From Best Friend to Bride (6 page)

Chapter Seven

C
ameron needed this break. Between work and keeping track of Evan at various late-night meetings and that semierotic evening spent with Megan, he was about to lose it.

Drinking a beer on Eli’s new patio with his brothers while their wives sat in the house discussing babies or shoes or some other frightening topic was exactly what he needed to relax.

Of course the incident with Megan had happened only two days ago and he still hadn’t been able to get a grasp on how much that kiss, both kisses, had affected him.

“We’ve lost him again,” Eli mocked, pulling Cameron from his daze.

“He’s still working in his head.” Drake took a pull of his beer, then let the bottle dangle between his knees. “You’re off the clock right now. Enjoy it.”

Cameron rested his forearms on the edge of the deck railing and glanced out into the wooded backyard. Eli had built an addition on his home and then added the deck. He and his wife of nearly a year, and their baby, lived in their own little corner on the edge of town.

Drake, with his new bride and adorable stepdaughter, was embracing family life, as well. Drake had even mentioned how he and Marly wanted to try for a baby of their own.

Cameron couldn’t be happier for his brothers, but they could keep their minivans, grocery lists and scheduled bedtimes. That wasn’t a lifestyle he saw himself settling into anytime soon...if ever.

“I’m not working in my head,” he defended himself. “I’m just enjoying listening to you two go on about recipes and paint swatches like a bunch of old ladies at a hair salon.”

“Someone’s grouchy,” Eli muttered.

“Maybe he doesn’t have a recipe worth sharing and he’s embarrassed,” Drake added with a low chuckle.

Cameron turned, flipping his brothers the one-finger salute. He missed getting together with them. They used to try to have a cookout or something once a week, especially since Eli’s deployments were over and he was officially a civilian now, but Cameron’s schedule was anything but regular. He hated putting work ahead of his family, but sometimes he couldn’t help the matter. The criminals didn’t seem to keep nine-to-five hours.

“Oh, hell,” Drake whispered as he sat straight up in his deck chair. “You’ve finally got woman issues.”

Eli’s head whipped around, his gaze narrowing on Cameron. “Seriously? Because if you have woman issues, that means you have a woman, which is a damn miracle.”

Finishing off his beer, knowing full well he needed something stronger to get into this discussion, Cameron tossed his empty bottle into the bin.

“I don’t have a woman,” he ground out, dropping onto the settee. “I have a headache over one.”

Why did he have to go and issue Megan that challenge? Why did he have to push her into proving she was lying? Because all he’d gotten out of the deal was a hell of a great kiss, sleepless nights full of fantasies fueled by his best friend and a whole lot of anger with himself for crossing the line.

His own issues aside, how could he actually move to another level with Megan knowing her brother was well on his way to prison? Hell, Cameron was having a hard time keeping that bottled up now, and they were just friends. How could he keep secrets if he allowed intimacy to slip into the picture?

“Who is she?” Eli asked. “Oh, is it the new lady in town that lives out behind the grocery store? I hear she’s single and if those tight-fitting clothes and spike heels aren’t an invitation—”

“An invitation to what?” Nora asked from the patio door with her arms crossed over her chest, a quirked brow and a knowing grin on her face.

Eli cleared his throat. “Hey, babe,” he said, crossing the wide area to wrap an arm around her waist. “I was just thinking about you.”

She swatted him in the stomach. “If you think I’ll ever dress like I work a pole every night, you’re insane.”

Eli groaned. “Please, don’t mention a pole.”

Cameron and Drake exchanged a conspiratorial look before they busted out laughing. “Still scarred from the image of Maddie Mays?”

Squeezing his eyes shut, Eli shook his head. “I’m trying to forget, but she was in again yesterday. Why does she always bring up her workout regime with me?”

“Because you’re her doctor,” Cameron smirked, enjoying the idea of his brother in such an awkward position. “Aren’t you sworn to secrecy? I don’t think you should share such things with us.”

Eli blinked, narrowing his gaze. “If I have to suffer at the image, then so do you two.”

“Mad” Maddie Mays had seemed to be a hundred years old when they were kids. At this point she may have been the same age as Noah and survived by hiding out on the ark. She’d never been a fan of the St. John boys and found their shenanigans less than amusing. More often than not, she’d chased them out of her yard wielding a rolling pin, baseball bat or sometimes both to really get her point across.

Now with Eli taking over their father’s clinic, Maddie had no choice but to associate with at least one of the St. John boys, unless she wanted to find a doctor in a neighboring town. Apparently she’d warmed up to Eli. Perhaps sharing her unorthodox exercise routine was just her way of getting back at him for being a menace as a kid.

“If you guys are done discussing that poor woman, I wanted to know if you all had mentioned date night to Cameron.” Nora took the bottle from Eli’s hands and took a drink.

“What date night?” Cameron eyed his brothers. “You two aren’t my type.”

Nora smiled. “Actually we were wondering if you’d like to play the cool uncle while we went out. I was hesitant to ask you, but Eli and Drake assured me you wouldn’t mind if you weren’t busy.”

Stunned, Cameron considered the idea, then shrugged. “Sure, I can do it.” He’d just schedule the diaper changing and mac-and-cheese dinner around watching for drug smugglers. “How hard can watching a baby and a six-year-old be?”

His brothers exchanged a look and nearly turned red trying to hold back a comment or laughter.
Oh, they think I’m not capable? Challenge accepted.

“Seriously?” Cameron went on. “You’re already thinking I’m going to blow this? I run a town, for pity’s sake. Surely I can handle two kids.”

Nora stepped forward, patted his arm and offered a smile that was a bit on the patronizing side. Did nobody have faith in him?

“Just tell us when you’re free,” she told him.

Running his crazy schedule through his mind, Cameron knew there wouldn’t be a great night, but he could surely spare a few hours. “I could do it Sunday evening.”

“I work until four, but we could go after that,” Drake chimed in.

“Great.” Nora beamed. She leaned down, kissed Cameron on the cheek and patted his shoulder. “I’ll go tell Marly.”

She raced back into the house and Cameron leaned his head back against the cushion on the settee. Both brothers stared down at him.

“What?”

“You’re not getting off the hook about this woman that has you tied in knots just because you’re babysitting,” Eli insisted. “We’ll get the truth out of you one way or another.”

Cameron didn’t even know what there was to tell. Megan had kissed him, he’d kissed her and since then they hadn’t spoken. What a mess, and most of it was his fault. If he hadn’t insisted on challenging her, if he’d let her lie her way out of the first kiss, they would’ve moved on and ignored that pivotal turn they’d taken.

No way would he reveal Megan’s name to his brothers. She was like a sister to them, and he wasn’t sure they’d be on board with how Cameron had treated her.

But damn it, she’d tied him up in knots the second she’d slid her body against his.

“Come on—you can’t sit there brooding and not fill us in.” Drake leaned an elbow against the railing. “It has to be someone you know since you work every waking second. You don’t have time to meet women unless it’s someone you’re arresting. Please, tell me you don’t have some prisoner-guard romance going because if you do we’re staging an intervention.”

“Do you ever shut up?” Cameron asked, without heat. “Can’t a guy keep some things to himself?”

“No,” Eli and Drake replied in unison.

Raking a hand down his face, Cameron came to his feet. He couldn’t stay any longer. If he did, they’d figure out who had him in knots and he couldn’t afford to let that out right now, not when he was so confused. And he had no clue what was going through Megan’s head, either.

“Now he’s leaving.” Eli laughed. “This must be bad if you’re running from your own brothers.”

“It’s a small town,” Drake added with a smile that stated he’d get to the bottom of it. “Secrets don’t stay hidden long. The truth will come out eventually.”

Cameron glared at his brothers before heading into the house to say goodbye to his sisters-in-law and his nieces.

The truth coming out was precisely what he couldn’t have happen. But he knew he wasn’t telling anybody about the incident and he doubted Megan would tell anyone, so that left the secret bottled up good and tight.

The question now was: When would it explode?

* * *

Megan hadn’t even made it home from work when her cell rang. She’d just pulled onto her road when she answered without looking.

“Hello.”

“I’m sorry to bother you.”

Instantly Megan recognized the voice of one of her clients...a girl who’d just been in earlier that afternoon and the same one who’d called in the middle of the night days ago. Farrah wasn’t the most stable person, and Megan made a point to really work with her. Megan cared for all her clients’ well-being, but Farrah was extremely unstable and truly had no one else to turn to.

“Don’t apologize,” Megan insisted as she neared her driveway. “I’m here for you anytime.”

“Earlier you told me that moving forward was the only way to start over.”

Megan eased her car into the detached garage. “That’s right.”

Farrah sniffed. “I’m going to look for a job tomorrow. It’s time I move out and try to make my life my own.”

Megan had been waiting for Farrah to see that she needed to stand on her own two feet, to get away from the controlling man who held so much power over her. Megan had tried to stress how control can often quickly turn to abuse.

“I just wanted to thank you for today, and maybe... Could I put you down as a reference?”

Megan smiled as she killed the engine. “That would be fine. I’m really proud of you, Farrah.”

Farrah thanked her, then ended the call. By the time Megan gathered her things and headed across the stone walkway to her back door, her phone was ringing again. She glanced at the screen and saw Evan’s number. She hated how her first instinct was to groan. How was it she could counsel total strangers, yet her own flesh and blood refused to take her advice or even consider for a moment that she wasn’t trying to control him?

With a sigh, she answered as she shoved her key in her new doorknob. “Hi, Evan.”

“Can I stay with you for a few nights?”

Stunned, Megan froze with her hand on the knob. She wasn’t shocked at his abrupt question without so much as a greeting, but at the request. It was unusual for him not to ask for money first.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I just...I need a place to crash. You going to help me or not?”

Closing her eyes, Megan leaned her head against the glass on the door. Even though his tone was put out and angry, he was at least coming to her for support.

“I’ll always help you, Evan. But are you asking because you’re ready to make changes in your life or because you’re hiding?”

“Forget it,” he grunted. “You’re always judging me.”

“No, Evan. I’m not judging—I’m worried.”

Silence filled the line. Megan straightened and strained to hear.

“Evan?”

“If I wanted to change, could you help me?”

Now his voice came out in a near whisper, reminding her of the young boy he’d once been. At one time he’d looked up to her. When did all of that change?

“I’d do anything for you,” she assured him. “Do you need help? I can come get you right now.”

Again silence filled the line. She waited, not wanting to push further. This was the first time he actually sounded as if he may want to let her in. Megan prayed he would take the olive branch she’d been holding out for so long.

Commotion from the other end of the line, muffled voices and Evan’s swearing told her the conversation was dead.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll call you later,” he whispered as if he didn’t want to be heard.

Gripping her phone, Megan pushed her way into the house. She didn’t know why she’d let herself get her hopes up for those few seconds. She didn’t know why she was constantly beating herself up over a man who might just continue to use her for the rest of their lives. But he was her brother and she would never give up. She may be frustrated and oftentimes deflated, but she wasn’t a quitter and she would make damn sure he wasn’t, either.

He’d called; that was a major step.

After hanging her purse on the peg by the back door, Megan slid her keys and phone inside. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she’d skipped lunch again in order to squeeze in one more client. Her supervisor kept telling her she needed to take breaks, but how could Megan justify them when someone’s life could very well be in her hands? What if it was the patient who was contemplating suicide or leaving a spouse and they needed to talk right then? Megan couldn’t turn them away.

Her eyes landed on the letter she’d tacked to the side of her refrigerator. The letter outlining every detail for the new position she’d been offered in Memphis. The job was almost too good to be true, but it meant leaving Cameron, leaving the chance for something she’d wanted her whole life.

The directors had certainly pulled out all the stops to get her to take the position. The opportunity to help launch a free clinic in an area of town where people had been forgotten, left to their own devices. Megan wasn’t married, didn’t have kids and had been recommended for this job by her boss. How could she say no?

Two very valid reasons kept her from jumping at this chance of a lifetime: Evan and Cameron. Both men were fixtures in her life, and both men needed her whether either of them admitted it or not.