Infinite Harmony (2 page)

Ada had every intention of leaving Joshua behind, but somehow he ended up sitting on the other side of the golf cart. Again, she found herself impressed by his grace. He folded up his miles and miles of arms and legs and slid onto the seat next to her like it took no effort at all, while she was busy knocking her head against the top of the cart and banging her knee on the steering wheel.

“Let me guess,” he said, tapping out a message on his phone. “We’re heading to The Wrangler.”

“No, Hillman House, but I can drop you back off at your cabin as we go.” She’d assumed he was staying at The Wrangler the moment she saw him groping the vending machine. Her boss had already warned her the cabin was occupied with a bunch of “frat boys,” which was his way of saying “young males who are going to trash our cabins.”

Ada snuck a look at Joshua’s profile. He didn’t seem like the stereotypical frat boy, and she really couldn’t see him trashing anything. His face was as thin and long as the rest of him, and it was filled with features that would look overly-large on anyone else, but on him they worked. He might not have been her definition of hot, but there was a certain nerdy cuteness to him. She had a feeling her earlier prediction about video games was pretty dead on.

“Hillman House?” Joshua asked. “I thought that one was empty.”

“Yeah, well, tell that to the idiots throwing a kegger.”

Ada turned onto the lane that ran parallel to the lake. The Wrangler was the first cabin on the left. She expected half the windows to be ablaze with lights despite the late hour, but other than the soft glow of a television coming from the front room, it was as dark as all the other cabins.

“I don’t think your buddies waited up for you,” she said, bringing the golf cart to a stop at the end of the driveway. “It looks like it’s just going to be you, your chocolate, and yet another attempt to rescue Princess Peach tonight.”

Joshua leaned back in his seat. “Actually, I’m staying in one of the Golden Pond cabins.” Which was on the opposite side of the resort. “Anyway, what kind of sidekick slinks back home while the hero goes out and has all the fun? I’m just as committed to stamping out all signs of fun and enjoyment as you are, Party Breaker-Upper Girl.” He reached out and slapped the top of the golf cart with his hand. “Onward, brave steed! Evil is afoot and we must eradicate it while the night is still young!”

She knew she should drive him back to his cabin before heading on up to Hillman House, but there was something to be said for that whole misery loving company thing, and Joshua’s company was enjoyable. He made her laugh on a night when she would rather cry, so instead of turning around, she continued up the road.

The rhythmic thud of music hit Ada’s chest before the cabin came into view. Dorian was a complete waste-of-space stoner, but he wasn’t an idiot. Knowing Ada would notice a ton of cars streaming by the main office to get to the party, most of the guests had arrived by boat. There were at least a dozen of them tied up at the cabin’s private dock or pulled up on the bank. Of the four vehicles sitting in the drive, three of them could hold at least six people.

I should just call the cops and be done with it,
Ada thought as she turned off the golf cart.
Dorian is probably so wasted he won’t even be able to remember whether or not I came up here to give him a warning first.

But she didn’t pull out her phone and call Lake County’s finest. Her boss had asked her to try to take care of his son’s transgressions discreetly, and so she would.

“Why don’t you let me take care of this one,” Joshua said, stepping into her path when she started to make her way to the front door. “I think it’s time I proved myself as a sidekick.”

Ada smiled at his chivalry. The lazy part of her wanted to take him up on it, but this was her job.

“Sorry, Buzzkill Boy, but you better let the hero handle this one. Things might be getting a bit out of hand up there.”

To illustrate her point, the front door swung open. It was hard to see exactly what was happening since they were standing on the dark front lawn and the house was lit up like a Christmas tree, but the command to leave and never come back, and the subsequent list of fates that would befall the offender should he return, could be heard for miles.

“Ada, seriously, I think you should let me handle this.”

Ada waved him off without even slowing down. “I’m fully capable of telling a bunch of drunks to beat it.” It wasn’t like this was the first time, although something in Ada’s gut told her this time was different. She shook off the feeling, chalking it up to the disappointment from the earlier part of her evening, and stepped around the ejected partier who was muttering and cursing to himself as he paced around the bottom of the steps.

“Dorian, open up.” She banged on the door with her fist, although she knew it wouldn’t do any good. Some sort of angry dance music was blaring inside the cabin so loud she couldn’t hear it as much as feel it pounding through her chest. The only way she knew Joshua was still with her was the wall of warmth she felt at her back. “Come on, Dorian. Time to clear out.”

When nothing happened she wrenched open the front door. Smoke and music poured out before she could think to hold her breath. Panic clenched her heart as her lungs filled with smoke and the coughing began. She tried to be calm as she searched for her inhaler, but then Dorian was in her face asking her what in the hell she was doing there and some idiot was screaming about how it was his fucking party because he’d paid for the fucking drugs. She felt like she was in the middle of an exploding circus and all she could do was cough.

As more yelling and cursing filled the air, Ada became aware of a warm pressure at her hip. “Come on,” a soothing male voice said in her ear. “We need to get out of here. The cops are on their way. Let them handle this.”

Unable to speak, Ada nodded and turned around. Joshua was already tugging her back towards the steps. He walked backwards, his steps sure as he watched the bedlam erupting over Ada’s shoulder, which is why he missed the ejected partier coming back up the steps with a gun in his hand.

“Joshua!” Ada gasped, but it was too late. Even though she saw the finger squeeze the trigger, her brain tried to find another cause for the ear-splitting pop. It attempted to make excuses for why Joshua’s eyes had gone big, and red was spreading across the shoulder of his shirt. And then her brain stopped working all together as she was thrown to the ground.

“Stay down.”

Ada blinked up into the face poised above her. Later, when her brain stopped shooting off in a million directions and reality started making sense again, she would wonder what Jase Donovan was doing there, holding her on the ground while pointing a gun towards the cabin, but for now the only thoughts she could entertain were the ones about the likelihood of her getting killed.

“Liam, I’ve got the girl. You take care of Joshua.”

“Joshua!” Ada struggled against the body pinning her to the ground, but it was no use. “He’s been shot! We need to… I have to—” Whatever she had to do was swallowed by the cough that just wouldn’t quit.

“Shhh…,” Jase said in a calming tone normally reserved for screaming babies. “He’s fine.”

“No, he was shot.” There had been blood. So much blood. And it was all her fault. If she had taken him back to his cabin like she should have, he would be shooting terrorists or battling orcs instead of bleeding to death because one of Dorian’s idiot friends shot him. “He can’t die,” she said to Jase. “Don’t let him die.”

“Don’t worry. Joshua will outlive us all. Promise.”

She lay there, gasping for breath, for several long minutes. Her cough died off quicker than she was expecting, but the shock and terror were taking their sweet time about leaving. Without any warning, her rescuer bounced up and offered his hand. As she stared at the fingers stretched toward her, the rest of the world came into focus. She slowly became aware of the breeze blowing off the lake, the smell of beer, and the sound of police sirens.

“Okay, everyone, let’s get up slowly with your hands in the air.”

Ada immediately complied with the authoritative voice. As she rose, she noticed Jase sliding his gun out of sight beneath his shirt.

“Okay, now turn around so I can see your faces,” the cop said once they were both on their feet. With her hands still in the air, Ada turned. The officer’s eyes went big as his jaw unhinged, leaving him standing the in the middle of the post-shooting bedlam like a codfish. It hardly inspired confidence. “Ada Jessup, what are you doing here?”

“Ada Jessup?” Jase jumped back as if her identity was some devastating blow. “Jesus Christ. Will you do me a favor and tell your dad I had nothing to do with this? I was just trying to help. Honest to God.” His words came tumbling out, one on top of the next. “Sorry about all the Jesuses and Gods. I didn’t mean—“

Ada ignored Jase.

“I work here,” she said, her voice in full-on freaked-out vibrato. “I was telling them they had to leave, and then there was this guy with a gun, and… and…” She was going to cry. She could feel all the confusion and panic that had been in her bones seeking release through her eyes. “Is he dead?”

The police officer, who Ada recognized as Colin McLean, repeated his codfish pose. “Is who dead?”

“Joshua.” His name was barely a whisper. She hadn’t really known him at all, but she liked what little she’d discovered before he’d been gunned down in cold blood.

“Someone was shot?” Office McLean grabbed for this gun with one hand and the radio on the shoulder of his uniform with the other.

“No,” Jase answered a little too quickly. “No one was shot.” His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “She heard the gunfire and saw my friend go down, but he was just taking cover. He’s fine.”

Never taking his eyes off Jase, Officer McLean pushed the button on his radio. “Haskell, do we have a gunshot victim?”

“No victim. Only one shot discharged, and it didn’t hit anyone,” Haskell’s disembodied voice replied. “Suspect is in custody. It took four of us to get him in the car. He’s out of his head on something.”

“Are you certain you saw someone get shot?” Officer McLean asked Ada. “I’m sure everything was quite confusing once the gun went off, and it is dark out here.”

“I know what I saw,” she said through clenched teeth, her fear now replaced with annoyance. Why wouldn’t anyone believe her? Even worse, Jase and Officer McLean were looking at her as if she was some poor hysterical girl to be pitied, which pissed her off even more. She ran two miles nearly ever day and took kickboxing classes twice a week, but no one thought of her as that girl. She might as well have “SICK” tattooed in big letters across her forehead since it was the only thing anyone ever saw when they looked at her.

Her determination must have shown on her face because Jase, whose hands were still in the air, nodded to his hip. “May I?” When Officer McLean answered with a quick jerk of his head, Jase pulled his phone out of his pocket and said, “Siri, you sly fox, would you please ask Joshua to send me a selfie?”

“Anything for you,” a voice way too sexy and real to have been manufactured by Silicon Valley replied.

Officer McLean’s eyebrows arched up onto his forehead. “Siri likes you more than she does me.”

Jase chuckled. “I have a friend who is a tech god. He made some adjustments. Speaking of…” He flipped around his phone. Joshua’s face stared back at Ada, a phone in his hand showing the current date and time against a SuperWhoLock background. “Here it is. The text said he was speaking with an Officer Grimes.”

Officer McLean took the phone from Jase. “Is this the guy you thought you saw get shot?” he asked Ada.

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

“So it is him.”

Ada narrowed her eyes. “You’re a cop. Shouldn’t you investigate this beyond looking at a picture on a cell phone?”

Officer McLean licked his lips, but was saved from having to say anything by a commotion at the bottom of the stairs. A round-bellied EMT pushed his way through the throng of party-goers who were being forced to wait as officers took statements and made arrests. No one nearby appeared to be in need of medical attention, but Ada held out hope until he stopped directly in front of her.

“Miss Jessup,” he said in greeting. “Do you need a stretcher, or can you walk to the ambulance?”

Was he serious?

“I can walk back to my golf cart and drive back to the main lodge as soon as we’re done here.”

Jase put a hand on her shoulder, and despite everything else, she felt her cheeks blaze just because Jase Donovan touched her. “We’re done here, aren’t we, Colin?” he asked.

Officer McLean nodded. “Yeah, we’re done.” He clasped Jase’s shoulder. “It was good to see you, man, but next time, just call. No need to heroically throw yourself on top of a girl in the middle of Timber’s one and only almost-shooting.”

Jase laughed and Ada fumed. Freaking small towns. Of course Officer McLean would immediately believe Jase and not her. After all, Jase had been Timber’s golden boy just a few years ago. People were still wearing shirts with his jersey number on them despite the fact that he’d graduated over five years ago. Probably just as many people knew Ada, but her fame didn’t earn her a slap on the back and a free pass. Instead, she was rewarded with overweight EMTs and the threat of being carried off on a stretcher.