Authors: Kelly Jamieson
“I love you, Ken,” she whispered.
“I love you too.”
“I know I’ve been stressed about the wedding. And about Tyler coming home.”
“It’s okay.”
“I was so looking forward to seeing him,” she murmured, her fingers rubbing over Ken’s shoulder. “But he hasn’t even wanted to talk to me.”
Ken was silent. No, he wouldn’t talk about it. She knew it. She swallowed a sob, her disappointment at how things were going with Tyler almost choking her. Tomorrow was the wedding. It was probably her last chance to try to connect with Tyler, to tell him how she felt, if he’d even bother to talk to her. The next day he would leave again, and what would happen after that?
For some reason, the wedding and making things up with Tyler had gotten all twisted up in her mind with making a new start, with things being better, with the rest of her life being different, and she had a dismal, creeping feeling that it wasn’t going to work out that way. Tyler wanted nothing to do with her, and Avery was getting married and going back to Los Angeles, and the rest of Margot’s life stretched out in front of her empty and barren and terrifying.
Tyler sat in the Mapleglen police station, head in his hands. Somehow he just knew this was going to end up his fault. Meanwhile he had a black eye and the groom was in a holding cell. Christ.
He hadn’t wanted Scott to call Avery. He was sure they could have figured out a way out of this without his sister ever having to know her future husband had been stupid drunk and gotten his ass arrested. Now she was on her way there and oh man, there was going to be shit hitting the fan. He groaned.
Hardeep let out a snore, passed out in the chair next to him. Nick’s hand rubbed Tyler’s back, but just briefly. And then Avery came tearing in, all outraged blonde hair and blue eyes. Kaelin was right behind her. Shit.
Tyler surged to his feet and met his sister.
“Where the hell is he?” she demanded. “And what the fuck is going on?”
“Sshh, calm down,” he said, taking her hands. “He’s fine.”
She snorted. “He may be fine now, but just wait. Jesus Christ, what the hell were you guys doing, Tyler?”
“Well, um. We went to Fitzgeralds. ’Cause, you know, you have to go there when you come to Mapleglen.”
She glared at him.
“He had a few shots of Jameson. A couple of Guinness. Then he wanted to go somewhere with…uh…” He shot Nick a pleading glance. Nick sat back, arms folded across his chest, very unhelpfully. “Uh, more action,” he finished, euphemistically
But Avery wasn’t stupid. “Christ,” she said. “You took him to the Pussy Cat Palace, didn’t you?”
Tyler grimaced. “Uh. Yeah. It’s totally my fault, I should never have told him about the place.”
Avery’s eyes shot blue sparks. “No shit.”
“He said you don’t mind when he goes to see exotic dancers.”
Avery’s lips compressed. “Whatever. So how did he get arrested?”
Tyler looked at Kaelin. Her pretty face was expressionless. She was probably as pissed at him as Avery was, but she was trying hard not to show it. “Well. When we left, we were waiting for a taxi, and down the street from the Pussy Palace, I mean Pussy Cat Palace, there was a fire truck parked on the street. Didn’t seem to be a fire, and all the firefighters were inside somewhere, but Scott said…uh…he’d always wanted to be a firefighter. He said you have a thing for firefighters, in their uniforms, and you guys do this role play thing…”
Avery’s face went scarlet. Well shit, sharing that might have been a mistake.
“Anyway,” he hurried on, glancing at Kaelin, whose lips twitched. “He climbed up into the fire truck. I tried to stop him, Ave, I swear it. I grabbed his shirt—um, that’s why it’s ripped—and tried to pull him down but he was determined. And then…well…” He paused. He wasn’t doing a good job of this. Avery looked more and more furious with every word. Maybe there wasn’t going to be a wedding tomorrow.
“So.” He grinned. “We all got in and then I saw the keys were in the vehicle and I thought, hey, might as well make his last single night one to remember and I started the truck up and we went for a ride.”
Silence expanded thickly around them all in the waiting room, other than the small choking noise Nick made.
“You…you…” Avery stared at him, mouth gaping. “
You went for a ride? In a fire truck?
”
He lifted his shoulders.
“Are you fucking insane?” she yelled, and the officer on duty at the desk looked up and frowned. She punched Tyler’s chest and he jumped. “What the hell were you thinking? And why aren’t you the one arrested?”
“Uh. Little mix-up. When the cops caught us. They thought Scott was driving, but he wasn’t. I tried to tell them, but…you know.” He made a face and lifted his hands. “Cops. I’m really sorry, Ave. But we’ll get him out. It’s just a misunderstanding.”
He looked at Kaelin, whose eyes were closed, her lips trembling. Hell, she was
laughing
. What the fuck?
“What do we have to do?” Avery demanded. “To get him out?”
“They said we can…uh…post bail. But not until tomorrow.”
Avery’s screech had him wincing.
Kaelin went over to the desk. “Hi, Officer Cuthbert,” she said. “Is Brent working tonight?”
“Hey, Kaelin. No he’s not.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Kaelin pulled her cell phone out of her purse and punched in a number. She waited. Who the hell was she calling?
“Hi, Brent,” she said. “It’s me, Kaelin. Yeah. Good. Um…I have a little problem.”
She turned away and walked to the end of the waiting room so Tyler couldn’t hear her. Shit. She was talking to the cop boyfriend. Or whatever he was to her. She said they’d broken up. A moment later she returned, off the phone.
“Brent’s coming,” she told Avery, patting her shoulder. “We’ll get this all sorted out.”
Tyler scowled at her and she blinked at him.
“Can I see him?” Avery demanded.
“Sure,” the officer on duty said. “We’ll bring him to a room. Be about ten minutes.”
“Ten…” She looked like she was going to explode. “Fine.” She stomped over to the chair and sat down, casting Hardeep a baleful look.
She set her purse on her lap and folded her hands over it, staring resolutely across the room.
“It’ll be okay, Avery.” Kaelin sat beside her and rubbed her shoulder. “It’s not that big a deal.”
Now it was Tyler’s turn to gape at her. Scott was in jail. He’d stolen a fucking fire truck. And it was no big deal? To the girl who followed all the rules, played it safe, never drew attention to herself?
Tyler slumped down into one of the cheap plastic chairs. He’d been to this police station years ago under similar circumstances. He and Nick had taken Nick’s grandma’s car for a joy ride when they’d been fifteen, and not only got caught, but had been caught with beer in the car. His parents had been unfuckingbelievably pissed off when they’d come to get him that night. Then there was the time Dad’s car had been totaled. And then, that incident ten years ago. He’d been so shit scared that he was going to end up in jail again, only that time he was nearly an adult and… He shook his head, blocking that gut-wrenching memory.
Moments later, a man walked into the station, tall, broad, short-cropped dark hair, square jaw. Tyler wanted to punch him the minute he saw him, knowing exactly who it was. The guy went straight to Kaelin.
“Kaelin, honey, what’s going on?”
She rose, gave him a hesitant smile and let him hug her. Tyler’s gut twisted and his skin tightened, and he scowled at them. Kaelin explained the situation to the guy, introduced him briefly to the others, Hardeep still snoring away. Then Cop Boy nodded and disappeared through a door. Kaelin met his hard stare.
“What?” she asked.
“That’s the boyfriend?”
“Um…ex. Sort of.”
Sort of? What the hell did that mean?
“You said you broke up.”
“Yes.” She nibbled her bottom lip as she took her seat again, perching on the edge of the chair. “We did. He still wants to get back together. I guess.”
“You guess?”
Fuck.
“Okay, he does. But you know. It didn’t work out, so…” Her voice trailed off.
“Sucked in bed, huh?”
Her eyes shot wide. “Tyler!”
He laughed. Her expression said it all. It was true. Man, he could show her. Cop Boy didn’t know how to satisfy her, but he could.
Christ. He was drunk.
He had to be shitfaced to be thinking things like that. He slumped lower in the chair. His shiner throbbed and his shoulder twinged a little from the tussle he’d had with Scott. Hell. Shit. Fuck. Damn.
It wasn’t long before Scott appeared, looking like crap, what little hair he had mussed, his eyes red, shirt ripped. Cop Boy was behind him. Avery jumped to her feet and rushed toward Scott, and Kaelin rose too, slower, and moved toward Brent.
Tyler watched glumly, though relief slid through him that Scott was out. Reluctant gratitude toward Cop Boy rose inside him. He stood.
“Thank you so much,” Kaelin said breathlessly, gripping Cop Boy’s big biceps. Tyler gritted his teeth. “I so much appreciate this, Brent.”
“Not a problem. You know I’d do anything for you. And I’m sure this was all just a misunderstanding.”
“Thank you.” Avery turned to him as well. She eyed him up and down, glanced at Kaelin then back at Brent. “Thank you so much, Brent. We’re getting married tomorrow.”
“I know.” Brent grinned. “Take your fiancé home and put him to bed so he’s not too hungover to say his vows tomorrow.”
Shit. The guy was decent. But when Brent looked down at Kaelin, standing beside him in her sexy little black dress and heels, Tyler saw the hunger in his eyes and once again wanted to deck the sonofabitch. His hands curled into fists.
“I’m driving,” Kaelin said. “I’ll take you home first, Avery, and then I’ll take the guys back to the hotel.” Scott had a room there too.
They woke Hardeep and dragged him out of the station. Scott wasn’t all that steady either, so it took Nick to help Hardeep and Tyler to help Scott. Then they discovered there were only three seatbelts in the back seat of Kaelin’s little black Mazda.
She stood there biting her lip.
“Oh for Chrissake,” Tyler said. “We’ve already been arrested once tonight, it won’t happen again.”
“What if I get in an accident?” She turned big brown eyes on him. “I don’t want anyone killed before the wedding.”
“But after the wedding is okay,” Avery said, and Hardeep cracked up laughing and almost fell over.
Kaelin rolled her eyes. “Get in,” she said, climbing into the driver’s seat. “But if I get a ticket, you guys will all be sorry.”
“Just get Cop Boy to cancel it,” Tyler suggested, shoving Scott into the back seat.
Scott grunted and fell in. With Nick, Scott and Hardeep all in, Avery climbed in and arranged herself over their laps. Jesus, it was like high school all over again, breaking the rules, drinking and driving, not wearing seatbelts. Tyler sighed. Somehow it wasn’t as much fun as it had been then.
Kaelin drove through dark quiet streets to the Wirth home and Tyler recognized that she was staying off main streets and taking a zigzag route. He smiled at her with admiration from his place in the front passenger seat and patted her thigh approvingly. She smacked his hand away.
“What?” He turned hurt eyes on her. “You’re doing good, sweetheart.”
She shot him a glance, mouth tight, hands on the steering wheel.
Avery climbed out when they got to their parents’ place. She gripped the edge of the open passenger door window, bent down and glared at Tyler. “Make sure he gets back to the hotel safe and sound,” she snapped. “So I can kick his ass tomorrow when he can feel it.”
Tyler winced. “Avery, remember, this was my fault? He just wanted to look at the truck.”
“No way, man,” Scott piped up from the back seat. “I wanted to drive that fucker!”
Avery’s gaze shifted behind Tyler to stare at Scott. “Uh huh,” she said. “All right, then.” She looked back at Tyler, and her eyes narrowed. Then her gaze softened and her mouth twisted. “Tyler.”
“What? Seriously, Ave, don’t be mad at him.” He patted one of her hands. “He’s drunk.”
“I know.” She sighed. “So are you.” She bent lower to peer at Kaelin. “You okay, hon? To take them to the hotel?”
“I’m fine. You go in and get your beauty sleep for tomorrow.”
Avery looked back at Tyler with a fierce expression on her face. “Mom and Dad know nothing about this. Right?”
Tyler nearly choked. Oh hell yeah. “Right.” He held up a hand. “Absolutely.”
Avery walked up the front sidewalk. Kaelin waited until Avery was inside the house then pulled out. She drove to the hotel, this time heading onto Main Street and down toward the river where the Red Maple Inn was located.
Tyler chewed on the inside of his mouth as he debated what to say. He turned around to look at the guys in the back seat. Hardeep was snoring again, and Scott’s head was back, eyes closed, mouth open. Tyler met Nick’s amused eyes. Nick quirked an eyebrow. Tyler grimaced and turned back to face forward.
“Thanks for coming,” he said to Kaelin quietly.
She nodded, eyes forward.
“And thanks for helping.” He didn’t even want to mention Cop Boy.
Her chin lifted. “You’re welcome.”
He searched around in his brain for something else to say. He remembered their text messages during the dinner, his astonishment that she’d told him he was acting like an asshole. Only Nick ever told him stuff like that and got away with it. “You really do look hot tonight.”
She turned and leveled him with a scorching look, then resumed her eyes-forward driving.
Damn, she was pretty. Her small nose created a sweet profile, her little chin lifted, her long eyelashes fluttering as she watched the road. She parked in the lot of the hotel, and between the three of them, they managed to drag Scott and Hardeep out of the car and get them awake enough to walk through the lobby. At this late hour, few people were around other than the staff at the front desk. They rode the elevator to the third floor where Hardeep’s and Scott’s rooms were. They got Hardeep safely inside and face-down on his bed next to a sleeping Maddie, then Scott to his room, which was the honeymoon suite where he and Avery would stay the next night after the wedding.