Reservation (Preservation Series) (8 page)

I bit my lip to stifle my laughter at the thought of the word ‘overreacting’—something Dean was definitely famous for, and was clearly doing right now. Ironically, it was the same word Kate loved to pin on me, and I vehemently disagreed with her when she used the word to describe my behavior.

When I felt I could restrain my amusement, I spoke. “You’re best friends, I get it.”

“It’s so much more than that.”

“Oh...are you two really... ya know, an item?”

Dean stopped pacing and gripped the edges of the kitchen counter, glaring at me with a lifted brow.

Well, alrighty then.

“Oookay, nevermind. Explain, please.”

“He’s my best mate, but he’s a brother to me, too, dude. He’s...my only real friend, my family. The other guys in the band are just people I work with, it’s not the same. Yeah, I have you and Kate, and things with Crystal are going good and all, but he gets me like no one else. I eat my fries with soy sauce, hate the sound of Velcro, love musicals—”

I cut him a look.

“Don’t go there.” He raised a finger before he continued. “He knows these things about me, and he gets it—completely. No judgment. He’s the only one I can watch BBC with religiously, and he never gets bored, never complains, because he loves it, too. Not to mention The Hellions are doomed without him. We won’t ever be able to replace him. The band will be no more. Our gigs, done. If he leaves, everything will just be...”

“Different.”

“Yes.”

“What makes you think he’s talking about moving there? I can’t see Carter doing something drastic like that. He seems perfectly content here in Seattle.”

“That’s just it, man, he’s not. Not anymore. Pre St. Lucia Carter and Post St. Lucia Carter are night and day. He’s talking moving for good. Said something about his dad footing the airfare bill.”

I rested against the fridge, sipping my water. Everything Dean was saying was actually pretty troubling, considering it was Carter he was talking about here. Since getting to know the guy, my impression of him was that he was stable. He marched to the beat of his own drum and all that shit, but being offbeat was only a part of his quirky persona. Aside from his shenanigans with Dean, there was nothing random about him. When it came to work, playing with The Hellions, and the most important thing to him—his friendship with Kate—he was a rock. Always punctual, always reliable. I couldn’t, for the life of me, imagine him being so impulsive. Couldn’t picture him packing up and leaving all that stability behind.

And going to Florida, of all places.

“There’s got to be more to this,” I said. “Something we’re missing. When did he spring this on you? And what sparked his interest in Florida? Even if he’s seriously considering this, he wouldn’t be able to pull it off for a while. Even if he has financial help getting out there, he needs to find a job, find a place, sell his stuff...that would take time.”

Dean opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by my ringtone. It was my flavor of the week, ‘Kiss with a Fist” by Florence and the Machine. I wouldn’t have answered it, but it was Kate. Guess she didn’t want to wait an hour to talk.

“Dean, it’s Kate. Hold that thought.”

What filled my ear next was Kate’s frantic rambling, her voice shaky and on the verge of crying. What the hell?

“Calm down, baby, what’s going on?” I cupped my other ear to hear her, stepping closer to the kitchen window. The reception was bad and some kind of background music was drowning her out.

“I just talked to Carter,” she yelled. “Ryan, I can’t believe this. I don’t know what’s going on with him, but he—” She paused, excusing herself. A man’s voice responded, something muffled. Whatever he said, it made her laugh, softening the tension in her tone. She said something back to him, and his eager response made my skin crawl. “Hold on, Ry, I’m stepping out. Okay, can you hear me now?”

The blaring music weakened, the bass lessening as the sound of a door latch clicked. “Yeah, where are you?”

“I was invited to this place called Fusion. The closest thing they have to a real club on the island. It still looks like a shack. You’d love it. There’s a view of the ocean and—”

“Who are you with?”

“Friends from work. Look, I’m really upset. I need you to talk to—”

“I thought your work friends were all women.”

“No, they’re not all women. Listen, Carter is talking about leaving Seattle and it’s driving me crazy. I just got off the phone with him and he won’t listen to a word I have to say. I don’t know what got into him, but I need you to talk to him, Ry. I can’t lose my best friend. He’s only been home a few days and I don’t even recognize him.”

My mind lingered on the man’s voice I’d heard on the line and the fact that it was a weeknight—from what Kate had told me, she only went out with her friends on Fridays or Saturday nights—but I dragged it to the present to focus on her concern. “I know. I just got home and Dean showed up at my place. I’m with him now. He’s filling me in.”

“Dean’s there?”

“Yeah, he is. Do you want to talk to him? Maybe you guys can figure out—”

“No, I don’t want to be rude, I should get back inside. I know we were supposed to have a phone date, but I didn’t expect to be invited out after work. Can we talk tomorrow on my lunch break?”

“Yeah, it’s no problem.”

“Okay, thanks, babe. God, I’m just so confused, so emotional this week. I miss you, miss all of you guys. I just want to come home.”

My heart started that swelling thing again, absently carrying me to one of the kitchen bar stools. I sat and breathed deep. “I’ve only been gone a few days. How are we going to do this?”

She sniffled, and God did I hate the sound. Kate crying was probably my least favorite sound on the planet, only worsened by the fact that I wasn’t nearby to wipe away the tears. “I don’t want to think about it,” she said. “And now this thing with Carter...it’s why I agreed to come here tonight. I needed to have a few drinks, dance, and just blow off some steam. I feel helpless, being stuck here, you know?”

“You’re not stuck, baby. You like your job and you’ll get through it. You’ll be coming home before you know it to get ready for your own book tour.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“What do you want me to say to him?” My eyes found Dean’s. They were pleading with me, imploring me to step in and intervene somehow. He sat on the couch, shoulders slumped, like an overgrown toddler. “I’ll tell you the same thing I just told Dean. I don’t see why Carter would listen to anything I have to say. Of all people, I would think he would listen to you.”

The man’s voice I heard moments before reappeared, interrupting Kate’s response, mumbling something about another drink.

I stiffened.

“Kate.”

She thanked him quietly. “I’m here, sorry.”

“Don’t tell me you’re accepting drinks from complete strangers.”

“Will isn’t a complete stranger.”

So, mystery man had a name. And he was buying my girl drinks on the other side of the globe.

My voice went cold. “Mark wasn’t, either.”

Kate’s voice turned just as icy. “Don’t you dare go there.”

“I don’t care who the fuck he is, I don’t want him buying you
anything
, let alone alcohol. How can you even accept a drink again from someone after what happened to you? I’m not there, damn it. I’m not there to watch out for you.”

“I can take care of myself—and before you even object to that, I knew damn well what I was doing the night I went to the gala. I
chose
to go. Everything that happened fell on
me
because I
chose
to go. Regardless of the outcome, I was taking care of myself that night by standing my ground and doing what I thought was right for my career. I wasn’t a damsel in distress needing someone to barge in and rescue me. People make their choices and then they live with them. I wasn’t being careless then, and I’m not being careless now. Just out with some friends. I have to be in bed by 11 o’clock anyway for work tomorrow morning.”

I spoke calmer, knowing she had a point. The last thing she needed was me trying to place any blame on her for what went down at the gala. No matter how careful she was that night, those assholes would’ve done what they did. It wasn’t her fault. “Well I’m glad I did.”

“Glad you did what?”

“Barge in.”

Her anger melted into the phone, and in a split second, her voice resumed its soothing tone. “I am, too. Look, I don’t want to fight. I just can’t stand you worrying about me. It does you no good, not when you’re across the world and unable to do a thing about it. To answer your question about Carter, I don’t know what to tell you to say to him, but I just know he’ll listen to you. I’m too close to him, and so is Dean. You’ve become a good friend of his, but you’re removed from him in a way that we aren’t. Please just try and talk some sense into him.”

“I’ll do what I can, but I doubt it’ll do much good.”

“Thank you. Hey, I better get back inside. Talk to you tomorrow? I promise we’ll catch up. Text me and let me know what happens with Carter.”

“Yeah, okay. Talk to you then. Just...be safe, please?”

“I will.”

We hung up and I promised Dean I’d talk to Carter tonight after their show, which I wouldn’t be going to until after I got some work done here at home. Papers needed grading, I needed to speak with Danny about how to answer certain questions for my first interview, and I needed to fit in a swim before the end of the day before the stress ate me alive. We said our goodbyes and I saw him out, feeling like I could already pass out and call it a day, only it was lunch time, and the day was far from over.

4. PRESSURE

My first TV appearance on Friday went surprisingly smoothly, but nothing could have prepared me for the circus surrounding the event. Local reporters, media hounds from all corners of the U.S., and even paparazzi bombarded my every move from the moment I arrived at the studio until the second I was rushed into the cab to leave.

In the short span of a week since I’d returned from St. Lucia, I’d entered another world—one that left me dizzy, stunned, and most of all, missing Kate. Bouncing between the real world, where I was just an everyday guy teaching classes at a university, and the celebrity world, where people waited on me hand and foot and kissed my ass, was nothing short of exhausting. It was something I was convinced I’d never get used to. Hell, the word ‘celebrity’ just rubbed me the wrong way on so many levels. No matter how many pep talks Danny, Bob, or Neda tried giving me, I’d never see myself as one, and the fact that I’d been thrust into a world where shaking hands with real celebrities was a common occurrence made the whole thing all the more surreal.

Why did these people care who I was? I was a damn writer, for God’s sake. Even things at the university were getting out of hand. There were security officers stationed outside of my class while I lectured now, and it was getting harder and harder to fit in a swim at the campus pool in the mornings. Students were tripping over their words when they spoke to me, while others nervously asked me questions about what it was like to be Seattle’s current It Boy.

Insanity.

Danny spoke the minute we stepped foot in the cab outside the TV studio. “No bringing Kate to Henson’s launch party, Ry. The ladies love you, so we’re going to keep banking on your bachelor status as long as we can.” He tilted his chin toward the driver. “Take me to 9th and Dublin, please, and my friend here needs to go to Cherry and South.”

“I’m engaged, Danny. And don’t even think about telling me to cover that one up.”

“You won’t need to for long, don’t worry. When the timing’s right, we’ll introduce your girl. Make you domestic. It’ll win you even more fans. The rumor mill is already swirling, anyway. The media’s digging up all sorts of dirt on Kate and your flings with your students, so brace yourself. We’ll chat about that tomorrow.”

I rolled my eyes and looked out the window, trying to gather my thoughts for the meeting I was about to have with Carter instead of stressing over the fact that all my skeletons were about to be dragged out from the closet and into the open. God, I could see it now. Amy and Alisha writing tell-all memoirs about our affairs. Felicia popping up during an event and doing God knows what to get her revenge. Would Jamie crawl out of the woodwork, too? Try to humiliate me some more? What was I in for, here? And Kate? God, if the media trampled all over Kate and her private life, I’d completely fucking lose it.

Carter, damn it, focus on Carter.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t had time to speak to Carter since the night Dean came by. I went to their gig with the hope of talking to him afterward, but didn’t get a chance to speak with him after the show. The Hellions were caught up talking to fans and mingling with the bar owners, and I couldn’t hang around all night with work in the morning. Now Dean and Kate were having a conniption fit, and this was my only shot to catch him before he went to work and I headed off to meet up with Bob.

I finally responded to Danny. “Yeah, well, I’ll decide when the timing’s right.”

“I mean it, Ryan. This is where you trusting my judgment comes in, remember? No Kate at this party. Period.”