“The Lucy girl may be your best bet, man,” Silas agrees. “You can hitch a ride with her, stay out of the public eye, and then come back to town next week once the attorney knows what’s going on.”
“I bet it was that goddamn bodyguard!” Dev grumbles. “We should’ve killed him.”
“I agree,” Malcolm grits out. “It’s not too late to correct that error in judgement. I’ll see if my PI can track that motherfucker down. But, Nash, you need to get the fuck out of here now,” he says, pointing his finger at me.
“Yeah,” I agree. “Let me borrow your phone so I can call Lucy. Hopefully she hasn’t left yet,” I say as I pull out my phone and memorize her number before launching the device into the waves below us.
“You may regret this more than prison,” it sounds like Malcolm mutters as he hands over the phone.
“What?” I ask him after punching in the numbers and putting the phone to my ear.
“Nothing,” he says before he looks out into the ocean and pops a stick of gum into his mouth.
I take a few steps away from the guys, who are still talking among themselves, just as Lucy answers.
“Malcolm! I’m about to walk out the door. Can I call you when I’m on the road?”
Jesus, she has his contact info in her phone? What the fuck is up with that? I know it’s nothing sexual, because Malcolm would never stray from Naomi, so it must mean they’ve been talking to each other frequently – about me. I’ll worry about that later.
“Lucy, it’s Nash,” I tell her, and there’s silence on the other end of the line for so long that I have to look at the screen to see if we got disconnected. “You there?”
“Yeah, sorry. What’s up?” she asks, her voice sounding off. Maybe it’s because of how we left shit, me shoving my tongue down her throat, ready to rip our clothes off. It could’ve been too much too soon even though I made it clear I wanted her. We can hash that shit out later, though.
“Well, this is going to sound sort of crazy, but do you think I could crash your cousin’s wedding?”
“Huh?” Lucy asks.
“Have you left for Charleston yet?”
“No.”
“Good, because I want to come with you,” I explain.
“Why?” she asks, which catches me off-guard. I thought she would jump at the idea of having someone go with her to the shitshow where she has to see her ex-boyfriend marry her own damn cousin, all while pretending she’s over him. And I could possibly distract her by picking up where things left off in my apartment.
“Moral support?” I offer. Again, nothing but silence as I check the time counter on the screen as it ticks on and on. “Lucy?”
“I…I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, Nash.”
“Why not?”
“I just don’t!”
“Come on, Lucy! You’ve been dreading this wedding for weeks. If you want, you can tell everyone I’m your date, rub it in that asshole’s face to show him you’re over him, even if you’re not…”
“Fucking hell,” Malcolm grumbles from behind me, obviously eavesdropping.
“I don’t know…” she says, still not sold on the idea.
“Please, Lucy. I really, really need to get out of town this weekend.”
“And why is that?” she asks.
“Take me with you, and maybe I’ll tell you,” I reply even though there’s no way in hell I’m going to tell this sweet girl about the possible murder charges coming at me.
Her sigh is so heavy I can hear it over the wind and waves crashing along the pier.
“I’m getting ready to leave and you’re not home. When are you coming back?”
“Ah, well, I’m sort of tied up at the moment,” I lie. “Do you think you could go up to my apartment and just throw whatever you think I’ll need in a bag for me, then swing by and pick me up?”
“Yeah, I, um, I guess so. Pick you up where?”
Fuck, that’s a good question. No place like the present. “Do you know where the pier is on Canal Drive?”
“What are you doing at the pier?”
“Ah, you know, just doing a little fishing with the guys.”
“Fishing? Malcolm called and you had to leave in a hurry to go fishing with him?” Lucy throws back at me with heavy skepticism in her voice. The girl is smart, and I hate feeding her bullshit, but what choice do I have? If I tell her what happened, what I did and could be going to jail for soon, she would never speak to me again, much less let me tag along with her this weekend. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to being away from her for an entire weekend when I’ve gotten used to seeing her several times a day lately.
“Look, I’m sorry to be such a pain in the ass,” I tell her truthfully. “Will you grab my things and come pick me up so I can go with you? You know you’ll have more fun if I’m there with you.”
“Fine. I’ll be there as soon as I pack your bag,” she says with another heavy sigh.
“Thank you,” I say in relief. “See you then.”
“She coming?” Malcolm asks as soon as I go over and hand his phone back to him.
“Yeah, she is.”
“Good, I guess. Leave your bike here, and I’ll have someone give me a ride over later so I can stash it at my place.”
“Thanks,” I tell him. “I guess you should call Lucy on her cell if you hear anything the next few days.”
“I will.”
“How often do the two of you talk?” I ask, only a smidge jealous since I know Malcolm is a hundred percent loyal to Naomi.
“As much as we need to,” he answers with a smirk. “Call me if your plans change this weekend and you decide not to head to Charleston.”
“The wedding’s in Charleston. Why would our plans change?”
“Just in case,” he mutters, shrugging his shoulders.
Chapter Sixteen
Lucy
Pack me
