The Keys to Jericho (16 page)

“Good, because if you ever hurt Hadley, that’s exactly what will happen.”

We glare at each other, neither willing to look away first. The sloshing of the water against the rocks, and kids yelling are the only noises I readily hear.

After what seems like minutes, he says, “I can’t believe you suggested I should break up with her, but
not
to break her heart.”

I blow out a sigh toward the water and look back to him. “Finn, look. I like you. I honestly do, and I don’t like many people.” His incensed eyes bore into me and I continue, “You’re the son my dad wishes he had. Unlike me, you’re a genuinely nice guy. Yet, we are alike—against marriage—but Hadley doesn’t think that way. I don’t want her to get hurt by staying with you. She’s been through fucking enough in her life.”

I notice him relaxing somewhat. “I know that. I want to take care of her.”

“You can’t. Not the way she needs to be.”

“Jared, I’m… I’m deeply in love with your sister. I don’t need a fucking piece of paper, giving me legal permission to love her the rest of my life. I just will.”

“But she
does
need it. You don’t. It’ll never work. If you let this go on longer, it’ll only hurt her more, waiting around for you to never change your mind.”

“I can change for her.”

“Then you’ll only be miserable.”

“I’ll only be miserable without her.” He sighs and turns to reel in his useless line. “I’ll probably marry her someday. I’m just not ready right now. I want it to be the right time for both of us.”

As he sets the pole down, I ask, “What happens if you knock her up?”

Finn vacantly blinks, looking past me to the bridge, considering that scenario. Hadn’t he before?

Glancing at me, he mumbles, “We’ll cross that bridge if we have to.”

“It’d be too late then. She would need you to be there for her. Permanently.”

He resolutely says, “And I would be, as I plan on being already. Nothing would change that.”

“Not even a kid?”

“No.”

“So, you wouldn’t break up with Hadley or abandon her over her being pregnant?”

He throws me an annoyed look. “Never.”

I keep going, searching for his breaking point where he’ll fuck up and I’ll have to hate him. “If that happened, and she told you she really needs for you two to get married, would you marry her then, even if you weren’t ready?”

Finn doesn’t hesitate. “Absolutely. No second thought. I’d take her to the courthouse or elope to Vegas. Whichever were faster.”

Again, we quietly stare at each other, with the shouts of people hanging out on the grainy beach, and the unbroken buzz of cars on the bridge, lightly humming in the distance.

Finn decisively asks, “Did I
finally
pass your test?”

Regarding him with new respect, I ultimately nod. “Yeah. Promise me you won’t hurt her and that you’ll give Hadley what she needs. You’re what put her back together after all these years. Don’t make me have to rip your heart out for smashing hers.”

He shakes his head, the wind briefly whipping sharply around us. “I won’t hurt her. I promise.”

I blow out a breath of air and nod behind me. “Speaking of crossing bridges, do you think you could jump that? Is it as high as your other one?”

A relieved smile pops onto his face and he explains, “The Chesapeake is
nowhere
near as high as New River, which is at 876 feet.”

“That other bridge is 876 feet off the ground?” He eagerly nods and I say, “No wonder Hadley nearly castrated you.”

“Yeah. At that point right there,” he squints at it, his eyes assessing, “it’s only about 60 feet. I imagine even its highest point is under 200 feet, which would be child’s play, jumping with a bungee, if it weren’t illegal. And even if I were permitted to, I wouldn’t BASE jump from that. The time to open my chute is minimal and the risk of death is optimal. I love taking risks, but even
I
know my limits. I’m not crazy. I know what I have to lose.”

I retort, “Yeah, your life.”

He crooks an eyebrow. “In more ways than one.”

I look to the bridge, impressed with his answers, and feeling oddly satisfied that he fought to prove he’s in it for the long haul with my sister, no matter what.

Finn asks, “Is that a lighthouse in the water?”

He puts his sunglasses back on as I look to where he’s indicating. “Yeah. Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse.”

“Near Cape Henlopen in Delaware, there are two lighthouses close together in Delaware Bay.”

“That’s weird.”

“They were used to mark the breakwater into the harbor.”

“Oh,” I reply, trying not to sound too bored.

After a minute, he reiterates, “I guess to put it another way, if I lost Hadley, I wouldn’t care about the risks of BASE jumping from lower heights anymore.”

An awkward silence ensues. Finn clears his throat and I change the subject, “If Dash doesn’t catch a fish, he voluntarily jumps into the bay. It’s become a tradition.”

“Oh, has it? So, if I catch more than you, I go in, and if I don’t catch any, I still go in?”

“Yep, so you’re really screwed either way.” I stop myself from elaborating with a sexual comment, because the person he’s currently screwing happens to be my damn sister.

He grins. “You’re not my type.”

Smartass.

When we got home, Hadley informed us that Dad was running an errand and would meet us at Grandma and Grandpa’s for dinner. I gave Finn the hallway bathroom and I took my dad’s.

Walking past my sister’s room on the way to mine, I hear Hadley whispering, “What’s wrong?”

Finn whispers, “Nothing.”

The sound of kissing makes me want to run, until I hear Finn quietly say, “Becks, come on. We can’t.”

“Why not? I can see how much you want to.”

“We’re not alone,” he gruffly whispers.

“He’s in the shower. We can make it fast.”

“Not that fast.”

“Finnigan Wilder, don’t you want me?”

More lip smacking and I hear the protests of the bed as one or both get on it. Their heavy breathing is heard with incoherent whispering and swift rustling.

I take the opportunity to sharply knock on the door.

Finn groans and whispers, “Damn it.” I instantly grin.

Hadley breathlessly asks, “What, Jared?”

I cross my arms and lean against the doorframe. “Are you ready to go?”

“Um, no. Why don’t you go and we’ll meet you there?” Figures.

I sigh, knowing Finn hears me, but since he actually impressed me today, I give him a reprieve. “Okay. Just make sure you use a condom for fuck’s sake and don’t scream too loud. We have neighbors.”

As I walk away, Hadley laughingly yells, “Jared!”

Damn. I need an actual challenge.

CHAPTER 10

“Where is this place?” Hadley asks from behind me in the backseat of my car.

“Hell if I know,” I complain, propping my arm on the door, driving down Dash’s street. “Somewhere around South Gate.”

“Who all will be there with us?”

“Dash, and apparently, Rio has been granted special permission to join us.”

“Permission? Is he in the military?”

“No, but he’d have more freedom if he were.”

“Rio? That’s an unusual name. What’s he like?”

“It’s
River
, but not many people call him that anymore. He’s the polar opposite of Dash. I lived and worked with him during college. He’s actually cool, except for his talking in his sleep. I could carry on conversations with him and he’d never remember in the morning.”

“Pillow talk?”

I see my sister’s teasing grin in the mirror, and I nearly laugh, but instead, keep a convincing frown. “Bite me.”

Pulling into the dead-end alley behind Dash’s apartment, I twist to back my car into his empty space, next to his Subaru, so I can turn around. I offhandedly glance at Finn, who is looking out his window, running his index finger along his lip. He’s been quiet since we got home from fishing, other than trying to resist my sister, but he was clearly unsuccessful. I’m glad I got the hell out of there in time. As much as they’ve had sex so far this trip, his cock must be smoking.

I honk my horn and say, “FYI: I used to hear Rio talking in the middle of the night. He usually kept his door open, so I heard him. He giggles like a girl while sleeping, too. So fucking funny.”

“That’ll be good if I ever need to blackmail him.”

“You’re welcome.”

Impatient, I try calling Dash, but no answer, so then I text him, and as I do, Hadley whispers to Finn, “Is there something wrong?”

From the corner of my eye, I see Finn look away from the window, quietly answering, “No, why?”

“You’re quiet.”

“You wore him out,” I answer for him and look out my side window for Dash.

She says, “I was changing my clothes, Jared. That’s all. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Riiight.” I turn to look out the rear window, between Hadley and Finn, for Dash, and notice their hands entwined in her lap, which makes me want to roll my eyes, but I don’t—a small miracle. I think I’ve been downright polite during their stay.

Suddenly, the passenger door flies open, making Hadley and me jump at the same time, as Dash Calder bursts into the car with a fucking grin the size of Alaska. “What’s up, Hadley Beckett?” This time, I don’t refrain from the eye roll.

Always the well-mannered Beckett kid, she greets, “Hi, Dash. How are you? It’s been a while.”

Since he left the door open and he’s practically on his knees facing my sister, I lurch the car forward, and he grabs onto the headrest. When he frowns at me, I turn my head to hide my smile.

He finally pulls the door closed and says, “Good. I think the last time I saw you was like 10 years ago. You look incredible.”

Resisting the urge to smack him on the head as I pull onto the street, I jerk my head and thumb to the backseat. “That guy back there with the muscles, steely glare, and brass balls? That’s Hadley’s official bodyguard, Finn Wilder.”

Undeterred, Dash puts his hand out, “Dash Calder. Nice to meet you, Finn.”

Finn leans forward and takes Dash’s hand for a shake. “Likewise.”

I warn Finn, “You’ll want to take that back, for sure.”

Dash snaps his fingers as Finn sits back. “Damn it. You’re a Leo, aren’t you?”

Needing to see Finn’s expression for my own amusement, I quickly glance back there to see the expected look of confusion on his face. “Yeah…Why?”

I shake my head as I return my attention to the road.

“July or August?”

“August 15th.”

Dash says, “Hadley, I remember that you’re a Scorpio.” Of course he does.

“Who cares?” I gripe as I downshift to a red light.

“I knew it. Holy shit.” I hear the obvious sadness in Dash’s voice and I roll my eyes.

“What?” Finn and Hadley skeptically ask at the same time.

“The fireworks. Leo and Scorpio. You two are white hot together. It’s in the stars. Soulmates.” Dash faces the front, virtually on the verge of fucking tears.

“Really?” Hadley joyously asks and Dash sadly nods to no one in particular.

“Christ, Dash. Shut the hell up. If I hear you use that term again, you’d better run like you did in high school, because I’m plowing you with this car. You say that about everyone.”

“No, I don’t. I only call it when I see it, and it’s actually not often. I’ve only seen it a handful of times in the last 8 years or so.”

“What about Rio and that wench?”

“Lifetime-compatible partners at the spiritual level.”

“I swear to God, asshole, I’m going to have you committed.”

He taps something into his phone and I scowl at him before looking back to the road. “What the fuck took you so long anyway?”

“Sorry. I was on the phone.”

“Yeah. You’re always on the phone. So you ignore my text and call coming in?”

“I knew what you wanted. I was on my way down.”

Checking my side mirror as I approach the onramp to the highway, I ask, “Did you bring the address or directions with you?”

“I know where the place is.”

“Great. We’re going to get lost.”

“You know, you sound like an old, married couple,” Hadley observes, and then says to Finn, “Baby, are we going to sound like that when we’ve been married for as long as Jared and Dash?” I don’t need to see the look on his face reacting to that one.

“At least Grandma will be so proud of
me
.” I then wait for her to say, “Hit,” but she doesn’t.

Dash twists to ask her, “So you two
are
planning to get married?”

Hadley hesitates. “…Hopefully.”

Finn doesn’t say anything to support that statement and Dash cringes as he finally puts on his seatbelt.

From my mirror, I see Hadley blow air in a huff as she looks out her window, winding her key necklace with her fingers.

Dash asks, “How’d fishing go? Did you shove Finn into the marina?”

I grin. “Jealous, are we?”

To my surprise, Finn answers, “No. He caught two to my one.”

Dash shakes his head as he lifts his foot to retie his shoe. “You lucked out. Trust me. That water is damn cold.”

“That’s what I hear.”

Putting his foot down and digging around in his pocket, Dash asks me, “How’d dinner with your grandparents go?”

“Fucking awesome. They took us to Chuck E. Cheese’s and I won so many damn tickets that I’m going to scalp them to all your little gym rats in front of your school.”

“Ass.”

Hadley says, “It was okay…”

“And when she says that, she means, ‘It was as fun as watching food rot.’”

Dash laughs. “Why? What happened?”

“I wonder how my dad has remained single all these years.” Adopting a nasally, female voice, I quote, “‘Hadley, when are you and Finn getting married?’ ‘Jared, why aren’t you dating a nice, young lady?’ ‘You know we aren’t going to live forever. We’d love to be great-grandparents.’ ‘Hadley, you’re not getting any younger.’ ‘Finn, wouldn’t Hadley look beautiful pregnant?’ ‘Jared, have you had your sperm count checked?’ Fuck me.”

Finn doesn’t reply to anything said, probably pouting about all the marriage comments made so far, in a limited amount of time. In that case, he’ll be moping for the rest of the night, or getting drunk off his ass before we even sit down.

Hadley clears her throat before arguing, “Grandma did
not
ask about your sperm.”

“Close enough. I was afraid she was going to check my balls. Weren’t you worried, Finn?”

He indifferently mutters, “I guess.”

“I definitely had one hand on my crotch the rest of dinner.”

“Eww,” Hadley grumbles.

Dash sighs. “That’s rough. I’m glad I didn’t have to be there.”

I scoff, “Yeah. The thought of my grandmother touching your balls is enough to make me vomit like Regan in The Exorcist.”

“Jared!” Hadley squeals, but laughs anyway.

“Hilarious,” Dash states as he puts his phone up to his ear, apparently listening to his voicemail.

“I think the people I hang around are finally rubbing off on me.”

Dash says, “All Rio Duquesne.”

“Barely.” Eventually I say to Calder, “Are you going to tell me which way to go, or am I going to have to read your damn mind?”

Glancing up from pissing around with his phone, he says, “You’re fine. Keep going. You’ll turn right at the next light, go about half a mile to the small feed store on the left, and then go right, but the second full right—first is a hidden driveway. Go past the pizza place and when you get to the top hill with the UPS store on the left, make that left and go two miles until you come to a shopping plaza, then you’ll swing a—”

“—hammer and bury it into your damn skull. Are you fucking serious?”

“What? It’s a shortcut. I know where we’re going.”

“Yeah. Rand McNally wouldn’t hire you to clean their toilets.”

Hadley laughs, making me abruptly smile. I hate that.

“Turn here, Jericho!”

Darting my eyes to the rearview for a car behind me, I slam on the brake and then the clutch, downshifting as I yell, “Why didn’t you fucking warn me sooner than that?”

He shrugs. “You were talking. It’s rude to interrupt like
you
did.”

“You still call him Jericho? Wow,” Hadley says with a light giggle.

“He’ll always be
Jericho
.”

Rounding the turn, I upshift and stomp on the gas, making him drop his phone. “You’ll always be a douche, Douche Calder.”

He picks up his phone and points at me with it. “If you believed in love, you’d love me.”

I give Dash a dirty look to shut him up, while Hadley sullenly says, “Jared, don’t… I wish you wouldn’t think like that,”

I roll my eyes. “Not everyone can be…like you and Finn, Hadley. Just stop with it already.”

“You can’t just give up.”

I breathe in a tolerant breath. “How can I give up when I never even participated? I’m fine.”

Hadley’s quiet, and surprisingly, so is Dash, except for giving me fucked-up directions.

Fifteen minutes later, he at last says, “Turn down there and pull into the lot.”

“This place?”

“Yeah…”

“Oceanic?” Hadley asks, reading the teal, neon sign emblazed across the front.

“What the hell is it?” The building is a faded, red brick with the name of a bread factory in chipped, white and black paint across the middle. The sides of the building are flooded with blue light, pointing down from the roof. The parking lot is surrounded by a brick and wrought iron fence.

Holy fuck. I’m going to murder Dash Calder.

I say, “It’s a damn club.”

Dash corrects me. “It’s an old factory.”

“How in the hell is
that
better?”

“It’s been converted into a club.”

I glower at the building as I drive through the lot. “It looks too…upbeat.”

“Live a little, Jericho. Park here.”

“That threat to run you over with my car is good for shit like this, too.”

“Come on. Rio will be meeting us here.”

“Yeah, and he’s going to want to help me kick your ass.”

When we’re all standing in the parking lot, I lock my car as Dash says, “What about you, Finn? Are you willing to give it a try?”

He shrugs and grabs my sister’s hand. “If they have Jack Daniels, I don’t care about the décor.”

“Great!” Dash says, looking around the lot. “I don’t see Rio yet, so let’s go in.”

People are hanging by the door, crowding the entrance, laughing and shouting to each other. Christ. I feel too old for this shit. We have to work our way through to get into the building. A remixed disco song grates my ears as we follow Dash inside, and once in, we’re all floored by what we see. It’s as if we walked into one of those walk-thru aquariums at a zoo. The floors are a polished, light blue that is lit by lights with a wavy filter on them, making it appear as if we’re walking through water. The walls are stone, but the room is filled with polished oak woodwork, including the massive bar with wooden columns rising to the rusted, steel I-beams overhead, leaving some of the former industrial aspects in the design, which I can appreciate. An open staircase with oak banisters leads upstairs. There are pictures on the walls and statues of marine life everywhere.

“Let’s go to the third floor. We’re supposed to have a table reserved for us.”