Page 2 of After All

“Lauren Bennett drinks hazelnut in her coffee,” Kyle said to Derek. “And I think she could kick your ass. With heels on.”

Scott nodded. “That’s a good point. I wouldn’t base toughness on creamer preference.”

Derek glanced around, as if making sure no girls had overheard him. He located the security camera over the ATM and said loudly, “I apologize. That was a stupid thing to say.”

Kyle and Scott laughed.

“So what is this big news that I don’t know?” Scott asked. Hell, he had time. Until his radio squawked, he didn’t have anywhere specific to be. If Kyle didn’t have patients waiting and Derek didn’t have to be at the bar, it was fine with him if they shot the shit for a while.

“Peyton’s fancy girls’ weekend,” Kyle said, suddenly looking very smug and nearly giddy with being able to tell what he knew.

Scott frowned. Peyton had a girls’ weekend almost every weekend. The girl simply didn’t know how to stay home. Of course, he suspected that she pretty much hated being alone. She usually had someone to lay low with—her half-sister Hope, her friend Heather, her friend Tess, her friend Lucy, her friend Brooke. Peyton had a lot of friends. Nearly every woman her age—and even a few several years older—were drawn to her fun, what-the-hell attitude and her penchant for turning anything into a party.

Then again, Hope, Tess and Brooke all had their guys now and probably liked to stay in a lot more—without Peyton—than before. That left Heather.

But at least it was agirls’weekend. The ones that involved guys meant Scott had to buy more Rolaids. And beer.

“And her blind date,” Derek added.

And Rolaids and beer it was.Fuck.

Peyton didn’t want a relationship with Scott. She didn’t want a relationship with anyone. She did, however, want sex with Scott. And since he wasn’t putting out—in a gut-wrenching, dick-torturing effort to show her that he was willing to wait for more—she went out with other guys.

Not as much as she had when he’d first moved back to town. But also more than never.

Scott took another swallow of coffee and tried to decide how to react to this. Kyle and Derek knew how he felt about her, so it wasn’t like it would shock them if he reacted badly. Like throwing hot coffee across the Stop, for instance. But since he, Kyle and Derek weren’t the only people in the shop, that would also get spread around town like dried-up leaves in the wind, and there was no need for the good people of Sapphire Falls to think their cop had anger issues.

Because he didn’t. He had frustration issues.

He had Peyton issues.

“How do you know this?” he asked Kyle.

“She and Heather were in here just a few minutes ago. They were stocking up on road-trip food and talking about it,” Kyle said.

“Road-trip food?” Scott asked.

Derek grinned. “That’s probably the best part of the story.”

Scott straightened. “Tell. It.” He used his best don’t-fuck-with-me voice. Of course, the three people it didnotwork on were these two, and the woman they were discussing.

“Girls’ weekend is in—”

“Oh, let me tell it,” Kyle interrupted. “You get ready to catch the brain tissue that comes exploding out of his head.”

“No fucking way,” Derek said. “You’re the doctor,youdo the brain tissue clean up.”

“But I think—”

Scott threw his cup into the wastebasket as he stalked up to the counter. “Gus, where are Peyton and Heather heading?” he asked the eighty-something, best hot-fudge-sundae maker in town behind the counter.

“Baltimore,” the older man said.

Scott started to turn to his friends to point out how easy that had been when the word actually fully sank in. He twisted back to Gus. “Baltimore?”

Gus nodded.

“Is there a Baltimore, Nebraska, that I don’t know about?” Scott asked, already feeling the pounding between his eyes. Peyton caused the blood to pound in his skull as easily as she caused the pounding of blood behind his zipper.

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