Page 64 of Reckless

Grow a pair, Cole.

We sent each other profanity for a few more minutes. Then I sent him one final text.

Me: I’ll do it.

Ignoring Lucas’s messages, I called my new friend Kieran. It was a first. He usually just found me here. I rarely spend time anywhere else besides my apartment. The kid answered on the first signal.

“Someone died already?”

“Something like that. My sister’s getting married. Remember?”

I might have told him about my sisters. He might have told me about his siblings. It wasn’t a big deal.

“And how is that concerning me?”

“I have to attend a bachelor party. And the wedding. These things usually happen on the weekends.”

“Asking for favors already?”

“Well, I may extend the favor into an invitation, if you are up for a little trip to California.”

Kieran remained silent for a few beats, then he answered.

“You really have no idea what you got yourself into.”

Chapter Twenty

Hannah

Iboardedaneveningflight to California on Friday, praying that Tyler wouldn’t. Him agreeing to be the best man surprised everyone and made me proud in a way it shouldn’t have. But being proud of him didn’t mean I was ready to face him again. Luckily for me, the plane took off and Tyler was nowhere to be seen.

We landed in the middle of the night. Just as I expected, my father didn’t bother to start the conversation he promised we would have, and I didn’t do it either.

The next morning, we gathered at Clem’s. Madison was the only one missing. She texted she would meet us at the villa and asked for the address. I gave it to her along with the code she had to enter to open the front door.

I knew two of the girls who were coming to the villa. They worked with Clem at the bakery she opened about a year ago. There was a slightly older woman I didn’t know. She turned out to be the wife of one of Lucas’s colleagues.

The groom to be helped us load the luggage in the cars. He seemed contemplative.

“Relax, Cole,” I patted him on the back and leaned closer. I assumed the girls knew about the baby, but I wasn’t sure. “She’s pregnant, not dying.”

“I know.”

“You don’t look like it.” And then because the curiosity was killing me, I asked. “What are you guys doing tonight?”

“I don’t know. Tyler canceled everything I had planned. He is in charge now.”

“I would be scared if I was you.”

Lucas shrugged. “As long as he doesn’t fly us out to another state, I am okay.”

Not that I could share it with Lucas, but I personally preferred them in another state. Maybe visit Chase at his training camp, wherever the hell that was. They could return after I boarded a plane back to Boston.

At noon, we arrived at Amanda Reed’s villa. The pictures I had seen didn’t do justice to the enormous mansion.

I had ordered lunch in advance, so by the time we looked around and each of us picked a bedroom, the food arrived. We were just lying around by the pool like lazy cats in the sun, when Madison stormed in, looking furious.

“This place is a like a maze,” she complained.

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