Beautiful Redemption (28 page)

I pulled off my shoes, and Thomas did the same before we strolled through the white sand. Thomas sat down on the woven ropes first, and then I joined him. It rocked as we struggled to navigate the hammock without falling out.

“This should be easier for us,” Thomas teased.

“You should probably—”

The hammock jerked. We held on to each other and froze, our eyes wide. Then, we both burst into laughter.

As soon as we were settled, a drop of rain hit my cheek.

More drops fell, and Thomas wiped his eye. “You have got to be kidding me.”

The rain began to fall in big warm drops, tapping at the sand and the water.

“I’m not moving,” he said, squeezing me in his thick arms.

“Then, neither am I,” I said, nuzzling my cheek against his chest. “Why did Toto’s babysitter and Camille both call you T.J.?”

“It was how they talked about me without letting anyone know it was me.”

“Thomas James,” I said. “Clever. Is the other girl an ex, too?”

He chuckled. “No. She was Camille’s roommate.”

“Oh.”

Thomas anchored his foot on the sand and then pushed off, rocking us a bit.

“This is incredible. I could definitely retire here. It feels so…I can’t even describe it.”

He kissed my temple. “This feels a lot like falling in love.”

The rain clouds had snuffed out the moon, making the sky pitch-black. The muffled music still playing at Sails sounded a mile away, and hotel guests were running to get out of the rain. We might as well have been on a secluded island, away from everyone else, lying together in our small but quiet section of the beach.

“Splat?” I asked.

“Obliteration,” he said.

I squeezed him, and he took in a deep breath through his nose.

“I hate myself for saying this, but we should probably turn in. We’ve got an early morning.”

I looked up at him. “It’s going to be okay, you know. Travis will be fine. We’ll get rid of Grove. It’s all going to work out.”

“I just want to think about you tonight. Tomorrow is going to be tough.”

“I’ll do my best to keep your attention.” I wiggled out of the hammock and got to my feet. I helped him out, and I pulled his lips down to meet mine, sucking his bottom lip as I drew back.

He hummed. “I have no doubt. You’ve been an impeccable distraction.”

My heart sank.

“What?” he asked, seeing the hurt in my eyes.

“Why don’t you just admit it? Just say it out loud. You’re using me to stop thinking about her. That’s not closure. It’s stalling.”

His face fell. “That’s not what I meant.”

“This isn’t falling in love, Thomas. You said it perfectly. I’m running interference.”

Above us, motion caught my eyes, and Thomas looked up, too. Trenton was twirling Camille on the balcony of Sails, and then he brought her into his arms. She squealed in delight, they both laughed, and then they disappeared from our view.

Thomas looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. His eyebrows pulled in. “Being with her was a mistake. Trenton has loved her since they were kids, but I didn’t think he was serious enough about her. I was wrong.”

“Then, why can’t you just let her go?”

“I’m trying.”

“Using me to do it doesn’t count.”

He breathed out a laugh. “I’m running out of ways to explain this to you.”

“Then, stop. I need a different answer, and you don’t have one.”

“You act as is loving someone can just be flipped off like a light switch. We’ve had this conversation a dozen times. I want
you
. I’m with
you
.”

“While you’re missing her, wishing you were with her. And you want me to change everything I trust for that?”

He shook his head in disbelief. “This is an impossible situation. I thought we were perfect because we’re the same, but maybe we’re too alike. Maybe you’re my payback instead of my redemption.”

“Your payback? You’ve made me believe all weekend that you were falling for me!”

“I am! I have! Jesus Christ, Camille, how can I get that through your head?”

I froze, and once Thomas realized his mistake, he did, too.

“Goddamn it. I am so sorry,” he said, reaching out for me.

I shook my head, and my eyes burned. “I am so…stupid.”

Thomas let his hands fall to his thighs. “No, you’re not. That’s why you’ve held back. Even from the first night, you knew to keep your distance. You’re right. I can’t love you the way you need me to. I don’t even love myself.” His voice broke on the last sentence.

My lips pressed into a hard line. “I can’t redeem you, Thomas. You’ll have to come to terms with what you did to Trent on your own.”

Thomas nodded and then turned toward the sidewalk. I stayed behind, watching the dark ocean roll onto the sand, with the sky crying on my shoulders.

“Y
OU LOOK NERVOUS,” I SAID.
“He’s going to smell you from a mile away if you don’t man up.”

Thomas glanced at me, but instead of shooting me the dirty look I had expected, he used amazing restraint, simply looking away.

A knock on the door jolted us both to the matter at hand, and I went to the door, opening it.

“Good morning, Liis,” Travis said, a euphoric glow on his face.

“Come on in, Travis.” I stepped to the side, letting him pass, as I tried to keep the heavy guilt I felt from weighing down my Oscar-worthy smile. “How was your night? I don’t need details. I’m just being polite.”

Travis chuckled and then noticed the folded sheets, blanket, and pillow on the couch. “Oh,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Better than your night, brother. Should I, uh…should I come back? The front desk left me a note, saying you needed me to come here at six.”

“Yeah,” Thomas said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Have a seat, Trav.”

Travis walked over to the couch and sat down, looking up at us with wary eyes. “What’s going on?”

I sat down on the corner of the bed, keeping my shoulders relaxed and trying to seem generally nonthreatening. “Travis, we need to talk to you about your involvement in the March nineteenth ESU fire.”

Travis furrowed his brow, and then he laughed once without humor. “What?”

I continued, “The FBI has been investigating the case, and Thomas has been able to strike a deal in your favor.”

Travis clasped his hands together. “The FBI? But he’s an ad exec.” He gestured to his brother. “Tell her, Tommy.” When Thomas didn’t respond, Travis’s eyes narrowed. “What is this?”

Thomas looked down and then back at his brother. “I’m not in advertising, Trav. I’m a Special Agent of the FBI.”

Travis stared at his brother for a full ten seconds and then cackled. “Oh my God, dude! You were beginning to freak me out. Don’t do that to me! What do you really need to talk to me about?” His laughter faded when Thomas didn’t crack a smile. “Tommy, knock it off.”

Thomas shifted. “I’ve been working with my boss for a year now, Travis, trying to negotiate a deal for you. They know you were in Eakins. Abby’s plan didn’t work.”

Travis shook his head. “What plan?”

“For the wedding in Vegas to provide you with an alibi to keep you out of prison,” Thomas said, trying to keep his expression relaxed.

“Abby married me to keep me out of prison?”

Thomas’s eyes fell, but he nodded. “She doesn’t want you to know.”

Travis jumped up, grabbed Thomas’s shirt, and shoved him all the way to the other side of the room against the wall. I stood, but Thomas held out his hand, warning me away.

“C’mon, Travis, you’re not stupid. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know,” Thomas grunted.

“Take it back,” Travis seethed. “Take back what you said about my wife.”

“She was nineteen, Travis. She didn’t want to get married until you were at risk for going to prison for organizing the fight.”

Travis took a swing at Thomas, but he ducked. They scuffled, and then Thomas got the upper hand, pinning his younger brother to the wall with his forearm.

“Knock it off! Goddamn it! She loves you! She loves you so much that she did something she had no intention of doing for years down the line just so she could save your stupid ass!”

Travis was breathing hard, and he held up his hands in surrender.

Thomas let him go, taking a step back, and then Travis swung, catching Thomas hard in the jaw. Thomas gripped his knee with one hand and clenched his jaw with the other, trying to harness his temper.

Travis pointed at him. “That’s for lying to Dad.”

Thomas stood upright and then held up his index finger. “That’s your one. Don’t make me beat your ass. I feel bad enough.”

Travis looked at me, sizing me up. “You’re really FBI?”

I nodded, eyeing him warily. “Don’t make me beat your ass either.”

Travis laughed once. “I’d have to let you. I don’t hit girls.”

“I hit boys,” I said, still on guard.

Thomas rubbed his cheek and raised his eyebrows. “You hit harder than you used to.”

“That wasn’t even full power, dickhead,” Travis sneered.

Thomas worked his jaw back and forth. “Abby gets points for creativity, Trav, but the records show that you purchased the tickets on your credit card well after the fire started.”

Travis simply nodded. “I’m listening.”

“I’ve also been working on a case involving a money-laundering and drug-smuggling ring in Vegas. It’s run by a man named Benny Carlisi.”

“Benny?” Travis asked, clearly confused. “Tommy, are you fuckin’ serious right now? You’re in the motherfucking FBI.”

“Focus, Travis. We don’t have much time, and this is important,” Thomas snapped. “You’re in a lot of trouble. My boss is expecting an answer today. Do you understand?”

“What kind of trouble?” Travis sat back down on the couch.

“You’re looking at the same counts of manslaughter that Adam was charged with. You’re looking at prison time.”

“How long?” Travis asked. He seemed like a scared little boy when he looked up with his big brown eyes at his brother.

“Adam has ten years,” Thomas said, trying to retain his stoic expression. “I don’t see your sentence having a different outcome. The media has been all over this. They want retribution.”

Travis looked down, and his hands touched his head. “I can’t be away from Abby that long.”

His words tugged at my heart. He didn’t care about going to prison. He just didn’t want to be separated from his wife.

“You won’t have to go to prison, Travis,” I said. “Your brother has spent a lot of time and effort making sure that won’t happen. But you have to agree to something first.”

Travis glanced to Thomas and then back at me. “Like what?”

Thomas returned his hands to his pockets. “They want to recruit you, Trav.”

“The mob?” he asked. He shook his head. “I can’t fight for Benny. Abby will leave me.”

“Not the mob,” Thomas said. “The FBI.”

Travis laughed once. “What do they want with me? I’m a college kid…a fucking part-time personal trainer.”

“They want you to use your previous contact with Mick and Benny to gain intelligence on the inner workings of their illegal operations,” I said.

“They want you to work undercover,” Thomas clarified.

Travis stood and began to pace. “He’ll want me to fight for him, Tommy. I can’t do that. I’ll lose my wife.”

“Then, you’ll have to lie,” I said matter-of-factly.

Travis looked at me and then at his brother, crossing his arms. “Fuck you both. I won’t do it.”

“What?” Thomas said.

“I won’t lie to Pigeon.”

Thomas narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have a choice. You can either lie to Abby and keep her or go to prison and lose her.”

“I won’t lie. Can’t I tell her? She grew up around men like Benny. She won’t blab.”

Thomas shook his head. “You’ll put her in danger.”

“She’ll be in danger if I fuck with these guys! You think they’ll shoot me in the head and be done with it? People like that take out your entire family. We’ll be lucky if they stop with Abby. They’ll probably move on to Dad and Trent, Taylor, and Tyler, too! What the fuck have you done, Tommy?”

“Help me take them down, Travis,” Thomas said.

“You sold us out. For what? A goddamn promotion?” Travis shook his head.

I inwardly cringed. I knew Thomas was dying inside.

“Dad told us we couldn’t go into law enforcement. Mom didn’t want it!”

Thomas sighed. “Says the guy who’s majoring in criminal justice. You’re wasting time, Travis. Abby will be awake soon.”

“You fucked us all! You son of a bitch!” Travis screamed, punching at the air.

“Are you finished?” Thomas asked, his voice even.

“I won’t lie to Abby. If I have to lie to her, it’s a deal-breaker.”

“So, you’re not taking the deal?” Thomas asked.

Travis laced his hands on top of his head, looking distraught. “I can’t lie to my wife.” His arms fell to his sides, and his eyes glossed over. “Please don’t make me do this, Tommy.” His bottom lip quivered. “You’re my brother.”

Thomas stared him in the eyes, speechless.

I shifted to my other leg, keeping a confident stare. “Then, maybe you shouldn’t have engaged in an illegal activity that caused the deaths of a hundred and thirty-two college kids.”