Annoyed that Jackson was blaming Gavin for everything when Allie clearly hadn’t put up a fight, she matched his glare. “You couldn’t possibly have your head shoved so far up your ass to think it’s that black and white?”
“It is.”
She blew out a breath. “If you hear from Josh, let me know, okay?” She walked away without having decided the best way to track her friend.
“Where are you going?”
“To see if any of Gavin’s family knew he was back in town.” She highly doubted it though, given his abrupt entrance, but she couldn’t sit and wait for him to call her back either.
She left Jackson at the curb and headed back into the church. Navigating the crowd while avoiding the questions fired at her proved more of a headache than she anticipated. Mrs. Brewster was still at the front of the church, with Josh only a few feet away.
Gavin and Allie weren’t with him.
People around Hayley were talking about an announcement Mrs. Brewster had made about everyone heading over to the Promise Harbor Inn since the reception was already paid for.
So the wedding was off.
Guests who hadn’t already started trickling out of the church became more interested in a reception and stopped approaching Hayley to ask questions she didn’t have answers for. Squeezing between people crowded in the main aisle, Hayley tried to get to the front. Josh would know what happened to Allie and Gavin, though there was a good chance he might be as annoyed with her as Jackson was.
Josh had disappeared out the side door by the time Hayley got fed up with the remaining people hanging around, gossiping about the whole thing, and ordered them out of her way. With at least a dozen people staring holes into her back, she went after Josh.
A few seconds later, she spotted him sliding into his car out front.
“He’s going to the reception.” Matt jogged over to her. “That was something to see in there. Gavin’s not on drugs, is he?”
She rolled her eyes and dialed Gavin again. No answer.
“You want to talk to Josh, I’m assuming?”
Hayley nodded. “Mind giving me a ride?”
“No problem.” Matt glanced around. “What happened to Jackson?” His eyes narrowed the moment his friend’s name left his lips. “I heard some interesting things before Gavin decided to act out a chick flick.”
Hayley spotted Jackson chatting with a small group of women, but turned in the opposite direction to follow Matt to his car. “What kinds of things?”
Her twin’s eyes took on a protective light she hadn’t seen since she’d kicked Eric out of their apartment. “Like how you and Jackson showed up looking like you’d just rolled out of bed.”
Chapter Four
“More like a tree,” Hayley muttered, pushing junk off the passenger-side seat of Matt’s rust bucket of a sedan.
“What?”
“Never mind.”
Hayley tried three more times before leaving another message for Gavin. She hadn’t a clue whether Allie was with him or if she’d told him to go fly a kite back in Alaska. She didn’t want to think how Gavin would take that kind of news after pulling a stunt like that at the church.
Surprisingly, the Promise Harbor Inn was already swarming with cars by the time they arrived. She’d hoped most people would realize the show was over, but many had turned out. For the food or more drama?
“Maybe I should try to find a spot around back.”
“Probably already packed.”
“Yeah, but you might not get swallowed by the mob if we go in the rear entrance.”
As much as she appreciated her brother trying to make things easier on her, she pointed to a spot that opened up on the left. Matt turned out to be bang on, and a few people made an immediate beeline for her when she climbed out of the car.
Locking her patience firmly in place, she answered as best she could.
“No, there was no warrant out for Gavin’s arrest.”
“No, he and Allie weren’t having an affair.”
“No, he did not kidnap Allie.”
Even Gavin wasn’t that crazy, though dozens of people had probably already made up their minds about them having an affair.
She ignored the questions about how long she and Jackson had been together. If she hadn’t recognized so many faces that she’d gone to school with, she would have thought she’d been cornered by the press.
Half an hour passed from the time they left the church until she reached the banquet room where the reception was being held and she spotted Josh. People were giving him a wide berth, and given the don’t-fuck-with-me expression on his face, Hayley couldn’t blame them.
“We need a drink.” Matt reappeared at her side long enough to tell her that, and then was gone, heading toward the bar.
More than a few people shot her curious glances, talking in hushed voices that weren’t any quieter than when they’d been in high school. Some people never grew up.
“Your pal made quite the entrance, Hayls.”
Seriously? She gritted her teeth at the sound of Eric’s voice, but kept her face neutral. Maybe she shouldn’t have left Jackson behind at the church, although she’d dealt with Eric and his ego long before Jackson Knight rolled back into town.
“You should have talked him out of making such a complete ass of himself.”
She didn’t bother telling him she’d been just as surprised by Gavin’s unexpected arrival as everyone else. Ignoring him seemed like the better play.
“I told you before that you could do better at picking your friends. Gavin was always beneath you.”
Having heard her friend’s reputation and motives called into question one too many times in such a short span, she felt herself snap. Maybe it was because she felt compelled to defend her best friend even when she didn’t even know what was going through his head, or maybe because Eric was the last person who had the right to question anyone else’s character.
Either way, she grabbed Eric’s shirt and yanked him forward.
He was standing close enough that no one noticed when the move took him by surprise, letting her jerk him close.
“At least Gavin stands up for what he wants and to hell with what everyone else thinks. Someone people could stand to learn a lot from. Someone brave enough to take that kind of risk. And whatever happens is between Gavin and Allie.” She tacked on the latter in case he was digging for anything he could turn into a local headline for his family’s newspaper.
“And Josh.” Jackson joined them, his hands tucked casually in his pants pockets. “Between Gavin, Allie and Josh.”
Eric jerked free of her hold, and for a moment she thought he might apologize for sinking low enough to criticize Gavin just to get to her. Then he glanced back and forth between her and Jackson, clearly picking up on the tension and enjoying it.
Bastard.
Eric walked away, smoothing out the shirt she’d wrinkled. She ignored the increasing stares from the handful of people close enough to have overhead their conversation.
She blew out a breath, wondering if she was better off leaving. Gavin and Allie wouldn’t be showing up here, that much she could guarantee, and she wasn’t so sure Josh knew anything if he was hanging around.
“What did you ever see in that asshole?”
“I was young and stupid,” she offered, wishing it were a valid excuse. But Eric was the last person she wanted to waste time thinking about right now, so she didn’t elaborate on her bad judgment.
Across the room she spotted Josh talking to his ex-girlfriend, Devon—the woman who’d sat beside Hayley in the church, though she hadn’t realized it at the time.
Talking to his ex was a little convenient, wasn’t it? She cringed the moment that thought went through her head. She wasn’t any better than Eric if she let herself go there.
She checked her phone again—no new messages—then decided to talk to Josh after all on the off chance he knew what happened to Gavin and Allie.
“He
doesn’t know anything,” Jackson said when she made a move to go around him.
“Where are they?”
“He doesn’t know that either, but she left with Gavin.”
She felt Josh look in her direction, and would have walked over if not for Jackson standing in her way.
“Do you know where they’d go?”
Hayley shook her head.
“Would you tell me if you did?” When she didn’t answer right away, he sighed.
“He wouldn’t stay in town,” she offered. She knew that much. He wasn’t close enough to his family. That left her. If Gavin had plans to lay low in Promise Harbor, she would have heard from him by now.
“Where exactly does he live? Josh wasn’t sure.”
“Alaska.” But she couldn’t imagine him talking Allie into going all the way across the country when he’d just turned up out of the blue. And Allie had been too stunned at his arrival to have known he’d been planning on bursting in like that.
“Here.” Matt shoved a glass in her hand. “You’re going to need this. Eric’s dad is here and he’s talking to your boss.”
Hayley felt a migraine coming on. The last thing she needed was Eric’s dad demanding answers like he had any stake in the outcome. It was a wonder he hadn’t placed a call to the mayor.
Her mother had had a previous engagement that kept her from attending the wedding, and Hayley couldn’t have been more grateful for that. There would have been no dodging questions from her mother with the town’s most influential businessman looking for information.
She took a long, deep drink, nearly choking on the vodka. She peered into the glass. “Is there actually any orange juice in here?”
Matt shrugged. “I told them to make a double. You may need it if Mom calls you.”
“Great.” What she really needed to do was go before anyone else, especially her mother, tried to take advantage of her personal relationship with Gavin to satisfy their own curiosity.
“How’s Josh doing?” Matt asked.
“As well as he can be, considering his bride left him at the altar.” The last part was directed at Hayley.
She bristled at the implied accusation. “You’ll have better luck with that coaching job than waiting for me to apologize for my friend.”
“I’d settle for you sounding like you at least feel bad for Josh.”
“You’re up for a coaching job?” Matt interjected, trying to change the subject.
They both ignored him.
“He doesn’t exactly look torn up at the moment.” She nodded to where Josh stood with his head bent close to Devon’s. The comment was out before she could take it back, but the way Jackson looked at the pair made her think maybe she wasn’t reading too much into the situation after all.
As if he knew they were talking about him, Josh walked in their direction, and Jackson met him halfway. Hayley finished her drink, not even wanting to imagine how strange the rest of reception would be with no happy couple to celebrate.
“You’re with Jackson Knight, aren’t you?” A petite brunette with bottomless green eyes and a curvy figure that wouldn’t need a single Photoshop touch-up gave her a shy smile.
Matt made a small croaking sound, like maybe he’d swallowed his drink the wrong way.
“We’re not together, no.”
“Oh. Great.” She slid a finger down Matt’s tie, which Hayley had just noticed was covered in XOXOs. “Cute.”
Matt made another choking sound at the woman’s attention, staring after her when she approached Josh and Jackson. A moment later Josh left with Devon trailing after him—an interesting turn of events—and Jackson’s head snapped in Hayley’s direction.
Matt glanced at her. “Weren’t you two supposed to be watching each other’s backs?”
“I thought you said he could handle himself?”
“He can.” Her brother searched her face, but she wasn’t sure what he was looking for. “What did he do?”
Hayley took another sip and found her glass nearly empty. How had that happened so quickly? “He blames Gavin for what happened.” As if that much weren’t painfully obvious.
“Well,” her brother said cautiously. “It wasn’t exactly Josh who called things off.”
“I know.” She set her glass aside. “I shouldn’t have waited so long to tell Gavin about the wedding. I knew he wasn’t really over her, and Allie clearly isn’t over him.” She let out a breath.
“This isn’t your fault.”
“I know—”
“And I know you,” he interrupted. “You want to fix this the same way you want to fix Gramps and his house and everything else, and you can’t. Gavin and Allie and Josh will work it out on their own.”
Before she could respond to that, Jackson touched her arm. “Can I talk to you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He drew her through the crowd, not stopping until they reached the inn’s lobby.
A few people lingered nearby, but they didn’t pay any attention to either of them.
“You told that woman I was available.”
“You are available,” she pointed out, then shook her head. “Sorry, I was…” She trailed off, waving her hand between them. “This was a bad idea.”
“Apparently.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m trying to clear the air here.”
“And doing a bang-up job of it,” he shot back.
“You’re unbelievable.” She whirled around, wishing she hadn’t bothered apologizing.
His hand snagged her wrist, dragging her back to him. Warm and solid, his chest moved with her, bracing her when she might have used the wall of muscle to push him back. His arms locked around her back, but then there wasn’t time to think about that. Wasn’t time to think about anything.
His mouth covered hers, the kiss exactly like he played the game he loved. Fast, hard and taking her by complete surprise. Smooth, hungry lips teased across hers, pushing deeper the second she dragged in a breath.
And god she needed to breathe—needed something to anchor her or she’d wind up swept away as she had years ago. She’d learned by accident that Jackson Knight knew how to kiss, but even that one time didn’t compare to the present.
Not when he cradled her jaw and slowed the kiss, his tongue sliding across her bottom lip and stroking the length of hers. She wasn’t sure when her fingers found their way to his shirt, but she slipped them beneath his suit jacket to get closer.
So much closer.
Seconds, maybe minutes later—and altogether too soon—he drew back after one more slow, soft pass of his mouth, but didn’t release her. His heart pounded furiously under her palm and he breathed as hard as she did.
“No one has ever kissed me like that,” she whispered. She hadn’t planned on saying it aloud, but once the words left her mouth, she was too caught up in the delicious high to care.
“Hayley,” he murmured.
She nipped his bottom lip, loving the way he said her name. She hadn’t planned on liking a damn thing about him aside from the way he played hockey, but the moment he climbed into that tree without complaint and without dropping a kitten with a vicious streak, she guessed there might be a bit to like after all.
Like the way he set her entire body on fire with just a kiss.
Sensing movement, she looked to her left, frowning at the guy holding his phone up at them.
Photo op.
Two little words shouldn’t have been enough to extinguish the need and longing that had taken her over so completely. Her gaze rose to Jackson’s, and she knew in a heartbeat that he’d known about the camera the whole time.
Hayley stiffened and eased out of his arms. There had been enough scenes for one day. “Guess you got what you needed.” She said it for his ears only, and every syllable scraped her throat.
“Hayley,” he began, and she shook her head.
So help him, if he said a damn word about what she’d admitted about the kiss, their photographer would be emailing an entirely different
picture to the sports blogs cheap enough to dig at athletes’ personal lives.
“I’ll see you later.” Hoping to hell she didn’t look as stupid as she felt, she made her way to the front door.
The breeze had picked up, bending the bright-colored blossoms planted around the inn’s front entrance. She rubbed her arms but the sudden chill had nothing to do with sun sneaking behind some clouds.
She pulled out her phone, then changed her mind about texting Matt. She didn’t need her brother to take her home. A taxi would be fine, and with a big event at the inn, she wouldn’t have to wait long for one to pass by.
At least her ankle wasn’t bothering her anymore, but the dull ache in her wrist had worsened after she’d grabbed Eric. She was in great shape, she thought wryly.
Her phone rang and she checked the number, hoping to see Gavin’s name and at the same time praying it wasn’t her mother.
Her partner’s number flashed across the screen.
Figuring if it was important, he’d leave a voice mail, she ignored the call. He’d probably heard about the Wedding That Wasn’t by now and wanted details too. As if Jackson’s arrest hadn’t put her front and center at work. They’d all be grilling her on Monday morning about the wedding.
A vehicle pulled up in front of her.
“Get in.”
She stared though the open passenger window at Jackson. “You don’t need to drive me.” She really didn’t need him feeling sorry for her when she’d foolishly read far more into a kiss that was little more than a publicity stunt.
“I brought you. I’ll take you home.”
Voices echoed behind her, and she watched Eric strolling her way with the same petite brunette she’d sent to talk to Jackson.
Her day kept getting better and better.
Choosing the lesser of two evils, she walked to the car. “You should stay with Josh.”
“He left.”
Hayley couldn’t blame him. She wouldn’t have chosen to hang around either if she’d been in his shoes with people gossiping all around.
She opened the door and slid inside, sticking as close to the passenger side as she could without making it obvious. She couldn’t be angry with him for using her to undo the damage done last night when she’d agreed to it in the first place, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be annoyed with herself for getting a little wrapped up in a charade. Their kiss at seventeen had been a mistake, but this time she’d been a willing participant. Very willing, as it turned out.
Busted (Promise Harbor Wedding) Page 7