Page 51 of Captivating Nights

Chapter 36

HER FRIENDS HAD FINALLY left, and Cali found herself alone once again. It was a familiar state, and had been her entire life. She did have to admit that talking about Zane and Xavier did lift her spirits a little. There’d been no judgment from her friends about what she’d done, and in fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to talk her into going on another vacation and doing the same type of thing.

Cringing at the thought, she shook her head and brought the wine glasses into the kitchen to clean. As she rinsed them out, she looked at the view from outside of the small kitchen window. The streets, cars, and anything else outside were covered in a blanket of white. Gone were the picturesque palm trees and Caribbean shoreline. And looking at the snow steadily falling from the sky, the warm, humid temperatures in Virgin Gorda seemed like a dream.

Cali placed the glasses into the dishwasher when she heard a knock on her door. One of her friends was always forgetting something whenever they came over. Naturally assuming it was either Natalie or Emily, she flung her front door open and froze. Her pulse thundered in her chest and her hands started to shake. It wasn’t either of her girls on the other side, but two other familiar people instead.

“How did you find me?” she asked Xavier and Zane.

They both smirked at her, and she remembered the dark-haired Dominant owned the resort, so he had access to all of her information.

“Hello to you too, belleza,” the bastard said.

Cali’s eyes narrowed and she was tempted to slam the door in their faces. The longer she stood there, the better that idea sounded. Without even responding to them, she attempted to do just that when Zane caught the door. Her irritation was no match for his strength and she groaned. “What the hell do you two want?”

They arched their brows, but she didn’t care. Placing her hands on her hips, she glared at them. If either expected her to drop to her knees then they were mistaken.

“We need to talk to you, angel,” Zane said in that low tone. She could easily remember how it would tickle her flesh when he’d kiss his way up her neck.

Cali pushed that thought in the back recesses of her mind. She needed to get rid of them before she embarrassed herself completely. Now, she almost wished one of her friends would come back. “I don’t think we have anything to talk about.”

The two Dominants had evidently grown tired of talking to her from the hallway. Xavier moved her aside and both entered her apartment. They walked straight past her and into the living room. Her place was already small to begin with, but with the two of them standing in the center of the room, it seemed much smaller. Or maybe it only appeared that way to her because the walls closed in around her.

Forcing her mouth to open, she looked pointedly at the two of them. “I take it you found my note?”

“We did, Calista,” Xavier replied and then moved closer to her, causing her to take a few steps back. “What we don’t understand besides your leaving, is what we deceived you about?”

“We never lied to you, angel,” Zane added.

She looked incredulously at them. Were they fucking kidding? “Yes, you did.”

They both stood there, waiting for her to elaborate, and she licked her bottom lip nervously. Maybe she’d try a different tactic.

“Does Elena and Raquel know you’re here?”

Cali heard two sharp intakes of breath and watched the color drain from their faces. They’d now know she knew the truth and could slink back to wherever the fuck they’d come from.

“So, you left because of them?” Zane asked. What initially appeared to be shock turned to relief when she nodded in response. “Elena Marchand is dead, angel.”

This time, it was Cali who gasped loudly. She covered her mouth and then took another few steps backward. What did they do to the poor woman? And when? A dozen different lectures about not talking to strangers came rushing back to her. She’d half listened to them while growing up and now wished she had. If she had used her own common sense, she wouldn’t have spoken to or slept with either one of them.

Suddenly fearful, her hands started to shake again. Cali eyed her cell phone on the table beside her and quickly picked it up. Before she used it, she needed to know how. “What do you mean she’s dead?”

Zane saw her pick up the phone and growled, but he didn’t get angry. After heaving out a sigh, he raked his hands through his hair, never taking his eyes off her. “Elena Marchand died four months ago in a boating accident off the coast of Spain.”

She blinked at his explanation and wondered why he never thought to tell her this while they were in Virgin Gorda. Well, technically they’d told her they wanted to talk to her the following morning, but she’d left beforehand. Her mind was racing with a million different thoughts, but she focused less on them as she remembered the night they’d picked her up from the dive shop. She needed to know more. “What kind of accident? And what would it have to do with me?”

This time, Zane moved closer and before she could anticipate his next move, the Dominant had pulled her into his arms, using his hand to tip her chin up. She had no choice in this position but to look at him. She wanted to glare but saw the moisture building in the blue depths.

“There had been reports of an impending storm, but I ignored all the warnings. I asked a submissive to join me out on the boat. I thought I was invincible, and that Elena Marchand would be, by association. We’d gone out on the water and the weather turned so swiftly. It wasn’t something we could outrun, because I would have if possible.” Zane stopped to compose himself, and Cali knew where he was headed with this tale.

It sure as hell explained the reason he wouldn’t let her out of his sight after the night he’d picked her up at the dive shop, to the night they’d walked her back to her room. Her own eyes welled up with tears, but she stayed silent, needing to hear the rest of the story.

“I told her to sit down while I attempted to lower the sails. She grabbed onto the railing and tried to move toward the bench. The wind whipped so hard around us, and the rain fell in sheets, making the entire surface of the boat slippery.” He stopped again, swallowing hard before finishing. “It all happened so quickly. She fell, hit her head, and went overboard. I wasn’t even thinking about myself at that time. I jumped in the water, desperate to find her. I called her name…threatened to punish her when I found her…but there was nothing. I stayed in the water, even though the choppy waves kept trying to pull me under.”

“D-did you ever find her?” she asked, needing to know.

Zane squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds and when he reopened them a single tear fell onto her upturned face. “Yes, angel. She’d drowned.”

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