I gestured for Shannon to stay on the bed, and she responded with another eye roll.
Then a crash sounded from the hall and I rounded the corner, my fist immediately connecting with bone and soft tissue. He crumpled to the ground, howling in pain, and I secured his hands against his lower back with the not-so-gentle pressure of my knee.
Shannon flipped on the light—so much for staying on the goddamn bed—and she cried, “Riley!”
“Riley?” I rolled him over and sure enough, Shannon’s little brother and his busted nose were bleeding all over the slate floor. She stomped into the bathroom and emerged with a damp towel for him.
“Son of a bitch,” he groaned, clutching the towel to his face.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I couldn’t remember which room was mine and Patrick kicked me out, but I had your key from when I was bringing in the gift baskets last night. I was just going to sleep in your bathtub but then I heard…well, I was going to trying to leave quietly but I tripped on your shoes, Shan.”
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
He eyed me up and down, not missing the fact I was in his sister’s room wearing only my underwear. An uncomfortable scowl was obvious beneath the growing rush of bruises that would dominate his nose and eyes tomorrow. “Long enough.”
Shannon fussed over him until the bleeding stopped, but that didn’t prevent her from casting several irritated glances over her shoulder. For my part, I stood with my arms crossed over my chest, trying to figure out why a grown-ass man was creeping into his sister’s room at three in the morning and letting her wipe his fucking nose. It wasn’t unlike the scene I observed at the reception tonight, where she kicked everyone’s asses into gear and didn’t sit down once. She did everything short of busing the tables after dinner service.
I couldn’t explain why, but it didn’t sit well with me. I knew I didn’t like it.
“Go snuggle up on the couch,” she instructed, gesturing past Riley to the small living room. “I think I have some ibuprofen, and I’ll get you some ice.”
You have to be fucking kidding me.
“What?” I snapped.
“What do you mean, ‘what’? Look at what you did to him.” She glared at me, nodding toward the bloodied towel as if I’d ripped off the guy’s arm and not simply knocked his nose off-kilter.
“And I’d do it again,” I said. “When it’s the middle of the night and something isn’t right, I shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Yeah, that’s brilliant,” she said. “You and your itchy trigger finger can go now. You’ve done enough.”
“No, no, I’m good,” Riley said, wobbling to his feet. “I’ll crash with Sam.”
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all night,” I murmured.
Shannon’s little fist shot out, landing square on my bicep. “It’s rude to be an asshole after breaking someone’s nose.”
“It’s also rude to creep into someone’s cottage in the middle of the night,” I said. “I think we’re even now.”
“Not exactly how I’d define even,” Riley murmured, wiping his nose again and grimacing at the trail of blood on his hand. “Anyone want to point me in the direction of Sam’s room? Wouldn’t want another beat down tonight.”
“He’s three cottages down,” she said, patting Riley’s shoulder.
“Great. Thanks.” He moved toward the sliding glass door near the beachside patio. “And I didn’t see anything. I never do,” he muttered. He shot me another glance, but between the bruising and swelling, I couldn’t discern much from it.
Shannon followed and I trailed close behind her, my hand resting on her hip when Riley stepped out onto the patio. He turned toward Sam’s cottage but soon stopped, groaning. “Why do I always walk in on this shit?”
Shannon joined him, pulling her robe tight to her body as the damp air surrounded her. I stepped beside her, and surveyed the beach plum shrubs and sandy dunes connecting the string of cottages to the shoreline. Only a few feet away, I spied the doctor kicked back on a lounge chair.
With Shannon’s sister on his lap.
And his hands under her dress.
“Could you not wait until you got inside?” Riley yelled. “This fucking night…I’m tellin’ you. I just want to go to sleep but no, I get punched in the goddamn face and swallow a pint of my own fucking blood, and I don’t even get to stay on the couch!” He glared back at Shannon and me, shaking his head. He shifted to face Nick and Erin, and now that he wasn’t crying about his busted nose, I realized that Riley was built like a pile of bricks. If he wanted to knock me on my ass, he had a decent shot at it. “You really want Matt to blow a gasket on his wedding night? Really? Because that’s what would happen if he saw this. I can’t even go there with you two. Can’t. Even.”
“There’s no reason to tell Matt,” Erin said.
