Wilde at Heart (29 page)

Reece winced. Coffee didn’t sound any more appealing than the alcohol had, but he didn’t want to be an ungracious guest. It was bad enough he was being a mopey guest. “Thank you. I’d love some.”

Once he was alone, he sat back in his seat and scrubbed his hands over his face. Coming here had been a mistake, but going to Cam and Eva’s house was out of the question and his other brothers…yeah, he didn’t want to talk to them, either. What he really wanted was to be alone so he could stew in his anger without interruption.

He should get a hotel for the night.

Actually, the more he thought about it, the better he liked the idea of anonymous, impersonal solitude.

Yeah, as soon as Dylan came back, he’d make his excuses and take off.

Alicia returned from the kitchen with a mug and pushed it into his hand. “Drink. Coffee always makes everything better.”

He obligingly took a sip, and she smiled, but there was a slight strain to it, a tightness that wasn’t normally there.

She touched his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

He mustered up a hint of a smile in return and covered her hand with his. “I’ll be okay.”

She turned away fast and hurried toward the kitchen. “I need to finish a few things in here, then I’ll come sit with you.”

Before he could protest, she was gone. He heard dishes clinking, water running, and the sounds were soothing. Normal. He nearly fell asleep sitting there, listening to her fix dinner.

He yawned. Hadn’t realized how exhausted he was until he had a few minutes alone. Drifting, he didn’t know how much time had passed before she came back with her own mug of coffee and curled up in the seat her husband had vacated.

“Okay, Reece,” she said. “Talk to me.”

He shook himself awake and took another gulp of his cooling coffee. Although he’d known Alicia since college, they’d never before had this kind of personal conversation, and the thought of doing so now had him shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Uh, you don’t have to—”

“I have nothing to do until Dylan brings me my tomatoes, and I know you guys don’t talk, not really. It’s all”—she deepened her voice and did a fair intimation of her husband—“‘Hey, man, relationship problems suck. Let’s drink and pretend nothing’s happening. Maybe bump shoulders in a manly show of support before the big game starts.’”

Reece laughed and it was genuine, if not a little weak. “What big game? And since when have either of us cared about sports?”

“Yes, you’re right. With you two, you’re more likely to bury yourselves in work.” She sighed, sipped her own coffee. Which reminded him he was still holding his mug, and he drank, too.

“Not that I’m any better,” she added, setting her coffee aside. She sat forward in her chair and scanned his face. “Which is exactly why I’m going to ask about the deal with Irving James. I received a request from his accountant for our books.”

His temples started pounding in tune with his heart. He took another fortifying gulp of coffee. “I’m sorry, Alicia. Work is the absolute last thing I want to talk about right now.”

She said nothing for a moment, then stood. “It’s a bad idea.”

“What is?”

“The deal with James. I’ve told you that from day one.”

He opened his mouth to tell her there was no longer a deal, but his tongue felt too big for his mouth. The room started to tilt-a-whirl around him and he tried to get up, but couldn’t find his feet.

Alicia stepped around the coffee table and took the mug from his numb fingers. “I really didn’t want it to come to this. The blackmail should have been enough.”

“W-Wha…?” Even to his own ears, he sounded unintelligible.

“C’mon. Let’s get you into the bathroom before Dylan gets home.” She slid an arm around his waist, wedged a shoulder under his armpit, and lifted him. He tried to push her away, fight her, but none of his limbs were responding to his commands. He had two fucking black belts and he could do nothing but stumble along beside her and try to keep his head upright.

In the bathroom, she none too gently dropped him on the floor. The tile was cool against his cheek. His skin felt on fire. “Wha…didya…give me?”

“Xanax. And I didn’t give it to you. You were so distraught over your fight with your wife, you came in here, found my prescription, and took too many.” Alicia pulled a pill bottle out of her pocket, opened it, and put it in his hand. His fingers wouldn’t close around it, and the pills scattered across the floor. She stepped back. “Unfortunately for you, I won’t realize it until Dylan gets home. By then, it’ll be too late.”

He pushed himself up to his hands and knees, wobbled, and crashed back to the floor. Pain thundered through his head as it bounced off the tile, and the room wavered. He flopped to his back, stared up at the wife of his best friend, a woman he’d known for close to fifteen years. And all he could think was…

“Why?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I can’t let anyone see our books or they’ll know I’ve been laundering money through the company. Dylan—” She paused, seemed to gather herself. “He has a gambling problem. You didn’t know that, did you? I’ve done my best to keep it quiet, but he was in trouble. A lot of trouble with the wrong people. So I made a deal to keep him safe, but then you started this whole thing with Irving James… I knew I was about to be exposed. I thought blackmail would stop you, but that didn’t work. Then I gave the pictures to Lena, knowing she’d try to ruin you with them, but that doesn’t seem to have worked either. So now, you have to commit suicide because if you’re dead, Dylan will have control of the company and there will be no deal.”

“Already no deal,” he tried to say but it came out garbled. He tried again, enunciating, “No. Deal.”

“What?” Alicia knelt down, turned her ear close to his mouth. “What did you say?”

He fleetingly thought about biting her, chomping down on her earlobe, but that wasn’t going to help him get away from the crazy bitch when he couldn’t move. “There’s. No. Deal. I… ended it. Last…night.”

“Oh God.” She reeled backward, tripping over her own feet and slamming into the wall. “Oh God.”

“I’sokay. Call amble—ambulance. We’ll forget this.”

“I can’t. They’ll arrest me. I’ll lose Dylan. He—he doesn’t know about any of this. He’ll hate me.” She shook her head hard, strands of dark hair escaping her ponytail. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t. I can’t lose him.”

Alicia fumbled for the door. Just before it shut, she looked at him again, and he thought he saw real regret in her eyes. Or maybe that was only the Xanax blurring his vision.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was only trying to protect Dylan.”

And the door shut.

Reece drifted somewhere between wakefulness and unconsciousness. His thoughts scattered and blurred, but every once in a while, one would pop back into sharp focus.

Shelby.

If he died here
, he’d never see her again and, Jesus, he wanted to. If he died here, he’d never be able to apologize.

He made another attempt at pushing to his hands and knees. Got up and wobbled there, but didn’t go down.

Progress.

Now he had to get some of the drug out of his system before he passed out or he was toast.

The toilet was about a foot in front of him and he dragged himself over, pulled himself up. Leaning over the bowl, he jammed a finger down his throat. His gag reflex kicked in, his stomach emptied. He gagged until there was nothing left, until his throat was raw and his stomach spasmed with cramps.

Body heavy, he slid to the floor again, the tile a wonderful relief to the internal combustion going on inside him. Fire blazed just under his skin even as shivers wracked his body. There was a sudden burst of noise, but he couldn’t pinpoint where it was. What it was.

Didn’t matter.

He had to focus, stay awake.

Shelby.

Yes. Had to focus on her. She was his wings. She helped him fly when he hadn’t even known he could.

And he loved her. No matter what she’d done, he would always love her.

Light pooled around him, and there she was, hovering over him, her face streaked with tears, her hands cool on his cheeks.

He must be hallucinating. Dying. Still, he reached up for her, and her hand closed around his. She felt so real. She had to be real.

Her lips were moving, but her voice sounded far away. “Reece. Reece, can you hear me?” When she blinked, he felt the saltwater of her tears splash against his face.

Wait.

She
was
real.

“Shelby?”

“Yes, I’m here. We’re here, and the paramedics are on their way. So hang on, Hershey.”

His head lolled, heavy on his neck. There was something he needed to say to her. He mustered every drop of energy he had and wrangled his tongue into submission. This had to come out clearly. She had to know…

“I love you,” he managed. “Stay with me. Please.”

And then he drifted away.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“H
e’s going to be okay.”

Shelby gazed up at her sister standing in the door of Reece’s hospital room. In her leather jacket, jeans, and boots, she looked every inch the kick-ass cop that she was.

“Docs say he’ll be out of here in a few days,” Eva added, rocking a little on her feet, hands stuffed in her pockets.

“I know.” She returned her gaze to the bed, where he’d been drifting in and out of consciousness since the doctors treated him for the Xanax overdose. “But he asked me to stay with him, and I just can’t bring myself to leave until he comes around.”

Eva nodded and stepped into the room. “Shelby, I’m sorry. I was pissed when I found out about you and Reece, I’ll admit it. Reacted…” She winced. “Badly.”

“To say the least. You punched him, Evie.”

“I was afraid for you. I thought, how can this possibly work?” She looked at the bed, heaved out a breath. “But, you know, I was wrong. It does work. For the two of you, it does. Cam said he’s never seen his brother so…at ease. Even with the shitstorm flying around him this past week, Reece has been happier. You do that for him.”

“Not after yesterday.”

Eva came the rest of the way into the room and sat down in the chair next to Shelby’s. “Yeah, well, he had a right to be pissed off. You fucked up, Shel. Why didn’t you ever tell me about this Jason Mallory character?”

“I didn’t want you to be ashamed of me.
More
ashamed of me,” Shelby blurted, unable to keep the truth from slipping out when all of her emotions were so close to the surface. She stared into her sister’s eyes, saw tears there, and her own vision blurred. “I see how you are with Mom, and I’ve always been afraid I’ll just keep doing the wrong thing and someday, I’ll reach for you and you’ll turn your back on me like you have her. I’m terrified of that.”

“Oh,” Eva breathed and closed her eyes as if in pain. She leaned over and wrapped Shelby in a hug. “That’s not going to happen. I will
always
be there when you reach out, no matter what. And I might get mad and I might say things I shouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop loving you. Ever. Until Cam, you were all I ever had. Nothing can break that bond, okay? So tell me when you get in trouble from now on.”

Sniffling, Shelby drew away. “I don’t plan on getting in any more trouble.”

“That’ll be a nice change of pace.” Eva straightened her shoulders, whisked away tears with impatient wipes of her hands. “Okay, enough waterworks.” She stood. “I’m gonna go, but when that man wakes up”—she indicated Reece with a jerk of her thumb—“you make sure he knows how you feel about him. Life’s too fucking short to miss out on spending it with the man you love.”

Shelby gazed over at Reece. He was pale, so still under the bleached white blankets of the bed. Her heart clenched. Life was short—and his had almost ended far too soon.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Eva said from the doorway and tossed a small padded envelope to Shelby. “Thought you might want that back.”

Heart thudding, she waited until her sister was gone before opening the metal prongs that held the envelope closed. She dumped the contents into her palm…

And wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.

Her wedding ring.

She slid it onto her finger and immediately felt whole again. A sob caught in her throat. Okay, the tears were going to win out, as they had so many times in the last few days. She loved this ring, loved what it symbolized.

And it killed her that it wouldn’t mean anything after the annulment.

Sobbing openly now, she slid the ring off her finger and returned it to the envelope.

I
t was two days before Reece was able to stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time and although he still felt fuzzyheaded and nauseous, he was happy to at least be upright again.

He knew Shelby had been with him for the last forty-eight hours, because he remembered seeing her at his side the few times he’d resurfaced. She’d appeared hazy, apparition-like as if he were dreaming her, but he was positive he hadn’t been and waited restlessly for her to walk through his door. Except she didn’t. The day wore into afternoon, then into evening, and she didn’t.

But Dylan did. He tapped on the frame and hesitated. “Can I come in?”

Reece’s immediate gut reaction was a massive hell-to-the-fucking-no he couldn’t come in. But he couldn’t be held accountable for his wife’s sins, and their friendship ran too deep, went back too far, to dismiss him outright.

Reece nodded and sat up straighter in the bed. “All right.”

Dylan shuffled inside, and the guy looked like he’d been dragged through the innermost ring of hell. He was wearing the same clothes he’d been in the last time Reece saw him, all wrinkled and sweat-stained. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair a mess. Several days’ worth of growth darkened his jaw. He scrubbed at that stubble with one hand and wouldn’t quite meet Reece’s eyes. “I’m, uh, sorry.”

“Yeah, I know, buddy.”

“No, you don’t.” He finally lifted his gaze. “Reece, I suspected—no. Fuck. I
knew
what she was doing. I knew she was laundering money through the company to cover my debts. I—” He stopped, drew a sharp breath. “I’m the one who anonymously tipped off ATF. I knew James would ask for our books, and I knew she’d be caught when he did. I had hoped by tipping them off, they’d focus on you long enough for me to get Alicia out of the country.”