A Chance at Love (A Ferry Creek Novel): (a billionaire romance novel) (13 page)

His brother, whom he never met before,
was coming to Ferry Creek.

His life had just gotten very
exciting. The sound of crashing and breaking made Bobby jump up from his chair.
He stormed from the office and looked out into the diner.

He saw Darryl leaning over the
counter, his eyes dazed, coffee spilled everywhere.

Apparently, his morning was going
to keep getting exciting.

Jess had heard the pounding on her
door and thought the small duplex was on fire. The house had been originally
built as a single home, but someone took the time to split it into two smaller
places, which Jess was thankful for, because without it, she
’
d had no place to live. Plus,
living next to Marie Hellinger came with perks. The woman was quiet, kept to
herself, and spent her weekends in Raleigh with her kids and grandkids. Jess
suspected that Marie had a man in Raleigh, but she never asked because it wasn
’
t her business.

Marie never came over to Jess
’
s place with the exception of a
few times when Marie was in the middle of cooking and needed a missing
ingredient. To actually have a neighbor come over for a cup of flour or sugar
was just another fine testament to the true small town feel of Ferry Creek.

The pounding didn
’
t stop until she answered the
door. She had quickly thrown a robe over her body to cover up the spaghetti strap
top with no bra that she always slept in. Last night had been a little warm so
she slid her pajama bottoms off to sleep. She didn
’
t need to answer the door half naked, even if it
was Marie.

Luckily, she did throw some kind of
clothing on because it wasn
’
t
Marie.

It was Darryl. And he looked like
hell.

He backed up and leaned against one
of the pillars of the porch.

“
Hey,
baby,
”
Darryl said with a
smile.

“
What
the hell is wrong with you?
”
Jess asked.
“
It
’
s five o
’
clock in the morning.
”

Upstairs Jess heard her alarm start
to go off. She always set it for a couple minutes after five to make it seem like
she got to sleep past five.

“
Came
to check on you,
”
Darryl
said.

“
You
’
re drunk. Were you out all night?
”

“
All
night,
”
Darryl called out
as he threw his arm like he was playing an air guitar.

“
Let
me get dressed and I
’
ll
take you to the diner with me,
”
Jess told Darryl.
“
I
’
ll get you something to eat and
drink. You need to clean up before you get into trouble.
”

“
I
love trouble,
”
Darryl said.
“
I
’
m a bad boy.
”

“
Stop
shouting,
”
Jess said.

Darryl laughed. The laugh echoed throughout
the silent morning in Ferry Creek.

Marie
’
s
porch light came on and Darryl turned and stumbled down the steps.

Jess watched Darryl as he did so,
feeling her heart twist and pull. She couldn
’
t
stand Darryl anymore but she couldn
’
t
get away from him. She couldn
’
t
just push him away for good. Not now. Not when he was like this. Something ate
at him. She needed to help him.

Marie
’
s
door opened a little and Jess slipped back into her place. She shut the door
and then took the steps two at a time. She turned the alarm off on her phone
and thought about what to do next. She hadn
’
t
heard a motorcycle which meant Darryl was walking. That was safer than riding
drunk, but he could still hurt himself.

With her hands shaking Jess placed
a call to the only person she knew could help.

“
I
’
m sorry to wake you,
”
she said.
“
But Darryl... yeah... he was
just here. I think he
’
s
drunk. Okay. Thanks, Tyler...
”

Jess had managed to get to work on
time and asked Peggie where Bobby was.

“
In
his office,
”
Peggie said.

Jess tried to get there but Peggie
stopped her.

“
What
’
s wrong?
”
Jess asked.

“
He
’
s having a rough morning,
”
Peggie said.
“
Things with his father. This
whole... secret thing.
”

“
What
’
s the secret?
”
Jess asked.

“
I
don
’
t know. But he
’
s in there on the phone I think.
”

“
Damn,
”
Jess said.
“
Listen to me. Darryl was at my
place this morning. He
’
s
unstable right now.
”

“
Was
he ever stable?
”
Peggie
asked and smiled.

“
Stop.
”

“
It
’
s okay,
”
Peggie said.
“
When
we
’
re young, we love the
wild guys, right? Just don
’
t
settle with one. They never settle, why should you.
”

Richie rang the bell for an order
and Peggie moved to get it.

That
’
s
how the morning started for Jess. The diner became packed quickly and she
worked as she normally did, but kept a close eye on the outside. She expected
either Darryl or Tyler to show up. If Darryl showed up, all hell could possibly
break loose. If Tyler showed up, Jess figured it would be him telling her that
Darryl had been taken to jail.

She didn
’
t want to see Darryl end up jail. She knew through
rumors and quick stories from Darryl that his life hadn
’
t been the best lived. Then again, neither had been
Jess
’
s. Her parents had
been overprotective and then left Jess feeling like she had no choice but to
flee when she found out she was pregnant. On top of that, they barely tried to
find her. When they were killed in a car accident, Jess suffered a permanent
hold in her heart for both the loss and the guilt of running away without
saying goodbye.

But that didn
’
t mean Jess went around getting
drunk and causing problems.

Jess did her best to chase away the
thoughts and worries by keeping busy while still keeping a close eye out for
Bobby. She wanted to give him fair warning about Darryl because of the incident
that had already happened in the diner. Jess still wasn
’
t clear on the kind of man Bobby was, and just in
case Bobby wasn
’
t like his
father, the last thing she needed was the lose her job over someone like
Darryl.

She was in the kitchen clearing off
a table
’
s leftover foods,
trying to rinse them and load up a load of dishes before Richie could see. He
’
d take offense and yell at her
to get the hell out of his kitchen. Jess was never sure if Richie was joking or
not. There was always a serious look on face but she figured for a man who had
been through hell and lived, he was allowed to look how he wanted, when he
wanted.

With the crate halfway full of
dishes, Jess had a terrible feeling come over her. She stopped rinsing plates
and walked to the window just in time to see Darryl stumbling his way up the
aisle to the counter.

“
No,
”
she whispered.

She reached into her apron for her
cell phone to call Tyler again. Darryl made it to the counter just as she fell
forward. Jess saw a coffee mug tip and another sail off the counter and land
with a booming thud before it shattered. The sound of plates and mugs breaking
on the tile floors was always much worse than the reality.

That
’
s
when Bobby
’
s office door
opened and he came rushing out. Jess rushed after Bobby with her cell phone in
her hand.

“
Darryl,
”
Bobby growled.
“
You
’
ve got to be kidding me.
”

“
I
’
m calling Tyler,
”
Jess said as she stood behind
Bobby.

She was almost afraid of Darryl at
that point. He was clearly tired or still half drunk. Probably a combination of
the two.

Tyler
’
s
phone rang twice and then Jess saw him standing in the doorway to the diner. He
was in his police uniform and he checked his phone as the scene in front of him
started to make sense. Jess ran from behind the counter as Darryl turned and
reached for her. His fingertips touched her but she ignored him.

“
Don
’
t move,
”
Bobby said from behind Jess, speaking to Darryl.

Tyler had his hands out and arms
open.

“
Whoa,
whoa,
”
he said as Jess
crashed to him.
“
Are you
okay?
”

“
I
don
’
t know what to do,
”
Jess said.
“
He came to my house... then he
came here... something
’
s
wrong.
”

“
Okay,
okay,
”
Tyler said.
“
Calm down. Let
’
s just calm down.
”

Tyler hugged Jess. She hurried to
break the hug because if Darryl saw Tyler hugging her, he would flip out. Tyler
maneuvered himself in front of Jess and approached the counter with care. He
didn
’
t reach for his gun or
cuffs, nothing to cause an even bigger scene.

“
Darryl,
it
’
s Tyler,
”
he said.
“
I need you to step forward and
sit down. We have to talk.
”

“
I
don
’
t want to talk,
”
Darryl said.

“
Then
clean your damn mess up,
”
Peggie said.

She threw a wet rag at his face.

The counter began to chuckle and
Jess
’
s face burned ten
shades of red. Everyone in Ferry Creek knew that she and Darryl were
kind-of-sort-of-not-really a thing. She was embarrassed for herself for picking
the one bad seed in town to have a thing with. She was also embarrassed for
Darryl. He had no idea what was going on or what he was doing.

Tyler slid onto a stool and sat
next to Darryl. He touched Darryl
’
s
back and Darryl threw an elbow.

“
Hey,
”
Tyler said.

He grabbed Darryl
’
s elbow and squeezed. Darryl
winced in pain. It surprised Jess, because she had never seen someone in
control of Darryl. It made Tyler more appealing.

“
Listen
to me,
”
Tyler said.
“
I
’
m
here in uniform. I can arrest your ass right now, Darryl. I don
’
t want to. I
’
m trying to be your friend right
now.
”

“
Friend,
”
Darryl said. He looked at
Tyler.
“
Some friend.
”

"I'm right here if you want to
talk."

Bobby stepped forward and Jess felt
her body tense. Tyler put a hand up and Peggie put a hand to Bobby's shoulder
and squeezed. In the silence between everyone, the conversation was simple -
Bobby,
let Tyler do his thing
.

Obviously frustrated, Bobby turned
and walked down toward the other end of the counter. He grabbed a coffeepot
along the way and began pouring refills, even if the customers didn't ask.

"We can stay right here and
have something to eat, or we can take off and talk," Tyler said.

"You want to talk to me
now," Darryl said. "Now. After years and years..."

"It's not like that,
Darryl," Tyler said. "Come on. Let's go for a walk."

Tyler touched Darryl's back. Darryl
threw another elbow and this time it connected with Tyler's chest. Tyler hadn't
been expecting the move so he stumbled off the stool and fell to his backside.
He quickly put a hand up, letting everyone know he was okay.

Darryl let out a laugh.

Jess bent down to help Tyler and
Darryl shot an arm out at her. When his hand touched her, Jess winced, not sure
what Darryl's intentions were. That's when Tyler came to life in a way she
never saw before.

Tyler somehow jumped up to his feet,
twisted Darryl's arm and slammed Darryl into the counter. Darryl let out a cry
of pain.

"Warned you," Tyler said.

He pulled his cuffs and slapped
them on Darryl's wrists. He held the chain between the cuffs and looked at
Jess.

"I'm sorry about this,"
Tyler said. "This isn't Darryl and this isn't right."

"I'm sorry," Jess said.
"I should have been there for him..."

"No," Tyler said.

"Get him out of here,"
Peggie said from behind the counter. "Enough is enough."

"I'm on it," Tyler said.
"Let's go, Darryl. Time for a walk."