The Lost and Found (33 page)

Smokey’s was located on one of the main piers in Nags Head; it’s been family owned and operated for the last seventy years, serving seafood and all manner of delicacies, offering a fun and family-oriented atmosphere. On Friday nights, local bands could book their outdoor area for concerts.

Patio lights were strung up along the old-fashioned light posts and several sturdy wooden tables were set up around the outdoor dining area — Cam found us a table toward the back. There was a full moon tonight and the clouds played tag with it across the sky. A local band played, sounding like a combination of soul and alternative rock, and a few brave couples were dancing.

As Gracie and I weren’t twenty-one yet, we opted for the virgin version of drinks, first trying a piña colada, then having a tropical iced tea. I noticed that Gracie kept checking her cell phone through dinner; she caught my eye as she quickly typed something in response and said, “Tanner keeps checking in with me. I told him I was out with three hot guys.”

We all laughed at that. “Poor Tanner.” I chuckled. “He’s got his hands full with you.”

“It would be way more fun if he hadn’t met these guys. Then he’d really be worried. As it is he says to give them a kiss from him.”

Suddenly Gracie’s phone chimed again with an incoming text. She quickly sent a reply, a blush staining her cheeks. Moments later Fynn’s cell phone chirped.

“Oh my gosh, you, too, Fynn?” I rolled my eyes.

“Hey, the two hottest girls I know are taken, so I need to keep playing the field. There’s a waitress here that I’ve had my eye on tonight.”

“Wow, you move fast. Should I help you make her jealous?” I grinned, trying to ignore the implication that Josiah and me were still together.

“
Yes
, let’s dance.” Fynn stood and took my hand as he led me to the dance floor. He turned so my back was to the tables then pulled me close; his hand strayed slowly, dangerously down my back. “She’s working tonight so make it good. I want her jealous enough to start a fight,” he teased me.

He swayed us back and forth to the music, and I told myself to relax and enjoy the moment. Fynn was a great dancer, a strong lead. He was attractive and smelled amazing. Several of the other women here had been looking him over enviously. But I couldn’t help but think that somehow this was wrong. I missed Josiah. I missed his arms around me. I wanted him to hold me. I wanted him period.

As if he knew where my mind was, Fynn pulled me even closer, tucking my head against his chest. “Don’t think about him, Sage. Think about this. Right now. This moment. This movement. This song.” He gently kissed my forehead and sighed deeply. “Who knows, maybe if you can forget about him, you’ll notice me and I won’t need the waitress.” I silently rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. “Just close your eyes, Sage, and be here, with me.”

I did as he suggested, or at least I tried to. Not that I was planning to fall in love with Fynn, but I did think I could at least try to put in some effort into enjoy my time with him and not be so miserable. Hopefully his waitress was paying close attention.

The wind shifted suddenly and I caught a scent that reminded me so strongly of Josiah that it caused me to shiver. My heart skipped a beat and my pulse pounded deeply. I ached for him. I thought of him so strongly, that when I heard my name spoken in his voice I figured I must have been dreaming. I squeezed my eyes tightly to ward off the tears that I felt were coming. I didn’t want to cry tonight, not here.

Josiah

JOSIAH BREATHED DEEPLY, SLOWLY
, taking in the cool, wet, salty tang of the ocean air, trying to calm himself.

He stood in the shadows for a moment and watched as Crimson slow-danced with one of the three brothers. He watched as the man’s hands travelled slowly down her back, coming dangerously low before veering off to her waist.

Gracie said the three tall men, all brothers, were like family and not to worry — they were in on the surprise of his presence here tonight. But as Josiah watched the woman he loved being held so intimately by the tall, good-looking seaman, he felt the wolf, the animal inside him stir.

Josiah’s deep blue eyes focused on Crimson and like a predator, he moved forward, stepping into the open.

Crimson Sage

FYNN SUDDENLY STIFFENED AND
growled, “What’s this fool’s problem?”

“Crimson,” a rough, beautiful voice said. “We need to talk.”

Fynn stopped moving, tightening his grip on me, keeping me against him. “You need something, Mister?”

My head snapped up at the anger and challenge I heard in his voice, and I looked at Fynn. His face was hard set, but his eyes weren’t on me. No, his cold gaze was on something behind me.

“Crimson, please, just talk to me.”

I pulled away from Fynn and spun around, and felt my heart clench tightly in my chest. “Josiah,” I breathed, shocked.

My eyes drank him in. Noticing everything about him, from his close-cropped dark ginger hair, the dark stubble that caressed his jaw and framed his mouth. The piercings in his ears and eyebrow. The tattoos. The way his black shirt hugged his frame, his deep blue eyes that were right on me.

He was here.

What was he doing here?

“What are you doing here?” I whispered in disbelief.

“We need to talk.” His voice was gentle, yet firm at the same time.

I shook my head trying to understand, to comprehend what my eyes were seeing. Josiah was
here
. Right here. Fynn’s strong hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me back against him. I nudged him with an elbow and looked up at him.
What was his problem
? Cam and Rafe now joined us.

“What’s the problem, Fynn? This guy bothering you?” Rafe asked.

“Don’t know yet. He seems to want Sage,” Fynn replied. Cam stepped between Josiah and us, his hands up and out in a calming and controlled manner. “Easy Mister, this gal’s taken. How about you just move on.”

Josiah never even acknowledged them. His deep blue eyes were on me. “Tell them to let you go, Crimson. You need to come with me. Now.”

“She’s not going anywhere with you, Buddy. You just move on,” Rafe said.

Josiah took a step toward me. Rafe and Cam immediately closed ranks making a solid block in front of me. Rafe put his hand against Josiah’s chest. “Back off, Mister,” Rafe growled at him.

“Crimson,” Josiah said, his voice becoming harder, deeper, wilder. Savage. “Tell them to move.”

I finally got past my shock at seeing Josiah. “Guys.” I swallowed, trying to get my heart under control and out of my throat. “It’s all right.” I stepped away from Fynn and around Cam and Rafe. Josiah followed my progress; his jaw clenched and he swallowed.

“You’re beautiful,” he breathed when I stood in front of him. I saw him tremble and felt a tremor go through me. “Walk with me?” he asked, holding his hand out to me.

Josiah was holding on by a thread, and I feared that at any moment he might snap and knew I needed to get him out of here — away from the boys, away from people that could get hurt. I looked at his hand then up at him. Slowly I placed mine gently in his and felt my legs weaken when his grip tightened warmly around mine. He led me past the tables, the silent, curious stares of the other patrons, and down to the beach.

I hesitated as we reached the sand, pulling back just a bit — I wasn’t wearing the right kind of shoes for beach walking. Josiah stopped and studied me for a second. His eyes travelled my length, taking in the shoes I was wearing, lingering there for a moment, and then suddenly he jerked me to him, his mouth finding mine. He was ravenous; his mouth moved over mine like a man starved, his hands clinging, held me close, pulled me closer. He was gentle, though. Careful with me.

Suddenly I found myself lifted in his arms and he was carrying me, never breaking contact with my mouth. He carried me that way for a while. When his mouth finally left mine I blinked and looked around. We were several hundred feet away from the pier and Smokey’s. My gaze took in Gracie, Cam, Rafe, and Fynn as they followed at a safe distance to make sure I was all right. Josiah glanced over his shoulder, but other than that he ignored them. He stopped walking and sat down on a driftwood log and just held me.

“I nearly died when you left, Crimson,” he whispered against my throat after several minutes of silence.

“I’m sorry. I just had to get away… after what I saw, after what had happened, I had to…”

Josiah’s arms tightened around me for a moment, cutting me off. I heard his breath as it came faster. “I need to show you something.”

He pulled his phone out and turned it on. He scrolled through a couple pictures then held it up so I could see it better. It took me a moment to realize exactly what I was seeing on the screen. There were three pictures in all that he showed me. The first was Josiah, passed out and alone in the back seat of a car. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, just jeans; his arms were flung out in an odd formation that didn’t look comfortable. The second was a picture of Charlene having sex with a guy in the backseat of a car — I remembered that look on her face and felt the pain tremble in my chest again. The third was the picture that she had shown me, the one where she said she and Josiah had hooked up. The pain peaked and I noticed there was something off about the pictures, something similar about them. The pain began to recede.

Shaking my head I looked up at Josiah. “I don’t…understand.”

“She
lied
, Crimson. She superimposed the images. The first one I showed you was from a party about four years ago. I’d passed out in that car. Red found me and can vouch that I was clothed and alone. The second was hers. She had a friend take it. It was completely staged. I told you she was a liar and would mess with you.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Because she gets off on it and she enjoys it. She’s a narcissistic lying witch. And she knew I’d never given her the time of day despite how often she threw herself at me. I never lied to you, Crimson.
She did
. I’m not a virgin and I don’t pretend to be. But I did not sleep with her.”

“Have you ever done anything with her?”

“Charlene threw herself at me every chance she got. She has kissed me. I have seen her naked. It’s hard to miss it when she literally strips in front of me.”

I took a deep breath, relief flooding through me as I realized the truth in what he was telling me and showing me. As I realized he’d been telling the truth the whole time, I was heartbroken now for an entirely different reason. My fear had hurt him. Tears pooled in my eyes and spilled over. I sniffed and tried to apologize to him. “I’m sorry, Josiah. Sorry I believed her. I’m so sorry.”

“No,” he cut me off. “
I’m
sorry. It was a convincing picture, no doubt about it.”

“How did you find out about it and figure it out?”

“I tracked her down and threatened to beat the crap out of her if she didn’t tell me what had happened.”

“Josiah… you wouldn’t have really done anything to her…?” I didn’t think he would have, but I needed to hear it from him.

“Don’t be too sure about that. She’s lucky I didn’t kill her. She
hurt
you. And she enjoyed it.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling myself closer to him. Loving the deep growl that rumbled through his chest. “I’m
so
sorry. Forgive me?”