Cook County: Lucky in Love (6 page)

Chance’s beer had been delivered, and now he sat with it suspended in air halfway to his gaping mouth. He blinked. “
Cammie May
did that?”

“Damn straight.” Lucky folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I did what any other man would have done, and for the record, she never once even hinted at the fact it would be her first time. I wouldn’t have laid one finger on her if she had. Even
I’m
not that big of a bastard.”

Chance nodded before tipping his beer back. “And now you’re drunk at Hell’s Belle. The aftermath must not have been too pretty.”

“She asked me if I had any venereal diseases.”

Chance choked, a thin stream of beer escaping his mouth before he guffawed. “Sorry, man, but I can picture it, and that is one damn funny scene. Hell, your face right now is cracking me up. You look all… indignant.”

Lucky crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, though far from relaxed. “I imagine I do. What the hell kind of thing was that for her to ask me?”

“You’re not exactly a choir boy, Luck.” Chance shrugged. “She’s inexperienced, and your reputation precedes you. Even with a condom, I can understand someone like her being concerned. She’s always seemed like a very careful person.”

Lucky let his gaze fall to the floor as he felt heat suffuse his face. Of all the mistakes he’d made in his lifetime, he still couldn’t understand how he’d made one this huge. Going without a condom was a mistake he never made.

“Lucky? You did use a condom, didn’t you?”

Gaze still firmly planted on the floor, he shook his head. “I meant to, but … It happened so fast, and things got out of control.”

“Dammit, Luck. You
know
better. Tell me she’s at least on the pill.”

“Nope, and when I offered to take her to get a morning after pill, she unleashed a fury on me like nothin’ I’ve ever seen in my whole freakin’ life. Woman acted like I’d asked her to murder a newborn baby.” Lucky nearly shuddered, recalling the heated exchange between them after he’d simply offered her a solution to ease her worried mind about being pregnant. He’d been with a lot of women, and though he wasn’t proud of it, he’d pissed off his fair share, but he’d never enraged one like he had this morning.

“If you got her pregnant—”

“I’ll marry her,” Lucky said quickly, with finality. He’d done some crappy things in his life, but he’d be damned if he’d ever walk away from a child. His father had done that to him, and he’d never forgive the bastard, whoever the hell he was.

“Unplanned pregnancies aren’t the best starts to marriages, Luck.”

“No marriage involving me would have a good start, regardless.” He pulled a wad of bills out of his wallet and flung them on the table before standing, taking a moment to balance himself as the room swayed. “I think I’m sufficiently drunk enough I can go home and pass out now. Maybe I’ll get lucky and stay out cold for the next few weeks.”

“And miss my wedding next weekend? Not a chance.” His brother stood and set money on the table to cover the beer he’d ordered. “So, what are you going to do about her?”

“Stay as far away from her as possible,” Lucky answered as he made his way to the door. “Stay far, far away from her and every other woman on the planet. I’ve screwed up enough of them.”

“I won’t argue with you about that while you’re intoxicated,” Chance said from behind him as they stepped out into the way too bright afternoon sun. “But you’re only going to be able to stay away from Cammie for about a week. What then?”

Lucky turned toward his brother. “My willpower is a lot stronger than you think, bro. I can stay away from Flo’s Fixins and Cammie May for way longer than a week. I guaran-damn-tee you.”

“Uh, Luck…have you forgotten what next weekend is?”

Lucky frowned. “It’s your wedding, I know. What kind of jerk do you think I am that I would forget my brother’s wedding?”

“The clueless kind that forgets he’s best man and the woman he’s trying to stay away from is maid of honor. You’re gonna be face to face with Cammie May all day, man. Hell, you’re walking down the aisle with her.”

****

“Well, this dress will certainly nip those pregnancy rumors in the bud,” Cammie said as she stepped back and looked at the beautiful, blushing bride-to-be.

Kenzie laughed as she turned in front of the full-length mirror, admiring the long, white, strapless dress that fit like a glove, showing off her tiny waistline. “Poor Delia will be so upset by the absence of a bulge.”

“She should just be grateful she was invited, the hag.”

“I didn’t really have much choice. This is Cook County. Everyone gets invited to everything.”

Cammie smoothed the back of her light pink bridesmaid dress and sat on the foot of Kenzie’s bed. She was happy for her friend, but at the same time, a heavy sadness weighed on her. Kenzie was walking down the aisle and exchanging vows with the man she loved and had waited for. She herself would be walking down the aisle with the man she’d waited for, but instead of feeling joy, she felt sick to her stomach. Lucky had been coming into Flo’s Fixins almost every day that he was in town for the past fifteen years. It was why Cammie had taken the job during high school, and one of the reasons why she’d stayed instead of trying to find work that didn’t involve being on her feet all day and dealing with people like Delia Mayberry. But Lucky hadn’t been in to Flo’s since their night together, and she feared he might never set foot across the doorway again.

“What’s wrong, Cammie? You’re not allowed to be upset on my wedding day.”

She looked up to see Kenzie frowning and realized she must have allowed her emotions to show on her face. She’d never been good at hiding what she felt. “I’m fine. Quit worrying about me and start looking forward to the start of forever with the man of your dreams.”

Cammie stood, fighting back the nausea clinging to her, and helped her to smooth her wavy hair into a low chignon before securing it with a pearl hairclip. “Perfect.”

Kenzie smiled at her reflection in the mirror before turning to encompass Cammie in a hug. “Can you believe it? I’m getting married to Chance Masters today! My childhood dream is actually coming true. Who knows, maybe walking down the aisle with you will put an idea or two in Lucky’s head.”

She forced a smile, ignoring the sting of tears behind her eyes threatening to fall. She hadn’t told Kenzie she’d slept with Lucky, so her friend had no idea how her statement hurt, or how much of a struggle it was for her to follow through with this commitment. The last thing she needed was to walk down the aisle with Lucky, each step torture because she now knew without a shadow of a doubt that Lucky would never want her, and he would be hating every second spent with her during the ceremony. He hadn’t even shown up for the rehearsal. If not for the brothers’ closeness, Cammie would fear him not showing up for the ceremony either, but he wouldn’t do that to Chance.

“Of course, if he doesn’t show up for the ceremony, I’m gonna put a few taps of my baseball bat against his head,” Kenzie muttered as she studied herself in the full-length mirror, smoothing her hands over the bodice of her dress.

“You know he’ll be here,” Cammie assured her. “And the wedding will be perfect. Delia Mayberry and the other busybodies won’t be able to say one negative thing.”

“Unless Lucky shows up drunk.” Kenzie brushed a ringlet behind her ear. “Chance had to drag him out of Hell’s Belle last Friday morning. We thought his drunken binges were finally dying down, but he’s sinking right back into that black hole again.”

“Last Friday morning, huh?”

“Yeah, he was on a real bender. Spent the whole weekend locked inside that awful trailer. I don’t know how he can live there with the memory of his mother. It has to be suffocating.”

Last Friday morning. The morning after from hell, although Cammie considered it more of an extension of Thursday night seeing as how she hadn’t gotten one second of sleep. To her knowledge, neither had Lucky. She’d lain in bed, tears rolling down her cheeks as she heard the creaking of the couch as he tossed and turned on it.

After the sun poured through his bedroom window, indicating she’d pretended to sleep long enough, she’d made her way to the small living room to find him lying supine on the couch. She’d hoped that the few hours he’d had to contemplate the events of the night would have softened his demeanor, made him at least entertain the idea of them establishing a relationship, but the first words out of his mouth were, “Are you on the pill?” quickly followed by an offer to take her to get the morning after pill after she’d answered in the negative. He hadn’t even asked her how she felt. He’d just focused on the possible “mistake” they’d made and didn’t waste any time with an offer to “fix” it, but no way would Cammie May ever take a pill that could end a life. Sleeping with a man outside of marriage was one thing, even if she truly did love Lucky Masters, but she would never throw away the gift of a child.

“You okay, Cam?”

Cammie snapped out of her recollection of that awful morning, and followed Kenzie’s gaze to her belly, which she had been absently rubbing.

“Yeah, I’m good.” She dropped her hand to her side and took a deep, calming breath. “It’s about that time.”

Her friend smiled and nodded in agreement as she looked at the clock on her nightstand. “Let’s head on out before they send in the troops to drag us out there.”

“You sound as if you’re being forced to do this.”

The bride chuckled as she opened the door and slipped out into the hallway. “I’m being forced to overcome my nerves as I walk down an aisle in front of the whole county. All eyes will be on me while the jealous, catty women of Cook County are picking me apart. But believe me, I do not need to be forced to marry Chance Masters.” She smiled impishly. “And I’m definitely not being forced to enjoy every moment of knowing that Cook County’s little collection of buckle bunnies are now mourning the loss of one Chance Masters, whose boots will permanently be parking beneath
my
bed forever and ever, ‘til death do us part.”

Cammie smiled back at her friend, happy that after all the years of having to watch Chance run through his fair share of easy women, Kenzie had finally proven to him that he was in fact a good man and her perfect mate.

If only Lucky could see his potential as well and let his demons go…

They rounded a corner and stepped into the kitchen where the bridesmaids and groomsmen awaited. Cammie sucked in a breath as her gaze collided with Lucky’s glossy blue eyes. Glossy and red-rimmed. As dashing a figure as he made in his black suit and tie, there was no mistaking what she’d seen in his eyes.

Lucky Masters had indeed arrived to his brother’s wedding drunk as the proverbial skunk.

Chapter Six

“I can’t believe you showed up drunk to your brother’s wedding,” Cammie whispered harshly as she and Lucky stood before the open door of Kenzie and Chance’s kitchen, waiting their cue from Bernie, the owner of Bernie’s Boutique, and good friend.

The only response she got was a grunt of irritation as Lucky wavered slightly.

“Good grief,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.
What a mess.
She wanted to ask if sleeping with her was really so bad that the man had to keep himself in a permanent drunken stupor just to cope, but knew better than to question something like that within range of anyone. Despite being a good friend to her and Kenzie, Bernie was still a woman from Cook County, Colorado, and every woman in Cook County, Colorado was a talented gossiper. If gossip was ever made into an Olympic sport, Cammie was sure they’d take the gold every time.

“You’re up.” Bernie gestured with her hand for them to proceed, her bright smile fading a little as she glanced at Lucky.

Cammie could read the fear in her eyes. Everyone would be holding their collective breath during the ceremony, hoping Lucky didn’t cause a scene and ruin the special day.

Lucky held out his elbow and Cammie reluctantly took it, afraid he would decide halfway down the aisle that he didn’t want her touching him and shrug her off in front of everyone. But Lucky behaved himself as they walked out the kitchen door into the warm sunlight and followed the trail of scattered pink rose petals winding around the barn and toward the clearing where an arched rose trellis and several chairs had been set up.

Cammie smiled at Chance as he stood next to the minister, anxiously awaiting his bride’s arrival. The former unruly cowboy had turned into a mature, responsible man with a good heart and undying love for a good woman. She eyed his brother and shook her head. Lucky had the potential to be just as good, if only he would learn to put the bottle down and deal with his problems. If only he would allow someone to break down the walls he’d built around himself and help him out.

The two separated as they reached their endpoint. She joined the two other bridesmaids as Lucky took his place at his brother’s side. Chance glared at him for only a second before the sight of Kenzie coming down the aisle erased all the anger, replacing the cold fury with warm love. Despite her own heartbreak and disappointment, Cammie smiled, truly happy for her friend’s fortune.

Kenzie approached, holding a bouquet of pink and white roses as she followed the trail that bisected the wedding guests into two sides of forty. Cammie looked around at the guests, noting the awe on their faces as they gazed upon the bride’s beauty. She felt moisture threatening to fall from her eyes as she realized she may never have a wedding ceremony of her own, but quickly blinked back the tears.