Trial Run: Addicted To Love Romance Collection (3 page)

Jason flicked on the pool lights, but left the decking in relative darkness. Some light shone through the patio doors from inside the house, muted and diffuse. The blue reflection off the pool tiles lent a soft, relaxing glimmer to the vegetation surrounding them, and Rob leaned back in a recliner with another bottle of beer. Jason plopped down next to him.

“The tattooist...” Rob started.

“He’ll be out of business by the end of the week, don’t you worry. No need to kill him; he got the message.”

“And the guy who called?”

Jason shook his head. “Owes me one. He’s part of my network. I’m calling in a lot of favors, and paying the rest of them. I’ve pretty much got eyes and ears on every street corner around here. Don’t look at me like that. I have to, to keep Amelie safe. She needs looking after.”

Rob didn’t argue, though he imagined Amelie would feel smothered by all the unwanted attention. A few minutes passed in silence. Jason was lost in thought, and Rob wasn’t sure he should speak his mind. His opinions of Amelie or Jason’s brand of brotherly care would most likely not be welcome.

“She drives me nuts!” Jason exploded eventually. “I haven’t been able to have a decent relationship since she came back from business school. Pretty much every night, there’s something else, some other crisis. What woman is likely to want to date a man who is practically shackled to his foolish, wayward sister?”

Rob grimaced. “She’s just immature, that’s all. Nothing a good spanking won’t fix.”

“You offering?” Jason snorted.

“Me?” Rob asked, turning to stare full-on at his friend, his thoughts suddenly in a jumble. Why was the image of Amelie stretched across his knees suddenly clouding his mind? No, no, no. Not going there! He snorted quietly, to pass it off. “No, siree! I’ve had it with women and relationships. If I see anything I fancy, I grab, I use, I dispose. Easy, safe and painless.”

Jason chuckled. “Always use a rubber! Safe!”

Rob bust up, grateful for the old joke. And just like that, the scary yet fleeting lapse in control over his thoughts passed unnoticed. They laughed together, staring at the sky, the pool, the lights playing in the foliage.

Jason sighed and stood up. “Another beer?”

“Is that all you can afford these days?” Rob taunted.

“Dick!” Jason slapped the upside of Rob’s head and went back into the house. He returned a minute later. “Jack all right?”

“Better,” Rob conceded.

They clinked glasses and toasted the good life. Before long, the easy banter turned back to Amelie.

“I’ve been thinking,” Jason said. “Lately... I’ve been playing with the idea of setting up a real-life lesson for Amelie. Something that would feel real enough to her, but staged, you know, so she’s safe. I wouldn’t want to put my own sister in danger.”

Rob thought about it for a while. “I like it... in principle. Kinder than the lessons she’s setting up for herself, if tonight’s was anything to go by.”

Jason laughed. “Trouble is she is too familiar with this place, and she knows too many people locally. It would probably ruin me to have to bribe them all to keep their traps shut... And she’d probably never speak to me again if one of them let it slip. Plus, I don’t know if I can trust anyone else with her safety. She doesn’t have real friends, not close friends that have her best interests at heart, like me and you...”

“Mmmm,” Rob agreed, not paying attention. The long day was catching up with him, and he could feel the alcohol softening his muscles along with his focus.

Jason sat up and turned to face him, leaning his elbows on his knees. His face was scrunched up in concentration, as if he was struggling with a particularly difficult decision, yet he said nothing. Rob watched him for a couple of minutes, and an uneasy feeling began to seep through the layer of calm in which he’d cocooned himself.

“What?” Rob asked when the silence lengthened. “I’m not sure I like that look in your eyes.” He forced a chuckle through his lips and emptied his glass.

“I’ve known you a long time,” Jason said, unsmiling. Rob’s smile dropped in response.

Another minute of Jason’s penetrating staring trickled by, making Rob wonder whether Jason had caught him gawking at Amelie. Was he about to give him hell for that? He could explain he hadn’t meant to stare, it had all been just chance and circumstance...

“Will you help me?” Jason asked abruptly, his expression suddenly more determined, interrupting Rob’s turmoil.

“Help you, how?”

“Help me teach Amelie a lesson.”

Rob shook his head vigorously. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why? You hot for my sister? I mean, I’d get why you wouldn’t want to get involved if you have feelings for her…”

“No. No. God, no! That’s not it at all. I mean, Amelie’s… phwoar…” Rob cut his hands through the air in a curvy womanly shape, then caught himself and stuck them under his bottom, at the same time clearing his throat. “Really… really… grown up and all that, but she’s still a little kid to me.”

Jason nodded, his eyes still guarded. “U-huh.”

“I still remember her in braces, with strawberry ice-cream running down her chin.” Rob traced an imaginary dribble with one hand and shrugged.

Jason’s eyes narrowed and his lips pressed together.

“Hey,” Rob said. “I promise you… I swear… I’m not after your sister. I won’t deny it, the way she looked tonight… well, I wasn’t expecting that, but that’s all it is. She just took me by surprise.”

“Okay, I believe you. But if you think you can treat her like one of your women – the grab-and-dispose ones –”

“Never in a million years,” Rob said sternly. “I wouldn’t do that to her. I wouldn’t do that to
you
. Besides, I need a break from women’s games, you know, just a little holiday to recharge and get my head straight before I have to get back to work.”

Jason seemed to accept that. “So when do you have to get back to work?”

“I suppose I can spare a couple of weeks,” Rob said, relieved that he didn’t have to suffer any more of Jason’s brotherly wrath. “I’m hoping I can change jobs anyway. You know, shift focus… Only I haven’t told anyone about that yet. Someone offered me a long-term contract, but I don’t really –”

“That should be enough,” Jason interrupted Rob’s confession.

“What are you thinking? I don’t have a clue about tats and piercings. That’s what she seems to be into, right?”

“Yes, but that doesn’t matter. You’re still okay with boats?”

Rob shrugged. “I guess so.”

Jason’s face broke up in a huge smile. “I’ve just had the greatest idea!”

He stood up to refill their glasses and then relayed his plan in a low voice, just in case, by some stoke of bad luck, they could be overheard.

“How about this? We’ll get a boat, you drive it to the nearest patch of wilderness and wreck it. Make sure it’s bad enough it can’t be fixed without the right parts. Let Amelie cope by herself without the luxuries of civilization, and maybe that will teach her what’s important in life. Then, a few days later, I show up ‘by chance’ and rescue you.”

“Hmm... I wouldn’t have the slightest problem with that plan, except I don’t like the idea of being caught without a working boat in the Everglades. Even if I had a loaded gun.”

“It doesn’t have to be the Everglades. I’m making this up as I go along, so feel free to pitch in. Where would you go? The Keys?”

Rob shook his head. “Too busy. High chance some nosy do-gooder on the trip of a lifetime would rescue us before it’s time.”

They sat, thinking quietly for a moment.

“You know,” Jason said, slurping his Jack, “I’m pretty sure one of her business ventures was located in Nassau. How about the Bahamas? Only a handful of the islands are inhabited.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“You could get to Nassau in a day, easily. Then, the following day, you could suggest a tour of the Cays and wreck on... umm...” He picked up his phone and called up Google Maps. “Aim for Hawksbill, or maybe Shroud Cay. If you come to them from the other side, at the tail end of the day, she won’t even notice how close to civilization she really is. And it’s close enough to the shipping routes that you could attract attention, should you need an earlier rescue. You won’t be able to have a working phone, and neither will she. You know that, right?”

Rob nodded. “Yeah, that should be easy enough. I can keep her alive without a phone; that won’t be a problem.”

“And make sure whatever goes wrong with the boat looks accidental. We don’t want her catching on too soon.”

“Absolutely,” Rob agreed. “What exactly do you want me to do, once we’re stranded?”

“Just look after yourself. Ignore her completely. Any temper tantrums, tears, shouting, whatever – don’t give in to them. Are you tough enough for that?”

Rob fixed an insulted expression on his face. “Trust me, if there’s one thing the last few years taught me, it’s how to ignore a woman’s emotional blackmail. I’m armor-plated, my man. Solid.”

Jason laughed. “That’s what I want to hear. When I come to get you, I want to see a major change in my sister, a different person.”

“By the time we get back, I guarantee she’ll be a lot wiser.” Rob sighed, pondering the task at hand. “So how do we get her to go with me to the Bahamas?”

“Ah, that’s easy. Amelie is desperate to start up a business – any business – and prove her entrepreneurial prowess. But she needs access to funds for the start-up. She’s got a decent sum coming to her on her twenty-fifth birthday, but until then she can’t get to it without my approval. I’m sure she thinks I’m being stubborn on purpose, but I can see she’s just not mature enough to deal with a business alone, and none of her ventures involved a partner. She’s independent and stubborn.

“So what I’m suggesting is this: get closer to her tomorrow, start chatting about her plans, etcetera, and if I know my sister, she’ll moan about me being difficult. Ask to see some of her ideas, pretend you can sway me, that you’re on her side, and then choose the Bahamas one over the others. I’ll play along, say that the least she could do is go scope out the place before she gets her heart set on it. You can tell her that’s where you were heading anyway and offer her a lift. My guess is she’ll jump at the chance.”

“But I don’t have a boat.”

“I can get you a boat by lunchtime.”

“Okay. What about provisions? The least we’d need is enough drinking water...” Rob left the sentence unfinished when Jason started shaking his head.

“Sorry, you can’t have that. It would make her suspicious. The most you can have is a two or three day supply of water and a few rations.”

“Then I’ll need some tools, and things I can use to keep us alive, like a hatchet, for example.”

“I can get you those, too. Make me a list, but try to stick to items that wouldn’t raise suspicion, okay?”

“I can do that,” Rob agreed. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to rely on his wits to survive in the wilderness. One of the reasons he didn’t like the Everglades was because he’d gotten lost there on more than one occasion. Once, his rescuers had found him at the eleventh hour. But he was eight, not twenty-nine, and he certainly didn’t have the knowledge or tools to help his situation.

“You don’t mind sleeping rough for a few days to help me out, do you?”

“You’re joking, right? Don’t worry about my sleeping arrangements. A beach in the tropics is no hardship to me. Worry about Amelie. I’m not sure she’s had one day when she couldn’t get exactly what she wanted.”

“You’re right there. I am concerned about her. But I’m even more concerned about your sanity. Not sure you realize what you’ve signed up for here.”

“It’ll be easy. I can just shut her out. No problem there. I can be incredibly deaf when I want to be.”

“Hmm... I don’t know. Some of her weird girly moods can wear down even the most balanced human being. I couldn’t forgive myself if my best friend turned into a blubbering mess because of my little sister.”

“I’ll be fine. If anyone will be blubbering, it will be her.”

Jason snorted. “You wanna bet?”

It was Rob’s turn to fix Jason with a penetrating stare. His best friend’s lack of confidence was downright insulting. “Yeah, why not? What on? Cash?”