Stephanie stumbled along a path in the darkness gasping to
catch her breath. She came to a halt and leaned against a palm
tree, removing her heels. They were expensive, impractical, and
blue. Coincidently, so was she.
The rain picked up and she quickly debated about which di-
rection to turn. She needed shelter, but her room wasn’t an op-
tion. Christopher would be there. And she’d just torpedoed her
life with Christopher. Stellar. Talley up one more person hurt by her actions or inactions.
Quite the growing legacy, Red. Her inner chastisement
came to her in Pace Turner’s deep voice.
She wandered further down the rocky path, gingerly ma-
neuvering her bare feet over the slick ground. Her direction
seemed purposeful, though consciously, she was wandering.
Phillip. There was no denying the truth. She loved him. She
was in love with him. Worse, she had been all along.
She made a choking sound as she tried to suppress an angry
sob. It filled her with sorrow that it had taken so long for her to finally admit it to herself. And like a complete jackass, she’d
done so in front of him. She wanted to scream and claw her face, but she was far too tired. She’d wasted so much time and energy
lying to herself. She passed an amber bungalow and saw Saffron
lounging on the porch, smoking under the overhang.
“Hello!” Saffron called. “Need a place to dry off?”
189
TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE
“Thanks, I won’t melt.” Steph replied, but a second later she
was walking. She turned and approached the waif, who pushed
away from her chair and placed her cigarette to her bright red
lips. Steph paused at the bottom of the steps. She was a foot from shelter, but didn’t feel like she deserved it.
When she finally spoke, Steph lifted her chin defiantly.
“Which bungalow is Phillip’s?”
Saffron smiled as she exhaled a long cloud of smoke. This
wasn’t Saffron’s usual double entendre dirty joke smile, though.
This smile seemed to come from a place of genuine pleasure,
like a kid opening presents on Christmas morning. “His is the
second on down.”
“Thanks, Saffron.” Steph went back out into the rain and
didn’t turn back when Saffron called out after her.
“Just once I wish someone would write a song like that for me. Snog him once for me!”
Phillip’s clothes were soaking wet once again. He’d been on
a mission to find Steph, frantic to see where she was with things, to see what her admission meant for them. If it meant anything at all.
He’d searched all of the public areas of the resort for her,
but to no avail. He got an unfortunately eyeful of Yara’s mom
stuffing money into the pants of an oily male stripper as he wandered through the restaurant. Due to the rain, the dining area had been commandeered for the bachelorettes. As he watched the
strippers grind on the tables, he reminded himself to eat off-site for the rest of his stay. Yara cheered her mom on and danced
with Kara on a nearby table. David’s blushing bride wore a pair
of glow in the dark sunglasses with a penis jutting out where her nose should be. Phillip paused to watch the bridesmaids do a
190
RAGE
body shot off a second stripper.
Girls Gone Wild, Noronha.
That’s when he noticed that every female in the wedding
entourage was present and accounted for except for Cheyenne
and Steph. Figuring Steph might have doubled back to Chey-
enne’s, he went back out into the storm. As the door closed be-
hind him, he heard Saffron call his name over the thumping mu-
sic, but ignored her. He was a man on a mission and besides,
he’d forgotten to pack a g-string.
He checked Scot and Cheyenne’s bungalow, but Chey-
enne—who’d been tucking Liam under the covers—said she
hadn’t seen her anywhere. When he speculated that maybe he
should check her room, Cheyenne cautioned against it, arguing
that Christopher had moved in that morning. She said she doubt-
ed very much that Steph had gone back there. Phillip hoped she
was right. Stephanie was predictably unpredictable.
Defeated, he figured he should at least make an appearance
at the bachelor party, which was being held in Nathan’s bunga-
low. When he arrived, he saw the other band members sitting
around a card table playing poker and smoking cigars. There
were three blow up dolls tossed around as some sort of half-
assed décor, and a giant Love Swing hung in the center of the
room. Phillip strongly suspected that the final item wasn’t for the bachelor party.
“Wow.” Nathan removed his Cuban from his lips and took
in Phillip’s appearance with outright amusement. “Do you own
any clothes that are dry clean only?”
“Bugger off.” He sighed dispassionately as he took his
place at the table. “Deal me in.”
“Bout time you got here.” Bret handed him a cold beer.
Phillip popped it open and chugged it in an effort to catch up. A moment later, he crushed it and stood to grab another one.
“A bit thirsty tonight, Phil?” David stifled a laugh. Scot, his
cigar clamped between his teeth, cocked an eyebrow at Phillip as 191
TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE
he popped his second can open.
“Yep. What did I miss?” Phillip responded. He intended to
shove all thoughts of Steph out of his mind. He had no idea what to make of her declaration, but until he found her, it was pretty pointless to speculate.
“I just explained to David that if he needs it, I have a yacht
on standby. Storm or no storm, we can make a quick getaway if
he’s changed his mind.” Nathan’s retort was met with eye rolls
all around.
“Are you taking him up on that offer, D.J. Dave?” Phillip
tilted his head in David’s direction. David smiled and flicked the ashes off his cigar with a shake of his head.
“No. She’s my soul mate. Even though she’s been the engi-
neer of The Crazy Train this week, she’s my one and only.”
“Ahhhhh…” Nathan said, fanning himself sardonically,
“It’s all so sweet I just want to vomit.”
David smirked at him and flipped him a backward V.
“So,” David started, “Scot and Bret: as the experienced
husbands I know, any words of wisdom?”
Bret chortled. “I’m pretty sure I’m the last one here you
want marital advice from.”
“Hey…stop
