The Bad Boys of Eden by Sharon Page, Eliza Gayle, Cathryn Fox, Opal Carew, Mari Carr, Adriana Hunter, Avery Aster, Steena Holmes, Roni Loren, Daire St. Denis Page B

and she picked it up.
    “Marissa, this is Rip.”
    Marissa tore the phone from her ear and jabbed the End button.
    God, she’d been distracted and forgotten to check caller id.  Now he knew she was here.  The phone rang again.  She stared at the letters on the display.  R-i-p.  An image of those letters on a tombstone—hers—flashed through her brain.
    Get a hold of yourself, girl.  He doesn’t know you’re here.  Just that you answered your cell.  You could be anywhere.  And he probably doesn’t even know where you live.
    She dialed Lana’s number.
    “Hey, what’s up?” Lana said on the other end of the line.  “Did you want to do that movie tonight?”
    “I…uh…just got a call.  It was from that ex I told you about.”
    “The biker?  How did he find out you were here?”
    “I don’t know and… I’m a little scared.  He’s actually called me twice.”
    “Was he at your apartment building?”
    “I don’t know.  I don’t think so.”
    “Pack a bag.  Now.  I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.  You’ll stay with me for a while.”
    * * *
    Marissa stood in the elevator watching the numbers on the display decrease, her suitcase on the floor beside her.  The doors whooshed open and she stepped out, rolling her bag alongside her.  As she walked through the lobby, she caught sight of a man outside the door glancing around the parking lot.
    A big man in a black leather jacket.
    He started to turn around and she dodged for a nearby pillar.  He glanced into the lobby, then back to the parking lot.
    Oh, God, those full lips, and clear blue eyes, and square jaw covered with scruff, except where a two inch scar slashed across his cheek.  That was Rip.
    Her heart pounded and she hurried down the hallway leading to the stairway to the parking garage.  It would have been easier to manage her suitcase if she’d gone back on the elevator, but she didn’t want to be caught there waiting for the doors to open if someone let Rip into the building.
    She opened the door and wrestled her suitcase down the stairs to P1, then she rolled it across the parking lot to the door which would take her out the other side of the building.  As soon as she got outside and had service again, she called Lana and asked her to drive to the back entrance to pick her up, explaining that Rip was at the front of the building.
    “Yeah, I just pulled into the parking lot and I see him near the entrance.  My God, girl, he is one sexy hunk.  You’re sure he’s dangerous?”
    “He and his friends killed a woman.  She was the girlfriend of one of the other gang members.  At least, she had been, then she’d broken up with him.”
    “Okay.  I get it.  I’ll be there in two.”
    * * *
    Marissa kept her head down while Lana pulled out of the parking lot.  She felt like a fugitive fleeing the police.  Once they were driving along the main road, far enough away from her apartment parking lot, she sat up and peered behind them.
    “Don’t worry.”  Lana smiled.  “There are no mad bikers chasing our asses.”
    “Thank you for coming and getting me.”
    Lana shrugged.  “That’s what friends do.”
    In Marissa’s experience that’s certainly not what friends did.  Friend’s ridiculed you for the mistakes you made, and told you to solve your own damn problems.  That’s why Marissa didn’t have any close friends.
    Until she’d moved here and met Lana.  In that, she realized just how lucky she was.
    * * *
    Marissa watched as Lana read the parchment invitation.  Lana’s eyebrows arched and she glanced at Marissa.
    “You’ve really had your ups and downs today.  Your murderous ex-boyfriend shows up to stalk you, and you receive a free invitation to the most expensive and elite resort in the world.”  She glanced at Marissa.  “You know they say the island knows what you need.”
    “You think I got the invitation so I could escape from Rip?”
    “Or maybe you’ll find yourself in the arms of