He kissed her. “I love you more.”
CHAPTER 19
ONCE THEY DOCKED BACK in Laguna Beach, Garrett and Isla stood before her parents. The sun was setting, making the sky an enchanting mixture of purple and orange.
“It was great spending time with you, Isla,” Rebecca said as they walked to the end of the dock. “Let’s not wait this long to see each other again. Okay?”
Isla gave her mom a small smile. For once she felt comfortable around her and actually enjoyed her company. She’d dreamed about this kind of relationship with her mother and hoped they could continue cultivating it.
“I agree,” Isla said. “I had fun.”
Once they reached the shore, Rebecca hugged Isla and gave her a peck on the cheek.
“Join us for dinner at the house soon,” she said, giving Isla’s hand a squeeze. “I’ll have Anna make your favorite meal.”
Isla chuckled. She did miss the house chef’s cooking. “You hate Anna’s lasagna. It’s too rich. Too fattening. Remember?”
Rebecca shrugged. “Like I said, whatever you want.” She held onto Isla’s arms. “I don’t want to lose you again,” she said in a low voice as the others said their goodbyes.
Isla’s eyes widened. She held her breath at seeing tears in Rebecca’s eyes.
Isla hugged her, tightly, pressing her cheek to her mother’s shoulder. “You won’t,” she promised.
When Rebecca pulled away, she dabbed the corners of her eyes with her knuckles and sniffled. “You two take care of each other,” she said, and she and Peter walked toward their hired car along with the Senator and his wife, and the others.
Isla watched them walk away, feeling good about the future. As she and Garrett sat in the back of the hired car, he reached for her hand. She smiled and leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder.
Life was good. Finally.
When they were dropped off at his house, the sky was dark and Isla was drained. They went inside and put their bags into his room.
She turned to him, taking off her shoes. “Well, that was much better than I thought it would be.”
Garrett began to speak when a knock came from the front door.
His brows knitted together and he headed for the door.
Isla followed, a faint warning in her stomach. “Who could it be?” she whispered as if the person on the other side of the door might hear her.
He shrugged. “Probably more reporters. They won’t leave me alone.”
She nodded and waited behind him as he opened the front door.
She gasped when she saw Clark standing there in the same clothes she’d seen him in the last time they’d spoken at Robin’s.
“Oh God,” she shrieked, her pulse quickening. “What are you doing here, Clark?” She stepped backward, visions of being pulled by her hair and slammed into the wall sending her into a panic.
Her heart raced as she looked him in the eyes. He didn’t look right. He looked angry...like he wasn’t really there.
He glared at her and then at Garrett.
“I don’t know what you want, and I don’t care. But you are not welcome in my home or around Isla,” Garrett said.
Clark didn’t respond, he kept his glare on Isla.
Garrett stood before him, blocking his view of her. “I think you should leave.”
“Out of my way, you limey bastard,” Clark said. He pushed Garrett aside, only to have Garrett twist his hand backward and jab him in the face.
Clark tackled Garrett, their bodies slamming to the wooden floor with a loud bang. Isla stood there, shaking, hyperventilating.
The things he’d done to her. Things she’d never told anyone, not even Robin. They came to her like a freight train, slamming her with the repressed pain she’d bottled up all of her life.
As Garrett and Clark fought, they became a blur.
Images flickered in her head in a dizzying sequence.
The first: being drugged at a party and having the lacrosse team take turns on her. She remember some of their faces, and how she had to look at them everyday for an entire year.
Could she claim they’d forced themselves on her if she was drunk and drugged and didn’t have the ability to say no? Would anyone believe one girl when she was up against a team of wealthy young men all with fathers and mothers just as powerful as her own?
“There’s only a little alcohol,” they’d said. “And mostly juice. I promise.”
She’d clawed at the walls of that bathroom with her nails, desperate to get away, yet too weak by whatever they’d given her. Their hands touching her. The violation of her body. It still haunted her.
Hours later she woke up in a dark room on a mattress on the floor, a boy sitting beside her asking if she was okay as she searched for her panties and cried softly into the darkness. That boy was the younger brother of one of the lacross team captains. She never got to thank him for looking over her while she slept.
The second: her mother slapping her across the face after hearing the rumors of her sleeping around.
She never believed that Isla had been a virgin before that party, and told her that she wasn’t a true Maxwell. Maxwell’s had integrity and class, something Isla would never have.
The third; Garrett never returning her emails or showing up to chat like they’d used to. After a few months, she was left exposed, seeking solace at bars and parties around campus that put her in the same position every time...a position where she never had the courage to say no to the men who took advantage of her. There were countless times that she could have ended up dead, yet someone or something always seemed to look out for her.
The fourth: Clark wrapping his hands around her throat and telling her that she was forbidden from talking to her parents or Robin ever again.
The images all became a blur as the shouts and grunts of the two fighting men faded into her head. She fell back hard onto the floor, a scream erupting from her mouth as all of those feelings escaped. Those demons of her past...she fought to keep them in for so long, but now they were free and there was nothing she could do about it but submit.
She shook on the floor, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, as her body seized and thrashed.
The pain was unlike anything she’d ever felt, and just when she thought she was dying, a cloak of black took over and didn’t let go.
CHAPTER 20
WHEN ISLA OPENED HER EYES, a bright light welcomed her. She sucked in a breath when she realized that she couldn’t move. The sterile smell of her hospital room startled her senses.
She tensed when a hand covered hers. Her eyes shot to the man beside her.
“Garrett?” she called, her voice sounding weak and raspy.
He had a cut on his eyebrow that looked gruesome and fresh. There were stitches hanging out of it. Her memory of what happened came back and fear struck her heart.
“Where is Clark?”
Garrett brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. He squeezed his eyes shut, tears escaping the corners of his eyes.
“He’s in jail. The police came shortly after he forced his way into my house. I just hope I hurt him enough that he’ll never mess with us again,” he said, and sucked in a breath.
She pictured Clark in a jail cell, where he deserved to be. All of those times she made excuses for him, he no longer deserved her pity.
Garrett leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I thought I lost you, Isla.”
Those words hurt. Hearing the wavering in his voice hurt even more. He didn’t deserve that kind of pain, yet she knew it all too well.
She wished she could sit up. “Why can’t I move?”
“You’re on some heavy medication,” he said. “But you’re fine. They said that you just had a severe panic attack and passed out from the exertion.”
Isla exhaled, relieved that she wasn’t paralyzed. Her arms and legs felt heavy and her head felt stuffy, but she was going to be all right.
She chewed her lip as soft sobs came from he
r mouth. She didn’t want to cry in front of Garrett. She was supposed to be strong, to be the girl who could take the rumors and mistreatment of others. She wished she could forget her past. She wished she’d told Garrett the truth about all that she’d suffered. He was the only person she trusted. Why not now?
“Garrett,” she whispered.
He looked at her. “Yes, baby?”
She looked away from his concern-filled eyes and stared at the far wall of the small hospital room.
“I have some things to tell you.”
“What is it? You can tell me anything.”
He kissed her hand again and the fear fleeted at the sincerity of those words. She turned to him and a small smile came to her lips, despite the warm tears that wet her cheeks.
“I know. That’s why I trust you enough to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
She sighed. “The truth.”
***
ISLA WAS RELEASED the next evening. They’d kept her for survellaince and made sure that she was strong enough to go home with Garrett.
Once they arrived at his house, she felt like a new woman.
All of her secrets were out, and Garrett still loved her.
He still loved her even while knowing the truth, which wasn’t surprising, because he loved her even when he thought she was just a misguided slut. Now that he knew of her innocence, their bond was even stronger.
Her body was tired, but her soul was energized.
She sat on his bed with a sigh.
“What now?”
Garrett leaned against his dresser, watching her. “How about we camp on the beach, like old times. I think going back to where we had the most fun will make you feel better.”
Isla smiled. “Life with you is going to be an adventure, isn’t it?”
“Of course. What else were you expecting?” he asked, lifting a brow.
She nodded and stood. “Okay, let’s do it.”
They gathered his tent and camping supplies and went back out into the night to load up his truck. There was a secret spot on the beach where they used to camp and make out when they were teenagers.
They got out of the truck and unloaded everything they needed for their little escape for the night. They walked down the gravel road to the sand dunes which led to miles of flat white beach. The air was warm with a faint breeze thick with the scent of salt water and seaweed.
When they returned to it, nothing had changed. The sand was clean and glistened like diamonds under the moonlight.
Garrett set up the tent while Isla organized everything they’d need to make dinner. They had a cooler of leftover veggies and fish that he’d grill on his little hotplate and portable grill.
Isla sat there, nibbling on cheese and crackers, while Garrett built a fire between their tent and the ocean.
She was grateful to have him, and thrilled to finally be free of those secrets that had been eating her alive.
They sat on blankets together, and Garrett opened a bottle of wine. Isla wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and sighed.
“This was a great idea.”
“Those are the only kind I come up with,” Garrett said with a cocky grin.
She laughed, nudging him. “No, sir. I remember that one time you thought it would be a ‘great idea’ to make out in your truck in the driveway of that abandoned house.”
“Oh yeah,” he said with a laugh. He shook his head. “That was embarrassing.”
“Uh, that’s an understatement,” she said. “The cops came up to your window after someone reported a suspicious car in the neighborhood.”
“Jesus,” he said, shaking his head. “They kept flashing that bright light in my face.”
“Well, I quickly fixed my skirt and tried to make myself look like less of a prostitute,” she said, chuckling. She’d been so embarrassed that day and almost used her name to get them out of trouble.
“What did I say when he asked me what we were doing in front of that vacant house?”
“You said that we were on a date, you knew the guy who owned the property, and we just didn’t have anywhere to go.”
Garrett nodded. “One look at you and the cop understood. He kind of gave me a look like, ‘good for you, kid.’”
They both burst out laughing. “I’ll never forget that night,” Isla said.
“Neither will I. Once I sell my mom’s house, we’ll find our own, decorate it however we please, and raise little blue- or green-eyed babies.”
“I don’t care what color their eyes are as long as they’re with you.”
He kissed her. “Good answer.”
“Let’s go for a swim,” she suggested, buzzed from the wine.
“Sure,” Garrett said, taking off his shirt.
Inside the tent, he stripped down to nothing and put on his swim trunks. Isla put on her bikini and walked to the edge of the water, where the foam of the ocean clung to the smooth muddy sand.
She stood there and tilted her head back so that her hair brushed the small of her back and she faced the night sky.
“Thank you,” she whispered to the sky, to whoever was up there looking out for her, God, the universe, some magical deity. When Garrett didn’t join her, she glanced back to see him fiddling around in his bag.
“Come on, slow poke, the water isn’t too cold yet.”
He held up a hand. “One second, babe.”
She smiled and looked back to the ocean, the calm water rippling back and forth with soft waves. She was so happy that she could cry.
Garrett took her hand and she turned to him.
He had a look on his face that gave her pause.
“Everything okay?” she asked and looked down at something glittering in his hand.
Her heart stopped at that moment, and she dared to believe what was happening to her.
CHAPTER 21
GARRETT KNELT TO THE GROUND, the sand embedding into his knees. He couldn’t help the smile that came to his face at her reaction. He’d waited to do this properly for far too long.
This woman was even more amazing than he thought he knew. She kept that secret for far too long, and he was astounded by her strength. He vowed within his soul that he would take care of her. Nothing would tear them apart.
His mother’s ring, a single diamond with small stones along the golden band, shone inside the vintage box. It was a family heirloom, passed down to each generation.
“Will you do me the greatest honor and marry me, Isla?”
She nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. She squealed.
“You’re kidding? Of course, Garrett. Yes!”
Garrett fell back as she tackled him, wrapping her arms and legs around him. He laughed as she planted dozens of kisses on his face.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!”
He held onto her, rolling over and pressing her into the sand. He cradled her head with his free hand, looking down into her eyes, knowing that those were the eyes he’d wake up to every morning for the rest of his life. Her smile was a precious gift that’d he’d always cherish.
“I’ll never let anyone hurt you ever again. Do you know that?”
She nodded, her eyes becoming glossy.
“I love you, Isla Thorne.”
She grinned, breathless, her face flushed with excitement. “I love you more.”
“Always?” he asked, overwhelmed with joy as he kissed her lips and neck.
“Forever.”
Garrett sat up and reached for her hand. He took the ring from the box and slid it on her finger.
Isla looked down at the ring, holding her hand up to the light of the moon. “I love it, Garrett. It’s better than I imagined.”
He folded his hands across his legs. “I should have given it to you before I left.”
“Yes,” she said. “You should have.”
He stood and helped her to her feet. They faced the ocean and Garrett stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her body.
They watched the night
sky meet the ocean in silence. His heart swelled with joy as he finally had everything he’d ever wanted: the love of his life, and hope in their future.
He’d never wanted to leave England for Laguna Beach, but now he silently thanked it. For taking him from a lost boy to a loved man.
EPILOGUE
ISLA AND GARRETT TOOK a taxi to the airport. The journey ahead was exciting for both of them, and with an engagement ring on her finger, Isla was ready for a new chapter in her life. So many memories had yet to be made and with Garrett by her side, she was certain they’d be amazing.
She smiled at Garrett as he paid the taxi and carried their bags into the airport.
“Are you ready, baby?”
Isla nodded as they headed to TSA. “You better believe it.”
She wore a new blue dress that Garrett said matched her eyes and black pumps. Getting through TSA was a breeze as Isla and Garrett prequalified for an express checkpoint.
As they headed to their gate, the gravity of the situation fully hit her. She reached for Garrett’s hand.
New York awaited. A new highrise condo in Manhatten had already been purchased and decorated by Robin and Isla when they flew up there one weekend. Garrett had sold his family’s home and truck and had meetings with publishing houses and agents all throughout the city. He was a hot story, and the big houses were all clamoring to make him a deal.
Isla was proud of her man.
Once they boarded their plane, they sat up front in first class. Isla reclined her seat, ready for a nap since they’d spent the entire night talking and discussing their plans for the future.
Garrett sat by the window and glanced over at her. “Comfy, babe?”
She nodded. “As comfy as I’m going to get.”
He leaned over and pressed his lips to her stomach. “Comfy little one?” he asked the growing baby in her tummy.
She grinned and stroked his hair. “We’re perfect, honey. Absolutely perfect.”
THE END
Laguna Beach
LAGUNA BEACH is a sexy modern romance series by author Kaira Rouda, set in beautiful Laguna Beach, California. The stories feature the cast of a high school based reality TV show, ten years after the show wrapped. Inspired by the original reality show, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, the LAGUNA BEACH series is beach reading at its best.