AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The whine was just for show. I loved being your sidekick, because while Ro and Case were busy running around like loons wasting all their ammunition on each other and Mrs. Zigler’s tomcat, you always came up with a cool plan to ambush them. Remember that time we soaked them both half an hour before their Holy Communion?”
“How could I forget it,” Ty said, unable to resist cracking a smile at the memory, despite the dull pain in his chest. “Mom nearly murdered all four of us.”
“Uh huh, but you managed to argue our sentence down from outright murder to a missed supper, no TV privileges for a month, and a couple of stinging wallops on the butt. So don’t tell me that guy can’t come up with what to say to the woman he loves, so she can see he could be the best thing that ever happened to her. Instead of the worst.”
The blast of fiddle and pipes had them both reaching for their cell phones.
Finn grinned when it turned out to be his. “Cool ringtone.” He lifted the phone to check the caller. “It’s Dawn. I better take this. I won’t be long.”
Finn got up and walked towards the kitchenette, for privacy, but Ty could still hear the affection and easy domesticity in the hushed tones. Who would ever have thought that Finn would be the first of them to settle down?
The stabbing pain in his chest got worse, because he wanted to make things right with Zel. He wanted to give them both another chance. But what if the obstacles were too great? And the stakes too high? Even for him?
“Yeah, I’ll see you later.” Finn clicked off the phone as he walked back.
Ty drained his beer, feeling like a fifth wheel. “I should scram if Dawn’s on her way home. You’ve got the next generation of Sullivans to start creating.” Plus he had a lot of thinking to do.
Finn dropped his cell on the table. “Actually she’s on her way to Zel’s for the evening. Apparently the shit has hit the fan and the press is camped outside her place on the Upper East Side. Couple of the tabloids have printed a story saying she’s off the rails again.”
Every protective instinct Ty had went on high alert. “Why the hell would they say that?”
“The shampoo company released some bullshit statement saying they’d ditched her because she cut her hair. That she’s a liability they can’t afford to have fronting their brand any longer.”
“Those sons of bitches, they didn’t ditch her, she ditched them.” He protested, outraged on her behalf. “She should sue the bastards for defamation.” But he knew Zelda would never defend herself against the accusation—because she had never apprised anyone but her closest friends of the struggle she’d fought and won for the last five years.
“I know.” Finn agreed. “Dawn said the same thing. But apparently the shampoo company has gotten hold of a photo of her at Coney Island, in a clinch with some mystery dude on the beach that they say proves she got her hair cut before they dropped her.” Finn lifted his eyebrows, making it clear he knew exactly who the mystery dude was. “The thing’s gone viral. The girls are heading over there after work to give her moral support.”
“Shit.” Ty jumped up from the couch. “I should never have taken her to Coney Island. I might have guessed someone would spot her. She warned me she was always getting this sort of negative attention from the press.” And he knew how much she hated it, but he hadn’t taken that seriously enough, any more than he had her revelation about being an alcoholic. “This is all my goddamn fault.” Gathering up his suit jacket he headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Finn asked.
“Over to her place, she may need my help.” He could offer her his expert legal advice. She probably wouldn’t want it, but damn it, if nothing else, it was a reason to see her again. “And I can offer myself up to the press to take the heat off her.”
Finn unlocked the deadbolt, but paused before he pulled the heavy steel door open. “Would you take some advice before you go?”
“What advice?” Ty said, impatient to get going.
“Don’t go dashing over there half-cocked. Take some time and figure out what you’re going to say to her first. You don’t want to scare the shit out of her all over again.”
“But she needs my support now.” He protested. He didn’t want to wait. If she needed his protection, he wanted to be there for her, because he knew for damn sure her brother wouldn’t be.
“She’s got support. The girls will be there in a half-hour or so. They can hold the fort until you get there. And you said yourself she’s a strong lady.”
Ty rested his forehead against the door and took a steadying breath. And then took another, forcing back the panic, and the need to ride to Zelda’s rescue. Damn it, his brother was making sense. He couldn’t afford to screw this up.
Faith and Dawn and … His mind snagged on the name of the other girl until a vision of the exotic-looking girl sitting in the booth at Sully’s came to him. Mercy! That was it… Would be there watching out for Zelda for the next couple of hours. He had time to go back to the boat and change, and do some vital research, so he knew exactly what he was going to say, and how he was going to say it. He had to gather all the evidence and make a persuasive case; a case that would prove to Zelda giving this thing between them a chance—whatever this thing was—didn’t have to be bad.
Once he’d done that, the decision would be Zelda’s.
But whatever happened, he was not about to fuck up presenting the most important case of his life a second time.
“Okay, you’re right.” He straightened away from the door and nodded at his brother. “I probably should have told you this before, Finn, but you were a great Robin.”
His brother gave him a high five as he hauled open the door. “Holy heck, Batman, you got that right.” The smartass grin spread across his face. “Now go figure out a plan to capture Catwoman.”
Chapter Eleven
‡
