Sighing, he stood in the small but functional kitchen in his apartment and stared out the window at the ocean. He’d taken the apartment because he could see the waves from the kitchen and the master bedroom. There were only two bedrooms, the master and a tiny room he currently used as a workout space. But he could lie in bed and see the ocean in the distance, and that made it well worth the exorbitant price.
Then again, nothing in Hawaii was cheap. Food, lodging, clothing…it all cost a pretty penny.
Knowing he needed to get a move on if he was going to get to base on time, Mustang swallowed back the rest of his coffee and put his mug in the sink. He hoped wherever Rachel was, she was safe and happy. He might be bummed that she hadn’t reached out to him, but he never wanted to be with someone who wasn’t one hundred percent into him. He’d seen too many relationships in the Navy that didn’t work. He wanted to find a woman who would support and love him, and in return, he’d be one hundred percent devoted to her, as well.
Elodie rolled over in bed and groaned. The last couple of months had been extremely stressful, and when push came to shove and she had to make a decision about where to go after getting off the Asaka Express, she’d made a split-second choice she hoped she wouldn’t regret.
She’d been in Hawaii for a month and a half now…and wasn’t any closer to finding Scott as she’d been the first day she’d arrived.
It was stupid to come to Honolulu, really. But she hadn’t had anywhere else to go…so here she was. Now the odds of her being able to find the handsome Navy SEAL who’d come to her rescue were slim to none.
She’d been a dumbass and had lost the piece of paper with his number on it.
The days after the SEALs had left the Asaka Express were crazy. They’d had several meetings with Naval and government officials. They’d had to tell their stories over and over to several different groups of people. The company that owned the ship had given everyone a hefty bonus…Elodie had kind of felt as if they were trying to pay them off, so they wouldn’t say anything bad about the security or what had happened. But since she needed the money, she’d had no problem taking it, feeling only a little guilty afterward.
Elodie and Manuel had been extremely busy with cleaning up the galley and the other rooms under their control, not to mention cooking meals for the crew and the extra men and women who were onboard.
After one very long day, when the company had told everyone they had twenty-four hours to decide what they wanted to do next—stay on the Asaka Express, move to a different ship, or quit with a healthy severance package—Elodie had seriously considered Scott’s offer to go to Hawaii.
She knew going back to the East Coast wasn’t an option. Paul Columbus had too much power there. He might be a New York mob boss, extremely ruthless and powerful, but he knew people. Lots of people. And they’d all do whatever he told them to do without hesitation—including killing a former employee who knew too much and refused to get onboard with his nefarious plans.
She’d left the United States because she hadn’t felt safe anywhere. But the more she thought about it, the more Hawaii appealed. Honolulu had millions of tourists. They constantly came and went, and it should be easy enough for her to blend in there. Since the tourist industry was so robust, she could work for a while, and no one would blink if she decided to up and move a few months down the line.
Elodie had hopes that one day she might be able to let down her guard a bit. Maybe even get married and start a family. But she wouldn’t risk doing that until she was sure Paul had given up on finding her. Maybe if he realized that she hadn’t snitched, hadn’t gone to the cops to turn him in, he’d decide she was going to keep her mouth shut and forget about her.
Sighing, Elodie stared at the popcorn ceiling of her studio apartment. It wasn’t really an apartment, merely a room off an elderly woman’s house that she’d rented. There were marks on the ceiling from water leaking in from somewhere and no air conditioning. Most of the time that didn’t bother her, as the ocean breeze blew through the room in the afternoons. But the humidity was harder to get used to. Everything felt damp. And when she licked her lips, she always tasted salt.
Closing her eyes, Elodie remembered the day on the Asaka Express when she realized she’d somehow lost the piece of paper with Scott’s number. She’d needed to do laundry, and could’ve sworn the slip of paper was in another pair of jeans. She’d loaded up her duffle bag to drag down to the laundry facilities, where she normally double-checked her pockets before tossing stuff in the machine, but she’d been in a hurry. While in the laundry room, she’d run into Valentino, who’d tried to hit on her…again.
It wasn’t until a short while later, when she couldn’t find the paper with Scott’s number, that Elodie realized she must’ve washed it. By that time, it would’ve been mush inside the washer. And of course, she hadn’t memorized the number either. She knew the area code for Honolulu was 808, and that there was a zero, a few threes, and a one in his number, but that was it.
Despite knowing it was stupid, she’d still decided to come to Hawaii, even without a way to contact Scott. She’d hoped that she’d be able to find him somehow. Maybe even just run into him randomly. But that was a joke. There were too many people on the island, and way more service men and women than she’d thought. And it wasn’t as if she could just saunter onto the Naval base and start asking questions.
So, she’d taken the severance and hush money she’d received and found the cheapest place to rent that she could. But even that had been more expensive than she’d expected. She’d had to find work, otherwise she’d have ended up homeless on the streets with the countless other men and women she saw on a daily basis.
Despite knowing she could probably find a job in a restaurant somewhere, Elodie had resisted. For one, she was scared that it would give Paul a way to find her. If he did somehow find out she’d been working as a chef onboard the Asaka Express, it would be natural to assume she’d found another job as a chef elsewhere. And she was afraid he had the resources to somehow find her if she continued working in her field.
But second…Elodie was tired of the kitchen.
Once, she’d loved it. Loved coming up with new and exciting dishes. But being on the run and always looking behind her had dimmed her joy of cooking.
It had taken two weeks, but eventually she’d found a job working for a charter fishing business. The work wasn’t hard or very cerebral, which was actually nice. The two men who owned the boat were married and in their early forties. Both were friendly, but not overly so. After fending off Valentino’s advances and doing everything in her power to not get into a situation where she was alone with him, it was a refreshing change.
On days when tourists chartered the boat, they left early in the morning, around six. Her job was to be friendly with the guests, help entertain any children that accompanied their parents, keep the boat clean, make sure everyone signed the appropriate paperwork, serve a light lunch and snacks, and to take pictures. She was paid just enough to buy groceries and cover rent.
The boat usually came back to the dock in the early afternoon, and after she cleaned up, putting everything back in its place for the next day, she had the rest of each day to herself. Since Elodie didn’t have a car, she couldn’t exactly explore the island, but she’d quickly learned how the public transportation system worked and did her best to get out and about.