Heartwood (15 page)

“Yeah.” I inhaled deeply and stood to leave the stall.

“Don’t listen to a single word she said, do you hear me?” Though she couldn’t see me, I still felt the sting of her sharp eyes watching my every move.

“I’m fine.” I said, coming out of the stall and crossing to the sink. I pulled the Dare Me shirt off over my head and stuffed it into the garbage. Tamryn didn’t even blink.

“After all the secrets she helped Jess keep from Joe...I can’t believe she had the balls to even approach me.” Tamryn crossed her arms and leaned against the counter.

“Do you mind if I ask you something?” I straightened my blouse and pumped soap onto my hands as I gauged her response.

“Of course not.” She turned to face me head on, tossing her chestnut hair over her shoulder.

“What was Jessica like?” I was suddenly bashful as I shot her a sideways glance. She heaved a heavy sigh as if she’d been waiting for a question such as this.

“Honestly, I think you would’ve really liked her. I did. She wasn’t outgoing like you, but she was friendly. She had the driest sense of humor. She was always busy, like...in a crafty way. And she was good at that stuff...you know, gardening and sewing...she loved her craft stores. She said working with numbers all day long was boring and she needed the creative outlet.” Tamryn grinned, and then the sun set on her smile. I watched as she remembered all of the tragedy that came along with the topic of Jess.

“I guess she was pretty creative with the numbers, too. I wish I could ask her why. I want to know what she’d been thinking...why she’d risk destroying everything she had when she had such a blessed life.” She added, swallowing hard.

“You never asked Bethany?” My tone betrayed my surprise, and I bit my bottom lip. I didn’t want to start a fight with Tamryn, but the fact that she and Bethany had social ties had caught me off guard. Between Patty and Bethany, I felt more insecure than I had in a long time, and though they’d been welcoming, I’d never felt at home with Joe’s family.

Tamryn rolled her brown eyes back in her head and made an unpleasant noise with her throat. “Ugh! I cannot stand that woman. Believe me, we are
not
and never have been friends. I wouldn’t trust a word that came out of her mouth.”

I nodded, and was strangely comforted by her sentiment. The thought of Tamryn and Bethany having intimate dinner parties with their husbands was an ugly mental image, and I was glad to know it wasn’t based in reality.

“To be honest with you, I thought about investigating Bethany.” Tamryn smoothed her hair and turned to me again. “She knew way too much about what Jessica was up to according to her drunken blabberings to Joe. Robbie and I discussed the idea at length. Robbie was against it. He thought Joe had been through enough. In the end, I figured he was right. Nothing good could come from it. Joe was already wrecked and I sure wasn’t going to learn anything to get him his money back.”

I was struggling with how to respond to that statement when the door swung open, and Lisa stood before us, gasping for breath.

“Molly, you’ve got to see this!”

Exchanging bewildered glances, Tamryn and I followed her out of the restroom. She proceeded to tromp out of the building, and I trailed after her with Tamryn in tow. A crowd of excited gawkers stood out on the street staring at a group of police cars surrounding a white BMW convertible. At first, I couldn’t see a reason for Lisa to be as excited as she was. Then, I heard the shrill voice of the woman police had spread eagle against the car hood.

Bethany shouted in full voice, giving the cops the little pieces of her mind that she had left.

“I’m not drunk! Do you know who I am? I know the mayor, you assholes! I only had one cocktail. You’d better quit harassing me or you will be working as a mall cop before the end of the week!” Her pointy features looked harsh under the red and blue flashing lights.

As I openly gawked at the scene, a female officer moved up behind Bethany to try and cuff her. Two young guys in front of me had their phones out and were gleefully recording the action. As the officer tried to take her hand, Bethany lashed out reflexively, connecting with the cops face. Falling backward, the officer pulled the Taser from her belt. Within seconds, Bethany fell to the ground screaming in agony.

“Holy fuck! They tased her, bro!” The amateur filmographer in front of me said to his cohort.

“Wicked!” His pal replied. “Look! She’s flopping around like a fish.”

The two young men moved across the street to get a closer look. Lisa hurried after them, her camera out and ready for action.

“We’ve got to search YouTube later. If they uploaded that video...” Tamryn laughed. I gaped at her in surprise.

“Is that Jay over there with the police?” I moved forward to grab Robin by the arm.

“Yeah. He went to give Bethany a piece of his mind and a group of people saw her try to run him over.” Robin replied, and Stacy and Kelly nodded excitedly. “When she missed, she whipped a U-turn and nearly hit a cab. She tried to flee the scene, but the cops were already on their way because she and Jay were screaming at each other on the street.”

“Great. Now
we’re
the tacky ones.” I tilted my head toward Tamryn. “Patrón ain’t got nothin’ on Jay.”

“Where’s Dan?” Tamryn asked, bunching her eyebrows.

“He took the Sluts and those two preppy boys to get the bus. My money says those four will ditch out before the gay bar.” Robin replied.

“If the bus is a rocking’...” Stacy murmured, and Kelly chuckled.

“YOU KNOW, IF you’d had this damn wedding in August we could have cruised this sucker out to Devil’s Cove.” Mason called over the engine of his pontoon. It was 65 degrees outside, but the wind off Lake Travis made me wish I’d brought a heavier jacket.

“It’s probably for the best. The last thing I need is your sister getting pissed at me because of some ‘Girls Gone Wild’ pictures.” I drawled.

Mac snorted and handed me a beer. “Short shit would have our collective asses if we let you near the Playboy parties. Besides, all that chaos would screw up the fishing. Women and boats don’t mix.”

I cracked open the beer and kicked my feet up. It didn’t take us long to motor out to one of our favorite fishing spots. Graham and Nick made the oddest couple, as they fished together out of the back of the boat.

I had to admit when Mac first suggested we head out on the lake I had been afraid he had something else in mind. Honestly, it was just what the doctor ordered. As much as I love my little family, there’s just something about sitting in utter silence on the water that soothes the soul.

The fishing turned out to be lousy. Mac caught a nice sized bass and Mason had a thrilling battle with something big enough it probably could have pulled him over the side. Graham caught two medium sized fish and Nick, a fishing novice, cut his finger on a hook and dropped his pole over the side.

The only thing I managed to catch was some bait. I sent a pic to Molly and she lost no time making fun of me. I settled back and let the stress just melt away as I downed a few beers and had some laughs with the boys.

It was way too peaceful to last. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out for a look. Tapping on the picture message, what I saw made me curse. Mac and Mason both reacted in their creepy twin unison.

“Damn it! I said no cell phones.” Mason grumbled.

“You’re scaring the fish!” Mac growled.

One more look down at my phone and the calm I had been feeling evaporated like raindrops on a hot iron stove. Some cowboy hat wearing jackass was groping Molly’s rack while he scrawled something on a t-shirt she was wearing. I looked up at Mason and nodded toward shore.

“We’re leaving.”

“What?” Mason came over and looked at the phone. “Oh shit.”

Mac popped up and grabbed the phone.

“Oh for fucks sake! Tell me we are not going to need bail money just because some boy got fresh. Joe, she is more than capable than taking care of herself and she has your sister watching her back.” Mac demanded.

Mason looked between the two of us and moved back to the wheel without another word.

Nick and Graham joined us from the back. When I told them we were leaving Nick shrugged. “I probably need stitches.”

Mac reeled both of their lines in while Mason started the boat up and turned us back toward the dock. I knew that I shouldn’t be this pissed off, but after the bullshit at the laser tag place I was a little sensitive. For all I knew, this was the same asshole stalking her at the bars.

Having only had one beer, Mac was elected to be our designated driver. Mason flipped through his Facebook and chuckled, but it wasn’t a happy sound.

“Joe.” He held out his phone and with a sinking feeling, I snatched it from him. I saw a picture of Molly with some suit who appeared to be licking her neck. I could see the lime she held between her teeth and Robin’s caption explained it all.

BODY SHOTS, BITCHES!!!

Molly’s wide eyes seemed to imply she wasn’t enjoying it much. Knowing this didn’t really make me less angry.

“Mother fucker.” I muttered and Mason clapped me on the back.

“I think I’d better sit this one out if you’re going to Sixth.” Graham announced. We dropped him and Nick at their cars and headed toward downtown.

We pulled up in front of the bar they’d been in and before Mac could park, I hopped out and headed in the door. The bouncers didn’t give me a second glance. I was glad to see security had changed at Coyote Ugly since I had been there last. Not a huge surprise, bouncers have high medical bills, and I’d had a tendency to behave badly in those days.

I walked the length of the bar and found no sign of Molly or her group but luck was with me. I spotted Cowboy Hat near the door on my way back. Making my way over to him I tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey hoss.” I barked over the obnoxious fiddle music. Swinging around he gave me the stink eye before turning back to the girl he was talking to. Tapping him a little more forcefully I fought to keep my temper. “Hey man, I’m looking for someone.”

Turning around the cowboy popped a finger up into the brim of his hat and gave me an annoyed look.