Fate Loves (Twist of Fate Book 3)

by Tina Saxon

  “We have to go. Now.” He stands and pulls out his wallet.

  “What’s wrong?” I say, standing. He pulls out five hundred-dollar bills and throws them on the table. When he looks back to me, he shakes his head. “That’s not a fucking answer, Max.”

  The other guys have stood up and are waiting for Max’s answer, as well. Damon pulls our waitress over and tells her we’re leaving. Ryker adds a few more hundred-dollar bills to the stack. The waitress picks up the money, blows a kiss to Ryker, and walks off.

  “The girls are waiting outside for us.” My eyebrows shoot up. Why? He’s not going to tell me, so I take long strides toward the front door. Something’s wrong, and I need to find out what it is. Now.

  I slam the front door open and walk out into the open air. It’s not any better out here than it is inside. At least inside it’s air conditioned. I spot the girls in a huddle. There are two who I don’t recognize. The only one I don’t see is Addison. What. The. Fuck.

  “Where the hell is Addison?”

  Syd jumps at my voice. “Aiden, calm down.” I look at Syd’s tear-streaked face, and I stop walking.

  “Sydney,” I warn. The guys catch up and stand around the girls. I look at Sydney’s hands and she’s holding Addison’s shoes. I fist my hand. “Tell me. Now!” I demand forcefully. The new girls jerk back.

  “She’s okay,” Max says to my side. I glare at him.

  “How the fuck do you know she’s okay?” I seethe.

  “I texted him,” Syd says, stepping forward. Damon looks at her, hurt. “I tried to call you, babe. I tried to call you, too,” she says, looking at me. I exhale loudly and nod. I guess it’s a good thing Max didn’t listen to the “no phones” rule.

  “Addison got arrested,” Syd says, wincing. I straighten my back and cross my arms, looking down at Syd.

  “What? Why?”

  “The details are still a little unclear.”

  “What the hell does that mean, Sydney,” Jaxon says.

  “We were dancing. Some guy grabbed me and Addison pulled me away.” She stops and watches me closely. I nod for her to continue. “As we were walking away, he grabbed her and pulled her into his chest.” I close my eyes. Please tell me she didn’t kill a guy. When I open them, Syd continues. “He wouldn’t let her go. So…she kicked his ass.”

  I stare at her, waiting for more. “She didn’t kill anyone?” Syd shakes her head and looks at me like I’m crazy. “Why was she arrested then?” I ask slowly.

  “That’s where we’re not sure. The cop pulled up about fifteen minutes after it happened and said that the guy and numerous witnesses stated she assaulted the guy for no reason and he arrested her for aggravated assault.”

  “Let me get this straight,” Jaxon says, trying to wrap his head around this. “Addison was assaulted, she defended herself, and then she was arrested? Did she tell the cop that she was defending herself?”

  “Yep. I did. She did. The bouncer did. His response…tell it to the judge.” She puts her hand on her hip, pissed off. Max holds out his phone for me to hold.

  “You should watch this,” he says. Syd grabs it out of his hand before I can get it.

  “Um…no. No, you shouldn’t.” She holds the phone close to her chest and takes a step back.

  I keep my hand out and tilt my head. “Give me the phone, Syd. I’ll see it one way or another.”

  She rolls her eyes but smacks it into the palm of my hand then shoots eye daggers at Max. Max chuckles.

  “Tink, it was just a matter of time before he saw it.” She huffs and walks to stand by Damon. I press play on the video. It’s hard to see her because the video isn’t in focus, but I can hear it clearly. Drake comes and stands beside me to watch. When I hear her grunt, I grit my teeth together and say a few curse words under my breath. I’ve heard enough when she asks for her shoes and the douchebag doesn’t let her get them. I press pause and look at Drake.

  “Who is that?” I say through gritted teeth.

  “It’s hard to say, but he doesn’t look familiar. Max, mind if I send that to someone since it’s already up on your phone?” Max shakes his head. I slap the phone on Drake’s chest. He grabs it just as I walk away. I need to do something. I reach up and drag my hand through my hair. I swear this woman is going to be the death of me. I bite back a laugh. She’s definitely going to keep me on my toes. I shake my head. She’s sitting in a jail cell right now. At least she’s safe. I’m not worried that she can’t hold her own against other women. At least there’s that. What a fucked-up night this has turned into. I take a few calming breaths and walk back to the group.

  “I made a call. Seems Addison kicked a cop’s ass,” Drake says, sporting a grin. I slap my hand to my forehead. Figures. “The arresting cop is his buddy. I called their lieutenant and sent him the video. He’s looking into it but said we can meet him at the detention center. It’s not far from here.” He points his head to the left.

  “Who are you guys?” I ask the unfamiliar girls standing with Harper. One of the girls can’t stop looking at Ryker, which isn’t surprising. Ryker has a hat on, trying his hardest to be incognito but failing miserably. She turns to me as a deep red creeps up her face from being caught staring.

  “This is Coryn and Abby. We met them at…” Syd pauses and twists her lips, “…a club.” I narrow my eyes at her and chuckle.

  “No need to lie, Syd. I mean, look where you just pulled us out from,” I say, pointing to the neon sign flashing behind her.

  “She’s not lying. It was a club,” Bryn adds, giggling. I glance around at all the girls; the smiles on their faces tell me it wasn’t just a club. A tinge of jealousy surges through me, but I knock it down. Fuck, I almost had a naked woman dancing on me, which is probably more than Addison had at her club.

  I stick my hand out to the new girls. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Coryn and Abby. I’m Aiden.” I introduce all the guys, including Ryker. A couple small squeals slip from the back of their throats when they shake his hand. I’m impressed they keep their excitement contained, though. It would’ve irritated me if we would have had to deal with obsessed fangirls right now.

  “I brought them along just in case we needed more people who witnessed how that asshole cop treated Addison,” Syd explains, standing in Damon’s arms. I still can’t get over the stark difference in height between those two.

  “I think the video does a good job of that,” Drake says.

  “We didn’t know there was a video until we were on our way over here,” Katie chimes in. She’s been quiet the whole time, standing with Jaxon. Looking at Katie, my lips turn down as I really look at her the first time tonight. Jaxon’s hand is on her hip, and she’s leaning against him.

  “Did you forget the rest of your dress, Katie?” She’s wearing a black dress that shows a little too much for my liking. I remember a time when she wouldn’t wear dresses. Can we go back to those days?

  “Oh, Big Brother,” she says, shaking her head, laughing.

  “I think you look gorgeous,” Jaxon says as he wraps his arms around her.

  “Jax, you’re not helping.” He shrugs. Asshole. “She’s my little sister. I don’t want to imagine men lusting over my sister…dressed in that.” I shake the thoughts from my head.

  “If you think that’s short—”

  “I think you guys should probably go get Addie,” Syd says, interrupting Coryn. She glares at Coryn for a second before turning back and flashing an innocent smile at me. I look between the two girls wondering what I just missed. Women and their secret code. I need a decoder ring to figure out half the shit that comes out of their mouth.

  “She’s right,” Drake says.

  “You guys go back out. I’ll get Addison. I have a feeling she won’t want to party anymore after this,” I tell the group. “We’ll text you when we get her to let you know she’s okay.”

  “You better text me first,” Syd demands. Her voice is serious. I nod, knowing how concerned she is. She comes
over, hands me Addison’s shoes, and gives me a hug. “Just…don’t be mad at her for anything. She’s had a pretty messed-up night so far.” She catches me off guard. Why would I be mad at her? I pull my head back and look down at her.

  “I could never be mad for what she did, Syd. She was protecting herself.” The side of her lip twitches and she nods. When she walks away, I wonder if there is something else that happened tonight. I stand there and my eyes scan the other girls. They all look away from my questioning gaze except Katie.

  Katie softly smiles and blows me a kiss and mouths, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing.” Her words calm my wandering thoughts slightly.

  Drake and I head over to the detention facility. I’m quiet the entire ride. My mind is reeling from the last thirty minutes, the video, and the fact that we haven’t had one moment of celebration that hasn’t ended badly. I close my eyes and lean my head back on the headrest. I’ll make damn sure our wedding goes off without a hitch. Addison is going to start fucking questioning Fate again. I wonder what she’d do if I drove her to the Little White Chapel here in Las Vegas and we got married. I chuckle. She would think it was a horrible idea. And Lexi isn’t here so it wouldn’t happen. I rub my jaw and exhale. God, I hope she’s okay. For her to kick a guy’s ass like that, something triggered her. It kills me to think what it could have been. I want to rip the guy’s hand off for even touching her.

  We exit the taxi as soon as it stops and walk up the stairs. I have a flashback from the last time we were at a jail. Each step I take reminds me of that day. The day she found out my dad killed her mom. The day she was kidnapped. The day my heart stopped beating.

  Dammit, that’s not today, Roberts.

  “You alright there, Aiden?” Drake asks.

  “Yeah, just having some fucked-up memories.”

  Drake stops walking and puts his hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know Addison other than the obvious… She’s beautiful, but is she worth it? She seems to come with a lot of baggage.” His words hit me in my gut. What the hell? I fist my hand and my expression turns hard. “Aiden…” He puts his hands up. “We’ve been friends a long time. I just want to make sure you’re not thinking with the wrong head when it comes to Addison.” I release my fist and relax my shoulders. To most outsiders I’m sure our relationship looks like a never-ending whirlpool and we’re going to eventually drown. Drake doesn’t know the whole story, and I’m not about to tell him. I can stand back and see where his concern is coming from.

  “Drake, she’s owns my heart and my mind. Every piece of me belongs to her. I don’t know how else to explain it. I couldn’t live without her.”

  He nods and pats me on the back. “That’s good enough for me. Let’s go spring her out of jail.”

  I glance at the name on the badge as we sit down. Lieutenant Graves. “Agent Webb, it’s good to see you,” he says, sitting down behind a desk.

  “Lieutenant Graves, this is Agent Aiden Roberts.” He leans over and we shake hands. I sit back in the wooden chair, rest my leg on my knee, shaking it, and wait to see how this is going to play out.

  “I’m just going to cut out the bullshit. Our guys screwed up. There’s going to be an internal investigation about what happened. I apologize. We don’t condone what happened here in this office ever. Both officers will be placed on administrative leave.” I’m relieved. He looks over at me with a grin. “I can tell you that Ms. Mason broke Officer Mace’s nose, and he has a nice puncture wound in his leg from a heel, pretty close to the groin area.” I try not to smile. “But from what I hear, he deserved it. There were numerous witnesses who came forward to tell us what really happened when they found out that Ms. Mason had been arrested.”

  “Your girl is a wild cat,” Drake jokes, holding his hand over his groin. I chuckle. If he only knew.

  “You’re fiancée is definitely the talk of the night around here.” The lieutenant smirks.

  “Can I go back there with you when you release her?”

  “You have your badge?”

  “Of course,” I say as I lean forward to grab my wallet from my back pocket.

  “Let’s go.” He stands up and we follow suit.

  “I think you can deal with it from here,” Drake says, patting me on the back again.

  “Thanks, man. It was good to see you.” We shake hands. “Will we see you at the wedding?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  I follow Lieutenant Graves out back, flashing my badge to security. He points where I need to go while he delivers her release papers. I hear a woman talking, rather loudly, in the direction of the holding cell. Then I hear Addison’s voice. A weight inside me releases when I hear her laugh. I walk slowly and revel in the sound of it. Listening to her talk strips away any anxiety that I was feeling. She’s really okay.

  Chapter nineteen

  Barb is an interesting lady. I’m still not positive what she’s in here for. One thing I know for sure, she didn’t run over her husband. That was blatantly clear when she changed his name three times during her story. She’s been entertaining, so I’ve indulged her.

  The second I see Aiden walk around the corner, though, my mind stops hearing Barb and it focuses solely on Aiden. His perfect fitting dark jeans and navy dress shirt, sleeves rolled up to show off his muscular forearms, makes one thing come to mind. Mine.

  His eyes catch mine and his lips curl into a slow sexy grin. When I stand up, his eyes rake down my body and back up. When they reach mine again, his expression has changed. His jaw clenches and the hardness in his eyes catches me off guard. My brows furrow and I look down, wondering why his expression did a one-eighty. An awkward giggle escapes my lips as I tug my dress down an extra inch. It’s a lost cause. I don’t know why I think pulling it down will make it any longer. It didn’t the other hundred times I tried.

  “I wore it for you,” I say, attempting to defend myself. He’s clearly not happy with my outfit choice.

  He grabs hold of a couple of the bars and leans forward. “You weren’t with me, Addison,” he sears. “What the fuck do you expect wearing that? You might as well be naked.”

  His words leave a bite on my heart, and if he doesn’t stop now, they might leave a scar. I straighten and glare at him. I open my mouth and then snap it shut, afraid of what might come out. The cell feels like it’s closing in and suffocating me.

  “What?” I grit my teeth together. “Even if I was naked, no man has the fucking right to touch me.”

  Aiden immediately recognizes his fuck-up. His eyes soften and his shoulders droop. “Addison, I’m sorry.”

  Too late.

  I look up to the dingy ceiling. Anger is replaced by hurt. Tears burn my eyes, and I blink them back. I glance at Aiden and see the regret in his eyes. “Aiden, please go. I’ll meet you back at the hotel,” I say quietly.

  “Addison, I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “If you didn’t mean it, why did you say it?” barks Barb. I turn my head in Barb’s direction and nod once before turning back to Aiden. I look at him expectantly. Yeah, what she said. His eyes shut for a beat.

  “I’m sorry,” he repeats.

  I chew the inside of my cheek and nod again but stay silent. Crossing my arms, I turn around and sit back on the cool metal seat. I welcome the cold and intentionally don’t try and pull my dress down. I watch him walk away until he’s out of view before sighing loudly. Deep down, I know his response is from a place of jealousy, but what he said hurts deeper than that. It touches a place I keep hidden for a reason. I don’t need reminders. He should know that.

  “He seemed genuinely sorry, hun.”

  My head rolls to the side in Barb’s direction. “He is.”

  “And he was damn mighty fine.”

  I chuckle. “He’s that, too.” He’s also an asshole right now. I wonder how much longer I’m going to be in here. If Aiden was here, I must be getting out soon. About fifteen minutes go by before I hear anything.

  “Ms. Mason.” I glance to
the cell door and there’s an older gentleman in a uniform, standing there. “I’m Lieutenant Graves. You’re free to go,” he says, opening the door. The way he says it, with sympathy, I’m not sure if he heard Aiden or if he knows that his cop arrested me without any reason and he’s afraid of the recourse.

  I stand and turn toward Barb. My lovely government-issued shoes squeak on the laminated floor. “Barb, it’s been nice talking to you.”

  “You, too, hun. And hey, go enjoy that jealous, alpha stud muffin. He seems like he loves you.” I laugh at her description of Aiden. It’s pretty spot-on.

  As I walk through the door, the lieutenant guides me into an office. He gestures for me to sit down in the chair across from his desk. I sit and watch him round the desk and take a seat, too. He plops his elbows on the table and links his fingers together.

  “You’ve definitely made my night interesting,” he says, blowing out a breath through his nose. I glance down at my sore hand, opening and closing it a couple times. Damn, that hurts. “I hear you pack a hell of a punch. And kick.” I look back up to him. He smiles and sits back in his chair.

  “It probably wasn’t hard enough.”

  “I think he’ll remember it for a while,” he says. “We heard from actual witnesses about what happened and they say he deserved it.” I nod in agreement. He definitely did. “Do you know anything about the guy?”

  “He was a drunk asshole.”

  “He was that. But did you know he was a police officer?” My eyes widen in surprise. “And the arresting officer was his buddy.” Now it all makes sense. “We put both officers on administrative leave while IA does an investigation, but we have enough proof that you shouldn’t be here. If you want to file a sexual assault report, I would fully understand.”

  I think about it for a few seconds. As much as I want to walk out these doors and never have a second thought about what happened tonight, can I? I look at the lieutenant. “I feel he got what he deserved and his decision might cost him his job even without my report.” I take a deep breath. “Lieutenant Graves, to be honest, my past has a habit of coming back to haunt me and I’m tired of being on people’s revenge list. I would just like to go take a shower right now.” I wrinkle my nose. The stench in the cell seems to have seeped into my clothes. He chuckles and nods.