She could only feel relieved that Tim was safe. Maybe those few deliriously happy months she had spent with Bodhi and Tim were her reward for going to her death so easily.
Bart smiled at her. “So, we’re here at last, and now I will begin the process of ending your life, Sailor. As I can hear the sirens, I won’t make a long speech.” He had a switchblade knife.
“Udo used this to kill your beautiful friend…seeing as how you fucked her like the little whore you are, it seems fitting you should suffer the same fate.”
Sailor drew in a sharp intake of breath as Bart placed the tip of the knife in the hollow of her navel. “Sailor…I’m not going to lie and tell you your death will be quick and painless. Quite the opposite. I’m going to gut you, darling, slowly.” And he pushed the blade deep into her belly.
Sailor couldn’t believe the pain; it was like nothing she had ever experienced before. Every severed nerve ending screamed with agony, and as Bart yanked the knife out, blood began to pump from the wound, soaking her skin, her underwear.
Sailor felt her head whirl, her body react to the assault. Bart watched her with obvious enjoyment. “See, my lovely Sailor? I remember doing this to your mother. She was almost as beautiful as you.”
He stabbed her again, and Sailor cried out as the knife sunk into her stomach. “Your mother begged me for her life. But I told her…she betrayed me. She betrayed you, Sailor…she was going to take you away from your rightful place…”
He sunk the knife into her belly again and Sailor began to feel lightheaded, her chest constricting as she began to lose consciousness. She could smell her blood as it pumped from her wounds. Bart leaned in and kissed her mouth. “She was going to take you away from me, your future husband, Sailor…” He smiled as he stabbed her one last time, an inch above her navel. “She was going to take you away from me…your father, Sailor…”
Sailor’s eyes opened in horror and suddenly, being butchered by this man’s knife wasn’t the most horrific thing in her life.
“You’re lying,” she gasped, and Bart laughed.
“You know I’m not, lovely one. My Sailor, my daughter.” He cut the ropes binding her and laid her on the floor. Sailor, struggling to breathe now, tried to press her hand against the wounds, tried to stem the blood, but she knew it was useless now.
Bart stroked her face tenderly and picked up a camera. “Just some photographs to send to your beloved Bodhi Creed.”
Sailor closed her eyes. It was over. All over. She would die here and…
She was hovering at the very edge of life when from what seemed far away, there were voices, shouting, angry, desperate. She could barely open her eyes, but when she did, it was in short blinks.
One. Bodhi’s beautiful face, tears streaming down his face, begging her to live. I have brought you so much pain, my love.
Two. Bart Foy’s face – her father’s face raging.
Three. Bodhi’s face, roaring with anger, with a vengeance as he pumped bullets into Bart’s head, and her father’s smile being blown off his face.
Four. Bodhi…oh god, Bodhi, my love, my life…goodbye…
Then all was darkness, all was nothing.
Three months later…
Bodhi held the letter that he had read over and over since that terrible day. The letter his guard had found in the kitchen drawer in the guesthouse as he swept for bugs.
My darling, darling Bodhi,
By now, you will know what I have done, and I ask for your forgiveness. There was never any other option if we were to get Tim back safely, and I want you to know, that if I’m dead, it was all worth it if Tim is back in your arms.
I love you. You have given me everything, and I am so sorry that my presence has been so destructive. I’m sorry for Soleil’s death, I loved her so much, as we all did, and I hate that she died because of me. She didn’t deserve to die like that.
Bodhi, all I ask is that you remember how much I loved you, with my whole heart, and I also ask that you go on and love like that again. Don’t grieve too long. Remember, but don’t grieve. If Tim is safe, then I died for a good reason, the best reason.
I can’t think of anything else to say but thank you, and I love you so, so much, my precious, darling Bodhi.
Always, your Sailor
Bodhi squeezed his eyes shut. She’s gone. She’s gone. He had to keep saying that to himself to believe it. He put the letter down and took up the other one.
The one she had written in the hospital. The hospital where they had fought to save her life, to repair her body, to heal the horrific injuries Bart Foy, her biological father, had inflicted on her. She was in a coma for a week, then as she began to emerge from it, the doctor had come to him, hope in his eyes.
“She’s turned a corner.” And Bodhi had only known relief like that once before when his son had come back to him.
But then, a week later, after some very groggy conversations, and a feeling she was holding back from him, Sailor had disappeared from the hospital, whisked away in the middle of the night by a mysterious benefactor.
The hospital had apologized to Bodhi, but as Sailor had no official next of kin, they had been bound from telling him. Her surgeon handed him the second letter she had written him.
My love, my Bodhi,
Forgive me. After everything we have been through, I feel this is the only way for me. I bring you bad luck, my love, and now, knowing Bart Foy was my father, I can’t face the future knowing I might have some of his traits. I’m so confused, my love.
I have to go away, and I have asked a friend to help me in this. Please, please don’t try and find me. Your life and Tim’s life will be better without me.
Sailor
It was rambling, the handwriting shaky, and Bodhi knew she hadn’t been thinking straight, but it still hurt. And now, after three months, Sailor had managed to keep herself hidden away, away from all of the detectives he’d paid hundreds of thousands to find her. Hidden, alone. He had no idea where she was.
Until now. This morning, Grady Mallory had come to him and revealed himself as Sailor’s mysterious benefactor. Bodhi had been angry, but Grady had calmly explained that he only did what Sailor asked him.
Bodhi stared at the man. “So, why are you telling me now?”
“Because I’m making a choice, a choice to do what I think is right. What I think Sailor actually wants now that she can think straight. She’s been in counseling, we arranged it for her. Also, Flori found out, and she’s been kicking my ass about it.”
Bodhi’s mouth hitched up in a half-smile at that. “Where is Sailor?”
Grady hesitated then nodded. “I’ll take you to her.”
Bodhi’s head had whirled, joy, anger, nervousness. He shook Tim awake and insisted the boy join them. “Sailor can’t get too mad if Tim’s there as well.” He told Grady in a low voice, and Grady chuckled.
“Chicken.”
“You know it.”
Grady drove them into the middle of Oregon’s Mount Hood National Forest, to Lost Lake. Bodhi glanced over at Grady when he saw the sign. “Really?”
“Just coincidence, I promise. My family has a cabin here.” Grady chuckled as Bodhi rolled his eyes.
He drove up to a cabin situated on the lake, and they got out. Grady knocked at the cabin, but then nodded. “I thought so. She likes to walk to the pier on the lake and sit with her feet in the water.” He showed Bodhi the way, but then held back. “You need some privacy.”
Holding Tim’s hand, Bodhi walked around the front of the cabin and toward the lake. In the distance, along a wooden pier, he saw a figure standing at the end, her long dark hair blowing in the breeze. His heart filled with love as he saw her.
Tim shook his hand free and began to run, and Bodhi let him.
“Sailor! Sailor!”
She turned, and Bodhi stopped, the shock so big he couldn’t breathe for a second. Sailor put a hand over the small bump on her belly, but bent down to hug Tim tightly as he reached her
. Bodhi put one foot in front of the other, but didn’t know how he would be able to reach them.
Pregnant. How was this possible? She had been stabbed, for crissakes…the surgeon hadn’t mentioned a pregnancy. There was only one answer.
It wasn’t his.
Bodhi stopped walking, his heart breaking all over again. Tim was leading Sailor by the hand down the pier towards him, and for Bodhi, it was a moment of panic. What do I do? What do I say?
Sailor had never looked more beautiful, her caramel skin glowing, her eyes haunted, but soft with love. “Hello, Bodhi.”
He stared back at her a million questions going through his mind. She smiled gently and nodded, reading his mind. “It’s yours, Bodhi. Your child. I don’t know how everybody missed it, but I was pregnant when they took me to the hospital. Less than a month, which is why the embryo survived the stabbing. I’m four months now.”
Bodhi couldn’t speak, and it took a single, simple sentence from his son to make him come to his senses. Tim looked up at Sailor, his eyes shining with excitement. “So, I’m going to be a big brother?”
Sailor laughed, tears flowing down her face. “Yes, sweetie, the best big brother ever.”
Finally, Bodhi was able to move, and he took her in his arms. “Why did you run away?”
“I didn’t think I was good enough for you,” Sailor said, her voice breaking. “Bodhi, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’ve been living out here regretting running away ever since, but I didn’t know how to make it right. I’m so glad you’re here, so, so happy.”
And Bodhi kissed her passionately, not caring that Tim was watching. “I love you, Sailor King, and our baby. We are a family and don’t you ever forget it. We face things together, good or bad.”
She nodded, and Bodhi kissed her again, his heart swelling with relief and love and joy. He put his hand on her belly. “After all you went through, is this safe?”
She nodded. “I have a good doctor in Portland.” She looked down at Tim. “Look, shall we go inside? I can make us some cocoa. That breeze is a bit cool.”
Tim nodded eagerly, and she took his hand, and Bodhi’s and they walked back to her cabin, collecting a grinning, not-at-all-sorry Grady on the way.
One year later…
Sailor grappled with her very wriggly daughter as she tried to change her diaper. “Solly Creed, if you don’t start behaving, I swear to God…”
“Swear to God what?” Bodhi was laughing as she struggled with her daughter. Sailor glared at him.
“Could you put the Go-Pro down, rockstar, and help me? This photo op was your idea.”
They were in San Francisco for the launch of Bodhi’s first album in a few years and, as they got ready at their hotel, they could already hear the crowd of fans chanting his name.
Bodhi took his daughter from Sailor’s arms, and immediately the girl calmed down, babbling with pleasure, grinning at her father.
“Daddy’s girl,” Sailor grumbled, but laughed as Bodhi grimaced at the dirty diaper he was being allowed to change. “Hey, I had to carry that little monster for nine months. You can change a diaper.”
Later, as they made their way to the launch in the cab, Tim perched on Bodhi’s knee, Solly asleep in her mother’s arms, Bodhi looked over at Sailor.
“Hey, beautiful? You know that question I was going to ask you a while back?”
Sailor grinned, knowing exactly what he was going to ask her, put her finger to her lips. “Later,” she said, “When the kids are asleep.”
“Why?”
Sailor leaned in to whisper in Bodhi’s ear. “Because I have a very, very special way of saying yes, Bodhi Creed, and believe me, you’re not going to want to miss that…”
The End.
Rockstar Untamed Extended Epilogue
Tuscany, Italy
August
Sailor King stood at the doorway to the villa that she and Bodhi had purchased a little over a year ago. She breathed in the sultry, warm air of the Tuscany hills, listening to the quiet murmur of their guests as they waited for her in the makeshift aisle under the pergola.
Today, exactly five years after she’d escaped from The Children of Love and her psychotic, incestuous father, Bartholomew Foy, she would marry the man who had shown her what real, true, deep love was. The man who the world knew and adored, but who would give up every bit of his fame, his success, his wealth for her and their children. Tim, Bodhi’s son from a previous relationship, was now fifteen years old and a devoted big brother to his four-year-old sister Soleil, Sailor and Bodhi’s child. Soleil was eager to get going, to throw flower petals along the aisle in front of her mother, but Sailor held her back for a moment, wanting to take stock. Tim had offered to walk her down the aisle, but she had told him that Bodhi needed him to be his best man. She didn’t mind that she wouldn’t be led down the aisle by a man.
She let out a long breath, feeling the tension in her body dissipate. They had made it. The wedding had been planned for so long, had been postponed and rescheduled until Bodhi could figure out a way to fulfill his recording contract with Quartet and go on tour, and then take another long sabbatical with his family. So now, they were here, in their beautiful home where no press could find them, no rabid fans could turn up on their doorstep. Their haven, their paradise.
She heard a noise behind her and turned, her hand flying up to her mouth when she saw who was behind her. The surprise and joy flooded through her and tears started to drop down her face.
“I thought you weren’t going to come, I thought…oh my god…”
And she ran into his arms.
Los Angeles, California
The previous December
“Momma?”
“Yes, Freckle?”
“Why is my name sorry?”
Sailor grinned at her daughter. “Solly, not sorry. It’s short for Soleil, Freckle. We named you after your Auntie, remember?”
Solly was rolling around on Sailor and Bodhi’s bed, teasing their little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Dude. Dude licked Solly’s face, and she giggled.
“Dude, don’t lick,” Sailor scooped the puppy and kissed its furry head. She laid down next to her daughter and tickled her. “Are you excited about going on the plane, little one? Seeing Nanna?”
Solly nodded. Already at four years old, Solly was a seasoned passenger on Bodhi’s private jet and tonight, they would all fly over to Italy to spend Christmas in their new home. Tim, almost as tall as Bodhi now and top of his class at school, was already bragging to his friends about learning Italian, and how many of the beautiful girls he already knew there.
“Where are my gorgeous girls?”
Sailor and Solly heard Bodhi’s voice as he called and grinning, Sailor pulled the comforter over them. “Let’s hide from Dadda, Freckle, and surprise him.”
She heard Bodhi come into the bedroom and give a low chuckle. “Now, where are my girls? Hey, Dude, what did you do with them? Eat them? Snuffle them? Now, wait…I think you ate them because I see a chubby little leggy…”
He pulled on Solly’s exposed leg, and she burst into giggles, pushing back the comforter and yelling to him. He swept her up into her arms. “Were you hiding from me? You cheeky monkey.” Solly was laughing hard now, easily amused by their silly game. Sailor stuck her head out from under the comforter and grinned up at her fiancé.
“All Solly’s idea, so blame her.”
Solly looked outraged. “No, Momma!” and Bodhi and Sailor laughed. Sailor crawled out of bed and straightened her clothes, stopping to kiss Bodhi hello. He grinned down at her, and she smiled back, drinking in his gloriously handsome face, his huge green eyes which both of his children had inherited, and his scruffy stubble, which saved him from being too beautiful, and instead made his machismo shine out from him.
“We all packed and ready to go?” He asked, swinging Solly in his arms. Sailor grinned.
“All set and Tim promised me he’d packed last night. So, as soon as he gets home from sc
hool, we’re good to go.”
“Good. Ah,” he said, flopping down into a chair and, balancing Solly on one knee, he pulled Sailor onto the other one. The chair gave an ominous groan and Sailor giggled. Bodhi shrugged. “It’ll be fine.” He buried his face in Sailor’s neck, his lips against her throat. “God, I need this vacation. We need this vacation.”
He looked at her meaningfully, and she grinned. “Your mother has been very kind in volunteering to take the kids for a week. I can get Christmas really organized.”
“And we can get some special alone time.”
Sailor laughed. “You have a one-track mind.”
“When it comes to you, hell yes.” He kissed her mouth, lingering over the embrace. Sailor closed her eyes, savoring the feel of his lips on hers. It never got old, that feeling of desire that flooded through her when he touched her. “I love you, baby.” His voice was a whisper, and she nodded.
“I love you too, big guy.”
They cuddled in silence for a while, relaxing. Solly fell asleep in her father’s arms. Sailor tucked her head onto Bodhi’s shoulder, feeling utterly blissed out. Her family – her chaotic, unexpected family - was the reason she breathed in and out, the reason she existed. After the horrors of the past, they had found a place in life which made them all happy. Bodhi had just finished a world tour, three intense months of dates in the biggest stadiums and arenas in the world and he was exhausted but elated. “I just love performing, baby. It’s the second-best feeling in the world.”
“The second best?” She’d asked with a grin, as they’d talked in bed after the last gig. He’d chuckled.
“Stop fishing for compliments, woman, you know this is the best feeling in the world.” And they had made love long into the night.
The flight to Italy was long, with a stop in Paris, and by the time they reached Florence, all four of them were exhausted. Vittoria, Bodhi’s spritely artist mother, greeted them all with hugs and kisses, looking as excited as Dude was to see them after the flight. Vittoria gathered up Solly in one arm and Dude in the other and bore them off. Christina, Vittoria’s life partner, hugged Bodhi and Sailor and rolled her eyes at his mother’s retreating back.
Rockstar Untamed: A Single Dad Virgin Romance Page 15
