Chapter 5
five
Tony swore as Melody ran from him. How the hell hadn’t he heard the door open? When he’d come through it, it sounded like someone running a block of metal across an industrial grater. His Foley guy would have had a field day with all the sounds in the bar’s kitchen.
For Melody, the door opened like magic.
He chased after her, but he skidded to a halt when Harry walked through the kitchen door. Second generation dive bar owner, a few inches taller than Tony, many more inches around, and a pale white face framed by a deep red beard, the man was not someone anyone with any thought in their head messed with in a physical confrontation.
“Move, Harry.”
“No.”
“I’ve got to talk to Melody.”
Harry shook his head. “Doesn’t look like she wants to talk with you.” With his size, people mistakenly assumed he moved slowly. One night, when the crowd was particularly ornery thanks to a bachelor party of mostly out-of-towners, he’d witnessed Harry clear the disturbance in under a minute. Not one of those guys had wanted to go up against him to come back in.
Tony held up his hands. “Look, I don’t have a beef with you, but I’ve got to make things right with her.”
The kitchen door bumped up against Harry’s solid back. He didn’t move.
“You can do that when she’s not ready to board you up in a basement.”
Knowing Harry probably wasn’t wrong about Melody’s reaction, Tony rethought his plan. And shook his head. “I’ve got to talk with her now.”
The door bumped up against Harry again.
“Can we come in?”
Harry kept staring at him, but shifted to let the door swing open. Eric and Zach stood on the other side. Eric looked between Harry and Tony. “Okay if we talk with Tony, Harry?”
“Is Melody out there?”
Eric shook his head. “She left. Libby’s going with her.”
Harry gave a curt nod. “Fine.” He pointed a finger at Tony before leaving. “I have never seen that girl run with tears in her eyes. Whatever you did, you fucked up bad. That is going to require an epic grovel from you if you want her back.”
Without explaining further what he meant, Harry headed back out to the bar area. The kitchen wasn’t exactly private with both cooks still working away at orders. Also, the pass-through window let all the noise from the front in.
Tony scrubbed his face and looked at Zach. “Can we go back to the beach house?”
“For you to explain what the hell’s going on?”
“Yeah.”
Zach nodded and gestured to Eric for him to come with them. Once they were outside, Mrs. Smith ambushed them. And it was an ambush. One moment, they were moving toward the parking lot’s exit, and the next, the elderly woman was standing in front of them, lips pursed and disapproval written all over her face.
“I saw Melody leave.” She lifted one hand, and Tony saw a plastic bag with something in it hanging from her fingers. It was like she was magic, conjuring things out of thin air. “She didn’t stop by my booth for this, and as you were the one who paid for it, it is now your duty to deliver it to her.”
Tony felt Zach’s and Eric’s stares, but ignored them for the moment. “I’ll be sure to get it to her.” He hooked his fingers into the bag’s loops, but Mrs. Smith didn’t release it.
Her gaze felt like it was drilling into the depths of the secrets he kept hidden away. “Truth is never simple or easy, but it is what opens doors to forever.”
With that cryptic statement, she released her grip on the bag and walked away. Eric elbowed him. Hard enough that Tony almost took a step forward. “What was that about?”
Tony glanced at Zach. The man’s sunglasses blocked Tony’s view of his eyes, but he had the feeling his friend was staring at Mrs. Smith’s retreating back. “I’ll tell you later. Let’s go.”
Libby had driven Melody home, so Eric agreed to meet them at the beach house. He pulled in right behind Zach, and Tony had to fight the feeling of being trapped. If he truly needed to get away, Zach would have no issues getting him out, but it still had him rolling his shoulders.
Once inside, Eric lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head and looked around the small home Tony and Zach had been sharing since they’d hit town back in May .
“This needs updating.”
Zach nodded. “I know, but that’s on my parents. Want a beer?”
Eric looked at Tony. “I don’t know. Do I need a beer?”
He set the bag containing the box he’d bought for Melody from Mrs. Smith down on one of the small tables by the front door. “Sure.” Maybe it would loosen Eric up, and he wouldn’t feel the immediate need to punch Tony’s lights out when he heard the full story.
At least Zach had the reason that he wasn’t supposed to beat up his own clients holding him back.
Zach came back in with three bottles of beer in hand. He held one out to Eric and the third to Tony.
Once they’d all taken a swig, Zach pinned him with the gaze that Tony had first seen back in that dive bar in Hollywood and some asshole had tried to make trouble with the new guy. “What happened back there?”
Tony grimaced. “Just so you know, Damien only found out for sure today.”
Zach’s brows rose, but it was Eric who asked a question. “Damien? Who’s Damien? And what does he have to do with why Melody was so pissed off?”
Tony went over to the recliner he’d claimed as his own and sat down. Stared down into the bottle as if it held the answers he needed.
“Tony?”
He let out a long breath. “Remember about a month ago? Melody was gone for the weekend?”
“Yeah, she said she was going off for a weekend in the city. So?”
Eric sat down on the couch, and Tony met his questioning gaze. “It wasn’t New York she went to. We went off to Niagara Falls together. ”
“Niagara Falls? What were you doing in Niagara Falls?”
Zach paused with the bottle at his lips. “Fuck. Did you get married?”
Eric’s eyes widened and swiveled between Tony and Zach. “Married? Melody got married? Without telling me? Telling our mom?”
Zach glared at him. “Did you use your real name?”
“Real…? What the fuck?” Eric slammed down his beer. “What the fuck is going on?”
Tony winced as the beer bubbled out of the bottle, but it was probably better than having Eric punch his lights out. From the look on Eric’s face, though, the possibility wasn’t off the table.
He looked over to Zach, but his friend wasn’t exactly the most friendly person at the moment either.
Tony scrubbed his face and leaned forward. “Look…” He was at a loss for words, when he was never at a loss for words. No matter what he said, he was just digging his grave deeper and deeper. He hated the churning in his gut. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “Zach?”
“What?”
“Can we tell him?”
Eric stood up, his fists clenched hard enough that Tony heard his friend’s knuckles crack. “You’d better tell me. Whatever it is. My sister’s been fucked over enough in her life.”
“Stand down, Eric. Go ahead and tell him. You’re going to get your ass kicked one way or another by the end of the day, anyway.”
“Thanks.” Eric didn’t sit down, but as uncomfortable as it was to have the other man looming over him, Tony stayed seated. He met Eric’s gaze. “There is a good reason why I’m here, and why I’m using the name I am. ”
Eric’s jaw moved as if he was grinding his teeth. “Oh, yeah? That’s what my dad always said when the cops would show up at our door looking for him because he’d stolen someone’s identity.”
“I did not steal anyone’s identity. My full legal first name is Anthony. Not even my parents call me Tony. Caputo is my nonna’s maiden name. My legal last name is Dewitt.”
Eric frowned. “Anthony Dewitt? Why does that sound familiar?”
Tony glanced at Zach, but he only shrugged. After he’d left the show, he’d dropped off most of the celebrity gossip sites, and the regular news outlets rarely had any reason to cover him. He’d pop up occasionally, but those were almost all red carpet appearances for projects he’d produced. “I work as a producer in Hollywood with my dad.”
“Dewitt? Producer? Leo Dewitt? Married to Vittoria Schreiber? The actress?”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“Mom loves your mom’s work and would always talk about how great it was to meet your parents.”
Tony swallowed. When the words couldn’t get past the ball in his throat, he cleared it again. “Your mom knows my parents?”
“I wouldn’t say that she knows your parents. More that Uncle Stef had my mom out for a taping of his show when your parents were guests on it for some reason. Probably some celebrity gives back through home renovation thing. Mom still talks about it.”
Tony let out a breath. The last thing he needed was his parents finding out what was going on with Melody and deciding to come meddle. “ Okay. Good.”
“Getting back to why you’re using a name that isn’t your legal name. Why are you here?”
“I took on a partner for my last film project. It was supposed to be as a favor to an old friend of my dad’s, but the partner had other ties we weren’t aware of. The criminal kind.”
Eric crossed his arms against his chest. “And did you also partner with those other ties?”
Tony bit back his instinctual response because he recognized it as a reasonable question. “No. I caught my partner doing things he wasn’t supposed to be doing and meeting with people he wasn’t supposed to be meeting with. Those people weren’t happy when my partner got arrested for the things he’d been doing on the set of our project. To the best of my knowledge, my part in the arrest wasn’t leaked, but everyone decided it would be best if I left town and went somewhere to lie low until my partner flipped or went on trial. I honestly can’t be any more detailed than that.”
Eric looked over at Zach. “And, what? You’re his bodyguard or something?”
“Yep.” Zach took a sip of beer and relaxed back into his chair.
Eric waited a few beats. “That’s all you’re going to say? You brought him to Sunflower Falls knowing danger might follow him, and now he somehow married my sister?”
Zach took another sip of beer while staring at Tony. It was the deliberate movement more than anything that told Tony how pissed he was. “Sunflower Falls was a reasonable choice. He has no ties to the area, and someone would have had to do some serious digging to both discover our connection and my hometown. My group is very good at what we do. ”
Eric frowned. Opened his mouth, but then shook his head. “We’ll talk about that later. What do we do about… Wait a minute. Anthony Dewitt. Undercover Immortal.” His eyes were wide as he stared at Tony.
Tony winced. “Yeah. Were you a fan?”
The look of shock on Eric’s face slowly transformed into one of glee. “No. But I watched it. With Melody. Who was a huge fan. She had a poster with your face up on her wall. She is going to murder you.”
Tony blinked. She’d been a fan? And she hadn’t recognized him? He didn’t think he’d changed that much in the last twelve years. Even with growing the beard. Had she been lying to him the entire time?
Did she really want something from him?
Eric sat back down on the couch and picked up his beer. Pointed it at Tony. “You had better hope she gives you the time of day to explain and doesn’t flat out kill you. Make sure she doesn’t have any tools in hand or close when you approach. And let me know when you plan to tell her. I want to watch.”
Tony scowled at him. “What? So you can make popcorn ahead of time?”
“Finding this out? And not being invited to the wedding? You bet your ass I want to watch when you tell my sister.” He drank deeply from the bottle. “And who was this Damien you mentioned?”
“My attorney.” Tony winced when he realized what he needed to say next. “He wants me back in California.”
Zach frowned. “We’ve been in touch, but he hasn’t said it was definite.”
“Because I’ve been stalling him.”
Eric snorted. “Are you sure you want him as your attorney if you can put him off so easily? ”
Tony scowled. “Believe me, it hasn’t been easy. Damien’s one of the top attorneys in the state. He has to be to keep his wife out of lockup.”
“What, is she a mob princess or something?”
This time it was Zach who let out a low chuckle. “No, but she’d like to play one.” When Eric frowned, he continued on. “His wife is Lily Whitting, known to friends as Aspen.”
Eric’s brows rose. “The actress? Wait. Damien? Damien Brandon, the quarterback?”
Zach nodded.
“Damn. If he has to come here to haul your ass back to California, I want to meet him. I idolized him in high school.”
Tony flipped him the bird. “I’ll let him know.”
Zach cleared his throat. “What aren’t you telling us?”
Tony leaned forward. “Look, I know I’ve fucked up. Melody asked me not to tell anyone that we got married.” Eric opened his mouth, but Tony held up a hand. “I was trying to respect her wishes. I want to be with her. Fully. In public. Forever. I get that she’s not the most trusting person. I was doing what I thought I had to do. And I realized that by not giving her my real name, I’ve fucked up even more. But I need time to make it up to her. If she still decides to divorce me, fine. I’m going to fight for her though. And I’ll fight both of you if I have to.”
Eric looked over at Zach and then back to Tony. “The only reason I’m not beating you into the ground right now is not because of your bodyguard here. It’s because I know my sister. And she will do everything in her power to end you because not only have you lied to her, but you’ve humiliated her. Like Harry said, you’re going to have to epically grovel. ”
Zach stood. “Just so you know, if she needs help hiding your body, I’m helping.”
“Thank you for the warning.”
Eric grinned. “If you do manage to convince her to stay married to her, or marry you again because I don’t understand how that was even legal in the first place, the wedding reception is going to be one hell of a party.”