by Lucy Score
“Angel, you make your own choices just like they do. You won’t make their mistakes,” he promised her.
“I guess Stanford couldn’t come at a better time,” she said with a sad smile.
Fuck. Now was not the time to ruin that for her. He couldn’t do that to her.
“What is it?” she asked, her eyes widening.
“What’s what?”
“I say Stanford, and you get rigor mortis.”
“It’s nothing,” he said, trying to brush it off. “Do you need a drink or something?”
“Don’t lie to me, Xavier. I seriously can’t take it from you, too.”
He wanted to. He wanted to promise her that everything was okay and she could finally go live the life she chose. But he couldn’t. He didn’t.
“Stanford may not be an option.”
He winced when she shrugged off his arm. “What do you mean ‘might not be an option’?”
“If we don’t catch Ganim, you can’t go.” Sometimes blunt was best.
“I think I’m having an aneurysm or something because it sounded like you said I can’t go.”
“Angel. He may have killed two girls in Texas. They both had stalker issues with him, and both of them disappeared. I think it’s permanent, and the FBI is looking into their cases. If he’s a murderer and he’s still on the loose, fixated on you, you can’t go. You can’t go spend your days on a college campus with 16,000 other people.”
“So come with me then.” He heard it, the fear in her voice that she was losing the one thing left she had to hold on to.
Xavier reached for her hand and held it tight. “Think about it, Angel. You’d have a predictable schedule and anyone who paid the least bit of attention would be able to find a way to get to you. Even if I could guarantee your safety in classes, what kind of experience would that be? Normal students would be afraid to talk to you. The only ones left would be the assholes who just want something from you. Is that how you envisioned it?”
She shook her head slowly, sadly. And his heart hurt for her.
“When will it be a definite ‘no’?” she asked.
“It already is, Angel.”
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She had asked him to go. And he’d gone, even though she knew he wanted to stay. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. Her parents probably hadn’t either. But the hurt was there all the same.
This legacy had robbed her of any hope of normal.
Her one out, the thing that she really wanted for herself had just been taken away from her. And what was she left with? Yes, other people would kill for this life. Some would look at the costs as being a fair trade for the luxury and the fame and the money. But Waverly wanted normal, she wanted happy.
A hot tear worked its way free and slipped down her cheek. She gave herself a few moments to mourn the life she’d dreamed of, let the tears fall silently. She’d asked Xavier if she was damaged and he said no, but she wasn’t so sure of that. How could she remain unscathed, and would she if she stayed?
She wiped her face with the backs of her hands and then went into the bathroom. She washed her face slowly, carefully, and patted it dry with the cloud-soft towel. She found her phone in the nightstand drawer. She’d kept it turned off since they boarded. Kate was on vacation with her parents and she was the only one who would have called the number anyway.
Waverly powered it on and dialed.
“’lo?” Kate’s voice was thick with sleep.
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry, I forgot about the time difference,” Waverly apologized and felt like an idiot.
“Wave?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry I just missed you and forgot. Go back to bed.”
“No, s’cool. I was just dreaming about serial killers again anyway.”
“You’re so weird,” Waverly said with affection.
“You have your ‘I’m not crying, you’re crying’ voice on,” Kate yawned.
“Yeah well, I’m on vacation with my parents so…”
“Seriously, Wave, what’s wrong? I’m awake now, and if you don’t talk to me, I’m going to post that pic of you pretending to pick your nose with the salad tongs on your Instagram account.”
“Who said I was pretending?”
“Har har. Spill sister.”
“I got into Stanford.”
“Are you kidding me? That’s amazing! Holy shit, when are you coming back? Oh my God, we have to go school shop…”
“And I see you just landed on the conclusion that I completely missed until Xavier told me five minutes ago.”
“Oh my God. You can’t go.”
“Not until Ganim is caught.”
Kate swore ripely in Waverly’s ear. “Listen, don’t give up on this, Wave. We’ll come up with something even if we have to trap the asshole ourselves.”
Waverly felt her lips curve. “I miss you. I wish you were aboard the floating loony bin with me.”
“Things that good, huh?”
“Mom caught Dad licking the tonsils of the twenty-two-year-old bartender in the grand salon.”
“Guess that means your mom is mixing her own drinks, ha. Sorry. Bad joke.”
Waverly laughed anyway and then sighed. “Am I damaged? I mean, it’s not possible to come from them and not be damaged, is it?”
“If you are, you’re the least damaged damaged person I’ve ever met. And I’ve met a lot of damaged people.”
“Awh, thanks, pal.”
“Anytime. So I guess I’ll see you in London in a couple of days,” Kate said. “We can start scheming how to catch a creeper and get your ass to college.”
“Sounds good. Go back to sleep.”
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Waverly stayed in her room until late afternoon when her stomach demanded sustenance. She’d yet to hear a peep through her door or see any bodies flung over the side through her window. She hoped it was a good sign.
She decided it was as good a time as any to go up on deck, maybe let the sun bake away some of her pain. She changed into a new bikini, grabbed her sunscreen, and headed out.
Even after her talk with Kate, dejection clung to her like a florid perfume. She could see no way out, and if she were confined to this life much longer, she might never find one. Should she just embrace it as her mother had? Or was normal worth fighting for? Waverly wanted to know.
She trudged up the stairs and finding no signs of life on the main or upper decks she climbed to the highest level. She found Xavier on the sun deck, dressed in shorts and an open button down shirt.
There was a beer on the table in front of him.
“Rough day?” She heard the bitterness in her own voice and shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t mean to take anything out on you.” She sat down on a sunny bed and tried to focus on the beauty of the view.
Xavier picked up his beer and joined her. He said nothing just sat next to her in silence.
It was quiet up on deck. The lap of the water against the hull was far below. A light breeze teased her hair and relieved the unrelenting heat. Mikonos rose before them out of the water like a statue.
“Not all men are like your father,” Xavier said finally.
“Thank God for that.”
“I mean, not all men think only with their dicks.”
“Why are you telling me this, X?”
“I don’t want you to think that what we did was because you’re young and beautiful, and I was trying to prove something,” he said rolling the bottle in his hands. “You are young and beautiful—I mean. Shit, I’m making a mess out of this.”
“Maybe start over?” she suggested.
“You asked your dad to think about how his actions affect you. You’re his daughter, and you see him running off with anyone with a rack and a mouth. Girls your age. Not all guys are like that. They don’t just take something because it’s pretty, and they think it reflects on them. And then throw it away after it’s served their purpose. That’s not why
I… why we…”
“You’re not like my father, Xavier. I know you’re not.”
“It would kill me to think that I used you and then threw you away.”
“I know why we aren’t revisiting what we did. I get it.”
“You’re not disposable, Angel. Don’t ever let any man make you feel that way.”
Waverly blinked back unexpected tears at the tenderness in his voice. “You know, X? I think you’re going to be a really good dad someday.”
“You’ve been talking to my mother,” he said dryly.
“I wish. I really, really liked your family, Xavier. Be good to them.”
He covered her hand with his. “I’m sorry, Waverly.”
“About what?”
“About just about everything at this moment. I’m sorry that you had to grow up how you have. That you’re missing out on yet another shot at normal. That we aren’t revisiting what we visited—which was mind-blowing, by the way. I’m sorry that your family can’t see how lucky they are to have you and that you can’t see what an incredible woman you are because, if you really did see it, you’d never settle for anything less than what you want again.”
Waverly let her breath out in a stream. When he talked that way, it stirred things inside her. He didn’t just see an actor or a bank account or the daughter of a genetic lottery. Xavier saw her. But even that wasn’t enough. They had a complicated working relationship if she were to call it what it was.
Embarrassed by his frankness, Xavier scrubbed a hand over his head. “You put any sunscreen on yet?”
She shook her head and handed over the bottle. He gestured toward the bed and Waverly lay facedown and squashed the urge to cry at the unfairness of it all. Xavier Saint was just one more thing that she couldn’t have.
His hands smoothed lotion over her shoulders and down her back, skimming under the purple ties of her top. The way he touched her said so much more than words. Gentle and soothing now, his hands worked over her lower back in long, smooth strokes. Waverly rolled her head to the other side when his fingers nudged under the side ties of her bottoms.
Movement caught her eye on the stairwell.
“Mom!”
Waverly sat upright. Her mother peered through the railing holding her phone outstretched in one hand and a bottle in the other. Waverly jumped up, but Xavier was faster.
He pulled Sylvia carefully up the stairs and pushed her toward a chair.
“Say cheese,” she ordered Xavier with a slur so thick is sounded like an accent. “Smile pretty for the camera.”
“Stop it, Mom,” Waverly ordered.
The bottle in Sylvia’s hand was only half empty, meaning it was her second bottle of the day. She leaned hard in the chair as if her world had shifted on its axis.
Sylvia pulled the phone up to her face and hooted. “These ought to stir up some attention for your tour.” She poked at the screen with a finger that had lost its polish.
Waverly snatched the phone out of her hand. “We’ve had this discussion before. You can’t just take pictures of me!”
Sylvia snorted. “I made you, you ungrateful bitch. I’m still making you. You should be thanking me.” She lurched to her feet and Xavier stepped between them.
“You don’t need to protect me from my own mother,” Waverly snapped. She stepped around him to face Sylvia. Her mother had on rare occasions called her names. It was nothing a thousand other people hadn’t said about her.
“You’re going to drink a gallon of water, eat some soup, and go to bed and sleep this off, Mom.”
“Gimmie back my phone. I’m going to make you famous,” she said, pointing unsteadily at Xavier. “You’ll be grateful, won’t you? Not like her. She thinks this life is a burden.” She sneered in Waverly’s direction. “Everybody wants to be famous.”
“Not everyone, Mom. Leave Xavier out of this.”
Sylvia reached for the phone and missed, scratching at Waverly’s wrist instead. “Give it back to me,” she said, angry now. “It’s mine. I won’t have you taking what’s mine!”
“You want it so bad? You want to hurt me and ruin Xavier’s reputation by spinning more lies about him? Then go get your fucking phone.” Waverly whirled and tossed the phone over the rail.
Sylvia’s scream of despair was an echo of the morning’s. “How could you?” she shrieked. “I hate you!” The slap caught Waverly completely unprepared, and she took a step back. Her cheek stung and so did the knowledge that her mother had never struck her before.
Waverly grabbed Sylvia’s wrist as Xavier gripped her shoulders. She was a wild woman now flailing and screaming. Waverly squeezed her wrist painfully. “Look at me. Look at me, now! Do you see what your legacy cost?”
Sylvia refused to look at her. The woman threw herself into Xavier’s arms sobbing.
The anger and adrenaline were too much. There was black around the edges of her vision. A panic attack or something even worse was coming on, and there was only one escape.
“I’m done,” she whispered the words.
Over Sylvia’s wails, Xavier heard them. “Waverly.” He said her name calmly as if he was talking her off a ledge.
But she was shaking her head at him. “I’m done,” she said again.
“Get out of here,” Sylvia screamed, thrashing against Xavier’s chest. “You’re ruining everything!”
Waverly did what she’d wanted to do for nearly a decade.
She escaped. Without a backward glance at her mother or Xavier, she hopped over the rail and dropped into the sapphire waters.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The sea closed over her head and as she sank down, down, down, a fleeting thought wondered how it would feel if she didn’t fight her way back to the top. But the flickers of fading sunlight beckoned her back. This was her life, currently an empty shell but one that would be filled as she saw fit from now on.
She kicked her legs and swam for the surface. No more living to fix her parents. No more hiding behind walls of protection or artifice. No more following someone else’s rules. She was taking back her life.
Her head broke the surface, and without a backward glance at where she’d come from, Waverly stroked her way toward shore. The sun was beginning to fade behind the island that loomed in front of her, and there was a chill in the water, but she’d never felt more alive. She was swimming for her life.
She heard a splash behind her. Xavier, she thought.
But this time, she wasn’t going to let him win. She almost felt sorry for him, caught in the crossfire. But he was just another person in a very long line of people who needed her to do what he asked of her.
She wasn’t going back, not without a fight. And that’s exactly what Xavier would get if he caught her.
Adrenaline pumped through her, fueling her limbs with the power of desperation. She didn’t turn to look for Xavier. She didn’t need to. She could sense him like prey could sense the nearness of a predator. She just carved her way through the sea, swimming toward freedom.
Finally, her knees dragged against the sandy bottom of the shore and she dragged herself out.
Even though the beach that stretched before her was empty, the heat of the day still clung to the golden sand beneath her feet. Waverly spared a glance back at the water. Xavier was there, powering through the seawater and closing quickly. She had a choice—old life or new—and the decision had to be made here and now.
She took off down the sand at a run. It was a quiet crescent of beach with no umbrellas or chairs. There were no resorts, no crowds to get lost in. Just sand and rock and a softly falling dusk.
“Waverly!”
She didn’t stop, didn’t acknowledge that she’d heard anything. She just ran harder. She couldn’t out run him, but if she could find a place to peel off, to hide…
She could hear him now, pounding after her. He was a predator and she the prey. Her breath was coming in jagged draws. There was a ben
d up ahead where the sand seemed to end. Was that light that glowed around it? Did it mean people and crowds? Could she make it?
Faster, her long legs ate up the wet sand as she sprinted for freedom, slipping and sliding as the sand deepened. She was the quarry. The point was just ahead. She threw a glance over her shoulder and regretted it. He was so close and closing, his face a mask of fury. He wouldn’t stop, not until he had her. But she wasn’t giving up. Waverly Sinner was never going down without a fight again.
She reached the point on a triumphant gasp, which immediately turned to desolation. In front of her was a sheer rock face, behind her two hundred pounds of angry Xavier. The light she’d seen came from the last sliver of sun as it dipped behind the cliffs above her.
She was no closer to freedom off the yacht. He was coming to reclaim her. Drag her back. She was trapped. Again.
She gave it her all, one last futile effort, pumping her legs across the thin slice of sand between cliff and ocean. But there was nowhere to go and no one to save her.
He caught her in a full out tackle, and they tumbled over the sand, a tangle of limbs. He rolled on top of her, pinning her down with his big hands shackling her wrists overhead. She didn’t want to look at him, to admit her defeat. So she escaped the only way she had left and closed her eyes.
“Look at me.” The order was hoarse and his breath was uneven.
Waverly’s chest rose and fell against his as she tried to catch her breath. Her breasts were crushed against him, beaded wet from the ocean. When she refused to look at him, he used his free hand to circle her neck, his thumb and finger holding her jaw.
She let her eyelids flutter open and stared up at him through watery eyes.
“Don’t ever run away from me again.” The harsh words were accompanied by a squeeze around her neck. “Do you understand me?”
When she didn’t answer fast enough, Xavier squeezed harder. “Answer me, Waverly,” he growled.
“I won’t,” she whispered.
“You won’t what?”
