Shannon hugged her sister. “Lead the way to my birthday shots, little sister.”
They turned toward the path that would take them back to Angie’s apartment and stopped.
A woman stood leaning against the wall that divided the beach access from the parking lot above.
She wore a wide-brimmed hat, a long coat, boots, and dark sunglasses.
Sasha.
“Do you know her?” Angie asked.
Shannon nodded. “Yeah. I do. Can you give me a few minutes?”
Her sister moved to the path leading home and stood by, waiting.
“That didn’t take long,” Shannon said to Sasha, a woman who worked alongside Reed in matters of security and finding people.
“You weren’t trying hard to hide.” Her thick accent, a mix of Russian and German, cut as much as her stare.
“It’s silly that they sent you.”
“They didn’t. Trina is pregnant and upset. So I came.” Sasha was Trina’s sister-in-law from her first husband. And even though the woman pretended she couldn’t care less about everyone around her, it was obvious by her actions that she was a walking contradiction.
Guilt rolled in Shannon’s stomach. “I didn’t think—”
“No. You didn’t.” She pushed off the wall. “Call her, or I will.”
Shannon turned to her sister, and when she looked back, Sasha was walking away.
Before they hit the bar, Shannon called each of her friends individually, told them she was in Spain and that she was fine.
No, she didn’t want to talk about it.
Yes, she was about to get drunk with her sister.
And when she learned that Victor was looking for her, she asked that they keep her location to themselves for now. She needed to figure out where the man fit in her life, if he fit in her life.
Victor sat in Shannon’s living room, his knee bouncing as he glared at the boarded up window.
It was two in the morning.
He wasn’t leaving until he talked to her. Logically, he knew she wasn’t coming home that night, but that didn’t stop him taking up space in her home.
And if Corrie returned to do something stupid a second time, he’d catch her in the act.
Besides, he’d told Reed where to find him once he found out where Shannon had run off to.
Such an idiot.
His phone rang. The sound startled him.
“Reed?” he asked, recognizing the number.
“You’re still there?”
“What kind of question is that? Yes, I’m still here. Have you heard anything?”
“She’s fine, Victor.”
He released a long breath. “Where is she?”
Reed hesitated. “In a civilized place, doing civilized things.”
The answer pissed Victor off. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means she’s not in a hut contracting malaria.”
“Elaborate.”
“Dude, I like my balls where they are. My wife and I have an understanding.”
“And I respect that. Now tell me where she is.”
“Victor . . .”
“We’re talking about the woman I love. I made her angry and she ran off. Do you know how it feels to be shut out?” He was yelling. “I know it’s my fault, but I can’t make it right without seeing her.”
For a second Victor thought maybe Reed hung up the phone.
“Her sister’s name is Angie Redding. Barcelona, Spain. You didn’t hear it from me.”
Victor smiled, grabbed his coat. “I owe you.”
“If I’m singing soprano the next time I see you, you’ll know why.”
Victor hung up the phone and headed toward the airport.
“Shannon?”
Angie called her from the front of the apartment. When Shannon walked around the corner from the kitchen, she noticed her sister leaning with one hand against the frame of the front door, staring into the hall.
Shannon walked up beside her and looked over her shoulder.
“Does this one belong to you?”
Victor was fast asleep, his head propped up against the corner of an adjacent apartment, his tie gone, his suit looking like he’d been sleeping in it for days.
“Yeah,” Shannon said.
“Let me guess, Victor?”
One of her friends had ratted her out.
Or maybe it was Sasha.
That was more likely.
Shannon turned back to the room.
“It’s kinda sweet that he flew all this way.”
She turned around, watched his even breathing a few minutes longer.
“Are you just going to leave him there?” Angie asked.
“I’m considering it.”
“Does he speak Spanish?”
“I don’t think so.”
Angie motioned toward apartment number 305. “Mrs. Hernandez always comes out around nine to walk her dog. Dogs barking and a woman screaming in Spanish is quite the sight to wake up to.”
“Might be worth it.”
Angie started to shut the door. “Your call.”
“Wait.”
Angie grinned.
She wasn’t up to this. Their morning had been a little slow, taking into account the amount of drinking they’d done the night before. Angie had reminded her that she was only thirty-five and had a whole life to find the right man. By the end of the night, Shannon was promising to return to Spain every year to listen to her wiser, younger sister.
Right now Shannon needed to deal with the one passed out in the hall.
Using her right foot, Shannon nudged Victor’s shoe twice.
He didn’t budge.
She pushed it again.
Nothing.
His chest rose and fell. So, not dead.
Just kinda dead to the world.
She pushed the side of his leg, the second time a little harder, and she called his name. “Victor.”
He jumped as if the hounds of hell were waking him from death. “Shannon!” He called her name before his eyes came into focus.
Victor scurried to his feet and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. He looked between the two of them. “You didn’t tell me you were twins.”
“We’re not,” Angie told him. “I’m a year and a half younger.”
They both moved away from the doorway.
Angie looked at her. “I’ll be in the kitchen. Yell if you need me.”
Shannon gave her sister a smile, thankful she was there.
Victor stumbled through the door, running a hand through his hair. The five o’clock shadow on his face looked a little more like a full weekend of stubble. “Can I use the bathroom?” he asked.
Shannon motioned for the door where the washroom was and used the time he was in there to collect her thoughts.
Let him say his piece and then move him on his way.
He returned from the bathroom looking like he’d run a wet comb through his hair. His eyes were a little more focused, and some of the color had returned to his face.
“Thank you for not turning me away,” he said once he took the seat opposite her.
“I considered it.”
He paused, picked his words carefully, from what she could tell.
“I screwed up.”
“Yeah, you did.”
“I’m sorry. I could tell you I had been up for hours, that my emotions were shot, wondering what would happen if the tabloids told the truth . . . but all that would be making an excuse when I really don’t have one.”
Shannon felt some of her anger dissipating with his words.
“I trust you, I do. I know I didn’t show that with how I reacted, but believe me, I do.”
“A trusting man wouldn’t have behaved that way.”
“It’s Paul I don’t trust. I know I’m not the biggest catch out there. That your ex shares your past, and that you might just want him back.”
“I don’t want him.” With all certainty, Shannon knew her life with Paul was over and not worth repeating.
“I know that now. I do. Please hear me out. I realized, with all my time alone circling the globe the last few days, that your single status since your divorce means that the break between you and him really hurt you. The fact that you made it clear that you weren’t a person I could play and get away with it . . . your defensiveness when we first met . . . all of that fueled my head, and my imagination ran with it. I told you I was going caveman. I’m not proud of it, but I can’t seem to stop myself when it comes to you.”
“Even the caveman needs to trust when he’s out hunting, Victor.”
“I have never been a jealous person. Not with Corrie, not with anyone. Until you. The thought of you leaving scared the crap out of me. And then you did it. This has been the longest three days of my life.”
She could relate to that.
“I love you, Shannon. And I will do anything to make it up to you.”
Hearing him utter that four-letter word was music to her ears. She cautioned herself. “When a man tells you what you want to hear . . .”
“I’m not giving you a line.” He leaned forward, rested his arms on his knees. “When Corrie left me standing alone like a groom on top of a cake, all I could think of was . . . well, that’s over. I didn’t chase her down and force her to hear me. But I’m here, Shannon, and I’m going to force you to hear me. I love you! I want you in my life, my world . . . my arms. I’m going to make mistakes and screw up, but I hope you care enough about me to find forgiveness and a second chance. I’ve been an asshole all my life, and sometimes I fall back on those habits. I need you to ground me.”
He reached out and took her hand in his.
She searched his eyes and found them welled with unshed tears.
A lump that had formed in her throat sat like a rock in a stream that air needed to flow around. Her breath sounded like a choking engine. “Letting you in has been the most daring thing I’ve done in five years. You have the power to devastate me.”
He took both her hands, squeezed them hard. “I won’t. With God as my witness, I will never be that man. I can’t stop you from walking away, but it won’t be my back you see leaving.” He leaned forward, rested his head on their joined hands.