Busted (Promise Harbor Wedding)(6)

A hand encircled her wrist, jerking her to the side when she was two feet shy of planting herself in the big guy’s path.

“Hayley.”

Half expecting it to be one of the wedding party pulling her over to share a drink, she did a double take when she came face-to-face with her second blast from the past in one day.

“Eric.”

“Hi.”

Caught in a state between seriously? and no f*cking way, she stared at her ex. “What are you doing here?”

He grinned, and she was relieved she didn’t feel so much as a flicker of emotion. She hadn’t been able to say the same when they’d broken up three years earlier.

“I was looking for a welcome home, but you’ve never gone with the expected.”

Like much of what Eric had said to her during their relationship, there was a hint of disapproval in his tone.

“But to answer your question, I’m back in Promise Harbor on business for a while.”

“That’s nice,” she managed, tugging her hand free. She looked over her shoulder just as Grizzly Adams reached Jackson’s table. She was too far away to hear their exchange, but watching the laid-back expression on Jackson’s face give way to a guarded look, she would have bet her next paycheck that he didn’t like what he was hearing.

“So how have you been?” Eric asked, moving back into her line of sight to regain her attention.

Her gaze didn’t stray from Jackson and Grizzly Adams. “Funny, you didn’t seem too worried about how I was when you moved out or how I’ve been for the last three years. Why bother now?”

“Guess I deserve that.”

And then some.

Jackson gestured to the empty chair and she was sure she saw the word “drink” pass his lips. Grizzly Adams didn’t seem to appreciate the offer and whatever he said made Jackson’s shoulders square up, but he made no other move toward the giant. Grizzly Adams wouldn’t be the first moron to try picking a fight with him, on or off the ice.

“Have lunch with me tomorrow,” Eric pressed.

“I have plans.”

“Oh, right. The wedding.”

Shit. She’d forgotten about that, but all thoughts of the wedding fled as a couple guys Hayley recognized from high school moved closer to Jackson. They didn’t like what they were hearing any more than Hayley liked what she was seeing.

Grizzly Adams’ pals flanked him, and the people standing closest to the small group finally seemed to notice the mounting tension.

Hayley moved into the crowd, Eric sticking right at her side.

“Wait a second.”

“Not now, Eric.”

“I was an *.”

Was?

Grizzly Adams got right in Jackson’s face. People stepped into Hayley’s path, cutting off her view. She shoved her way through, ignoring the complaints. One guy started to push her back until he recognized her. He quickly switched gears and even helped her out by nudging his buddy out of her path just in time for her to see Grizzly Adams take a swing at Jackson.

The crowd surged around them, closing her out.

“Move. Police,” she shouted over the crowd.

Matt must have finally noticed the problem and killed the music just as Hayley’s voice cut through the encouraging shouts for a fight. People scrambled out of the way, but nothing broke up the group of men already pummeling each other.

Damn it.

This time Grizzly Adams landed a punch that knocked Jackson into the table behind him. Drinks scattered across the slanted tabletop before smashing on the floor.

Hayley didn’t give Jackson a chance to retaliate, or let Grizzly Adams get in another punch. She elbowed her way between them. A dirty look was quickly followed by a double take and a quick step backward as the giant recognized her. She snapped her head around to face Jackson in time to see his fist coming at her.

His eyes widened, but he wasn’t fast enough to correct his aim entirely, and she felt the sting of the glancing blow across her cheek. Shock dropped his arms at his sides, making it easy to jerk one hand behind his back and spin him around.

She had the crowd’s full attention two minutes too late. “Jackson Knight, you’re under arrest for assaulting an officer and disturbing the peace.”

“Hayley?” Matt pushed his way to her side, a baseball bat in his hand—the only bouncer her gramps had ever needed to run the place.

The look on her face kept her brother from talking her out of the arrest. The rest of the surrounding fights had broken up by the time Jackson’s hands were cuffed behind his back.

Matt winced. “Guess she’s not over that truck thing, bro.”





Chapter Two


“You arrested the Jackson Knight?”

Hayley rolled her eyes at the exaggerated disbelief in her partner’s voice, not bothering to ask him to lower his voice. By now most of Promise Harbor had heard about last night, and all the Knight fans she worked with at the station had already given her hell.

“He was detained for a couple hours without being charged.” No harm done. Which had been her line of defense when her captain called demanding an explanation for cuffing the hometown hero, since the mayor was already on his case.

She’d been tempted to tell the captain to take a number as the mayor had been on her case since she was at least fifteen years old.

Her partner, Phil, leaned back in his chair. “Captain didn’t make you smooth things over with Knight this morning?”

“He realized I would’ve had a much bigger problem if I hadn’t taken Jackson out of the equation.”

Phil grinned. “I didn’t know you two were on a first-name basis. Maybe you should ask him to be your date to the wedding.”

She was almost grateful for the change in subject, then remembered she had to dress up for the wedding. “I’m taking Gramps. He’s been looking forward to it for a while.”

“Too bad. Going with Knight would probably help your reputation after last night.”

“Dating him in high school would have been more damaging to my reputation than arresting him was.” And she’d led the pack when it came to bad reps in high school.

Her partner’s feet hit the floor. “You wanted to date Knight in high school?”

Reaching for the phone, she scowled at him. “That’s not what I said.”

“So you had a crush on him.” Phil whistled like she’d just fed him the harbor’s juiciest gossip in months.

She didn’t have a chance to deny it—and by “deny it” she meant throw her team’s hockey trophy at his head—before the nurse answered. Glaring at her partner became less of a priority as she listened to the nurse explain that her gramps had had a rough night and would likely sleep most of the day.

Apparently she was going to the wedding solo.

Phil overheard enough of the conversation to guess at the outcome. Unlike half the town, he spared her the sympathetic look. “Don’t tell me, he was awake all night because he heard his granddaughter arrested his star hockey player?”

“Ass.” She smiled anyway.

He stood up. “You only came in this morning to catch up on a couple things, and now you’re done. Get going before I change my mind about covering your shift today.”

“If you and your wife have plans…”

“You’re not trying to get out of going to the wedding because of last night, are you?”

Not exactly. “No. I just haven’t heard from Gavin.”

“So he still doesn’t know his girl is marrying someone else?”

“Allie hasn’t been his girl for a long time.” And Gavin hadn’t let Hayley forget that important detail for an equally long time.

Phil shrugged as though that fact didn’t mean a whole lot, then winced. “Today is not your best day, Hayls.” He stared at something behind her.

She turned around, immediately spotting Eric strolling toward them. She barely suppressed a groan.

“You want me to hang around and pretend like I give a f*ck about organizing my desk or something?”

Hayley surveyed the mess on Phil’s desk that had Category Three Hurricane written all over it. “I think it’s probably a lost cause.” Especially since he had a habit of stacking his stuff on her desk the rare times he decided he liked a tidier work space.

Eric had just about reached them.

“You sure? Running down a perp and tackling him on the boardwalk isn’t the same as dealing with this jerkoff’s kind of bullshit.”

Spending as much time together as they did, she had confided in Phil on more than one occasion about her relationship with Eric and the problems they had. Phil probably knew more than even her brother and had been thrilled when they finally broke up, undoubtedly relieved he didn’t have to listen to her ramble about the whole situation any longer. If he’d had his way, he would have kicked Eric’s ass long ago.