Who pukes on national television? What will people think? What does Jack think?
I peel out of the parking lot.
This will definitely be a career ender.
SEVENTEEN
I drop my ruined note cards and sling warm wetness from my hands. My jaw hangs loose.
Eric coughs, drawing my attention. He gives me his dumbass-we’re-still-on-air look.
I grab a tissue from the box at the far end of my on-stage desk and pull my shit together.
“And that’s all part of the excitement of live television. You never know what might happen.” I slap on a smile. “We’re going to go to commercial break and pay some bills while we get this mess cleaned up.”
I pull up at the curb in front of Shayna and Ronnie’s place. There’s a light showing around the blinds in the entryway. Maybe that means she’s still awake. Something this important can’t wait.
We have to get this shit straightened out right now. Whatever she thinks she’s got going with Dave, if it’s just sex, it can’t trump giving our baby a home with two parents. Surely she’ll see the logic in that.
I ring the bell and wipe my suddenly clammy hands down the front of the jeans I changed into after the show. The bird squawks and whistles. Well, if they were asleep before, they aren’t now.
It only takes a few seconds for the door to open.
Shayna’s hair is mussed. Her lace panties might as well be see-through, and that wife-beater could just as well not be there, with her not wearing a bra.
I avert my eyes and check out the door frame.
She lets out a big sigh. “What do you want?”
I look her directly into her eyes, careful to keep my gaze up high. “I need to see Ronnie.”
She slides her hand up the side of the door, leaning against it. “No can do.”
“Not here?” Where the fuck is she at this time of night?
She shrugs. “Not my business where she chooses to stay the night. She’s a big girl.”
“Dave’s?” Ugh.
Shayna inspects her fingernail. “Couldn’t say.”
I turn away from her and head to the car. “When you see her, tell her that she and I need to talk.”
I’m halfway down the walk when Shayna says, “You know, Jack, I’ve been wondering something about you.”
I turn to face her, still ensuring to keep my gaze above her shoulders. “What’s that?”
She bites her pinky nail and gives me this look. In the glow of the front porch light it almost seems like she’s hitting on me. “You like white meat as much as you like dark meat?”
“White meat?” What the fucking hell?
Shayna shrugs. “I mean skin tone.”
Holy fuck, she is hitting on me. That bitch. I can’t believe she’d do this to Ronnie—ah, man.
This is Shayna.
I shake my head. “You know, Shayna, it has nothing to do with her shade of melanin, but everything to do with who she is. And you forget that I know what you do for a living. Nice try, though. She ask you to do that?”
Shayna drops the sex-pot persona and grins. “Nope. But I had to make sure you’re worthy of my girl. She’s flying to Oklahoma in an hour. Hurry up; maybe you’ll catch her before she gets through security.”
I take off for the car at a run.
“Hey, Jackass!”
I stop. “Yeah?”
“We know Dave was a plant. Not cool. So. Not. Cool.”
Shit. That’s why she’s so pissed.
I jump into my car and race toward the airport.
Blue lights flash in the rearview.
Fuck.
I pull over and dig out the appropriate documents. Maybe if I’m ready, this will go fast.
The officer comes to the window and taps it with his flashlight. “License and registration please.”
I hand him the requested items.
“Do you know why I pulled you over?”
Considering I’ve broken just about every traffic law on the books since I left Shayna’s, I have no fucking idea. “No, sir. I don’t.”
“You were exceeding the posted speed limit by thirty miles per hour. Are you injured and on your way to the hospital?”
I shake my head. “No. I’m trying to catch the love of my life before she gets on a plane and leaves.”
He cocks his head and blinds me when he shines his light right into my face. “Seriously? That’s your excuse?”
I grip the wheel. “It’s the God’s honest truth.”
He glances at my driver’s license. Then he bends down, taking a closer look at me. “Jackson Tremaine?”
I smile and salute. “That would be me.”
He chuckles as he writes in his notebook. “I sure wish you’d have just told me the truth. Don’t lie to an officer of the law. Everyone knows you’re not the kind of guy who chases after a woman. You leave a wake of broken hearts everywhere you go.”