* * *
Wyatt paced in the lobby of the police station, waiting for the family to arrive. As soon as he muttered the words
Avery
and
arrested
, Bo Sr. screamed so loud into the phone he was sure he’d woken up all
the kids on the ranch. His splitting headache turned into a full-grown migraine when Bo Sr. and the Blake men entered the police station.
“I’m here for Avery Reed and Wyatt Connelly!” John Jacob bellowed as he burst into the small station.
“I’ll get her right away Mr. Blake, sir,” the officer seated at the desk responded.
Bonnie ran over and inspected him. “Wyatt! Are you OK?”
his mother asked, not bothering to hide her concern. “You don’t look hurt.”
“I’m fine, Mom.”
Bo Sr. turned to him. “What the hell happened? Cal takes a day off for the first time in months and pandemonium ensues.”
Wyatt swallowed hard. “There was an argument that escalated into a fight.”
“What part did you play in the melee?” J.J. demanded.
“I didn’t do anything,”
Wyatt replied, hating how defensive he sounded.
Seth looked around. “Where’s Avery? Why is she back there and you’re out here?”
“Little Slugger’s in the back because she was the one doing the fighting,” Sheriff Tuttle said as he came from a room behind the desk. “I had one of my officers get her an ice pack for her hand.”
Seth’s jaw ticked as he glared at Wyatt. “You got Avery
involved in this?”
“Everybody, let’s all just take a breath and find out what happened,” Teri-Lyn interrupted.
The sheriff held up his hands as if to calm them all. “Avery is the one who got arrested. The boy insisted on coming down here with her.” Sheriff Tuttle chuckled. “I should have known she was your kin, John Jacob. Your family can’t get enough of this place.”
Just then,
a man dressed in khakis and a gray shirt came thundering through the door with two lawyers trailing behind him.
“I’m here for Kelly Burton,” he demanded as he marched up to the desk. “My baby calls me up crying, saying she’s been arrested for defending herself against some drunken, trashy girl in the Bright Star. My little girl wouldn’t harm a fly. I remember when the Bright Star used to
be a decent establishment.”
“You watch what you say about my grand baby, Frank.” John Jacob’s eyes narrowed.
The intense gaze of the family shifted to the man at the desk. He looked familiar. Wyatt angled his head to get a better look. It was Kelly’s father. He was some hotshot executive from a pharmaceutical company. He turned defiantly around to see who’d dared challenged him. His
eyes got as big as silver dollars when he saw it was John Jacob.
“John Jacob. It’s been a while.” He smiled nervously, then it faded. “I didn’t know the girl who attacked my Kelly was some kind of kin to you. But I can assure everyone Kelly didn’t instigate this. She’s too much of a lady, and I raised her right.”
“And where do you think I raised my kids, in a barn?” John Jacob fired
back.
“Of course not. But isn’t this Avery a city girl from Philadelphia? They play by different rules up there. Southern gentility is a subtle art form that not all people adapt to when they transplant to our great state.”
“How do you know where she’s from?”
“I had my people do some digging on the way here,” Burton barked.
John Jacob moved closer to him. “Geography has
nothing to do with it, otherwise you wouldn’t be here bailing your little lady out of jail. Avery is the epitome of grace, beauty, and she’d brilliant to boot. I’d be happy to pay for Kelly to go to charm school. Maybe she’ll learn how to respect other people. I’m sure whatever happened, Avery was not the instigator.”
The other men nodded in agreement to John Jacob’s statement.
Wyatt
felt like he should have intervened at this point with his version of events, but the look in John Jacob’s eyes made him think twice about getting involved.
Frank Burton turned to the sheriff. “Where’s Kelly?”
“She’s in a cell puking her guts out,” Sheriff Tuttle said. “Drinking too much will do that to you.”
Burton’s eyes widened. “Not Kelly.”
Bo Sr. played with the brim
of his hat. “Tuttle, we can take care of the damage at Cal’s place. How about you let the girls go?”
Wyatt could see Avery sitting in what looked like the break room with the ice pack on her hand. He motioned to the officer manning the desk, asking if he could go back. The officer glanced at the sheriff talking with the men and nodded it was OK for him to proceed. It wasn’t like she was
really under arrest. He eased out of the line of sight of the family and went to her. For someone who’d gotten into a knock-down, drag-out-fight, she still looked adorable.
“Hey.” He pulled on her messy braid before he sat across from her.
“Hey.” She bit her lip. “Is the entire family out there?”
“Almost.”
“Great.” She rolled her eyes. “I must look like a hot mess.”
“You look beautiful in a MMA-fighter-after-a-match sort of way,” he mused.
“My hand hurts. Can you fix my hair?”
Wyatt gingerly unfurled her hair and put it back into the long braid, despite the strange looks he was getting from the officers. Once he was finished, he sat back down. “I must say this is a hell of a way to celebrate your twenty-first birthday. I would have just bought
you a birthday cake and had a
Sixteen Candles
moment with you on the dining room table.”
That made her smile. He knew she loved to watch the eighties classic with her mom. “This wouldn’t be a problem if I were a guy. My uncles would be high-fiving this as a rite of passage. It’s sexist and unfair.”
“You are probably right. But you’re special to them.”
“So I keep hearing. But
I may have fallen off that perfect pedestal tonight.”
“Is all of this—” He ran his hand over that streak of blond hair. “—an attempt to shed your good-girl image?”
“Maybe.” She sighed. “You might be trying to find yourself while I’ve been trying to lose myself.”
“I like who you are just fine.”
“I made a total ass out of myself tonight.”
“I didn’t mind. For once I
was the calm, mature one. It felt kind of nice.” He smiled.
The desk officer appeared. “You’re free to go.”
They both stood. He motioned for her to go ahead of him, but she stopped and grabbed hold of him. He’d missed that tender hug she’d give him every now and again. It felt so good to be close to her. He squeezed back, knowing she’d be too nervous to face the family firing squad
outside.
“Thanks, Wyatt,” she said when she pulled back.
“No matter what. I’m always here for you.”
They went to the lobby in time to see the show.
“Daddy!” Kelly yelled at the top of her lungs. “I want her booked on assault and suspended from the school!” The shiner she had from Avery’s punch had grown a deeper shade of purple.
“Kelly, honey, Avery’s family and I
have worked this all out. There’s no need for anyone to go to jail or court.”
“Just one more bit of business,” Sheriff Tuttle interrupted. “Avery’s dad called. As a fellow police officer, he doesn’t condone fighting, even if it was his own daughter involved. So he’s proposed the ladies each do a hundred hours of community service.”
“A hundred hours!” Avery shrieked.
“I think
it’s a great idea,” Seth said. “A hundred hours is plenty of time to ponder the perils of drunken brawling.”
“Absolutely not. Kelly won’t do one hour of community service for something that wasn’t her fault.” Frank Burton said.
“You’re such a team player, Burton.” Bo Sr. shook his head.
“Daddy!” Kelly ranted. “I demand a harsher punishment for her. And when I tell everyone at
school, I bet the school will reevaluate considering her for valedictorian.”
“Kelly, honey. Do daddy a favor and zip your mouth. You’re not going to do the community service.” He glared at his daughter then begrudgingly turned to the Blake patriarch and extended his hand. “John Jacob, I think the ladies are mature enough to let this go. Kelly won’t be causing any trouble for Avery or her
friends on campus. As a matter of fact, we’re going to pretend this incident never happened, for the sake of any future business ventures in which we may cross paths. My company would love to advertise at Tomcats Stadium.”
“I think that would be best for the ladies to put this behind them. But I’ll be keeping this encounter in my mental Rolodex as a footnote for any
future business
ventures
and all.” John Jacob ignored the handshake.
Wyatt watched in awe as the cardless poker game unfolded. Mr. Burton’s look of indignation had suddenly been replaced by a look of panic. He could tell the man just realized the implications of pissing off John Jacob Blake.
“Best of luck to the Tomcats,” he called over his shoulder as he hustled Kelly and his mute attorneys out of the police
station.
“Whatever happened, looks like Avery won,” Tyler murmured.
“Way to go, slugger,” Channing mumbled.
“What just happened?” Avery whispered to Wyatt.
“Kelly is about to find out the Blake’s money is much longer than her daddy’s,” Wyatt replied.
Teri-Lyn came over. “You two have a lot of explaining to do. But I’ve persuaded everyone to let it simmer until tomorrow.”
“OK,” they said together and breathed a sigh of relief.
When they filed out of the station, John Jacob ushered Avery to his pick up, while Bo Sr. put a grip on Wyatt’s shoulder and guided him to his truck. Wyatt smiled, still thinking about that hug she’d given him. Avery waved at him with her good hand and waggled her eyebrows. Tomorrow would have been the family’s birthday party for
her. There was no chance of it happening now. Come tomorrow there would be hell to pay.
* * *
When Avery woke to loud noises booming in the room, she thought it was some side effect of the hangover she had, and she rolled over onto her side. When it wouldn’t stop, she put a pillow over her face quell the commotion. When her bed began to shake and she heard giggling,
she removed the pillow to find her cousins hopping about the bed.
“Hi, guys and girl.” She groaned and closed her eyes. “Cousin Avery’s feeling a little under the weather right now. But if you give me a few hours I promise I can play with you.”
“Avery! Avery! Avery!”
That mantra meant they weren’t going anywhere. How did they get upstairs to her room? Where were the adults? Surely
they didn’t want the kids to see her like this.
“Rise and shine sleepy head,” her Uncle Seth called from what sounded like the doorway. “The kids want to give you their birthday surprise before the party tonight.”
She opened one eye. Party? She’d thought that would be cancelled too.
“Hi, Uncle Seth.” She tried to sit up, but the room started spinning and she had an awful taste
in her mouth. Connor and Colby looked like quadruplets as they banged symbols together. She could swear Matt, Jack, and Mackenzie were banging on pots with metal spoons. Bandleader Jake was trying to gain control of the orchestra by waving around a loud, clunky cowbell. “I thought the party would be cancelled or postponed…”
“Why should we be punished because you decided to get stinking d-r-u-n-k
and a-r-r-e-s-t-e-d on your twenty-first birthday?” He raised an eyebrow as he placed a mason jar with yucky looking contents on her dresser.
“You know I was in the c-e-l-l for a few minutes and I thought I saw
the Blake boys were here
written on the wall,” she grumbled. Good grief. She was so hungover, spelling out the word made her head hurt worse.
“Young lady, you don’t get to do
what I did in my impetuous youth. I expect more from you.”
“Don’t I get a pass? I’ve never done
anything
wrong.”
“I’d love to, honey. Believe me it breaks my heart to administer tough love, but you won’t learn anything from this if I coddle you.”
“You’ve been coached by Aunt Morgan?”
“Well, yes.” He shrugged. “She says I’m not tough on you.”
“You’re doing a pretty
good job right now,” she pouted.
Mackenzie crawled over and kissed her on the cheek. “Avy. Happy bir-day.”
“Thanks, cutie pie.”
Her cell phone, which was on the nightstand, began to ring. She looked at her display and winced. It was Riley. She tried to get to the phone before Jake retrieved it for her but didn’t move fast enough.
“Ooh! Dad it says Riley on Avery’s phone,”
Jake said.
“Uncle Seth,” she pleaded quickly. “It’s not what you think.”
“Why the hell does he have your number?”
“Let me explain before you go ballistic. And you forgot to spell h-e-l-l.”
“Hell!” the kids yelled.
Just great. How was she going to spin
this
?
“Kids, that’s a bad word. Don’t say it.” Seth turned to Avery. “Young lady, you and I are going to have
a
long
talk. The party starts in an hour. We’ll deal with this later.”
“Please don’t go doing anything crazy like firing him. Let’s talk first, OK?”
“I’ll hold off only because you’ve had one heck of a day yesterday.” Seth’s jaw ticked, but he nodded toward the jar. “That’s my Morning after Elixir for hangovers. I suggest you drink it. All of it.”
“I appreciate it.”
He
smirked. “You say that now, but you won’t appreciate it while it’s going down. That stuff will save your life though.”
As soon as they left the room, Avery bee-lined it to bathroom and puked her guts out. Just looking at that hangover cure made her stomach do somersaults. Once she was finished praying to the porcelain gods for twenty minutes, she turned on the shower to get ready for the
party. She knew this family. If she didn’t go downstairs they were liable to bring the party to her.
The cell phone rang again. This time it was her dad. She didn’t want to talk to him. Who knew what other punishment he’d conjured up in addition to the community service he’d orchestrated. She scrolled her notifications and saw she’d had a slew of text messages. There was one from Parker
saying she’d be attending the party, and Riley had left a voice mail. She prayed Uncle Seth wouldn’t go after Riley before they’d had a chance to talk. But the good news was that Wyatt was attending. He’d sent a text saying he’d spent the night on the ranch and would be coming. He thought he could help her do damage control.