Chapter 10
10
Wyatt
“ Y ou got married!” Liam cried. “I’m here to meet my new sister-in-law. Hi Sydney Malloy, I’m Liam Locke and I’m the brother you should have married.”
“Hi Liam,” she said, reaching up to shake his hand. “That’s sweet of you, but I’m happy with the brother I have.”
She got that right.
“Holy shit, you’re shivering,” Liam said, once her hand was in his. “Let’s get you inside and into something warm.”
“I was already doing that,” I grumbled. But after Syd punched in her security code, Liam swept open the sliding glass doors like he was Prince Charming.
We stepped inside the house and the closest thing at hand was the robe Beatrice had brought me. I wrapped Sydney up in the fluffy cotton and she immediately relaxed.
“Syd, this is my brother. Who has about fifteen seconds to explain what he’s doing here.”
“Hey, I saw the interview and figured you might need some support. So here I am, supporting you. Sydney, I’m one of your biggest fans.”
It was absolutely true. Liam was a music buff and didn’t have a snobby bone in his body. He loved all of it, from classical to rap, pop and country. He even knew all the words to Hamilton and Les Miserables . He was the one who introduced me to Sydney’s music.
Showed me the cover for her first album. That torn and dirty white t-shirt, those green eyes.
“I have to say I feel a little under dressed,” Syd said, looking my brother up and down, taking in his outfit. My brother always dressed like a peacock, and today, to meet Sydney, he’d clearly put in some effort. He wore leather sandals, white linen pants and a silk lime green, pink and yellow shirt, that, honest to god, looked like the blanket on Sydney’s couch.
He also wore a hat. A straw fedora and a pair of diamond earrings that probably cost more than the down payment on my loft.
Like how was anyone supposed to take him seriously?
But Sydney was clearly admiring Liam’s fit . My brother used that word so much I had to look it up just to know what he meant.
“Is that Versace?” She asked, touching the sleeve of his shirt.
“You know it,” Liam said. He flexed his arm and winked at me. The jackass.
“Syd, go take a hot shower and change into something warm,” I said, because she was still blue. “This guy will still be here when you’re done.”
“Okay, here, you can take your robe back.” She shucked her robe and handed it to me before she made her way back to her bedroom. I was cold enough that I put the damn thing on.
“Wait, your robe,” Liam commented.
“What? They’re comfortable.”
“Tell me about it, I’ve given you at least three over the years. Which I’ve never seen you wear. Once.”
“Yeah, well, I’m expanding my horizons.” Sydney’s old pipes thunked and the shower turned on. “Now tell me what you’re really doing here.”
Liam took off his fedora and set it on the counter and ran his hands through his hair, sweeping it off his face.
“I don’t know? My brother got married in Vegas? Gave the world’s worst interview? And is being hounded by paps? I figured you might need a save.”
“I don’t need a save,” I said.
“So…is this a real relationship or some publicity stunt? That kiss in the ocean looked pretty real.”
I snarled at him. And my brother, who could read me like a book, appropriately read my snarl as… stop asking so many questions I don’t want to answer.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Liam said, and clapped his big hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. I forgive you.”
“Forgive me for what?” Although I had a fairly good idea of what was coming.
“You know damn well what. Sydney Malloy was my celebrity crush. You stole her from me.”
Liam never had a clue how I’d crushed on her too. Because, fuck it, I didn’t crush on celebrities. That was not something I ever did.
Until her. Until that album with the green eyes that seemed to reach inside me.
“It should have been me at that golf outing,” Liam shook his head. “Lucky for you, I’m an excellent loser.”
“You’re the worst sore loser in the known universe, it’s why you win everything.”
“Oh, that’s right,” he smiled. His face got serious. “Dude, what are you going to do? The shit they’re saying about her…”
“We’re staying married,” I told him.
“What?” His eyebrows arched in what I called the Liam Surprise Face.
“For a while. For the summer, I guess. Just until the press forgets about us and moves on. Syd’s got all this pressure from her label and she’s convinced they’re looking to drop her and this drama we’re in only makes it worse. I’ve got nothing better to do, so I’m going to help her out.”
“You’re going to help her out, by being married to her. Okay, brother.” Liam nodded like everything I said made sense. “Was that what you were doing out there in the ocean? Helping her out?”
I winced. “How bad did it look?”
“Not bad, depending on your point of view, but I know you. You’re not losing your head and forgetting there are about twenty people on the beach taking pictures of you without being into it . If you get my drift.”
“I haven’t been into anything. We’re not complicating this situation with sex.” Even as I repeated the words Syd and I had agreed to, they sounded weak to my own ears. We weren’t two days into this marriage and already I was having a hard time keeping my hands off her.
Liam laughed. “Dude…I saw that kiss. It looked complicated.”
“It was for the paparazzi, to make our relationship look real.”
“Mission accomplished, I’d say. But there are paparazzi around all the time. You gonna spend your days making out? I mean… there are worse things.”
He had no idea. The way Sydney melted into my arms… I could spend days getting her to moan and shake against me. Learning what she liked. What she loved. I wanted to make her come on my fingers. Against my tongue. I wanted to taste every part of her, and she wanted it too.
Stupid rules.
“Yeah. That’s the problem. There are all these people around. What we need is to get away from everyone.”
The bathroom door opened and the smell of freshly showered Sydney filled the bungalow.
“Yes, okay. I’m turning it on now,” Syd walked into the living room in cream sweatpants and an oversized hoodie. Her phone was pressed to her ear and she ignored us as she picked up the remote for the TV that was tucked into the corner of the room. “Yes, Beatrice…. I’m not… but I need to know what he’s saying. Yes, I’ll call you if I need you.”
“What is it?” I asked, fully attuned to her sudden tension.
“Remember when I said John Bernard was a big asshole? He’s proving it right now on Celebrity Truth.”
She clicked over to the right channel and the actor’s face filled the screen. He was handsome in that slick thin way of some actors. Personally, I thought he was overrated and that was before I knew he’d been a jerk to Sydney.
“You’re saying she was cheating on you the whole time you were together?”
It was that red head who had interviewed us. Tricia Yonish. She was the one talking to John Bernard on a flower filled deck overlooking a pool. Probably in his posh LA home.
“Not the whole time. But let’s face it. She said they met while we were still together. And I don’t think anybody buys that they just suddenly got married one night. That’s why I agreed to come on and talk to you. Everyone thought I was the bad guy in our relationship. I was the cheater. Look at poor sweet innocent Sydney Malloy. She wrote a song about me cheating on her while she was with some, some…hockey player!”
“I didn’t write that song about him,” Sydney said, her voice dull. “He wasn’t worth that much thought.”
I took the clicker from her hand and shut off the TV. “You don’t need to watch that crap.”
“He’s going to make everyone believe he’s the victim,” she said, looking up at me with furious green eyes.
“Why the fuck did he say hockey player like that?” Liam asked, standing next to us. “Like being an actor is better than being a hockey player? Fuck that, dude. Bro, let’s find him and mess him up. We’ll show him there are certain advantages to being a hockey player.”
“No beating up my exes,” Sydney said. “Wyatt already agreed.”
“Seriously? Well, I guess that’s what marriage does to you,” Liam lamented. “Makes you soft and want to wear robes and hold hands and shit.”
At his words, I realized I had taken Sydney’s hand while the asshole was talking. She pulled away and I let her go.
“Ironic that John’s the one making the case that our relationship is real,” Sydney said, plopping down on the couch and pulling her knees to her chest. She looked up at Liam. “I’m sorry you got dragged into our drama.”
“I’m not. I fucking love drama,” Liam said, sitting down next to her, with enough space between them that I didn’t have to growl at him. “Plus, it gave me the opportunity to meet you. Now, can we talk about who Faithless is really about, if it’s not him?”
Sydney chuckled.
“We’re leaving,” I announced.
“Cool. We going to dinner or something? I can always eat,” Liam said.
“You guys really can,” Syd agreed.
“No, I mean we should leave here,” I told them as the idea took shape in my head. “Leave all this bullshit behind and go somewhere, where we are completely off anyone’s radar. No more fake kissing for the press to prove something. If we’re out of sight, we’re out of mind. Then in ten weeks we announce our separation, and no one will think twice about it.”
Syd bit down on her bottom lip. A sign she was thinking. “This place is more private than my New York apartment, but I suppose we would be more anonymous in a bigger city.”
I shook my head. “No, when I say out of sight, I mean…Out. Of. Sight.”
“Oh, you want to take her to the cabin,” Liam concluded. He lifted an eyebrow as if to say, you sure that’s a good idea?
The idea was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, we didn’t have to showcase our relationship to anyone watching. On the other hand, it would just be the two of us alone for a prolonged period of time.
And I had to keep my hands off of her. Which was going to be one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
Now that I’d had a taste of her, I only wanted more. I just had to channel some mental strength. No big deal. Once, I’d played three periods of professional hockey on a broken foot. I could keep my hands off my hot beautiful sweet wife. Assuming she did the same, we’d be fine.
“There’s not a lot to do up there,” Liam said.
“That’s not true,” I said. I was always busy at the cabin.
“Chores don’t count,” Liam said. “There are no restaurants or theaters. No bars. No clubs. Shitty Wi-Fi. There are chores and Wyatt.”
My brother had a point, I looked over at Syd curled up on the couch.
“Is that going to be a problem for you?” I asked.
“Beatrice wouldn’t come?”
“The cabin is not really built for three people. It’s only got one bedroom and one bathroom.”
“One bedroom!” Sydney’s eyes got wide. “You mean one bed?”
“Oh, yeah.” Liam clapped his hands together. “Now things are getting juicy. Let me get the popcorn.”
“Grow up, you idiot,” I told Liam. To Syd, I said. “There is only one bedroom, which of course would be yours. I can sleep on the couch. If you want Beatrice to come, then you’ll need to share the bedroom with her.”
Another pull on her bottom lip. “I don’t need Beatrice to come. Other than the America’s Choice Award show in a few weeks, I don’t really have anything that needs planning.”
“I love America’s Choice,” Liam said. “I’m presenting best new artist.”
“You’re joking?” I asked. “Since when?”
“Since they asked.” Liam shrugged, like he just couldn’t help being the best at everything.
“I suppose it would be nice to have some peace and quiet to write.” Sydney said.
“You’ll have plenty of that,” I said.
“We could walk the red carpet together at the ACA’s,” Liam said to Sydney. And I could just see that, the two of them sparkling and beautiful, waving and posing their way down the red carpet. A perfectly matched pair. I hated it.
“No, you can’t. I’m her husband!”
“You’re going to walk a red carpet?” Liam howled.
“If I have to, yes. It’s not hard. You just walk, right?”
Liam leaned toward Syd and whispered in a conspiratorial way. “I’d look better on your arm. Just putting that out there.”
Syd laughed and I tried not to get jealous over it, because Liam was right.
He was the handsome brother. The stylish brother. The brother with more charm in his pinkie than I would ever possess.
When we were growing up, it was my brother’s job to make mom laugh. To calm her down. Try and bring her back to us when the bad times came. He was the jokester. The good time.
I was the responsible one. Logical.
I was the one who got us rides to practice when our parents couldn’t do it. Who made sure Liam got his homework done. I did laundry and filled out our permission slips and got Dad to sign them. I spent years anticipating disaster and throwing myself in front of it.
It’s what made me a good defenseman.
Only I hadn’t seen Syd coming. Not even close.
“The cabin sounds pretty fantastic,” Sydney said. “I’ll go pack. When do you want to leave?”
“Tomorrow is soon enough,” I said. “We can take Liam out to some place fancy tonight. Let everyone see you’re getting close with my family.”
“Real close,” Liam added, putting his arm around Syd’s shoulders.
“Move your arm or I’ll remove it from your body,” I told him.
Slowly Liam pulled his arm back. “I’m only doing this because I am still afraid of you.”
“You have a car?” I asked Syd. If we were going to try and get away from the paps, we didn’t need people tracking what city we were flying to.
She nodded. “You want to drive to Colorado?”
“Road trip!” Liam shouted. “I want to come. We can play games to see who gets to control the music.”
“You’re not invited,” I told him.
“Aw,” he moaned looking genuinely hurt. “But I’m fun.”
“This is our honeymoon. No one brings a brother on a honeymoon.”
“Fair enough. Then let’s eat!” Liam clapped his hands together, having quickly forgotten his disappointment. “I’m starving.”
“Ten minutes ago you said that you could eat. ” Sydney pointed out.
“That’s how quickly it happens,” Liam explained, patting his belly. “I go from, I could eat, to I’m hungry, to I’m starving, to feed me now.”
“Are you ever just not hungry?” she asked.
Liam looked at me and I shook my head. Not in my experience.
“Doesn’t happen,” Liam explained. “It’s a family thing. We have a baseline of I could eat .”
Sydney looked between the two of us like we were a type of person she was unfamiliar with. Maybe we were.
We weren’t jerks. We didn’t trash talk our ex’s on television. That was for sure. Hell, Liam had a long list of ex-lovers who, to this day, still adored him. We didn’t worry about what people said about us in the press. We didn’t have fake relationships. We played hockey. We ate. We made fun of each other.
We might have our quirks, but we were family.
Syd got to her feet, her grin lighting up her whole face. “Okay then. I guess I could eat.”
“That’s the spirit. Welcome to the family, Syd,” Liam said.