Untwisted (12 page)

“Harper McCoy, if you hang up this phone, we’re no longer best friends.”

The hissing stopped. “Liar.”

“I so am.” Jazz eased a hip up on the sink, then remembered she was in a gas station bathroom and hopped back off. Ick. “Okay, spill. I won’t tell you told me. Promise.”

“Aw, dammit, I’m ruining the surprise.”

“No, you aren’t. You’re enhancing the surprise because I fuck—frigging hate surprises and he freaking knows it.”

“That’s why he’s trying to give you a good one and I just screwed it up.”

“Well, finish it off. What’s going on, dammit?” Jazz demanded.

“Oh fine. I guess there is a sister code. But if you so much as hint that I told you…”

“I would never.” Jazz crossed her heart even though there was no one there to witness it. Someone pounded on the bathroom door and she turned the phone against her shoulder. “Just one sec. Sorry.” She pressed the phone back to her ear. “Hurry up. I’m in a gas station bathroom.”

“Okay, okay, but this is under extreme duress I’m divulging this information.”

“Noted. Come on already.”

“Gray’s planning a big…baby-blessing ceremony in San Fran for you tomorrow. Yes, that’s it. It’s a big thing now, to bless mother-to-be’s bellies. I think he saw it on the Today show. Kind of woo-woo, but hey, you know, whatever flips your crank.”

Jazz narrowed her eyes. “You are so full of crap I can smell you from here.”

“It’s not me you can smell,” Harp said, making her laugh in spite of herself. “Oh, look at that. The big guy’s ready to go. We have to buy—uh, I have to buy a new dress for tomorrow’s baby-blessing.”

The puzzle pieces were starting to fit together. Jazz swallowed hard and gripped her phone. “You’re coming too?”

“Of course I am. The whole band will be there. For all baby blessings, it’s important to have someone you trust at your side to be your witness. In your case, you’re getting a bunch of witnesses.”

“Oh God. I can’t breathe. I need to sit down.”

“No, you don’t. You need to walk out of the bathroom, head straight for the snack aisle and buy yourself a package of ceremonial cupcakes. The kind with filling that oozes out.”

“Okay. Going.” Jazz nodded and exited the bathroom, waving in apology at the older lady who waited outside. Ceremonial cupcakes sounded good. So what if she had Skittles in the car? She’d been so good lately, and oh my Lord, she was pretty sure she was getting married tomorrow and she needed a goddamn cupcake.

“Do you have them?” Harper whispered conspiratorially a moment later.

“I can’t find them. I think they’re out.”

“Don’t give up so easily. When you find them, I want you to go back to the car and tell Gray you can’t wait to have cake tomorrow. Lots and lots of cake.”

Jazz frowned at the selection of pastries and baked goods. There wasn’t a gooey cream-filled cupcake in sight. “Why would I do that if I’m not supposed to know?”

“Because half the fun of knowing about we—baby-blessing ceremonies in advance is using them to your advantage. You totally need to yank Gray’s chain, because he shouldn’t have kept something big a surprise anyway. I would have told him that myself had I known about it before a few hours ago.”

“You’re right. He’s totally wrong. So, so wrong.” She stared hard at the apple pies and promptly burst into tears.

“Oh great. Now I broke her.”

Jazz laughed through her tears at Harper’s exasperation. “You didn’t break me. He’s just so stupidly sweet. He drove all the way out here to meet my sister and—”

“Oh my God, I completely forgot the Molly situation. I’m a horrible friend. I got so distracted with online shopping for a decent dress I could pick up super fast at the store that I just zoned out. What happened? Tell me everything.”

“It was…interesting.
Is
interesting. She’s in the car with us and we’re on our way to San Fran.” Jazz glanced up and sniffled as she saw Gray’s long legs eating up the pavement as he strode toward the store. “Oh fuck, here he comes. I took too long. See you later. I mean, tomorrow. Oh dammit, I’ll try to call you tonight. Thank you. Love you. Bye.” She clicked off and shoved the phone in her pocket right before Gray spotted her and started weaving his way through the aisles.

She undid her pigtails and let her hair hide her probably blotchy face. Whew. Talk about close.

“What are you doing? You’ve been gone forever.” Once he finally reached her, he glanced down at the bakery section and chuckled. “Should’ve known you’d wander this—hey, look at me.” He brushed her hair back and tipped up her chin. “Are you sick again? Why are you crying?”

One look into his concerned gray eyes and she was done for. The tears started, worse than before. “I just really, really want apple pie,” she whispered, hurling herself into his arms.

“Hey, what’s the matter? You can have pie. Here. Have a whole bunch of pies.” Wrapping one arm around her waist, he guided her back to the display and pushed about six of them into her arms. “You probably shouldn’t have them all at once, but one a day should be okay.”

Tears streamed down as she stared at the plastic-wrapped pies. “People thought I was nuts for loving you. That you were messed up and wouldn’t ever go back to being my Gray. But you always were. They didn’t understand.”

“You gave me no choice but to get better. You wouldn’t allow me not to.” He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “We better get back to the car. Molly might drive off if we don’t get moving.”

“No one else but you would bring her with us.” She tipped up her face, needing to see him even through the blur of her tears. “She treated us like total crap when we got there and you just wanted to make sure I was happy. You always want that, no matter what.”

“Yeah, I do.” He cleared his throat. “And sometimes I make choices that might not seem like they’re the best, but I’d do anything for you—”

She leaned up to silence him with a kiss. “I know.”

He probably thought she might be annoyed once she found out about the wedding, because most women wanted to have a say in planning their ceremony. Not her. This was perfect. She didn’t care one whit about the shindig itself. She just wanted that shiny band on her finger and for him to be hers. The rest was just details.

“Come on. Let’s go pay.” He took half her apple pies and she started to tell him to put them back, that she really didn’t want them.

Then again, who knew where they were spending the night? Maybe room service would suck. And she did like apple pie.

Shrugging, she followed him up to the checkout. She was getting married tomorrow. She deserved extra freaking dessert.

***

A roadtrip with his surprisingly cheerful fiancée and snarky sister-in-law hadn’t been in the cards two days ago, but it had turned out pretty well.

At least until he learned that the hotel did not have any other open rooms, no matter how much he cajoled or offered money he did not want to spend on things other than oh, mortgage payments, food and child-related costs.

“Sir, I’m very sorry. We’re at full occupancy due to several events in town this weekend.” The woman behind the desk consulted the ledger in front of her while Molly sighed loudly and Jazz looked around in dazed wonder.

He didn’t blame her. The place was seriously lush. Chandeliers dripped glittering crystals and miles of gleaming marble floor stretched as far as the eye could see. Women glided past in pastel dresses that probably cost more than some people made in a year. Even the elevators were bronze, for God’s sake.

“You don’t have any other options for me?” Taking advantage of Jazz’s distraction, he leaned across the desk and lowered his voice. “Look, I booked the penthouse suite so we could, you know, have privacy. Hard to do that with a sixteen-year-old two feet away, snapping her gum.”

“Seventeen in two days,” Molly informed the hotel employee. “Thank you very much.”

“I do have one option for you. We can bring in a cot for the living area. There is a door that locks between the two areas.” The woman glanced up and smiled brightly as if she’d just offered him a million dollars. “That should help, no?”

He nearly said “no” but thought better of it. What other alternatives were there? He couldn’t let her sleep in the car. Well, he could, though he doubted Jazz would go for it.

“Fine.”

“Oh yay. I get to listen to you two screw like minxes all night.” Molly rolled her eyes and stalked off to the nearest elevator.

“It’s screw like bunnies,” Jazz called after her, to which Molly lifted the middle finger, drawing more than a few surprised looks.

Jazz laughed. “She definitely has my temper.”

Gray shook his head. While Jazz was in awe over the hotel, he lived in a perpetual state of amazement that Jazz could view Molly’s insolence with such good humor. “We’ll take the cot,” he told the woman behind the desk. “And possibly a gag, if you have it.”

“Ooh, kinky.” Jazz hipchecked him into a smile in spite of himself.

The concierge didn’t blink. “We can supply you with any number of marital aids. If you’d like our list of—”

“No. We’re fine. Thanks.”

“Says who? Gimme.” Jazz leaned forward, her loose hair dangling. “I mean, yes, please, we would love to see this list of available marital aids.”

The woman handed over a laminated menu and the room keys. “Enjoy your stay at the Palatial Suites. Please ring the desk if we can assist you in any way.”

Jazz snatched the laminated menu—and yeah, he didn’t want to imagine why it was
laminated
—and bit her lower lip. “So how do we get a hold of this stuff? Is there room service like with food?”

“Yes, ma’am. Simply request what you would like from the desk.”

“Huh. Okay. Thank you.” Jazz headed off to the elevator while he made arrangements with the bellhop to carry up their stuff. Not that he and Jazz had a ton of things, but Molly had packed her entire life into four bags. She might’ve just emptied her closet.

When he joined the ladies in the elevator, he shouldn’t have been surprised to see their heads bent together over the menu of sex toys. He shouldn’t have been, but he was.

“I shouldn’t let you look at this,” Jazz said, tugging it away.

“Hell yes, you should. I’m no virgin.” Molly dragged it back and cocked her head. “Some of this stuff sounds intriguing.”

“Yes, and feel free to learn more about it when you’re eighteen.” Jazz snatched back the sheet and stuffed it in the back of her jean shorts like a weapon.

“Uh, you don’t know where that’s been.” Gray took it from her and hit the button for the penthouse suite.

He didn’t mean to look at the menu. Really he didn’t. Why did they need sex toys when her breasts and the sweet heat between her legs were more than enough to entertain him for a lifetime? But as he took in the array of items offered, from ticklers to fur-lined handcuffs to dildos, his mind went wild. It wasn’t as if they ever got much time alone, living in the house with the rest of the band. Sex was mostly impromptu and quick. They never got a chance to…play.

He cast a dark look at Molly. She would not stop them tonight. If he had to turn the music up to scream and bar the door between the rooms, he would.

“I think he’s decided he’s interested,” Molly said with a smirk, watching the numbers climb above the door.

The door snicked open and he ushered them out of the elevator and into the suite, registering the “oohs” and “aahs” with a distracted smile. He had a call to make to Lila to finalize a few more arrangements and then he was calling down to the concierge to order about sixteen things off that menu. The bill for this place with the add-ons would probably empty out his bank account but he didn’t give a shit.

He’d be responsible again next week.

“Gray, come look at this,” Jazz called as he pried out his cell phone and headed into the bedroom. “French doors to the balcony. Oh my God, you can see the Golden Gate.”

“Think he’s got something else on his mind at the moment,” Molly replied.

“Dinner? Yeah, me too. I saw a Chinese place a few blocks over.”

“He wants a pussy platter, not Pu Pu, but nice try.”

Jazz snorted out a laugh but Gray ignored them both as he sat on the ginormous, silk-sheeted bed. He banked on Jazz staying distracted long enough for him to ascertain everything was on track on Lila’s end for tomorrow.

As far as Pu Pu platters and Jazz’s stomach, she would have to wait. His schedule for the evening included taking advantage of some of the hotel’s amenities. They had a ton of sightseeing to do, and he intended to start with the highlights of her body.

“Eat an apple pie,” he advised before he called Lila.

A few minutes later, they ended their abbreviated, hushed phone call and he called down to the front desk. He ordered a few of the things that had caught his eye—and snagged the attention of other parts of his anatomy—and got off the phone just as Jazz bounced onto the mattress.

“Did you just order something called a two-headed monster?” She cocked her head. “I’m guessing that isn’t from the Chinese place.”

“Two-headed massager, and no, it wasn’t.” He kicked back on the bed and extended a hand to her. “C’mere.”

She crawled up the bed and curled up against him, but he could tell she was more concerned with where Molly was than with a quickie before dinner. Or better yet, a long, slow one. They’d been driving for hours, and he wanted nothing more than to sink into her and savor their last night together before they became official. And then tomorrow night, he’d savor her even more.

Assuming she actually agreed to marry him after she found out the stunt he’d pulled. Both stunts, that is—the secret wedding, and the plan to pay off Molly, in spite of the fact that he was determined that no money would change hands. If Jazz found out what he’d done before Molly came to her senses regarding the importance of having her sister in her life, he might be divorced before he got married.

“I’m going out to explore,” Molly called.

Jazz propped her elbow on his chest and leaned half off the bed. “Wait. Where are you going?”

The door to the suite slammed shut.

Jazz shut her eyes and heaved out a breath. “Is this what parenting is going to be like?”