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“So? What
should
I expect?” Shawn pressed.

“Who says you have to expect anything?” she asked. “You’re paranoid. Just watch the show.”

We did watch the rest of the concert and I forgot all about whatever Jayden had said to that group of guys. But after the show, when we were all standing outside on the sidewalk, two of them approached us
and
handed me a business card
.

“So when the big day approaches and you’re ready for a
slammin
’ bachelor party, just give me a call,” one guy said.

I glanced down at the card as Shawn
and Matt peered over my shoulder, and both of them busted up laughing.

“Exotic dancers, huh?” Matt stated. “I didn’t know you had it in you, bro.”

I shrugged and replied, “What can I say?”

Jayden and Stacie were snickering, but the guy turned to them both with a stupid smirk and said, “And if either of you ladies—”

I put my hand in his chest to prevent him from even finishing it. “Oh, hell no.”

“Okay, okay,” he said, putting his hands up as he backed away.
Both he and his buddy left.

Jayden cringed when she looked at me
. “Sorry. Guess that backfired.
But honey, I’m so proud of you! You didn’t even blush!
”

Shawn laughed and said, “Minus the
pervy
dude, that was pretty funny.”

Chapter Thirty-One

I worked Saturday, and so did Matt. Having him there almost made it okay to be away from Jayden on the weekends. But the more I thought about working six days a week, the more I realized I was completely in my old habits when I shouldn’t have been. I always worked extra because I could. When I was single, I didn’t m
ind immersing myself in my job; i
t was all I had
,
and I didn’t have any other commitments until baseball season rolled around.

I discussed this with Lou and told him that I was only willing to work one Saturday a month, and I preferred
leaving
one hour
earlier
than I usually did. He was willing to be flexible, as I knew he would be, and even informed me that Mike wanted to come back and work only on Saturdays, so it actually worked out just fine.
Lou would continue to keep the board detailed with our jobs for the week, and he would only schedule the more difficult ones for the days I worked, like he did anyway.

We also sat down and discussed some changes that Lou was
making
. He actually wanted to expand the business, building another bay onto the shop for custom painting
and auto body repairs
. His you
nger brother was a professional
and was currently being
overworked and
underpaid at a larger
company
. Charlie convinced Lou to mak
e the expansion, so Lou was going to be adding
the new bay off the back of the shop beginning the next
month
. I was shocked that it was all happening so fast, but appare
ntly
the change had been in the works for almost a year.

I also got a raise.

I took Jayden out to dinner to celebrate. She was excited that I was excited, but mostly she was really pleased that I had dedicated more time to her and whatever family we ended up having
someday
. She wondered if it meant putting baseball aside entirely, and as
sad as it made me to verbally
finalize that decision, I agreed that that’s what it probably meant. She wasn’t overjoyed nor disapp
ointed, and I found it comforting to have her support in anything I did.
However, I knew that the Saturdays that I worked was usually the time she would go work on music with Shawn. That’s exactly what she had been doing for half the day.

“One Saturday a
month is plenty.
I would much rather be with you.
”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“I’m sure. And when we rehearse extra before a show, you are always more than welcome to be there.
Besides,
”
she shrugged with a smile, “if you’re home on Saturdays and I decide to go play, I’ll expect the yard to be perfect and the house to be spotless.”

“And the kids?”

“They will all be bilingual, each
in
a different language.”

“No pressure
there,” I replied with a smile, and she laughed.

Sunday we drove
south
to
Oregon to go to
the beach for the day. Chris was an avid wake boa
rder, but he also loved to surf, so
Chris, Matt, and Shawn loaded up their boards early that morning to find the best waves. We were just leaving Jayden’s house around
nine
when Matt called to tell us where they were. Cali, Stacie, Josh, and Silvia were already on the beach when we got there. Cali had brought another date with her—a different guy—and everyone was spread out in chairs or blankets along the sand. The Oregon Coast didn’t always offer the warmest weather or white, sandy beaches, but today was a fairly nice day, almost reaching eighty.

“What happened to Rowan?” I quietly asked Jayden.

“
More than one date doesn’t usually happen with Cali.”

I raised an eyebrow
. “Is she a female Shawn?”

With a laugh she said, “
No, she’s a female
you
.
”

I pretended to be offended and she laughed.

“S
he gets bored eas
ily,” she clarified.
“
She’s always looking for someone that’s fun and exciting—probably someone that’s
more interesting than she is—s
o maybe that’s why she’s easily disappointed.”

             
We got home pretty late that night, close to one in the morning. We’d spent the entire day on the beach while the guys surfed off and on. Wh
en they were done we all travel
ed to the main beach in Seaside where there were volleyball nets, a boardwalk, and shops nearby. We built a fire around six and roasted hot dogs, and we stayed until almost ten. It was another memorable day with friends and I felt my life was too good to be true. When things were going well, it was time for something bad to happen, and that week it finally came.

             
The shop was pretty slow on Thursday so I cut out early around three o’clock. I knew Jayden wasn’t done until five, but instead of calling her
to tell her I was done early, I stopped by instead. As always she was happy to see me, and she took a short break to walk outside and talk
since it was a beautiful day
. I was walking her back inside the building when two fully uniformed police officers were coming out the door, walking right past us.

             
I almost lost my breath when I recognized the taller one. It was him
again
, the guy that was meeting with Dean. He was a cop.

             
His eyes looked at me as we went by, but
then
they shifted and looked right at Jayden. I heard her say a polite hello to them both and she continued talking to me about the upcoming weekend as we made
our way
to her office door. I went through the motions of kissing her goodbye and telling her I looked forward to
seeing her at
five-thirty
when she came over.

             
When I was alone with my thoughts, I sat in my truck and took a long,
un
steady breath. That guy was a cop, meeting with Dean Conlon, one
of the biggest criminals in the area
. There were only two possible reasons why they were even together, and neither one of them looked good for me.
Whether he was
a
good
cop
or
not
…
I knew I was screwed.

             
I got home and began mowing my lawn. I needed physical exertion to help my mind think. After that I did some other things around the yard and in the house, trying to force myself to understand what was going to happen next. I was waiting for the cops to break down my door any second, to arrest me and haul me to jail for associating with known criminals.

             
He was a cop. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. What was going to happen? I had finally rid myself of
Olevsky
’s organization. I hadn’t talked to any of them for weeks now. My father had called me shortly after his visit to
get more details about my leaving the business. He had warned me to
not
get too comfortable with how things were because it wasn’t possible to be completely out of the organization. Knowing what I knew was going to keep me tied to them forever.

             
I sat on the couch in silence. I had showered and dressed, but I didn’t even remember doing it. What was Jayden going to think when she found out I had been a
ssociating
with Conlon? I had never wanted to be a part of that world; I was roped into it without an option. Would she understand that? Would she give me another chance? All I knew was that I had been right all along. My l
ife had become too good;
too good to last
.

             
The front door opened at five twenty-five and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Jayden entered the house with her
usual smile and carried a bag of Chinese takeout in her hand
. She was chattering about barely making it out of the office because
Betsy
was talking non-stop about me.

“She thinks if she were ten years younger she could steal you away from me.”

I
vacantly
smiled at the comment as she took the food into the kitchen.

“Are you hungry?” she called to me.

             
I got up and followed after her. “Yeah, I am,” I replied. But I wasn’t. The thought of food made me sick.

             
“You edged your yard?” she asked me with a smile.

             
“Uh, yeah, I did. The walkway is about a foot wider now.”

“I didn’t know you
had
a walkway,” she teased. “It looks really nice.
I was
just joking about
the perfect yard
, you know.
Were y
ou trying to get a head start? If that’s the case, m
aybe you should plant some flowers next,
”
she smiled.

“Oh, uh…I’d probably kill ‘em off.” I took a silent breath and tried to focus on my time with her. Who knows how long it would be before
the cops hauled me away and
she’d never want to talk to me again? I sat down in a chair and said, “But if you reme
mber to water them, I’ll
plant flowers
for you
and make everything look girly
.”

She laughed as she made her way to where I was sitting. “I always find better things to do when I’m here,” she said softly, straddling my lap. She began to kiss me and it felt so good to be with her again, but I couldn’t help feeling so guilty.
I felt horrible, like I was a lying, deceitful person. How could I be with her when I knew it was going to come to an end? I felt like I was using her because I knew it would be the last time, and that feeling completely sickened me.

I didn’t know what I should do. I didn’t know what I
could
do.

Later that night, when Jayden had gone home and I was left alone with my miserable thoughts again, my phone rang. It was the cal
l that I’d been
dreading.

“Ty, long time no see,” Dean’s voice said through the line. My heart dropped into my stomach. “We have some things to discuss. Meet me at
The Riverside.
Right now.”

When he hung up I dropped my head into my hands. If the police hadn’t come to my door, and Dean was the one now calling
to meet with him
, the conclusion was clear to me. The cop I saw with Dean was actually working
with
him. They had a player on the inside. I had no idea what this meant to me. At least I knew I wouldn’t be arrested. There’s no way they
’d want
anyone to know who I had been associating with.

I got to the café
with
in fifteen minutes.
It was closed down for the night, but
Dean was
still
sitting at his usual table in the corner where no one could bother him. He didn’t look very happy.