Chapter 17
In the morning, as he drove Jordan home, Mason got a text from Dermot letting him know that the “missing” boaters had ended up in Martha’s Vineyard without letting anyone know their plans and were safe.
“Does that happen a lot?” Jordan asked him after reading the text to him.
“More often than you’d expect. People don’t think. They take off on boats, let cell phones go dead and get sidetracked while loved ones are frantically looking for them.”
“Not to mention the first responders who have to risk their lives searching.”
“Not to mention. I also got a text this morning that the guy in the car accident had a heart attack, but they got him back. He’s in critical condition, but they expect him to recover.”
“That’s good news.”
“Yes, it is. He got lucky.” Mason reached for her hand. “Last night was awesome. I had the best time.”
“Me, too. Thanks for having me over to visit.”
“My pleasure,” he said with a dirty grin. “Can you come out to play again tonight?”
“Let me check my busy schedule.” She paused, tapped her chin and said, “Looks like I can.”
“Excellent. I’ll pick you up after work.”
“Or I could borrow my sister’s car, hit the grocery store, go to your place and make you dinner while you’re working.”
“Yes, please.”
“You’re sure that’s okay?”
“I’m absolutely positive that’s more than okay. There’s a key under the flower pot on the porch.”
“I promise I won’t snoop.”
“Snoop away. I have no secrets.” He took the turn into the Eastward Look driveway. “Sorry to have to stop, drop and roll, but the boss can’t be late, or he takes a ton of abuse from the troops.”
“No worries. I’ll see you later?”
“Yes, you will. I’ll text you when I have an idea of what time I’ll be free.”
“Have a good day, dear.”
Mason leaned across the console to kiss her. “You, too.”
Jordan got out and waved him off before heading inside. Even though she’d been coming to this house all her life and thought of it as home, she still felt weird walking into what had become Nikki and Riley’s home. “Put your clothes on,” she called out. “The buzzkill is home.”
In a scene too adorable for words, the lovebirds were seated next to each other at the breakfast table, the Gansett Gazette spread open as they drank coffee and read the paper.
“Did you give her permission to stay out all night?” Riley asked Nikki.
“I did not, and I think we need to ground her.”
“Agreed. No boys for a week, young lady.”
Jordan rolled her eyes at them and went to help herself to some of their coffee. “Spoken like the upstairs rabbits who make the bed squeak every night.”
“We do not!” Nikki sputtered.
“Ah, yeah, we do, love.”
“Shut up, Riley.”
Jordan glanced at them over the rim of her mug. “I’ve got you fighting. My work here is finished.”
“Get over here and tell us everything about where you’ve been, who you were doing.”
“Riley!”
Jordan nearly choked on a sip of coffee. Her future brother-in-law was cute and funny. As she slid onto the bench across from them at the table Nikki had refinished, she gave Riley a pointed look. “None of your business.”
“As long as you’re living under my roof, young lady—”
Jordan looked to Nikki for help. “Will you please do something about him?”
“I’ve been waiting years to use my father’s best lines,” Riley said. “Let me have my fun, will you?”
“Did you have fun?” Nikki asked.
“Uh-huh.” If she’d had any more fun, she might never have walked straight again.
Nikki was about to say something when her phone chimed with a text that had her knitting her eyebrows.
“What?” Riley asked. “Work trouble already?”
“No,” Nik said as she typed a response. Her terse reply and the continued furrow of her brows put Jordan on edge.
“What’s wrong?”
Nikki put down her phone and looked at Jordan. “He is out of rehab and wants to know where you are.”
Jordan’s stomach dropped and took her good mood down with it. “He texted you?” Nikki was the last person Brendan would ever text—and that was before the altercation in Charlotte.
“No, Davy did. He said the only thing he wants is to see you, and Davy asked me to tell him where you are.”
“I hope you told him to fuck off.”
“In so many words. We can get a restraining order.”
Jordan shook her head. She wanted nothing to do with him, even to request the protective order, news of which would be all over Twitter before the ink dried.
“I don’t want that. It would bring attention I don’t need.
” Not when things had finally died down and she was enjoying spending time with Mason.
She didn’t want anything to ruin that, especially not the soon-to-be ex-husband who had hurt her so badly.
“Tell Davy to pass this along to him. You ready?”
“Ready.”
“This is coming directly from Jordan. She has nothing to say to him now or ever. Now that he’s out of rehab, he’ll be receiving divorce papers.
She suggests he sign them to end this once and for all.
If he tries to contact her in any way, she won’t hesitate to call the police. It’s over. Put over in all caps.”
“Got it. Send?”
“Send it.”
“Done.” Nikki put down the phone and reached across the table for Jordan’s hand. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” Jordan refused to be anything other than fine. “How are you?” She was also tired of being the center of attention all the time.
“Seeing you stand up to him makes me very proud of you.”
“Don’t be proud of me. I should’ve done it a long time ago. I need to call Gigi and let her know he’s out so she can get him served. It’s time to end this nightmare.”
“Let us know if we can do anything, Jordan.” Riley put his hand on top of Nikki’s. “And for what it’s worth, I’m proud of you, too.”
“It’s worth a lot. Thanks, guys.” Jordan got up, put her mug in the dishwasher and headed upstairs to plug her dead cell phone into the charger.
As soon as it had enough of a charge to turn it on, she found a text from Davy asking her to call him.
Jordan was disappointed that Davy was still working with Brendan.
He’d said he was through with him after Charlotte.
Ignoring his text, she instead called Gigi, even though it was crazy-early in LA. She tried to ignore the low hum of tension that had every muscle in her body on alert for imminent danger. That was Brendan’s legacy. He’d made her afraid, and she was done being afraid of him—and his legacy.
“Wake up,” she said when Gigi grunted into the phone.
“Girl, someone had better be dead.”
“He’s out of rehab.”
“How do you know?” Gigi asked, now sounding wide awake.
“Davy texted me and Nik. He wants to know where I am.”
“Did Davy say where he is?”
“No.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll find out and have him served immediately. Should I also file for a restraining order?”
“If you do, it’ll be all over the internet that I’m playing hardball with him. I don’t need his crazies coming after me again. Once was more than enough.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass about his crazies. The only thing that matters is keeping you safe.”
“I’m perfectly fine here. He has no idea how to find me, because he would never come with me when I came here. I doubt it would even occur to him that I’m here.”
“That island is a postage stamp, J. If he wants to find you there, he will. How about we get back the security your grandmother hired?”
“No security. I’ll lie low until it blows over. Just get him served so we can be done with this.”
“I can’t promise that his camp will keep it quiet that we’ve served him.”
“I’ll deal with that when it happens.”
“Okay, I’m on it. We’ll get this done ASAP, if I have to hunt down his skinny ass myself.”
“Don’t do that. He knows what you mean to me. Please don’t risk yourself on my account. I wouldn’t be able to take it if something happened to you.”
“Girlfriend, I could kick his ass if I had to. Don’t you worry about me.”
“Just hearing his name makes me feel sick.”
“I know. Leave it to me. We’ll dispose of him like the trash he is.”
“Thanks, G. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Stay strong. We got this. I’ll call you when I have news.”
Seconds after she ended the call with Gigi, her phone rang. Seeing her grandmother’s name on the caller ID, Jordan took the call. “Hi there.”
“I saw on the news that he’s left rehab.”
“I know. Davy texted me and Nik to find out where I am.”
“Oh Lord. You guys didn’t tell him, did you?”
“Hell no. Nik told him for me that I want nothing to do with him and that he should sign the divorce papers he’ll be served with imminently.”
“Good for you, sweetheart. That’s the way. I want you to have security for the next few weeks. Just until things die down again.”
“No, I don’t want them. I’m on Gansett. I’ll be perfectly fine. You know how it is here. People don’t even lock their doors. And he declined every time I asked him to come here with me, so he has no idea where the house is or how to find me.”
“All that’s true, love, but you know how crazy his fans can be and that they blame you for his issues.” Evelyn took a deep breath and released it. “Please let me send them back to you.”
“I’m doing really well, Gran. Things are good. Better than good, actually. Everything is okay. Gigi is going to make him go away, and I have faith in her.”
“You’re sure about this?” Evelyn asked, sounding resigned now.
“I am. I promise it’ll be okay.”
“I’m coming there next weekend to see you girls.”
“We can’t wait to see you. It’s been too long.”
“Yes, it has. So things are better than good, huh? What’s up with that?”
“I met someone.” Jordan told her about Mason, leaving out the part about the fire and the near-death experience, since Evelyn would worry if she knew those things.
She and Nikki had agreed to keep the details from their grandmother, since the repairs would be made before she arrived.
“He’s really cute and funny, and I like being with him. ”
“This is wonderful news, sweetheart. Perhaps the best news I’ve ever heard.”
“I’m trying not to get too excited about it.”
“Why not?”