Page 43 of Down & Dirty (Holden Cove #1)

CHAPTER 43

CORY

T he phone started ringing, the tone loud in my ear in the otherwise perfect stillness of the morning. Dawn was barely starting to cast shadows on the ground, painting the skyline in a dingey orange-brown, the color of the mud that would cake the cars every spring back in Maine.

The line picked up. “Hello?”

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“Answering your call at six a.m.? I’m not sure. Why the hell are you calling me this early?” Cass’s voice was scratchy, like she had been asleep.

“You set Skylar up with a modeling contract?”

Sheets rustled before she blew a long breath in my ear. “Why do you sound pissed about this? Of all people, I’d think you’d be stoked for your girl?”

I huffed out a laugh, tugging at my hair. “Are you kidding me right now? I know better than anyone how fucked up this shit is.”

“She’s a big girl, Cory. She can handle herself.”

My teeth ground in my ear, the popping sound drowning her out. “She’s not doing this.”

Cass’s defiant laugh spilled through the phone. “She signed the papers, big shot. She’s doing it. ”

“Get her out of it.”

“What? No. Why? What’s wrong with you?”

“This isn’t what she wants. This isn’t who she is. I’m not letting her throw her life away on this bullshit.”

Her silence felt heavy, and when she spoke again there was warning in her voice. “I’m not sure what the hell is going on with you right now, but as your friend, I’m telling you, you need to calm down. This is Sky’s choice. Support her on this, Cory.”

I shook my head, the same anger that had fueled me to walk the streets all night surging back to life. Being exhausted and raw wasn’t enough to beat back the wave of it.

“I can’t. I won’t. She has dreams for her life. The whole point of all of this was to help her go after them. Not to sink her into some fucking circus ring of model shoots and spokesman deals. She’s too fucking good for this. Kill the deal, Cass.”

“She’s too good? I’m going to cut you slack for the last time here, because I know you’re not shitting all over me and the work I do. Work I’ve done for your sorry ass more times than I can count.”

“This isn’t about you.”

“You’re right. This is about you . You have your head stuck up your ass if you think killing this deal is going to do anything but hurt her.”

Nothing in this world would make me hurt Sky. She mattered more to me than anything. Which is why I refused to let her go down this path. Not if I had any way to stop it.

“Kill the deal, or we’re done.”

Out of the two of us, I was better for Cass’s bottom line than anything Sky could ever offer. It wasn’t fair, but it was reality. And Cass was a business woman at the end of the day. If our friendship wasn’t enough to get her to do this for me, then I’d talk to her in cold hard numbers.

She blew out another long breath, making me wait.

“This is epically fucked up. You get that right?”

No more fucked up than Skylar getting tangled up in the modeli ng scene. Taking shit jobs with asshole men groping her, and molding her. Telling her to lose weight and push up her tits. I’d been on too many sets to ever want her near that life. Whatever this was, this idea she had in her head of how this would play out, she was wrong. And I refused to stand by and watch it happen.

“I get that after we hang up, you’re going to terminate that contract and we’re never going to talk about this again.”

“Fuck . . . Fine.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t fucking thank me. You’re being an asshole and not just to your wife. Don’t ever shit on me and my work again, or it’ll be you looking for a new goddamn partner.”

I winced. I hadn’t meant to take this out on Cass—even if I was pissed she’d gone behind my back with my wife. I knew she was doing what she thought was the helpful thing. That’s who she was. A big heart and good intentions.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

“Yes, you did. True colors are hard to hide, Cory. But you have to know that I’m not the only relationship you’re risking here.”

Whatever relief I felt for getting Skylar out of this was quickly replaced by dread. Because Cass was right. I knew Sky would be pissed. But there was something else going on here, something pushing her into this madness. She’d never expressed any interest in going down this road. If anything, she’d spent most of our time together mocking it and vilifying the whole industry.

“She’ll understand.”

Cass laughed, the sound of it out of place in the dark mood of the morning. “You really are a dreamer. I’m going back to bed. Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

The line went dead and I slipped my phone back into my pocket, lifting my eyes to the pale blue above me. The stillness butted up against the agitation teaming inside me. Everything felt tilted, sideways. Skylar had become the ballast of my ship, and now, w ith this, I was pitched off to one side. I felt lost. With no way to get back to my home.

“Jesus, you look like shit,” Billy said, a touch louder than I would have liked around the rest of the guys. He was packing up the bike to bring it back to the shop and I’d opted to come join him rather than go back to the hotel. “Are those yesterday’s clothes?”

Looking down, I plucked at the dress shirt I still wore. Being around the bikes and mechanics in anything but my race gear made me feel even more out of place.

“Yeah.” I sagged into one of the chairs they hadn’t packed yet and let my head fall into my hand. Exhaustion was hitting, but the thought of moving to my bed was more than I could manage.

“What’s going on?” Billy asked, putting down the straps in his hand.

“Nothing.” I wasn’t ready to get into it.

“He’s probably as pissed as I am about my sister signing up to be a model.”

Both of us whipped up to find Ronnie standing with a smile on his face and a massive cup of coffee in his hands.

“A model?” Billy asked, glancing apprehensively between the two of us. “I mean, she has the look for it, but what ?”

I closed my eyes, his shock confirming exactly why it had been a terrible idea.

“I know. My folks were asking me about it after you left. I told them to talk to her. This has got to be a cry for help, right?” He laughed, but when I opened my eyes to look at him, I saw the same concern on his face that I felt.

“I don’t know,” I admitted with a shrug.

She was my wife, but clearly, we weren’t working as well together as we once had. And I wasn’t sure when that had started. I thought we’d recovered from my lie, but if she’d started this thing with Cass after the first race, then whatever was going on, it began long before she knew about my medical records.

“She’s going to hate it,” Ronnie sighed, setting his coffee down and scratching the day-old scruff on his jaw. He looked more pensive than I’d ever seen him. Knowing his sister better than anyone, this must have been just as confusing for him.

“Well, at least she’ll have you two to help her—” Billy froze, his eyes going wide before he swallowed and turned back to the bike. “Incoming,” he said in a rush.

Ronnie and I turned to the entrance, spotting Skylar as she strode toward us. Her face was twisted up in a scowl so fierce Ronnie took a step back.

He didn’t know what was about to happen, but I had a pretty good idea.

Skylar pushed past her brother, her eyes locked on me. “How fucking dare you!” she yelled, stopping in front of me and bending to my eye level. “How could you do that?”

“Do what?” Ronnie asked, his voice low, hesitant but curious.

Sky whirled at him, her silky blond hair fanning out as she spun. “He killed my contract.”

“The modeling one?”

“Yes,” she snapped impatiently. When she turned back to me, about to say more, Ronnie cut her off.

“Good.”

Her mouth dropped open, her glare sliding over to her brother. “ What ?”

He held her gaze, shaking his head as he pulled his shoulders back. “Good. You would have hated that shit.”

“So what!? Then I would have hated it. But it was my choice!”

Ronnie’s apathetic expression screwed up into a scowl. “If I’m about to do something stupid, you stop me, right? How is this any different?”

Sky’s head tipped back, her eyes searching the air above her. Then she looked back at the two of us, a rueful, sad grin on her face. “You two. You both get to fuck around and mess up. You get to try things and fail at things. You get to practically ruin your career, and,” she turned to me, bitterness in her eyes, “risk your life. And I can’t even pose for some fucking pictures.”

I could see it again, that same pain was in her eyes from the other day. This was because of the shit with my back.

“It’s not who you are, Sky,” Ronnie said, his voice soft.

She shook her head. “How the hell would you know?”

Ronnie’s expression fell. “Hey, come on.”

“No. You both think you know me so well, you know what’s right for me. And neither of you will listen to anything I say. So, here,” she turned to Ronnie. “I quit.” And then she spun to me, “And I want a divorce.”

My heart dropped into my stomach, a pain reaching through me like acid on a raw nerve. “Skylar...”

She shook her head, tears brimming her eyes. “No. I’m done.”

I shoved out of my chair, desperation clawing at me. This couldn’t be happening. But when I went for her, she held up her hand. Silently warning me as she took one step back and then another.

With a long glare at her brother, she turned and left. And my whole life left with her.