#Heart (Hashtag #6)

by Cambria Hebert

  “He’s as bossy as you are.” Ivy scowled.

  “She didn’t eat breakfast,” he tattled.

  I made a frustrated sound and grabbed what looked like a milkshake and thrust it at her. “Feed my kid.”

  “I ate a hamburger in the car,” she muttered.

  Romeo and I both stared at her until she rolled her eyes and put the straw between her lips.

  Only then did I turn to him. “Thanks for finding her, man, and bringing her back.” I held out my hand.

  He shook it, but as he did, he said, “She found me.”

  I glanced over at Missy, wondering how the hell she fit into all this. “I need answers.”

  “Inside,” Romeo said. “Everybody still here?”

  I nodded. “Even your dad. Rim’s been worrying.”

  I didn’t need to say anything else. He started inside immediately. I reached for Ivy’s hand to entwine our fingers together. A few steps toward the house and she glanced over her shoulder at Missy. “Come on.”

  I slid her a look out of the corner of my eye but didn’t say anything else about her invitation for the devil.

  Missy followed along behind us silently. When the three of us walked into the house, everyone looked up with surprised faces.

  Missy blanched but otherwise said nothing, and her chin tipped up stubbornly.

  Rimmel was already in Romeo’s lap, and Anthony was still sitting in the same chair he had been when he told me I was going to get arrested.

  Ever since mine and Rome’s punch-fest in the driveway, I’d been thinking about what he said. Was it selfish of me to want to just take the punishment—even if the punishment wasn’t exactly warranted? Even if it would mess up not just my future, but Ivy’s and my baby’s?

  I wasn’t a weak guy—hell, I was far from it. Everyone called Rome the alpha male of this family, and yeah, he was the head of us all. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t an alpha in my own right.

  I was.

  Still, I wasn’t too sure how to fight these charges without making everything worse. And I was tired. So fucking tired. Giving a shit about stuff was a hell of a lot harder than just having fun.

  “Ivy has news,” Romeo said, drawing all the stares away from Missy and me out of my own head.

  My eyes whipped to Ivy. She glanced at me and smiled. “I went to see Robert.”

  “What!” I ground out.

  “Be quiet.” She hushed me, and Drew laughed.

  I gave him a narrow look. “You think it’s funny your sister went to the house where her rapist grew up?” I spat.

  That shut him up.

  “I didn’t go alone. Missy came with me, and Romeo was there when I arrived.”

  “You went to see Robert?” Rimmel asked Romeo.

  “I wasn’t about to just accept what he was doing to this family.”

  “Roman,” Tony spoke up. “I’m not so sure that was a good idea. You both probably just gave him more ammunition to use in court.”

  “I brought a little ammunition of my own,” Ivy said.

  Romeo grinned. “You shoulda seen her, B. She owned it.”

  “Owned what?” I asked, frustrated.

  Ivy stepped forward and sat on the coffee table in the center of the room. “When I left this morning, I went to the dorms to see Missy.”

  Missy came a little farther into the room and nodded.

  “As the BuzzBoss, she has a whole computer full of dirty secrets on half the people on campus.”

  “Try all the people on campus.” Missy corrected. I glanced at her, and she shrugged. “People are devious.”

  She would know about that.

  “Anyway, Zach was so crazy I figured we weren’t the only people he’d tortured over the years. Turns out I was right. Missy has files full of horrible things Zach has done.”

  Why did that make my skin crawl, and why did those words put shadows in her baby blues?

  “What did you do, Ivy?” I asked quietly, already regretting that whatever she did in my name had somehow cost her.

  “We…” She began, glancing at Rome and Missy. “Just showed Robert how it would benefit him to let all this go and let his son rest in peace.”

  I pinned Romeo with a hard look. “Talk.”

  He did. He told everyone exactly what went down at Robert Bettinger’s house this morning. I was fucking blown away. Ivy sat on the table, drinking her milkshake like she hadn’t just blackmailed a powerful lawyer into giving me my life back.

  When Romeo was done, he turned to his father. “Think we can trust Robert to drop this like he promised.”

  Anthony nodded. “After hearing what kind of information you have on Zach, I know he will. Robert still has to live in this community, and he won’t want to give up his good name. I’ve known him a long time, and when he gives his word, he’s good for it.”

  It was over?

  Just this morning, I was looking at manslaughter charges and saying good-bye to my football career, and now… just hours later, everything was handed back to me.

  I looked at Rome. He smiled. I felt something inside me crack. I was free.

  “Princess don’t play,” Romeo quipped.

  Rimmel giggled.

  I spun and sought out Ivy. She must have recognized the look in my eyes because she lowered the drink from her lips. I rushed forward and picked her up off the table and held her out in front of me.

  “You fought for me.”

  “For us.” She corrected.

  “You shouldn’t have gone there,” I growled and crushed her against me. “It was stupid and reckless. I know it hurt you.”

  Her hands clutched at my back, holding me to her. It’s like we weren’t in a room full of people. We were alone in our own little world, a world that was now full of a bright future.

  “Thank you,” I rasped.

  She hugged me tighter, then pulled back. “I couldn’t have done it without Missy. She’s the one who used the information she had on Zach to convince Robert.”

  I stepped up in front of Missy. Her eyes were slightly wary, but she didn’t move back. I hugged her. It wasn’t the kind of hug I gave Ivy, or even a friend. But it was a hug just the same. Then I pulled back to meet her surprised, gray stare. “Thanks, Miss.”

  “You’re welcome.” Her voice was hoarse.

  I turned back to my family, and Rim rushed at me. I caught her, and she laughed. “I’m so happy!”

  I chuckled. “That makes two of us, tutor girl.”

  “This calls for beers!” Drew said.

  “It’s not even noon!” Ivy admonished.

  “I’m never drinking again,” Trent groaned.

  Rimmel gasped. “I forgot! Ivy, wasn’t tonight the night we were all supposed to go to Screamerz for…” She glanced at Tony and grimaced.

  He laughed. “An engagement party full of people your age?”

  Romeo laughed.

  “I completely forgot,” Ivy said.

  “Cancel,” I told her.

  “What!” Ivy gasped. “We can’t just cancel. Everyone is supposed to be there!”

  “Yeah, it can be an engagement slash celebration for you.” Rimmel agreed.

  “They’re ganging up on you, B,” Romeo drawled.

  “Fine,” I mumbled and mentally began to adjust the plans I had for the night.

  Anthony stood. “I should be going. Valerie is going to want to hear the news. She’s going to be so relieved.” He came around the table and stood before me. “I’m happy for you, son.”

  “Thanks,” I said, and he hugged me.

  I returned the hug, and I suddenly had a strong sense of what it would have been like to have a father. Hell, maybe all this time I had. Tony never treated me as anything less than a son. He’d always been there, just like this morning, sitting in our living room for hours, trying to come up with a way to make sure I still had a future.

  That was family.

  Not blood.

  And that was what I was going to teach
my child.

  I was a little choked up when he pulled back. When he looked into my eyes, he must have seen, because he nodded once. “Always going to be here for you, son.”

  He picked up his briefcase and car keys off the table.

  “Would it be okay if I come with you?” Rimmel asked Tony.

  Romeo made a choking sound. “You want to go to my parents’?”

  Rimmel nodded. “I have an idea, and Valerie is the best person to help me.”

  “Baby, are you sure?” Romeo asked.

  “Definitely.” She nodded and turned to Ivy. “Wanna come? I could for sure use your help.”

  “Maid of honor on duty,” she said and nodded.

  “Well, then, it will be a pleasure to have such lovely ladies keeping me company on the way. Between this and the news about Braeden, Valerie will be on top of the world.”

  Rimmel grinned, and I chuckled. “Someone is starting to thaw where Moms is concerned.”

  “I’m just happy.” Rimmel agreed.

  “Call when you’re done,” I told Ivy. “We’ll come get you.”

  Tony was already by the door, waiting, and after Rim said bye to Romeo, she met him over there as well. Ivy took her time practically dancing around the room, giving everyone a hug.

  It was funny as hell.

  “You put liquor in my girl’s shake?” I asked Romeo as she hugged Drew.

  Ivy bounded over to Trent and hugged his hung-over ass as well. She wrinkled her nose. “You smell. Go take a shower.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he muttered.

  “Oh,” she said when she moved toward the door and saw Missy. “Uh…”

  “I’ll drive her back to campus,” I said. Ivy turned and looked at me, wariness in her eyes.

  “I’ll go with him,” Romeo said.

  That seemed to make her feel a little more comfortable, and she turned back to Missy. “Thanks for everything.”

  “It was the least I could do,” she replied. Her eyes held a lot of regret, and I knew it was because of everything she could have been a part of with this family, but Missy made her choice.

  Yeah, maybe what she did today made her not as despicable, but she would never be a part of this family again.

  The girls left with Tony, and I turned back to the guys.

  “I got a lot of shit to do before tonight,” I announced. “All three of you are gonna help.”

  “Trent’s gonna take a shower first,” Drew said. “So we don’t have to smell him the entire day.”

  Trent gave us all the finger. Times two.

  “What you got in mind, B?” Romeo asked.

  Something that just this morning I was uncertain of. But now? Now it was full steam ahead.

  The future.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Ivy

  Word got out.

  Really, we all should have expected it. ‘Course, with everything going on and the fact we almost forgot to attend our own party, I guess it didn’t seem so farfetched that none of us thought about it.

  And yeah, the latest Buzz courtesy of the BuzzBoss herself certainly helped add to the crowd. Frankly, the fact that she obviously went home after everything that happened this morning and then posted a notification about the engagement party I set up at Screamerz for Romeo and Rimmel tonight didn’t give me the warm and fuzzies.

  It totes made me worry.

  If she would use the info she overheard at our house this morning about something as silly as a party, then what would she do with all the other information she learned? The stuff that wasn’t so silly?

  I tried not to think about it, but as Braeden turned the truck into the way crowded parking lot and reporters swarmed and lifted their cameras, it was hard not to.

  She was probably inside.

  To get inside, she had to walk past the reporters. Missy was nothing if not dramatic, and I hoped she avoided the urge to perform on her way.

  “Damn. I hope inside isn’t like this,” Braeden muttered as he looked for a spot.

  Behind us, the green Hellcat purred into the lot and was closely followed by Drew and Trent in my brother’s Mustang. It was like a little family parade.

  Braeden insisted we take his truck tonight. It seemed silly to me for us to bring three cars to the same place, but when I pointed that out, everyone snickered.

  Why that was so funny I had no idea.

  They were up to something. Rimmel and I never should have left the four of them to their own devices almost the entire day while we planned what was going to be an amazing wedding.

  For all the “I don’t knows” and “I don’t really cares,” Rimmel certainly decided on what she wanted quick.

  Well, okay, not so much the details, but she knew the exact location she wanted, and when Valerie said she thought it might not be possible, Rim proved her wrong.

  Yep. She proved Valerie Anderson wrong.

  She picked up her phone, dialed a number to a private line, and minutes later, we had a wedding location.

  Score: Rimmel - 2 (1 for the location + 1 for getting Romeo), Valerie - 100

  Rim was totes catching up.

  After she got her way on that and announced the colors she wanted to use, everything else became just details again. Valerie sort of started to take over, but Rimmel didn’t seem to care.

  We were supposed to go back over to the Andersons’ in a few days, because more decisions had to be made.

  Braeden started laughing, and it pulled me out of my thoughts. “What?” I asked.

  He motioned with his chin. “I should have known.”

  I glanced ahead and smiled. There was an empty parking spot near the club’s entrance. Romeo always had a parking spot.

  Always.

  But this time there were two beside it.

  One for each of us.

  Braeden took the spot on the far right, Romeo pulled right beside him, and my brother took up the one on the left.

  Braeden rolled his window down as the truck’s engine still ran. Romeo rolled down both the passenger side and driver’s side windows of his car, and as I peered around B, I saw my brother do the same.

  “Hells yeah!” B hollered.

  Laughter from everyone filtered into the cab but was way too quickly interrupted by the paparazzi swarming the Hellcat.

  Everyone rolled up their windows, trying to get one last minute’s peace before we had to make our way through it all.

  “Stay close,” B told me, wrapping one of the loose waves falling over my shoulder around his finger.

  “With pleasure,” I replied.

  He popped his door open and held it wide, using it as sort of a barricade against the people calling out Romeo’s and Rimmel’s names.

  But the second he was on the pavement, people started calling his name, too.

  He smiled and waved for the cameras but then came back inside the cab and held out his hand. “Come on.”

  I gave him my hand and slid across the seat. He lifted me out of the elevated red truck and quickly put me on my feet. I was a little disappointed he didn’t slide me down his body like always.

  “You just had to wear a dress, didn’t ya, Blondie?” he muttered, smoothing his hand over the flirty skirt.

  He was worried I was going to flash someone.

  I gave him a cheeky smile. “Good thing I’m wearing underwear.”

  He groaned and reached behind him to open the passenger door of the Hellcat. “Come on, tutor girl.”

  Rimmel climbed out of the car, looking photo ready, thanks to me, and smiled. “Thanks,” she murmured to B and then smiled for the cameras.

  She was dressed in a pair of white skinny jeans, black bootie wedges with black bows on the sides, and a loose yellow chiffon top with fluttery cap sleeves. Over that, she was wearing a black leather jacket that she would never have picked out if I hadn’t literally handed it to her and told her to put it on.

  It might not be her preferred hoodie, but she looked really awesome in it.
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  To top off her outfit, I pulled her long hair up into a high ponytail that I flat-ironed so it would fall sleekly down her back. Her black-rimmed glasses only enhanced the look. She was totally rocking the whole “sexy nerd” look.

  Romeo came around the back of the Hellcat and pulled Rimmel into his side. They were stopped immediately for pictures, and instead of trying to rush away, they stopped and smiled, looking every bit the football royalty they had become.

  Braeden finally slammed the door to his truck, and a few reporters called his name from behind. He linked our hands and turned. We smiled for a couple photos as reporters yelled out questions to him about the draft, the rumors that the Knights wanted him, and about his history with Romeo.

  I heard Romeo answering similar questions, and of course, they were also being asked about their wedding, the location, and all those details.

  It was chilly out, and my choice to wear a skirt only served in delivering me a nice draft up my legs. I shivered lightly, and Braeden paused for a split second in answering a question to anchor me at his side with his arm.

  “Is there a wedding in the works for you two as well?” someone beside me asked.

  “That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Braeden replied smoothly. He leaned into my ear to whisper, “Come on,” and then we pivoted around again to join Romeo and Rimmel.

  “Do you have a comment on the rumors you had time to pull out the man who died in the car accident with your girlfriend, but you left him in the vehicle to die?” a rather loud and rather rude reporter yelled.

  Braeden stopped. The set of his jaw was hard. Of course the media was going to be all over this. How could they not conjure up all kinds of scenarios after what happened at the party the other night when Robert showed up?

  “I don’t comment on gossip,” Braeden said, hard, and then started walking again.

  Romeo had heard the exchange and was standing there with a look on his face that matched B’s. The second we reached them, he took Rimmel’s hand and both guys positioned themselves so they were on the outside of us and Rim and I were shielded.

  Drew and Trent were right beside the Mustang, and the second we approached, Trent took up residence in front of me and Rim, and Drew did the same from behind.

  They were closing us in, making it so Rim and I were completely inaccessible to the press.