Authors: Kelly Jamieson
“Oh for god’s sake,” she said. She rubbed her forehead, trying to think. “You’re an adult. What you do is your business.”
“Not when the front desk clerk at the Red Maple Inn sees me and starts telling the whole town. And embarrassing my poor parents. Jesus.” He tipped his head back. “I knew I shouldn’t have come back here.”
Silence loomed around them. Kaelin didn’t know what to do, what to say. “I feel like I’m the one who should apologize,” she whispered, twisting her fingers together in front of her. “It was me who instigated that. It was my idea.” She tipped her head to one side and regarded Tyler miserably. “This time it was me who got you in trouble.”
“Oh for shit’s sake,” he growled. “Don’t be stupid. I get myself in trouble. All the fucking time.”
Nick closed his eyes and tipped his head back. “You know, I’m getting sick of that story,” he said.
“What?” Tyler glared at him.
Afraid they were going to start a fistfight, Kaelin took a step toward them.
“Never mind,” Nick said. “Kaelin, I’ll go back down with you.”
“I’m not going back,” she said heavily. “I can’t go back.”
“Nobody knows it was you,” Tyler reminded her. “Your reputation is safe, babe.”
“I’m not worried about that,” she said, though in fact, she was. A little. Her boss was down there. Could she get fired if someone found out? Dear lord, that entire law firm was so conservative and straitlaced, they probably didn’t know the meaning of ménage à trois without looking it up in a French dictionary. They would totally freak out if they knew.
It was her business, just like she’d told Tyler. And she didn’t regret a second of it.
“I’m not going back unless you both come,” she said.
“Oh Jesus.” Tyler finished the beer and smacked it down on the desk. “I’m not going back. Mom was right. It’s Avery’s wedding and I don’t want to ruin it for her. And to think…” He passed a hand over his eyes. “I was actually having a good time for a while there.”
Her heart squeezed and she took another step forward. “She wanted you there, Tyler. Avery did.”
He sighed. “Well, I was there. And now I’m gone. It’s done. The wedding’s almost over anyway. First thing in the morning, we’re checking out of here and getting our asses back to Chicago.”
Nick said nothing, his mouth pursed. Then he shook his head.
“What?” Tyler demanded.
“You gotta face your parents, man,” he said. “This is never going to end if you don’t.”
“Face them? How? Why? What am I supposed to say to them? What difference would it possibly make? I can’t defend myself to them.”
Kaelin gulped. Yeah, what was he going to tell them? It was true, they’d had a threesome last night in their hotel room. Couldn’t really get out of that.
“I don’t understand why they’re so upset about it,” she said, her voice still coming out in a near whisper through her tight throat. “Like I said, it’s your business. Who cares if you have threesomes every night of the week?”
Nick and Tyler exchanged a glance that confused her with its angst. What was going on?
“You know how they are,” Tyler said, not meeting her eyes.
“Yes, but…well. I suppose it is a little shocking.”
Tyler laughed. “Kaelin Daume. Are you telling me threesomes are common in Mapleglen?”
“No.” He was back to his mocking, cynical self, and her stomach cramped. “I’m not saying that. I guess you’re right. Your mom and dad were always worried about what people thought.”
“And so are you.”
She met his gaze, her heart thudding painfully in her chest, her legs shaking.
“Aren’t you?” he challenged.
She bit her bottom lip to stop it from trembling, looked at Nick, who surged up off the bed.
“Enough, Tyler. You’re being an asshole again.” Nick came at her and wrapped her up in a hug and she leaned into him, her eyes burning, throat paralyzed. “Kaelin. It’s okay. I’m sorry about all this.”
“You don’t need to be sorry,” she mumbled into his shoulder. “I’m the one who should be sorry. But I don’t know how to fix it.”
“You don’t need to fix it.” Nick glanced at Tyler. “It’s Tyler’s problem to fix. He just doesn’t want to.”
Chapter Twelve
They were actually in the car, packed up and ready to leave town, when Nick brought it up again. Damn him.
“You should go say goodbye to Avery, at least,” Nick said quietly from the passenger seat. “If not Kaelin.”
Tyler slid his sunglasses onto his nose. It was later than he’d wanted to leave, but they’d both crashed and slept late. They’d grabbed breakfast in the hotel coffee shop and packed up, but it was noon already.
“They’re busy opening gifts at the house,” he said. “Let’s just go.”
“Tyler.”
He sighed and stared straight ahead.
“You know you have to deal with this.”
“Why?”
“Because this chip on your shoulder is wrecking your life. Fuck.” Nick turned his head away and looked out the side window for a moment. “Look at you. We’ve been arguing about the Healthy Solutions account. You want the money and don’t care about the ethics. You want the prestige of having them for a client.”
“What the hell does that have to do with anything?” Tyler asked. “It’ll make a difference. You can’t deny that.”
“We don’t need them,” Nick said. “We’ll have other opportunities to demonstrate your brilliance, to make money. And I’m not sure I want to be associated with a company who scams people.”
Tyler tightened his mouth. “Buyer beware.”
“Don’t you see? You only want them for a client because of how it will look good for us. You’re no different than your parents, for Chrissake.”
Tyler felt everything inside him shift as he processed Nick’s words. That was not true. He wanted to shout out a denial. But he couldn’t. Shit.
Shit.
“You push away people who care for you. I know how you feel about Kaelin. How you’ve always felt about her. And you hurt her feelings.”
“She knew that was just one night.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. And you know it.”
Yeah. He did. Guilt washed through him. He still stared out the windshield, still parked in the hotel parking lot. “There’s no fucking way we could ever have anything,” he growled. “She’s way too good for that.”
Nick heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Do you have any idea how insulting that is?”
Tyler turned and squinted at him through his dark lenses. “What are you talking about?”
“She’s too good for you. But I’m not. What does that say about me?”
Tyler stared at Nick wordlessly, mouth open, then closing. He swallowed. His brain ran in circles. “It’s not like that,” he said. “It’s different. It’s not an insult.”
“Forget it.” Nick waved a hand. “If you go back there and try to talk to them, what do you think will happen?”
“Nothing! That’s the point! Nothing will change!”
“No, I mean, what’s the worst thing that could happen? What the hell are you so afraid of?”
Tyler gripped the steering wheel so tight his fingers hurt. His head felt as if it was going to explode, so much pressure built up inside him. His heart hammered and stomach churned. What
was
he afraid of?
He knew. He’d always known. He closed his eyes. Gritted his teeth.
“Tyler.” Nick’s voice was softer.
“I’m afraid—” His voice cracked. Embarrassed, he turned away. “Fuck. Fuck you, Nick.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I’m afraid…” He swallowed hard. “If I tell them the truth, I’m afraid it won’t make any difference.” The words were wrenched out of him painfully, like ripping a hole in his gut. “They still won’t love me, even if they know the truth.”
There. It was out. He’d spoken it aloud. He couldn’t look at Nick.
Nick’s hand landed on his knee. “You gotta face it, man,” he said again, quietly. “You gotta live with yourself. Thinking that is eating you alive. You have to tell them. You have to try to move on.”
“I can’t tell them everything. Some of it’s not mine to tell.” He thought of Kaelin confronting him about the wrecked car when he was seventeen. He couldn’t betray his sister by telling his parents the truth about that.
“Not all of it, no.”
“I tried to tell them. They didn’t believe me.”
“You didn’t try. Like always, you just let them blame you and never said a goddamn word.”
Tyler bent his head.
“You wanted them to have stuff to hate you about, didn’t you?”
He said nothing, but he knew the truth of it. He’d never felt he could live up to their expectations. So he made sure that he didn’t.
“How’s that working for you?” Nick asked dryly, breaking the tension. Tyler choked out a laugh.
“I can’t do it.”
“I’m with you.”
“I’m not sure that helps.” Tyler lifted his head and gave Nick a rueful smile. “You want me to tell them about us?”
“If you want to, I’m fine with it.” Nick held his gaze steadily.
“Fuck, man,” Tyler whispered. “You fucking kill me.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m fine if you don’t tell them, too. Your choice.”
Tyler felt as if his guts were being ripped out of him. “Fuck,” he said again.
With a smile on her face but a heavy heart, Kaelin watched Avery open another lovely gift. She’d admired the gifts, helped Avery keep track of who’d given what, fetched more drinks and coffee for the family members who had gathered in the Wirth living room the day after the wedding. It wasn’t a large gathering, and Tyler’s absence was very conspicuous.
Even though he wasn’t there, the tension in the room was palpable. Dr. and Mrs. Wirth looked as if they hadn’t had much sleep. They barely spoke to each other—in fact, they barely looked at each other. Even Avery, glowing and happy, had a glimmer of worry in her eyes. Again, Kaelin and she didn’t speak about what had happened the night before, and Kaelin wasn’t even sure if Avery knew anything about it.
Secrets. So many secrets. Probably many she didn’t even know about in this complicated family.
She sighed, remembering Tyler’s anguish the night before. Both his parents’ reaction and his seemed a little out of proportion about the whole thing, though she had to admit maybe she’d feel differently if she’d been identified as the “hooker” they’d taken up to their room.
She rolled her eyes, earning a puzzled glance from Avery. “You don’t like these candlesticks?” Avery asked.
“Oh no! They’re lovely.”
Avery nodded and packed them back into the tissue.
She’d rolled her eyes because she was suddenly so tired of worrying what people thought, and annoyed with Dr. and Mrs. Wirth’s insistence on maintaining the perfect image. All through the wedding plans she’d had to battle with that, to keep what Avery wanted in the forefront, not what her mother wanted or thought they should have. She was exhausted from all of it.
And then the front door opened and closed.
“Can you see who that is, Kaelin dear?” Mrs. Wirth called from the kitchen.
“Of course.”
And just as she arrived at the French doors, she came face-to-face with Tyler, Nick following right behind him. They stopped and stared at each other.
“Hey,” he finally said. “Just stopped in on our way out of town to…uh…”
His hair was going every which way, he hadn’t shaved and his usual devilish smile was absent. His gray T-shirt hugged his wide chest and abs, and faded jeans, the ones he’d dragged on the other night to go searching for munchies for them, sat low on his hips, low enough to reveal a thin strip of golden skin between the hem of his T-shirt and the jeans. Nick’s dark jeans and black shirt were just as sexy, but in a different way.
“Come in,” Kaelin said.
“Hey, Tyler, come see what we got,” Avery called from where she sat in an armchair. “I thought you two weren’t coming.”
“Yeah. Well…”
The smooth-talking devil seemed at a loss for words today. Worry gnawed at Kaelin’s tummy and she exchanged a glance with Nick that, for once, didn’t reassure her. He didn’t look much better than Tyler, tired and quiet. Though Nick was always quieter than Tyler.
“I wanted to say goodbye to you. And Scott,” Tyler said. “When are you leaving on your honeymoon?”
“Tonight. We drive to St. Louis and fly out from there.”
“Three weeks in Europe. Sounds amazing.”
She smiled up at him. “Yeah. I’m excited.”
“Where are Mom and Dad?” Tyler asked, looking around.
“Mom’s making more coffee. Not sure where Dad is.”
“He’s in the den watching golf,” Scott said, walking into the room. “Hey, Tyler, Nick.”
A muscle twitched in Tyler’s jaw. “I guess I’ll go find him. Need to talk to them both.”
Kaelin met Nick’s eyes. He pursed his lips and folded his arms across his broad chest, then sighed as Tyler disappeared. She moved closer to him. “What’s going on?” she asked him quietly.
“He has something he wants to talk to them about.”
She squinted at him unhappily. “Is it about last night?”
“No. Well, sort of. But it’s not about you. Don’t worry.”
“I
am
worried. I don’t understand what’s going on. I mean, I do, but it all seems so blown out of proportion.”
Nick blew out a breath and rubbed his nearly shaved head. “Maybe you should know about it. You were kind of involved.”
“Know about what?” Confusion swirled inside her.
“Come in the kitchen.” He led the way to the now empty kitchen. Coffee dripped into the carafe of the coffeemaker on the counter. It smelled dark and delicious. The door to the den off the kitchen was open and they heard Tyler’s voice, but couldn’t hear what he was saying.
Nick turned to her, and spoke quietly. “You know that night you walked in on us? Ten years ago?”
Her stomach swooped. “Yes.”
Nick closed his eyes. Then opened them. He looked as if someone were stabbing him in the stomach. “After you showed up, Tracy uh…changed her mind about what we were doing. She wanted to go home. I think she freaked out that someone else saw her like that.”
Kaelin didn’t know what to say to that. Freaked out was probably a mild way to describe how Tracy had felt, although she’d been enjoying herself pretty well up to that point as Kaelin stood there hiding behind the door, watching and listening. “I’m sorry,” she said stiffly, wondering if they blamed her for ending their fun.