Fighting for Love (Second Chances #4)(51)

Shelby was full of surprises and I was pretty sure I hadn’t seen the last of them. After telling them good-bye, I rushed off down the hall to my room and busted through the door. I grabbed my bag and the box of pictures someone had piled up for me, and ran straight out of the arena to my truck. Before getting on the road, I searched for my phone and found that I had missed some text messages from Shelby.

Shelby: I’m sorry I’m not there. I’m kind of in trouble, but hey, at least Kyle has a broken nose now.

Shelby: I hope you win tonight.

Shelby: If you’re wondering where I’m at, I’m at the police station. I just called Lexi to come pick me up.

Not if I get there first, I thought.





WHEN I GOT TO THE police station they had a paramedic take a look at my hand. It had already started to bruise and my knuckle had been split open when I made contact with Kyle’s face. It hurt like hell, but I walked away as if nothing in the world bothered me. One thing I didn’t anticipate was getting hauled away in a police car.

This isn’t going to look good on my record, I thought.

“It doesn’t look like it’s broken,” the paramedic told me. “I’m going to clean the cut and bandage it so you should be good to go after that.”

Her name was Janie and she appeared to be in her early forties with really short brown hair. She could almost pass for a man because of her masculine facial features, but her large chest kind of gave her away.

Before I even got to the station my name was run through the system, and as soon as I walked through the door they said I was free to go. Apparently, a couple of the officers in the department knew of Kyle Andrews and his history with skirting the law, so they applauded me as soon as I walked in. Oh, if Kyle only knew. The only problem with being let go was that I had no car and it was going to take Lexi at least an hour to come get me.

Once my hand was bandaged up, I blew out a relieved sigh and sat back in the chair. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would do if I broke my hand. It would be kind of hard to work with it like that.”

“Oh, I know, child. You might want to put some ice on it when you get home. Did you call someone to come pick you up?” Janie asked.

“I did,” I answered. “She should be here soon.”

Janie smiled and patted my shoulder before marching off into another room. Since I didn’t need to be detained, they let me sit out in the front lobby while I waited. I had a while to wait so I thought I’d try my luck with Jace and see how the filming was going. Pacing across the floor, I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.

He answered on the second ring. “Hey, Shels, what’s up? You miss me yet?”

It never failed; he could always get me to smile. “Of course I do. I just wanted to see how the filming was going. Is it nice there on the beach in North Carolina?”

“It’s amazing here,” he exclaimed. “The beaches are beautiful, and the female lead here is so damn hot I might need to consider going back to being straight.”

“Really? That hot, huh? I think I’m kind of insulted now,” I teased.

Jace laughed and it was a welcome sound to my ears. “I said I might consider. I didn’t say I was. Besides, you’re one hot female, too, Shels.” He paused. “So, how are things back there? You and Matt getting along?”

“Um … yeah, I guess. We’re just having issues with Kyle. He’s really trying to screw things up right now, which might be why I’m at the police station,” I added.

Catching him off guard, Jace gasped and coughed to clear his throat. “Are you serious? What did you do?”

“Let’s just say I have a sore, but unbroken, hand. Kyle has a sore and bruised face. Long story short, he had pictures taken of me and him when we were seeing each other and he happened to put them all in Matt’s room before the fight so he’d see them. Needless to say, it didn’t make me too happy.”

Jace snorted in disgust. “That dude has some serious issues. What’s his deal anyway?”

“I’m not sure, but Matt and I will figure it out. Don’t worry about me, though. I’m sure I’ll be fine. I know it’s kind of late there with the time difference, so I’ll let you go. I just wanted to let you know I miss you.”

“Same to you, Shels. You know you need to come out here and visit me. You would love it out here.”

I’d seen pictures of the coast of North Carolina and I’d always wanted to visit. Maybe I could get Matt to go with me once his tour was over.

“I’ll have to keep that in mind. Goodnight, Jace,” I uttered warmly.

“Night, Shels.”

Now that I checked on Jace, I dialed up Lexi’s number to see where she was at. It rang a few times before she finally answered, “Hey, girl. You get picked up yet?”

Did I get picked up yet? She’s the one who’s supposed to come and get me.

“Excuse me,” I sputtered, furrowing my brows. “Aren’t you coming to pick me up?”

“No, she’s not,” a voice spoke out behind me, “I am.”

Frozen in place with the phone by my ear, I had my back to Matt, listening to Lexi squeal on the other end. “My goodness, he sounds so sexy like that. I guess you know now that he’s the one coming to get you. He called and told me not to bother. I hope you don’t mind, but he insisted. Really quick before you go, Hayley and I are planning a girl’s night one day this week so make sure you’re free. Love ya bunches and don’t get into any more trouble.”