by Linda Kage
Oh, hell, please open up and swallow me now, world.
“Wha…?” Both men frowned when the frame moved, going blurry and then the screen became completely dark.
“I thought I’d only taken a quick picture,” I explained, my face all hot and flushy. “So I shoved the phone back into my pocket about as soon as I got it into focus.”
Stempy held up a hand when I began to lower the phone. “Wait, the video’s still going, though. Maybe we can hear—”
Before he could even finish his hope, a muffled female voice called, “Oh my God, that was so good. I can’t believe I, Melody Fairfield, finally caught the elusive Beckett Hilliard. And holy shit, Jana was so right about you. You fuck like a goddamn animal.”
Beckett’s answer was a faint groan as if he were in pain, and then the video finally ran out of steam and shut off.
I lifted my face, no longer so mortified, because I was too busy sharing a shocked glance with Detective Rice and Mr. Stempy. All three of our mouths had fallen open, none of us quite able to believe what we’d just heard.
“Okay, maybe it was Melody Fairfield with Beckett Hilliard in the video,” Detective Rice finally allowed, “But who’s to say this video was taken on the night of the…”
His words faded off, as I pointed to the date and exact time, along with the town’s name, posted above the video.
He blinked, then cleared his throat and said, “I’m going to need you to forward that video to me, please.”
Beckett’s lawyer nodded. “Me too.”
It wasn’t until after I’d left them, made it to my car and started the engine that I realized I’d just shared a sex tape I’d filmed with two complete strangers.
Life was so weird.
Chapter 9
BAILEY
“So, did you tell them?”
I pulled my lap blanket more firmly over me and grabbed another handful of potato chips—my comfort food. Across the room, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off played on the television. It’d been a good escape for all of an hour until Tess had come barreling up the stairs, out of breath, her red hair flying out behind her and her cheeks pink from the outdoors cold.
“Yes,” I muttered before cramming more Doritos into my mouth. “It’s done.”
“So…?” She dropped her book bag to the floor and spread her arms, waiting for me to elaborate.
I lifted and eyebrow and crunched noisily. “So…what?”
“Oh my God, Bailey? So what happened? Did you free him? Are you okay? Did they make you feel dirty and wrong? I kept worrying the whole day that they’d make you feel like the one who did something bad. I totally should’ve gone with you. I can’t believe you—”
“Holy jeez!” I said to hush her. “It went fine. They were really cool, and I actually feel better about it now.”
Tess glanced at the movie, where Ferris was currently singing Twist and Shout on a parade float, then her gaze ran over the blanket wrapped around me to the nearly empty bag on my lap. She knew I didn’t feel totally better yet.
“Okay, fine.” I sighed. Sometimes it sucked to have such an intuitive friend. “I have no idea what’s happened to the case. I don’t know if they freed him instantly, or not? I just…They took my report and then sent the little woman on her way, and it’s killing me that I don’t know how anything went down from there.”
“Well, obviously, they released him, right?” Tess seemed so certain of her statement until she focused on my face. Then her lips parted and her head swayed back and forth with denial. “Right?”
“I don’t…” I shook my head. “I don’t know.” After they’d seen my video, I would think so, yes, but no one said so one way or another. I opened my mouth to tell Tess that, but then I realized she didn’t know about the video. Because I hadn’t known about it the last time I’d seen her. I couldn’t admit that part. Even taking a picture of what I’d seen was humiliating enough, but actually having a video of it? No. Sweet innocent Tess didn’t need to know that part.
Okay, fine her sweet innocence had nothing to do with it. I just didn’t want her knowing how truly depraved I was.
So I stuck with, “I don’t know what happened to him, and it’s driving me crazy.”
“Well.” Tess nodded thoughtfully before saying, “You’re Bailey; you’re not afraid to find this stuff out. And you know which fraternity house he lives in, so…”
Holy geez, she was right. I whipped the blanket off me and accidently sent the bag of Doritos flying across the room as I jumped to my feet.
“I’m going over there,” I announced, my big declaration losing some of its bravado with the nacho-flavored corn chips raining down on the floor around us.
Tess blinked at the mess before saying, “I’ll go with you.”
I started to nod—a little excited to do this with her since we’d always gone on such adventures together—until we heard the door open below us and then bang shut before heavy footsteps started up the stairwell. Definitely not the tread of either Paige or Logan, which meant Jonah was home.
My shoulders slumped.
I knew he made Tess blindingly happy and treated her right, but the bastard had stolen my best friend from me. We used to be inseparable and did everything together. Now they were inseparable and did everything together. I honestly couldn’t remember when Tess and I had last gone out on a just-Tess-and-Bailey outing. She didn’t seem to miss them, so I didn’t complain.
Okay, I complained, but it was the teasing kind of complaint that told them I wasn’t the least bit bothered and totally didn’t feel left out, even though I totally was and totally did.
Tess’s entire face brightened when Jonah’s head appeared and then his whole body as he rose from the stairwell and joined us in the front room, and I knew I’d never let her really know how lonely I’d become.
“Nah, I got this one,” I said, though I’m not sure why I even bothered. Tess was no longer paying me any attention; she was too busy throwing her arms around Jonah as he wrapped his arms right back around her and picked her up off her feet to give her a big welcoming smooch.
I sighed and moved past them to the wall full of hooks holding coats and jackets and purses with floor mats under them to house shoes.
After I shoved my feet into a pair of fur-lined ankle boots, I reached for my coat. I’d just shrugged it on and was buttoning it up, when Tess realized I was leaving.
“Oh! Bailey.”
I winced over at her. “Is it okay if I do this one by myself? He only met me the once and doesn’t know you, so…”
“Oh.” She nodded instantly. “Sure. That makes sense. After being accused of what he’s been accused of and spending the last few days in jail, being visited by a stranger might be…” She shook her head, not sure which term to use.
I nodded, totally understanding. There were a lot of things happening these days that needed new terms that probably hadn’t even been invented yet.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
Then I grabbed my purse and hurried down the stairs.
I didn’t think about what I was going to say to Beckett once I saw him, not until I actually reached the Alpha Gamma Rho house and was walking up between the white pillars of its front porch.
Holy criminy, what the heck should I say?
Hey, I was just curious what happened to you, so okay, it looks like your free now. I guess I’ll be going. Nice to see you again, bye.
Hmm.
Yeah, I think that needed some work.
I could, uh, well…
The first thing that came to mind was an apology. I mean, I’d spied on the guy having sex. Then I’d waited over twenty-four hours to go to the police for him after I’d discovered he’d been arrested. Oh, and let’s not forget I’d called him stupid multiple times in my head, though he really had been. I hadn’t stopped Melody from going down on him when he’d been too drunk and horny-male to stop her himself.
So, yeah, I was here to say sorry.
Good idea.
Before I could think it through any more than that, I knocked on the door and held my breath. I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to word it. Apologizing really didn’t seem like everything I wanted to do here. It just seemed like, well, something was binding us together now, a single event that had turned into something bigger than it ever should’ve been. It felt odd to never talk to him again after that. I’d kind of saved him; I sort of felt responsible for him now.
But I couldn’t tell a guy I’d only talked to for two minutes that I was actually worried about him. So yeah, I was just going to apologize. I mean, an apology was good enough, right? He’d had to spend twenty-four extra hours he’d in a jail cell because of my cowardice.
Oh, Lord. What if Bubba had gotten his hands on Beckett in that time and made him his little prison wife? My stomach lurched with unease. Hopefully Bubba didn’t work quite that fast, although damn, Beckett did kind of have one of those pretty-boy faces, a decent body, and his eyes… He had awesome eyes.
Fuck. I better at least have saved him from the honeymoon with Bubba.
Approaching footsteps sounded from inside, and my palms began to sweat. Okay, so how many apologies did I have to make again? Two? Three?
God, I hated apologizing. I always started stuttering and fumbling and totally butchered them to hell. Beckett deserved a nice eloquent, sincere beg of forgiveness. All I could be was honest and awkward as hell.
The door opened. I swallowed my tongue, expecting it to be him for some reason.
But it wasn’t him. It wasn’t Beckett Hilliard at all.
Instead, the first thing my gaze greeted was a row of shiny pearl snap buttons running up a light blue shirt. I blinked and looked down. Enormous gold belt buckle. Snug Wrangler jeans. Silver-tipped cowboy boots.
Oh my God, cowboy boots!
I zipped my attention up and gaped into the eyes of the cowboy. My cowboy.
Holy shit, I’d totally forgotten about him and Beckett’s insistence that he actually belonged to the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.
I shook my head. Seriously, what was my soulmate doing in a fraternity? This wasn’t right at all.
But then he smiled and I forgot about all that, because oh wow. He had a warm greeting smile as he slumped one shoulder against one side of the doorframe and then reached out to grip the other side with his hand, his boots crossing at the ankles.
“Well, hello there, sweetheart,” he cooed, his voice deep and penetrating. Oh God, how it penetrated. “What’s a pretty little thing like yourself doing on our doorstep?”
Oh, cheese and rice, he’d just called me pretty. Excuse me while I fainted.
My heart fluttered and smile bloomed as my face grew warm. But really, this was all too much to take in. My soulmate, the man of my dreams, the elusive cowboy I’d been chasing for a year was standing right in front of me—touching distance away—looking at me, smiling at me, and calling me pretty.
I just, I could do nothing but soak it all in.
When I soaked the moment in a bit too awkwardly long, gazing at him with probably a bit too much adoration, his grin turned cocky and one sexy eyebrow arched up into his hairline.
“What’s the problem? Cat got your tongue, darlin’?”
“I, uh.” Oh hell. I’d totally forgotten what I’d come here to do. I knew I’d had a determined mission in mind when I’d knocked on this door, but yeah, it was long gone.
Whoops.
I almost giggled at my silly self. I was so forgetful. Oh well. It couldn’t have been that important. Maybe I could get the cowboy to spank me for my wandering brain and—
What? No!
Where had that thought come from? Bad Bailey.
I cleared my throat, thinking I should probably say something worthwhile and stop ogling the poor guy. I’d have the rest of my life to look at him, didn’t want to wear the sight out all in the first thirty seconds of officially meeting my soulmate. Though, wow, this was one sight I’d have no qualms about wearing out. He was just so yummy. So cowboy. So…
I shuddered and kept gazing at him like a moron.
He chuckled, because he knew…oh, he knew exactly what I was thinking and feeling. And it was a little bit thrilling. My blood thickened in my veins, and I swear my body grew prepared for him, ready for whatever he wanted to do.
“So, are you here to see someone specific?” he asked, his gaze telling me he didn’t care who I was here for, because he was going to be the one I was going to see. “Or did you just want to browse through your choices?”
Oh, I didn’t need to browse. I’d already made my choice, thank you very much. I opened my mouth, but the only words I could think to say were, Will you marry me?
Except that wasn’t right.
Dammit, why the hell was I here again?
Ooh, Beckett. Yes. Good Bailey. My rational brain returning just in time, I snapped my fingers and blurted, “Beckett.”
The cowboy’s arm immediately jerked from the doorframe, and he straightened from the jamb to look imposingly taller as his smile fell dead. “Excuse me?”
Wow. That had made him immediately icy. I shrank back, wondering what I’d done that was so wrong. “I… I need to talk to Beck,” I said. “Is he…” The cowboy’s glare grew more ominous, so I swallowed and finished in a small voice, “Here?”
“Why…” He stepped outside onto the veranda with me to tower a good foot taller than me and glared shrewdly as he asked, “would that motherfucking raping son of a bitch be here?”
His voice was so deadly and steely soft that I shuddered.
“I.” I gulped unsteadily before it struck me. “Wait. Didn’t his case get dropped?”
“Dropped?” The cowboy boomed. “Why the fuck would his case get dropped? After what that piece of shit did to my sister, he better die in that jail cell.”
Chapter 10
BAILEY
Thud.
That was the sound my jaw made when it hit the ground from dropping my mouth open so far, or you know, the sound it would’ve made if my mouth literally could’ve done that, which it totally would have, if it could have. But didn’t.
“Oh my God,” I breathed, my eyes the size of golf balls—again, not literally. “You’re Melody’s brother?”
Eww.
Without my permission, my nose wrinkled. No way in hell did I want that skanky piece of trash as a sister-in-law. Talk about worst Thanksgiving dinners ever.
This was just no fair. Life couldn’t be this cruel.
My cowboy, my soulmate. He was right here. He’d called me pretty. How the hell was he related to her?
I knew he couldn’t help it. No one chose blood, buts still, he seemed pretty defensive of her, like he liked her or supported her or believed her story or whatever, which was just totally wrong.
But maybe that was because he didn’t know the truth.
Ooh, that must be it. He just didn’t know what she was really like.
I needed to fix this, to set him straight.
“I’m so sorry,” I started, almost feeling the urge to reach out and grip his arm in comfort. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but he really didn’t rape her. Beckett, I mean. He didn’t force her or pressure her or manipulate her in any way. She was the one to push for it, to instigate it, to, hell, she put the damn condom on him.”
The cowboy tipped his head slightly and squinted a moment before murmuring, “What did you just say?”
I flushed. No way was I going to repeat all that, especially to the girl’s brother. So I simply cleared my throat, and confessed. “I was there. I saw everything. And your sister…” I shrugged. Well, she was a lying, awful whore. Not that’d I’d say that to him verbally, though I’m pretty sure he got the message loud and clear, especially when his face turned purple and his teeth clenched together into a snarl as he growled, “Listen here, you lying little bitch.”
I sucked in an entire lungful with the gasp I produced.
But…what?
How…?
My soulmate…
He’d just called me a—
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are—”
I shoved him. Right in the chest, both hand flat against his shirt, with all my might.
No one, and I mean no one, called me a bitch—especially a lying bitch—and got away with it. Chance—or whatever the hell his stupid name was—the fucking hot cowboy I’d wanted for over a year, was now dead to me.
As he stumbled back inside the fraternity from the force of my shove, I poked my finger at his nose and followed him in, staying in his face so he would remember everything I had to say.
“I am Bailey Fucking Prescott, you asshole. And no one calls me a lying bitch. You want to see a lying bitch, why don’t you talk to your sister, because she fucking lied out her pretty, straight lying teeth. Beck didn’t touch a hair on her head. I was there. I saw everything that happened, and he did not rape her. End of story.”
He grabbed my hand. Hard. Like hard enough to hurt and make me gasp as my bones just seemed to crumple together under the force of his grip.
“Listen here, bitch.” He forced me backward right out the door with the force of his hold on my hand alone. “You don’t come here and talk about my sister like that. Someone needs to set you straight and shut your big, fucking lard-ass mouth permanently because Melody would never—”
“Hey, hey, hey!” Some guy jumped between us and manually nudged the cowboy away from me. “Take it easy, man.”
“Get this stupid, fat cunt out of my face!” Pointing at me over the interloper’s shoulder, he cleared the phlegm from his throat and spat at my eyes.
It went into one, splattered across my nose and some even went up my nostrils.
Gasping and shuddering from the utter grossness of it all, I squeezed my eyes shut and lifted my hands blindly, gagging out my horror.
Before I could see again, the fraternity door slammed shut. I didn’t realize the other frat boy had stayed outside with me until he said, “Here,” and a piece of cotton cloth was shoved into my hand.
I had no idea if it was a tissue, used underwear, or what, but I gratefully said, “Thank you,” and wiped the slime off my face.