Chapter 4
T he beach bar had been exactly the right place to kick off Theo’s bachelor party. It was good just taking a minute to breathe this afternoon, and I had to admit, Mama was right, I liked it when we were all together.
Our lives were so busy, with three brothers playing in the NHL, and me and our two cousins working in the FDNY, it was hard finding a time where it all just clicked.
Although now that Casey, Knox, and Jase all played for the same team, it had made it a hell of a lot easier.
At the bar, I’d been able to catch up with some of the guys from Theo’s squad, including Garrett, whom I’d gone through fire academy with.
It had also kept me distracted enough that I hadn’t thought about Jenna and her purple tongue.
Or her gorgeous bikini.
Or the way she felt against me as I effortlessly carried her across the pool.
Okay, that was a lie. My blood still ran like lava, and the imprint of her breasts was still burned to my chest. Like a sexy brand.
Fuck, I needed to keep myself in check.
Couldn’t, no wouldn’t , let her perfect curves derail what I had with her. A friendship I was dependent on, there was no way I could function without her.
After all these years, she was my true north.
If I kept her in my sights, I’d always find my way home.
So, no perving over her and scaring her off. Losing her would be like taking my SCBA kit off in the middle of a working fire—a fucking death sentence.
“Hey, Tendy,” Garrett shouted over to me, and I shook out of my mini tailspin and headed over to him.
“Tell him what you said to that NYPD punk after that call on the bridge the other night.”
“Ah, now that isn’t for delicate ears such as yours.” I grinned.
I’d been named starting goalie for the department’s hockey team for the fourth year in a row—hence the unoriginal nickname I’d had ever since they’d put me in net.
“I heard he was spouting some shit about the annual cop hockey game,” my cousin, Theo, added, and I nodded.
The guy in question had been talking shit, but I’d let it wash over me.
Mainly.
The last thing you should ever do, even this far out from a game, was let anyone get to you. We played in our own league, but those fucks over in PD really loved to try and take us down.
It was a pretty big rivalry, and the hosting stadium was already booked out.
“You going for their goalie this year too?” Garrett asked, excitement brimming in his eyes.
I shot him a smirk. “I’ll call him out when the time comes and see what happens.”
Then I lifted the half-empty bottle of beer to my mouth.
Terrins was a prick on and off the ice, so I didn’t mind fighting him if he did enough to cause trouble. He liked to drop a slur here and there, and really liked to talk about a player’s daughters or younger sisters. In my book, there was chirping and there was being a bigoted asshole, and he was the latter.
“Time to jet,” Troy exclaimed as he approached us, and I watched as most of the group grabbed their drinks to finish.
“Hey, maybe the dancers will want to party after the show,” I overheard Hollywood, my brother’s teammate, say to Knox.
“We can only hope, Wood, we can only hope,” Knox replied as we all made our way to the cars out front.
As a surprise for Theo, Casey had hired out an entire bar and club for the night. That way we could truly celebrate without having to worry about the media and fans.
In the grand scheme of things, my brothers and their teammates weren’t that famous, but even something like this could get twisted, and fans could be a bit much, so for the focus to stay solely on the bachelor himself, Casey had needed to make assurances.
I stepped into the second to last car with Garrett and Wills, who were asking me about a rescue I’d made a few nights ago.
We had shown up to an apartment fire not far from Morningside Park, where a man had been trapped on the 12th floor. I managed to get to him and navigated us to safety, but it had been no big deal.
Especially considering they were both part of a squad unit, it hardly seemed like something to brag about.
It wasn’t long at all before we were pulling up outside of what looked like a strip club. Either Casey had made a mistake, or Theo was in for the time of his life.
It wasn’t what I had been expecting once we were inside though. The whole place reminded me of a speakeasy, almost like we’d traveled back in time.
I was busy taking it all in when a familiar clap on my shoulder had me turning around to smile at my dad.
“You doing okay, son?”
“I’m all good, Dad. How was Jack?”
“Made his day spending just that little bit of time with you boys. Made him feel included.”
“Glad he had fun.”
“You ready to catch up?” Theo asked, placing a scotch glass in my father’s hand, the amber liquid seeming darker in this lighting.
“Congratulations, son.” He smiled at Theo as he took a drink. “I’m proud of you, and your dad would be in his element tonight. He’d have loved that girl of yours too. But you already know both of those things.”
“Still. Thank you, Uncle Jack, that means a hell of a lot.”
My dad always tried to be the father my cousins lost. His brother, Thomas, was only thirty-three when he died. His last radio message came as he descended onto the 70th floor of the North Tower with six casualties.
He died a hero, and my dad had stepped right in, making sure my cousins and aunt knew they were loved and that we were there for them. With help from my mom, he managed to get them out of New Jersey and onto the same street as us. The Air Force had been supportive of the move and made sure the paperwork got through the necessary red tape.
I headed to the bar, giving them a few minutes to talk, and ordered up a scotch for myself. It was pricy, but smooth and smoky.
Jenna might even have liked this one.
I wondered what she was doing but thought better of it. No need to torture myself with whatever trouble they were getting into. She knew she could call if any one of them needed me.
The servers who had been working the floor corralled us all to the sofas and tables with a perfectly central view of the stage—it was elevated so we could see the whole show.
The lights dimmed further, and the curtains opened, revealing ten exceptionally beautiful women.
Our group was enraptured from the very beginning, but my eyes snagged on the eighth girl in the row.
She was familiar somehow, and I was trying to see past the makeup, see who it was, when it hit me like a freight train.
My head whipped to my brother who had also noticed who was standing—or rather, dancing—in front of him.
Wren had been his high school girlfriend for three years before she’d abruptly broken up with him and pulled out of her scholarship at the same school as Knox.
They hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since they were eighteen, and the way his face had turned to stone had me moving, but it was no use. He tore out of his seat and made a beeline for the staff-only corridor. There was no use chasing after him.
“Hey, you got a second?” Casey’s voice had my steps stuttering as I exited the bathroom.
“How—”
He thumbed over his shoulder in the direction of the bed where there was a body-shaped lump under the sheets.
Jenna and I had adjoining rooms. Seemed she’d answered the door and decided not to walk the ten feet back to her side.
I grunted, still not sure I could form a coherent sentence. Last night I’d drank more in those few hours than I had in a while.
I walked past him and sat down on the edge of the bed, my palm landing on a delicious rump. The lump squeaked and scurried up from under the covers.
Jenna’s hair was styled in an impressive braid, but it was her face that had me and Casey fighting our smiles.
“You guys,” she whined by way of greeting. “Lexi knows how to party. I think . . . I think Coralie is dead.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded solemnly. “I’m not sure any of us will make it.”
I pulled on her braid. “Good job getting ready for bed last night. Or should I say this morning?”
I faintly remember registering the snick of her door a few hours ago and yelling to see if she was okay. She’d sat on the edge of my bed recounting her night, but I’d fallen back to sleep and hadn’t heard a word of it.
“Yeah, at least I remembered to take my makeup off.”
The chuckle spilled out of me, and she screwed up her face.
“What’s so funny?”
“Cupcake. You only took off half your face.”
“Huh?”
“You still have all your makeup on the left side of your face.”
She scrambled out of bed and went over to the mirror above the desk.
“Ah!” she gasped and then burst out laughing. “Casey, take a pic, would ya?”
Casey, who was laughing too, took a few snaps on his phone and then pocketed it.
“Right, as fun as this is, I’m here for a reason.”
Jenna plonked herself down next to me. “Shoot. We’re all ears.”
“I don’t know if you’ve been over that side of the hotel yet, but just beyond the terrace is a portion of the beach that’s designated for weddings, and well, Anna and I got to talking about the future. We, ah, we’ve decided to get married and we’re doing it today.”
“Oh, oh my God. This is, this is absolutely amazing!” Jenna squealed and then dove at Casey, hugging him and jumping on the balls of her feet.
“Congratulations, brother. I’m real happy for you,” I said standing up to shake his hand and pulling him into a hug.
“I can’t believe you managed to keep this a secret. And. Oh no”—Jenna’s shoulders sagged—“now I don’t get to make your wedding cake,” she pouted, and Casey smiled.
“We would have loved that. It’s just with Anna’s parents and sister being gone and my season . . .”
“Say no more,” she said, holding up her hand. “I completely get it. We’re here for you. Whatever you need.”
She reached for my hand, and I squeezed hers. “We love you both.”
“Thanks, two-face.” He smiled. “I’ll see you both at breakfast and we’ll get going from there.”
He left and she turned to me.
“Two-face?”
I chuckled, “The Batman villain.”
“Ohhhh,” she said in recognition, and then she stared off out the window, but I knew what was happening inside that head of hers.
“I know that look,” I said as the door closed behind Casey.
“What look?” she asked distractedly as she began to shimmy out of her pajamas, and I prayed for restraint as all that smooth, silky skin came into view again.
The sudden surge of excitement and plan-making had obviously burned off whatever hangover was about to ruin Jenna’s morning.
I could see the cogs turning before Casey had even left.
“The look that says by hook or by crook you’ll find a way to give them a wedding cake.”
“You know me so well, SAM.” Her face lit up with an enormous smile.
I smiled too. “Go get ready then, JAM.”
She giggled at our long-since-used nicknames for each other. We’d left SAM and JAM behind in the third grade, but now and again they fell out of our mouths—just one of a million reminders that we’d known each other forever.
Jenna sang as she used the shower. A clear sign she was pumped for the day.
As was I.
It was hard to believe my brother would be getting married in a matter of hours, and I had no idea how he and Anna were going to pull it all together, but I’m sure with the help of the mamas, it was going to be the best wedding this hotel had ever seen.
“Okay, can you excuse me from breakfast, please?” Jenna asked as she slid into her sandals and hurried by me on her way to the door.
“I need to go see a woman about a kitchen.”
I laughed and snagged her hand, pulling her into me.
“I’ll come find you with some food.”
“Thank you, I’d appreciate that. I’d like to try and scrounge up enough ingredients to make something simple and I want to have enough time to get ready later. I don’t need to worry about my outfit, as I packed something I think will work.”
I nodded. “And if you find the hotel has already commissioned a cake at Casey and Anna’s request, don’t be too disheartened, okay? You can do something else special for them when we get back home.”
“Gah”—she clenched her fists in excitement—“I just had the best idea though. I know I can pull it off.”
She ran out of the door, leaving me to go find my parents and the rest of the family. I called Casey on the way up just in case he wouldn’t be there, and he picked up on the first ring.
Someone was feeling highly strung today.
“Case. Did you and the hotel decide if a cake was doable?”
“They said yes but Anna was worried it would be too stressful, so we just ordered a cupcake tree thing.”
“Okay. Well, Jenna’s on her way to see if she can get access to a kitchen?—”
“She doesn’t need to do that.”
“You know what she’s like. But could you call your event planner or whoever, and see if they can help her get what she needs? She just blew outta here ready to do whatever it took.”
“Sure thing, man. She’s something, huh?” I could hear the smile in his voice and smiled too.
“Yeah, she’s something, alright.” My heart gave a pang, but I ignored it and continued up to the suite where everyone had tended to congregate these past few days.