“What?” He sounds even more outraged than he did at the idea of me cheating on Scarlett.
“I said, we need—”
“No fucking way,” he barks out, a small echo of his words shifting around us before he consciously takes a deep breath, forces an awkward, fake smile, and then shifts back toward me. “I could get fired! You need to leave.” He looks over my shoulder, no doubt ready to wave the doorman over to escort us out.
“I didn’t want to do this, but I would hate to have to tell your parents about that drug charges you managed to get arrested for last month. The one you’re still due to go to court over.”
His hand freezes just above the counter and any sort of color drains from his face. Then he snaps his eyes toward me, and I see not only shock and fear cross his eyes but also hatred.
“How the fuck do you know about that?” he murmurs, not that his lowered tone hides his contempt or fury.
“I’m a P.I.; you do the math.” I shrug, hoping to come across as confident and aloof, but he easily sees through it.
“She fucking told you. I can’t believe it!” he gasps out as he correctly comes to the right conclusion.
Scarlett mentioned Wally’s predicament right after he admitted to her what happened and begged her not to tell their parents. He’s terrified of their mom. I have to admit that I’m somewhat terrified of her, too, so I can’t blame him.
“That’s not the point, Wally,” I mutter, hoping to steer him away from murderous thoughts about his sister.
I reach into my pocket and wave a USB in his face. It’s a physical backup I use whenever I’m on the road and Wi-Fi isn’t viable. One of the first things Gemma taught me was to back up everything. Currently, it just has some random files on it, but Wally doesn’t know that.
He eyes the USB nervously. “What’s on that?”
“It has photos of your arrest, as well as police reports on the drugs you were caught with.”
He blanches and sweat beads over his forehead.
“Look, I don’t want to have to do this. Just give us the keycard to room 704, and we’ll be in and out in less than a few minutes.”
“I’ll get fired,” he whines, his voice piercing louder.
I wince, glancing around us, but no one appears to be paying us much attention. Yet.
“You won’t be. No one will know what’s happening. Gemma and I will look like two lovers going up to our room, and we’ll exit without anyone knowing we were there.”
He shakes his head, but it looks more defeated than opposing. “I can’t fucking believe you. I won’t ever forgive you or her. She is dead to me,” he snaps while stabbing the keyboard in front of him angrily.
My stomach drops, and my lungs compact, making it harder to catch my breath.
“Please don’t be angry at her. She has no idea I’m doing this,” I beg quietly.
Wally does tend to exaggerate in most things. His admission the first time I met him that he would die if the snow didn’t let up soon comes to mind. But Wally also loves to create drama. Often, he orchestrates arguments at family dinners purely for his own amusement.
I can totally see him wanting revenge for this, and what better way than to make Scarlett’s life miserable by taunting her over what I have done.
“I don’t give a fuck if she knows what you’re doing,” he hisses as he slaps the keycard on the counter, his stare cold enough to give me frostbite. “You have fifteen minutes before the room is occupied.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, hoping my pleading tone gains me some sort of sympathy, or at least forgiveness.
He doesn’t glance back up at me again.
I like Scarlett a lot.
How is she going to react to what just happened? How the hell is she going to forgive me for how I threatened her brother? Will she understand? Or hate me?
I did this all for the right reasons, didn’t I? I had no choice, not without disappointing Zander. I need to prove to everyone that I am up for this. That becoming a private investigator isn’t a mistake.
But, did I take it too far?
***
“Earth to Cynthia?” Sasha grumbles from behind her reception desk, leaning forward and stopping me from pacing by grabbing my shoulders and holding me in place.
I know I should feel bad that I’m not paying attention to her, but I’m worried.
I glance at the phone clenched in my hand for the hundredth time, waiting to hear back from Scarlett. My earlier message to her hasn’t been returned. She hasn’t called, and she hasn’t been active on any of her social media sites. I have tried to call her repeatedly, but she hasn’t answered. She has gone quiet, and I can’t help fearing this is a very bad sign.
She might not have gotten a chance to read my message before she answered Wally’s phone call. If that happened, then her silence is most definitely not a good sign.
Today, Scarlett is meeting with Nix, her boss, and Conner Sherwood, a mutual friend and social media expert, to talk about Nix’s restaurant and what sort of branding and design they want. The restaurant itself is still in the process of being rebuilt, though I know they are hoping to have the grand opening sometime in the New Year.
Things are still quite a ways off, but both Nix and Scarlett have enthusiastically been collaborating on the new restaurant. With the investigation behind Nix’s father officially closed and the arson investigation wrapped up, made a little more difficult given the perpetrator was gunned down a few months ago, things have been slow to start. But now they are gaining some momentum. Scarlett was excitedly yammering to me just last night about all they want to do and achieve in the coming weeks.
She might have started out as an employee and Nix’s head waitress, but she has fast become the best friend he never asked for but begrudgingly accepted.
Given their busy schedule today, she might not have been able to check her phone yet.
I send off another quick text, begging her to speak to me before she returns any calls from Wally. It’s best she hears my side before she gets a dramatized version from him, not that my own account isn’t also going to cause problems.
“I know it sounds bad, and I’m sure it won’t be all that much fun to talk about for either of you, but …”
I tune Sasha out again, feeling queasy at the thought of the fight that will be happening soon.
Scarlett and I haven’t had a fight yet, not a big one. I suppose that should be a warning to me. Things have been going too smoothly between us.
No relationship in the world moves along without the odd bump in the road.
Sure, this one might be a bump the size of Mount Everest, but people climb that mountain and live to tell the tale. Scarlett and I are strong enough to climb this, too.
I believe in us.
“Incoming!” Sasha hisses, looking over my shoulder and through the wide glass doors that show us our parking lot outside.
I turn around and watch as Scarlett marches toward the front doors. Her demeanor couldn’t be described as anything short of fierce and furious right now.
So not a good sign.
My heart begins to pound in my chest and sweat beads over my body. I have had many reactions to seeing Scarlett. Mostly the happy, butterflies in my stomach kind. But right now, I am terrified. Not of her, but of what is about to happen.
“How could you?” Scarlett screeches once she shoves the door open, her eyes glued to me. I can’t escape the betrayal and anger sitting in them.
I wince at the open office doors where her voice likely attracts the attention of those inside.
“Scarlett, I’m sorry,” I gasp, grabbing her hand and trying to move her outside, not that she allows my touch for long, pulling out of my grip after only a few steps away from Sasha’s desk.
My pounding heart shifts into higher gear, my body shaking as the implications that I didn’t get to her in time mean.
She’s only heard Wally’s side, and I know how bad that probably sounded.
�
��I trusted you! I told you about Wally in confidence!” she accuses, her voice breaking under the strain of her unshed tears.
Seeing her wet eyes is a punch to the gut. Scarlett rarely cries; and knowing I have upset her enough to cause this reaction makes me feel shitter than I ever thought possible.
“I know. I’m sorry. But I had—”
“Had?” she shouts. “You had to betray my trust? You had to ruin what was happening between us?”
“No, I never wanted that.” I again try to reach for her, but she steps away.
“Too bad, because that’s what you did. This is over.” Her expression shifts into stone, her eyes closing down on me.
“No!” I cry, this time managing to reach out and cup her face, feeling her tears splash over my fingers as they fall. “Please,” I beg.
“Don’t call me, don’t come by my apartment, and forget you know me!” she gasps out, ripping her face from my grip and storming outside.
I watch her go through the glass doors, my eyesight blurring with every passing second until all I see are blobs and distorted shapes.
“Oh, honey,” Sasha murmurs next to me, wrapping her arm around me and pulling me against her.
Her warmth and strong arms are all I need to break down into a bubbling mess of tears and snot.
“I made a mistake!” I cry, feeling her move her hands soothingly over my back.
“You did,” she agrees.
“I messed up.”
“Yep.” Again, she doesn’t sugarcoat or try to defend what I did.
“How do I fix it?” I ask, pulling back and blinking away my tears so I can look Sasha in the eye.
“I don’t know.” She doesn’t let up on her honesty, and I hate that there isn’t an easy fix for this.
“But … but I love her,” I whisper.
When Sasha’s expression shutters to aching for me, my own pain overwhelms me, forcing more tears to fall and the hollow feeling in my chest to deepen.
Why did it take losing Scarlett for me to realize I am in love with her? And how the hell am I going to win her back?
Is it even possible to do that anymore? Or have I lost her forever?
Chapter 1
October 24th
“Are you sure this is the place?” Ava asks for the eighth time in three minutes.
“Yes!” I impatiently answer. “This is the address on the invite, there is a massive sign congratulating both Sasha and Declan, and those two crazy old ladies who think the government is watching them or whatever are here.” I wave in the direction of the two elderly women who are just one crazy step away from wearing foil hats before I stare back at one of my best friends.
Without Ava’s and Sasha’s friendship and love, I likely wouldn’t be working at J.P.I. and my life would definitely be lonelier. They fell in love with me before Zander had the chance to interview me for the job. After that, he had zero choice in the matter. Ava and Sasha loved me and that was that. I was hired.
“I know. I just … Are you sure?”
“Ava!” I snap, throwing my hands up in frustration.
She is wearing a beautiful flowy dress and a fitted leather jacket. Her hair dangles in waves down her back. She is tiny compared to her burly husband, but next to me, we share a similar build, even if I have to work my ass off in the gym just to maintain the small muscle definition I have managed over the past several months.
She glances around wildly, something she has been doing since she first stepped through half an hour earlier. “It’s just … this is a barn,” she unnecessarily points out.
“Great observation,” I deadpan. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“But, why would Sasha want her engagement party here? She’s not into …” She glances around again, no doubt seeing the haystacks littered around the edge of the large open area, the handmade wooden furniture that is literally everywhere, and the farm-like decorations that include horseshoes, cowboy hats, and soft country music wafting around us. “… any of this.”
Sasha has been incredibly secretive about her engagement party. After being engaged to Declan for close to eighteen months and currently three months pregnant, last month, she decided to lock in a date for tonight and stated she planned to organize the entire night on her own.
We protested, mentioning that she is not only taking enough on as it is with the exciting news of her pregnancy, which Zander keeps telling everyone is his doing since he was able to win the bet between them and force Sasha to give up alcohol for an entire year, but she also didn’t need the added stress of organizing this when we all wanted to help. However, she insisted, and there is no getting around Sasha when she sets her mind to something.
We had to rely on Declan to assure us Sasha wasn’t overdoing it, and after overhearing him on the phone to either caterers and other party planning places, I assumed he was at least helping. But none of us expected this. Not that there is anything wrong with it. In fact, it looks rather homely and sweet. But I’m not sure it exactly says Sasha and Declan.
I mean, just outside the barn is a real-life farm, with horse poo close to the entrance just to give it that authentic feeling.
“I think it’s charming!” Teagan speaks up, carefully approaching while hugging baby Michaela to her chest. Not that you can see her under the modesty blanket Teagan has around her as she no doubt is breastfeeding.
Michaela, or Mickie as she is affectionately called, is just going on three months old.
Teagan, wearing a loose-fitting dress in a soft yellow color and flat shoes, looks the most comfortable out of all of us. Then again, I think she’s just grateful for the excuse to get out of the house.
Joey, her partner, looks like he is having a great time with the few guests who are here, laughing boisterously and happily. I don’t think I have seen him look happier and more settled. Since meeting and falling in love with Teagan, he has had an air of contentment and glee surrounding him. I haven’t seen him without a goofy smile in months.
After a side hug from Ava and me, we settle back into the conversation.
“I’m not saying it isn’t charming. I’m just … I’m not sure why she wanted to do this here,” Ava says, her eyes softening as she gazes warmly at the tiny sock-covered feet poking out of Teagan’s side.
A year ago, Ava was a hundred percent done with having kids. She told us so numerous times. She even overshared about how Zander wasn’t allowed near her vagina. Now Sasha is pregnant, Teagan has a newborn, and I see the clucky wheels turning in her mind.
“Maybe because it was all planned on short notice, so this was all she could get?” I suggest.
“Which brings me to why the hell did she need to organize it so quickly? She’s had a year to think about this. And then, as soon as she finds out she’s pregnant, she suddenly has to have her engagement party, a few days short of Halloween, and the big party she planned, no less! She already admitted she hasn’t thought about planning her wedding, so why rush this? Neither she nor Declan are religious. Who cares if there is a baby out of wedlock? I mean, hello?” Ava stops to wave her hand between herself and Teagan. “Teagan and I are proof that there is no judgement here.”
Ava and Zander’s son, Jensen, was at their wedding. Their daughter was born after they were married, and Joey and Teagan aren’t even engaged. I’m not sure they even care to be.
“I don’t know, but I do know she won’t want us standing around, judging her decisions. She wanted this, so let’s make sure she enjoys the hell out of tonight,” I say, my eyes catching on Harvey and Nix as they enter the barn.
Every time I see Nix, I get choked up. He is almost always with Scarlett, so I fear how I will react to seeing her tonight. Though it’s been six months since we broke up, my heart still aches for her.
We have had almost zero contact since our breakup at the office. I did break down and try calling her a handful of times, but she has never responded. In fact, I don’t even know if she saw my calls. Her number was soon disconnected. I co
uld have found out her new number easily, but I worried that would cross a line. I figured I had already crossed one too many.
I have caught glimpses of her here and there, as well as heard the odd mention of her, usually from Harvey or Nix; otherwise, it’s like we are strangers to each other.
Harvey and Nix share a quick kiss at the entrance before Harvey shifts over to the bar that has been set up in one of the corners and Nix reluctantly approaches us. Fortunately, Scarlett isn’t with them.
Sasha offered to leave Scarlett off the invite list, but I insisted she didn’t need to. Now I realize I need more time to prepare myself before seeing her.
Will we talk tonight? Will she let me explain? Could my fantasy come true and she will accept a dance with me?
Okay, that last one is the biggest stretch of all.
I know tonight will be the same as any other social setting we have had to be at together—sticking to opposite sides of the room and trying to avoid eye contact. But a girl can hope, right?
“Wow, don’t look too excited to see us,” Ava drawls at Nix, rolling her eyes when he leans down to give her a kiss on the cheek before proceeding to give all of us the same greeting.
Nix was standoffish with me for a while after Scarlett and I broke up, but he has slowly warmed back up to me. I think it has more to do with him and Harvey being together and not wanting to make things awkward than him forgiving me for hurting his best friend.
“I’m just concerned about how much I’m going to drink tonight. I’m not sure my liver can handle all the baby talk that is guaranteed to happen,” he replies, earning a grin from us.
“I think we might need to put that drinking game to bed. None of us come out of it all that well,” I point out.
I have never drunk so much as I do now that Nix has entered our lives.
Our first night with Nix, we unintentionally spent a lot of it speaking about kids. Nix decided to create a game where he took a sip whenever someone brought them up. Then we joined in on the fun, deciding that any mention of penises meant we should all drink. You know, just to be fair, of course. And, instead of accidental slips of those words, that led to intentional mentions in an effort to get each other sloshed. In fact, I’m beginning to associate hearing any word referring to a penis as needing a drink.
I Blackmailed Her Brother Page 2