Paradise Island: Complete Edition (30 page)

“It didn’t seem that long,” she said as she took another sip of her martini. And that’s when I noticed the marks on her neck. It seemed she was strangled to death. Not a very nice way to go. Which reminded me of the journals.

“Who hid the journals here, Josie? Do you know?”

I was anxious for her answer but all she gave me was a look that said that I should know. As if that was helpful at all.

I heard sounds in the distance, getting closer. Thump. Thump. THUMP.

Josie smiled. “They’re digging up the bodies,” she said and took a sip of her drink.

Lucy and Greyson approached me, their hands almost touching me when I jerked awake, sweaty and alone in bed. Jack wasn’t next to me and I panicked and got up immediately. There was still that noise, which I soon knew the source of as I entered the living room. The workers had come and they were busy fixing up the door. It seemed all they had left to do was finish bolting the frame and then putting the glass in. I turned around to the kitchenette and saw Jack sitting there, sipping some tea.

I immediately went to his side. “You shouldn’t be up and about,” I said. “You should have woken me.”

“You looked so peaceful, besides I feel much better now,” he smiled, but I could see the dark circles under his eyes. He still needed to rest.

“You would have done me a favor by waking me up,” I said as I made myself a cup of tea as well.

“What do you mean?” He asked when I sat across from him.

“Dreams. Stupid dreams,” I said and left it at that.

“Did you and Rory...?” He let the implication hang in the air.

I nodded. “Out back. We’ll have to show the workers where to pour the cement.”

“I’ll do it,” he said.

“You’ll do no such thing. Just tell me what to say and I’ll relay the message.” Just because I was curious, I also asked him: “What did you tell them happened here?”

“Oh, just a little motorcycle accident.”

I was shocked. “Really? You want people to believe you ran into your own house with the bike?”

Jack shrugged. “It’s better than knowing the truth. Plus, I already used the motorcycle story at the hospital, so it seemed natural to include the shattered door into it.”

“I guess it makes a certain kind of sense. Anyway, I thought that glass was supposed to be bulletproof or something?”

“Well, apparently it wasn’t,” he said.

Since he didn’t seem in the mood to talk about it I let it drop. I took a look outside and saw them filling in the dirt path. I’d cleaned up as much as I could, but it seemed the cement was going to do most of the work for me. Now all they needed to do was create a smaller area out back, for a grill or something. How American, I thought to myself, but it needed to be done.

After all that was done, and the workers had drawn an outline of where the borders should be, I went back inside to check on Jack. The door was almost done, which was a relief as I tightened my jacket around myself. I found Jack back in his bedroom lying on the bed. I closed the door behind me and joined him. I huddled close to him and put my head on his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

“If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I would have done,” I said, tears forming in my eyes.

“Shh,” Jack whispered and kissed the top of my head lightly. I turned my head up and kissed him lightly on the lips. It felt good to be sharing the same body heat, the same air as him. “I’ll be up and about in no time,” he said. “And then we  can leave this blasted place behind.”

“Which reminds me,” I said. “Rory will stop by later today after the workers are gone.”

Jack sighed deeply. “I hope he doesn’t cause any trouble for us.”

“He seems like a decent fellow,” I said. “He wants to get off this island as much as we do.”

“As much as Lucy did?”

I was surprised he would bring that up. He was the one who killed her after all. “Mmm-hmm,” I softly murmured, “But Rory’s different. He doesn’t seem to have a mean bone in his body. Lucy was a different story.”

“You seem to be awfully infatuated with this Rory guy. Should I be worried?”

I immediately got up and away from Jack. “Are you serious?”

“Come back to bed, Sophie, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just thinking out loud, that’s all.”

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and looked down on him angrily. “You shouldn’t even be thinking such thoughts. I love you, Jack, and only you. There’s no one out there that will change that.”

“I know,” he said softly. “Believe me I know. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find other guys attractive. That’s all I was saying.”

“What? Like you find other girls attractive? Like you found Lucy attractive? So attractive in fact that you fucked her in this very house?” Jack started it, but I was going to finish it.

“We weren’t together then. That’s different.”

“That’s right. And I forgave you for that, so I’m not sure what you’re trying to say right now.”

“Come here,” Jack held out his hands, and though he did look pretty pitiful with the dark circles under his eyes and the bandages on his head, I stood my ground. “I was just being jealous. I guess I just can’t imagine sharing you with anyone else. I’m just being a stupid guy right now, please forgive me.”

I couldn’t stay mad at him for long, not when I was partially responsible for him looking so out of it. Instead, I decided to take his mind off his petty jealousies by straddling him and sitting down on his crotch. Even through my jeans I could feel him harden under me.

Jack moaned loudly as he put both his hands on either of my hips. “Oh, Sophie, I want you so bad right now.”

“I want you, too, Jack,” I said as I felt my nipples harden in anticipation as his big manly hands slid under my shirt and up up up, until they reached my boobs. He squeezed them hard and I was the one who moaned now. One of his hands decided to move back down until he’d reached the top of my jeans. “Fuck, Jack,” I moaned, “you’re in no condition.”

“Let me worry about that,” he sighed as he attempted to unbutton my jeans. I took my hands from his hard chest and helped him out. I quickly slid out of my jeans and underwear. I helped him get his boxers off, letting his erect cock free. I held it in my hands and felt the warm throbbing of his pulse. I put the head of it in my mouth and he moaned. His fingers reached my head and back. I knew he wanted to go further down, but right now I was focused on giving him some pleasure, which in turn made me desire him that much more.

Pretty soon, I was on top of Jack, his hard cock sliding slowly into me. It felt strange at first to be the one in control. Jack wanted to flip me over but I held him down. We both still only had our shirts on, and that was it. I rode him slowly at first, getting used to the sensation and the position, but once I really got into it, I kind of enjoyed being the one in control. By the moans escaping Jack’s lips, and the way he held me with his hands, it was obvious that he was enjoying the experience as well. The workers outside still worked, and I hoped the sound of their work would muffle any moans that escaped our lips. It felt slightly dangerous to be having sex with people working right outside, especially since I’d only closed the door and not locked it.

Pretty soon we were done and I joined Jack under the covers.

“Fuck, Sophie, that was amazing,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said. “Feeling a bit better now?”

“Much better,” he said and grinned. “Much better.”

We stayed in each other’s arms for awhile, breathing hard from all the hard work we’d just done.

After the moment had passed I put my clothes back on and threw his boxers at him.

“I’ll go make us something to eat. You wait right here and I’ll be back with a plate.” He pulled me in for a deep kiss and I forgot to breathe for a second, butterflies flying in my stomach. It felt so surreal, yet so right, me being here with Jack, so intimate, without any thoughts of anything but just the two of us. No past events replying in my head. No Crow. No world outside interfering. It was as if the world stopped when we made love, and even when we didn’t. I told myself it was dangerous to lose oneself so deeply in another person. When I read those classic novels I always groaned at how the heroine and hero got together and knew it was true love. But now that I tasted true love myself, it didn’t seem so farfetched at all. It seemed all wounds, all old hurts could just melt away when you found the right person and they put their arms around you. I know it sounds cheesy, but that’s really the way it felt between me and Jack.

Hours later, stomachs full and the workers gone, and a front door that worked, I found myself sitting on the couch in the living room, Jack by my side. We huddled together as if in front of a fire on a midwinter eve, even though it was pretty warm in the house already. I guess metaphorically speaking we were in the middle of winter, and the only warmth we could find was each other. And the only fire that we could light was the one that was lit by our love for each other.

The sun set in the horizon and I heard the sound of an approaching car. Rory was here. I waited for him to come around and when I saw him by the door I immediately got up to let him in. He still had his uniform on, and he looked pretty cute in it. He greeted me with a smile when I opened the door and I returned the gesture.

He saw Jack barely awake on the couch.

“You guys don’t waste time. This place looks like nothing except a little construction has happened since I was last here.”

Jack nodded. “Money buys time, I guess you could say. Speaking of money, it seems we have some things to go over with.”

Rory smiled. “I guess we do,” he said as he took off his jacket. I took it and hung it on a coat rack in the corner.

I went into the little kitchenette while they discussed business. Soon I came back with a plate of cookies and a cup of tea for each of us. I sat across them and didn’t interrupt them since they seemed to be in a deep discussion about how the money would get into Rory’s account and what amount was appropriate.

Truthfully, I wish I could tell you all the details of that conversation, but I kind of got lost in my own thoughts. I sipped my tea and caught a word here and there, but all I kept thinking about as I looked upon Jack and Rory was how fortuitous it was that a man like Rory had come to our doorstep, and not one of the other cops or deputies or whatever they were called here, on the island. Jack and Rory seemed like old friends to me and that seemed like a good sign.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of yours, you know?” Rory was saying to Jack and that got my attention. If I wasn’t mistaken, it looked like Jack was blushing a little. I guess the whole reason he left the limelight was so he wouldn’t be running into fans of his work. But here was Rory, doing that exact same thing, even though Rory too seemed reluctant to share such a view.

“That’s awfully nice of you,” Jack said. “I don’t know if acting is something I want to continue doing, though.”

“That’s too bad,” Rory said. “I always await your new work with great anticipation. What about you, Sophie,” he turned towards me. “Are you a fan of Jack’s work?”

Now it was my turn to blush. “I’ve seen some, but I was never much into anything current, so I can’t say I’m a good judge of current pop culture. The only pop culture I’ve ever been exposed to is the ones Lucy shared with me.” I thought it would be harder to say her name, but it came out pretty easily, with no hint of what had actually happened to her at all.

“That’s kind of interesting. I didn’t know there were people like you still out there.”

“You make it sound like I’m some rare breed of, I don’t even know what. I don’t know whether to take it as compliment or not!” I laughed nervously.

Rory grinned wide, his smile infectious. “It’s definitely a good thing,” he turned to Jack. “No offense to you or anything, but it’s rare to find someone these days who wasn’t raised on Hollywood, isn’t it?”

Jack nodded. “No offense taken. Believe me, I know the dark side of Hollywood better than anyone.”

And that’s how we spent the rest of our afternoon and evening, just talking with Rory about various subjects.

With each minute, each hour spent in his presence, I felt a little closer to and more comfortable in Rory’s company. He reminded me a bit of Jack, except for the fame and fortune, but there was something familiar about him.

It pained me to see him go after I walked him out.

“He isn’t such a bad guy after all,” Jack said, sounding surprised. “I’m glad it was he who answered that call the other day.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” I said. “It was as if some sort of fate was on our side.” It felt weird to talk to Jack about Rory in such a manner, but now that he warmed up to him, maybe it wasn’t that weird after all. I took my seat back next to Jack and played with his hair, the part that wasn’t damaged. “How are you feeling?” I asked him softly.

“Better. Much better,” he smiled. “Especially now that I know Rory can be trusted. Or at least I hope he can.”

I looked upon the view outside and couldn’t see much of anything. I remembered how Rory had helped me with Crow’s body. I would be grateful to him no matter what happened later on just for that. “He helped get rid of Crow’s body and he hasn’t said anything to anyone. I think he can be trusted. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he seems to be a fan of yours, does it?”

“No,” Jack agreed. “It doesn’t.”

A
fter a couple of hours more of awake-fullness it was safe for Jack to go to sleep so I let him rest as I looked upon him laying in bed next to me. His warmth, his smell. I didn’t know how to exist without it now that it was mine. I felt tired as well, but not sleepy. A thousand and one thoughts raced through my mind. Pretty soon, as soon as the cement hardened and Jack felt better we were going to leave this island, and I couldn’t help but think that that was just a dream we had, that we would never actually be able to leave this place. Maybe physically we would, but mentally? I wasn’t so sure. Even now, as I lay awake in the the middle of the night, I can’t forget the things that happened on this island. I can’t forget the terrible things I was forced to do.