Dirty Summer 8

Dammit. She hadn’t answered any of the calls he made on the drive down. Maybe she wasn’t even in Charleston, or worse she was spending the night with someone else. He ran his fingers through his rain-wet hair. He hated the idea of driving back to the island without any answers, but this was a stupid idea anyway. Shoving his hand in his pocket to retrieve his keys, he turned from the door, and started down the stairs and into the heavy rainstorm.

“Reid?”

He had made it to the sidewalk before he heard her voice. The water washed down his face. “Hey.”

She stepped on to the small porch, wrapping a long, thin cardigan around her chest. “Get out of that mess.” She waved him onto the porch.

“I tried calling first.” Reid took the steps two at a time, and shook the rain from his hair.

“Oh.” Her voice was almost a whisper.

“I need to talk to you.” He zeroed in on her confused face. “I want to talk.”

“You’re here to talk? In the middle of the night?”

“Yeah.” Reid’s voice couldn’t be more serious. “Can we go inside? I’m a little drenched.” A raindrop slid down the side of his face. He realized there was a good chance she wasn’t going to let him in. He deserved it.

“O-k.” Maggie led him through the door. She left Reid in the hallway, dripping rain. She walked over to turn a lamp on; the house was completely dark. He noticed it looked like her hands might be trembling.

Reid shoved his hands in his pockets. Damn, this was going to be harder than he thought. Now that he was here, in her apartment, none of it made sense. He knew he had scared her the day of the fight; he wasn’t proud of it. It was the one moment in his life he wanted to take back. The way she was looking at him now, he wasn’t so sure that he hadn’t scared her again.

“I did try to call. I didn’t want to scare you.”

“I don’t usually get visitors pounding on my door at 3 a.m., so yeah, you freaked me out a little bit.” Maggie opened bi-folding doors in the hall closet and snatched a towel from the folded pile stacked on the dryer. She handed it to Reid.

“I have some questions.” Reid’s words were matter-of-fact. He ran the towel along his arms. No use sugar-coating the reason he was there.

“Wait, before you interrogate me, how did you find me?”

Reid didn’t expect her to be hostile, but her bright blue eyes looked sharper than he ever remembered seeing them. “Blair gave me your address.”

“Blair?” Maggie looked shocked.

“So she didn’t tip you off? Well, I guess I always knew she could keep a secret.” He hadn’t meant to insert so much sarcasm in his tone.

“What are you talking about?”

“That came out wrong. That’s not what I meant, exactly. I saw her tonight, and when she gave me your address, I asked her not to tell you I was on my way to see you.”

“Hold on. You saw Blair?”

“Yeah, apparently, she left Dallas. Last time I saw her, she was going to track down Justyn at the Dock House. My guess is they’re together right now.” He smiled—something that felt uncomfortable with the way Maggie was staring at him.

“I don’t believe this.” Maggie tucked her knees under her and curled deeper into the couch. “Blair is with Justyn?” She looked across the room at Reid. “And you’re here?”

“Yes. I’m here.” He strolled toward her and sat next to her on the yellow couch, pulling his T-shirt away from his chest for a second as if air-drying it would evaporate the rain marks.

“I don’t understand.”

“Blair said some things tonight that made me think. I wanted to talk to you about what happened in person. I have questions that can only be answered by you. I’m tired of hearing what everyone else thinks.”

Maggie glanced at him. “But you wouldn’t listen when I tried to talk to you. I would have answered everything a month ago.”

He exhaled. “I couldn’t talk about it a month ago. I was too mad.” He closed his eyes. “No, not mad—I was furious. And I didn’t handle it well. I’m sorry about that. I was an absolute ass.”

“Yes, you were.” She twisted her loose curls along her shoulder. “So, you’re ready now? At three in the morning? Now is the time you want to talk?”

Reid buried his head in his hands. “This is so messed up.”