Roughing the Passer Read online

  She didn’t know which was worse, the unbearable pain or the lonely, gaping hole Tyler’s absence left.

  One hurt just as bad at the other.

  Chapter 3—Leave Your Tiara at Home

  A few days later, Lavender met the girls for drinks and pizza. They’d made it very clear they wanted to hear all about her date.

  If she kept eating like this, she’d be as big as a house by summer.

  Her friends leaned forward, making it obvious that as old married women and one engaged woman, they were hoping to live the life of a single woman vicariously through Lavender. Well, Lavender hated to disappoint, but she had no stories to tell. In fact, her love life had sunk to the depths of nothingness like an ancient schooner sinking into the Pacific Ocean in the middle of a vicious storm.

  “There’s nothing to tell. We went out for pizza, I couldn’t bear to be with him, and I left.”

  Kelsie frowned and glanced at her friends. “That’s it?”

  “Yup, that’s it. That damn quarterback perched himself in the bleachers of my brain and wouldn’t give me a moment’s peace.”

  Again that quick look among her friends, a look that excluded Lavender. She hated being left out.

  Finally Rachel spoke up. She’d been doing that a lot lately, and as a cranky pregnant woman, no one dared cross her. They held their breath as she took center stage and glanced around the table as if ready to rip everyone a new one. “Ty needs a dose of reality, and you need a vacation from all this.”

  Lavender nodded. The vacation idea definitely held appeal. “I’d love to get out of Seattle, but there’s a slight problem. No money.”

  They looked at each other again, as if they hadn’t quite considered this problem. Estie’s gaze narrowed with determination, and off she went. “You love the San Juans. We’ll go to the Harris mansion.”

  “I do love the islands, but what will Tyler say?” The mansion was his, too. Even worse, how would her heart take it? After all, she’d met Tyler in the San Juan Islands, and every place would remind her of him, especially those places they’d had sex, which were plenty. Tyler did like to mix it up. Beds were only one option, as far as he was concerned.

  “Tyler doesn’t need to know. It’s my place, too. We’ll hole up with wine and junk food, and have a regular girls’ weekend.”

  “I love that idea.” Kelsie agreed.

  “Me, too,” Mac chimed in.

  “I don’t know. Being pregnant has made me horny. I can’t stand a weekend without Derek.”

  Kelsie rolled her eyes. “Take one for the group. You can handle it, or get a good vibrator.”

  Rachel rubbed her chin, as if considering her options. “Okay, I’m in.”

  “I don’t know if staying at the mansion is a good idea.” Lavender hedged and refused to meet any of their gazes, afraid they’d nail her for being a wimp, not facing her demons, all that kind of crap if she told them why.

  “It’s a perfect idea. I could use a little island time. Zach is underfoot too much during the off-season, and the steady drone of adventure movies and sports on the TV is making me crazy.”

  Everyone murmured in agreement, except Lavender. She didn’t have Tyler at home leaving empty beer cans and chips laying around, or turning up the TV so loud a conversation was impossible, or chasing her around the kitchen until she let him catch her for some afternoon sex on the counter.

  Oh, God. She put her head in her hands and closed her eyes, but it didn’t block the image of that counter and Tyler’s intense blue eyes.

  “Hey, this will be fun.” Mac elbowed Lavender.

  She raised her head and managed a fake smile. “Yeah, fun, lots of fun.”

  “None of the guys can know where we’re going.” Estie narrowed her eyes and looked at each one of them, then held up her wine glass. They clinked it glasses together in a silent promise to keep their location secret.

  Lavender threw back the last of her wine and accepted her fate.

  * * * *

  Something was up. Derek could feel it in his bones, not to mention Rachel was lousy at hiding things. Yet, she’d been so weird lately, maybe he was reading her wrong. Only it wasn’t just her, it was all the women, and when all the women got weird like this, he was smart enough to know it was guys beware and tread lightly.

  They sat around a table at Characters’ Corner with the usual suspects, except Tyler and Lavender were conspicuously absent. Like the elephant in the room, no one mentioned them or even commented on their recent breakup. It was all too new, too raw.

  Damn, Derek wished those two would get their act together and make up so life could get back to normal, because right now his cousin was anything but normal. In fact, he was manic and unbearable to be around. He’d always been a workout and film-study whore, but he’d taken both to a brand-new anal level that surpassed every other player on the team. Derek suspected his cousin might be sleeping in the locker room just to get an early start in the morning and not waste time driving, not to mention avoiding all reminders at home of Lavender. He’d seen his cousin’s cat in the weight room and film room all week, which added to the suspicion Tyler wasn’t going home at night.

  “Where’s Ty?” Leave it to Zach to blunder right into the question they’d all been avoiding.

  “Nursing his wounds somewhere. What a sorry ass.” Bruiser poured another beer, despite a dirty look from his wife, Mac. He’d been getting louder and louder as the night wore on, so the dirty look was probably justified.

  “Poor dumb sap. He’s really torn up over this shit.” Brett reached for the pitcher and poured another himself. Most of the guys had probably imbibed too much this evening, and Derek had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well for any of them. The entire group seemed to be in a mood because of Tyler and Lavender.

  “There’s a cat litter box in the handicapped stall of the men’s bathroom,” Zach noted.

  “Yeah, and a cat bed and cat food in the locker room,” Bruiser gave Mac a sideways glance and sat down his beer. “There was orange cat hair on the sweater in my locker.”

  “Coug is definitely in residence. He was lying on a workout bench earlier today,” Zach agreed.

  “Which means Ty isn’t going home at night.” Estie cast a worried glance at Derek, and Derek nodded in agreement.

  “I don’t understand why she broke up with him just ’cause he wouldn’t marry her.” Zach unwittingly stumbled into a hornet’s nest. Every pair of eyes turned to him.

  “Why should she put up with his commitment phobia forever?” Kelsie’s mean-girl glare should’ve sent Zach running for cover, but evidently he wasn’t that smart.

  “He was committed to her. He was faithful, paying for her school, all her necessities, giving her everything a man could give her.” Zach blindly defended his position.

  “Except a ring.” Mac pointed out, as she jumped to defend Lavender.

  “So what?” Bruiser said. “What’s the big deal? Everybody knows he’s nuts about her. Why should that piece of paper make a difference?”

  “Is that all you think it is? A piece of paper?” Mac turned on Bruiser, and Derek could tell by the Oh, shit expression on the running back’s face that he realized what he’d stepped into a little too late.

  “Uh, no, honey, not to me, but Tyler’s different.”

  “You’ve got that right. He’s a coward.” Rachel groused, like the crabby pregnant woman she was.

  Derek sighed, bound by honor to defend his cousin, even though he knew his defense would sign his death sentence given Rachel’s current mood. “Tyler isn’t a coward. He just has definite feelings about marriage.”

  “The wrong ones.” Estie rolled her eyes and threw back the rest of her wine.

  “You can’t pin your ideals on him. Ty’s an original. He goes against the grain. I think in his mind, they were as good as married.” Brett seemed honor-bound like the rest of the guys to defend their buddy, even if it might mean a night on the couch for every one of them. Well, e
xcept Derek. Pregnancy made Rachel so damn horny she was wearing him out. Not that he was complaining. Hell, sleep was overrated anyway.

  “You guys are such—such men.” Kelsie crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her chin. As the head of this band of not-so-merry women, the rest followed her lead. Mac huffed and Rachel glowered, while Estie glared that formidable Harris glare.

  Derek glanced at his buddies. Every one of them wore a deer-in-the-headlights expression. One irritated woman was scary enough, but when all of them were pissed it crossed into downright frightening territory.

  “Since you boys seem to side with Tyler, we need some girl time to simmer down. We’re leaving Thursday for a girls’ weekend.” Kelsie announced, and the men blew out a collective breath of relief, probably hoping, like Derek, that a weekend away would defuse this powder keg of a situation. Only he didn’t know if anything short of Lavender and Ty reconciling would prevent them from taking sides and being at odds. Derek hated conflict, but they’d walked into this one with both guns blazing, and now they were out of ammunition.

  “Where to?” Zach asked the obvious question every guy wanted answered.

  “We can’t tell you unless you want us to kill you.” Kelsie smiled that scary smile of hers that clearly broadcast she had them by the balls and was squeezing hard.

  “Yeah, we’re operating on a need-to-know basis, and none of you need to know,” Mac added.

  “I think they’re going to Thunder Down Under, that male stripper show.” Bruiser’s frown said it all. He didn’t like their secrecy one bit.

  Mac smirked but didn’t deny Bruiser’s accusation, which had Brett looking all kinds of worried. Derek would’ve been laughing himself if it wasn’t for the image of naked, sweaty men crawling all over his drunk, horny wife and thrusting their crotches into her face. He put his head in his hands and groaned.

  “Why can’t you tell us?” Zach sounded as worried as Derek felt.

  “Because you’ll tell Tyler,” Kelsie smiled her kick-ass female smile, and Derek knew resistance was futile. Zach obviously hadn’t gotten that memo.

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Lavender doesn’t want him sniffing around.”

  “Who says he will? Maybe he’s over her.”

  “Maybe she’s over him. Maybe she already has someone new.”

  “Yeah, right. She’s crazy about him.” Bruiser stupidly got in the middle of Zach and Kelsie’s disagreement. Not smart at all for a guy who liked to keep his pretty face intact.

  “She just needs to get over it.” Zach pointed out. Bruiser agreed. Derek wasn’t stupid enough to agree. Zack and Bruiser were about to be road kill.

  “You think it’s that easy?” Kelsie rounded on him, and Zach backed off.

  Mac turned on Bruiser, whose eyes grew big. “And you? Is that what you think?”

  “She knew what she was getting into.” As soon as Bruiser said the words, he cringed.

  Derek sighed, knowing he’d be in deeper shit if he stuck with his buddies but honor bound to do it anyway. “Tyler is just as committed as the rest of us. No one should pressure him into marrying.”

  “Oh, really?” Rachel came at him, eyes blazing. “Well, listen up, buddy. We’re all going on vacation. And none of you needs to know where. You can reach us by cell or text if you need us, but—” She jabbed a finger in Derek’s chest. “You’d be wise not to need us.”

  Derek swallowed. He didn’t know who this crazy, emotional woman was and what she’d done with his wife. He only knew that he hated to let her out of his sight because of the baby, but he tried to take some reassurance in the fact she’d be in good hands with her girlfriends.

  He hoped.

  There was that small issue of Thunder Down Under.

  * * * *

  A few days later Lavender found herself in a floatplane loaded with the women and their luggage.

  They landed at the Friday Harbor airstrip mid-afternoon on a Thursday. Homer, a member of a group of geriatric veterans who’d dubbed themselves the Island Yankee Brotherhood, or “Brothers” for short, picked them up in a dilapidated van. Thank God there was a decent SUV parked in the mansion garage.

  Homer drove like an aspiring racecar driver on the windy two-lane road. None of the girls spoke as they clung to their seats and each other. Breathing wasn’t exactly an option either. Lavender kept glancing at Rachel to make sure she was okay. She seemed the least affected of any of them as she carried on running conversation with Homer. Lavender wished she’d shut up; the old guy seemed to be the type of driver who had to look at the person he was talking to which resulted in more than a few close calls.

  When they pulled up in front of the mansion, Lavender’s good friend Xander was waiting for them, a definite bright spot in Lavender’s currently dim life.

  Zan was a “retired” psychic and currently a paranormal investigator. Always entertaining and unpredictable, Zan’s career choices changed at the drop of a hat as she strove to achieve her full life experience.

  Zan had been dying to check out the ghosts in the Harris mansion, so Lavender decided she’d schedule a good, old-fashioned ghost hunt during their stay. Tyler had previously refused to allow it, but Tyler wasn’t here, and Estie agreed it sounded like a hoot.

  Zan rushed to Lavender and enveloped her in a big hug. The scent of patchouli oil and something infinitely more organic—and now legal in the state of Washington—wafted around her. Her friend stepped back and held Lavender’s arms, looking deep into her eyes. Lavender wanted to look away, but couldn’t. Zan’s hypnotizing stare paralyzed her, as Zan read every nuance in her face and then some.

  “You are deeply troubled.”

  “You’ve got that right, sister.” Lavender refused to enable Zan and her penchant for all things mysterious and paranormal. Breaking away from her dissecting gaze, Lavender introduced her to the girls.

  Within minutes they were sitting around a table on the deck of the mansion, admiring the priceless view of the islands and munching on homemade bread and slurping Zan’s witch’s brew—her organic vegetable soup—which was to die for. That woman could cook. Despite how different she was, she fit right in with the rest of the group.

  As late afternoon turned to evening and the wine flowed freely, the ladies loosened up into a giggling mess. Rachel, who wasn’t drinking, just got crankier, like a geriatric old lady losing her sixth bingo game in a row despite having twenty-four lucky bingo cards.

  They wrapped themselves in blankets on the deck, enjoying the star-filled spring evening and listening to the water lap against the beach. The sun set in the west, bathing the sky with brilliant splashes of purples, reds, oranges, and yellows.

  If any of her friends were missing their men, they weren’t showing it. A little no-man- down-time was good for a woman’s soul. At least temporarily. Only Lavender didn’t have a man to miss, not anymore, but that didn’t stop her from yearning for the obnoxious jerk with the dazzling smile, ripped body, and gigantic ego. Not to mention, he was damn good in bed. Too good. Good enough she wondered if any other man would ever be able to satisfy her like he had. She mentally slapped herself for her lapse into no-man-land and forced herself to focus on what the girls were saying, even if none of mattered to her.

  During a heated conversation over who made the most awesome shoes, Zan cast her mysterious gaze over the group, and they all hushed up at once, almost as if Zan had flipped some psychic switch.

  Lavender suspected what was coming. Since the rest were clueless, she ducked her head to conceal her amusement.

  Zan focused her intense gaze on Kelsie and steepled her fingers in front of her face. Realizing she was on the hot seat, Kelsie sucked in a deep breath and said absolutely nothing.

  “You hide behind a take-no-prisoners exterior, but you’re as soft a baby’s butt.”

  Mac giggled and hiccupped, but one deadly glare from Zan shut her up.

  “I’ve never been compared to a baby’s butt before.” To her credi
t, Kelsie kept a straight face.

  “You’re in a good place now with a good man who worships you. Hard work will keep your love alive for all eternity.”

  Kelsie nodded but made no comment. After all, Zan hadn’t told her anything all of them didn’t already know.

  Zan’s gaze settled next on Mac. “You’ve been a good mother to a boy in need of one. Your man, he is a good father. You will be gifted with many more children.”

  Mac smiled. “How many more? As in one or two or several?”

  “Several.”

  Mac turned white, her amusement turning to shock.

  “And you,” Zan rested her gaze on Estie, “will work tirelessly with your man to make life a little better for animals.”

  Estie grinned and tipped her glass to Zan.

  “And buy that vintage wedding dress at Dreeson’s. It has good luck. The bride who wore it was married for sixty years. The couple is still together in spirit.”

  “I. Uh.” Estie swallowed hard and turned a little pale herself. “But I already bought a different dress.”

  “Return it.” Zan spoke with absolute conviction and shifted her gaze to Rachel.

  Rachel absently rubbed her belly and watched Zan warily.

  “You will have a healthy boy and in a few years, a girl. Perhaps one more after that.”

  Rachel smiled and nodded. “How do you know it’s a boy? We decided to wait to find out.”

  “I know these things.” Lastly, Zan’s gaze settled on Lavender, who sighed. She’d so hoped to avoid this, yet she’d brought it on herself by inviting Zan to join them, knowing how it would end up.

  “You are at a crossroads in your life and about to head down an unfitting path.”

  Lavender sat up straight, suddenly feeling stone-cold sober. “Unfitting path?”

  “You’re walking away from a forever love, a man who’s given you a commitment in his heart and soul.” Zan’s stare was so intense that Lavender squirmed and squinted trying to lessen the effect of Zan’s piercing gaze, but it didn’t help. Instead her stomach churned.