“It’s just how Ciro’s programmed. He’s always a glass-half-empty kind of guy.” I squeezed Ledger’s hand.
“I know, and he’s right. But I don’t want to think about any of that tonight.” He went over to the driver’s side, and I got into the passenger side of his SUV.
The diner only had two cars in the parking lot. This was that slow time, right before the early risers and after the late-night goers. It was my favorite time to be there.
“Sit anywhere,” the server said as she passed us with a pot of coffee in hand.
We opted for the far corner booth. Even though it wasn’t crowded, we both liked to be away from people after being shoulder to shoulder with so many at work.
“Hey, boys, what’s it gonna be?” Her name tag read Delia.
“Hi, Delia,” I said. “I’d love a grilled cheese, fries, and a vanilla milkshake.”
Ledger smiled and lightly shook his head at me. “I’ll have a cheddar burger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake.”
“You got it. Be right back.” Delia left, and Ledger and I just sat in silence for a moment.
“You have any folks?” Ledger asked me, breaking the quiet.
“I imagine so. Unless I was hatched.”
Ledger chuckled. A literal chuckle, as if he were embarrassed by his own obvious question. “Do you talk to your folks? Better?”
“Yeah, and no, I don’t.” I wasn’t sure if I should elaborate or not but what the hell, I figured it wasn’t completely unbelievable…even this day and age. “It’s probably a typical story. My father was a preacher, my mom a devout catholic. They caught me blowing a choir boy and were all ‘You’re a demon from Hell, blah blah blah.’ I got lucky, though.”
Ledger’s eyes widened. “How?”
“So, that night, it was late spring, so not cold. I was walking down a really long-ass street because in Kentucky, we have a lot of long roads. There was this kid I went to high school with. He pulled up onto the side of the road. He was getting out of town too.”
“Was he the choir boy?” Ledger smirked and I laughed.
“Nah, just had shitty parents. So we drove for hours until we saw this Help Wanted sign on a farm. I worked there for a few years. They had so many dogs, damn. I loved it. When I had left home I left my collie, Charmer, and my Lab, Barker.”
“If you loved it so much, why’d you leave?”
Delia came over with our food and milkshakes, so I waited until she was gone before continuing.
“The guy I was working for had a heart attack, and his kids were money-hungry. They sold the farm, and I caught a bus…It was going to this place called Haven Hart…and the rest is history.”
I chomped on a fry and watched as Ledger tried to absorb my story. I was okay with it now. Of course, when it happened, I hadn’t been. My life had felt meaningless, every holiday or birthday welcomed with heartache. But as the years moved on, so did I.
“That sucks, Shane. No one should go through that.” Ledger stirred his shake with his straw.
“I’m fine, honestly. What about you?”
He raised his brows. “Nothing like that. My parents both died before I was ten. Dad had a heart attack, and Mom was in a car accident. I lived with my grandparents until they died but by then, I was seventeen. I got some money when they died, so I was able to get by.”
“Shit, that’s sad.” My parents were still alive. I knew they were, even though in my heart I’d mourned them years ago. “Were they good parents?”
He smiled. “I don’t remember much about them other than some birthdays and holidays. My dad liked to play ball with me, but I was little. Mom taught me to cook. My grandparents were amazing, though. I had a good upbringing, even if parts of it were sad.”
“We’re a pair,” I joked, and Ledger smiled.
“I like us as a pair.” He winked and bit into his burger, and I knew I truly liked us as a pair too.
Chapter Twenty
Ledger
While the next couple of days were peaceful, Ciro and Riordan didn’t let up on security. I was glad that by the end of the day Trinity would make the announcement and hopefully—I really hoped—all this shit would stop.
“Do you ever get a day off?” Shane asked as we ate lunch at Quirks and Perks. We didn’t have to be at the club for a few hours, and I wanted to enjoy the day with Shane.
“If I wanted it, yeah. But I love my job. Doesn’t even feel like work most nights. I was actually thinking of talking to Atlas about doing some spotlight DJs. I know a few, and maybe I could be using the time as a vacation with a certain redhead I know.” I leaned across the table and twined our fingers together. When his cheeks bloomed pink, I smiled so hard it hurt.
“I think I have vacation time coming my way.” He was so fucking adorable that I pulled his fingers, glad when he got the hint and came closer so I could kiss his delicious mouth.
“You two are cute, but you asked me to tell you when those muffins were ready?” Mel, the owner, placed a white bag in front of me. “I put a few extra in there for you.”
“Thanks, Mel.” I could already smell the cinnamon and pumpkin. “I’ll take them to the club. Ciro may not look like it, but the man has a fetish or something for food. But he’s as picky as Gordon Ramsay.”
She chuckled and went back to the counter when a customer walked in. When my phone buzzed, I saw it was Ziggy and answered.
“Hey. Trin is recording now, but I’m being told it won’t air until tonight. She got a slot on Hollywood Entertainment.”
“Nice, that’ll get the word out. So what time?”
“Seven. I know you’re working, but you’ll see it as soon as it goes out.”
“Thanks, Zig…for everything.”
He chuckled. “I live to make lives easier, my friend.”
When he disconnected the call, I smiled and told Shane the news.
“Wow, Hollywood Entertainment is a big deal. And by the time you’re out of work, you’ll be free.” He smiled but it was strained.
“I know that face, what’s up?”
“I dunno. I mean, it’s big news, but you haven’t been bombarded with reporters like we thought. Sure, she got this lined up tonight, but it’s not altering your life…haven’t you noticed? Aside from the gifts and the photos in the magazine, no one has harassed you about your relationship with her.”
That was true. “Maybe the security was daunting.”
“What did your agent say?”
“She said she had a statement that she was giving to anyone who asked that I was denying the relationship.”
Shane nodded. “How many people asked her for it?”
“Not a clue, I leave that up to her.”
“Well, I just wonder if Trinity was hoping this was going to be her ticket to a better name for herself and it didn’t pick up like she dreamed it would. I hope she doesn’t try something else.”
I slid both my hands over Shane’s, covering them. “What she does isn’t my business as long as she doesn’t drag me into it.”
We spent the next few hours walking around town. The park had some art exhibit from the schools, and we saw so many amazing pieces from future young talents. By the time we got into work and handed the muffins off to Ciro, we weren’t thinking about Trinity anymore.
I was too busy at seven to go and look up Trinity’s announcement. We were opening doors soon, and I was doing some last-minute equipment fixes. While I was curious, I had little time to think about it, what with how quickly I had to work before it was go-time.
The security had been the same tonight as it had always been, but I paid it little mind. Whenever I glanced over at Shane, he smiled. He was checking his phone often, but he was busy too. I figured if I got a break, or after work, I’d just catch it all.
I saw the doors open, popped in my earpiece, and let the night flow over me.
“Seriously?”
I turned and saw Ciro standing beside my booth about an hour into the night.
He lightly smacked the side of my head. “Your fucking earpiece, is it on?” Now that he mentioned it, I realized I hadn’t heard anyone talking in it.
“Shit.” I looked at the battery pack on my waistband and saw no green light. “I grabbed—”
“These are important, Ledger.” He handed me another one.
“Thanks. Was there something you wanted to tell me?” My eyes scanned the stage, where two guys were dancing like they were trying to crawl into each other.
“We have an issue.” The way Ciro said those words made my happy carefree feeling evaporate.
“What kind of issue?”
He looked over his shoulder to where a cop stood with one of the security guys.
“The kind that needs you to come with me and talk to the nice policeman.”
This was bad. I looked over toward Shane and saw the same worry on his face. But he was pulled away by someone asking for a drink, and I couldn’t even give him a reassuring smile.
“I need time, Ciro. I don’t have a whole night set up.”
He nodded. “I get it. Let me go talk to the cop; you set up what you can. Atlas promised he’d do what he could to keep things going too.”
With shaking hands, I made quick work of setting up enough songs to go for an hour. It was the best I could do on such short notice. I had to hope it wouldn’t get fucked up, but I trusted that if it did, Atlas would be all over it.
When I was sure it was good, I slipped my headphones off and left the stage. Right outside Atlas’s office stood Ciro, the policeman, and two of Riordan’s security guys.
“Atlas said we can talk in his office.” Ciro opened the door and led the way. I really wanted Shane to join me, but at the same time, I thought I should hear whatever they had to say first.
“Mr. Campos, I’m Officer Carloni,” the cop said as soon as we were all seated.
“Good evening, Officer. Can I ask what this is all about?” I chuckled nervously. “Not gonna lie, you’re all freaking me out.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Campos. I was asked to come talk to you. There’s no easy way to say this but you were listed as Jason Zabel’s emergency contact.”
Jason Zabel was ZiggyJay’s real name, and cold fear rushed up my spine. “What…what happened?”
He let out a breath, and I could tell this cop was new to Haven Hart. Bad news was more common than good here, and it hardened you fast.
“Jason Zabel is in the hospital; the car he was in was hit.”
I looked over at Ciro and back at the cop. “Why is there a cop here telling me this?”
“Calm down, Ledger,” Ciro said.
“He was in the car with a Trinity Mason. She was pronounced dead on arrival to the hospital and because of her announcement tonight—”
“I never heard any announcement. She’s dead?” I shot out of my chair. “Is Jason going to die?” I turned to Ciro, who was now a few inches from me. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Mr. Campos. I was asked to stay with you until I could bring you into the station for a few questions. From what we gathered, Mr. Zabel and Ms. Mason were on their way here, to Haven Hart. Witnesses say a car was chasing Ms. Mason’s vehicle, and she must have lost control, because she spun out and hit a divider. That’s all I have. As Mr. Zabel’s emergency contact, and due to your involvement with the situation, we need you to come in.”
“Come in? You think I had something to do with this?” At this point, I wasn’t even trying to lower my voice.
“No, obviously you were working. But Trinity Mason announced tonight that you and she broke off your relationship, and then this happened and—”
“Broke off…” Shit, she was able to work it in her favor. “We never had a relationship other than friendship, Officer.”
He gave me a placating nod. “And you can sit with the detectives and tell them everything.”
I fell back into the chair, my head spinning. How was this happening? Just thirty minutes ago I was flying high; now I was crashing and burning.
Chapter Twenty-One
Shane
I kept going around to the other side of the bar to see if Ledger and Ciro were still in Atlas’s office. The longer they were, the more worried I became.
“Can I have a gin and tonic, please?” someone asked.
“Yeah, martini coming up,” I mumbled, but it was clearly loud enough to make the person respond.
“I said gin and tonic!”
“Oh, right, sorry.” Through sheer muscle memory I made the drink, not even thanking the customer. When I saw Ciro leave the office and walk fast toward Atlas, who was just getting off the stage, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate until I knew what was going on, so I sought out Max.
“Can I take my break?”
“Um…” he looked around. It was busy, but I knew the others could handle it. “Yeah, okay.”
“Thanks.” I rushed over to Atlas and Ciro. “What’s happening?”
“We have an issue,” Ciro answered.
“Seeing the cop take Ledger into Atlas’s office was a good indication of that, Ciro. How about pretending I’m not an oblivious dolt.”
“Dolt?” He furrowed his brow. “Good word.”
I huffed and turned to Atlas. “Please tell me.”
He sighed and pulled me to the back room, where they told me everything that was going on. A part of me hated that my first reaction was to be pissed at Trinity for lying about there being any relationship. Ziggy being in the hospital and her being dead should’ve upset me more.
“They want Ledger to go in to the station for what? He was here. He would never hurt his friends.”
“It’s a complicated situation, Shane,” Ciro said. “According to witnesses, there was a car chasing them. It’s really early still, they don’t have much information, and I think they’re hoping Ledger can shine a light on stuff.”
“He’s in there with the cop? Is Ziggy okay? For fuck’s sake, this is a mess!” I was livid, worried; I was everything all rolled into one, and I wanted to see Ledger. “Can I go in?”
Atlas gave a nod, and that was all I needed. I darted past them and went into his office. The second I opened the door, my heart ached. Ledger sat, head in hands, and the cop even appeared to be feeling the depression of the room.
“Ledger,” I whispered as I fell to my knees in front of him, my hands gently pulling his away from his face. There was no hiding his sadness when red-rimmed eyes looked my way.
“Shane.” The anguish in his deep voice vibrated through me, and I crawled into his lap and listened to him cry as I hugged him to my chest.
I heard the click of the door but didn’t bother to move even an inch to see who it was or what they wanted. Ledger’s hold on me was bordering on painful. As I listened to his breaths, felt the shake of his shoulders, heard his cries, I was no longer angry with Trinity. He wasn’t upset with her either. Because no matter what, she didn’t deserve this, and regardless of the drama she caused for Ledger, she was his friend, and she was gone, and Ziggy was fighting for his life.
I had no idea how long we sat there, wrapped in each other, but at the gentle hand on my shoulder, I looked up. Atlas stood there with an empathetic expression.
“I told Max you were done for the night and the cop that we will arrange for Ledger to talk with the detectives as soon as possible. Right now, he’s exactly where he needs to be, and so are you.”
I appreciated what Atlas said, and when he nodded at me, I knew there were no words I needed to say.
“Thank you…Yes, okay…I really appreciate it.” I ended the call and turned toward Ledger. We’d gotten home late, and he’d passed out on the couch. I pretended to be Ledger and called the hospital to get information on Ziggy.
Ledger had just gotten out of the shower and stopped when he saw me staring at him. Neither one of us had discusse
d his breakdown, and I knew we never had to. Human beings do human things. The end.
“What?” he asked, no smile, just a vacant expression on his face, but I didn’t feel like it was because of me being here.
“I called the hospital.”
His eyes widened. “How is he?”
“I pretended to be you, otherwise they’d never talk to me. But I wanted to be able to tell you how he was doing and didn’t think you’d have patience to listen to anyone drone on and on about—”
“You’re droning, Shane.” That got me a smirk, and I didn’t realize until that second how even a spark of his happiness fueled my heart.
“Right. So, he’s out of surgery and in stable condition. They won’t know about his functions really until he’s awake.”
“Functions?” He sat next to me with wet hair and wearing only sweat pants. I felt like a perv thinking how sexy he was at a time like this.
“Yeah, um…talking, walking, memory.”
He nodded and stared off into nothingness or maybe a memory I couldn’t share.
“The nurse said if you wanted to go and see him, you could.”
“Yeah, okay…did you want to come with me?” Ledger’s vulnerability was immense, and there was no way I’d disappoint him.
“If you’d like. Atlas gave me the night off, and Sparkles got his friend Nolan and a few others to entertain the club tonight, so you could get a break.”
He released a breath, and I could tell he was relieved. “I’ll be sure to thank them all.”
I scooted closer and took his hand in mine. “Thank them by taking care of yourself.”
Lion flew down from one of the beams and perched himself on Ledger’s lap. “Don’t be sad,” he squawked.
“I’m okay, Lion.” Ledger gently rubbed along the side of the bird’s head.
“Liar,” Lion said, and I chuckled.
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