Evan's Encore: Meltdown: The Conclusion (Meltdown book 4)

by RB Hilliard

  Before she could storm off in a snit, I reached out and tagged her by the back of her neck. “I need to go,” she huffed as I slowly reeled her in to where I could wrap both of my arms around her.

  Dropping my mouth to her ear, I said, “You’re right. I was being an asshole, but I didn’t intend to be. Let me explain where I’m coming from.”

  “I’m listening.” Her curt reply would have been funny, if not for the situation.

  “I have no idea what’s in those boxes. The last thing I want is for Mandy’s twisted bullshit to affect us anymore than it already has.” Her head snapped back, and she leveled her eyes on mine. She opened her mouth, probably to blast me, but I cut her off. “I’m not saying I’m going to keep you in the dark. I just need to take the first look, okay?”

  Her expression marginally softened. “I want to be here for you,” she grumbled. My chest constricted to the point of almost pain. No one had ever said those words to me before. The urge to drop my head and taste her lips, to take what we both wanted, ate at me.

  “And I promise to let you, but I need to do this my way.” What I needed was to make her understand. I also needed for her not to feel my erection pressing against her stomach.

  “Fine,” she huffed, “but I expect to see you at Margo’s after with a full report.”

  “You will,” I assured her.

  She dropped her head to my chest, and murmured, “I hate that woman.” An image of Quinn beating the hell out of Mandy popped into my head.

  “I’ll have to make sure you two never meet.” I felt her shoulders tighten, but then she sank deeper into my arms, and all I could think about was how good she felt. That, and my boner.

  When her entire body tensed, and she let out a little groan, followed by a “Jesus help me,” I knew I was busted.

  Instead of addressing the elephant in my pants, however, she attempted to distance herself by taking a step back. “I have to go,” she announced, her voice thick with what I hoped was desire.

  “I know.”

  “I’ll see you later?”

  “Promise,” I answered. As I watched her walk away, I was reminded of those damn short shorts. “We’re going to have to reevaluate your work uniform!” I called after her.

  “That’ll happen after we discuss that thing in your pants!” she called back. Her reply left me speechless. Then it made me laugh. I mean really laugh.

  An hour later, the laughter was gone, and the dread was back in full force. It was time to face my past.

  The first box contained pictures, journals, and things from Mandy’s life before we met—nothing of which pertained to us or our marriage, so we all agreed to set it aside.

  I immediately recognized box two as the same box I’d tipped over.

  “In nine years, you took like twenty pictures together. What gives?” Chaz asked.

  “We weren’t really picture people.” I tried not to sound defensive, but he’d hit a sore spot. Mandy hated having her picture taken. I’d always blamed it on her being insecure, but I now had my doubts. She certainly had no problem posing for Baxter’s Facebook page.

  Bobby held up a manila envelope. “Mind if I take a look?” Relief washed over me. I was worried she’d removed it.

  “That’s it,” I told him, and watched as he pulled the document from the envelope and scanned over it. I waited for him to say something. When he handed it over to Tut and then slid his hand back inside and pulled two more things out, my pulse accelerated. It wasn’t the same envelope. Tut let out a whistle, indicating surprise, and my stomach jumped into my throat.

  My eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. “What?”

  “Show him,” Bobby said. Tut handed me the piece of paper and they both waited for my reaction. It was a marriage certificate, but not ours. This one was for Amanda James and Baxter Keen. “Notice how it’s already filled out?” Bobby asked. I scanned past Amanda and Baxter’s names to the bottom of the page, and sure enough, he was right. It even had her cousin’s signature as well as her friend from the clerk’s office, which made no sense, as the wedding had yet to occur. Chaz held out his hand.

  “I don’t get it,” I said, passing it over to him.

  Bobby handed the other items in the envelope to Tut, who scanned over them before handing them to me. One was the save the date and the other was the wedding invitation. I was obviously missing something, because we already knew about the wedding.

  Bobby pulled a second manila envelope from the box. I watched as he opened it, scanned over it, and passed it to Tut.

  “Hmmmm, notice they’re both the original documents,” Tut murmured.

  “Yep, but look at what’s missing,” Bobby responded. I had to grit my teeth to keep from snapping at them. Here they were playing twenty questions yet giving no answers. I wanted fucking answers, and I wanted them now.

  “The clerk signed it but there’s no stamp or seal,” Tut finally answered before handing it over to me.

  “It can’t be filed without a stamp or seal?” Chaz asked, and suddenly I began to catch on.

  “If it had been properly filed, there would be a stamp or seal to show it. That way someone like us couldn’t come along and contest it,” Bobby answered.

  As I stared down at the piece of paper in my hands, the only legal proof that Evan Walker and Amanda James were ever married, the severity of the situation slammed into me. “Her friend didn’t stamp it,” I said.

  “Nope,” Tut replied.

  “Nor did she file it,” I continued.

  “Nope,” Bobby and Tut both replied.

  I stared at them both, thinking holy fucking shit. “Which means that if there’s no official record of a wedding, then we were never legally married?” I asked.

  “That’s what we’re thinking,” Bobby responded, then added, “From what I know, the person officiating the wedding is responsible for filing the certificate.” My thoughts shot in a million directions as I tried to grasp what this meant. I wasn’t legally married and never had been?

  “What the fuck? So the bitch lied about being married to him for nine years and is now planning on doing it to someone else?” Chaz asked. I was too stunned to speak.

  “Don’t go celebrating just yet,” Tut warned.

  “Yeah, we need confirmation,” Bobby added.

  Still reeling, I asked, “What kind of confirmation?”

  “First, we pay Cousin Edward a little visit. Then we find the friend who signed the document,” Bobby answered.

  “What happens if they were never legally married?” Chaz asked.

  “How about we deal with one thing at a time.” Turning to me, Bobby asked, “Do you have Cousin Eddie’s address?”

  It took me a minute to find it. After assuring us they’d be in touch as soon as they had something, Chaz and I followed Bobby and Tut out the door and watched them drive away.

  “I can’t deal with this right now—” I started to say.

  “Fine, but if I leave you alone, I need to know you’re not going to do something stupid,” Chaz shot back at me.

  Shaking my head, I whispered, “Nine years.”

  Chaz tapped his fingers against the doorframe. “You want to know what I think? I think you should trap her in her own game.” I gave him a questioning look and he explained. “You’re supposed to go to mediation in what, a week?”

  “Two weeks,” I said.

  “I think you should cancel it. Tell your lawyer that you want to make a go of the marriage.”

  “Fuck no!” I growled. The last thing I wanted was to be anywhere near the lying bitch.

  He held up his hand. “Hear me out. If you refuse to divorce her, then she can’t marry the other dude without breaking some major laws.”

  “No laws will be broken if we’re not legally married,” I pointed out.

  He let out a snort of disgust. “The bitch falsified documents and led you to believe something that wasn’t true for nine years. Trust me, some laws had to have bee
n broken somewhere along the way.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but if you go through with the divorce, you’re allowing her to do it to someone else. Is that what you want?”

  I thought back to our wedding. Did her family know what she was doing? Were there clues that I just didn’t see? “No, offense man, but I need to get out of here.”

  “Fine, I’ll go with you.”

  Scowling at him, I replied, “No. I need to be alone. Tell Quinn I’ll see her later. I just need to think.”

  “Be smart and remember, Mandy’s not worth losing what you have,” he warned. The screen door slammed behind him as he headed inside the house.

  I wasn’t sure where I was going. I just had to get away. My intention was to clear my head, but the more I thought about what Mandy had done, the angrier I became. Why didn’t her friend stamp the certificate? Why didn’t her cousin file it? Was this her plan all along? If so, why? There was only one person who could give me the answers, and I was going to find her.

  My phone rang as I turned onto her street. My brother’s name flashed across the screen and I quickly silenced it. As I neared the house, it rang again. This time it was my father. Shit. For him to be calling, something must be seriously wrong.

  I pulled between two parked cars and answered, “Hello?”

  “Evan, it’s Dad. Your mother had a bit of a fall this afternoon and has been admitted to Presbyterian Hospital. That’s where we are now. I just thought you might like to know.” Old wounds ripped wide open at the sound of his voice.

  With the shake of my head, I pushed the bitterness back down and focused on what he was saying. “How bad is it? Is she going to be okay?”

  “She hit her head and has some internal bleeding. They’ve taken her into surgery a—”

  “I’m on my way now,” I replied and hit disconnect.

  Before leaving, I made sure to text Chaz and Bobby to let them know what was up. Chaz immediately replied asking if I needed him to meet me there. I told him no and not to say anything to Quinn. I didn’t want her to worry. I would have to deal with Mandy later.

  On arrival at the hospital, I found both Ehren and Elaine in the waiting room. It had been years since I’d seen my sister. She looked older, more grown up. Guilt at how I’d treated her reared its ugly head. All those years ago, she’d told me Mandy was cheating and I’d called her a liar. She was only trying to protect me. Her eyes lifted from her phone screen and widened in surprise when she saw me standing there.

  “You came,” she said.

  Ehren, who was also staring at his phone, looked up and scowled. “I tried to call you, dickhead.”

  “Dad called,” I replied, and both of their mouths dropped open in shock.

  “You actually answered a call from Dad?” he asked.

  Ignoring his question, I dropped down onto the chair across from them, and said, “Tell me what happened.” They both launched in at the same time. From what I could gather, Mom was coming down the stairs with the laundry basket in hand, had miscalculated the landing, and missed the bottom three steps. On her way down, she hit her head on the entry hall cabinet.

  “She was just lying there bleeding everywhere. I didn’t know what to do. Dad wouldn’t answer his phone, so I called 9-1-1 and then Ehren,” Elaine recalled.

  “Speaking of Dad, where is he?” I asked.

  “Where do you think?” Ehren grumbled.

  Elaine gave Ehren a scathing look. “He stepped out to make a call.”

  “Is he still seeing her?” I don’t know what made me ask it. Call it the devil on my shoulder or maybe the fact that I was sick and tired of all the fucking lies. Either way, I needed to know if the old man had changed or if he was the same bastard he’d always been.

  Ehren mumbled something that sounded a lot like “Cheating prick.”

  To both our surprise, Elaine piped up. “It’s been over for about a year now.”

  My brother’s eyebrows nearly shot off his face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She shrugged. “You never asked.” Elaine had always been able to hold her secrets.

  As usual, Ehren pushed for more. “Well, what made him dump her?”

  She smiled. “Mom threatened to leave him and take half of his money if he didn’t drop the bitch.”

  “It’s about time,” I muttered.

  “Believe it or not, he’s actually trying. Mom even has him playing Bridge with her two nights a week.” Ehren and I both laughed. “I’m serious,” she said. I’d believe it when I saw it with my own two eyes. Her gaze drifted from Ehren to me. “A famous rock band, huh? I always knew you’d do something amazing with that talent of yours, but I’ve got to say, Meltdown pretty much takes the cake.”

  “Well, you know, Dad always said I would amount to nothing. I had to prove him wrong,” I half joked.

  An amused grin appeared on her face, reminding me of the Elaine of our childhood. “You certainly did that.”

  “Dad’s really trying?” Ehren asked.

  Elaine’s expression sobered. “I think he realized he was going to lose her.” Her eyes drifted to me. “I shouldn’t have done what I did that night. I was drunk and so angry. I—”

  “This isn’t the time or the place, Elaine,” Ehren cut in.

  “If not now, then when?” she retorted. “It’s not like we ever see each other.”

  “It’s fine,” I told Ehren, then turning my focus on my sister, said, “You went about it the wrong way, but I should have listened. I took her word over yours without question and I was wrong.”

  Understanding hit and she gasped. “Oh my God, I wasn’t imagining it, was I? She was cheating.”

  “She was, and our marriage is over. Ehren knows, but I would appreciate it if you not tell Mom and Dad. I’ll talk to them both once Mom is better and everything is finalized.”

  Elaine opened her mouth to respond when a familiar voice cut in, “Hello, Son. I’m glad you made it.” The three of us looked up from our semi-huddle, and I had to admit, our father looked good for a man nearing his seventies. Truth be told, he looked healthier than I’d ever seen him.

  Before we had a chance to talk, the doctor stepped into the waiting room and called us over. He explained that Mom was going to be okay and that they’d managed to stop the bleeding but wanted to keep her for a few days for observation.

  “Can I see her?” I asked and was surprised when no one objected.

  “Sure. I’ll take you to her now.” Without so much as a backward glance, I left the three of them standing there.

  The doctor made small talk as he led me down a long hallway. I replied but couldn’t tell you what was said. All I could think about was the conversation I’d just had with my sister and how relieved I was that my mother was going to be okay.

  As we stepped inside the room, I paused. I’m not sure what I expected. I knew she’d been hurt, but to see her lying there with her head covered in all those bandages...

  “She looks a little banged up, but she’s going to be just fine,” the doctor assured me.

  Swallowing deeply, I shuffled over to the chair beside her bed and took a seat. My mother had always been delicate, but I was surprised to see how pale and fragile she appeared lying there in bed.

  “You can take her hand,” he urged. Slowly, I reached out and grasped her hand. It felt cold and small beneath mine.

  “I’ll be back to get you in a little while,” I heard him say but was too busy staring at my mother’s face. She looked so...old. I tried to recall how long it had been since I’d seen her. A year? Surely not. My eyes stung as I stared at the woman who had given birth to me and wondered where the time had gone. I always thought she was weak for not standing up to my father. Weak because she knew about his cheating and allowed it. Weak because she didn’t force him to be a better man...a better dad. She stayed because she loved him that much. I stayed out of guilt. She wasn’t the weak one. I was.

  “I’m sorry,” I w
hispered. Then I dropped my head to the bed and wept.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “It Ain’t My Fault”

  Quinn

  The minute I walked through the door and spotted the dirty tables and the glasses piled up in the bar sink, I knew it was going to be a rough night.

  “Fuck a duck!” I exclaimed. I suppose this is what I get for asking Gretchen and Helen to close on Saturday night.

  “What’s that?” Olivia asked from behind me.

  I stepped aside so she could see. “Look at this mess! Damn Gretchen! She was at my house for hours yesterday. Did she say a word about leaving my bar a mess? No. She. Did. Not.”

  Her eyes scanned over the mess before landing back on me. “Gretchen was the drunk one, right?”

  “Drunk and stupid,” I grumbled as I rounded the bar and turned on the water. I sincerely liked Gretchen, but the woman was pushing it. Just because we were friends didn’t mean she could pull this shit. Helen was new and was most likely following Gretchen’s lead. Either way, it was shitty and just plain wrong.

  “I’m sorry she left you hanging. What can I do to help?”

  “Here.” I handed her a wet towel. “Could you wipe down those tables?”

  A few minutes of silence passed before she asked, “Does Gretchen do this often?”

  “Too often for my liking. It’s not like I don’t take care of my people, because I do. It just seemed so much easier when my dad was around.”

  “Oh? Where did he go?” she questioned. Without even thinking, I told her about Dad’s cancer. It was after I’d finished that it hit me. I’d talked about my father without wanting to cry. I wasn’t sure if this was good or bad.

  “I’m sorry you lost your dad, Quinn, and no offense, but running a business sounds rough.”

  I snorted. “I bet running a gaggle of rock stars is worse. By the way, how did you happen to land that job?”

  With a huge smile on her face, she told me about the crazy things that happened on Meltdown’s latest tour. When she ended it with how happy she was with the band’s recent unanimous decision to go back on tour, my stomach dropped. Evan hadn’t mentioned it. In fact, he hadn’t said a thing about his weekend away. Then again, why should he? It’s not like we were dating or anything. This made me feel even worse. Here I was, living with a man I wanted but couldn’t have. I’m pretty sure there was a word for this—Pathetic, loser, downright crazy. Maybe I wasn’t meant to find love.