He glared at me. “Don’t turn this around on me. There’s only one person who’s at fault here.” I felt the color drain from my face. “Jesus, Ford, not because of the accident. Because of how you acted after it. You don’t think it damn near killed that girl to lose her sister and you in one fell swoop?”

I ran a hand through my hair, and it came away sticky. “I didn’t have a choice. You know what her parents threatened.”

“I know between that and losing Vi, we just about lost you. But I also know that you could’ve contacted Bell later. You know I would’ve gotten a message to her in a heartbeat. But you just walked straight out of her life.”

“Bell?”

Hunter’s expression grew shuttered, a little pain of his own shining through. “Don’t call her Isabelle. And sure as hell don’t call her Trouble. She goes by Bell now. Everything else…it just brings back memories, I think.”

I rubbed a hand along my stubbled jaw. “How long has she been working here?”

“Since she graduated from college.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Hunter pushed off the counter he leaned against. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that? You don’t get to have it both ways. You can’t refuse any mention of the island or the people you left behind and then act all wounded that you weren’t kept up-to-date. We were following your orders.”

My back teeth ground together. He was right, of course. Less than two hours on the island, and I was already losing it. It felt as if my skin were too tight for my body, every movement stiff and a little bit painful. And it was only going to get worse.

Hunter shook his head, moving on from my silence. “Are you staying with Mom and Dad?”

“No. I got a rental on the bluff.”

He let out a low whistle. “Mr. Bigshot is back in town.” The statement could’ve been simply a brotherly jibe, but it held just a touch too much venom. “How long’s your lease?”

It was the same as asking the one question I didn’t want to answer. How long are you staying? “I’m confirmed through summer, but there’s an option to extend if I need to.” I wouldn’t need it. I would work my ass off to get the bar on its feet again so that I could leave this place behind and never look back. I’d return to LA and figure out what was next for me. There was one thing I was sure of, it wasn’t Anchor.

5

BELL