by Haley Weir
“Oh, yeah! I totally forgot.”
They both jumped into the shower after the passionate lovemaking and then headed downstairs for their date night. Anders stopped at the door to fix the hem of Sapphire’s dress as she straightened his tie. The car ride to the clinic felt ridiculously long due to the traffic in the parking lot. Valet took their keys and Anders led her through the throng of people standing around.
“And what’s tonight all about?” she asked out of the side of her mouth.
“We’re raising funds for the hospital. It’s to get Michael to invest in the resources.” Anders pointed to Lori. “He never shows up to these things, so he sends Lori.” They walked over to the VP of Kodiak Dating Agency and her husband. Lori embraced Sapphire and Anders shook hands with Ben, the town Sheriff. Dorian and Jenny joined them in the corner.
“Don’t you think it’s sort of strange that I was abducted in the parking lot here and then Brock was abducted recently? All I’m saying is that it’s odd that the clinic has the worst security in town.” Jenny plastered on a smile before hugging Sapphire and Anders. She made pleasantries with Lori and Ben before turning her attention toward the other guests. “I can’t help but feel like everyone is going to double-cross me.”
Anders gestured for Sapphire to follow him over to meet the clinic manager. Ruby was dressed in her signature all-red look that complimented Jenny’s quite well. Sapphire had chosen an unnatural shade of purple for her dress. Though it brought out the color of her eyes, the color was quite blinding amongst the shades of dark red and blue amongst the other patrons. “Sapphire, this is Ruby Cartwright.”
“Sapphire White?” Ruby asked. “I never expected you to be at a party like this seeing as you and Dr. McKinney can hardly stay resist the temptation to bite each others heads off.”
The tone Ruby used was a dreadful reminder of the way he had once spoken to the love of his life. Anders pinched the bridge of his nose and tried not to look so guilty.
“Miss White?” Anders balked at the sight of his former patient. “What are you doing here? A-are you my date?” He stepped away from her and folded his arms across her chest. Sapphire rolled her eyes and tapped her barefoot impatiently on the stone path. His gaze roamed her figure appreciatively against his will and he swallowed nervously. He’d never seen her so…normal.
Well, as normal as Sapphire White could be with her platinum hair and striking hazel eyes. Pert nose, soft features, and plump upper lip that just begged to be kissed. Anders shook his head and took in the angry expression on her face. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, but something caused her to move closer to him.
“Your name wasn’t mentioned or else I wouldn’t have come,” she said.
“Nor I,” Anders admitted. “But we’re here now. The night is paid for so we may as well enjoy it.” He crouched down and picked up her shoes. “I assume these are to blame for you stumble. Shall we?”
“Don’t make fun of me,” Sapphire said softly. “I know you don’t like me and you’re just humoring me with this date. We don’t have to pretend.”
Anders thought of the letter still sitting on his bedside table. “Just for tonight I want us to put aside the feud and foolishness, to behave as though we’ve never met one another. I want to give this…a chance, I guess.”
The corner of her lips twitched a little. “My name is Sapphire Esmeralda White.” She offered her hand and he accepted with a small shake.
“I am Anders Riccardo McKinney. Pleasure to meet you, Miss White.”
He felt Sapphire pull away from him slightly, but Anders tightened his grip around her. She looked down at her feet, no doubt expecting that he would not claim her as his own. But for once Sapphire was the one who was wrong. “Ruby, Sapphire and I are in a relationship. Tonight is our date night, so I was hoping to show her a good time.”
“Relationship?” his boss gasped. “Just a few months ago, you were begging me to have her case handed off to a different doctor. And before she was injured, you asked that she be banned from the hospital.”
“Ruby, please!”
“No, Anders,” she snapped back. “Even you are above pity. That’s what this is, isn’t it? You pity her and so you’re doing her a favor by telling the town that you two are together. It’ll boost her popularity and blah, blah, blah. Right?”
Sapphire yanked her arm out of his grasp and hurried to the backdoor, Anders pierced Ruby with a threatening glare. “If you or anyone else tries to ruin what Sapphire and I have, then I will make sure that you pay for it. She didn’t deserve that and I’m disappointed in you.”
“You can’t possibly love her…”
“I do,” he admitted. “And I don’t care what anyone in this town thinks. I’m going to spend the rest of my life with her if she’ll have me.”
Anders disappeared into the crowd, asking people if they had seen Sapphire. A lot of the guests made rude remarks about Sapphire’s dress or their overall opinion of the rebellious spirit since her arrival in Haden Springs. Word of his relationship with her was sure to travel fast, but he couldn’t find it within himself to care.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
A terrifying roar reverberated through the mountains and Anders burst through the trees and attacked Corey. Sapphire screamed when she heard a gun go off until she realized the bullet had missed Anders. She saw Patrick reloading his weapon and grabbed the hunting knife strapped to her thigh. The skilled retired marine struck her sternum with enough power to crush her chest, but she jerked away to prevent the deadly blow. Air exploded from her lungs as she scrambled back on her hands.
Patrick reached for her and she slashed at his forearms. He recoiled momentarily. “Why did you do it? Why couldn’t you just leave it alone?”
“Because I love him,” Sapphire replied, casting a meaningful look toward Anders. “I could never betray him the way she did. I could never hurt him intentionally.”
Cars rode by without stopping and Sapphire rested her head on her knees. Lightning flashed across the sky as thunder clapped in the distance. She didn’t bother looking up to see if it would rain, for she already felt the droplets on her shoulders. Anders sat beside her on the curb. Again, she didn’t have to look up to know that it was her lover. She had long ago begun to predict his actions.
“I’m sorry that I embarrassed you.”
“You didn’t embarrass me. Ruby did,” he insisted. “She had no right bringing up all of that stuff, reopening old wounds. It won’t be the last time we hear something like that, though, and I want you to know that I love you. I love you so much, Sapphire, and there’s no one else I would rather sit here in the rain with.”
“I love you too.” She kissed his cheek and brushed a wayward strand of hair from his eyes. His beard had been cut shorter than it had been when they first started dating, but he still looked like her Big Bear. “Do you think we could ever have the kind of love that we see in movies? The easy love.”
“I don’t think I would want an easy love.”
“Why not?” The rain picked up and wind tossed her hair about. Anders stood up and wrapped his jacket around her shoulders, guiding her through the back alley as they talked. Sapphire patiently waited for his answer.
“Because we wouldn’t have learned how to navigate these situations when they eventually came up,” he responded. “Michael likes to think that perfect love can be boiled down to algorithms and compatibility testing, but I think he’s wrong. I think the real test is having to face problems together.”
“I sort of agree with that.”
“Why do you ask?” he questioned.
“I guess I wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t want to give up on this anytime soon. We’ve already overcome more obstacles than any couple I know.”
Anders shielded her from the splash of water that sprayed toward them by the passing cars. He didn’t seem bothered by it, but she was. “Let’s go back.”
“Why? We’re already drenched. Let’s enjoy it.
”
He pulled her toward another alley. Sounds of the rain filled the air as drops pounded against tin roofs and tinkled off of glass windows. Anders spun her in a circle and dipped her low like she had only seen in the movies. “Do you remember the day we met? Not the day you saved me or realized that you liked me, but the day we met?”
“Not really, some things are still sort of blurry for me.”
“Well, you were wearing that blue suit that I love, but it was a little different.”
“How so?” he asked in confusion.
“I spilled coffee all over it,” Sapphire giggled. “It was an accident, but I had jokingly told one of the other students in the cafeteria that I had done it to watch you take your shirt off. You never did, which was a bummer, but that moment made me realize that I really liked you. I could hardly introduce myself.”
“Did you?”
“Eventually, but by that time, I had already moved out of town,” she grumbled. Anders kissed her, sweeping her off of her feet and dashing her through the rain until she laughed so hard that he cheeks hurt. He pressed her back against a wall.
“Nothing but this matters anymore,” Anders said, gesturing between them. “And I want to show you that I don’t want anyone else in this world. You’re my forever, Sapphire. No one else can measure up in my eyes.”
She watched breathlessly as he reached into his pocket and retrieved a small black box. Her heart soared and flipped and burst within her chest. Sapphire couldn’t tear her gaze away from the box until he lifted it to reveal a rose gold ring with a princess cut sapphire encircled by white diamonds. “Oh my god…”
“Sapphire Esmeralda White, will you marry me?” The hopeful look in Anders’ eyes as the rain soaked through his clothes made her heart flutter. Could she love a man who had belittled her at every turn? Could she love a man who required a near-death experience before admitted his feelings for her?
“Yes,” she said. Apparently the answer to her questions had always been Anders McKinney. Sapphire was no longer the frightened victim or the jaded hippy when she was with him, she was simply Sapphire. Though she didn’t know what being engaged meant aside from a promise to get married, she was excited to tell the world that she was his one and only for the rest of their lives.
“I love you so much, of course, I’ll marry you.”
“Why do I sense there’s more to this than that?” he asked skeptically.
“You have to promise me that we won’t give up on Brock the way everyone except you had given up on me when I was in my coma.” She knew she was asking a lot, but she couldn’t see herself having a happy future without her best friend by her side. Whether he was rescued in time for the wedding or not, Sapphire needed to know that Anders and the others wouldn’t stop looking until he was found.
“Brock means a lot to you, I know that. He means a lot to us as well. We won’t stop looking, Sapphire.” Anders kissed her head and walked her back to the valet. He grabbed the keys and then drove off down the street, eager to get his bride-to-be home.
***
Later that night, they sat in the center of their bed and ate ice cream together. Anders learned that Sapphire preferred chocolate brownies whereas he liked any ice cream that didn’t contain fruit. They looked over each other’s survey questions and asked for the other to elaborate if needed. “What did you mean by that?!” she asked.
“What?”
“When asked what your favorite movie was, you said ‘homemade’ and then nothing after that,” she elaborated. Sapphire slapped his arm when he didn’t answer. “Come on, I answered your weird questions.”
“It insinuates that I like to sometimes film myself being intimate and watch it with my partner.” Anders wiggled his eyebrows, earning him another playful swat.
“You did not!” she exclaimed. “Why would you do that?”
“I didn’t take it seriously. I was just trying to annoy Michael. He’s always so by the book with these things that I couldn’t help myself.”
“So, you, Brock, and Dorian all lied on your surveys?”
“I’m not sure about the others did, but I know I did.” Anders frowned suddenly. “If my answers aren’t the real answers, then how do we know we’re really compatible?”
“I guess we don’t. Wait!” She scrambled off the bed and searched for her cellphone in the pile of discarded clothes. Anders couldn’t see what number she dialed, but he recognized Lori’s voice when she answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Lori!” Sapphire said in greeting. “Anders just told me that he lied on his survey. How do we know if we’re really compatible?”
“Well, that’s what makes the algorithm so special. What if you’re perfect match is someone who would take the questionnaire as a joke? At that point, the individual questions are pointless, but the way they answer is important.”
“That makes total sense.”
Anders was still scowling in confusion when she hung up the phone. “What makes total sense?” he asked.
“You’re my perfect match because you’re the type of guy who would make a joke out of something serious and you pilfer wine from fancy parties.”
Anders was actually blown away by the subtle logic of it all. He half expected a hologram of Michael to pop out of his phone and explain the process of the algorithm in very scientific terms. Sapphire set the ice cream aside and laid out on her back.
“What are you doing now?” he asked.
“I’m planning my bachelorette party.”
“You don’t get to plan those.”
“I know,” she snickered. “I’m really just picturing the hot doctor I want as my stripper. You should see him. He’s got these eyes that drive me crazy.”
Anders reclined to the pillow beside her. “I don’t dance.”
“Oh, you thought I was talking about you?” She laughed and kissed his little pout, a bad habit he had begun to pick up from her. Sapphire called all of her friends and told them the good news starting with Tilly. It was three o’clock in the morning, but she was excited to spread the news. “Saph? W-what’s the matter?”
“I’m getting married!” A soft snore came through the line so she shouted one more time. “I’m getting married!” Sapphire heard Tilly bounce around on her bed and wondered how the schoolteacher ever found time to do anything that wasn’t…teaching.
Tilly extended her congratulations to Anders as well and then Sapphire called Destiny, who was more enthusiastic than anyone else. She had to take a moment to let her friend breath before responding to the screams. “Everyone is going to be so jealous that you finally snagged the hot doctor! I’m so proud at how far you’ve come. How’s the sex? Is it as good as I thought it would be—”
Sapphire ended the call and glared at Anders while he laughed until there were tears in his eyes. “I really like Destiny,” he claimed. “She seems like she would be perfect for Brock.” Anders closed his eyes and rubbed his palms over his face until he could see straight again. “I’m sorry, I know this was a happy moment for you. I didn’t mean to bring it up…it’s just…”
“Strange that he’s gone? Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“How about this,” Anders began. “If we hear anything about his whereabouts, you and I can go together. There’s no guarantee that they’ll take him to the same facility that I was held at, but we worked well as a team.”
“We did, didn’t we?”
“You were amazing in that fight, Sapphire. I thought you were talented when we were sparring, but I’ve never seen someone evade and attack as fluidly as you do. Now all we have to work on is getting you to climb the stairs without falling on top of me.”
“Hey!” she protested. “You fell first! Laughing at you was the reason I fell.”
“You still fell, sweets.”
Sapphire shoved him aside and went to the kitchen to fetch the struffoli she had made earlier. When he followed her to the fridge, Anders was too focused on the sight of her bendi
ng over at the waist to really care what she was eating. And then he smelled the honey and turned her to face him before he licked the stickiness from her fingers. He put the plate back into the fridge, but grabbed the bottle of honey and hurried back to the bed. Anders popped the cap and then squirted some on his hand.
She watched him lick it clean before covering her entire body in the honey. Sapphire must have liked where things were headed. Her hands gripped the headboard and she submitted her body to his desires.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
He was missing something. Michael replayed every conversation he had with his brother since it was revealed that Brock had betrayed them. The tumbler of brandy trembled in his hand before he downed the contents of the foggy glass. Fine liquor burned down his gullet and settled warmly in the pit of his belly.
The door opened and his gun leveled with the eyes of his father. Well, not his father, but his brother who shared the same eyes. Brock didn’t even bother raising his arms in surrender of offering an apology. “Don’t act like you were surprised,” he slurred drunkenly. It appeared that both siblings had chosen to drink their feelings away that night. Michael didn’t know if he should be ashamed or proud of himself for flicking the safety in place and tucking the gun in the back of his belt again.
“I was surprised. It’s not every day that I hear that my brother betrayed me.”
And that had been the truth. Brock had betrayed him more times than he could count on both hands and yet, Michael always seemed to be the one he called when he needed help getting out of trouble. But his baby brother shouldn’t have been burned by the fire or taken away in a helicopter guarded by armed soldiers.
Brock’s betrayal had put the entire town at risk, that much was true, but his intentions had been to do exactly what Michael had harped on him for. He was trying to clean up after his own mistakes, to do it on his own, but it backfired.
