Give And Take: Taken By Storm Part 11

He nodded his head frantically, blowing out a deep breath. Sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead. G.o.d, he hoped this worked.

The beach. Put yourself on the beach. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck from side to side, keeping his eyes straight ahead and focused on the clear, baby blue sky.

Blue like Maddie's eyes. She'd look amazing in her bikini beside him on the beach. In the ocean. Laughing in the waves.

s.h.i.+t. Maddie. Lobotomy.

"Doing okay?" Beck asked through the headphones.

"Fine." As long as he wasn't about to pa.s.s out, he guessed thinking about Maddie for an hour would be okay.

Even when she wasn't around she could get inside him and calm him down.

And here he was running away with her ring. Not that he could find her to give it back since she ran too.

Fourteen.

MJ could not believe his eyes. He stepped out of the helicopter straight into heaven.

Lush green palm trees and bright flowers lined immaculate, mosaic-paved walkways. Festive music played in the distance. Birds sang, invisible in the trees. The wind blew the humidity away with a soft breeze.

It was paradise.

And his dad had been living here with his perfect girlfriend while MJ was struggling to survive in misery with Old Man Rocha.

He couldn't blame his dad for leaving him at the Rocha Estate when he didn't know he was even alive. At least when he found out, he got him the h.e.l.l out of there.

When they reached the hotel, a white, stucco hacienda, a curvy blonde came bustling down the walkway. "Beck! Thank G.o.d you're back. Riley's being insubordinate again."

MJ wondered how she functioned in heels as high as the ones on her feet.

Beck laughed. "He can't be insubordinate. You're not his boss."

MJ stepped off the pathway out of the blonde's way as she pushed past him to get closer to Beck and Rachael-then she stopped and spun around to face him.

"Oh my G.o.d," she said. "Merrick has a brother?"

Beck laughed loudly, stepping between them. "This is MJ," he said. "Merrick Junior." She gaped and Beck bent and kissed her. She seemed to relax a little. It made him think of Maddie's body going slack under his while he pressed his lips to hers.

s.h.i.+t.

Rachael shook her head, stepped around the pair kissing on the sidewalk and hooked her arm through MJ's. "Come on. I'll show you around."

"You okay?" he asked. Her arm felt a little tense where it touched his.

She rolled her neck to one side, then the other. "Fine. Joan likes to get under my skin. It's her favorite pastime. I try to be nice to her, but it's pointless."

"Why is she here then?" MJ glanced back to see Beck and Joan smiling and talking with their hands linked.

"She works for Beck," Rachael pushed her hair back out of her face, "so I deal with it." She laughed. "Funny thing. Beck used to call her Dragon Lady before they started going out. It's a very fitting nickname."

"Why is he with her? I mean, I don't know either of them, but they seem a little mismatched."

Rachael chuckled. "When you can tell me why men do anything they do, then you'll have your answer."

That was an easy one. s.e.x. Men did everything for s.e.x. But he wasn't going to tell Rachael that.

Approaching the hotel, the bright, early morning sunlight streamed through the palm fronds. MJ put his hand up to shade his eyes, wis.h.i.+ng he'd remembered to bring his sungla.s.ses, but he'd left them in his car. The hotel had long, narrow, black-shuttered windows sunk into the white stucco. They were propped open and reminded him of eyelids that would rather be closed until at least noon-like his own.

Orange-red tiles covered the roof and a black wrought-iron fence closed off a courtyard with a mosaic-paved patio to match the pathway. In the middle of the courtyard stood a fountain with a mermaid sitting on a rock in its center holding a conch sh.e.l.l with water spurting out of it. He had the childish urge to throw pennies in and make wishes.

He didn't even know what he'd wish for at this point.

"Heidi and Roger are probably up by now with the kids," Rachael said. "I bet they'll be down for breakfast soon. I'll get you settled in a room, and we can find them in a little while."

"No hurry." MJ's eyes roamed as they walked through a gigantic, sliding wooden door into a lounge area. There was a fireplace built into the corner of the concrete wall. Dark brown leather sofas and chairs sat, scattered around the room, rustic wooden tables between them. Bright red, yellow and aqua blue Mexican rugs lay underneath.

He loved it. He never wanted to leave. Turtle Tear was the most perfect place on Earth, and he hadn't even seen the whole thing.

"What do you think?" Rachael asked, hesitantly. She linked her fingers and rubbed them together.

"It's incredible."

"Thanks." Her smile was amazing. It changed her whole... everything. She was a new person when she smiled like that. MJ wondered how Merrick could ever leave the island with the image of Rachael smiling in his head.

Maddie had a fantastic smile even if it was a little crooked.

Rachael had walked halfway down a hallway in front of him before he realized and started to follow. They came out in the entryway where colorful painted Spanish murals of trees, birds and flowers covered the walls. Raw, wooden beams lined the open three-story ceiling, and a curved staircase with bent wooden rails that looked like tree roots climbed up to the second and third floors. Light streamed in the windows beside and above the great, double hacienda-style front doors.

"You're back." A guy about MJ's age, maybe a few years older, approached Rachael. "Can I get you anything? Have you had breakfast? I'll get Jesse to take your bag up to your room." He glanced at MJ and smiled.

"Thanks, Riley. We'll wait a little while before we have breakfast. This is MJ." She motioned toward him and Riley shook his hand. "He's going to need a room. How about the one on the far end where my friend Shannon was staying? I think you know which I mean."

Riley licked his lips and suppressed a smile. There was a story behind his eyes that MJ thought he might like to hear from the glint flas.h.i.+ng there. "I know the one." He headed toward the stairs, beckoning MJ with his hand to follow.

Riley tried to take his bag, but MJ pulled the handle back. "I've got it, thanks."

MJ followed Riley to the end room on the second floor. "If you need anything let me know," Riley told him, "and if you see a blonde that looks like she stole Barbie's wardrobe, stay away. She's crazy as a s.h.i.+thouse rat." He laughed and stepped out into the hall letting MJ close the door.

It seemed Beck was the only one who could stand Joan. MJ would have to stay far away from her. The last thing he needed was trouble with another woman.

Finally alone, MJ rolled his suitcase farther in the room. It was large with windows facing the side and back of the property. A king-size bed sat against the far wall, filled with overstuffed pillows and a puffy, white comforter that MJ figured he'd toss on the floor at night or sweat to death underneath. The hardwood floor was covered with two bright rugs like the ones in the lounge below. The furniture was all rustic, dark oak. At least he thought it was oak, but what did he know about furniture?

He crashed down on the bed and sprawled out, ready for an early morning nap. How long would Rachael leave him up here if he fell asleep? He yawned and sat up, deciding to change from his jeans into shorts.

Laying back down, he flipped through channels settling on a World War II show on the History Channel. These types of programs always put him to sleep. He adjusted the pillow under his head and in five minutes was out cold.

"Gone?" Maddie jumped up from her father's couch and gripped his arm. "What do you mean MJ's gone?"

He looked at her like she was a mental patient. "He went to Turtle Tear with Rachael. I'm sorry he didn't tell you."

Maddie's mind reeled. He left her this time. He wanted to hurt her like she'd hurt him.

Her ring! s.h.i.+t. MJ better not have taken it with him. "I have to call him."

Her dad shook his head, stepped away from her and picked up his car keys. "I'm running some errands. I'd steer clear of the big house today if I were you. Enzo's in a foul mood with Merrick here."

She nodded and watched him leave before das.h.i.+ng to her room and grabbing her phone.

One missed call from MJ from early this morning, but no message. Had he called to tell her goodbye? She dialed his number and bit her fingernail as it rang.

"Mads," he said in a sleepy voice on the third ring. "Back in Michigan already?"

Anger lurched through her veins. "Tell me you didn't take my ring with you."

"I didn't take your ring with me." He chuckled through a yawn. "There, I said it, but it's a lie. I do have it with me."

She kicked one of her flip-flops across the room. "Why the h.e.l.l would you take it with you?"

"Why the h.e.l.l did you leave this morning before coming to get it from me?"

"I didn't! I'm standing in my bedroom at my dad's. You're the one who left."

"Enzo said-" MJ groaned. "Never mind. The fact is you can't be trusted to not change your mind. You don't know what you want, Maddie."

If he were there, she'd strangle the life out of him. She gritted her teeth, seething. "I told you my decision. I need the ring to give back."

"Well, I need you to tell me why you left me before I give it back. You need something and so do I, sounds like we have a deal."

Maddie sank onto her bed and let her eyes fall shut. "No deal. Just send the ring back here, MJ."

"Come get it, Mads." He laughed and hung up.

Maddie tossed her phone to the end of her bed. "I hate you," she mumbled, knowing it was far from the truth.

Fifteen.

A knock came on MJ's door as he set his phone down, still laughing, imagining how p.i.s.sed Maddie was.

Slipping off the bed, he stretched, yawned and rubbed his eyes on his way to answer it. Rachael stood on the other side. "Ready to find Heidi and Roger?" she asked, looking refreshed and relaxed in shorts and black bikini top.

He wasn't ready to face his aunt and uncle and meet his cousins, but being stuck in a little island resort with them didn't leave him much of a choice. "Sure."

MJ pulled his GSU baseball cap on backward and met Rachael in the hall. "They're out by the pool," she said, jogging down the stairs in front of him. "Holly and Sam are like fish. You should've seen them with Merrick the other day. He was throwing them up in the air and..." Her face fell. "Sorry."

"For what? My father playing around with little kids when he wasn't around for me when I was their age? He thought I was dead, Rachael. I can't blame him for not being there for me."

She tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded.

They were quiet until they stepped outside the lounge doors onto the patio. "Why isn't there anyone here?" he asked.

Rachael twisted her fingers. "It was a private opening weekend. My mom and aunt and best friend, Shannon, were here, but they left while I was gone. Heidi, Roger and the kids are here for the week though."

They headed down a path to the right of the patio, this one made of large flagstones with big trees cl.u.s.tered on their left. Maddie could never resist climbing the biggest trees in the woods by the lake when they were younger.

It was a miracle she didn't kill him back then; she was always such a tomboy. He followed her around and did everything she did. Jumping out of trees, swimming all the way across the lake, racing their fathers' golf carts. She'd been his entire world.

On some level, she still was. That d.a.m.n ring up in his room buried in his jeans pocket was killing him, serving as a constant reminder that she didn't belong to him. If she came to get it from him... MJ couldn't even think about hearing those words fall from her lips, the expression on her face as she looked him in the eye and told him why she left him over a year ago.

No. She wouldn't. She'd never tell him.

"Right through here," Rachael said, stepping into a walkway covered by a palm frond tiki roof. The walkway surrounded an open courtyard with a huge pool in the center. A swim-up bar sat on the far side. Two little kids ran side-by-side and jumped over the water, grabbing their knees and splas.h.i.+ng down in dual cannonb.a.l.l.s.

MJ's aunt was stretched out on a lounge chair in the sun with a book open in front of her face. Roger sat on a stool in the shade of the swim-up bar talking to a dark-haired guy behind it.

h.e.l.l with this, MJ thought. He ripped off his s.h.i.+rt and tossed it on the ground with his hat and cell phone, kicked off his flip-flops and took off running for the pool. Just because he wasn't ten years old anymore didn't mean he couldn't do cannonb.a.l.l.s with the best of them. Plus, what better way to make an entrance?

He could hear Rachael laughing as he soared through the air, shouted, "Incoming!" and splashed down beside both kids.

MJ surfaced to find the girl and boy sputtering and coughing, trying to stay afloat in the waves he'd caused. "You guys okay?" he asked. "Need help?"

They both shook their heads, eyeing him warily.

"I'm your cousin," he said. Might as well jump right into that too. "MJ."

"We don't have a cousin, MJ," the little girl said. Jesus, she had his dimples.

"You do now," he said. "What's your name?"

"We don't talk to strangers," the little boy said, paddling away toward the wall.

MJ followed. "I just told you, I'm your cousin. MJ. So I'm not a stranger. What's your name?"