Chapter 31

T hey were silent on the drive to the police station. Liam assumed, like him, his dad was torn between panic, not knowing what to say, not wanting to make assumptions, and just desperate to get his person back in his arms.

Was Liam surprised that Jasmine had been arrested? Probably not as surprised as he should've been. Was he surprised that Maggie had been? Absolutely. She hadn't explained much on the phone, but he was sure it was over something small, and he didn't care what it took to fix it as long as they were both okay.

He'd never been more grateful for his dad's air of authority as he followed him into the Seattle North Precinct.

"Can I help you?" the smiling woman at the front desk asked, beaming at his dad.

Liam tuned his dad out as he relayed why they were there to the woman. He was too on edge, peering around the bright, sterile lobby. He tuned back in as the woman told his dad that the arresting officers would be with them to explain everything in a moment.

He couldn't sit, pacing back and forth in front of the metal chairs, while his dad sat still as a statue. To someone who didn't know him, he would appear completely calm and collected, but Liam knew he was just as stressed as he was. He just had more experience hiding it.

"Mr. Michaelson?"

They both looked up to see two officers striding across the lobby toward them. His dad stood to greet the officers, one of whom had a tablet in her hands, presumably with Jasmine and Maggie's arrest file, if that was a thing. Liam had no idea how any of this worked.

"Hi. Yes. Are Maggie and Jazz okay?"

"They're fine, sir. Thank you for coming out for them. We weren't comfortable letting them go, given how inebriated they are," the taller of the two officers explained, and Liam frowned in confusion.

"They were arrested for being drunk? Just how drunk were they?"

"Very drunk," the officer with the tablet confirmed. "But that's not actually why they were arrested. There was an incident at the bar. I guess one of them was dancing on a table and they fell and knocked over a very expensive statue, breaking a window, the statue, and a table."

Shit. Liam didn't need to ask who was dancing on the table. "Is Jazz okay? Was it a bad fall? "

"We offered to get her checked out by a paramedic, but she declined and said she felt fine," the officer assured him. "We were outside when the window broke and we became quite concerned about them when they got into an argument—well, it was mostly one sided, actually. Maggie has quite a temper, if you don't mind me saying."

"That sounds like Maggie," his dad replied.

"Your daughter?" The officer gave him a look that Liam thought was supposed to be in commiseration, but it quickly morphed into shock and embarrassment when his dad pinched his brow and replied:

"My wife."

"Oh God, I shouldn't have assumed. I'm so sor?—"

"Don't worry. We're used to it." His dad's shoulders were less tense now that he knew Maggie and Jasmine were okay. "Do you know if the owner of the bar is pressing charges?"

"They don't want to press charges. As long as the damage is paid for, they're happy to draw a line under it. We can pass your details along to sort that out between yourselves, if that works."

"That's perfect, thank you."

"Great. They'll be out with you shortly," the woman said. "They've sobered up, probably because of the shock of everything, but they've still had a lot to drink tonight. Although neither of them hit their heads, they still fell, so I would recommend you keep a close eye on them for the next twenty-four hours—especially Jazz. "

He had no intention of taking his eye off Jasmine for the next twenty-four hours—longer if he could manage.

Liam started as his dad clapped him on the shoulder. "At least they're okay."

"Yeah. At least they're okay."

Except it became abundantly clear that okay was relative when Jasmine and Maggie stepped into the lobby. Maggie's jaw was set, her blue eyes like thunder. Jasmine eyed her best friend warily, smudges of black eyeliner and glittery gold eyeshadow all over her face.

"Hey, love." His dad wrapped Maggie up in his arms, but she barely hugged him back. Liam could see the explosion building in her.

"Thank you for coming to get us." Maggie swallowed. "I need to be outside."

She pulled out of his dad's hold and walked toward the door, her shoulders set.

Jasmine brushed a hand over her face, grimacing as she watched Maggie walking away. "Shit," she said under her breath, running after Maggie. "Maggie, wait up. Can we talk about this, please?"

Liam and his dad exchanged a worried expression before following them.

Thin rain misted the air, unseasonably cool for Seattle in August. Jasmine had her arms tucked around herself, rubbing her skin as if trying to stay warm.

Maggie was heading straight for his dad's Tesla, her fists clenched into balls.

"Please talk to me," Jasmine begged her as they all caught up and Maggie spun, her dark hair flying behind her.

"I don't even want to look at you right now, let alone talk to you. What the fuck were you thinking? Oh wait, you weren't thinking, because you had so much to drink you couldn't fucking see straight."

Jasmine reared back, as if Maggie had physically slapped her with her words. "I fucked up, okay? I'm sorry. But it's really not that big of a deal. They're not pressing charges and I'll pay for the damages and?—"

"YOU WORK FOR A FUCKING LAWYER, JAZZ." Maggie sucked in a breath, angry tears springing to her eyes. "At any point, did you stop and consider how this might look for Cal if people found out his assistant and his wife were arrested for getting so drunk they caused property damage?"

"Maggie, love?—"

But Maggie was on a roll, and Liam didn't think she even heard his dad saying her name. "Or did you think about how this might look for me and my business if people found out I'd been arrested? I'm barely established. I can't afford bad publicity right now. I have employees fucking depending on me. This is my livelihood, Jazz."

"I said I was sorry!" Jasmine shouted at her, throwing her hands up. "What else do you want from me? It's not like I can turn back time and drink less."

"I want you to grow up," Maggie said through gritted teeth, and Liam winced. "You're thirty years old. I want you to act like it. We're not twenty-one anymore. There are actual real life consequences to the shit you do now. It's time to grow the fuck up."

Shit. Liam couldn't blame Maggie for being angry. He couldn't even blame her for saying what she'd said, but it was, arguably, the worst possible thing to say, given everything that Jasmine was struggling with. And Liam knew, no matter how angry she was, Maggie would never have said it if she'd known. Which meant Jasmine hadn't told Maggie she was struggling.

And he saw in Jasmine's face the second she decided she'd made the right call in keeping shit from her best friend. Fuck.

"You know what, Maggie? Get off your fucking high horse. Just because you decided to settle down, get married, and start a business so you could do the same old shit of taking on too much responsibility and lashing out when you can't handle it, doesn't mean the rest of us want such a boring fucking life."

" Jasmine ." Liam stared open-mouthed at her, but she refused to look at him. She didn't mean it. Fuck, they all knew she didn't mean it. She didn't even sound angry, just tired and sad. But even though Liam knew that Maggie knew that, she still looked absolutely gutted by her best friend's words.

She looked down, staring at her shoes. "Can you open the car, please? I want to go home."

His dad fished his keycard out of his pocket and held it up to the car door until the lights flashed. Maggie wasted no time pulling the door open and disappearing inside. His dad rounded the car and jumped into the driver's side. Though the windows were tinted, Liam was close enough to see him immediately reaching across the center console for her.

Jasmine loosed a long, watery breath.

"Darling…" He stepped toward her, but she held up a hand, looking up at him with tears streaking down her cheeks.

"Please don't touch me. If you touch me, I'm going to fall apart and I can't. I just… I can't."

"Okay. It's all going to be okay. Let's just get you home and into bed, and everything is going to be better in the morning."

She nodded, and he reached for the back passenger's side door handle. "Liam?" she whispered, and his hand stilled.

"Yeah?"

"I don't know why I said all of that. I didn't mean it. Any of it." Her voice was barely audible, cracking as more tears spilled down her face.

It took everything in him not to just pull her into his arms and wipe her tears away.

"I know, darling. And Maggie knows too. She'll cool off and you can talk things through when you're both feeling better."

He opened the door and closed it gently behind her once she was settled, then rounded the car and got in the other side. Bray, who they'd had to bring along because they couldn't trust him not to piss Peach off too much, was standing on Jasmine's lap. He was wagging his tail, clearly happy to see her, but staring up at her with his head tilted, as if he couldn't quite understand why her cheeks were wet. Jasmine's hands shook as she scratched behind his ears.

His dad cleared his throat and turned back to look at him. "You're staying at our place tonight."

Both Maggie and Jasmine piped up in protest, but his dad interrupted them both. "I don't want to hear it. You've both had a lot to drink and the officers we spoke to said you fell. Liam and I have been worried shitless since you called us and we're both going to sleep better knowing we're all under one roof."

Jasmine nodded, staring at her lap, and Maggie just stared out of the window, her mouth in a thin line.

It would be fine. They would talk in the morning and make up and everything would be fine. It had to be.

The amount of alcohol in her blood should have knocked her out the second her head hit the pillow, but Jazz didn't sleep a wink. Though they didn't talk, Liam stayed awake, clutching her hand, until his grip loosened and his breathing evened out around four.

Jazz watched him sleep, memorizing the lines on his face, each individual hair on his mustache, the errant freckles dotted around his nose. He was perfect in heart, and soul, and body, and mind, and she was a fuck up who said shitty things she didn't mean to the one person who had been on her side forever.

How the hell had everything gotten so messed up?

Jazz carefully untangled herself from Liam, trying not to wake him or the puppy sleeping in the crook of his neck. She threw on shorts and the sweatshirt Liam had been wearing the night before, then padded quietly down the stairs, needing to feel daylight on her skin.

Sun streamed through Maggie and Cal's window, the clock on the microwave showing just past six. She squinted at the light, pouring herself a glass of water and sitting at the dining table to chug it. She didn't feel nearly as rough as she'd expected. It was fucking ironic that the one time she deserved a hangover from hell, she felt more or less fine. What a joke.

She wasn't alone for long; she heard tiny feet tapping on the hardwood floors, followed by louder footsteps.

"Morning," Cal said, squeezing her shoulder as he passed, Peach leading him across the kitchen to her food bowl.

"Morning."

Peach didn't spare a passing glance at Jazz; she was singularly focused on her food bowl. And Cal, it seemed, wasn't moving fast enough. Peach stood at his feet and meowed continuously while her dad opened the can of food and meticulously scooped the supplements Maggie had painstakingly curated for Peach.

Jazz knew Maggie was usually the one to wake up for Peach's breakfast, because she often woke up to a text from her time-stamped six-thirty, that was entirely too chirpy for so early in the morning. But Maggie was a morning person. Cal wasn't. Which meant Maggie had probably chosen to stay in bed to avoid bumping into her. Jazz squeezed her water glass so hard she was surprised it didn't shatter.

"Christ, you'd think we starved you," Cal muttered sleepily as he placed Peach's bowl on the floor and she dove in whisker first.

He busied himself making coffee and Jazz stared down at the table. How was she supposed to look at him? She'd basically implied Maggie was boring for marrying him. Nothing could be further from the truth. Cal had brought Maggie out of her shell, and Jazz loved seeing the change in Maggie after she finally found someone who valued her. So why the fuck had she said it?

She looked up as Cal slid a glass across the table toward her. "Iced lavender latte with oat milk."

Her favorite. Jazz wrapped her hands around the glass and thanked him, her eyes burning.

"Are you okay?"

Jazz forced herself to look up and there wasn't a shred of judgment in his green eyes, the mirror of his son's. Only concern shone on his face. A tear slipped down her face before she could stop it, and she wiped it away with Liam's sleeve. "No. I don't think I am. I'm sorry," she said, her voice cracking and tears falling faster than she could wipe them away. "I didn't mean what I said last night. I don't know why I said it. And the arrest… Fuck, I'm sorry. For all of it. "

She buried her face in her hands and then, suddenly, Cal's arms were around her, pulling her into a hug. "It's okay, Jazz. I promise it's okay. You made a mistake. That doesn't mean we love you any less."

Jazz had never had a fatherly dad, but she could only assume this was what it felt like. What must it feel like to grow up with someone who held you when you cried and reassured you, even when you fucked up? Who would she be if she'd grown up without a fear of trying, just in case she made mistakes? Probably not the kind of person who said such shitty things to her best friend.

"Maggie…" she began, with no idea how to finish her sentence. What could she even say?

"Maggie loves you," Cal said, sitting back so he could peer down into her face. "She knows you and she knows you were just lashing out. This is Maggie we're talking about, so maybe give her a couple of days to stew, but she will forgive you."

Jazz nodded and tried to make herself believe it. She and Maggie had fought over the years, but she'd never made it so personal. And Jazz had almost always been the one behind their fights. This was just another in a long, long line. Everyone had a breaking point; what if this was Maggie's? It wasn't just the shit she said, but the complete and utter disregard she'd shown for Maggie's business. And Cal's.

"About work," she said, wringing her hands. "I'm so sorry, Cal. You know I love my job, and I care about the firm. I would never want to do anything to cause problems for you or the team. I wasn't thinking. Clearly. "

"Do you really think you're the first person on the team to get arrested? I've had to help more than a few people out of trouble over the years, which Maggie knows, for the record. I promise, drunken property damage is minor."

Well, shit. Apparently Jazz didn't know her colleagues as well as she thought she did.

"No one at the office needs to find out about this if you don't want them to," Cal promised. "And speaking of property damage, I know you said you'd pay for it, but it's a lot of money, and?—"

"I have savings," she interrupted. "I can pay for it. I need to pay for it. It was my mistake."

Cal, who was familiar with Maggie fighting him on offering to pay for shit, even though they were married, didn't look happy, but at least he didn't argue. Jazz was used to being around people with money, thanks to her parents and their business, and she'd never met a more generous millionaire than Cal Michaelson. Or a more frustrated millionaire, because everyone around him refused to let him spend money on them.

But Jazz had to prove to herself that she could pay for her own mistakes. She had to feel the consequences.

"Okay," Cal reluctantly. "But if you need help, you let me know."

"Thank you." She swallowed, her voice thick with emotion.

"I mean it, Jazz. You're family, and even if you just need to talk or rant to someone who isn't Liam right now. You know where I am. "

Jazz nodded, grateful when Peach finished her breakfast and started yowling for more food, distracting Cal. She didn't deserve him. She didn't deserve any of them. And just like her parents, eventually, they were all going to figure out she wasn't worth it.