Chapter 30
Finn found himself oddly emotional, listening to the tributes to his cousin, who had, indeed, been to hell and back while married to his first wife, Courtney.
Quite some time after they were married, Shane had learned that she was a drug addict.
He’d gotten her through rehab only to receive divorce papers for his troubles.
For a while, they hadn’t been sure that Shane would ever get over the way his marriage had ended.
But he’d come to Gansett to help Laura with the renovations to the Sand & Surf, had met Katie and had rebuilt his shattered life.
And then, over the winter, Courtney had overdosed and died, breaking Shane’s heart all over again.
“Thanks, everyone,” Shane said, understated as always. He was, by far, the quietest and most contained of the McCarthy cousins.
“We’re not finished yet,” Owen said. “It’s the best man’s turn.”
“Now you’re in trouble,” Adam said.
Owen ignored the razzing to focus on Shane.
“You guys all know what my family and I went through at the hands of my dad growing up. I never would’ve survived it without Katie and Julia, who were right there with me through the worst of it as we protected our younger siblings and ran interference for them with our dad.
I’ve always known that someday, I’d have to let them go, and I hoped that when the time came, I’d be able to be somewhat graceful about it and refrain from throat-punching any guy who dared to even look at them. ”
“Jesus,” Mac muttered. “He’s worse than I am.”
“No one is worse than you are,” Evan said.
“No one,” Grant added.
Mac raised his middle finger and directed it at his brothers.
“As I was saying,” Owen continued, giving Mac a pointed look, “the thought of either of them falling in love and getting married was almost too much for me to bear. Until Katie met Shane and showed me that when it’s the right guy, there’s no need for me to throat-punch him.”
“Gee, thanks,” Shane said, rubbing his throat while trying not to laugh.
“You’re welcome,” Owen said, super serious.
Another ripple of laughter went through the group.
“I absolutely love that Laura’s little brother is marrying my little sister and that our kids will be double cousins and that the four of us will take this journey together. I love you like a brother, Shane, and I just ask you to take good care of my Katie. She’s the absolute best.”
Shane’s eyes were bright with unshed tears as he hugged Owen and said something that only Owen could hear.
Owen nodded and patted Shane on the back.
“Can we drink now?” Mac asked.
“Don’t let me stop you,” Shane said. “And, um, thanks, everyone, for coming out tonight and for all the good wishes. Katie and I are excited for the wedding and for everything else.”
“Especially the wedding night,” Evan said, “which is the whole point of the wedding.”
“Dad, will you please do something about him?” Grant said.
“Sorry,” Big Mac said, “he’s a lost cause.”
Evan beamed with pleasure. “Yes, I am. Now, about the wedding night—”
“Shut up, Evan,” the others said in a loud chorus.
Joe Cantrell came in through the wide garage doors. “What’s he saying now?”
“It’s not worth repeating.” Mac handed Joe a beer. “Good of you to join us.”
“I had the last run from the mainland.” As the owner of the Gansett Island Ferry Company, Joe often filled in as needed.
“Thanks for coming,” Shane said.
“Wouldn’t have missed it. But, um, listen, I think we might have a very small problem.”
Everyone gave Joe their full attention.
“What kind of problem?” Big Mac asked.
“The stripper kind.”
“Oh no,” Mac said. “I’m not falling for that nonsense again.”
“This could be legit,” Joe said. “I saw them. They were on the boat just now.”
After a long silence, Blaine spoke first. “You saw actual male strippers on the ferry.”
“Yes.”
“How do you know they were strippers?” Evan asked.
Joe gave him a withering look.
“What? It’s a legit question! I assume you don’t have a ton of experience identifying male strippers. Although, I could be wrong about that…”
“Shut the fuck up, will you? I’ve never seen a male stripper in my life except for on TV and in movies, but there were eight guys on the boat in cowboy hats and chaps and not much else.
Caused quite a stir with the women in the office who sold them their tickets.
There was actual screaming when they turned to walk away, because their ass cheeks were out and proud. ”
“Oh my God,” Mac said, his face purple with rage. “And they’re headed to my house. Let’s go, boys.”
Big Mac stood in the doorway and held up his hand. “Before you run off half-cocked, may I remind you of what happened in Anguilla when you thought it was a good idea to steal their clothes while they were skinny-dipping?”
“That was different, Dad,” Mac said through gritted teeth. “That was a prank. This is actual half-naked men going to my house where my wife and children live to do God knows what.”
“Um, actually,” Joe said, “it’s more like three-quarters naked.”
Mac charged forward.
His father stopped him with his hand on Mac’s chest. “Take a minute and think before you act.”
“I don’t want to take a minute. I want to get to my wife before a band of naked cowboys arrives at my house.”
“I agree with him,” Blaine said. “This is not happening.”
Big Mac kept his gaze fixed on Mac. “Why do you care if a band of naked cowboys is at your house?”
“Why do I care? Are you really asking me that?”
“Yeah, I guess I am. Are you afraid your pregnant wife is going to take off with a naked cowboy and leave you and her three other children to fend for yourselves?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the problem? It’s harmless fun.”
“And you don’t care if your wife is drooling over a naked cowboy?”
“Nope, because at the end of the night, she’ll come home to me and tell me all about it.” Big Mac’s eyes sparkled with delight as he leaned in closer to his son. “And she might even drool a little over me.”
“The old man does have a bit of a point,” Grant said, “even if the thought of Mom drooling over him is disgusting.”
“Nothing disgusting about it, my friend,” Big Mac said with a dirty grin.
“He does not have a point,” Mac replied, seething.
“Ah, yeah, he does,” Adam said. “The last time we followed you into battle, I didn’t get any for a month. Abby was seriously pissed.”
The other guys nodded.
“Maddie was so pissed, she nearly broke your arm marching you off the beach,” Grant said to Mac. “You sure you want to go there again?”
“They’re probably taking bets on which one of us is going to come busting in first,” Shane said. “They’re evil that way.”
Finn glanced at Riley, wondering what his brother thought.
Riley shrugged, but his eyes were wide with dismay, probably because Nikki was at the party.
Quinn and Jared James approached the garage door, stopping when they seemed to realize they were interrupting something.
“What’s going on?” Quinn, who was engaged to Big Mac’s daughter Mallory, glanced between the two Macs.
“Word on the street is that there’s gonna be strippers at the bachelorette party,” Owen said.
“Didn’t you guys already fall for that once before?” Jared asked.
“Saw them with my own eyes,” Joe said, grimacing. “Need a brain scrub.”
“You don’t say.” Quinn chuckled.
“There is nothing funny about this,” Mac said, glaring at Quinn.
Owen stepped forward. “If I know my sister Julia, and I know her as well as I know anyone, the strippers are legit and they’re probably as dirty as it gets.”
“That’s it,” Mac said. “No more dicking around. I’m going over there.”
Realizing he was fighting a losing battle, Big Mac sighed, dropped his arm and stepped back to clear the way for Mac to leave.
“Who’s coming with me?” Mac asked.
“I am,” Blaine said.
“No way am I missing this,” Deacon said, chasing after Mac and Blaine.
“Mac’s apt to get himself killed if he gets between the women and their strippers,” Finn said to Riley.
“Yeah, it could get ugly. Let’s go keep an eye on him.”
“Hold our beers,” Finn said to the others. “We’ve got this.”
“Oh Jesus,” Kevin said. “The babies are in charge.”
He and Riley chased after Mac, Blaine and Deacon, managing to jump into the bed of Mac’s truck in the second before he peeled out of the parking lot and gunned it for home.
Riley grasped the side of the bed for something to hold on to. “He’s gonna get us killed.”
“No shit,” Finn said, white-knuckling it.
After a swift and perilous ride to Mac’s house, Finn and Riley were more than ready to get the hell out of that truck bed.
“Christ on a stick,” Riley said to Mac. “You’re a lunatic.”
“No one asked you to jump in the back.”
“Someone has to keep you guys from doing something stupid,” Finn said.
“So the babies decided to be our keepers?” Mac shot the comment over his shoulder as he made for the stairs to the back deck.
Riley, Finn and Deacon followed Mac and Blaine up the stairs.
The first thing Finn heard was the music—loud, wild and twangy.
Oh shit, they were too late. For the rest of his life, he’d never forget the sight that greeted them in Mac’s living room: buff cowboys in chaps, gyrating, and the women who were also gyrating, laughing and screaming.
Was Katie getting a lap dance? For the first time ever, Finn wished he was blind.
“Oh. My. God.” Riley’s words summed things up rather well.
“Mom is the winner!” Janey screamed. “Mac was first again!”
Blaine went over to shut off the music, and the stunned silence that followed seemed to get the attention of the women who hadn’t noticed the arrival of the men.
Maddie spoke first. “Uh. Oh.”
“Show’s over, boys.” Blaine flashed his badge. “Get out. Right now.”
“The show is not over, boys.” With her eyes flashing with anger, Tiffany went to her husband, placed her hand on his chest and walked him backward. “Move it, buster. Don’t you dare come in here flashing that badge when we are having innocent fun.”
“There is nothing innocent about naked men flashing their junk in your face!”
“They are not flashing their junk, and if you want me to ever look at your junk again, you will get out of here! Now!”
For a long, charged moment, no one moved or even seemed to breathe.
Until Blaine blinked and the fight seemed to go out of him. “Tiffany…”
“Leave, Blaine. Right now.”
“I’m not leaving,” Mac said. “I live here.”
“You won’t live here anymore if you don’t get the hell out of my party,” Maddie said.
Linda snorted and then quickly tried to cover the fact that she was trying not to laugh.
“This is awesome,” Deacon said. “And here I thought Gansett would be so boring.”
“Shut up and get out,” Blaine said to his brother. “We’re staying outside until they’re gone.”
“Knock yourselves out.” Tiffany flipped the switch on the wireless speaker the strippers had brought. “Now, where were we, ladies?”
Blaine took Mac by the arm and dragged him along as the guys retreated to the deck.
“She can’t kick me out of my own house,” Mac said.
“I think she just did,” Riley said.
“This is fucked up,” Blaine said, pacing the length of the deck as screams of laughter came from inside.
Someone called Finn’s name.
He spun around and was shocked to see Missy standing in Mac’s yard. What the hell was she doing there?
“You got Mac covered?” he asked Riley.
“Ah, yeah, but what’re you doing?”
“Seeing what she wants and getting rid of her—in that order.”
“You should let Blaine deal with it.” Blaine was so consumed by what was happening inside the house that he hadn’t noticed Missy in the yard.
Though Finn agreed with his brother, he decided to see if he could get rid of her without involving cops.
After ten years of friendship, he figured he owed her that much, even if she had become unhinged lately.
He went down the stairs, took her by the arm and directed her away from the house. “What’re you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you. People in town said you might be here.”
“There’s nothing left for us to talk about, Missy. When you came here and basically assaulted me and shoved my girlfriend—”
“I’m your girlfriend! I have been for years!”
“Not anymore. We’re over. I told you that two years ago when I moved out here.”
“And the whole time, you kept texting me and calling me—”
“Because we were friends! But we were not together! You knew that. Don’t even pretend like you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t know! You said you were coming home, and I waited for you! All that time, I waited. You’re not going to just toss me aside like I meant nothing to you.”
“That’s not what I did, and you know it. You know it.”
“This is what I know—you’re going to tell that stupid bitch you’ve been hanging out with that you’re done, and you’re coming home with me because you said you would. You’re going to keep your promises to me, or else.”
Finn regretted not taking Riley’s advice to call Blaine. “Or else what?”
She shocked the ever-loving fuck out of him when she pulled out a switchblade and flipped it open. “Or someone’s going to get hurt.”