Chapter 8 #2
Cricket made her way into the room, yawning.
They’d clearly woken the dog. She walked over to her doggie bed in the corner and lay down.
Gio knew for a fact the dog typically slept in Rafe’s room, something his friend pretended to be annoyed about, claiming his grandpa had spoiled the dog, letting her sleep with him.
Despite Rafe’s grumbling, it was obvious he cared about the tiny creature.
Gio followed them to the couch, claiming her other side.
Keeley leaned back, sinking farther down in the cushions, sighing heavily. “Okay. Let me have it.”
“Have what?” Rafe asked.
“You’re obviously pissed off at me, so just say it, give me the Kayden-like lecture, tell me I was stupid—which I know—and reckless and…” Keeley closed her eyes wearily.
“Keeley,” Rafe said gently. “We’re not your brother. And you need to understand, that’s not what this is about.”
Her eyes opened, and Gio could see his friend had surprised her with his calm, patient tone as well as his words.
“What happened tonight?” Gio asked.
“The same shit that always happens.”
“Be more specific,” Gio said. “And if you really are as tired as you say, you might want to just go ahead and give us all the details instead of making us drag them out of you one question at a time. Otherwise, we could be here awhile.”
She frowned angrily, but it felt like an act. Like she wanted to give the appearance of being annoyed because she couldn’t work up enough energy to feel the actual emotion. Finally, she just gave in. “You remember that guy at Eclectic?”
“There were three guys hovering around you at Eclectic,” Rafe said. “Black shirt, Chad, and JT.”
“JT,” she specified.
Gio had known in his gut tonight’s bullshit had included that guy.
“He called me last weekend, like he said he would. He was just as I remembered,” she said, with a wistful smile that quickly faded.
“He said he’d regretted going back with his ex five minutes after he’d broken things off with me, but they’d shared a long history, and she’d genuinely been trying to make things up to him.
He said it took him eight months to get out of that mistake, and by the time he did…
he figured too much time had gone by for him to call me. ”
None of that sounded bad, but given the way the night had ended, Gio could tell the asshole had found a way to knock her down again. Maybe literally, when he considered her broken phone.
“Anyway, we’ve been texting and talking on the phone, catching up on the last year, and it felt like we were right back where we’d left off. He called last night and invited me out for dinner tonight. Obviously, I said yes.”
“Why the secrecy, Keeley?” Rafe asked. “Why not tell us, or Liza, or your brother you were going out with him tonight?”
“Liza and Kayden don’t like JT. They’re both still pissed about the way he dumped me, and they were upset when I told them he’d called me last weekend. I wasn’t sure if it was going to go anywhere, so I just didn’t tell them when he kept calling.”
“And us?” Gio forced himself to ask.
“I was afraid you’d show up. It was okay with the other dates because I didn’t know those guys, but I wanted a night alone with JT. Just to see if what I’d thought was there a year ago still was.” She stopped talking, and neither he nor Rafe pushed her for more.
Gio really didn’t want to know what she’d discovered.
Mercifully, she continued without prodding.
“Dinner was awesome. We laughed and talked, and it was all so perfect. By the time it was over, neither of us wanted to say goodbye. So JT suggested we go dancing. I left my car at the restaurant, and he drove us to The Dolphin. I left my purse in his car, tucked the necessities—my credit card, ID, and phone in my back pocket—we paid the cover and went in.”
“You didn’t lose your ID?” Rafe asked.
She shook her head. “No. It was still in my pocket. Just lost the credit card. Which reminds me…can I use your computer? I really should cancel—”
“Later,” Gio interjected. “Finish your story.”
“We were dancing, and it was a lot of fun…until I discovered his ex was there with her new boyfriend.”
“Did he know she was going to be there?” Rafe asked.
Keeley leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her eyes cast down at the floor. The entire pose was so totally not her that Gio felt his anger toward that prick JT begin to rise again.
“Keeley.” Gio put his hand on her upper back. “Sit up and look at us.”
She took a steadying breath, then did as he asked. “I’m tired,” she repeated, and he didn’t think exhaustion was the cause for that. Instead, she looked like a woman who’d reached the end of the line and couldn’t take one more step.
Gio nodded slowly. “I know you are. Just finish the story and you can go to bed.”
“You’re a bossy son of a bitch.”
Gio laughed. “Yeah. Tell me something I don’t know.
It’s probably the most annoying of the Moretti traits.
” He twisted so that his back rested on the arm of the couch.
“Come here.” Parting his legs, putting one up on the couch, he shifted Keeley until she was sitting with her back leaning against his chest.
Rafe picked up her feet, placing them on his lap, studying her ankle. From his position, Gio could see it was slightly swollen.
Rafe gently turned it, his eyes on Keeley’s face. “You sure it’s not sprained?”
“I’m sure,” she said.
Rafe began to rub her feet, Keeley’s sigh one of relief and relaxation.
Gio wrapped his arms around her, resting his hands on her stomach. It was an intimate position, but damn if it didn’t feel right. “Tell us the rest, Keeley. Then you can go to bed, sleep it off, and put it all behind you.”
“JT knew she was going to be there. She’d dumped him again…not the other way around, like he told me. He took me there thinking it would make her jealous. It didn’t. Of course, I didn’t realize she was there or what he was doing until it was too late.”
“What do you mean?” Gio asked.
“What had started as a happy buzz for him turned into a mean drunk really fast. We were out on the dance floor, and he was starting to get sloppy, staggering and shit. I suggested we leave. Told him I could drive him home and then get an Uber back to my place. He refused, tugged me closer. He told me we couldn’t leave yet, that he wanted Cassie—that’s his girlfriend—to see us.
I stupidly said, ‘She’s here?’ and he turned around to point her out.
She and her new boyfriend were dancing and pushing the limits of public indecency big-time.
JT saw it and flipped his lid. He grabbed the other guy’s arm to pull him away from Cassie. ”
“Let me guess. They got into a fight,” Rafe said.
Keeley nodded. “Both guys were wasted and out for blood. JT shoved the other guy really hard, and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I twisted my ankle and went down on my ass. My phone, as you saw, got smashed. I felt it crack and pulled it out to look at it. I think that’s when the credit card fell out of my pocket.
From there, the dominoes just kept falling.
I heard police sirens outside, so I ran to the ladies’ room. ”
“Why?” Gio asked.
Keeley twisted to give him a “seriously” look.
“Because Kayden’s on the force and there was no way one of the cops wouldn’t recognize me and call him.
I told you on the phone, Gio. He’s leaving for Vermont at dawn, and I was afraid…
Well, I was afraid he’d cancel his trip.
This is the first time he’s taken a break just for himself since Mom and Dad died.
He deserves this vacation. More than that, he needs it.
I would hate myself if I screwed it up.”
“So you hid from the cops,” Rafe said.
“Yes. When the coast was clear, I came out and heard the bartender yell out for last call. JT and the other guy had obviously been carted off to the drunk tank, which meant there was no way I was getting my purse out of his car, which meant no apartment key. Which pisses me off because it’s my favorite purse. ”
“The one that was your mother’s?” Rafe asked.
“Yeah.” Keeley was clearly surprised and touched that Rafe had remembered that fact.
“I planned to get the bartender to call me a cab, since I couldn’t use the Uber app on my defunct phone.
That was when I discovered my credit card was missing.
The bouncer saw me looking for it and helped.
When I told him I was stranded, with no money, phone, or key, he let me use his phone so I could call for someone to pick me up. ”
“Why me? Not Liza?” Gio asked.
Keeley laughed softly, the first chuckle of the night, and Gio decided that making her talk about what happened was probably helping her.
Because she was becoming more animated, more like herself as she continued.
Keeley was a born storyteller, and as the emotions surrounding this evening faded, he suspected her retellings would become more entertaining as she embellished it.
“Liza got a new phone a few months ago with a new number. I put it in my contacts and that was it. Same with pretty much everyone’s number. The only ones I have memorized are Kayden’s and yours.”
Gio chuckled. “Told you it was a great number.”
Gio had landed an awesome phone number, and he’d bragged about the last four digits quite a lot after he first got it.
“Nineteen sixty-nine,” Keeley muttered. “All I can remember is you saying, ‘great year, great position.’ Stupid number is stuck in my head.”
“And it’s a good thing too.”
She lifted one shoulder. “I guess. I feel like an idiot. What’s that saying? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? JT got me…twice.”
“That’s on him, little one,” Gio said. “Not you.”
“Yeah, well.” Those two words were loaded with disappointment. Keeley was usually pretty good at shrugging off bad dates, but this one had gotten her down.