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I WOKE UPwith a splitting headache, the urge to puke up my guts, and the knowledge that there wasn’t a damned thing I’d done to cause Cadence to want to back away. Not only that, but it looked like things might be moving forward again. Soon, at least. Maybe not immediately.
I looked down at my phone and saw the shitload of text messages from Koz, calling me a pussy-whipped douchebag for wimping out on his party and leaving before it was over. There were a ton of missed calls and voice mails, too, probably all from him. For all I knew, the party was still going on, well after eight in the morning. I was way too hung over to deal with him right now.
Ignoring Koz for the time being, I dropped my phone on the nightstand, dragged myself out of bed, and climbed into the shower to wash off the stench of last night’s excess. By the time I was clean, dressed, and trying to replenish my body with water to ease my hangover, I remembered that Jonny intended to go to the police station with Cadence this morning.
Should I volunteer to go with them, too? I wasn’t sure. I’d done my best to make it clear to her how I wanted things to go between us, that I wanted us to be more than the friends we’d agreed upon, and sooner rather than later, but did that put me in the go-to-the-cops camp? Might be too big of a jump.
Even though it ate at me to do so, I decided to let Jonny and Cadence handle this one on their own. I should stay out of it. If the police needed me for anything, I was easy enough to find.
The team had the day off. Since Koz and most of the single guys were hopefully sleeping last night off, they wouldn’t be up and about any time soon. If I didn’t start moving, I’d probably end up back in bed the whole day, burying my head under the covers to pretend drinking so much last night hadn’t happened.
It had happened. In a devastated stupor, I’d allowed myself to get more wasted in a single night than I ever had before. No point in trying to hide from it. Besides, while parts of the night were all kinds of fucked up, other very good things had come from it.
With nothing better striking me, I called for a cab to take me over to my brother’s house. My car was still at Koz’s, and I was fairly sure Ghost still had my keys. I’d talk Jamie into helping me deal with all of that later. Didn’t bother texting or calling first. Even if he had gone to the gym or something else equally responsible, I was sure Katie would be at home. She had turned one of the extra bedrooms into a recording studio, and most days she was in there working on her budding songwriting career.
The cabbie dropped me off in front of their house. I paid him and got out. Rang the doorbell.
Jamie answered wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. His cat, Blackbeard, was draped around his neck and shoulders. He gave me a disgusted look—Jamie did, not Blackbeard, although that cat was always suspicious of me. Still, I guessed my shower hadn’t done enough to hide all of last night’s excesses.
“You look like death warmed over,” Jamie said.
“Not sure how warm I got it.”
“A cold shower might do you some good. Hell, any shower might help.”
“Already had one.”
He looked doubtful, but he stepped back to let me inside. Katie’s cat, Oreo, raced in to wind himself around my legs. Oreo had always liked me a lot better than Blackbeard did. Granted, Oreo liked anyone who would scratch behind his ears.
“You have breakfast yet?”
My stomach gurgled in response.
“Never mind. I don’t want you puking on anything.” He led me into the kitchen, where he was busy putting together something involving eggs in muffin tins. He finished adding all his ingredients and popped it in the toaster oven, Blackbeard supervising everything from his shoulder perch. “Coffee? Think you can handle that?”
I shook my head and took a seat at the breakfast bar. “Water would be better.”
Oreo jumped up onto my lap and purred, so I scratched behind his ears like he always wanted.
Jamie grabbed a glass and filled it from the fridge before sliding it over to me. “How late did you stay at Koz’s last night?”
“Late enough. Got wasted. Then I got the bright idea to go keep Nicky company at the hospital.”
Jamie raised a brow.
“Took a cab. But I didn’t spend too much time with him. He was busy with Jessica in the delivery room.”
“So what’d you do all night? Hang out with the kids?”
“While I was drunk?” I raised a brow. “They were sleeping by the time I arrived. Jonny and Cadence were there.”
Katie came around the corner wearing a towel, her hair wet and dripping. She took one look at me, blushed, winked, readjusted her towel to keep it in place, and left again before Jamie murdered me for seeing his wife in such a state. Like it was my fault! Haha.
My brother pretended he hadn’t noticed. Bunch of horseshit.
“What’s going on with you two?” I asked, hoping to turn the conversation away from me.
Jamie made a face, like he didn’t want to talk about it.
