Rage (29 page)

love you. Unless you don’t feel the same.” He snapped and

Steph folded her arms. She looked tired.

“You promised not to rush me, Chris.”

“It’s really pretty simple, Steph. Do you or do you not love

me?”

“I love Phillip.” She blurted. Cheyenne’s gasp was echoed

by the ominous sound of thunder rumbling. Christopher’s eyes

flew wide, and he stepped toward Steph. He was breathing rapid-

ly. Steph slapped a hand over her own mouth, obviously stunned

at her admission. Cheyenne felt Liam let go of her hand.

“Pip!” Liam cried and ran at Phillip who stood only five

feet away, his unblinking eyes locked on Stephanie. Liam had

almost reached him when he tripped, but Phillip scooped him up

with one arm. Cheyenne rushed to Phillip. His eyes darted back

and forth as he turned to her in shock.

“Did she just say what I think she just said?” he whispered.

“Mmmmhmmm.” Cheyenne replied quietly, pulling Liam

close in anticipation of some unfortunate repercussions. When

she turned back to the arguing couple, she saw Christopher grab

Steph by her upper arms.

“Have you gone mad?”

“No. I’m being honest,” Steph replied with the dazed voice

of a person who’d just made a shocking discovery.

“How can you say that? After he abandoned you? He pub-

licly ridiculed you!” He shook her once-hard. The force of this

rocked Steph’s head back on her shoulders, and Liam launched

into a tantrum.

“Te te!”

“Hey!” Cheyenne shouted her eyes narrowing at Christo-

pher, but Phillip brushed past her before she had a chance to inhale for a second comment.

“Back off, mate.” Phillip said reasonably. He seemed sur-

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prisingly level, considering Cheyenne might have jumped on

Christopher if Liam hadn’t been present. Phillip was inches from the couple, and upon closer inspection, Cheyenne could see he

was ready to pounce, but fighting hard to maintain a cool facade.

Steph’s eyes stayed on Christopher’s, but she blushed profusely.

“Oh, piss off, Kersey. You’re no mate of mine.” Christo-

pher snapped dismissively, without taking his eyes or hands off

Steph. Cheyenne watched as Steph’s eyes shot to Phillip and

then back to Christopher.

“Chris…” Steph’s tone was cautious. “Calm down. Let’s

take a walk. We can talk about this privately.”

Christopher scoffed as another thunderclap sounded around

them. The rising wind whipped the palm tree canopy above them

and ruffled his fair hair. When he spoke, his voice dripped with sarcasm and hurt. “Why not just talk about it here? You know,

with Mr. Kersey. It seems this involves him, as usual.”

The louder Christopher got, the more upset Liam became.

Cheyenne clung to him and rocked him, trying to settle him

down. She knew she should take him away from the escalating

scene, but she thought maybe their presence would help defuse

the situation. She felt sprinkling drops of rain pelt down on her in random intervals. In the distance, she heard Nathan shout a

request for help moving the piano under cover. Steph seemed

sheepish and embarrassed as she yanked away from Christopher.

She acted as if she were about to speak, but clamped her mouth

shut and turned to retreat onto the trail away from the party.

“Don’t walk away from me, Steph.” He reached out for her,

but Phillip stepped in front of him. He effectively blocked Christopher’s path as Stephanie briskly vanished from sight.

“You need to calm down.” Phillip’s face looked serene.

Cheyenne knew he was anything but.

“That’s priceless advice, coming from you.” Christopher

shot back at him, poking a finger in his chest to emphasize the

word ‘you’. Phillip took a deep breath as it began to rain steadi-187

TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE

ly.

“No matter what she said, it’s over. She was clear about

that. She told me she was with you.”

Christopher seemed to read Phillip’s face for a long moment

and then turned to Cheyenne. He looked defeated, and his shoul-

ders slumped like a wounded soldier’s after a long and fruitless battle. It was hard for Cheyenne to see, and she busied herself

covering Liam with her wrap. Christopher took what seemed like

three deep cleansing breaths and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

He looked at the ground. “It’s pretty obvious that’s not the case.”

“No matter what either of you say or do to each other, it

won’t change anything. Steph’s going to do what she’s going to

do.” Cheyenne murmured. Liam was sucking his thumb and

cuddling into her. Distressed, Christopher looked off in the di-

rection to which Steph had retreated and then turned and left in the opposite direction.

Phillip heaved what looked like a sigh of relief and turned

to Cheyenne. He frowned as if seeing Liam for the first time.

“Let’s get the boy out of the rain.

Cheyenne tilted her head to the side condescendingly. “I

can take care of Liam, Phillip. Just go get her.” As the gentle rain turned to an outright downpour, he did just that.

188

Stephanie stumbled along a path in the darkness gasping to

catch her breath. She came to a halt and leaned against a palm

tree, removing her heels. They were expensive, impractical, and

blue. Coincidently, so was she.

The rain picked up and she quickly debated about which di-

rection to turn. She needed shelter, but her room wasn’t an op-

tion. Christopher would be there. And she’d just torpedoed her

life with Christopher. Stellar. Talley up one more person hurt by her actions or inactions.

Quite the growing legacy, Red.
Her inner chastisement

came to her in Pace Turner’s deep voice.

She wandered further down the rocky path, gingerly ma-

neuvering her bare feet over the slick ground. Her direction

seemed purposeful, though consciously, she was wandering.

Phillip. There was no denying the truth. She loved him. She

was
in
love with him. Worse, she had been all along.

She made a choking sound as she tried to suppress an angry

sob. It filled her with sorrow that it had taken so long for her to finally admit it to herself. And like a complete jackass, she’d

done so in front of
him
. She wanted to scream and claw her face, but she was far too tired. She’d wasted so much time and energy

lying to herself. She passed an amber bungalow and saw Saffron

lounging on the porch, smoking under the overhang.

“Hello!” Saffron called. “Need a place to dry off?”

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TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE

“Thanks, I won’t melt.” Steph replied, but a second later she

was walking. She turned and approached the waif, who pushed

away from her chair and placed her cigarette to her bright red

lips. Steph paused at the bottom of the steps. She was a foot from shelter, but didn’t feel like she deserved it.

When she finally spoke, Steph lifted her chin defiantly.

“Which bungalow is Phillip’s?”

Saffron smiled as she exhaled a long cloud of smoke. This

wasn’t Saffron’s usual double entendre dirty joke smile, though.

This smile seemed to come from a place of genuine pleasure,

like a kid opening presents on Christmas morning. “His is the

second on down.”

“Thanks, Saffron.” Steph went back out into the rain and

didn’t turn back when Saffron called out after her.

“Just once I wish someone would write a song
like that
for me. Snog him once for me!”

Phillip’s clothes were soaking wet once again. He’d been on

a mission to find Steph, frantic to see where she was with things, to see what her admission meant for them. If it meant anything at all.

He’d searched all of the public areas of the resort for her,

but to no avail. He got an unfortunately eyeful of Yara’s mom

stuffing money into the pants of an oily male stripper as he wandered through the restaurant. Due to the rain, the dining area had been commandeered for the bachelorettes. As he watched the

strippers grind on the tables, he reminded himself to eat off-site for the rest of his stay. Yara cheered her mom on and danced

with Kara on a nearby table. David’s blushing bride wore a pair

of glow in the dark sunglasses with a penis jutting out where her nose should be. Phillip paused to watch the bridesmaids do a

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RAGE

body shot off a second stripper.

Girls Gone Wild, Noronha.

That’s when he noticed that every female in the wedding

entourage was present and accounted for except for Cheyenne

and Steph. Figuring Steph might have doubled back to Chey-

enne’s, he went back out into the storm. As the door closed be-

hind him, he heard Saffron call his name over the thumping mu-

sic, but ignored her. He was a man on a mission and besides,

he’d forgotten to pack a g-string.

He checked Scot and Cheyenne’s bungalow, but Chey-

enne—who’d been tucking Liam under the covers—said she

hadn’t seen her anywhere. When he speculated that maybe he

should check her room, Cheyenne cautioned against it, arguing

that Christopher had moved in that morning. She said she doubt-

ed very much that Steph had gone back there. Phillip hoped she

was right. Stephanie was predictably unpredictable.

Defeated, he figured he should at least make an appearance

at the bachelor party, which was being held in Nathan’s bunga-

low. When he arrived, he saw the other band members sitting

around a card table playing poker and smoking cigars. There

were three blow up dolls tossed around as some sort of half-

assed décor, and a giant Love Swing hung in the center of the

room. Phillip strongly suspected that the final item wasn’t for the bachelor party.

“Wow.” Nathan removed his Cuban from his lips and took

in Phillip’s appearance with outright amusement. “Do you own

any
clothes that are dry clean only?”

“Bugger off.” He sighed dispassionately as he took his

place at the table. “Deal me in.”

“Bout time you got here.” Bret handed him a cold beer.

Phillip popped it open and chugged it in an effort to catch up. A moment later, he crushed it and stood to grab another one.

“A bit thirsty tonight, Phil?” David stifled a laugh. Scot, his

cigar clamped between his teeth, cocked an eyebrow at Phillip as 191

TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE

he popped his second can open.

“Yep. What did I miss?” Phillip responded. He intended to

shove all thoughts of Steph out of his mind. He had no idea what to make of her declaration, but until he found her, it was pretty pointless to speculate.

“I just explained to David that if he needs it, I have a yacht

on standby. Storm or no storm, we can make a quick getaway if

he’s changed his mind.” Nathan’s retort was met with eye rolls

all around.

“Are you taking him up on that offer, D.J. Dave?” Phillip

tilted his head in David’s direction. David smiled and flicked the ashes off his cigar with a shake of his head.

“No. She’s my soul mate. Even though she’s been the engi-

neer of The Crazy Train this week, she’s my one and only.”

“Ahhhhh…” Nathan said, fanning himself sardonically,

“It’s all so sweet I just want to vomit.”

David smirked at him and flipped him a backward V.

“So,” David started, “Scot and Bret: as the experienced

husbands I know, any words of wisdom?”

Bret chortled. “I’m pretty sure I’m the last one here you