Page 90 of Sergeant O'
“Jade, isn’t it against hospital policy to date a patient?”
“Brian, does the department know you’re romantically involved?”
“Is there a wedding in the works? A baby?”
The voices overlapped, one question crashing over the next until it was just noise—our names, half-formed accusations, flashes going off so fast I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
Brian shifted in front of me like a wall. It didn’t matter—they still had a clear shot.
“Let’s just go,” I said, already scooping up the bag.
He hooked the cooler handle in one hand, yanked the umbrella from the sand with the other and opened it, then held it in front of us like a shield. “Stay close.”
I pressed in at his side as he angled us back up the path, the umbrella blocking most of the lenses. Flashes still slipped through the gaps, voices chased us, but we kept moving until the cottage came into view.
Brian slammed the wooden door shut behind us and locked it. It was the first time we’d closed it since we got there; we’d just been latching the screen door shut at night.
Our little slice of heaven was gone, invaded by the media trying to get a photo of us.
“How do you think they found us?” he asked as he closed the curtain, then moved the side to peek out the window.
“I have no idea.” My hands shook, more from adrenaline than fear, as I opened my phone.
I typed in our names in the search bar, and it didn’t take long to figure out how we’d been discovered. There were pictures of us canoodling at the ice cream shop last night—right before I’d gotten Lainey’s text.
Then came a picture of us ordering breakfast that morning with a headline, “Trouble in paradise already?” It was a shot of when we’d been play-arguing.
Staring at the photos, I murmured, “I feel so violated. Like, I had no idea people were photographing us.” I finally held my phone up for him to look at. “Did you?”
He glanced at the screen, then shook his head in disgust. “Fuck no. If I had, I would’ve smashed their phones or cameras or whatever they were using.”
“Maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t. That would have just caused you more headaches in the end.”
“Some headaches are worth it.”
I let out a long sigh as I plunked down in a chair at the kitchen table. “I guess our vacation is over.”
“I guess so.”
“How are we going to keep them from following us all the way back to South Carolina?”
He raked his fingers through his hair before admitting, “I have no idea, Sunshine.”
Neither of us said anything more as we pondered our predicament. One minute we’d been planning another lazy day at the beach, and the next, everything had changed.
Chapter Forty-Three
Brian
Jade scrolled through her phone looking for flights while I was on the phone with Alan, explaining our predicament.
“I’m glad to see you got your shit figured out with Jade. Don’t worry about your truck. I can bring it down next week.”
I didn’t tell him that it wasn’t as figured out with her as I’d like.
“I hate to inconvenience you. I’m sure I could fly back when things die down, as long as you’re okay with me leaving it in your driveway.”
“I don’t give a shit if you leave it in my driveway, but it’s no trouble for me to bring it to South Carolina. I need to check in on my little brother and his new little family.”
