Chapter 13
thirteen
. . .
Sadie
We'd finally pulled ourselves out of bed long enough to order a pizza for lunch.
Starting something with Colin Wilde was the last thing I needed right now, and at the same time, I was glad to have someone at a time when I was feeling incredibly alone.
At the moment it felt like the whole world was out to get me.
Colin was my safe space. He was easygoing, kind and badass all wrapped up in a hot package. A combo that was not easy to find.
Colin answered the door for the pizza. The apartment instantly smelled like an Italian deli. I breathed deeply. "I'm so damn hungry. I forgot how many calories really good sex burns."
He paused and looked at me. "Really good?"
"Sorry, phenomenal. Will that do?"
"It works." He placed the pizza on the table. "I'll get plates."
"Sure thing, little Miss Etiquette. I'll take mine naked. No plate needed." I picked up a slice and instantly regretted it. I tossed it back and forth on my palms. "What kind of joint is this? Can't a girl get a plate?"
Colin chuckled as he strolled into the kitchen. He was shirtless, in jeans and bare feet. I noticed a few lines on his back that were old scars. He sat back down with the plates.
I stared at him. "Ace mentioned that your dad was quite the character and that your mom moved back to Ireland when you were young."
"That about sums up my sordid history and 'quite the character' are words you use for Mickey Mouse or a circus clown.
My dad was a character but more like the sinister bad guy who never stops showing up in a scary movie.
He's better now, in his old age, but he was a tough bastard and not a stellar dad.
I have to say he's much better at being a granddad, though Rio, his granddaughter, makes that easy.
She also has him wrapped around her finger. "
"Those scars on your back?" I started and then regretted it when his face dropped and he became hyper interested in his pizza.
"Like I said—the sinister bad guy in the scary movie.
We didn't make it easy either. My brothers and I weren't exactly angels, if you know what I mean.
He let us run wild. Most of the time he didn't pay attention to what we were up to, but when something was off or going badly in his life, he'd take it out on us.
It was chaotic and unstable, but somehow, we all grew up and managed to become functioning adults. "
"Well done. My dad wasn't chaotic or abusive or sinister.
He was and is controlling, and he was disappointed that I was born a girl.
His first three were sons, and in his mind that was how it should be, all sons.
Sometimes the only girl gets treated special like a princess, but I was supposed to mold my personality to be more like my brothers. "
Colin's phone rang. He glanced at the screen. "Speaking of your brother."
"Shit, he's probably looking for me. I turned off my phone because, well you can probably figure that out."
"Your call. Do I answer it?" Colin asked.
"Go ahead. Makes no difference to me."
"Hey, Ace, what's up?"
"Have you seen Sadie? Her car is out on the road. Someone slashed her tires, and no one has heard from her." Ace was talking loudly enough through the phone for me to hear what he was saying.
Colin mouthed the words, "he's upset" to me. "Uh yeah, she's right here. I saw her walking down the road and—"
"What the fuck is she doing with you? I thought I told you—"
"You were worried, and I just told you she's here and she's fine." Colin shook his head and rolled his eyes.
I shoved the crust into my mouth to make myself a crust smile. He held back a laugh.
"I'm going to swing by your place and pick her up. My parents are freaking out. They got some weird message in the mail, like one of those crazy magazine cut-out ransom notes. Just says 'we need it back now or else.' My dad wants her home." They'd found my parents. Fuck.
Colin looked questioningly at me. I shook my head and grabbed the phone. "I don't need to go home. Tell them I'll take care of this."
"What the fuck are you doing with Wilde?" Ace asked.
"Oh, there goes all that brotherly concern right out the window. He saw me walking along the road because yes, someone slashed my tires. Colin came to my rescue. And we're sitting here eating pizza. I hope that's not too scandalous for you."
"Well, I know that guy, and if there's one thing he knows how to do better than snowboarding, it's getting into girls' panties."
"Yuck, I'm not talking about this with you."
"You've already fucked him, haven't you?"
I hung up and handed the phone to Colin. "Don't know what happened there. Bad connection I guess."
Ace called right back. Colin grabbed the phone before I could. "What?" Colin asked angrily.
"You are dead meat, my friend, and tell her to get her ass home now." This time Ace hung up.
"His threats are hollow," I assured Colin.
Colin tilted his head at me. "You think I'm afraid of your brother? At least not physically. I can whoop his ass in my sleep."
"But?"
"But he has way more clout than me on the team right now. He won the last big contest."
"Yeah, I was there."
Colin lowered the pizza slice he was holding. "You were there?"
"I was on assignment for that stupid online sports magazine. I got some great shots of Ace, but I never handed them over because I didn't feel the need to glorify my brother any more in our family. My dad brags about him to everyone."
"So, you were there when—" Colin started.
I scrunched up my face. "That was not a pretty fall. Yeah, I was there. I got a shot of that, too, but I'm sure you don't want to see it."
He seemed to be contemplating the idea. "Yeah, maybe not. Already haunted by the whole fucking thing. I can give you a ride to your parents' house if you need. Maybe you should talk to them."
I was shaking my head before he finished.
"There's no talking to them. They'll talk at me, then I'll be lectured until my head is ready to explode, then I'll stomp out angrily and my dad will stand in the driveway and yell 'you come back here, young lady, we're not finished.
' Same script for every one of our talks. "
Colin chuckled. "Guess I could script every talk with my dad, too. What are you going to do about the photo? You know the one that I have no idea about except that it exists and some goons tried to kidnap you to get it."
I sat back feeling exhausted from the whole damn thing. "I still can't believe it's gone this far."
Colin was chewing a bite. It looked as if he had something on his mind.
"Go ahead. Spit it out." I put up my hand. "Not the food. I mean the question that seems stuck in your mouth." I smiled flirtatiously at him. "Your very talented mouth, I might add."
His smile, like the rest of him, was to die for. "I was just wondering what could be on that film. Were you witness to a murder?"
"Shit, you'd think that was the case." I shook red pepper flakes onto my next slice. "It was definitely not murder."
"Definitely not murder." Colin got up and grabbed two beers from the refrigerator. He handed me one. "The way you said that, I'm thinking the opposite of murder." His eyes rounded. "You caught Gregor screwing someone's wife. Was it Buck's wife? Wait, does he have a wife? I think he has one."
I'd put far too much pepper on the pizza and immediately had to guzzle the beer to cool the heat. I set the bottle down with a satisfied sigh. "I won't say any more because you are getting warmer. Shit, I guess that's the same thing as saying more."
Colin clapped once in victory. "Getting warmer. So, this has to do with sex but not Buck's wife. Or was it the other way around? No, I know Buck isn't married. His last girlfriend made sure it was a very public nasty breakup. Were they having sex? Gregor and Buck's girlfriend?"
"No, it wasn't with her."
"But it was with someone." Colin's eyes rolled up to the ceiling.
"But who? I'm not enough into their social world or into their worlds at all to know what sex partner would cause a scandal.
" He laughed. "Unless it was Gregor going down on Buck.
" He laughed again and then realized I wasn't laughing.
I stared back at him.
Colin's feet stomped the ground as he sat forward and smacked the table. "You're shitting me. Gregor and Buck?"
I reached over and took his hand and gave him my best pleading look. "You can't tell anyone, Colin, please. It can't get out. I'm keeping the photo somewhere secure."
"It could make you famous and a fortune all at once, Sadie."
"It would also ruin some lives, and that is my conundrum.
I've been chasing that earth-shattering, viral photo my whole career.
I could finally show my dad that my photography isn't just some frivolous, silly hobby.
And now I have it, and it's a good one. It's full of raw emotion and passion, and it's between two men whose entire lives circle around their incredible masculinity, their unbeatable strength and virility. "
"Makes sense now. Shit, Sadie, that's a big deal. But you're in danger. Do you really think it'll be worth it? Sounds like your main goal is to show your old man that you're good at this."
So far, this man was perfect in many ways, but he did occasionally manage to say exactly the wrong thing at the exact wrong time. "I think I should probably head out." I stood, picked up my plate and put it in the sink.