He Put His Ex First, So I Found My True Mate novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The Gate

The stranger is Conal, the ferryman, who knows her name and drives her to a full harbor inn. He offers the lighthouse spare room, and headlights come down the road behind them.

The man at the gate looked at me, then at my suitcase, then at the clipboard in his hand.

"Corbett?" he said.

I stopped walking.

I had never seen him before in my life.

"That's me."

"Then you owe me for this." He nodded at a case of champagne on the truck bed. "Gisela Lowell called it in an hour ago. She said to put it on your card."

"How much?"

"Fourteen hundred dollars."

He turned the clipboard around so I could read it.

"The house locks at midnight, I'm told. Either you're leaving or I'm not getting paid."

"I'm leaving."

"Good for you."

"And I'm not paying for that."

"Good for me, then." He tore the slip in half and dropped both pieces in his jacket pocket. "I'll take it back to the dock and let her explain it to the distributor."

He was tall and wide through the shoulders, with dark hair going gray above his ears.

His jacket smelled of pine tar and diesel and cold salt.

Ember turned over inside my chest and stretched.

She hadn't moved for anybody in months.

I tried to ignore her and reached for the truck door.

My hand missed the handle.

His hand closed lightly around my wrist and put it where it belonged.

Heat ran up my arm to the shoulder.

Ember pushed hard against my ribs.

He let go at once.

He looked at his own hand, then at me, and his gray eyes flashed gold.

"Sorry," he said. "You were about to hit the glass."

"Thank you." My voice came out strange. "Where does this road go, besides here?"

"The harbor, the inn, and the lighthouse if you keep going." He lifted my suitcase onto the seat. "I can drop you at the inn."

"I'd appreciate that."

"It's the Founders' weekend. They'll have a room if you're lucky and a family crest on the door if you're not."

I climbed in.

He started the engine, and the Lowell gate shrank in the mirror.

Nobody ran after me.

Nobody called.

I checked the phone in my lap and found nothing from Torben.

"Do you always walk out of rich people's parties carrying your own luggage?" Conal asked.

"First time."

"It suits you."

"I paid for the party."

"That's worse. That's the kind of walkout people remember."

I laughed, and then I was horrified to find my eyes stinging.

He kept his eyes on the road and slowed for the curve.

He said nothing until I had wiped my face on my sleeve.

"My name's Conal Cardross," he said then. "I run the supply ferry."

"Isla."

"I know. It's on the slip."

"You said Corbett. Was that on the slip too?"

"It was." The corner of his mouth moved. "I like to start with the last name. It keeps people honest."

The harbor was one long street of shingled shops and boats with their lights on.

The inn stood at the end of the quay with every window lit.

A hand-lettered card hung on the door: Booked for the Founders' weekend. Lowell family.

"Of course it is," I said.

I went in anyway.

The woman at the desk looked up with real sympathy and shook her head before I could ask.

"Every room, dear. Mrs. Lowell took the whole floor in June."

"In June."

"She said it was for family who might need somewhere to go."

I stood there with my hand on the counter.

In June, I had still been engaged.

In June, I had been choosing napkins.

When I came back out, Conal was leaning on the truck with his arms crossed.

He took one look at me and didn't ask.

"Full?" he said.

"The whole floor. Since June."

He nodded slowly.

I had known him for an hour, and I could already see him choosing his words.

"There's a spare room at the lighthouse," he said. "It has a lock on the inside. I'll sleep downstairs, and you can leave in the morning with no questions."

"You don't know me."

"I know your name. I know you cancelled the Lowells' party at the front door of their own house."

He looked up the road toward the cliff.

"That's the best reference I've heard all year."

I should have said no.

I had walked out of one man's house an hour earlier, and I was not about to be driven to another man's lighthouse.

Ember pushed against my ribs, and for once I knew exactly what she wanted.

"Before you answer," Conal said quietly, "you should know something."

"What?"

"Gisela Lowell hasn't let me past that gate in three years. If you stay with me, she'll hear about it by morning."

Behind us, a pair of headlights swung onto the quay and came down the street fast.

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend