by T. J. Kline
He took a long draw from the bottle, feeling the warmth seep into his veins, finally dulling the ache but only slightly. His fingers twitched around the neck of the bottle. He wanted to run his fingers over Lyssa’s silken skin, to hold Sam, to let her curl against his chest on the couch while they talked. What he wanted was the fantasy he’d allowed himself to believe he could have. He’d known better, known she would leave, but he’d been hoping they could make it work somehow, that he’d be enough to hold her here. He’d never been enough. That kiss on the porch proved that.
The knowledge choked him, and emotions he didn’t want Bailey to see rose to the surface, burning the back of his eyes. He clenched his jaw, trying to find the fury he’d felt again. He rose and walked to the edge of The Ridge, looking toward the river while trying to gain control again. The only woman he’d let himself get close to, the only one who’d made it past his usual reservations, had betrayed him. He should have maintained his distance to begin with. Hell, he should have followed his gut and run from the beginning. He rubbed the heel of his hand against the pain in his chest. He spun on his heel and faced her.
“No, she didn’t. She wanted the media attention, she wanted her old job back. She wanted a sucker who would give her both of those, and I walked right into it with my eyes wide open.”
“Holy crap!” Bailey laughed at her cousin and he clenched his jaw. He felt stupid enough without listening to this. “You are a world-class moron. What part of this are you missing? Are you really so stubborn that you can’t believe that she wanted to stay here with you? Are you so afraid of getting hurt that you’re willing to turn your back and ignore the truth?”
There was nothing about this situation that was funny. He scowled at Bailey and her laughter stopped. His temper boiled and he was ready to release it on her. “I can’t trust her.”
Bailey stood, shaking her head in disbelief, and dusted her hands off. Before he realized what she was doing, she raised a hand and slapped the back of his head. “No, you won’t trust her. You won’t trust yourself. Get your head out of your ass and talk to her, settle this once and for all.”
“Hey,” he yelled, surprised as he pushed her hands away. “Stop it!”
“I knew you were a stubborn ass, but you’re not stupid, Justin. You have good instincts. What does your gut tell you?”
He looked up at her as he rubbed a hand at the back of his head, glaring at her. “That I need to have a talk with your dad about you turning into a spoiled brat.”
“You already knew that, it’s not news.” She shot him a smart-ass grin but grew serious again. “Justin, you need to get this straightened out or you’ll regret it. You need to stop being so pigheaded and listen to her side. Go talk to her or you’re going to lose the best thing that’s ever happened to you.” She shot him a sly grin as she walked back to the corral and slipped the bridle back onto her gelding before tightening the cinch and adding, “Other than my coming back to work for you, that is.”
“I’ve heard enough of her lies,” he muttered.
Bailey dropped her chin toward her chest and sighed. Justin barely heard her words. “I always thought the woman who won your heart would be lucky, but I feel sorry for Alyssa.” She mounted her horse and pointed a finger at him. “You really don’t deserve her, Justin.”
“I need some time. I need to get my head on straight before I can hear her talk about how she feels about him.”
She shrugged. “By all means, take all the time you need, Justin. You’re too late, she’s gone.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“ALY, ARE YOU sure you really want to do this? At least consider moving to Carson City where your family is, or staying in LA. Hell, you could stay at my place.”
Alyssa tipped her head to the side and raised her eyebrows, laughing quietly at Franklin’s suggestion. “Wouldn’t that look wonderful? Yes, Your Honor, I was living with a stranger in Placerville but now I’m shacking up with my lawyer, but we’re just friends.” She shook her head as she carried a box of baby clothes into one of the extra rooms of the three-bedroom cottage she’d purchased. “Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” she called from down the hall.
She came back into the kitchen to see Franklin frowning. “Alyssa,” he warned.
She walked up to him and laid a hand over his forearm. “Look, you’ve taken care of things with the divorce. At least as much as we can at this point. Now, it’s just a waiting game for this whole nightmare to be over and a part of my past. Thanks to you, I have plenty of money to live on for a long time, more than I’ll ever need, and a new agent if I decide I want to get back into the business. I’m finally free.” She made her way to the stack of boxes near the front door the first movers had dropped off this morning. “Think you could make yourself useful instead of glaring at me? I need the ceiling fan in Sam’s room put up.”
“I still can’t believe Elijah went for this.”
She carried another box past him into the room she was planning to turn into Sam’s nursery, blowing her bangs out of her face. “His reputation and his own freedom were worth the price, I guess.” She stared down at her son, still sleeping soundly in his car seat, his chubby fist curled under a rosy cheek. “I couldn’t have asked for it to end any better.”
There was one ending that would have made her happier, but she knew she was bound to see Justin soon enough. It had been nearly two months since he’d walked away and left her standing on his porch, seven weeks since he’d turned his back on what she’d thought they had.
It had taken only two for her to return and pack up her things in LA. She’d demanded Elijah to buy out her share of the agency and set up a trust fund for Samuel, but he’d balked. Until Franklin produced the evidence his investigators had obtained of multiple affairs, two illegitimate children he was hiding, and four sexual harassment charges he’d paid to have disappear. Elijah agreed to buy her out of the agency for fifteen million dollars and signed off his parental rights, claiming he wanted nothing more to do with either of them, ever. In exchange for her silence, he’d agreed to meet each of her demands. Neither of them was allowed to mention the other’s name in the media again. He would retain his reputation and she wouldn’t be blacklisted in Hollywood. If he did, the entire file went to every tabloid and entertainment reporter she could find.
She knew their combined worth was far more than the share she received but she didn’t care. Fifteen million was more than she and Sam would ever need now that she knew exactly what she wanted for her future. It afforded her the freedom she wanted for them both. It wouldn’t be without trials and questions down the road, but Alyssa knew Sam would be better off not knowing Elijah or his abuse. Now, she simply had to wait for the final papers declaring her marriage dissolved.
“Tools?” Franklin asked as he entered the room and opened the box. Alyssa spun around, looking at the labeled boxes, and wondered if she’d even packed any.
“Crap,” she muttered. “I don’t even think I have any.”
“I can see you’re absolutely ready to live on your own.” Franklin gave her a half smile and laughed. “I’ll tell you what, it’s almost noon. Let’s head over to the hardware store and at least get you a basic tool kit. I’ll take you out for a burger. Then we can come back and rearrange the furniture the way you want it.” He waved a hand at the stacks of boxes filling the room. “I know this isn’t how you want the room.”
She twisted her mouth to the side, deciding whether to unpack or eat. There would be plenty of time to decorate the house she’d purchased. As much as she needed the tools, she wasn’t sure she was ready to venture out just yet and risk running into one of the Harts.
It was something she would need to overcome, and soon. She’d known moving back here would put her in constant contact with Justin and his family, had hoped it would, but there was a part of her that wasn’t ready to face him yet. While Justin’s rejection still stung, she couldn’t fault him completely. Elijah had poisoned his trust in her.
She knew firsthand how that man could twist the truth into a believable lie. She couldn’t blame him for his doubts, but she could fault his stubbornness and the fact that he hadn’t tried to reach out to her in the past two months.
She needed to see Bailey first, talk to her and find what had happened after she left, whether Justin had realized the truth. She wanted to know if he’d missed her as much as she had him. Had he spent his nights alone, wishing for the touch of her hands? Had he spent his days hoping he’d get the opportunity to say the things he’d been too stubborn to say, the way she had?
“Come on, Aly. I’m hungry, you’ve got to eat, and there’s nothing we can do without tools. Besides,” Franklin said, casting her a wary glance, “you probably won’t even see him. There are a lot of people in this town.”
She wished he couldn’t read her so easily. “Fine.” She scooped up Sam in his car seat and picked up the diaper bag from the floor by the front door before tossing Franklin the keys to her new SUV. “But you’re driving.”
JUSTIN DIDN’T WANT to be here, but he couldn’t refuse Jessie. When she’d begged him to help with the charity auction, he’d agreed to show and set up the auditorium. He tucked his truck keys into his pocket and saw Julia waiting outside the front door of the old auditorium with Tango.
“It’s about time you got here,” she scolded. “You were supposed to be here an hour ago. Jessie’s having a conniption fit.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “Gee, I’m sorry I had to deliver that litter of feral kittens. I got bit in the process, you know. How many tables do I have to drag inside?”
“Oh, you poor thing,” Julia teased. “Only about twenty but Dylan, Nathan, and Chase are here to help, too.” She wound her arm around his waist and squeezed him. “And you know how Jess gets. She just wants this to go off without a hitch.” He held open the door for his sister and her Great Dane before following them inside.
“Thank goodness,” Jessie yelled as she saw him enter. She hurried up and gave him a quick hug. “I need the rest of the tables brought in, the bar set up, and then you two need to get cleaned up and ready.” She glanced at Chase first then back to him.
“Ready?” Justin asked, looking at Chase for an answer. Julia pretended not to hear him and hurried toward where Nathan was setting up the bar. Dylan cleared his throat and Nathan avoided making eye contact. “Jess? What’s going on?”
“Here.” She shoved a garment bag into his hands. “One of my bachelors canceled for the auction. Food poisoning or the flu or something. I need you to fill in for me.”
Justin pressed the bag back into her hands. “Um, no. You asked for help setting up, and that’s what I’m here for. I am not a piece of meat for women to bid on.”
Bailey let out a laugh as she waltzed into the room with a cup of coffee in her hand, looking as if she just woke up from a very long night. “No, he’d rather let them grope him at the bar for free.”
Justin glared at his cousin. Just because he spent most evenings at the bar didn’t mean any groping was happening. There was only one woman who preyed on his mind—constantly—haunting his every waking moment and tormenting his sleepless nights.
Jessie looked up at him with her blue eyes, pleading with him to understand. “Justin, if I knew anyone else who could do it on short notice, I wouldn’t ask you. It’s been two months since—” He glared at her and she didn’t finish. “Look, I’ll owe you.”
“You have no idea how much,” he muttered. Jess smiled and threw her arms around his waist, giving him a bear hug.
“I knew I could count on you. Let’s hurry.”
“Aren’t you at least going to feed me first? I skipped lunch to get here.”
“Bailey will run to the diner to grab burgers.”
“I will?”
“Yes, here.” Jessie ran to the stage and grabbed her wallet from her purse, handing it to Bailey. “Get burgers and fries for everyone. I can’t have my crew fainting from hunger.” She winked at Justin before hurrying to Nathan at the bar. “These cups should be stacked underneath like this.”
Justin shook his head and turned to Dylan and Chase. “Please tell me the two of you brought a few cases of beer to get me through this.”
Chase shook his head. “Nope, you’re going to suffer through Hurricane Jess just like the rest of us—stone-cold sober.”
Justin peeked inside the garment bag. “Are you kidding? A tux?” He sighed and glared at Nathan, who approached cautiously as Jess hurried behind the stage. “This is your fault, you know. You’re the one who set this up.”
Nathan held up his hands in front of him. “I just set up a Buy-A-Bachelor auction for the holidays. I didn’t give Craig food poisoning.”
Chase clapped Justin on the shoulder. “Suck it up, Buttercup. You’ll have women drooling over you and throwing money your way. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.” The three of them laughed together, but Justin didn’t see any humor in the situation.
Ever since Lyssa had left town, he’d spent his time alternating between the bar, the clinic, or passed out on one of his sisters’ couches. He didn’t want to stay at his own place. There were too many reminders of Lyssa. Even the scent of her still seemed to hang in the air, driving him insane with a desire to call her. He’d watched the news for the first few weeks, waiting to hear anything more about her divorce, but the story seemed to have completely fallen off the media’s radar.
Or she was staying married to the son of a bitch.
Justin hated the voice of his doubts, the one that clawed at his mind, tearing at his hope. More often than not, he passed out staring at her face, into those green eyes, from one of the tabloids he’d purchased in a moment of weakness. He wished he could just forget his pride and call her.
Then he would remember the kiss he’d witnessed on his porch. He didn’t want to go through that again. He was just starting to get over her.
Sure you are. Keep telling yourself that.
It was time to move on. Maybe if he did, Bailey would quit following him around, nagging him to call Alyssa. She’d spent every day at the clinic, watching him like a hawk. It was getting old. Maybe this bachelor auction wasn’t such a bad idea. Maybe it was just his sister’s sly way of getting him back on the horse that had kicked him in the groin and trampled his heart. Regret constricted his chest.
Maybe it was just one more huge mistake in the long list he’d made the past few months.
ALYSSA COULDN’T HELP but laugh as Franklin told her about one of his recent clients who wanted to divorce her real estate mogul husband because she was convinced he was an alien. She waved a hand as she bit into a fry and almost choked. “Stop,” she warned.
“Marge, I’m going to need a truck to carry all this food back across the street.”
Alyssa’s eyes grew wide and her laughter died immediately. Franklin must have recognized the shock on her face because he looked past Alyssa’s shoulder to the counter. Alyssa followed his gaze and saw Bailey standing by the register.
“Sure, hon. The order’s just about up. Want me to make Justin’s burger special, the way he likes it?”
“Um,” Bailey hemmed. “Yeah, why not? I don’t want him biting my head off any more than usual.” She slid into one of the bar stools at the counter and looked around the room. “So, what’s new?” Her eyes locked on Alyssa and she stood slowly, a wide smile splitting Bailey’s face. “I sure as hell hope you were planning on saying hello.”
“Hi, Bailey.” Alyssa rose and met her with a warm hug.
“When did you get into town? And look at you! Is this Sam? He’s getting so big,” she exclaimed, not giving Alyssa a chance to speak.
Alyssa smiled and unbuckled Sam, who looked up at Bailey with wonder before his mouth spread in a grin, his blue eyes glimmering with joy. “We just got into town about an hour ago. Franklin,” she explained, “this is Bailey, Justin’s cousin.”
“Well, that didn’t take long,” he muttered as he slid from the b
ooth to shake her hand.
Bailey arched a brow at him curiously before looking back to Alyssa. “So, what brings you back this way? Heading to your parents and decided to stop over and see an old friend?” Bailey waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“We just bought the house at the end of Sycamore Street.”
“We?” Bailey’s voice grew cold and she glanced at Franklin.
“Sam and I did.”
She could see Bailey visibly relax and Alyssa laughed. “I see. What made you decide to call this home?”
Alyssa shrugged. “Oh, you know, the usual. Good schools, nice area . . . the people.” Alyssa didn’t elaborate but she could see Bailey’s wheels spinning, and she wondered what sort of plans she might be hatching.
“Here you go, hon.” The waitress set four bags of food on the counter.
“I have to go, but since you’re a part of the community now, you need to come to the auction and dance tonight at seven. It’s a benefit for Jessie’s foundation. I’m sure a local celebrity would be a huge draw. People would turn out just for your autograph.”
Alyssa laughed. “It’s a little late if it’s tonight. Besides, I’ve left all that behind.”
She didn’t realize it was possible for Bailey’s smile to get any bigger but it did. “Alyssa, this is a small town. Word spreads fast. By the time the auction rolls around tonight, everyone will know you’re here, whether you attend or not. You might as well make a statement.”
Everyone?
Alyssa took a deep breath. If it was for his sister, Justin wouldn’t miss the event. If she went, it would alleviate the awkwardness of running into him on the street and the discomfort that would ensue. At least this way, there would be people around and he would be forced to be civil.
I hope.
“Okay, I’ll come. But can we keep this between us, please?” She’d rather have the element of surprise on her side.
Bailey threw the payment for the food on the counter and laughed, scrunching up her face. “Hell no! I’m telling everyone I know. The more people who want to see you, the more people will buy tickets, and that makes more for Jessie. It’s all for a good cause. I’ll send two tickets back over here with Steve.” She hurried out the door and ran toward the auditorium across the street from the diner.
