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* * *
“And the lucky man is…” Mack spread her arms to say ta-da! “Kellan.”
“Kellan? You mean for the wedding?”
“What else? A hundred bucks a day plus meals, and he’ll bring an air mattress for the hotel room and share the driving.”
A day of travel each way, four days in Maine—six hundred bucks. I was getting a bargain. Kellan was a former cop on Dan’s Investigations team, and while he was definitely on the hot side of average, he wasn’t ridiculously tall, he didn’t have visible tattoos, and he remained polite at all times. Mack had done good. I flung my arms around her.
“You’re a lifesaver.”
“No, that’s Kellan. I promised you’d email him an itinerary.”
“I’ll do it today.”
It wouldn’t be difficult—Odette had already sent a minute-by-minute briefing, starting with breakfast on Thursday morning and ending with drinks and board games on Sunday. In between, we’d be expected to attend a family meal on Thursday evening, the rehearsal dinner on Friday, the ceremony and reception on Saturday, and brunch on Sunday. Plus Odette had arranged a boat ride, a guided walk around the island, a fishing trip for the men, and mani-pedis for the women. Did Kellan know how to fish? I’d have to ask him.
A half hour later, I got my answer. Kellan used to fish with his grandpa, and although he hadn’t been near a rod and line for several years, he recalled the basics and was happy to go on the trip with my folks. At least one man in my life knew how to reply to a message—I hadn’t heard a word from Hawk since he left last Saturday morning, and it was too soon to invite him over again. I usually tried to allow a few days. Should I have sent the x at the end of my text? I’d agonised over it all weekend because what if he thought I was getting soppy? Logic said a digital kiss shouldn’t matter when we were exchanging bodily fluids, but this was Hawk. Where he was concerned, logic went out of the window.
5
AGATHA
“Why is there an ambulance in the driveway?” I asked.
My shared office had a view across the front parking lot at the Blackwood campus, and right now, the ambulance was trundling toward us, lights flashing but sans siren, thankfully. Mouse hated loud noises. Even with the earplugs he wore, a siren would have upset him. But what was the problem? There’d been no emergency broadcast, no company-wide alert. Was the driver lost? Or had he just arrived early for my impending coronary? With one day to go until I left for Maine, my blood pressure was through the roof.
“Where?” Mack asked, peering through the window beside me. Mouse and Ziggy came to look as well, and it was Ziggy who found the answer.
“There’s been an accident in the gym.”
“What kind of an accident?” I asked.
Blackwood’s gym was normally super safe. The equipment was state of the art, and everyone knew how to use it. The last sports-related injury I knew of was a torn ACL on the basketball court, and that had happened over a year ago.
“Hawk and Kellan were sparring, and I guess Kellan forgot to duck.”
“Tell me this is a joke?”
“Uh, no? I mean, I don’t think so. Jack was there when it happened, and that’s what he said.”
Shit!
“Is Kellan badly hurt?”
“Hold on…” Ziggy tapped at his phone. “Okay, Jack says that whoever called the ambulance might have jumped the gun. It’s just a loose tooth and possibly a fractured jaw. Kellan could have driven himself to the emergency room.”
A loose tooth? A fractured jaw? And Hawk had done this? That…that asshole. Couldn’t he have taken the tiniest bit of care not to ruin my entire weekend? Seeing red, I marched out of my office and headed for the gym. I needed to offer sympathy to Kellan and a piece of my mind to Brendan Hauser.
* * *
Sheesh, what a mess. There was blood on the floor by the boxing ring, and Kellan was sitting on a stretcher, an ice pack pressed against his face and more blood on his chin. At least he was conscious. Thank goodness for small mercies.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Not really.”
Kellan spoke through a grimace, wincing in pain. He had a cut above his eyebrow too. Where had that come from?
