CHAPTER 20
“What the hell happened?” Micah grilled Evan about the scene he’d stumbled upon at the Center.
Completely confused, he eyed Evan curiously. It never looked good when a disheveled woman came sobbing out of a bathroom with an unkempt man right behind her. Oh, not that he thought Evan had done something wrong, but when it came to Randi, it was quite possible for him to actually do something stupid.
“I told her the truth about being the guy she was writing to,” Evan admitted glumly.
“I thought she already knew. Hope told you to tell her right away.”
“I . . . didn’t.” Evan was chugging down whiskey like it was bottled water.
Shit! No wonder Randi was pissed off. Micah wondered what had motivated Evan not to follow his sister’s advice.
“Why didn’t you tell her?” Julian asked curiously as he motioned to the bartender for another beer.
As soon as he’d prevented Evan from making more of a scene in the Center by keeping him from chasing after a sobbing Randi, Micah had grabbed Julian and the three of them had left to go somewhere quieter. That destination ended up being Shamrock’s Pub. It was a small, quiet bar and grill on Main Street, not far from the Center, and there were only a few other people in the entire place. Micah was betting that it was so slow here because of the party. Half of the town was probably there, and it wasn’t tourist season.
Evan looked at Julian suspiciously.
“I filled him in,” Micah confessed calmly, not feeling the least bit guilty because he’d told Julian all about Evan’s past and his attachment to Miranda Tyler. After all, it was family business.
“I was fucking afraid to tell her,” Evan rasped, jerking at his collar, only to have the buttonless shirt he was now wearing open wider. “It’s hot in here.”
It wasn’t warm at all in the bar, but Micah suspected it was the whiskey that Evan was slugging down causing his hot flashes. “Hope told you to tell her,” Micah reminded him.
“I couldn’t. I was afraid she’d dump me. And I was getting more uncensored information as her friend on the Internet than I was in person.”
“You talked about yourself to her via email? And she didn’t know it was you, but you knew exactly who she was?” Julian asked, obviously trying to verify what he was hearing.
“Yes.” Evan slumped back in his chair.
“You’re an asshole,” Micah and Julian said in tandem.
Evan threw both of them a furious look from across the wooden table. “I thought you said you were going to help me.”
“That was before we knew you did something so stupid. Jesus, Evan. Why couldn’t you just listen to Hope? She might be your sister, but she’s also a female. You betrayed Randi’s trust. There’s no getting around that.” Micah wondered how someone as smart as Evan could be so clueless when it came to relationships.
I may not be an expert, but I know better than to lie to a woman. They always find out the truth, and it’s never good when they do.
Micah had never been in Evan’s predicament. In fact, he’d been the one who had been shafted. He’d tried a serious relationship once, and his supposed fiancée had ended up sleeping with, and eventually marrying, his best friend. He hadn’t tried having another exclusive relationship since.
Evan slammed his empty glass on the table. “I know I kept the truth from her. But I was going to tell her.”
Micah looked at Julian and caught him grinning. “Don’t piss him off,” he warned. “He’s already going off the deep end.” He spoke just loud enough for Julian to hear him.
“I know. I can’t help myself. I can hardly believe this is our Evan,” Julian said in a low voice, still smirking as he looked across the table at his cousin. “He doesn’t get rattled about anything, but right now he looks completely destroyed. I feel sorry for him, but it’s really just a little bit scary to see him looking this way. And it’s all happening because of a female.” Julian shook his head.
Micah knew what Julian was thinking, but he also knew Evan was hurting . . . bad. The guy did look like somebody had taken him to hell and back, and that was so not like Evan. He rarely had a lock of hair out of place, and he wore his custom suits without a single wrinkle. It was pretty shocking to see that a woman had reduced him to his current state.
Turning back in Evan’s direction, Micah questioned, “When were you going to tell her? She probably thinks you were playing her.”
“That’s what she said,” Evan agreed, nodding his head.
Bingo! That was a problem. Once you burned a female by lying, she never forgot about it. Micah knew Evan hadn’t intended to be deceptive, but it had looked that way because he was totally clueless.
The female bartender interrupted their conversation, taking Julian’s empty bottle and putting down a fresh napkin with a full beer on top.
“Thanks, Red,” Julian told her with a wink.
Micah recognized her. If he remembered correctly, her name was Kristin Moore. He’d met her at both Dante’s and Jared’s weddings. “I know you. I thought you were a medical assistant at Sarah’s office,” he said, wondering why she was bartending here.
The curvy redhead nodded at him curtly, and then glared at Julian. “My name is Kristin, not Red. I hate that nickname, and if you say it again, I’ll show you the door. But not before I put your balls in your throat, superstar,” she told him irritably, then turned to Micah with a kinder gaze. “I do work for Sarah, but my parents wanted to go to the ball. I’m filling in for them tonight. I work here in the evenings fairly often.”
“Cinderella couldn’t make it to the ball,” Julian teased, unable to resist.
“I didn’t want to go,” she answered defensively.
“Of course you did,” he shot back. “It’s the event of the winter season here in Amesport.”
“Not for me, hotshot.” Kristin’s voice was cold, and her eyes were shooting icicles in his direction. “I don’t need a bunch of perfect Hollywood models to be happy.”
Micah was fairly certain the two of them had met before. Kristin was Mara’s best friend, and she had been at Dante’s wedding. She’d been at Jared’s wedding, too, but her broken leg had still been healing. “How’s your leg?” he asked, trying to dissipate the tension he could feel flowing between his brother and the feisty bartender.
He could feel the angst flowing between them, and because he was sitting right between the two, Micah was directly in the line of fire. What in the hell had happened between the two of them to make them so antagonistic toward each other? Julian was a smartass on the surface, but it was all a cover, his Hollywood way of dealing with the ton of rejection and lack of callbacks in the early days of his career.
Kristin was outgoing and incredibly blunt. From what little he knew of her, she didn’t take shit from anyone.
She was attractive, but not in any blatant way. She was slightly plump by Hollywood standards, and her flame-colored hair was pulled up in a ponytail. He could see some stray freckles on her face, so she was obviously not wearing much makeup. Kristin was the girl-next-door kind of pretty, not the supermodel type of bombshell that Julian was usually escorting around these days.
The two were bound to rub against each other. Julian acted like a jackass sometimes until a person got to really know him, and Kristin obviously didn’t take any of his crap.
Micah smiled at Kristin, thinking it was interesting that she was obviously unimpressed by Julian’s fame and success. He was an A-lister now, the actor everybody wanted for their next film.
The redhead didn’t seem to give a damn who he was at all.
“My leg is healed now. Thanks for asking.” She shot Micah a genuine smile, and he couldn’t help but grin back at her. She might not be conventionally attractive, but he thought she was much more appealing than any of the women his brother had been dating. Obviously Julian thought so, too. He was certainly baiting her enough to find her interesting.
“I’m glad you’re better,” Micah said honestly, finding her more and more attractive as she became happier and less guarded.
“Can I get you anything else?” she asked politely, looking from him to Evan.
She completely ignored Julian, a fact that made Micah want to laugh as he noticed his brother’s irritated look out of the corner of his eye.
“No, thanks. We have to leave soon,” he told her kindly.
“I’ve probably had enough,” Evan grumbled, squinting at his half-empty glass with a frown.
“You’ve had plenty,” Micah agreed emphatically. He was slightly worried that he and Julian were going to have to carry Evan out of the bar if he didn’t stop.
He’d never seen his cousin take a drink in his entire life. Evan was bound to be a lightweight when it came to alcohol, even though he was a big guy.
Kristin winked at Micah. “He’s cut off. He’s starting to tilt in his chair.” She moved to Evan and straightened his body with her hip. “Need help with him?”
“No. We’re good. We aren’t driving.” Micah had limited his drinking, but Stokes was now waiting for all of them out front. He’d take them all home.
Kristin nodded and walked away. The fact that Julian watched her all the way back to the bar didn’t escape Micah’s notice.
“I need to go talk to her,” Evan said as he sat up and slumped on the table, his voice maudlin and somewhat slurred.
“Not tonight, buddy. You need to give her some time for all of this to sink in. How long did you say you were writing to each other?” Micah asked curiously.
“Over a year,” Evan said grudgingly. “She got me with a smartass email. I’ve been addicted to her ever since.”
“How is it that neither one of you knew who the other really was?”
“I tried to track her earlier in our correspondence. All I could find out was that it was coming from the Center. After that, I stopped trying. We agreed not to share identities. To her I was just some random guy. I wasn’t a billionaire from one of the most well-known families in the world. I kind of liked that. But I did want to meet her. I don’t think she wanted to meet me.” Evan stabilized his upper body by resting his arms on the table, his body staying upright. “Now that I think about it, I should have known it was her.”
“Why?” Micah asked.
“Because she got to me both ways, via email and in person,” Evan replied, his voice getting more and more garbled.
“If you knew very little about each other, what did you talk about?” Julian asked, his expression more serious now.
“Everything and nothing,” Evan answered after a short contemplation. “We didn’t talk in specifics. It was all about how we felt about certain things. Very little of our conversation related to work or other people. Her foster mother died not long ago, and she mostly talked about her and how it felt to lose someone she loved so much.”
“You were there for her.” Micah’s words were a statement rather than a question. His respect for Evan kicked up a notch knowing that he’d just been there for Randi when she needed to vent.
“She was there for me, too,” Evan replied as he finally looked directly at Micah. “She changed the way I looked at life sometimes, made me not take everything so seriously.”
Jesus! Evan looked so damn broken that it tore Micah up inside. He’d already been through so much, and Evan had always made his family his priority. He deserved something for himself. He hoped to God that Randi would finally realize that Evan hadn’t meant to deceive her. His cousin just sucked at intimate relationships.
“We’ll figure something out,” Micah told him firmly.
“I have to talk to her.” Evan sounded desperate.
“Not tonight,” Micah said, shaking his head. An idea sprang to his mind as he contemplated how to get Randi to realize that Evan really loved her. “I think you should consider writing to her. It was how your relationship started. Maybe you can say things easier that way.”
“Good idea,” Julian agreed. “That way she can’t slam the door in your face.”
“She probably won’t read it,” Evan rumbled.
“She’ll read it. Women are funny that way. If you send an email, she’ll have to read it,” Micah told him solemnly.
“I need her,” Evan informed his cousins fiercely. “I’m not sure what I’ll do if she won’t talk to me.”
“She will. Eventually.” Julian’s voice was supportive now.
Micah was pretty certain that his brother understood the gravity of the situation now that Julian had seen how torn up Evan really was. “What are your plans for tomorrow? I thought you had to be in San Francisco.”
Evan shook his head. “I’m not leaving until she talks to me. I don’t care how long it takes.”
“You could stand to lose a pretty big deal,” Micah warned, familiar with the company Evan was trying to buy into with controlling interest. It definitely had big possibilities.
“There’s always more deals,” Evan answered bitterly. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
Those were words he never thought would come out of Evan’s mouth. Micah looked at Julian, who shrugged like he was equally confused before asking Evan, “Can I borrow your jet tomorrow? I need to get to Los Angeles, and Micah is going to New York.”
“I don’t care,” Evan agreed readily. “I’m not going anywhere for a while.”
Micah had planned on having his pilot drop him off in New York and then fly on to get Julian back to Hollywood. But if Evan wasn’t using his own plane, Julian could get back faster as he wouldn’t have to make the trip to New York first.
“Thanks,” Julian muttered.
“We need to get home. We have an early morning tomorrow,” Micah said. He stood and grabbed his tuxedo jacket off the back of the wooden chair.
“I need to write to Randi,” Evan said hoarsely as he stood unsteadily.
“Leave it until tomorrow, Evan.” Julian’s voice was sincere as he rose and put on his own formal jacket. “I’ve got the tip.”
Micah wasn’t sure how much Julian left for Kristin, but judging by the wad of bills bulging from under the napkin holding the empty beer bottle, he was assuming it was plenty.
“Let’s go, Evan,” Micah prompted his cousin.
“I’d like to talk to Hope,” Evan notified Micah, his words starting to slur even more as he downed the rest of his drink and stood up.
“I doubt she’s still at the party. She was showing Davy off around at the Center, and she’s probably in bed by now. It’s getting late.” They’d been at Shamrock’s for a while. Micah was pretty certain that the party had already wound down.
Evan frowned. “I can’t wake her up. She’s tired anyway because she’s up a lot with the baby.”
Micah spotted Evan as he weaved toward the door. He finally grasped him by the collar and steered him in the right direction.
“Thank you for coming. Have a good night,” Kristin called from the bar.
Micah raised his hand in acknowledgment, but he noticed that Julian just turned around and shot her a false smile.
“She’s a nice woman,” Micah commented as he assisted Evan into the car.
“She’s a major bitch,” Julian retorted, grinning.
“I like her,” Micah argued, not seeing Julian’s grin because he was busy trying to get his drunken cousin situated in the vehicle.
Julian sighed. “I like her, too.”
Micah rolled his eyes, wondering how his brother would act if he really didn’t like a woman, because he’d been a real prick to Kristin. He didn’t show his interest in a good way. “Then quit acting like an asshole when you see her.”
Julian shrugged. “I can’t. I have too much fun watching her eyes change color when she’s pissed off.”
It was interesting that Julian even noticed. Micah waved for him to get into the car before climbing in himself.
He lingered for a moment, wondering if Tessa had noticed that he was gone. Picturing her face as they’d danced made his cock stiffen. He saw her face in his mind as she smiled up at him, and he swore she looked familiar, like it was a face he’d seen somewhere before. But he didn’t think he’d actually been introduced to her. He would have remembered her.
His fingers curled around the crystal Beatrice had given him. For some reason, he’d kept it, even though he shouldn’t have accepted any kind of a gift from an elderly woman he didn’t know.
Problem was, there was no redemption for him, and no woman waiting for him to claim her. He was as free as a bird, traveling from place to place looking for a new extreme. Micah loved his life just the way it was right now.
He let go of the stone and jerked his hand from his pocket as he slid into the car.
Not able to completely forget Tessa’s beautiful, delicate face, Micah tried to focus his attention away from her and on Evan so they could figure out a way to get him his woman back.
Nevertheless, when Micah boarded his own jet the next morning, he did wonder how long it would be before he’d see her face again in the future.
He hoped it wouldn’t be long.