Paradise Island: Complete Edition (22 page)

“Shut up, daddy,” she said. “You’re not the one wasting your life away in that diner. What do you say Jack? Can you hook me up with a couple hundred K?”

“Yeah, but I have a few conditions of my own,” Jack sounded more in control than I, and I wondered how he managed it. Perhaps he was acting.

“Well, spill ‘em, we ain’t got no whole fuckin’ day all up in this joint!” Lucy did not sound like herself and I only hoped she was imitating a character from one of Jack’s movies. If she wasn’t, then she was crazier than I thought.

“Okay,” Jack said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway. Since you two get so much out of the deal, the bones, the journal, the money, I was thinking we needed something as well. Yeah, it’s nice that you say you won’t rat out Sophie for killing that sick bastard, but I’d like a little more than your word. You two don’t seem like the most trustworthy people, if you’ll forgive me for saying.”

“Will not,” Lucy said in an accent that I didn’t understand. Maybe a southern black woman accent? I had no idea what she was going for. Sometimes being so sheltered and behind the times had its disadvantages, or maybe in this case it was an advantage. The jury’s still out on that one.

“Anywho, I was thinking you give us that tape you just recorded and a recording of another one, in which you say that you sent Henry after Sophie.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”

“Then no money for you.”

Lucy plucked the gun out of her father’s startled hands and pointed it straight at Jack. She moved a couple of steps closer to the pit we were in to get a better shot. “Then you’re getting a fucking bullet in the brain, pretty boy.”

And that’s when all hell broke loose. It happened so quickly that it took my brain a couple of seconds to register what had happened. Apparently, Jack had used his shovel and hit Lucy in the legs. She fell to the side and Jack climbed up and took the gun from her and then proceeded to drop her over the edge. He gave me the gun and yelled for me to get out and make sure the old man wasn’t running away

I held the gun at his shocked face and told him to hold still. I heard Lucy moaning in the pit.

“You fucking bastard, you’ll pay for this!” she hissed and I saw her draw a knife from the corner of my eye. Before she had a chance to stab Jack he hit her with the shovel and she lost consciousness. Whether she was dead or not, I could not tell you, but the place he hit her on the head was oozing blood, and lots of it. Jack got up and joined me by my side. The old man looked confused and angry and tears streamed down his face, even though I told him to stand still he lowered himself down to the pit with the bones and Lucy’s unconscious body. He cradled her in his arms. “Wake up, sweetie,” he wailed. “Please wake up.”

Jack had a remorseful look on his face. “I had no choice,” he simply said. I nodded.

We looked down on the scene below us and a plan started to hatch itself. I looked into Jack’s eyes and in them I found my answer.

“We’ll never be safe as long as they live,” he said softly.

“But Jack, I don’t think I can, they...” I started to say, but I had nothing else to add. They weren’t good people. In fact, they were pretty damn horrible. It was either us or them, and I chose us.

“They are getting what they deserve, just like Henry,” he said calmly.

Jack tried to take the gun away from my hands but I stopped him. “I have to do this,” I simply said and he accepted my decision.

I pointed the gun down into the pit, straight at Mr. Bottoms or Greyson Milton or whatever the hell he wanted to call himself. He looked up at me in shock. And then anger. “You wouldn’t dare,” he hissed.

“This is for Josie Browning,” I said calmly. “And for all those pies at the diner.” I pulled the trigger. It was scary how easy it was. The bullet hit him in the chest and he bled out pretty quick. I shot him again for good measure, the ringing in my ears still not over from the first shot.

Jack took the gun from my shaking hands, and gave me a hug. “It’s gonna be alright, shh,” he whispered and I found myself crying in his arms once more. A sound from the pit made us both look down at the same time. Lucy’s eyes were wide with horror. She picked up the shovel and yelled out “You’ll pay for this!” But before she had a chance to strike either of us, Jack put a bullet in her head and she tumbled back down and joined her father, and the bones of Josie and her unborn child. It seemed a fitting end for the ones who had tried to cover up her murder to spend an eternity resting right on top of her.

The rest of what happened was a haze, but not one I’ll soon forget I’m sure. Jack and I spent the next several hours burying the bodies and filling up all the other holes on the property. When we were done, it was as if nothing had happened at all.

“I should probably sand this yard, make it look nicer, or would grass be better?”

“Sand,” I said. “Definitely sand.”

We were mud stained and tired.

We had buried the gun, after wiping it clean, with the bodies and the bones. I looked at the spot they were buried and couldn’t help but wonder out loud.

“Do you think it’s right that Josie gets to spend an eternity with them? Maybe we should have moved her bones, gave her a proper burial?”

Jack put his big arms around me and I did not push him away. I felt safe in his arms. “I think she’s at peace now, knowing that the man who killed her is dead. I think that’s enough.”

I thought about Lucy, and the way Jack had shot her. “About Lucy, you didn’t have to do that,” I said softly.

“Yes, I did. I’d do anything for you, Sophie. Anything.” He softly kissed my forehead and I felt safer than ever in his arms, feeling his warmth, inhaling his smell.

“There’s only one loose end,” I finally said. “The mayor. He was here. He might wonder what happened to Lucy. And he knows she had a problem with us.”

“You’re right,” Jack said. “I was thinking the same thing. I think I’ll clean up and go into town and have a little chat with the mayor.”

“What kind of chat?”

“The kind where he can’t talk after I leave.”

The thought of any more people dying churned my stomach, but it had to be done, to keep what had just happened just between me and Jack.

“I’ll go with you,” I said.

“No, you should stay here and figure out what we should do with the journals. Maybe we should have buried them as well.”

I thought fondly of Josie’s journals and couldn’t think of parting with them, but I knew it had to be done. Eventually. Not today. Not while Lucy and Greyson’s bodies were still fresh in the ground.

“All of that can wait. The journals. The mayor,” I said as I took Jack’s hand and led him back to the house. By killing Lucy, he had just proved to me that he was willing to do anything for me, and that I could absolutely trust him.

We sat down on the couch, both of us covered in mud and sweat, but nonetheless very much alive. “I’m going to tell you everything, Jack,” I said. “You’re the first person I’ve met that I genuinely trust enough to bare my whole soul to.”

He came in closer and caressed my face with his mud stained hand. I had to laugh, and with the laughter came tears.

“When I was a little girl, my father died...” I started to tell him my story, and while at first it was a struggle, it got easier as I went along. “So instead of jumping off that cliff I decided to actually live for once. I left Crow and that awful town behind and went as far as I could, until I ended up here. And here is where I met you, Jack, and for that I am eternally grateful.”

“Thank you, Sophie,” he said. “I know that wasn’t easy. I want you to know everything about me as well, so I guess I’ll start at the beginning as well. When I was a kid, my mother thought it would be a good idea to enter me in show business. She was willing to do anything to make me a star, and she did do many awful things. But the worst was when she left me alone with a wealthy producer, locking the door as she left me behind. He did things to me, Sophie, that I still can’t speak about or even think about, and that’s why I’ve used drugs and alcohol since I was very young, to try to block out the memories of what happened to me in that room. I wish I could tell you that that was the only time I was left in such a room with a man such as he, but it was not. It happened again and again,” I could see tears in his eyes and in turn tears were forming in mine.

“It’s okay, Jack, you can stop now. We were both at the mercy of our parents’ mistakes, but we don’t have to think about that anymore. WE have each other now, and no one can hurt us anymore, and what happened today is proof of that.” I gave him a hug and I could not let go. I felt so much closer to him than I have ever felt to anyone. We were both used and abused by the adults in our lives, but we were adults ourselves now, and we did not need to be victims anymore. Never again would we bow down to those who have wicked intentions. I thought about Henry. Lucy. Greyson. They all deserved what came to them. The mayor, while not a murderer, was crooked, and he deserved what was coming to him as well.

“We should really clean up,” Jack said, showing me his mud stained hands. I looked down at mine and they were the same.

I did something I wasn’t expecting to do, as tears streamed down my face for both me and Jack and what had happened to us, I finally let go. I felt the hard shell that I had built around myself cracking when I shared my story. But now that I knew his, it was starting to break, and little by little, the shell shattered and I could no longer hold in any of the things I felt for him anymore. I could not deny my desires any longer and I kissed Jack, hard, and he returned my kiss. We hungrily kissed each other like we never wanted to be apart again, and it was true. At least, that’s how I felt. I had finally found someone who really understood what had happened to me and was willing to do anything for me, even kill. I kissed him hard and let go of all my pain as I did so. His lips on my lips, our tongues entwined in ecstasy like I had never felt before. I felt the heat, the need, rising within me, and this time, I would not deny it. I would not talk myself out of these feelings.

“I want you. I want you right now,” I said between kisses. I could not hold the need back, and I basically ripped his shirt off, revealing the delicious muscled perfect body beneath. We were standing now, our hands all over each other. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me to his room.

“Oh God, Jack,” I moaned between kisses. Even though I knew he was strong, I still found it amazing how effortlessly he carried me to the bedroom, every muscle in his arms and chest working overdrive, making me appreciate his perfect body even more. I could feel his hard on pushing up against me as he lowered me down to the bed. We were muddy and dirty and sweaty, but I didn’t care. I wanted him exactly as he was right now. All those years of unheard desires finally caught up to me and my body burned with the need to be touched, and Jack was more than happy to oblige.

He gently let me go on the bed, his arms still holding my legs up. His hands rested on my stomach and then he went further up my shirt until he had one of my rock hard nipples between his fingers and gently squeezed. He breathed hard as he caressed my boobs and I moaned with pleasure. It felt so good to be touched, and to want to be touched. A couple of tears fell on either side of my face, not out of sadness, but happiness. I reached out with my hands and caressed the hard muscles of his chest, doing what I wanted to do the first time I saw him shirtless. I played with his hard nipples, too, as he positioned himself on top of me. Then he leaned down beyond my reach, and I ran my fingers through his hair as he slowly kissed my lips, my neck, then went further down to my boobs. He squeezed my boobs through the shirt and kissed and bit them gently, driving me wild.

I moaned and helped him take my shirt off, and moaned in ecstasy as he continued to pleasure me, by playing with my nipples with his tongue and then gently kissing them with his whole mouth. And then he moved further down, kissing my stomach, making the butterflies there wake up. Then he went further down, below my belly button while his hands squeezed my boobs with great need.

“Are you sure?” He groaned as he let go of my boobs and worked on unbuttoning my jeans.

“Yes, Jack, I want you mind, soul, and body.” I helped him with my jeans, quickly unbuttoning them and letting him slowly unzip them. He did so with expert ease, placing gentle kisses on my panties, while slowly sliding me out of my jeans. Once the jeans were off, his hands went up on my hips, and up to my boobs again, playing with the nipples between his mud stained fingers.

I moaned in anticipation as he buried his head between my legs, driving me wild with the kisses he placed there on my panties. If I wanted him to stop, this would have been the perfect opportunity, for the panties were the only article of clothing I had left. But I didn’t want him to stop. I wanted him to go further, and he did. In one sweeping motion he freed me from my underwear and my legs turned into jelly. I was both scared and excited for what was coming. I looked down and saw the look of utter need and desire and lust on Jack’s face. And then I could not see his face anymore, for he buried it between my legs. His tongue drove me wild as he did his thing. I moaned, and he did as well when he came up for air.

Then he got up suddenly, breaking the moment. “I’ll go get some condoms, you just wait here,” he said.

I observed the big bulge in his jeans as he made his way to the bathroom. Then I heard the water running. Probably washing his muddy hands, I thought. I decided to do the same in the other bathroom. It felt weird walking around stark naked. Maybe this whole sex thing while completely mud stained wasn’t such a good idea. Thankfully, it was pretty easy to wash it away. The rest of my body didn’t have any mud on it. I quickly returned to the room and resumed my place.

I felt weird just laying there and waiting. I also felt a bit chilly, my nipples rock hard not from desire but from the cold. I wished for Jack’s warm body on top of me again.

I didn’t have to wait long, for Jack opened the door and thankfully still had his jeans on. I wanted to be the one to take them off, slowly. In his hands he had a couple of small packets of what I assumed to be condoms and the other hand had a bottle of lubricant. I was thankful to him for both of those things, because I definitely wanted this experience to be as painless as possible, though judging by the wetness between my legs, I doubted we’d need much lube.