Cherished (Wanted) (11 page)

I shook my head. It felt like I had a hundred pounds sitting on my chest. I just needed to get home and go to bed. I felt so tired for some reason.

I held my hand out to shake Josh’s and then Gunner’s hands. “Thanks, guys. Thanks for having my back. I really do appreciate each of you and your friendship. I don’t know how I would have done this if I hadn’t had your support.”

“Always, Scott. We’re always here for you,” Josh said.

Gunner told Jeff he would follow him to my house since Jeff was driving my truck for me.

As I made my way to the passenger side of my truck, I felt sick to my stomach. It didn’t even matter that she was calling home tomorrow. In my heart, I felt like she was already gone. She’d met someone else.

He’s helping me get over Scott.

“Scott, she’s gonna call. She wouldn’t let her dad down by not calling, and I know she still loves you. It’s almost over, dude. It’s almost over,” Jeff said with a weak smile.

I leaned my head back against the headrest and tried to smile. “I hope you’re right, but I have this sick feeling that everyone is wrong. Jessie has spent the last five weeks moving on. I feel her in my heart, but she’s slowly fading away.”

I looked over toward Jeff. He was just staring at me. He turned and started the truck before pulling out of the lot to take me home.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath as I pictured her in the arms of another man.

Jessie…please come back to me, baby.

Trey and I had been dancing for the last five songs, and now, we were dancing to Britney Spears’s song, “3.” The more his hands moved across my body, the more I yearned for Scott. I knew Trey wanted to take our friendship to another level, and I was starting to wish I was going home tomorrow instead of on New Year’s Eve.

“Oh god, Jessie…your body drives me crazy,” Trey said as he pushed his erection into my stomach.

The twists and turns of emotions were driving me crazy. I enjoyed Trey’s friendship so much, and he’d helped me so much the last few weeks.

Do I want more than friendship with him? No…at least, not now anyway.

Everything was so raw, and the hurt in my heart was still so strong. The last thing I wanted or needed was to fall for someone else. Plus, I was still in love with Scott…even though I tried to fight that feeling with everything I had.

“Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” by The Band Perry began playing. Trey pulled me closer to him, and we began to slow dance. My head was spinning, and I felt so sick to my stomach.

“Trey, I think this is my last dance. I’m not feeling very well, and I just really need to rest.”

He reached his hand up and ran his knuckles down the side of my face. When he touched me, I couldn’t deny that I felt something. It was nothing though compared to when Scott had touched me…or smiled at me…or told me how much he loved me.

Scott…why did you have to hurt me again?

“Smile, my love. I hate it when you have such a sad look in your eyes,” Trey said with that sweet smile of his.

I looked into his green eyes, and I couldn’t believe his fiancée could ever walk away from such an amazing man. I returned a weak smile. “I’m just not feeling well.”

“Is it your stomach again? Maybe you’re eating something here that doesn’t agree with you.”

I shrugged my shoulders. I knew it was most likely just nerves. I had been such a nervous wreck and so stressed out that I hadn’t even had my period in two months.

Trey leaned down and lightly kissed my lips. I wanted so badly to open myself up to him more. I just wanted to be held in someone’s arms tonight. But what I wanted most was to be in Scott’s arms.

“Jessie, don’t spend Christmas Eve alone. Stay with me tonight. Please. I know you’re leaving in a few days to be home by the New Year, but please…let’s just spend this next week together.”

I let out a small laugh. “Trey, we’ve pretty much spent every waking moment together. I don’t think we could spend any more time together.”

He shook his head and kissed my lips again. This time, he gently bit down on my lower lip and pulled it with his teeth. I couldn’t control myself, and I let a small moan escape from my lips.

“Trey.”

“I don’t mean, hang out like friends, Jessie. I want to be with you. I want to know how you feel and what you taste like. I want to touch every inch of your body and cover you with kisses.”

Oh god…I want that, too.

But I want it from Scott. Only from Scott.

“Once we leave this island, if you tell me that this is it and there could never be anything else, I promise you that I will totally respect that. It’s just…I’ve never felt this way with anyone…not even with Renee. I was going to marry her, and I never wanted her like I want you right now.”

A part of me wanted to go back to his cabana. I could just close my eyes and dream I was with Scott, but I’d never hurt Trey that way.

I placed my hand on his chest and smiled at him. “Trey, I’m not going to lie and say that I don’t feel a connection to you because I do. I feel it when we touch and when we kiss, but—”

He started shaking his head. “No…don’t say but, Jessie.”

I took a deep breath in and quickly blew it out. “But it’s not fair to be with you when I’m still in love with Scott. I can’t change what my heart feels, and yes, I know, he hurt me. Please don’t keep reminding me.”

“I’m sorry, Jessie, but he did hurt you, and that bastard doesn’t deserve your love.”

“Trey, I keep having this dream. It’s about Scott and a little girl, and she keeps telling me that I didn’t even give him a chance to talk to me before I ran away. She told me I killed him.”

Trey rolled his eyes and let out a sharp breath as he shook his head. “A dream? That’s what has you so upset? Jesus Christ, Jessie. It’s a damn dream that doesn’t mean anything. You didn’t kill the asshole.”

“I haven’t even talked to my father in over a month. I gave the lady I met at lunch one day a postcard I’d bought in Texas to mail to my father. I’m hiding from my own family and friends, but mostly, I’m hiding from Scott. I have to keep asking myself why. Why am I so afraid to talk to or see him?”

“Because you know the moment you see him, you’ll forgive him, Jess. You’ll fall right back into his arms, just waiting for the next time he hurts you.”

I shook my head and turned to walk off the dance floor. I went back to our table and had to put my hand up to my mouth.
Oh god, please don’t let me get sick here. Shit!

I grabbed my purse and headed for the door.
I need fresh air. I can’t breathe.
As soon as I got outside, I took a deep breath and felt the cool, crisp air hit my lungs. Then, I noticed the wind.
Holy shit.
It was so windy that it almost knocked me over. I felt dizzy, and I tried to get my balance when I felt Trey grab my arm.

“Jessie, don’t run away from me like you have with everyone else.”

I spun around and looked at him. The anger began building, and all I wanted was my father right now.
I need to get home.

“How can you stand there and say that to me of all people? Did you not run away with your best friend and come here after Renee left you at the altar? You’re not going home because you don’t want to face everyone asking you what happened, right? How dare you say that to me.”

“Jessie, you deserve to be loved and taken care of. I can do that. I would never hurt you. You would never have to run away from me.”

Oh god. I never even gave Scott a chance to talk to me before I just ran away from him. What am I afraid of? Finding out the truth? What if I was wrong all along?

Then, something hit me like a brick wall.

“What if it wasn’t him?”

Trey just looked at me. “What? Who in the hell else could it have been, Jessie? You’re talking crazy.”

“No…I’ve been fighting this sick feeling in my stomach since I got on that plane. It was like…like I was making one of the worst mistakes of my life. There’s a reason my love for him is so strong still.” I shook my head. “I need to get back to my cabana.”

As I started practically running, Trey ran up and grabbed me.

“Jessie! Listen to yourself. You didn’t imagine seeing him screwing his ex.”

I closed my eyes and thought back to the night I’d been trying to push out of my memory for the last month and a half. I opened them quickly and looked at Trey. “No…I don’t think it was him. The more I think about the voice calling out after me…the more I realize that it wasn’t Scott’s. I
know
it wasn’t Scott.” My heart started pounding. “I’m going to call him.”

Trey threw his head back, and I knew he was upset.

“Fine. Let me walk with you then since it’s dark.”

I nodded and began to run back to the cabana. The wind was getting worse, and it was starting to sprinkle now. Just before we got to the door, a bolt of lightning struck somewhere close by. I screamed, and Trey took a hold of me.

“Holy shit! That was close. Is there a damn tropical storm coming in this late in the year?”

The wind was blowing so hard that chairs were flying down the beach.

Where in the hell did this storm come from?

I ran into my cabana and went straight to the phone. I picked it up and started telling the operator that I wanted to make a call to the U.S. I reached into my purse for the calling card I had bought.

“Jessie, please don’t do this right now. It’s Christmas Eve.”

I smiled. “All the more reason to call him.”

After I gave the operator all the information, Scott’s phone rang once and then went straight to voice mail. My hands started shaking, and I felt a lump in my throat.

Shit. Maybe I should have called my dad first.

When I heard the beep, I took a deep breath. “Scott, um…hey, it’s Jessie. I, um…I really need to talk to you. I don’t have my phone, so I’ll try to call you in a few minutes or so. I, um…I love you, Scott. I love you, and I just need to talk to you.”

I hung up the phone and then cursed.
Shit! Shit! Shit! I didn’t tell him where I was.
I picked up the phone again, but another bolt of lightning hit, and then all I heard was a loud crash.

Trey took the phone out of my hand and hung it up. “Come on, we need to get to the main hotel, Jessie. This storm is getting worse.”

“No! Wait! Let me just call him back and let him know where I am, Trey!”

Trey tried to pull me away, but I used all my might to yank my arm out of his hand. I picked up the phone, and it was silent.

No! Oh no! God, please don’t do this to me.

Just as I was about to tell Trey I had no dial tone, there was a knock on the door. Trey opened it, and it was one of the hotel employees.

“Miss Rhodes, Mr. Walker, I need you both to come to the main hotel.”

“What happened to the phone lines?” I asked in a panicked voice.

“They’re probably down from the storm.”

“I thought we were out of storm season!” I yelled over the increasing wind.

“It is very rare for a tropical cyclone to develop this late in the year, but it’s not unheard of.”

Trey and I both said at the same time, “What?”

“A tropical cyclone? I knew there was a tropical storm out there, but the front desk clerk said it wouldn’t develop into anything. Oh my god!” I said.

“Miss Rhodes, it’s okay. It is a category-one cyclone, and it developed rather quickly throughout the day. We put a notice on your cabana doors. Neither of you got it?”

I looked at Trey, and we both shook our heads.

“We’ve been sightseeing all day,” I said.

“Please come now, and let’s get to a safer location.”

I grabbed a sweatshirt, and then I followed Trey and the hotel worker out of my room. I didn’t even have time to take anything else.

By the time we got to the hotel lobby, everyone was sitting around, talking, as the employees did their best to keep the guests calm and comfortable. I walked up to the front desk and noticed the girl was on her cell phone.

Oh my god! She has a signal in this mess?

She hung up and turned to face me. “Miss Rhodes, how are you?” she asked with a smile on her face
.

Jesus H. Christ, how does the staff stay so calm?

“Honestly, I’m slightly freaked, but I’ve been told the storm is only a category-one cyclone, so…” I rolled my eyes.

She laughed. “We locals are used to storms like this although it is very rare to get them this time of year.”

“I couldn’t help but notice you were talking on your cell phone.” I looked at her with pleading eyes.

She glanced around quickly and motioned for me to follow her into the office. “I’m not sure how I’ve managed to keep a signal, but my husband is in New York City on business, and I was able to call him. Is there a loved one you want to try to call?”

I jumped up and down. “Yes! I would be forever grateful to you if I could call him.”

She handed me her cell, and I saw she still had a signal. I quickly tried Scott, only to get his voice mail again. I left him a quick message, telling him I was in Belize and that I would be coming home in a few days. Then, I tried Daddy.

“Hello?” he answered.