Page 91 of Prime Time Romance

I awaken to the smell of strawberries.

Soft snores come from below my chin from the woman nuzzled in the crook of my arm, leg draped across me like a starfish.

I lay in silence, trying not to disturb her. I’m happy she’s here and that last night wasn’t just a hallucination brought on from ingesting too much seawater—until our peace is interrupted by a crashing sound from the bar below us.

Brynn’s snores stop abruptly as she lifts her head. She tilts her face to mine, a confused ridge forming deep between her eyebrows.

“Josh?”

“Hey.”

Her expression clears as she takes in her surroundings.

“How are you feeling? Any aftereffects of the—” Her thought is cut off by a second crash.

Brynn whips her head toward the door. “What is happening down there?”

The sound happens again, but this time, it’s more of a piercing screech that morphs into something far more recognizable. The opening notes of a song.

“Someone’s turned on the karaoke machine.” I crane my neck away from my pillow to hear a little better. “What song is that?”

Brynn groans, snuggling further into the nook of my arm. “It’s the opening credits for Carson’s Cove.” She reaches for the nightstand. “Who in their right mind would be down there at the ungodly hour of”—she picks up the clock and reads it—“ten forty-five?”

Her answer comes in the form of a voice.

A singing voice.

She freezes, her hand still hovering over the nightstand.

“Sheldon,” we both say at the same time.

From there, it’s a quick scramble. I pull on my boxers and toss Brynn her sundress. In a matter of seconds, we’re dressed. Brynn beats me to the door, but before she opens it, she hesitates, slowing her motions. She turns the handle so as not to make a sound, cracking the door open only an inch.

I peer over her shoulder at the bar downstairs.

Sheldon is on the stage, microphone in hand, eyes focused on Fletcher’s apartment door as if he’s waiting for us.

Brynn shuts the door and presses her back to it, blocking my way. “Wait. There’s something I need to talk to you about first.”

She opens her mouth, but the song from downstairs stops and is replaced by Sheldon’s booming voice.

“I know you’re up there, Sloan. Come down here. All I want to do is talk.”

Brynn closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them again, she turns swiftly, opens the door, and strides down the stairs. I follow close behind, the entire time watching the stage, where Sheldon stands eerily still.

“We have a saying here in Carson’s Cove.” His voice booms through the microphone, its ominous tone not helped by the echo of the empty warehouse. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you again. We have gone over this, Sloan. How many times do I have to repeat myself? I’m starting to get angry.” He begins to pace back and forth across the stage. “We had a deal.”

My stomach drops. “What is he talking about?”

She shakes her head. “I wouldn’t call it a deal. It was more like a straight-up threat.”

Sheldon stops. “And you saw what happened when you completely ignored it.”

Brynn steps toward him. “So that was you? With Luce in the boat. You made that happen?”

Closing his eyes, Sheldon runs his free hand through his already disheveled hair. “I warned you that things would get ugly.” He throws his arm down as his eyes fly open and grow wide while they fixate directly on me. “I would really hate for them to get even uglier.”

“Don’t you dare, Sheld—” Brynn steps toward the stage, but I grab her arm and pull her behind me.