“Did it work?” I asked softly.
The older man gave me a curt nod. “For a while, it did. And when it didn’t…”
The way he trailed off made me shiver. I opened my mouth to ask what happened next when Joey’s voice, ragged with emotion, cut me off.
“It all went to hell.”
Joey
I stepped closer, careful to keep my palms open and pressed against my pants so I couldn’t lash out.
Tucker turned to look at me and started to stand, but my father put his hand on her shoulder gently, and she remained in place with a nervous look on her face.
“When Beth told me she was leaving, I wasn’t surprised. I always thought she was just waiting for her chance to break free from her life. She was never happy here, even when she was with me,” I told Tucker. “But that didn’t stop me from going nuts, begging her to stay. When she left anyway, I bought a ring. I flew to England, and when I got there, I knew something else was wrong, but I persisted.”
“Joey has never been good at taking no for an answer,” my father stated softly.
“And I’m persuasive. But I couldn’t talk Beth into it,” I went on, the words tumbling out painfully. “After five days of begging, she threatened to call the police. I went home with a broken heart. A week went by. Then four. And suddenly Beth was at my door, telling me she wanted me back. She wanted to get married. Right then. I was too happy—or maybe too stupid—to see anything but what I wanted to see. We eloped and, within a month, Beth announced that she was pregnant.”
I paused and my eyes met my father’s.
“I never accepted it,” he said. “Joey was not quite nineteen. He’d walked away from his family. None of it sat right, and I couldn’t let it go.”
“And he was right,” I added bitterly. “I got caught up in this life I never expected—working long hours to pay for our tiny apartment, trying hard to be a husband and preparing to be a father when I wasn’t much more than a kid myself. A whole month went by, and I didn’t notice that Beth wasn’t trying, either.”
I wondered how I could have been so naive.
“And then, two days before Christmas, my private investigator turned up at my door with the mother lode,” my father told Tucker. “Interviews with Beth’s English roommate, photos of Beth’s English boyfriend…email correspondences…it was all there in black and white. So I called the girl under the pretense of making things right between us, and confronted her. She confessed everything. The child wasn’t Joey’s. The father was a married man with a family of his own. I made her swear to tell Joey immediately, and she said she would.”
“But that’s not what happened,” I said.
Tucker was looking straight at me, pain and understanding clear in her eyes.
“No,” my father answered her after a pause. “Regrettably, it’s not. She went back to Joey and told him I’d concocted a story to come between us. That I had out-of-context pictures, and falsified emails, and that I’d used my money to manipulate the situation.”
“I took her word for it. Why wouldn’t I?” I said. “He’d been against our relationship from the start. And he’d done everything he could to keep us apart. But after another few weeks, I noticed things I hadn’t before. The way Beth would turn her head away when I tried to kiss her. The convenient excuses when I wanted to make love. The fact that she only said ‘me, too’ when I told her I loved her. So I read her email, because that’s what people do in that situation, right? She’d tricked me. So I waited for her to come home, and I tossed everything in her face. And she didn’t deny any of it, or even apologize. She had to think of the baby, she said. So I kicked her out. She begged me to let her stay. There was a storm…” I shook my head. “The roads were slick. She didn’t stand a chance. If I had just given her another few hours, let her pack her stuff…”
“For a long time,” my father said softly. “I blamed myself.”
My eyes shot to him in surprise. “You did?”
“You’ve always thought it was your fault,” he replied. “But it was me who sent her to England. If I’d left it alone, the infatuation would’ve worn off. If I hadn’t tried to force her into honesty, maybe she and that baby would still be alive.”
“We were never meant to be together,” I said. “If I hadn’t been so determined to prove you wrong, I would’ve seen it before it was too late.”
“I’ve never felt so bad about being right.” My dad turned to Tucker. “For three years after Beth died, I watched my son spiral out of control. In the past year and a half, I’ve forced him to pull himself together. I’ve been giving Joey assignment after assignment, watching him tear through each one with a fervor that—as a businessman and as his boss—I can admire. As his father, though…it scared me. And then you came along.”
I gripped the back of the bench where Tucker sat, terrified of what was going to come out of his mouth.
“And I’m sorry,” he stated. “I assumed that you were like she was, taking Joey away from his family and making him do things he wouldn’t do otherwise. Especially when I looked into your background. I was scared that he was going to lose control again. Which is why I want to admit that I’ve been wrong. In the short time since meeting you, Joey has seemed more alive than he has since before he met Beth. You build him up. I want that to continue. So whatever it is you think he’s done…it was all because of me.”
Tucker stood up and came around to my side. I closed my eyes as she wrapped her arms around me, and I sank into her gratefully.
“Joey, nothing that happened with Beth is your fault.”
The words, coming from her mouth, washed over me. For the first time in five years, I believed them.
“And I’m sorry,” Tucker whispered into my shoulder.
I pulled back and opened my eyes. My father was gone already, halfway up the path.
“You’re sorry?” I replied. “I’m the one who hid the truth and broke your trust.”
She shook her head. “You couldn’t break my trust, because I never gave it to you. And I should have. I let my history with Mark hold me back. I let it turn me into a hypocrite, preaching respect and honesty while I wasn’t giving you either.”
“I’m sure I didn’t give you much to work with.” I ran my hand down the side of her face. “Are we that much of a mess?”
She smiled softly. “You’re a mess. And I’m a mess. But together…I think we could be pretty damned good.”
A weight, five years old, and heavier than the world, lifted from my shoulders.
“I love you, Tucker.”
She didn’t hesitate. “I love you, too.”
I leaned down and gave her a kiss. It was tender and sweet and unhurried, because I knew that we would have time for many more.
Epilogue
Eighteen Months Later
Tucker
Joey’s warm, familiar hands made themselves comfortable on my backside.
“Hey!” I protested.
“Just claiming what’s mine,” he stated with a wink.
“If I find any of that purple chalk you were using to make the signs on my pants, I’ll…”
His eyes glinted wickedly. “You’ll what?”
“Make you sleep outside for a week.”
“You’re no fun.”
“I’m not trying to be fun. I’m trying to put the finishing touches on my grand reopening.”
“Oh, it’s your grand reopening now, is it?” he teased.
I put my hands on my hips and suppressed a grin. “You’re right. I have to share the glory.”
Joey grinned smugly. “That’s what I thought.”
I nodded. “Your parents need some of the credit, too. I’m pretty sure your dad’s donation paid for the entire basketball court. And that food spread out there…your mom needs to arrange the catering for everything I do from now on.”
“Everything you do.”
“Mmm-hmm. And I don’t want anything to go wrong.”
“It’s
all going to be perfect,” Joey assured me. “The permits are signed, the electrical, the plumbing and the roof are in tip-top shape. The parking lot is paved, the basketball hoops are level, the ribbon is waiting to be cut…”
“All right,” I grumbled. “I get it. Nothing will go wrong.”
He grinned, grabbed me and pressed me into the wall.
Joey
Tucker’s soft body yielded underneath me, and my hands roamed over her.
“You have to stop,” she gasped. “Or they’re going to let someone else do the speech.”
“Like who? Apparently you’re the only one who cares about this place.”
She gave me a dirty look. “I’m pretty sure the news crew cares.”
I pulled on a strand of hair that had come loose from her bun. “You’re sure you’re still okay with that?”
She grabbed the hair and tucked it back in with the rest. “Yes. Your dad threatened them.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Threatened them?”
“Well…he said he asked them to treat me gently. But you know how he is.”
“Yes, I do,” I agreed with a grin. “Did he tell you he invited the mayor?”
“He did. And that he mailed out invites to three-thousand residents. I’m going to be very popular.”
“Braggart.”
“Shut up.” She blushed prettily. “You know I couldn’t have done any of it without you, right?”
“I know.”
I kissed her, long and hard. I didn’t let her go until she was panting.
“We’ll finish that later,” I promised.
“If you’re lucky.”
“I’m pretty lucky.”
Tucker swatted my hands away and grabbed the giant scissors.
“Let’s go,” she commanded.
“I’m right behind you.”
I winced as she turned and I spied two distinct, chalky handprints on either ass cheek. I kept my mouth shut, though. I was pretty sure when I handed her the ring in front of her three thousand adoring fans, she’d forgive me.
About the Author
A little bit about me…
I’m mom to three beautiful girls, and wife to one handsome husband. I completed a degree in English literature at Simon Fraser University in 2003. I spend my spare waking moments—which are few and far between—writing stories. I can usually be found on the sidelines of a soccer field, or behind a softball dugout, with a dollar-store notebook and a ballpoint pen, scribbling away furiously.
I entered the Wattpad SYTYCW contest on the recommendation of Barb Han, a writer from the Harlequin Intrigue line. She posted a link on her Facebook timeline, and raved about how fantastic her experience had been, both with the SYTYCW contest and with Harlequin. To be honest, I was really nervous about putting my work out there, but Barb’s enthusiasm won me over, and I entered. I’m so glad I did!
My inspiration for Bad Reputation came from a few different sources. I’m a huge fan of a good love story, and I had been exploring the idea of writing my own for quite some time. I wanted to bring a few of my favourite dynamics to life on the page—love at first sight, star-crossed characters and a compelling backstory. I brought Tucker and Joey together to showcase all of those elements.
eISBN: 978-1-4603-3625-0
BAD REPUTATION
Copyright © 2014 by Melinda A. Di Lorenzo
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
Bad Reputation Page 21
