“I wanted to, believe me, but Megan wouldn’t let me. She freaked out on me, swore never to talk to me again if I said anything at all to Heath. That’s when my mother stepped in. She said that it was up to Heath and Megan to work things out, and for once I was gonna keep my big nose out of it, or else.”
“Damn. That’s harsh.”
“You’re telling me. Now all we can do is wait and see what happens. At least Megan has our family’s full support. Mom and Dad are already looking into colleges that provide student daycare and mother/baby housing.”
“How does Megan feel about the baby?”
Brandon’s voice softened. “She’s in love with it already. You know Megan. She has enough love to give to ten kids. She’s gonna make one hell of a mom, even if she is too damn young.”
There was no doubt in Dillon’s mind that was true, but the situation as a whole was still one hell of a mess. “Brandon, let me try talking to Heath. He might listen to me, or at least pretend to.”
“Good luck, kid. If Heath is half as stubborn as my sister you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
* * *
Brandon wasn’t kidding. After calling Jamie to let him know where he’d be, Dillon headed straight to Heath’s apartment. He found his brother sitting on the couch, well into a bottle of Wild Turkey. Damn. Heath rarely drank beer, much less bourbon. Apparently, he wasn’t as unaffected by this as he wanted them to believe.
Dillon took the half-empty bottle away from his brother and carried it into the kitchen. Heath said, “Hey, bring that back,” but he was in no real condition to stop Dillon from pouring it down the drain. That done, Dillon came back in and sank down next to his brother on the couch. The fumes from Heath’s binge nearly knocked him down, but Dillon refused to move. His brother needed him, and Dillon was going to sit by Heath’s side until the two of them talked it out.
Dillon jumped straight in. “I talked to Brandon Nash tonight. He told me about Megan.”
Heath closed his eyes. “So she decided to take her lies to the Nash collective, did she? Well, good for her. I guess the sheriff is going to come and kick my ass now, huh?”
Dillon fought down a fresh surge of anger. Getting mad and ramming his fist down Heath’s throat like he wanted to wasn’t going to help. “No, he’s not.” When Heath opened his eyes in obvious disbelief, Dillon said, “Oh, Brandon wanted to jack your ass up, believe me. But Megan made him promise not to.”
Heath sneered. “Awww, how freaking nice of her, to protect me from her big, bad-ass brother.” He snorted. “She lies on me, tries to force me to marry her, and then acts all sweet and innocent in front of her family. What a bitch.”
So much for not loosing his temper. Dillon reached over and shoved his brother so hard Heath feel off the couch and hit the floor. “What in the hell did you do that for?”
Dillon towered over him. “Don’t you ever--and I mean ever--call Megan a bitch in my presence again. What’s the matter with you, Heath? You get her pregnant, then drop her like she’s trash, and you’re the one calling her names? God, what’s happened to you?”
Heath didn’t even bother to get up. “She’s not pregnant, Dillon. She can’t be. At least not by me. I used a rubber every damn time we were together.”
“Those things aren’t one-hundred percent protection, and you know it. Anything could have happened. There could have been a hole, it could have broken--”
“Damn it, there is no baby!” Heath came up into a sitting position on the floor. “Megan told me she loved me--another freakin’ lie--and I told her I wanted to cool things down. Now, two weeks later, she’s telling the whole damn world that I knocked her up? That’s mighty convenient, isn’t it? She’s just doing this to force me to come back to her. She’ll do anything to get her way, just like--”
No way was Dillon gonna let Heath end it there. “Just like who? Dammit, Heath, either you tell me what’s going on, or I swear I’ll kick your ass myself. You won’t have to worry about Brandon, not if I get to you first.”
Heath didn’t seem overly concerned about the threat, but he leaned his back against the base of the couch and started talking, anyway. “Did Mom and Dad ever tell you the reason I moved out of their house?”
The change in subject startled Dillon, but he decided just to go with it. “No, not really. I always just assumed that you left because you were eighteen and didn’t want to play by there lame-ass rules.”
“That was part of it, but there was more to it than that.” Heath ran his fingers over his face, scrapping his palm against the thick stubble on his chin. “Do you remember that girl I was dating at the time, Marcy Collier?”
“Vaguely, why?”
“Vague describes my whole relationship with her. We were fuck buddies, and that’s all we were. The two of us got together whenever we wanted to scratch a certain itch, but there were no ties between us. I thought she felt the same way, that she was cool with the whole casual thing, but evidently, I was wrong. One day she told me that she wanted us to be more than just an every now and then kinda thing. Then she told me she loved me.” Heath laughed, a bitter, joyless sound. “Like she knew anything about love. She was screwing at least three other guys besides me. When I told her I knew as much, she swore she’d give them all up, that she wanted to make a commitment to me and me alone. I told her I wasn’t interested, and that was the end of it. At least I thought it was, anyway.”
Oh no. “What happened?”
“Marcy knew enough about Mom and Dad to know how strict they are. She went to them one day about three weeks after I called things off and told them she was pregnant, and that I was the father. That’s when our old man told me I could either marry her and ‘do the right thing,’ as he called it, or I could get out. Needless to say, I got out.” Heath smiled with pure malice. “Put a crimp in ole Marcy’s plans, let me tell you. Without Mom and Dad to back her up, there was nothing she could do, and she knew it. She finally admitted that she’d made the whole thing up.”
But not before the damage was done, Dillon thought. Regardless of what Marcy Collier did, surely Heath knew that Megan wasn’t capable of forcing a guy into marriage. “Heath, think about. You were the first man Megan ever slept with. You know she’s nothing like Marcy. She cares about you. She loves you, Heath.”
“So she says. But who the hell knows what love means, anyway? Mom and Dad say they love us, and look what they’ve done. They threw me to the wolves and almost had you tortured by some crazy-ass shrink.”
“Okay, so they aren’t the best examples, but you know that not everyone is like them. Look at Megan’s folks. Or Brandon and Nate. They all give one-hundred percent to the people they love.”
“Those are exceptions little, brother, not the rule.”
Dillon was losing his patience. “Why do you have to be so damn stubborn? You know that Megan isn’t lying, Heath. Deep inside, you have to.”
Heath’s own temper was rising. “I don’t have to know shit, kid. And who the hell are you to lecture me, anyway? You wanna talk about love? All right, then. Let’s talk about you and Jamie. Let’s talk about how you fucked his ass and then dumped him rather than admit you were gay. That’s real love for you, huh?”
Dillon swallowed. Heath’s words hurt, mostly because they were true. He stood up, looking down at the pitiful site of his drunken brother, slumped against the couch and sitting on the floor. “You’re right about that. Every word of it is true. But I had one thing going for me with Jamie that apparently you don’t.”
Heath looked up at him with glassy eyes. “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”
“I was smart enough to go back and fix my mistakes. You’re letting the best thing that’s ever happened to you slip through your fingers and you’re too blind--or too stupid--to see it.” And without another word, Dillon left.
* * *
Jamie took the news about Morgan well, not even flinching when Dillon told him that they might never know for sure which one of the three of them--Carpenter, Morgan, or Sledge--actually killed Ben. As Jamie put it, “They all got what they deserved in one form or another. I can live with it.” Dillon thought that summed it up rather nicely.
Of course, part of the reason Jamie wasn’t overly focused on the Morgan investigation was his worry for Megan. She talked to them both a little bit on the phone, apologizing for not telling them the truth--but other than that little bit of contact, she kept to herself, even at school. Dillon thought maybe he’d gotten through to Heath, but after five days with no word from his brother, Dillon was starting to lose hope.
Ash came by Saturday morning, looking as worried as Dillon felt. Jamie showed him in and the three of them took a seat at the table.
Ash said, “I’m sorry to bother you guys so early, but I’m scared stiff about Megan. She doesn’t look good at all.”
“I know. Every time I talk to her, she blows me off and tells me she’s fine, but anyone can see she’s lying.” Dillon clenched his fists. “I’d love to beat Heath black and blue right about now.”
Ash nodded. “There’s a long line forming to do that very thing. Any word from him?”
“Nope. I went by there a few days ago and talked to him, but that’s the last contact I’ve had. Since I’ve off work today, I thought I might go over there and try again.”
Jamie said, “I wish you wouldn’t. I don’t think it’s gonna make any difference, and it might just make him dig his heels in deeper.”
“Jamie’s right, Dillon. You can’t force the guy to listen.” Ash stood. “I just wanted to stop by and see how things stood with your brother. I talked Megan into letting me take her to the movies this afternoon, so I’m gonna go on over to her house before she changes her mind.”
Dillon walked him to the door. “Thanks for being such a good friend to her, Ash. I know she has a hard time talking to me because Heath’s my brother.”
Ash smiled. “Megan was there for me when I needed a friend. I’m just returning the favor.” He turned to Jamie. “Brandon told Megan about the situation with Morgan, and she filled me. I hope you got your closure.”
“I did.” Jamie took a deep breath. “It won’t bring Ben back, but knowing that Morgan is gonna pay for his part in it--and for what he tried to do to us--makes it easier to take.”
“Understood. Any word from Ben’s brother?”
“Mitch called us a few days ago, but he didn’t say where he was. The D.A. has him in a safe house until this thing with Morgan is squared away. Hopefully, it wont take long. The sheriff seized the rest of the blackmail money from Ben’s safe deposit box, and since Morgan confessed, it makes all the little details easier to square away.”
Ash widened his eyes at Jamie’s statement. “A safe house? Why?”
“Just in case one of Burke Carpenter’s clients gets antsy, thinking Mitch might I.D. him. The D.A.’s afraid one of the guys might come after Mitch.”
“For his sake, then, I hope this thing wraps up quick. It was good to see you guys, but I’m outta here.”
Dillon stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “It was good to see you, too, man. Don’t be such a stranger.”
Ash grinned. “You’ll be seeing a lot more of me come the fall.”
“Oh yeah? And why is that?”
Ash laughed. “Because Garman is a small college and we’re bound to be taking some of the same freshman classes.”
Jamie came to the door and high-fived him. “Dude, you got into Garman? That’s so cool.”
“Yep. I’m heading up same time as you, I imagine.”
Dillon slapped him on the back. “I’m glad to hear it, Ash. You’re on your way back to the land of the living, man.”
“Yeah, now if we can just get Megan back on track, we’ll have it made.” Ash gave them both another goodbye and left.
Jamie put his arms around Dillon’s waist. “Is it just me, or are we half-way there on the road to a normal life?”
Dillon bent his head, taking Jamie’s mouth with his own. He might not be sure what normal was, but he was dying to find out.
* * *
Dillon never should have bragged about having the day off to Ash. He thought sure he’d be spending the day lounging around the apartment with Jamie. Of course, Dillon hadn’t counted on Sadie the Slave-driver. She’d knocked on the door at eleven-thirty with a list of things that needed doing around the house. Dillon grumbled to himself as he repositioned the ladder so he could clean the gutters. At least he hadn’t gotten stuck cleaning out the attic like Jamie had. There really was a bright side to everything.
By the time Dillon finished with the first half of his task, he noticed how warm it was. The first week of May had banished coats and sweatshirts from Dillon’s wardrobe, but now, even the cotton t-shirt he wore was too warm. Dillon shucked it over his head and tossed it onto the ground.
“If you take off your pants, I’m leaving.”
Dillon whirled so fast he almost fell off the ladder. His brother was standing at the base, not smiling, but not exactly frowning, either. Dillon decided to take that as a good sign.
He climbed down the ladder, stopping just in front of his brother. “Hey, Heath. How’s it going?”
Heath looked down and shuffled his feet. “I came to tell you that I’m sorry. For what I said the other day about you and Jamie, I mean.”
“I’m cool with that.” Dillon waited a second, then said, “What about Megan, Heath? She’s the one who’s suffering, not me.”
Heath started wringing his hands in frustration. “What do you want me to say, Dillon? Like I told you before, she’s lying. I guess the only way to prove it is to wait a few months. When there’s no baby, you’ll know I was telling the truth.”
Dillon wanted to scream. When he saw Heath standing at the bottom of the ladder, he’d hoped against hope that his brother had come to tell him he was going to at least talk to Megan. Instead, Heath had given him more of the same excuses. Before Dillon could say anything else though, his cell phone rang.
Dillon said, “Hang on a sec,” to Heath and “Hello” into the phone. All the color drained out of his face as he listened to the caller. Dillon said, “I’ll be right there,” then hung up the phone. To Heath he said, “We’ll have to argue about this later. I have to go.”
Heath grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute. What’s going on?”
“Let me go, Heath. I don’t have time to talk.”
Heath wasn’t budging. You’re not going anywhere until you tell me who that was on the phone and why you have to leave. Hell, Dillon, you were the one who was so damn set on talking about Megan.”
“This is about Megan, asshole. That was Ash on the phone. He and Megan had a movie date this afternoon.”
Heath made a nasty face, but didn’t relinquish his hold. “So much for being brokenhearted about splitting up with me, huh? How long did it take before Megan moved on to Ash?”
“Heath, I don’t have time to talk about this right now. Let me go.”
“Not until you answer my question.” Heath’s voice got deadly quiet. “Is she banging him?”
Dillon couldn’t believe his ears. “No. What’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? You come down on me like a ton of bricks, and take up for Megan. Megan, the girl who claims to be pregnant with my baby and who’s out with another guy even as we speak. Why can’t you see what a liar she is?”
That did it. Dillon wrenched free of his brother’s grasp. “Oh yeah, Heath, she’s one hell of a liar all right. She’s so good, she’s got half the staff at Chicago General completely snowed.”
Heath went pale. “What are you talking about?”
“That was Ash on the phone, calling from the hospital. Your un-pregnant ex-girlfriend just had a miscarriage, and now she’s hemorrhaging. The doctors aren’t sure if they can stop it.”