Opening a web portal, I looked at the paper Bennet handed me. On it was a copy of the guest information on one Tiffany Gladstone, originally of Williamsburg, Virginia. Bennet had been cautious, giving me her entire printout minus the photocopy of her passport the resort kept for security reasons. That would’ve been expecting too much.
I typed the information I had on her into my portal, letting my computer go to work. The connection I had wasn't over typical Internet lines, but was, in fact, satellite based, so I didn't need to worry about security. As I waited for the search to finish, I did a quick search on Melina. While I trusted her, a man in my position needed to be safe instead of sorry. I’d never been burned, and I wasn’t about to start now.
The search for Melina was faster, I didn't need as much information on her. Most of it I already knew, she'd told me over the past two days. As I expected, everything checked out.
It took two more minutes, but I soon had access to Tiffany Gladstone’s social media, her e-mail, and even her cell phone. Going through the files there, I quickly found what I wanted.
The video clip I found wasn't the nastiest sex tape I'd ever seen, the Internet could beat her by a mile, but it was enough to do what I needed to do. Opening my anonymous e-mail program, I sent the five-minute clip of her to every e-mail at her college as well as every e-mail in her contact list. When they opened it, it would look like she'd sent it herself.
The information in front of me also indicated that Tiffany had four credit cards, each of them tied in with her father, whose name I recognized. That was too much heat to bring down on someone for just a bit of bullying, so I closed the search and shut down my computer.
The next morning, before going to Bennet's office, I called Melina's room. "Hello?"
"Hi Melina,” I greeted her, my face breaking open in a smile at hearing her voice. "How are you doing?"
"Better than I thought I would have," she said, relieving me. "How about you?"
"I have to go down to the manager's office in a little bit to sign some forms, just to say I'm not going to sue the hell out of them," I lied, regretting it but not having a choice. "But after that, I was wondering if you'd like to grab that bike ride that you and I kind of talked about yesterday? I really regret how things ended last night, but I don't want to let it get in the way of having fun with you."
“Me either,” she said, her voice still a bit down from the giddy arousal of the night before but still better than what I'd heard when she'd trudged up the stairs barely holding back tears.
“I should be free by ten thirty. How about then?”
“That sounds great. And Cam . . . thank you.”
I sat back, pondering just how I’d try to brighten Melina’s day.
Chapter 9
Melina
I felt conspicuous in my t-shirt and shorts until Cam came around the path from the main resort building in an outfit that couldn't help but make me smile. "Really?"
"What?" Cam asked as he tugged at the bright pink t-shirt with flamingos on it along with the checkered shorts. "I decided to go casual today."
He came up and gave me a kiss on the cheek, smiling at me. "Besides, didn't it get you to smile?"
“You’re too much,” I said. "Come on, let's go. Think you can motivate me to climb the mountain today?"
Cam shrugged. "Well, I can try, but it might be a bit breezy in the between the legs when I do."
I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud, clearing the last of the storm clouds from my mood. "Okay, okay, mission accomplished. Let's go have some fun."
We checked out two bikes and started on our way, taking a lap of the outer rim of the island to warm up. I stopped my bike and shook out my legs. "So, I think I'm ready to try the mountain. Have you done it yet?"
"A few times," Cam replied. "It's not too bad, it looks a lot harder than it is. You set the pace, I'll stay with you."
We started off, and for the first half of the mountain, I thought things were just as he said, easy. I was just about to question why I'd not challenged myself the first time I rode one of the bikes when the incline sharply increased, and within seconds, I was gasping. "Holy shit."
"Just another hundred yards," Cam said behind me. I don't know if he was really as winded as I was, but he at least did a good job of faking it, his words coming in short little bursts. "Come on, next to me."
He pulled up beside me and looked over. “Just a little further. You can do it.”
His encouragement gave me what I needed, and I put my head down, leaning into the handlebars and pumping hard. The time seemed to pass slowly, each second feeling like an hour of pain, but somehow I made it.
I stopped and looked up, my breath screaming in my chest and my heart trip-hammering alongside it to look out over the entire island. In all directions I could see downward paths, and beyond it the whole of the island. "It's beautiful," I gasped, dismounting my bike. "Seriously, it's beautiful."