She jumps out of her chair and pushes her way around me. She must see my retracted fist. “You have to be over him by now.”
I grab her blouse near the neckline and jerk, tearing the fabric. “Why is it you always think you’re the expert on me? Oh, I know, it’s because you’re so self-absorbed, you think what you think and feel is all that matters and that everyone else should see the world from your distorted point of v—”
Kelsi takes a step back, stumbling as one of her heels catches in a tile grout line. “Now, wait.”
“Let me give you some advice. And this time you better tune in for once in your life. You have two minutes to grab your suitcase and get the hell out of here. I’m not going to carry it down the stairs for you. You can carry all that heavy crap yourself. If you’re not out of my condo in two minutes, I’m going to call security and you can find out what it’s like to spend a night in a Mexican jail. Spoiler alert: you might want to avoid that experience if at all possible.”
Her eyes widen with shock and there’s a tremor in her voice. I’ll be damned. She is actually listening for once. “Wait, Jade, we can work this out.”
I give her shoulder a shove. “No, Kelsi, we can’t. Just… go.”
“Please. Won’t you just help me with my suitcase?”
I burst out laughing again. “You really don’t get it, do you? I’m done with you, Kelsi. I don’t ever want to speak to you again.”
She slinks into the guest bedroom, retrieves her suitcase, and quietly leaves my condo. I stare out the window and finish the rest of my wine. Then I pull on a swimsuit.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Jade
I’m trembling as I weave my way down to the beach. I’ve had way too much wine, or maybe not nearly enough. My view of the sea and the surrounding mountains, shadowed by the late afternoon sun, shifts and sways. I hiccup once, then again, tasting the bitter flavor of partially digested wine. I know it’s unwise to swim intoxicated, but right now I don’t care. I’m too upset. This day has been a total nightmare and the sea’s my only chance for calming down.
Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any worse…Kelsi calls. As if it weren’t bad enough that I had to even see her when I’m falling apart, the reason she came made it ten times worse. I can’t believe she stole my boyfriend from me. It makes me feel like total shit. It’s like a confirmation of what my parents always said. Kelsi has it. I don’t. But I think they were wrong. Kelsi is a selfish bitch. I’ve never been like that. I’ve always been a good listener. I’ve always been honest. I’ve always been dependable. At least until recently, I think when Luca’s face flashes in front of my eyes.
I dive into the water and start swimming furiously. The bitter mingling of old wine mixed with saltwater leaves me with the worst taste in my mouth I’ve ever experienced. Blech. I burp again when I breath. Apparently, wine and swimming don’t mix. Once I establish a rhythm, I start to enjoy the freedom of swimming, unconstrained by my safety buoy. I know it’s dangerous. But it’s only one time.
I stroke harder, faster. Tears flow from my eyes, filling my goggles as my mind drifts back to Luca. I see the soft lines that appeared around his eyes and mouth whenever he smiled. How flashes of light appeared in his blue-green eyes sometimes when he looked at me, the way the sunlight dances like brilliant diamonds across the sea.
God, how I miss him. Luca proved to me that he cared. I know he loved me. I was enough for him. I was. Until I deserted him.
I kick harder and take long, frantic pulls through the water. I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have left him. I should have stood up to those reporters and told them every amazing thing I know about Luca. I shouldn’t have been thinking that if Brandon left me, Luca might also. Hearing what happened from my sister confirms how shallow Brandon really was. In order to have someone beautiful on the outside, he’s willing to settle for a woman who’s a self-centered bitch on the inside. Luca would never do that. He doesn’t expect me to lose weight or wear anything fancy or do anything other than be myself.
Luca and I may have been born in two different countries, but in many way’s we’re similar. We both value honesty and artistic expression and thrive being in quiet places where we can connect with nature.
I’m not going to let my defeatist thoughts ruin my only chance of lasting happiness. I’m going to contact every media outlet I can track down. I’m going to talk to the reporters and tell them the truth. And then I have to beg Luca to forgive me.
I hear the whine of a motor. A boat or a jet ski? I wonder if it sees me. I breathe to the front to check and feel a sudden splitting pain in my head. And then there’s only blackness.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Luca
I sit alone outside on my eighth-floor balcony looking over the water. I rented a condo on Algodones Beach in San Carlos, about as far away from Jade as I can get. I swallow the rest of my beer, setting the empty bottle down. I stand up to grab another one when my cell phone rings.
I glance at the caller ID. What does Jorge want? Probably confirmation as to whether I want to go on tour next week. I haven’t decided yet one way or another. After the media frenzy I’ve endured, I’m not sure it’s worth it. My father won. He didn’t get his way, so he ruined my reputation. And he took my mother’s down with mine. The bastard. I swallow the rest of the bottle of beer and set the empty bottle down with a crash on the table. Then I grab the phone and say, “Buenas tardes.”
“Are you drinking again?” Jorge asks.
“Maybe. What do you want?” I speak more rudely than I intended. But lately, I’ve been feeling impatient and angry all the time.
“Have you heard about Jade?”
A muscle tightens in my chest. “What about her?”
“A boat hit her while she was out swimming. She’s in the Hospital San José in Hermosillo.”
Suddenly, Jade’s abandonment doesn’t matter. All that matters now is her well-being. I want to run to her. I want to be there for her. If she wants me. “Dios mío, no. Is she going to be okay?”
“I’m not sure. The doctors say she lost a lot of blood and suffered a concussion.”
“Oh, no. This is terrible. How did you hear about it?”
“After the accident and in the hospital, she kept asking for you. It’s all over the news. I called you the minute I heard the report.”
I feel another piercing pain in my heart. My dear Jade is in the hospital fighting for her life. I was the one she thought of during her darkest hour. I have to get to her. I have to know she is okay. I can’t lose her. Not like this. “I’m on my way to the hospital.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Jade
I awaken, feeling groggy. But that’s the least of my worries. My head feels like a cracked egg. It hurts like hell. I instinctively reach for my face before I try to open my eyes. My head is sheathed in thick bandages. Touching my forehead sends a jolt of pain knifing through me. What happened? I open my eyes to see I’m in a hospital room. I hear the beep of my heart monitor. Outside the room, I hear people speaking in Spanish.
All my memories come tumbling back. The many glasses of wine. Kelsi’s arrival. Her devastating news. My swim in the sea. The sound of the boat motor. Sudden pain.
The panga must have struck me. It was idiotic of me to swim without my safety buoy. I’m lucky I’m not dead. I remember how I was thinking of Luca when something hit me. I’m still not sure if it was a boat or a jet ski. I wish more than anything Luca were here with me now. He would sit beside the bed and talk to me in his sexy, soothing voice. Just having him near would make the pain in my head bearable. I wouldn’t even be in this damn hospital if I hadn’t left him. Oh, why did I make such a terrible mistake? All my fear and doubt made any chance of a future for the two of us completely impossible. But out there in the water, everything became crystal clear. I knew then, and I know now that I’m strong enough to face the media, to stand up for the man I love even if he doesn’t want me anymore. Luca’s ca
reer is in trouble and even if there’s no future for us, I want to do everything I can to try to turn things around for him.
A nurse with dark hair piled into a bun on top of her head rushes into the room. “It’s good to see that you’re awake,” she says in Spanish. “Me llamo Marisol.” She’s wearing thick makeup and purple-tinted lipstick.
“Con mucho gusto,” I manage.
Marisol’s forehead crinkles in worry. “Señorita, I need to move you to another room right away. But we must wait for another nurse to arrive to help me.”
“Why are you moving me?”
“There are many reporters downstairs. They are saying you had a romantic relationship with Luca Espinoza. They know what room you’re in.”
Another nurse rolls a mobile bed into the room and asks her if she’s lista.
This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for, my chance to make things right again. “No, wait. I want to talk to them. I should have talked to them when I was in Vienna. I need to clear up all of this misinformation for Luca’s sake.”
The two women look at each other for a moment and shake their heads. “It will be too stressful for you, dear.”
“Por favor. Es muy, muy importante.”
“Muy bien,” she says. “But only for a few minutes. Then I’m going to make them leave so you can rest.”
“Está bien.”
I hear running footsteps on the tile floor before the four reporters enter the room. Marisol holds up a hand, speaking to them sternly. She tells them I have a concussion, that they need to stay a few feet back from the bed and can only stay for pocos minutos.
A female reporter wearing a navy-blue business suit steps slowly toward the bed. She’s young, her smooth skin covered in a thick layer of makeup, her lips bright red with lipstick. She introduces herself to me as Alicia and tells me she’s with Mexico News Daily. After introducing me to the other reporters in the room, she turns back toward me. “Please tell me about your accident?” she asks in Spanish.
I use the remote to raise my head so I can meet Alicia’s gaze. Thankfully, some of the throbbing pain in my head subsides. “I was swimming in the sea when a fishing boat struck me.”
“Is it true that Luca Espinoza was your boyfriend?”
My heart skips a beat hearing our relationship mentioned in the past tense. I wish more than anything it was just beginning instead of already over. I think of that first night he kissed me. And how I thought about that kiss almost every minute of every day until I saw him again. “Sí. Es verdad.”
“Did you leave him because of another woman?” asks the male reporter with a moustache named Juan.
“No, there was no other woman.”
“Then why did you leave?” Alicia asks.
“Because I was afraid. I—”
“Afraid of what?” Juan asks.
“Please let me finish. This is important, and I don’t want to be interrupted.”
“Please go ahead,” says Alicia. She side-eyes the men with her to shut them up.
“Is it okay if I say it in English?”
“Sí, por supuesto,” says Alicia. The others nod.
“For eight years, I stayed in a relationship with a man I couldn’t trust and who didn’t even know who I really was. Maybe I put up with him because I never liked myself all that much. My parents criticized me until the day they died in a plane crash. My sister slept with my now ex-boyfriend while we were still together. I came to Mexico to escape all the negativity that was holding me down. I started swimming in the sea every day, which has a been a wonderful experience—at least, until recently. I met a wonderful couple—Gabriela and Martin—who treat me like family. They’re on their way here now to see me. And then I met Luca. And I knew right away he was special.”
“Where did you meet?” Alicia asks.
“On a beach in San Carlos. I had been out swimming and when I came to shore we started talking and he asked me if I could give him a swimming lesson.”
Alicia and the others laugh. “Now that’s a pick-up line I haven’t heard before.”
“I know, right? That’s what I thought at first when he asked me to teach him—that Luca was just looking for a reason to see me again. And that was true, but he genuinely wanted to learn. He saw me out there swimming with the dolphins and wanted to know what it was like. I worked with him, he made the effort to learn, and I was able to take him out in the water to see those amazing creatures close up. We’ve had so much fun together. Luca and I had a special connection. And he encouraged me to stop being hard on myself. But it’s hard to change old patterns of thinking. I’d gotten used to thinking of myself as not good enough, of being unworthy. Then when his father showed up in Vienna and made up all those lies about him and his mother, I ran away because I was afraid to face all those reporters. I was afraid they would expose all of my vulnerabilities and that I would be an embarrassment to Luca. I realize now that I was only thinking of myself. I didn’t consider that my leaving would lead reporters to conclude his father’s words were the truth. I love Luca and I should have been the loudest voice, the first person stepping up to defend him. I left then, but now I want you to know that Luca deserves better than everything I’ve been reading online everywhere. His father’s a liar and an evil man. Luca is not only a talented artist, he’s kind and compassionate and fun to be around. That’s why I fell in love with him. He’s honest—no one should doubt his word.” My voice thickens with emotion. “I wish I could say this to Luca now. I know it’s too late to save what we had after all the mistakes I’ve made.” Tears stream down my face. I wipe them away with the hand not attached to an IV. “I want him to know that I will always remember our time together and I’ll never forget how special he made me feel. And I will always love him.”
Alicia dabs her mascara-enhanced eyes with a tissue. “Oh, señorita, that is the most romantic story I’ve ever heard. Thank you for sharing your story with me. But perhaps it is time for you to tell Luca this in person. Because he is here. Now.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Jade
My gaze snaps toward the door. The heart monitor suddenly starts beeping very fast. I jerk up straight in the hospital bed, tugging the IV line too tight. A pulse of sudden pain in my head makes the room spin. I don’t care. He’s here. Luca really is here.
“Jade,” Luca says as he rushes into the room. He speaks in a firm, but polite voice to the reporters in Spanish. “Please leave us. There’s been too much excitement already. She needs to rest.”
“I want to ask you a few questions,” says the male reporter with the moustache.
“Más tarde,” he says. Later.
The female reporter reprimands the male reporter and makes a move to push him out.
“Muy bien,” he says. The reporters quickly shuffle out of the room.
Luca’s by my bed in an instant, taking hold of my hand and warming my cold fingers with his strong, calloused hands.
“I’m sorry, Luca. I made a mistake. I was afraid, I wasn’t thinking straight.”
He strokes my cheek with his fingers. He’s so gentle, careful, making sure his fingers don’t touch the battered parts of my head and face. “You don’t have to apologize. I understand.”
“I wasn’t prepared for all those reporters. But I shouldn’t have panicked. Ever since I left, I kept thinking back and wishing I could do it all over again.”
“I know that, Jade. But it doesn’t matter anymore. We’re together again. Please, you must stop worrying. You’ve been in an accident. What you need now is rest, Jade.” The gentle way he says my name feels like a caress. He kisses my cheek softly. His warm lips on my face are such a comfort. Having him near, smelling his man scent—make me feel infinitely better. It was scary being alone in this hospital, but now that he’s with me, I feel safe again, like everything is going to be all right.
“Thank you for coming here. I missed you so much, Luca.”
“Why were you swimming without your swim buo
y?”
“Oh, Luca, it was terrible. I’ve been such a wreck since I got back, but I was trying to hold it together.” The words tumble from my lips and I tell him about Justin bringing by the news articles and my sister showing up uninvited and her shocking news. “It was just too much. I already started drinking when I knew she was coming and after I made her leave, I fell apart. I shouldn’t have gone swimming in the first place, but I thought it would be the only way to get back my equilibrium.”
Luca’s face turns a shade darker and his heavy brows merge in anger. “Oh, Jade. I wish I had been there to protect you.”
“It’s over now.”
“Gracias a Dios you’re okay. When my press agent said you were in the hospital, I rushed to get here.”
“Even after what I did?”
“I understand why you were afraid, Jade. You know how I feel about being pursued by the paparazzi. It can be a nightmare. I’ll make sure that you never have to talk to any reporters unless you want to.”
“I love you, Luca. More than anything.”
He kisses me softly on the lips. “I love you, too,” he whispers.
CHAPTER FORTY
Two months later
Luca
For more than a month, I’ve been living with Jade in her San Carlos condominium whenever I’m not on tour. I wake up beside her, my hands still wrapped around her waist, the front of my body molded to the back of hers. Our bodies fit perfectly together. It’s comforting to nestle in close to her soft, smooth skin. I bury my nose in the coconut and citrus scent of her hair. Being near her when I awaken instantly arouses me. I want her. I shift her hair over enough that I can kiss the nape of her neck and the soft skin on the back of her shoulder. She stirs and rolls over to face me. “Buenos días.” Her sleepy eyes gaze up at me, large and bright.
Jade's Song (South of the Border Book 2) Page 19
