Chapter Seventeen—Linc
I saw Stephen before I saw Sky. Here I’d thought that we were going to work some things out like men, but I was suddenly surrounded by a platoon of police officers and arrested. Sky didn’t say a word, her blue eyes watching me as they took me away. Had she set this up? I had thought that I was going to clear the air, and that Sky—maybe—was going to help me. Hadn’t that bastard said that he and Sky had talked about the situation, and how important it was to her that we handle it like adults?
I had heard my phone ringing on the drive to her office, but I’d ignored it, figuring that whatever it was, it could wait. I’d felt guilty about leaving Sky alone that morning, but I’d needed to get out of the apartment. I’d needed to get away from her before I did something we would both regret. I’d gone to sleep with my cock throbbing, unsatisfied—at least physically—and I’d told myself that it would be gone by the time I woke up, but a handful of hours later, it hadn’t been. It had only been worse, fueled by dreams of what Sky and I could have done if she’d just been ready for it.
“Sky?”
She just turned around and walked back into her office. Stephen wanted to talk crap to me, though, and I ended up head-butting him in the face as I was leaving. There was a satisfying sound as I broke his nose—again—but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to do more. But the more I tried to pull away from the police, the harder they held me. It was only when they told me that they were going to charge me with something else that I realized what was happening.
“Who ratted on me?” I snarled. The police weren’t going to answer that. I wanted to know if it was my future wife, but I would have to find out later. My mind went a million different directions. I couldn’t believe that Sky would do this to me, but the fact that she wasn’t being carted out of the building in handcuffs seemed to suggest that she had rolled over on me rather than go down with me.
How could everything have gone so wrong for us?
I got booked. I was still amazed at everything that had happened. It was like I was in some Twilight Zone episode and everything was different. The bond was set not too long afterward, and although I had the money, I needed to figure out who to call to bring it over. I thought about Sky for a minute, but if she had rolled over on me, then she probably wouldn’t want to get any more involved. And if she hadn’t, then I didn’t want to take the risk of getting her in trouble by having her come to the station.
So I called Carol. I didn’t want to tell her what had happened, but I couldn’t see any choice. I hated the sound of her warning that this was going to mess up everything that we had worked so hard for.
I told her that it was just a misunderstanding, and she told me that she would be there after her client left.
“Do you have any idea when that will be?”
“It’s a complicated situation, Linc—it always is, you know that,” she said.
I sighed. It looked like I would be stuck there for a while, anyway.
“You’ll be able to get me out before tomorrow, right?”
“What’s the hurry?” I sat back in the chair the guard had given me. How could Carol have forgotten?
“I’m supposed to be getting married tomorrow, remember?”
“You’re still getting married, after you got your ass thrown in jail? Honestly, I’m not sure how much good it’s going to do at this point.”
“I’ll explain it later,” I said. “But yes—assuming I can get out of here tonight, I am definitely still going to try and get married tomorrow.”
“Gotta hand it to you, Linc: God loves a trier. Let’s hope the judge does too. I’ll see what I can do, but I may be here late.”
The only other person I could think of to call—the only one who might be able to bail me out, who somewhat owed me a favor—was Rico. I asked the man on duty if I could get another call.
“You seem like a decent guy,” he said, shrugging. “You’re not making any trouble, so sure.”
I thanked him, took a deep breath, and called Rico.
“Hey, Rico,” I said, as soon as he picked up. “I know we’re not best friends or anything, but I need to beg you a favor.”
“Hey, Linc, man! I was hoping I’d hear from you.”
I frowned at the phone. Why would Rico be wanting to hear from me?
“Sorry about earlier. I didn’t know your girl was going to answer. I didn’t think you ever brought them home. I was running my mouth before I realized who it was.”
“What are you talking about, Rico?” Why did I suddenly have a really bad feeling? What had he done that he was apologizing for? Oh God, just what I needed: more bullshit to pile on top of this shit-heap of a day.
“Have you talked to Sky? She sounds hot, by the way. I told her it was all a misunderstanding, but I think she knew I was lying. You know I ain’t no good at that. That’s why I’ve never had your luck with the ladies.”
“No, I haven’t talked to Sky. What the hell are you talking about? Where is she?”
“I don’t know. I talked to her for a few minutes and then she said that she had to go.”
I forgot all about the reason I’d called Rico in the first place. I’d been going to ask him to get money from where I had it stashed and come pay my bail, but his words had me practically hypnotized. He’d done something bad, and I didn’t know what. I had to know, though. Whatever else was going on could wait—at least for a minute or two.
“What did you say to her, Rico?”
“Well, I was just calling to see if you had any hotties that you needed a room for. I miss those bills coming my way, and you’d told me before that you might be back. There are some Jacuzzi rooms free today and I thought I’d try to hook you up.”
“How much of that did you say to her?” My question came between gritted teeth. How could he be such an idiot? Did he realize what he’d done?
“A bit too much. She was quiet, you see, and you know how it is, I can’t stand silence, so I thought you were thinking about it. I was trying to tempt you into coming, and that was when she finally said who she was.”
“Are you telling me that she knows about our little arrangement?” I wanted to believe that my instinct and fears were wrong, but I kind of knew that they weren’t. What was Sky even doing at my apartment to get the call in the first place?
“I’m afraid so, man. That’s why I was hoping you’d call me. You know that I wouldn’t have ratted you out if I’d realized who I was talking to. I want to make it up to you, Linc. How about one of them Jacuzzi rooms? My treat.”
The entire point of calling him had vanished into thin air. Had Rico called before Sky had left that morning? Had that been why she’d decided to roll over on me—if she had? In addition to needing someone to bail me out, I could suddenly see the prospect of my wedding, set for the next day, going up in smoke.
“I’ll have to call you back later, Rico,” I said. “I need to figure some shit out.” I couldn’t count on him to bail me out, even with my own money; and even though I’d already decided I couldn’t ask my future wife to help me with the situation, I knew that I’d held that in the back of my mind as an option right up until Rico had told me about the conversation he’d had with her. She was pissed at me, and probably not in the mood to do anything to help.
That got me thinking about Sky and her question about what I liked to do with my spare time. Napping in a holding cell wasn’t way up there on my list, but if nothing else I got to relax for a while before I heard my name being called.
“Hayes? Lincoln Hayes!” I got up and went to the door of the cell.
“Right here,” I called out.
“You’re bonded,” the man said, coming down the aisle to where I’d been waiting. Thank fucking God. Maybe I have enough time to do some damage control.
“Tell Carol that I’ll see her in a little while,” I said.
“Who?”
I stared at the man; was he an idiot, or something?
“The lady who paid my bail,” I replied.
“The woman who paid your bail said she’s your fiancée—Sky something. You’d better remember that, and I wouldn’t mention another woman if I were you, friend. Your girl looks like she’s already pretty upset.”
I was confused, and it took a minute for what he was saying to sink in. “Sky is here?”
“Blue eyes, black hair, pretty little thing,” he said with a nod.
I didn’t like the way he said it, or that he noticed her in that way, but I had to nod along with him. Her eyes certainly were one of the top three things about her for me. Looking at the man, I could tell that he’d noticed the other two as well. At least he’d been polite enough not to mention them.
“Well, it looks like you’ve got some making up to do. I hope Carol was worth it.”
I didn’t waste time explaining. I just wanted to get out of there and see if it was really Sky there. I wanted it to be her, so I could explain everything the way that it needed to be explained. She had to realize that things had different before her. After Lisa I just hadn’t cared.
Sky had changed that, though. I had realized that when I’d been out and about that morning, looking for something to take my mind off of the fact that I wanted her so bad I almost couldn’t breathe. I’d considered the idea of hitting one of the few bars that opened early. I’d even thought of giving Rico a call, asking him if he knew someone who could take the edge off for me, but as soon as I’d given it any thought at all, I’d felt nauseated. I didn’t want to be with some made-up skirt I’d never talk to again; I wanted to be with the hot young thing keeping my bed warm for me, the one who’d apparently never even been touched the way I’d done it the night before. I was willing to wait until she was ready.
When I got to the outtake area, she was waiting for me by the door. I could tell that she didn’t want to be here, but she was, and that meant more to me than she would ever know. Why was she here? I hoped it was because she’d realized that I loved her and that Rico and the motel were part of my past.
“Hey, Sky.” I groaned inwardly at how lame it sounded, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say. She turned to me and smiled for a minute.
“Hey, Linc.” Her eyes were smoky and darker than usual. She looked upset, and I was sure that it was because of me. I wanted to blame Rico, but I should have realized that at some point my past was going to bite me in the ass. He’d just hurried the process along.
“I didn’t think I would see you here,” I said. The question loomed big in my mind: had she been the one to roll over on me? Or had she just gone along with it because she couldn’t stop it?
“You know that I didn’t snitch on you, right? It was Stephen. He called my apartment and when you answered he recognized your voice and put two and two together. He’s going to try to get charges put on me too, but I don’t think they will stick.” She frowned. “What were you doing in my apartment, anyway?”
I managed a weak smile at that—the last thing I was going to tell her was what I was doing at her apartment that morning.
“I’m sorry that I got you in trouble again,” I said.
She shook her head and smiled. “Don’t think of it like that. Think of it like you broke his nose again.”
I sighed and wondered if I would be going to jail. “Yeah, I couldn’t help myself,” I admitted. “I’m sure that will come around to bite me in the ass, too.”
“It’s what everyone wanted to do, trust me. I’m not upset about that,” she said. I wanted to do something—anything—to bring the light back into her big, blue eyes. At the same time, I had to know where we stood.
“But you’re upset?” I steeled myself for her answer.
“Yeah,” she said simply.
“Because of what Rico said?” What else could there be?
“Is it true?” It was a simple question and it deserved a simple answer. I wanted to give her my excuses, my reasons, hell, anything to get her to understand, but that wasn’t what she wanted. Sky just wanted to know, and I owed it to her to tell her.
“Yes.” I stood there for a moment and just held her gaze. I hadn’t had someone stare into my eyes so intensely since the last time I’d been in formation. I didn’t even blink.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” That was not exactly what I was expecting—I was expecting her to go off on me, to say that the wedding was off, that she was done with me.
“I kept meaning to,” I said. “Look, I understand if you want to call tomorrow off.”
“I don’t,” she said, surprising me again.
“What?”
Sky looked around the outtake area and sighed. “We should get in the car,” she said. “I don’t want to have this conversation in front of everyone.”
“Right, yeah, of course,” I said, nodding right along with her. I hadn’t even thought there was a conversation to be had—I would have bet good money on Sky just deciding to tell me that anything between us was over.
We went outside and walked out to her car. I had that Twilight Zone feeling again. What the hell had happened? I didn’t argue at all when she took the driver’s side. I was just relieved that I wasn’t going to have to call a cab or walk home.
“Okay,” Sky said, looking at her steering wheel. “We can talk now.”
“I’m sorry you had to find out that way,” I said quickly. “And look—I’m not going to go around making a slut of myself when we’re married.”
“I’m not sure it would make a difference,” Sky said, and I looked at her again. Would she ever stop shocking me?
“What do you mean? You—you said you don’t want to call tomorrow off,” I said. I was clinging to that.
“It’s supposed to be a fake marriage anyway, right?” Sky started the car and I almost asked her to stop, to just focus on the conversation we were trying to have; but I could understand her need to do something.
“Well, yeah,” I conceded.
“Then how promiscuous you are isn’t an issue,” Sky said, shrugging; but I could see the hurt in her face.
“Look, Sky,” I said, licking my lips. “I stopped doing that even before you suggested getting married. I stopped the day I met you.”
She paused in the act of putting the car in reverse. “Why?”
I shrugged and gave her a little smile. “Lost my taste for it. I promise you: if you don’t want to have sex with me, or share a bed, or anything—I won’t go after anyone else. Even in my sham marriages, I’m a traditionalist.” She cracked a smile at that, and even if there was still some sadness in her eyes, I felt a little better.
“So, we’re getting married tomorrow,” she said. “You’d better be willing to come with me to get a dress.”
“I’ll even pay,” I said, relieved that we seemed—for the moment at least—to be over the worst of it.