Bad Boy Brody(42)

She nodded back, a tear forming in the corner of her eye. She flicked it away and laughed a little too loudly. “I’m taking you up on that margarita.” She raised her hand for a waitress, saying to me, “You might be driving yourself back tonight.”

I could do that. Happily. Which is what happened.

I stayed until karaoke began and three of the crewmembers were croaking out “Sweet Caroline” in their best rendition of Blue Whale. Kara promised to take Gayle with them to the hotel, and with that, I took the keys and headed out. I didn’t quite remember the way back to the Kellerman estate, so I programmed it into the GPS and kept a cautious eye out for the mustang herd.

The drive there was longer than I expected, but it was uneventful.

I was driving past the main house when the front door flew open and someone started waving frantically, trying to get my attention. Pulling to the garage, I got out. I was pocketing the keys when I got a good look at who was coming down the walkway in my direction.

“Jenny? Is that you?”

She had the same long brown hair, smatter of freckles over her smooth complexion, and dark brown eyes. She ran up to me, looking exactly the same as the last time I saw her, only this time she was dressed.

“You look good.” I patted her on the back before stepping back and adding, “Strong.”

“Marathon training. I’m hoping to get Finn to run with me.”

“How long’s it been?”

“Eight months.” Her sparkling brown eyes turned somber, and it clicked then.

I was with her that weekend. We had our three-day affair right before the movie premiere. Right before . . . Kyle.

I raked a hand through my hair. The air was suddenly not so light anymore. “I never called you back.” At all. “I’m sorry, Jen.”

She lifted a shoulder, but her smile slipped a little. “I understood. I tried reaching out.”

She had. I wanted to tell her it meant something to me. I listened to her message. Her voice had been friendly. There’d been no anger, or resentment, but I never called her back because I hadn’t cared one bit.

I didn’t want to lie so I only gave her a half-grin. “I blacked out a lot of that time.”

Which wasn’t completely true. I forgot parties. I forgot whomever I was using to make myself forget, because the truth was that I couldn’t forget anything about Kyle, about the funeral, about the phone call, about the noise of the crash, about the dial tone.

I was raw all over again and needed a drink . . . or Morgan.

I needed Morgan.

“I hear congratulations are in order for you.” I made sure to put a cheerful ring in my voice.

She grasped my arm, squeezing me from excitement. “I met Finn that week, actually. Everything worked out.”

No.

Everything hadn’t.

Kyle hadn’t.

“Uh, yeah.”

Fuck. Where was Morgan? I had to go.

The front door opened, and Jen glanced over her shoulder, sighing a little. “He makes me really happy, and”—she stepped close—“he’s really nervous about you because you’re the big-time actor. I know you’ve technically met, but he knows about you and me. Be nice? Please?”

I heard footsteps on the sidewalk drawing close.

I nodded but pushed her back a little. Once she was at a distance the fiancé wouldn’t want to deck me about, I grinned. “You know me. I’m always nice.”

Finn drew to us, and I ignored Jen’s rolling eyes. My smile widened. “Finn.” I held out my hand. “I know we met the night I arrived, but I never congratulated you on the engagement.”

He seemed cautious but shook my hand in a firm grip before nodding, “Yeah. Thank you.” His eyes darted between her and me. “I wasn’t sure if this would be awkward or not.” He stepped up, his arm going around her shoulders.

“Not awkward. Not at all.” I gestured around us. “Are you two going to tie the knot here? It’d be a beautiful setting.” Most people liked that shit.

“Oh—” Jen started, her head tilting back an inch.

Finn spoke over her, “I’d love that.” His eyes darted around behind me. “Something about this place. It brings the whole family together.”

Family.

Yeah.

I understood whom he was referring to, but the burning was still in my throat from my own situation. It spread to my chest, and it was only going to get worse. Kyle’s ghost was back full-force.

“Yeah,” I said. “I get that.”

And then we heard a soft voice say, “You’re Brody’s friend?”

We turned, and everything stopped in that moment because this was fucking climactic stuff.

Standing behind me, as if materializing out of the darkness was Morgan.





Morgan



I walked forward, saying to Brody, “I was waiting for you.”

After seeing the car’s headlights shut off, I had expected him to walk down to the cabin. When he hadn’t, I went outside, and that was when I heard their voices.

I looked at this girl, who was so beautiful my chest felt tight for some reason.

“Morgan!” Brody glanced from me to Finn and then back again.

Finn’s arm fell from the girl’s shoulders. The blood drained from his face, and he took a faltering step toward me. “Morgan.”