Coming Home to You (The Rockport Beach Series Book 1) (24 page)

“Look at you, missy,” I say, giving her a
quick peck on the cheek. “You look... hot.”

“Thank you,” she says. “Looking quite
lovely yourself,” she adds with a nod. “Basic black always looks good on you.”

“Trying to keep it simple. I don’t want to
distract from the bride, right?” I chose a plain, but still eye catching black
strapless dress.

Erin winks at me and pulls out her phone.
“Pictures for our boys?” she asks, and I smile brightly. Our boys…another step
closer to her admitting she’s into Ryan.

We snap a few selfies before Erin
commissions one of Finn’s deputies to take a few more of us. After she gets her
phone back, she takes a quick shot of her cleavage and I shake my head at her.

She sends them off to Beck and Ryan and
within seconds her phone chimes. Flashing her phone to me, we both laugh at
Ryan’s response to the pictures.

Ryan:
Holy fucking shit. Tell me you aren’t wearing panties under that dress, Red.

Erin:
No panties, no bra.

“You are such a tease,” I say and she gives
me a wicked look.

“He loves it,” she shoots back.

“I’m sure he does.”

Erin’s phone chimes again, but this time it’s
Beck.

Beck:
You ladies look stunning. Give my girl a message for me, tell her she looks
beautiful and I wish I was there.

“And there’s your boy,” she says, grinning
at me. “He’s so sweet.”

“I know, right?”

Erin and I go our separate ways; each one
of us set on making sure everything is perfect. I put Erin in charge of flowers
and the cake, while I’m taking care of the food and making sure everything is
in order for the bride on her big day. It’s pure chaos, but the best kind.

It’s seems that everything has fallen into
place, not a single issue has come up since this wedding began and I finally
collapse in a chair and admire all my hard work. Each table is set with a
stunning arrangement of pale pink roses and small lanterns filled with tea
lights. The paper lanterns strung from the tent are lighting the dance floor
and illuminating the grounds of the inn. It’s all beautiful and all of it was
created by me. Even I’m shocked at the fact that it came together.

 
I exhale hard and close my eyes as Marco
sets two plates down at the table and Erin joins me seconds later. Both of us finally
sitting down and having something to eat.

“God, that was exhausting,” she says,
taking a bite of her chicken. “But you did an amazing job. How’d the interview with
the paper go?”

“Thanks. It did turn out really well, but I
couldn’t have done it without your help,” I smile at her gratefully. “And the
interview went well. Guess they’re gonna run the article next weekend in the
lifestyle section. So we’ll see if it does anything for The Rockport Beach Inn.”

“That’s so cool,” Erin says. “Your parents
would be really proud of you.”

“Thanks, Erin,” I say, fighting back the
tears.

She’s right. I don’t think they would have
ever dreamed The Rockport Beach Inn would be become one of the most talked
about inns outside of Boston, let alone that it would eventually host weddings,
book fishing charters and whale tours, and book up a year in advance. It is
quite shocking even to me and I’m the one who orchestrated it all.

In thinking about it all, I worry that I
might not be able to leave it behind, to take a step back and move to Boston
with Beck. I want to make this work with him more than anything, but I’m not
sure I can give up everything I’ve worked for and not just what I’ve worked
for, but I’m not sure I can give up all my friends and family here, too.

I look over at Erin who has a stupid grin
on her face and her phone in her hand. I know she’s texting Ryan and it makes
me so happy to see that look on her face. She deserves more than anyone to be
happy, especially after all the shit that has happened with her family.

She ended up running away to Rockport, but
I think in moving here, she found her real home and her real family. And now
that she has Ryan in her life, he sort of completes her in ways I never
imagined. He’s good for her.

“You ever see yourself getting married?” I
ask her and she doesn’t answer, continuing to type a message out on her phone.
It takes a couple of seconds and I let her have her time with Ryan. I get it.
It sucks being away from someone especially when it’s so new.

Tossing her phone onto the table, she looks
at me and smiles. “Not until just recently,” she answers with complete
sincerity in her voice.

I should give her shit, but I won’t. I’ve
known Erin a long time and she rarely shares her feelings. This admission is
huge for her, so I just smile at her and hope for the best for her and Ryan.

“How about you?” she asks staring out at
the water, the music softly playing in the background as the wedding draws to a
close.

“Of course. I mean, when I was younger I
was certain I would marry Beck. But you know, things change and for a while I
wasn’t sure I’d ever find someone else. After he left it was really hard
because I felt like our whole future was planned out and he went and ruined it
by leaving.” I stop as I recall all of it. Still fresh in my mind, but somehow
not as painful now that I know I have him back.

“Do you really think he ruined it?” she
asks and I know what she’s getting at.

“I don’t know. Knowing what I know now, I
realize he wouldn’t have been happy being the chief in Rockport, living the
life his dad and his grandpa did. I think we both knew all along that was Finn’s
life, not Beck’s. It was just hard for me to admit it, and even harder for me
to let him go.”

Looking back on all of it, I think I
romanticized a life for us that would never have been the reality. I was young
and naïve and in love, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell. I was
coping with far too much at the time and I think I took it out on Beck more
than I should have. But I also can’t help but wonder what would have happened
if I had just compromised and moved to Boston with him.

“So what are you gonna do now?” Erin asks,
and it pulls me from all the thoughts of my past.

“I guess I’ll just wait and see what
happens.”

It’s been two days since I left Rockport.
To say they’ve felt like two fucking years would be an understatement.
Everything is dragging and this trial is really beginning to piss me off. This
fucking idiot, who we arrested for the rape and murder of Jane Dixon and who
everyone knows is guilty, continues to play hardball with his plea. I don’t
know what the fuck he thinks he’s doing, but someone needs to slap him with a
wasting-my-fucking-time charge and teach the little fucker a lesson.

The only good thing is there’s been nothing
from Jason during the time I’ve been away. No messages, no incidents and no
contact with Kels. I should be breathing a sigh of relief, but far too many
years of experience tells me this is not a good sign. This is just a temporary
reprieve, designed to lull us into a false sense of security before he does something.
And this time, I know it’s going to be big; everything before this will be child’s
play compared to what comes next.

I’ve kept in constant contact with Finn the
whole time I’ve been back. He’s promised me his men are keeping an eye on Kels,
around the clock. She’s moved back home, which pisses me off, but Finn has a
guy parked there, twenty-four-seven, even when she’s not home. There’s also a
guy at the inn and whenever she goes out, another one follows her. I smile as I
imagine how much this will be starting to piss her off. She was cursing about
it on the phone to me this morning; about some rookie standing outside the
restroom when she went to take a piss.

“Hey,” Ryan says, walking into the courthouse
and taking a seat on the bench beside me. We’re waiting to go in; apparently
today is when I’ll be called up to the stand. I’m fucking glad, because the
sooner I’m called, the sooner I can get the fuck out of here.

“Hey,” I say, giving my partner a quick
glance. “You look like shit,” I tell him. Ryan grins, his eyes on his cell. It’s
that shit-eating grin of his that tells me one thing. “You got laid last
night?”

He turns to look at me now, shrugging as he
says, “Sort of.”

I laugh. “Sort of? What the hell does sort
of mean? You can’t remember if you stuck your dick in some pussy?”

Ryan shoots me a death glare now. “Not
some
pussy, thank you very much,
the
pussy and yes, I know exactly what
happened.”

“And,” I say, gesturing with my hand. “Care
to elaborate?”

Ryan grins at me. “I’ve got two words for
you, O’Loughlin,” he says. “Face. Time.”

I’m chuckling now as I shake my head at
him. Can’t say I blame him. The photos Erin sent us last night of the two of
them were amazing, and if I’d had the time, I wouldn’t have just had phone sex
with Kels, I’d have hauled ass up to Rockport and had real sex with Kels.

“Fuck, I’ll be glad when this trial is
over,” I say, running a hand through my hair.

“I know, right,” Ryan says, staring down at
his cell phone again. “This guy is being a real pain in our asses.”

I glance over and see he’s staring at a
picture of Erin from last night. It’s a full-length shot of just her, wearing
the green dress she had on for the wedding. There’s no doubt she’s beautiful
and judging from the look on Ryan’s face, he thinks so too.

“So, Summers,” I say, twisting on the bench
so I’m facing him. “What’s the deal with you and the redhead then?” Ryan doesn’t
say anything for a second, too distracted by the picture on his phone. “Hello,”
I say, elbowing him. “Earth to lover boy, come in?”

Ryan finally drags his eyes away from his
cell, smiling at me as he says, “What?”

I shake my head at him. “You’re fucking
hopeless,” I say. “I asked, what’s the deal with you and Red?”

“What do you mean?” he asks and I know he’s
stalling. He knows exactly what I fucking mean.

“Um, shit, I don’t know Ryan, where do you
want me to start?” I say, laughing. “The fact that you can’t stop thinking
about her, the fact that you’re still having sex with her, or the fact that you
aren’t
having sex with anyone else?”

Ryan grins now. “Shit, O’Loughlin, I didn’t
realize you were so hung up on my sex life. You jealous?”

“Fuck you,” I say. “You know exactly what I’m
talking about. You like her, don’t you?”

“Sure I do,” he says, shrugging. “She’s hot
and she’s fucking amazing in bed.”

I scoff. “Bullshit, it’s more than that,” I
say. “You’re fucking whipped.”

Ryan leans back now, staring straight ahead
as though he’s thinking about what I’ve just said to him. “Yeah,” he says, his
words unsure, as though even he can’t believe he’s admitting this. “I think I
am.”

I burst out laughing as I take in his
worried look. “Calm down, Summers,” I say. “It’s actually a really good thing,
you know.”

Ryan grins now. “More than good,” he says,
winking as the court attendant walks out of the courtroom.

“Detective Beckham O’Loughlin?” he asks.

“That’s me,” I say, standing.

“You’re up.”

I nod and we follow this guy into the
courtroom, hoping to fuck that this will all be over in a few hours and I can go
home to Rockport and Kels.

I’m questioned and cross-examined for a
couple of hours. The prosecutor shows the video of Ryan and me questioning the
guy, arguing that everything we did was by the book. I glance at Ryan, who’s
sitting at the back of the room and he nods at me, as if to say he completely
agrees.

He’s not being questioned on this one, it’s
just me. That’s mainly because I’m the senior officer and I was the one in
charge of the investigation. The defense lawyer tries to give me some grief
about our arrest, not really focusing on the interview afterwards because he
basically knows he’s got shit on that one.

He doesn’t have shit on the arrest either
because Ryan did all of that by the book too. Neither of us fuck about with
this stuff; it’s too serious to risk letting a guy like this walk. By the time the
questioning is over, I walk out of the courtroom feeling pretty happy with how
things went.

“Want to grab a beer?” Ryan says, as we
walk out to the street.

“Yeah,” I tell him. “I just gotta speak to
the captain for a bit, but I’ll meet you there in an hour?”

Ryan gives me a puzzled look, but doesn’t
say anything, nodding as he walks towards his car.

I drive to the station and head inside to
speak with my boss. I’m not really sure how this is all going to go down. I’m
pretty sure he’s already pissed at my sudden and undefined departure from the
job, and I’ve no doubt my next question is going to piss him off even more.

“O’Loughlin,” he says as I knock on the
doorframe of his office. “What can I do for you?”

“Sir,” I say, walking in and taking a seat.
“I need to talk to you about something.”

He nods, but doesn’t look up from the
papers he’s reading. “How’d it go today, in court?”

I shrug, even though he isn’t looking at
me. “Okay, I think. Pretty sure his lawyers know they’ve got jack shit on us.
My money’s on them hoping he changes his plea; saves all of us the hassle.”

“Hmmm,” the captain says. “It would look
better for us too. Improper police questioning is not something we need hanging
over us.”

I exhale loudly, knowing he’s right, even
if it is an underhanded dig at me for it happening in the first place.

The captain looks up. “What?”

I lean forward in my chair, elbows on my
knees. “You have seen the video, right?” I ask him. “I mean you’re aware of the
fact that Ryan and I did nothing wrong?”