Page 63 of Wayward
Her eyes go wide. Her mouth drops open.
“We’re in a bit of trouble. More than a bit. This is Sam, Sam Miller. He’s the brother of the captain who took you and your friends out.”
“I see charming and handsome runs in the family.” Stella smiles, brushing her hair from her face, and the diamond on her left hand flashes in the sun.
“Thank you. Haley’s right, though. Let’s talk about this, but not out in the open,” Sam says as he turns, surveilling the area.
“My bridal villa is just up the path.” Stella loops her arm with mine. “So, where have you been since?” She stops, waiting for a trio of staff members to pass us. “Let’s wait until we get inside.” She swipes her keycard and opens the door to a three-story villa. A crystal chandelier is centered over a golden table with a massive flower arrangement. The cavernous space smells like a floral shop. She sits and hands Sam and me a bottle of water.
I give her the shortest rendition of the last year, mostly the last week. But I come clean about pretending to be part of the wedding planner’s crew, too. “But you can’t tell anyone we’re here. We’ll pay you back for the villa fees. Please.”
“I don’t care about the fees.” She waves her hand. “You really think this asshole can get you? We should go to the police.” Stella has her phone out.
“No, please. I believe he can hurt us if we do. We just need to get out of the country and to better protection.” I stand, ready to dive on her phone.
“This is going to sound . . . no, itiselitist . . . but I’ve not found a problem that a black Amex card can’t fix.” Her dark brown hair is swept up into an effortless updo. She’s wearing a textured white one-piece bathing suit with black piping and a gold belt that doesn’t have a designer logo on it. Because she doesn’t need anyone to know she has money. She is money. “I’ll just buy you all a ticket home on the next flight to JFK or wherever. Or you can wait a day until my mother gets here and take our private jet on its return trip to New York. It’s scheduled to go back the tomorrow.”
“Are you kidding me?” I clap.
“No, the jet has to go back and pick up some other guests anyway. It’s just flying home empty.”
I jump up and run over to her and throw my arms around her. “You are the best.”
“You might want to rethink that?” Stella says, holding me at arm’s length.
“Um, why?”
“Because I’m not letting you on my jet in that dress.”
My laugh starts out slow and builds until I’m holding my side. “You’re right. It’s horrible.”
“It is. But if you weren’t wearing it, I wouldn’t have noticed you. Do you want to borrow some clothes?” Stella stands.
“No, that’s okay.” I drop my arms to my sides and step back toward Sam. I have no idea where Dante found this dress. But seeing that I have the same amount of money I first put in my bra, he got what he paid for.
“Really, I insist. I overpacked, anyway. Krit, my fiancé, said I should leave most of it here anyway. We’re moving to the mainland after the wedding. We’ll live here half the year and New York the other half. We’ll be right back. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen or bar.” She gives Sam a cute shrug and takes my hand and leads me up the winding, open staircase to the primary bedroom. “Take anything you want. Well, not the wedding dress.” She takes the sheet covering it off and laughs.
I pause. “Whoa, that’s beautiful.” Though the last wedding dress I held was Candy’s, and it was a lot of things, but beautiful wasn’t one of them.
“It’s my dream dress, but even this girl with the black Amex had sticker shock when I saw the price tag. I picked out something lovely but not as expensive, but when Krit heard about it, he called the shop and had them special order me one.”
“It’s lovely.” So lovely that even though I want to touch it, I don’t dare in case I have oils on my hands.
“Here, try these instead. What size shoes do you wear?”
There’s no way my boat feet will fit in her tiny shoes. “Huge.” I laugh.
“Like this?” She pulls out a cute pair of flats. “My sister is coming from Scotland.”
I change into lightweight navy blue pants and a crisp white collared shirt. Part of me wants to stay with Stella and be a girl longer. But Calvin and Dante have no idea where we are, and I can’t imagine what they’re thinking. Because I wouldn’t have put together that I’ve found us a ride home.
Back on the first floor, Sam’s chatting with Easton and Zane. Zane’s eating an apple, and Easton’s holding a sports drink.
“Nice to meet you, Stella.” Easton gives her a nod, like nothing is out of the ordinary, and I can hear Calvin cursing rich people under his breath even though he’s not here.
Chapter 28
Slackwater
