“I can’t be gentle,” he says, hesitating. I think he’s asking my permission.
“So don’t be.”
“Love your skin,” he gasps into my mouth. “Love everything.”
I reach my hands around and pull him to me and he bites my lip.
“Wider, move your legs up.”
My hands are on the muscles of his back, long and lean from his morning swims. I dig my nails into his skin as he puts an arm underneath, lifting me to him and arching his back as he buries his face in my hair. It’s too much, and not enough.
I close my eyes and give way to sensation, finally able to leave my thoughts far behind. It’s as if my body knows the thinking has stopped, the need in me rushing forward to fill the space. Crew feels it, tightening his grip on my waist and moving his lips to my mouth.
“Hartley,” he moans, but I don’t hear anything else. There is no more sound, only a burst of heat and light as I cry out and cling to him tightly. We hold each other for a long time, breathing hard and laughing softly into each other’s skin. I don’t remember the walk back to my room.
Chapter Thirty Nine
Crew
Through the haze of the mosquito netting, Hartley moves around the room. She rummages through her bag and pulls on a pair of shorts, but the shirt she’s chosen lies forgotten on the bed. She hurries to the mirror in just her bra, braiding her hair over her shoulder while she hums to herself and catches my eye in the reflection. I watch her pick things up and put them down again, everything unfinished.
“Stay right there,” she smiles at me in the mirror, “I’m going to bring you breakfast in bed.”
Her braid is abandoned as she walks quickly to the basket of food Evita left outside the door earlier. I watch it unravel down her back as she bends over, rearranging the fruit on the plates into smiley faces.
“How do you feel?” she asks, as she lifts the netting and crawls under. She notices the pale blue shirt lying on the end of the bed as if it’s the first time she’s seen it today and quickly pulls it over her head.
“Tired.”
“That’s understandable.”
“And hungry.”
“Bad combination,” she frowns and passes me the plate. “I can fix one of those, at least.”
“Hartley,” I start, but I don’t know what else to say. She looks at me and smiles softly.
“It’s ok.”
She props the pillows up behind her and sits next to me with her plate on her lap. I yawn and stretch my arms. It feels like I’m convalescing after a long illness. For the first time in years, I don’t want to get out of bed.
“Let me say it,” I smile, taking her hand.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want your thanks.”
“You’re really stubborn,” I say, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. “You didn’t mention that in your list of faults.”
“So, last night…” she says, ignoring me, and for a moment I think she’s talking about the cabana. But then I see her face. “Yeah. It was a bad one.”
“I don’t get it,” she sighs, leaning her head back against the wall and looking up at the netting draped above us. “You were doing so well. Do you think it’s because we forgot to list the best parts of your day before you went to sleep?”
I shake my head.
“No. I think it’s just part of the process. It was a dream I’ve never had before.”
She puts our plates on a side table and crawls under my arm.
“Want to tell me about it?”
“Not now.”
“Ok,” she says, nestling closer and rubbing her cheek on my skin. “But I wish I could do more.”
“Are you serious?” I brush a curl off her cheek and bend to kiss her hair. “Babe, you’ve done it all.”
She slides her hand across my body, placing her palm protectively over my heart. “It’ll get better again.”
I hear the hope in her voice, and I try to let it seep into me. Maybe it will drown out the darkness telling me that this is never going to work. That I don’t deserve it. I take a breath and lean back, closing my eyes and pushing the shadows aside for now.
“Let’s stay here today. Let’s spend the whole day in bed.”
She rests her head against my chest and moves her hand down, rubbing it back and forth over my stomach.
“I like the sound of that. You can sleep until we need to leave for the airport if you want.”
“Hmmmmm,” I smile, and she looks up. “I don’t know if that’s exactly what I had in mind.”
“I like your optimism,” she laughs into my skin. “But I can see how exhausted you are. You’ve been through a lot this week. Even without the sleep deprivation you’re bound to be tired just from the emotional stuff.”
“How about this?”
I move down the bed and pull her with me.
“Let’s go down to the kitchen and get enough food to last us all day. Then we’ll come back here and lock the door and not get out of bed until the car comes.”
She pulls the sheet over our heads and grins at me, a soft brown curl twisting over her ear.
“I like it. But first, old man, if you’re really not too tired…..”
We take the long way to the Main Lodge, past the treehouses that are still under construction and the site that’s been cleared for a swimming pool. By the time we get there, we’re hot from the sun and hungry from talking about what food we’re going to swipe from Evita’s kitchen. Frank and his guys are sitting at a table and when we walk in they immediately look up. I meet Frank’s eye and can tell instantly that he needs to talk to me, but then Hartley is laughing at something Evita said, and is pulling me towards the kitchen. I look back at him to let him know I’ll come back. He looks quickly between us and nods his head once.
Evita is only too happy to give us access to her pantry. She hands us two baskets and fills our arms with loaves of bread and sweets and leftovers from the night before. She passes me a bowl of grilled meat, telling me it’s ‘for stamina’ with a wink that makes Hartley blush to her roots. Back out in the dining area Frank looks agitated. While Hartley and Evita pack the baskets, I make my way over to him. He stands up when he sees me coming and goes out to the terrace.
“You need to look at this,” he says quietly as he hands me a large envelope.
“What is it?”
“I can’t discuss it here. But promise me you’ll look it over.”
I take the envelope from him and tuck it under my arm.
“Is it about Still Waters again?” I ask, and he nods.
“There’s been a new development.”
I look over my shoulder to where Hartley is waiting for me by the door.
“I’ve got to go, but I’ll read it,” I say, turning to leave. Frank reaches out a meaty hand and stops me, patting me firmly on the back. It’s a fatherly, intimate kind of gesture that doesn’t fit with the kind of relationship we’ve had until now, and it takes me by surprise. I look down at him and smile awkwardly.
“Everything good here Frank?”
“Just look at it today, Crew,” he says quietly, and pushes me on my way.
Chapter Forty
Hartley
I insist on carrying one of the baskets up to the treehouse and about five minutes in, I wish I hadn’t. It’s heavier than it looks and my arms are burning by the time we make it to the door. Crew sees me struggling but knows better than to offer to help. We stock the fridge and spread the rest of the food out on the table, eating some of Evita’s coconut cake and then climbing back into bed.
“What’s that?” I ask when I see the large brown envelope he picks up from the end of the bed. He throws it on the floor and shrugs.
“Just some work Frank wants me to look at. Probably nothing important.”
“Do you want to read it now? I’ve got to send a couple of emails anyway.”
I’ve been trying not to think about the repor
t all morning, but time is running out.
“No,” he says, stretching out and pulling me back against him. “I don’t want to think about work right now. You’re a very bad influence on me.”
“Am I?” I laugh. “I guess I am. So what do you want to do? Surely you don’t want to - ”
“Hmm, tempting,” he murmurs into my back. “But not yet. You’re right. I am tired.”
In fact, he’s asleep in minutes, his big arm draped across my waist pinning me to him. I wait until his breathing deepens and then carefully lift it up and slide away from him, crawling out of the bed as quietly as I can.
I hold my breath as I open the laptop and go to my emails. There’s just a short email from Eleanor saying that my parents left the night before. At least there’s that. While Crew sleeps, I quickly read my report again, making sure that all of the details are correct and that I’ve attached enough evidence. I only copied a few of the most important files from Preston Industries before I left, but I think they’ll be enough to set things in motion. I think about sending it then and there, but something stops me from attaching the report to the open email hovering on the screen. As angry and disappointed as I am in my father, I still want to give him the rest of the day to do the right thing. And if I’m honest, it would be much easier that way too. The car taking us to the airport is arriving at four. I decide to send the email at three if I haven’t heard from my dad by then.
Crew sleeps through two science journals and a cup of tea, waking only when a couple of people below us run past. He sits up and runs his hands through his hair, looking over at me and then around the room in confusion.
“It’s lunch time,” I smile, and he relaxes.
“I never sleep during the day,” he yawns. “What have you been up to?”
“Oh, nothing much,” I say mildly, “just some reading.”
Something about what I’ve said seems to remind him about the envelope, and he reaches down to pick it up. He climbs out of bed with it, kissing me on the top of my head as he walks over to the window.
“Oh, it’s just the text messages he took off your phone,” he says, running his eyes down a piece of paper.
“Frank is the guy you gave my phone to?”
He nods slowly as he reads the page.
“This David guy is a real bastard.”
He turns the page slowly, his expression dark. I open my mouth to speak but when I look at Crew something about his face stops me. He’s gone pale and his breathing is shallow. He’s almost gasping, and his fingers tremble where they hold the page. He looks as though he’s about to be sick.
“Crew? What is it?” I say, getting to my feet and crossing the room to the window. His eyes leave the paper, and he turns to me with a look that stops me in my tracks. He looks confused and angry and something else, too. He looks hurt.
“What’s going on?” I whisper, and he swallows hard. He turns the paper around to show me, and it’s as if it’s happening in slow motion.
“Hartley?”
He’s showing me a photo that was taken last year at a work function. I’m standing between my parents, and David is behind me with his arms around my waist and his lips bent to my ear. We’re all smiling for the camera. I look as though I’ve had a little too much wine.
“Crew,” I plead as I start towards him. “I can explain that.”
As I get closer he holds out a hand and backs away.
“No. Just tell me Hartley. Are you a fucking Preston??”
“Do you know the Preston family?” I say, my voice barely more than a whisper.
He sits down heavily on the armchair and puts his head in his hands.
“Yes, I know about them. About you. They’re the reason I have to travel with a security team every place I go.”
He’s breathing in long ragged gasps, and I have to clench my hands at my sides to stop myself from going to him.
“What are you talking about? Why would Preston Industries want anything to do with you?”
He looks up at me slowly and shakes his head.
“They know I’ve been working with the Environmental Protection Agency for almost three years trying to prove that the contamination in my water, on my land, comes from one of their shitty mines.”
“Oh God,” I say, rushing forward and kneeling between his knees. “Crew, is Still Waters near Bridal Falls?”
He looks at me suddenly, as if I’ve said the magic password in a childhood game.
“What do you know about Bridal Falls?”
I try to hold his hand, but he flinches at my touch and pushes me away.
“Who are you?”
He grips his knees until his knuckles are white, and his eyes are desperate, searching mine for answers. The only thing I can give him now is the truth.
‘I’m Hartley Preston,” I whisper. “I’m sorry I lied to you about my name. I just wanted to get away from Jefferson and not look back.”
“Jefferson,” he mumbles, sitting back in the chair as far from me as he can get. “That’s why you changed when I mentioned taking you there.”
“Crew, please,” I say as my eyes well up with tears. He won’t look at me. “I’m still me; it’s just a different name.”
Outside, I hear footsteps coming up the staircase at a run. Crew bolts upright, stepping past me carelessly and walks quickly to the door. Before he can get there, Frank pushes it open, his face cold when he sees me.
“I tried to stop him, Mr. Sullivan,” he pants, “but he was too fast. He says he’s here to see Miss Jones.”
Crew looks at me in confusion, but I can’t find any words to say to him. And then Frank steps aside.
“Hello, Baby girl,” David smiles sweetly. “I’ve missed you.”
For a few seconds no one speaks. Crew looks at me, then at David, then back to me again. Frank braces himself on the doorframe, breathing hard with his hand on his phone incase he needs to call the Muscles. Finally, I find my voice.
“David, what are you doing here?”
He walks towards me and swings an arm around my shoulders, kissing me on the side of the head. Next to me, Crew looks as though he’s about to explode.
“Hartley, you can stop pretending now,” David laughs as I throw his arm off me and step away. “You’ve done really well.”
“I don’t know what’s happening,” I cry, looking up into Crew’s face. He won’t make eye contact with me. His gaze is locked firmly on David.
“Come on, Hartley,” David says, stepping closer. “It’s been a while. Don’t you think you should give your fiancé a kiss?”
Crew’s head swings in my direction and out of the corner of my eye I can see David smiling to himself.
“Crew, we’re not engaged,” I say hurriedly. “David why would you say that? What are you doing here?”
Crew is backing away towards the wall; his hands balled at his sides. I think he’s going to hit something.
“Crew, isn’t it?” David says, stepping forward with his hand outstretched. When Crew doesn’t take it, he looks down and frowns. “No? Well. Thanks for taking care of my Hartley for me while she was down here, but we’ve got everything we need now, so we’d better get going.”
“What are you talking about?” Crew says through his teeth. He says it slowly, trying to keep his voice measured and under control. But I can hear it. Oh, God. I can hear the pain in it.
“Mr. Preston and I sent Hartley on a little mission.”
I look at David in his pale pink shirt and his Docker pants, and I have a sudden urge to laugh.
“What are you trying to do, David?” I say. “I’m not on any mission. I left Jefferson because I couldn’t stand around and watch you and Dad do something completely unethical, not to mention illegal. And getting away from you? That was just a bonus.”
He smiles slowly, and impatiently checks his watch.
“Get your things. I have a car waiting.”
Crew is standing with his back to the wall; his arms crossed a
t his chest. He’s looking between David and me, his eyes cold.
“David,” he says quietly, “if you want to keep your teeth in that pretty face of yours, you’d better get the fuck out of here. Right now.”
“You heard him, Baby,” David says, looking at Crew a little nervously. “Get your things.”
“No,” Crew barks. “She stays. I need to talk to her.”
David shoves his hands in his pockets and laughs to himself.
“Oh, no. Hartley. He loves you? That was unnecessary don’t you think? I hope he didn’t open up and tell you about Jessica O’Reilly.”
He looks at my open-mouthed face and smiles broadly. “Oh dear. We asked you to find out about Still Waters, not break the man’s heart.”
“Stop it,” I whisper, shaking my head frantically. “No, Crew, don’t believe him.”
But Crew isn’t listening to me. He’s dropped his head to his chest, breathing hard at the mention of Jessie’s name.
David reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.
“Did she tell you she’s been emailing me since the day she arrived?”
He lifts his hand and shows the screen to Crew. I can see my name in his inbox.
“It’s true,” Frank coughs from the doorway. “It’s in the report. She’s been emailing Julian Preston too.”
This isn’t happening. Everything is moving too fast. I don’t have time to think, to process what everyone is saying.
“No!” I shout, looking at Frank and then over to Crew. “I was emailing them begging them to report the water samples I found at Bridal Falls. That’s all.”
“Everybody. Get. The. Fuck. Out.” Crew says under his breath, lifting his head and looking across the room at David like he wants to tear his throat out. If this goes on any longer, I know without a doubt that he will hurt him.
I walk over to David and put a hand on his arm, nudging him towards the door.
“David, go.”
As soon as I touch him I can feel Crew’s eyes on me burning a hole through my skin. After a long minute, he sighs and turns towards the door.
“I’ll meet you downstairs. But don’t take too long.”
Still Waters Page 20
