and kill him.
‘Evening, Oliver. Hell of a few days, hmm?’
So far, all Matías knew was the same as the other wedding guests – that I’d snubbed my bride-to-be ten minutes before our wedding ceremony. He didn’t know about the shit with Alexandra, but he did know that I’d spent this afternoon phoning every goddamn person I knew in Barcelona – him included – asking them to keep their eyes open for my girl.
‘You could say that.’ I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, still unable to fully grasp all that had occurred. ‘It’s a long fucking story, but I’ll have to fill you in later, Matías.’
‘I have something here at the club which may cheer you up.’ There was nothing at Fantasia apart from people in search of sex
and alcohol, and neither of those would cheer me up. Nothing could lighten my spirits except for finding Robyn, and even then I’d no doubt have a massive battle on my hands trying to get her to talk to me after the way I’d treated her.
My jaw tense, I let out a harsh irritated breath. It was just like Matías to think that sex could solve my problems, but a conversation like this was just a waste of my time. I needed to be looking for Robyn.
‘Mierda, Matías. I know you’ve never been in love, but seriously? This is going to take more than sex to fix.’ I heard a snort of laughter at the other end of the line.
‘I realise that, Oliver, I’m not a complete nympho.’ I rolled my eyes. Matías might be one of my longest standing friends, but he was also the closest thing to a sex addict that I’d ever encountered. He would fuck anything as long as it had a pulse. ‘Chill out, Oliver. I have her here.’
He what?
‘E-e-excuse me?’ I stuttered.
‘Your Robyn, she is with me at Fantasia,’ he repeated calmly, as if he hadn’t just said the very thing I’d been desperate to hear someone say all afternoon.
My feet were already moving before I’d fully digested his news. ‘What? Why the fuck is she with you?’ I was monumentally relieved to have located her, but to find out that she was with Matías – the biggest rogue I knew – in his sex club wasn’t exactly reassuring. ‘If you’ve laid one finger on her, Matías, I swear to God…’
‘Olive-ee-air, breathe, my man.’ His Spanish pronunciation of my name purred from his tongue in an attempt at soothing me, but it didn’t work. Nothing could soothe me in my current mood.
‘Of course, I haven’t touched her. I may not understand why you left her at the altar, but I know she is yours and yours alone. Believe it or not, she sought me out.’
Why the hell would Robyn go to Fantasia on her own? None of this made any sense to me, but I was nearly at the square where the club was located, so I hurried my pace, determined to find out for myself.
‘I’ll explain it all when you arrive.’
‘You’re damn right you will.’
Hanging up the phone, I broke into a run for the final leg of the journey, ignoring the pain in my shoulder as I sprinted over the cobbles.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Oliver
I slammed a hand onto the huge front doors of Fantasia so hard that they swung open and crashed into the walls behind them with a resounding boom. My entry announced itself, and seconds later I was surrounded by two burly security guards who obviously took offence to my violent entry and were fast attempting to drag me back out the way I had just come.
‘¡Deténgase! Stop! He is my guest.’ Matías’s steely voice broke through the chaos surrounding us, and as soon as the bouncers let go of me I stood tall and straightened out my clothes before sending a narrow-eyed stare towards them.
Matías didn’t get a much friendlier glance. He was looking decidedly smug as he waited for me, casually leaning on the reception desk of the club with his usual air of arrogance seeping from every pore.
He was in his favoured dark attire; wearing black leather trousers, a black shirt, and a navy-blue velvet jacket. I approached him, feeling unusually wary. Had he pursued Robyn after I’d left her at the wedding ceremony, perhaps? I knew he had always looked at her with interest on our visits here. He did have charm and looks by the bucket load, and Robyn must have been really upset, but even I was struggling to see her turning to a player like him for support or affection in her time of need.
Waving an arm toward the stairs, he nodded once. ‘Come, let us talk in private.’
I wanted to demand to see Robyn right this second, but this was his territory and making demands had never worked on my stubborn friend in the past so was unlikely to work now. Drawing in a calming breath, I gave a tight nod and followed him towards the offices.
Once we were away from the curious ears of the reception staff, Matías stopped in the corridor and turned to me. ‘I have broken the confidence of your pretty little lady by calling you, Oliver, but you and I have been friends for a long time now, no?’
I nodded my agreement, but the frown still stayed embedded on my brow. ‘We have indeed. What do you mean you’re breaking her confidence? What’s going on Matías, why is Robyn here?’
Matías folded his arms across his chest and gave a shrug. ‘I was as surprised as you when I found her on my doorstep this afternoon, but you must believe me, she came here of her own free will.’ He raised a hand and rubbed at his perfectly trimmed goatee beard, his shrewd eyes watching me carefully the entire time. ‘About three hours ago I was here in my office when the staff told me a girl was downstairs asking for me. I went down, and to my surprise I see your Robyn there. She was very upset, but she said she needed a place to stay where she could have some alone time. She made me promise that if anyone came looking for her I wouldn’t tell them she was here.’
I nodded but was still clueless as to why Robyn had come here.
As if reading my mind, Matías went on. ‘She said her best friend was very well meaning but a little over the top in her concern and that she needed some space. Robyn said she had attempted to leave the country, but all flights were full, as were the hotels she tried. In a panic, she ended up on my doorstep asking if I could provide her with a secure place to sleep.’
Matías turned away from me and quietly opened the door to his office. He swung it back to reveal Robyn, curled up in a ball and asleep on the sofa.
The relief of seeing her well and unharmed was so overwhelming that I felt dizzy, it was as though I could finally feel my heart beating again, and for several seconds I had to steady myself on the doorframe so I didn’t collapse into an exhausted slump. I couldn’t stop myself from greedily taking in every detail of her; she was facing towards us, but even with some hair falling over her face I could see that her cheeks looked deathly pale and she was frowning in her sleep.
‘I offered her a proper bed in one of the private rooms, but she looked horrified at the idea and asked for the couch instead.’
A small, fond smile quirked my lips as I remembered how squeamish Robyn still was when it came to the rentable rooms in Club Twist. I sensed Matías turn his gaze onto me and then he gave a full-on smirk.
‘She’s quite a sweet innocent, isn’t she? Was she a virgin when you met her?’ Looking across at him, I bristled with irritation at the filthy grin on his face. She hadn’t been a virgin, but it still pissed me off that he was even asking such a personal question.
‘None of your fucking business, Matías.’
He pursed his lips as he tried to hold in a grin at my heated response. ‘Quite. My apologies.’ He cast his gaze to Robyn again and back to me. ‘Although I’d place money on the fact that she’s not quite so innocent now she’s with you, my friend? Hmm?’
My nostrils flared as I drew in a breath and tried not to lose my temper with him, but in response Matías merely chuckled and held his hands up in defence. ‘I am merely guessing. I know your experimental appetite in the bedroom, Oliver, and young Robyn here clearly has you entranced. I was just curious as to what it was she did to steal your heart.’
My gaze turned back to Robyn and my irritation melted away as I stared at her. My entire body felt like it was coming alive again, just because I was near her. ‘She did nothing other than be herself,’ I murmured. ‘She’s incredible.’
There was a quiet moment between us and then Matías caught me in his interested gaze again. ‘If she is so incredible why did you leave her on your wedding day?’
Once again, the mention of my actions made me feel like I’d been punched in the gut and my eyes flickered shut. ‘Long fucking story, but let’s just say it wasn’t by choice, and that I plan to make everything right again now.’
I knew he was staring at me, no doubt in open curiosity about the events of the past few days, but I didn’t have time to enlighten him now. I loved Robyn with all my heart, and I didn’t want to waste another
second in making sure she knew it.
‘I’ll explain it all to you later over a nice glass of Spanish red from your expansive cellar,’ I suggested, but my eyes remained fixed on Robyn as she slept on the sofa. ‘She looks upset even in her sleep,’ I added, still focusing on how deathly pale she looked.
‘I swear to you that I have not placed a finger on her, Oliver. My only role in this was to give her somewhere safe to stay.’
Dragging my gaze to his, I held out a hand toward him. ‘I see that now. Thank you, Matías, I owe you.’ Shaking his hand, I held on to the grip and gave him a grateful look. ‘And thank you for calling me. I know she asked you not to tell anyone, but I really appreciate it. I desperately need to make her understand what happened.’
‘You owe me nothing. It is no problem. But once you two are sorted I shall take you up on that offer of the story. I am most intrigued. Perhaps we could even crack open one of my special bottles of Cognac.’
Giving a heavy sigh, I nodded. ‘Yeah. It’s a pretty stressful story, so we might need the strong stuff.’
‘I hope you sort things out; you two are clearly a perfect match.’ Pausing, he sighed and then turned to leave me in the room alone. ‘You may need to grovel your arse off, my friend. I’m fairly sure she cried herself to sleep,’ he informed me grimly, and my chest tightened uncomfortably.
I hated that I’d done this to her. Caused her so much distress that she had cried herself to sleep not just tonight, but probably the past night as well. Fuck. It was killing me inside.
Once I was alone with her, I closed the door and then moved closer and watched her as she continued to sleep. Now I was just a few feet away I could see that Matías was right: Robyn had tear tracks across her pale cheeks, and that sight alone caused me to let out a pained wheeze. This week was supposed to have been the happiest of our lives, and yet one unwelcome intervention from Alex had turned it into the stuff of horror films.
