Cherished (Wanted #4)(23)
Author: Kelly Elliott

“Jessie, I know you don’t want to hear this, but I have to say it.”

I nodded.

“If it turns out that Scott did cheat—”

“He didn’t.”

“I know, but if he did, I want you to know that it would be my honor to take care of you and your child. I’d do everything in my power to make you both happy.”

Tears flooded my eyes as I looked into Trey’s eyes.

How can I care about someone so much when I only just met him, not even two months ago?

I got up, crawled onto his lap, and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Trey,” was all I could say. Right before I fell asleep, I whispered, “I love Scott. I’ll always love Scott.” I drifted off to sleep where images of little girls with curly hair took over my dreams.

All I could hear was banging. What in the hell? My doorbell was ringing, and someone was pounding on my front door.

“I’m coming! Holy fuck, hold on to your pants!” I yelled out.

I opened the door, and Drake pushed his way past me.

“Well, hello, Drake. Merry Christmas to you, too,” I said as I shut the door.

Is it too early to have a drink? I looked at the clock. It was just after midnight.

“Where’s your phone? Your cell phone, Scott. Turn it on.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “You came over here in the middle of the night to tell me you want to use my cell phone? Buy one, old man,” I said with a chuckle.

I made my way into the kitchen. I needed coffee.

“She called.”

I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at him. “Jessie?”

He smiled and nodded.

“Holy fuck. What did she say?”

“It was a really bad connection, but she said something about being in a tropical storm.”

A tropical storm? “Drake? Are you sure you weren’t dreaming or something?”

“Yes, of course, I’m sure. I asked her where she was, and she said something, but I couldn’t hear her. She mentioned a tropical storm, and she also said she’d left you a message.”

“Did you tell her it wasn’t me? Did you tell her I didn’t cheat on her?”

Drake smiled and nodded. “I did, but I don’t know how much she heard before we were disconnected.”

I turned and quickly walked into the kitchen. I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out my phone. I turned it on and waited for the longest forty seconds of my life for that bitch to start up.

I had twenty voice mails. Jessie’s messages were the last two to come through. I hit Speaker and listened to the first one.

“Scott, um…hey, it’s Jessie. I, um…I really need to talk to you. I don’t have my phone, so I’ll try to call you in a few minutes or so. I, um…I love you, Scott. I love you, and I just need to talk to you.”

The second message started to play.

“Hey, it’s me again. I’m in Belize, but I have a flight coming back on the twenty-ninth. There’s a bad storm, so I’ll call you when the phone lines come back up. I’m using the front desk girl’s cell. I love you, Scott. I love you so much, and I’m so sorry.”

I looked at Drake as he stared at me. “Belize?” we both said at the same time.

“Holy fuck. She’s not even in the country, Drake. She’s in fucking goddamn Belize. And who’s the guy she’s with?”

“Scott, she said she loved you. Wait—what time did that first call come in?”

I looked at my phone. “Right before nine.”

Drake smiled and shook his head. “She called you before me, Scott.”

“So? That’s supposed to make me feel better when all I can think of is how she has a friend helping her get over me?”

“No, you ass. She didn’t know yet about you and Chelsea. She must have either talked to someone else, or she figured it out on her own. Bryce said he’d called out after her. After thinking about it, maybe she realized it wasn’t your voice she’d heard.”

My heart started pounding. “Do you think? Fuck. I can’t wait until the twenty-ninth for her to come home. I have to get to Belize.”

“Did you not hear that they’re in the middle of a tropical storm? No airline is going to fly into that. Let’s just wait until morning, and we can call the airlines and see about flights to Belize.”

There was no way I could wait, but I nodded my head to reassure Drake. “Okay. We’ll wait until morning.”

I showed Drake up to one of the spare bedrooms and made my way back down to my room. I crawled into the new bed I had bought, and I lay there, looking up at the ceiling. I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. Drake had said Jessie was about to tell him where she was staying when the phone died.

I sat up in bed and grabbed my cell. I wrote down the number that Jessie had called from earlier, and I dialed another number. If there was one person I knew who could help me…it would be him.

I had already had four cups of coffee, and it was only six in the morning. I heard Drake walking into the kitchen. I turned and smiled as I held up my coffee cup.

“Want a cup?” I asked.

He looked down at my bag on the floor.

“You going somewhere? I checked the airlines, Scott. The storm knocked out almost all the power, and the airport is shut down. They don’t see it opening for a day or two, if that. How in the hell do you think you’re going to get to Belize?”

My phone rang right then, and I pulled it out. I smiled when I saw who was calling. “Lark, what’s the word?” I said as my heart started pounding.

Lark was my best friend from college, and he now worked for some hotshot guy who did business all over Central America and God knows where else.

“I can be there in two hours. Perfect.” I hung up the phone and quickly turned to rinse out my coffee cup. I reached down and grabbed my bag before making my way to the back door.

“Scott! Where in the hell are you going? Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Walk with me, Drake.” As I made my way out the door and over to my truck, I started to tell Drake my plan. “My best friend from college works for some guy. I’m not really sure what type of business he’s in, but Lark flies him all over the place. I gave Lark a ring and said I needed to call in a favor. I told him what was going on and asked if he could land a helicopter in Belize right now with the storm hitting. He made a call to his boss and asked if he could use the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter to make a run to Belize. I offered to pay for the gas plus some.”