The Other Room (Door Peninsula Passions Book 2)

by Katherine Hastings

  Its beauty stole the very breath from my lungs. And it reminded me of him.

  As I looked around, my whole cabin reminded me of him. Even Petunia, as she rubbed up against my leg, and I remembered he’d finally won her over, just like he’d won me over.

  And then he’d betrayed me.

  I’d never known true heartbreak until today. Until just now. I’d never let myself care enough about a man to let one truly hurt me. And then last night I’d ripped open the walls around my heart and let Matt waltz right on through into the uncharted territory. Instead of taking good care of my fragile heart, the one already held together by tape and glue after what my father had done to it, he’d ripped it from my chest and stomped it into pieces.

  And that emotional deception hurt the most. He knew how hard it was for me to trust and to put myself out there. He knew saying “I love you” wasn’t something I spit out to every hot guy who looked my way. It was special. It was rare. And it hurt more than I’d ever imagined possible that he’d been able to betray me, even knowing how much damage he would cause.

  “Petunia, mommy has to crash at your aunties for a couple days,” I said to her as I grabbed her bag of cat food. She purred while I overfilled the bowl. As she munched on the fresh morsels, I grabbed my tote bag and tossed a couple outfits inside, as well as my pajamas, a couple pairs of underwear and some socks. While Petunia chirped away at her bowl, I hurried into the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush and makeup bag and shoved them inside my tote as well.

  Having all the supplies I needed for a few nights at Jenna’s, I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the grocery notepad and a pen. With rage guiding my hand, I wrote Matt a note and tossed it on the island.

  “Be good, Petunia. I’ll be back in a couple of days. Matt will take care of you until I’m home.” I leaned down and gave her a scratch then started out the door. With one last look over my shoulder at the cabin I’d been so happy in only this morning, I raced down the stairs and jumped in my Jeep.

  I shot Jenna a text I would be staying with her for a few days, then turned off my phone before she could text back. Matt’s apologetic calls and texts were certainly coming, and I didn’t want to hear it. His apology. His “I’m sorry I hurt you, but I love her.” I couldn’t.

  I wouldn’t.

  Jake may have forgiven him when he’d been the victim of their love, but not me. I’d gone against my better judgement and let him back into my life, and I wasn’t one to make the same mistake twice.

  Fool me once and we’re done.

  Period.

  I’d gone against my better judgement once and let Matt fool me twice, and I wasn’t going for a third.

  With one last glance at my cabin, I put my Jeep in reverse and backed out onto the highway. The tears blurred my vision as I glanced in my rearview mirror one last time, but I wiped them away, lifted my chin and vowed not to look back again. Not at my cabin, and certainly not at the memories of me and Matt that kept bubbling up in my mind.

  No more.

  Me and Matt were done.

  Matt

  “Would someone please find her friends!” I shouted to no one in particular while I dragged Nikki back into Stabbur’s bar area. Each time I’d tried to set her down and race after Jo, she’d started wailing, and twice on our way from the parking lot, she’d thrown up. Desperate to unload this unwanted burden and find Jo to explain, I dragged her reluctant body back to the bar.

  Jo’s tragic expression played in my brain on repeat. Torturing me until I couldn’t stop the panic choking its way into my throat.

  “I want to go home,” Nikki whined, words slurring while she clung to my waist.

  “I want you to go home, too,” I grumbled while I scanned the crowd for the flock of blonde’s she’d come with. Finally I saw them preening themselves by the bar, so I lifted Nikki up and dragged her through the crowd.

  When I got there, they all turned to look at us, snickering when they saw Nikki slumped in my arms.

  “You guys got her this drunk; you guys can deal with the aftermath.”

  “Oh my God, Nikki!” One girl laughed as she stared at the teetering redhead beside me. “You’re wasted!”

  The rest of the girls joined in with their drunken giggles, and I rolled my eyes while I pushed Nikki forward into their huddle. “Here. Take her.”

  “What the hell are we supposed to do with her?” the tallest girl asked, regarding Nikki like yesterday’s trash.

  “Take her back to the hotel. Now.”

  “Nikki is the one who knows this place. I don’t even know where our hotel is.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I scrubbed a hand down my face and looked around for any sign of Jo. But I knew better, she was long gone. And with good right. When she’d seen Nikki in my arms, it looked bad.

  Real bad.

  “She’s pretty wasted.” One girl finally acknowledged Nikki’s sloppy state. “We should probably get her back to the hotel. Can you like, call us a cab or grab us an Uber or something? My phone died.”

  “You’re in Door County not Chicago. We don’t have cabs, but we do have a few Ubers. DJ,” I called to him as he ran by. “Can you get these girls an Uber? They need to go. Like now.” I nodded to Nikki as she swayed back and forth.

  DJ stopped and arched a brow and jutted a finger at her. “Yikes. I didn’t do that to her.” He shook his head, pursing his lips while he raked her up and down. “I can try an Uber, but it may be awhile. It’s busy as hell up here tonight. You should probably just run her home. That girl needs to be far, far away from anywhere serving booze.”

  “Thanks, man. I’ll figure something out.”

  I didn’t want to deal with this. Jo took priority over everyone, especially this selfish pain in the ass. But when I saw Nikki start toppling over, and her entourage did nothing to stop her fall, I caught her in my arms again and groaned.

  “Nikki, where is your hotel? Where are you staying?” I asked her.

  “At your place,” she cooed with a crooked smile.

  “Seriously, Nikki. Where are you staying?”

  “Your bed.” Biting her lip, she winked at me with one glassy eye.

  “For fuck’s sake,” I growled. “And you girls really don’t know the name of your hotel?”

  The ones still paying attention shook their blonde heads. Nikki dragged a finger across my chest, and I had to stop myself from dropping her on her ass and leaving her to deal with her own mess. But I forced myself to continue propping her up. I may hate her guts, but I wasn’t going to leave her out here so drunk she couldn’t even find her way home. I needed to get these girls home, and my truck only sat five. With myself and seven girls I knew I wouldn’t be able to run them all to their hotel in one trip. That was if I could even figure out where they were staying.

  Aaron leaned against the bar just down the way, and I saw his disdainful glare as he glanced in my direction.

  “Aaron! Get over here!” I waved, but he just shook his head and looked away, taking a sip of his beer.

  I knew that look. It was the same one Aaron and the entire town of Baileys Harbor had given me for months after I’d hooked up with Nikki last year.

  But this time I didn’t deserve it.

  “Aaron! Seriously! Get your ass over here!”

  With a heavy sigh, he grabbed his beer and sauntered over. “What?”

  “Dude. This is not what it looks like. But Nikki is wasted, and we need to get these girls all back to their hotel. I need you and Tony to drive half of them, and I’ll take the other half.”

  He scoffed. “So not my problem. You can figure out how to get your little girlfriend and her friends home.”

  “She is not my girlfriend. Jo is my girlfriend. Or was. Since she saw this shitshow in my arms, she’s probably halfway to Canada by now. I need to get Nikki back to her hotel safe so I can go find Jo and explain. Okay? I need your help, man.”

  “Wait?” He lifted a finger. “Jo is your secret
girlfriend?”

  “Yes. I’m not dating Nikki, I’m dating Jo. Nikki just showed up here wasted and threw herself at me. Apparently, she found out Jake is engaged, and this is all typical Nikki trying to get back at him. I’m not with her. I swear to God.”

  His eyes lit up, and he stuck a finger in my face. “Ha! I knew there was something up with you at the Sister Bay Bowl the other night! That was it, wasn’t it? You and Jo? Really?”

  “Busted. But right now she’s hella pissed at me because she thinks I’m cheating on her with Nikki.”

  With widening eyes, he sucked the air through his teeth. “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “I thought you were dating Nikki, too. The whole secrecy around the girlfriend, and then she showed up.”

  “Yeah. I get it. But I’m not and I really need to get her the hell out of here.”

  He sucked more air through his teeth.

  “What?” I asked while Nikki hiccupped in my arms.

  “I may have seen Jo running out of here and told her to talk some sense into you because you were dating Nikki.”

  Mother fucker.

  “You didn’t,” I grumbled.

  He nodded. “I did.”

  “Son of a bitch! Now she’s really going to think I’m a stupid, cheating bastard!”

  “Sorry about that, man. I just thought... well, you know what I thought. And I was pissed as hell you were doing that to Jake again. I didn’t know about Jo.” He paused, shaking his head. “You and Jo? Really? That’s so awesome, man!”

  “Well it was awesome until about fifteen minutes ago. Now, can you help me? I have to get to Jo.”

  “You got it. Tony’s still sober so I’ll have him pull up the car. Where are they staying?”

  “I have no idea. Hey, you,” I said to the tall one who seemed most coherent. “Where is your hotel?”

  “I dunno.” She shrugged.

  “Is it close to here? In Sister Bay?” I asked, trying to keep my desperation to get back to Jo from coming out as barks.

  “I think so. It’s like on a hill or something.”

  “Are there any landmarks nearby you can think of?”

  “Um?” She twirled her hair. “I think it’s right near that bar we were at with a garage or something.”

  “The Garage Bar! Good! Were you across the street?”

  “Yeah. I think so.”

  “Village View Inn,” Aaron and I said in unison.

  “Okay. We’re going to split you girls up into two cars and give you a ride back to your hotel.”

  “I’ll text Tony and have him get the car.”

  Aaron pulled out his phone and typed away while I took one last glance around the bar looking for Jo. But now knowing what Aaron had said to her on top of what she’d witnessed, there wasn’t a chance in hell she’d stuck around. It would have sent most women running, and for someone with trust issues like Jo, I knew she was long gone.

  “Okay, he’ll pull up in the parking lot by your truck,” Aaron said as he put his phone away. “DJ! We’ll be right back!”

  “I’ll keep your tab open!” DJ called as he sped past.

  “All right, ladies,” I said while I bounced Nikki up for a better grip. “You all need to follow us to the parking lot. We’ll get you home.”

  “Come on, ladies. Move it along, move it along.” Aaron got behind them and herded them behind me. Like a herd of reluctant cattle, they argued every step of the way, but Aaron kept them moving along. Nikki mumbled some nonsense while we made our way through the crowd, but all I could think about was what Jo must be feeling right now.

  All I’d wanted was to make sure I never gave her a reason to doubt my love for her, and yet in less than twelve hours I’d managed to shake us to the core. To hurt her. To make her doubt me. Everything I’d never wanted to do.

  “I miss you, Matt,” Nikki muttered, but I just rolled my eyes and kept on walking with her.

  Tony pulled up in his car, and Aaron pushed the group of girls to the back.

  “No puking in here, got it?” Tony said when he hopped out to open the door.

  One by one the girls filed in, and when the back seat was full, Aaron helped me wrangle the rest of the girls to my truck.

  “Hold her for a second.” I shoved Nikki into his arms and cleaned all the fishing gear from the back seat of my truck. When there was room for the remaining girls, I motioned for them to start filing in.

  “Ew! It smells like fish in here!” one said as she climbed in the back, struggling to get in as her heels kept slipping off my side-step.

  “Just get in and be quiet,” I grumbled.

  When the last one was in, we helped Nikki into the front seat. Her glassy eyes blinked closed, and I hoped she’d stay passed out for the quick drive up the Sister Bay hill. The sooner I got them dropped off, the sooner I could haul ass back to the cabin to talk to Jo.

  If she ever talks to me again.

  I knew Jo better than anyone on this planet. She didn’t need much of an excuse to launch out the emergency exit of a relationship, and what she’d seen with Nikki would give her the tiny nudge she needed to bail. The scene at Stabbur played like a big flashing sign screaming, “Danger Ahead. Exit Immediately.” But I had to find a way to explain what had really happened.

  And make her believe it. Because Jo would fight me every damn step of the way.

  “I’m going to be sick,” Nikki said, opening her eyes.

  “Stick your head out the window. We’re going.”

  I rolled down all the windows and motioned to Aaron. He nodded and hopped into the passenger seat of Tony’s car and they pulled out. I backed out and got in line behind them with Nikki leaning out the window, her eyes closed and deep breaths lifting her shoulders.

  Typical Nikki. She loved getting wasted, and this wasn’t the first time I’d seen her this hammered, but I hoped it would be the last. I hoped this would be the last time I saw her period.

  The drive up the hill went quick, and when we pulled into The Village View Inn, Aaron hopped out and opened the door for the girls.

  “We’re here. Everyone out.” I put the truck in park and motioned for them to go.

  “Thanks for the ride,” one girl said, and I just gave her a nod.

  As they filed out, I looked over at Nikki who was still slumped out the window.

  “Fuck.” Knowing she’d need help inside, I hopped out and slammed my door shut.

  “You got her?” Aaron called, and I looked to see him helping another girl inside.

  “Yep.” I walked around the truck and opened the door carefully, catching Nikki before she tumbled out.

  “My hero,” she whispered in my ear as I lifted her up into my arms.

  “You gotta quit doing this shit, Nikki. You’re almost thirty. It isn’t cute anymore.”

  “Whatever, Matt. I’m on vacation. Just having some fun.” Her crooked smile started, and she reached out and bopped my nose. “You should try it. Stay for a while.”

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled herself toward my face. The rank mixture of vomit and alcohol wafted up into my nostrils and I cringed against it, turning my head away.

  “I’m going to get you settled, and then I never want to see you again, Nikki. Go back to Chicago and stay there.”

  “Whatever,” she huffed, and the smell of that breath almost dropped me to my knees.

  I carried her up the steps to the room the other girls were filing into. Tony and Aaron were helping them get situated, and when one started taking off her dress, the two of them exchanged a shocked glance and then looked to me.

  Tony lifted his hands and backed toward the door. “I need to get out of here. If my girlfriend knew I was in a hotel room filled with blondes and one of them was half naked, I’d be sleeping on the couch for all of eternity.”

  “Dude,” Aaron said. “Normally this would be my dream come true, but it’s feeling a little pervy since I don’t think any of them even know their name
s right now. I’m right behind you.”

  “Wait up.” I carried Nikki over to the bed and tried to lay her down. She clung to my neck, trying to drag my mouth to hers.

  “Don’t go,” she whispered as I reached back and tried to unlock her death-grip from my neck.

  “Nikki, let go.”

  “Stay.” She leaned up again.

  Her friends giggled and laughed, as I struggled to get free.

  “Kiss her!” they egged us on.

  “Not happening,” I argued, still struggling to get her fingers to unlock. “Nikki, I fucking mean it. Let me go.”

  With a defeated sigh, she finally released her grip. “Fine. Whatever, Matt. Go.”

  “I plan on it.” I pushed myself up and rubbed the claw marks on my neck. “Goodbye, Nikki. I mean it when I say I hope this is the last time I ever see you.”

  She stuck up her middle finger, then rolled onto her side. The gaggle of girls mirrored the gesture, and I saw one snap a photo of the unified gestures as I left. I returned the one-fingered salute before hurrying out the door.

  “You alive?” Aaron called from the passenger seat of Tony’s car.

  “For now. I still have to find Jo, and that encounter I might not survive.” I walked up to the car and leaned into the window. “Thanks for the help guys. Wish me luck with Jo.”

  “I’m really sorry I doubted you, and that I may have made things a wee bit worse with Jo.” He motioned with his fingers while he grimaced.

  “Not your fault, buddy. It was an honest mistake.”

  “Let me know how it turns out, and if you want me to talk to her and explain things, I’m totally game.”

  “Thanks, man.” I bumped his fist with mine. “I think I need to deal with this solo, but if shit goes south, you’d better believe I’m making you come and explain this shit away.”

  “Deal.”

  With one last fist bump, I said goodbye to them and trotted over to my truck. Finally, I could get to Jo. Explain how everything she saw, and heard, was one huge horrifying misunderstanding.