Page 97 of Diamond in the Rough

“It could be a trap!” she yelled after him.

Maddox ignored her and pushed Derry’s front gate. He flung himself back and got to his feet before realising it was Maddox. He collapsed down again and winced.

“What happened?”

Derry held an ice pack to his face. “Some guys turned up with guns blazing. Pistol-whipped me. I guess it’s got something to do with you.”

“What did they look like?”

“Some tall guy with a face you wanna punch.”

“Was there a long-haired guy with him?”

Derry nodded. “That’s right. We have an agreement, Maddox. I take you to the island, off the books, no questions asked. What you do is your business, but I don’t expect to be assaulted. I don’t expect some of your guys to show up and threaten me.”

“They aren’t my guys.”

“They’re to do with you, aren’t they?!”

Maddox pinched the top of his nose. “Was there another guy, brown hair, blue eyes—”

“Yeah, knocked on my door at six. Was gonna tell him to get lost, but he waved some cash, and I couldn’t refuse him. Jake, I think he said his name was. As soon as I got back from taking him, these guys came out of nowhere and trashed my place.”

“And then they went after him?”

“Yeah, took the boat.”

“How many of them?”

Derry bit his lip. “Six guys, all armed.”

“I have to get to that island.”

“I only have the one boat.”

“That guy you took there, Jake, they’re going to kill him,” Maddox snapped.

Derry licked his lips. “Does it have to be a boat?”

Maddox gave him a questioning look, and Derry continued. “My mate Veto has a seaplane.”

“Then what the hell are we waiting for.”

Chapter 18

Jake had been back on the island for two hours, and he regretted his reasoning immediately. Paradise only lived up to its name once Maddox had arrived. He’d forgotten it was nothing but a prison cell made from sand and trees. He’d despised the island without Maddox, and only when he was leaning on a tree listening to the slosh of the sea and the sway of the trees did he remember that the paradise of glossy holiday magazines was dull.

Maddox had come the last time, but Jake knew it wasn’t possible. He was on his own, waiting for the guy from the airport to catch him. He knew full well the guy after him could’ve run and caught him, but he’d held back and kept his distance. He’d thrown sinister glares across the airport and slipped into the taxi behind Jake’s when they’d gone outside. The taxi had followed at a distance, and when he’d pulled up outside Derry’s house, he’d spotted it parked at the end of the road. He couldn’t run, and wherever he went, he knew he’d be followed.

If he were police, he would’ve arrested Jake. If he were some protector sent by Maddox, he would’ve introduced himself, or at the very least, stopped his death stares. That left Jake with one last option, the one his gut told him the second their eyes met on the plane.

The guy following him was one of Billy’s. Billy was after him, and he’d trapped himself on a secluded island. He was going to die, and the knowledge cured him of his adrenaline hit. He sobered fast and couldn’t lift his gaze off his feet stepping on the sand. He twitched his bare feet, having left his shoes on the jetty. He could see the sand between his toes, knew it was cold from the early morning, and being in the shade, but he couldn’t feel it. His body was shutting down, accepting the inevitable and preparing for the end.

Jake limped up the stairs to the villa, stepped into the living space, and dropped his bag. He was swamped by flashbacks of him and Maddox being there. Maddox cooking him meals on the stove, Maddox backing him into the bedroom and kissing him senseless on the sofa. Jake pressed against him while they sat and listened to the sea in the distance. Maddox prowling the villa completely naked, and Jake watching with his mouth open and his cock firming fast. The memories were welcome and torturous at the same time and left Jake feeling exhausted.

He stumbled over to the sofa, slumped down, and stared up at the exposed beams of the villa. His vision blurred, and thethumpa-thumpaof his heart softened to a reasonable pace, allowing pain to grow in its place. Jake reached into his pocket for his painkillers, popped out two, and downed them with the bottle of water he’d bought from the airport.

Painkillers weren’t going to save him from whatever Billy had in store for him. The thought was oddly funny, and Jake found himself in the midst of hysterical laughter. It hurt to laugh, and it made him laugh more. He heard the boat in the distance in between bouts of hysteria. The rumble of doom that didn’t fill him with excitement or dread. It left him empty, and his laughter eased off. He sighed and rubbed his ribs.

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