The House on Mermaid Point

Chapter Fifteen

Determined not to display the nerves she felt in William Hightower’s presence, Maddie forced a smile to her lips and headed to their table. When she greeted them she was pleased that her voice sounded normal with none of the wobble her knees were experiencing. She felt other eyes on her, assessing, wondering. Heads bent together.

“Is it always this packed?” she asked, declining an invitation to sit.

“Mostly, but it’s especially intense right now because it’s tarpon season,” Hudson replied. “Have you ever seen a tarpon?”

“Just in the water at Bud N’ Mary’s. But our Nautilimo captain says we can go to Robbie’s and feed them.”

William grunted in amusement. “It’s a lot more fun to catch them than feed them.”

“Too true,” Hudson said. “Do you like to fish?” he asked Maddie.

“I have no idea. I’ve never really done it.” She hadn’t grown up near a body of water and neither had Steve. On their few beach vacations it had never occurred to either of them. “Unless you count the goldfish I caught by throwing a Ping-Pong ball in his bowl at the fair.” As she recalled, she’d barely dropped him into his new bowl at home before he’d gone belly up and received a flushed-toilet burial.

“Down here we don’t typically fish for pets,” William said drily. “But fishing teaches you a lot about yourself. And a lot of it’s not all that pleasant.”

“Speak for yourself,” Hudson said. “You just don’t like being humbled by a fish.”

“Hey,” William said, “who does? They can be surprisingly devious.”

They laughed, and in that moment William Hightower seemed a little less rock god and a lot more human being.

“Are you sure you won’t sit down and have a drink?” Hudson asked her. His green eyes were warm, his smile easy.

“No, thanks. I’m done.” She looked at the dark liquid in William’s highball glass and wondered what it held. “I’m a bit of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.”

Will caught her looking and downed the remainder of his drink without comment. She grimaced, realizing he’d probably assumed the comment was aimed at him.

Maddie was about to excuse herself and head back to the others when a man and woman who’d been watching them from a nearby table stood and walked over. The guy had a large beer belly and swayed slightly as they came to a halt. The woman was tall and leggy, but she looked a lot older close up than she had from a distance.

William tensed. His face smoothed into an impersonal mask.

“Hey, aren’t you William Hightower?” the man demanded.

“I am,” Will said, his voice quiet.

“I told you so,” he said to the woman before turning back to Will. “I’m Dan. Me and Vera here are big fans.”

Will smiled slightly, through very tight lips. “That’s nice.”

Vera ran a hand over her bleached blond hair. Her exposed skin—and it seemed to Maddie there was an awful lot of it—was leathered from age and sun. The words “rode hard and put away wet” surfaced in Maddie’s mind.

“Me and Vera are gonna buy you a drink.” Dan waved at the bartender. “Bring Wild Will here another round on me.” He swayed again. “And then we wanna take a picture with you.” His eyes went squinty. “Vera’s had a thing for you for decades, man. Even though she didn’t believe me when I said it was you over here.”

“Thanks.” Will seemed to ignore the insult. “I appreciate the gesture. But I’m all set.” Two guys who’d been drinking at the bar wandered over and aligned themselves behind Will and Hudson. Dan’s eyes, which were already bloodshot, went even squintier. “Just wanna have a fuckin’ drink with you, man.”

William sighed. “I hear you,” he tried one last time. “But I don’t need a drink and I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t talk that way in front of the lady.”

“Who—her?” Vera scowled at Maddie. “What’s so special about her?”

Hudson began to stand. Will laid a hand on his arm.

“Here.” Dan shoved his phone at Maddie. “You know how to use one of these?” he asked.

Maddie was slightly better at phone photography than she was at texting, but the guy’s question was clearly rhetorical. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a glint of light. Her chest tightened when she saw that it was a camera lens; somehow Troy and Anthony had arrived and were already set up and shooting. Instinctively, she stepped forward and edged to the right in an effort to shield at least part of William, just as she would have Dustin.

“Okay, we’ll skip the frickin’ drink,” Dan said as if this were a negotiation. “But we’re not leavin’ without a picture.”

William and Hudson rose, the two from the bar flanking them. The cell phone felt like an anchor in Maddie’s hand.

The tables around them went quiet. No one moved for a long moment. Then Hudson slung one arm around Dan’s shoulders and the other around Vera’s. One of the guys from the bar moved to stand directly in front of Troy’s camera.

Dan tried to shrug loose but only managed to hike up his T-shirt, exposing a belly that blinded in its whiteness and should never see the light of day.

“I can tell you’re not from around here,” Hudson said to Dan and Vera. “Because we have lots of celebrities who live and spend time here. Athletes and presidents and all. And you know why they come here?”

“For the fishing?” Dan seemed confused by the turn the conversation had taken. Not to mention what looked like the viselike grip Hudson had on him.

“Well, yeah,” Hudson conceded as if they were all just standing around shooting the breeze. “But also because we just leave them alone. We don’t get in their faces. Or shove drinks on them. And we sure as hell don’t demand pictures or anything else.”

Maddie watched confusion and indecision pass over Dan’s and Vera’s faces. No one had raised their voice or thrown a punch, but there was no doubt they weren’t about to get any of the things they wanted.

“Oh, who gives a shit?” Vera said suddenly. “He looks older than dirt anyway. And if she’s what he’s into nowadays, well . . .” Vera shook her head sadly as if the world had become a very sad place indeed. She reached out to grab the camera out of Maddie’s hand and the flash went off.

“Jesus. Come on, Dan,” the blonde said. “This is bullshit.”

Hud let go of their shoulders and moved to stand next to Madeline as Dan and Vera huffed off. Given the human wall now aligned in front of him, Maddie doubted Troy was able to get more than a sliver or two of the couple’s retreating backs.

William shook his head. “Sorry you got caught in that.”

“I can’t believe the nerve of those people,” Maddie said, bristling with anger. She’d watched the paparazzi trail Daniel Deranian and his wife and had hated it even more when they’d begun to hound Kyra and then Dustin. “They should be ashamed of themselves!”

“Seems like Dan and Vera are lucky we didn’t set Maddie on them,” William said, considering her.

“Yeah. That was a pretty impressive blocking maneuver,” Hudson agreed.

Maddie’s gaze connected with Will’s. The anger coursing through her had burned clear through the last of her discomfort. “The idea that anyone who’s ever bought a movie ticket or a record album would feel entitled to intrude on another person’s life is absolutely ridiculous.” She still couldn’t believe how protective she’d felt when the couple had accosted William Hightower. As if he needed her to run interference for him.

“Hey, Will,” the bartender said, “I charged that guy double for the drink he offered you. You thirsty?”

“I’m absolutely parched, darlin’,” Will drawled. He and Hudson exchanged looks. “Can you give it to me in a to-go cup?”

The bartender smiled. “You got it.”

Maddie looked at the highball glass, then at William, wondering if the whole “no alcohol on the island” thing was just another wrinkle thrown in by the network. Not that the rocker’s drinking or not drinking was any of her business.

“One double Coca-Cola on the rocks for the road, coming right up,” the bartender said, taking his glass.

“You want a ride?” Hudson asked Maddie.

“No, thanks. I really need to get back to the others,” she said, oddly relieved that William the Wild was not, in fact, drinking liquor. She turned to go as Hudson clapped Will on the back.

Though he dropped his voice she overheard him when he said, “Very impressive. Six months ago that little encounter would have ended in blows. We would have been peeling old Dano off the ground.”

Will snorted. “Six months ago I would have enjoyed the fight. Shit. Nothing’s even close to what it used to be.”

The last words she heard were Hudson’s “Well, thank God for that.”