her after that. I’ve been all over the world and heard the confessions of thousands of people. My sister is still the single most jaded person I’ve ever encountered.”
Phillip tried to imagine Steph as a willful shrew of a teenage
girl and realized it wasn’t hard. It sounded like she’d stopped
aging emotionally after her mum’s death and had never pro-
gressed since.
“When we had the accident, I think it ruined Stephanie. The
last time they’d talked, Steph screamed at Mom. She told her she hated her and hung up on her. Steph was always willful and
bullheaded, but after the accident…” Cedric paused, as if choked up by the intense memory. “She refused to view mom’s body.
My father was far too distraught to make time to deal with Steph, so she sort of…imploded. And this happened completely unnoticed, with no guardian to step in and console her or counsel her.
She wouldn’t come to the visitation at the funeral home, and as
far as I know she never saw my mom’s body…she never had that
closure. I had to physically drag her to the gravesite. I’ll never forget her demeanor. Stoic is the best word I can use to describe her. It gives me chills thinking about it, even now. She just shut off all emotion like flipping a switch.”
“That’s a big burden for anyone to have to carry. Especially
a child.” Phillip conceded. He cringed at the thought that he’d
been so clueless about Steph’s formative years. So unaware of
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TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE
such large aspects of her past that he could make such blunders
at every turn. “No offense, Cedric, but why am I just now hear-
ing all of this shite from you?”
“I don’t know. Why didn’t you get to know her before you
proposed? You know, before putting her on the spot in front of
both families so that she could feel like she was going to disappoint everyone if she said no. “
“I was madly in love with her. I wanted to shout it from the
top of a bloody mountain. I thought it was the right thing to do,”
he snapped.
“It was a very ‘rock star’ thing to do.” Cedric cocked a terse
eyebrow, pausing for emphasis. “It was a very Kevin-like thing
to do.”
It was as if Cedric had pulled out a gun and shot him in the
heart. Stephanie’s ex-boyfriend was an unbelievably successful
movie star and had lavishly proposed to her right after causing a huge scandal. He’d openly cheated on her while filming a movie
south of the border, and the story had been all the rage for the tabloids when Phillip first met Steph.
He tried to argue with Cedric…tried to grasp for a straw of
a comeback and had none. He’d royally fucked up. He cringed as
he recalled his choices since the proposal, as they played before his eyes like the world’s most embarrassing montage. The “Fire
Woman” video was a pretty big slap in the face. Especially now
that he knew she hadn’t been with Clive. And, he thought, at
least Kevin had the decency to propose in private. Steph had de-
served much more consideration from Phillip. He hadn’t thought
enough about her feelings when making plans for their future.
He stood.
“I have to go talk to her.”
On his way up the stairs he heard Cedric mumble, sounding
very much like Steph. “That’s long overdue. But you might want
to wait till she sobers up!”
He rounded up a driver and muttered some lame excuse to
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RAGE
Bret. All the way back to the pousada, he rehearsed what he’d
say to her. What he’d ask. He bribed the overnight clerk to give him her room number, and as he took the stairs two at a time, he started to consider her replies. He had his hand up to knock when he decided he’d better listen to Cedric this time. He wanted them both to be sober for this. His hand fell to his side, and he turned and walked away.
129
CHAPTER TEN
Steph woke to a tiny hand pinching her nose.
When she peeled her dry eyelids open, Liam’s curlicue grin
greeted her. “Beep, Tee tee!”
“Morning, Liam Sebastian.”
“Hungee,” he replied, jumping up and down on the bed.
Steph was amazed at her lack of a hangover. Ah, beer. Her drink
of choice paid off, yet again.
“Are you hungry?” She saw it was nearly ten o’ clock.
She threw a white sundress over her head and applied a
thick layer of sunblock. After gooping Liam up with tons more
than she’d allowed for herself, she decided she could not take
one more day of her ankles being gnawed on by borrachudo
mosquitos. She sprayed on so much insect repellent she thought
she might asphyxiate them both. As a final barrier she tossed on her custom-made red cowboy boots. She remembered how Phillip had once called them ‘a legendry aphrodisiac,’ playing into
his boyhood fantasies about being a cowboy in Texas. She al-
most yanked them off and tossed them over the balcony, but they
were her favorites and she couldn’t bear to part with them. She
carried Liam down to the dining area and was mildly surprised to see Nathan and Saffron sitting alone sipping mimosas and dining
on Eggs Benedict.
“Morning, Stephanie.” Saffron greeted her cheerfully, as if
she were a third grade teacher greeting her students. It may not 130
RAGE
have seemed as odd, had she not been wearing a black dress that
looked like it was made of latex. Steph nodded to the odd couple and sat Liam in the seat across from Nathan. Saffron sashayed to the bar for a refill, and Stephanie watched the giddy expression Nathan tried to mask as followed her cat-like movements in a
predatory manner.
“Oh, my God, Nathan! You’re in love with her, aren’t
you?” Stephanie gasped in a hushed tone as she slapped him
across the arm. Nathan glanced at her and back at Saffron with
an unrepentant grin.
“Alright. So sue me.” Nathan conceded, his green eyes
dancing as he flipped his overly long bangs out of the way.
“She’s a dominatrix, Nate. Not to mention a professional
groupie. I know for a fact that she’s been following different
bands for half a decade. What the f—”
