by Roxie Ray
“Like how to be a nice human?” I retorted.
Abby blanched. “Kinda?”
“Tell us what happened,” Kara urged.
“I’ve never had to defend my parenting to anyone,” I said. Except for Kyle’s dad, but that was a whole different subject and not related at all. “He questioned my intelligence. He said hiking wasn’t smart!”
Damn, my voice was shrill. How many of these drinks had I had? I looked at the glasses on the table. Yep, still on my first one. I was just that pissed. “I mean, how dare he? Who does he think he is?” For him to question me was frankly insulting.
Abby smiled, but it was a little pained. “I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.” She sipped her glass of wine. “He really is a sweet guy and though yeah, sometimes he can be a dick, most of the time he’s not.”
Kara shrugged. “You still haven’t told us what happened.”
I laughed and sat back in the booth. “You’re right.” I gave them a rundown of what happened out on the trail and tried to remember Maddox’s words verbatim. “By the time I left, it was all I could do not to shove my fist down his throat,” I concluded.
Kara sighed. “Yeah, that sounds pretty bad.”
“Maybe he was just concerned?” Abby asked. “He is one of Black Claw’s finest.”
Kara chuckled. “He could’ve gone about this in a much better way.”
“That seems to be his MO,” I said. “Doing things wrong. I forgot to tell you that part.” I launched into his explanation of why he’d crashed my date the other night.
Kara and Abby’s jaws dropped as I spoke. “Harry?” Kara asked. “I’ve never heard that!”
“Me either, but apparently it’s known.”
Abby nodded. “I had heard it, actually. Jury mentioned it after it happened.”
I fixed her with a level glare. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged. “You said he hadn’t tried to contact you again. I figured if you mentioned another date, I’d warn you, but otherwise, I didn’t want to upset you. I know if I’d gone on a date with a potential rapist, I’d be pretty damn upset.”
That much was true. It had freaked me out. “I guess judging men isn’t my strong suit,” I said. “Too bad.”
“Well, you should give Maddox the benefit of the doubt,” Abby said. “I promise, he’s a good guy.”
I huffed and sucked the rest of my drink out of the glass. “He judged me. I hate feeling judged.”
“And I get that, I do. I’m just saying don’t let it totally color your opinion of him.”
“Where’s Tiff?” Kara asked.
“With my parents.” They’d been thrilled to hear I was going out when I called to say goodnight to Tiffany. That was another thing making my mood sour. I hated how they thought I was wasting my life because I didn’t have a man. I didn’t need a husband to be happy.
It seemed like I was easily irritated lately, but really it was because everyone had been telling me how I should’ve been living my life.
A server walked past with a tray full of shots. “Hey,” Abby called. “We’ll take some of those.”
She waved a few bills and the server smiled. “You got it. Girls’ night?”
“Yep,” Kara said. “We’re ready to let go.”
Abby paid her and Kara slid two shots in front of each of us. “Can you also have our server send us fresh drinks?” We’d all drained our first.
She nodded and walked away to tempt the other patrons with the rest of the shots.
“What is this?” I studied the amber liquid.
Kara knocked one of them back. “Oh, it’s cinnamon.”
My favorite. I grinned and held one up. Kara grabbed her second and Abby her first and we clinked the glasses, then all three drank. I followed it up with the second one but wanted more. Cinnamon whiskey was delicious.
“Why is it such a chore to drink eight glasses of water a day?” I waved the shot-lady down. I wanted two more. “But four shots and eight beers go down in no time?”
Kara laughed and got herself two more shots.
Abby hadn’t taken her second one yet. “You might want to slow down a bit,” she whispered. “Those things are potent.”
I waved her off. “I don’t drink often. What’s wrong with having a good time? Besides...” I took my fourth shot. “It’s girls’ night!”
Kara high-fived me and our server returned with my Long Island, Abby’s wine, and Kara’s Sex on the Beach.
It didn’t take long for the whiskey to set in. Kara and I hit the floor and headed over to the jukebox to find something we could dance to. As the first notes of the song we picked came over the bar’s speakers, I whirled around, swinging my hips, and my gaze landed directly on Maddox.
Oh, great. Abby had just joined us on the dance floor, though she wasn’t nearly as loose and comfortable as Kara and me. But then, she’d had half the shots we had. I didn’t mind the drunk feeling. It was nice to relax.
I continued dancing around with Kara and Abby as Maddox and Jury ordered something at the bar. While they stood there, three different women approached Maddox.
None of them spoke more than a polite nod to Jury. The whole town knew he was with Abby, and the Kingstons had a reputation for being fiercely loyal to their women—once they settled down.
When they each had a bottle in their hands, they turned and scanned the room. I tried not to pay any attention to them, but it was hard to ignore them when they were headed our way.
Jury set his beer at our table and sidled up to Abby, wrapping his arms around her waist and moving close. “How drunk are you?” he called over the sound of the music.
She leaned in close and whispered something in his ear that made his face break out into a slow grin.
Ugh. I turned away from them, no desire to see them flirt and hang all over each other. They were freaking adorable, but I was drunk enough to let the envy show. So, better not to look. Being jealous of Abby wouldn’t have made me a very good friend.
Unfortunately, when I turned away, it meant I looked directly at Maddox. Great.
“How are you?” he asked. He leaned against the wall near the jukebox, which put him in my bubble. Way too close.
I didn’t answer. My glare was enough. Swirling my hips to the music, I turned away from him, but that put me looking at Abby and Jury, who were currently playing some sort of tonsil hockey. I kept going until I saw Kara. She winked at me and waved her arms to the music.
I mimicked her and we danced together for a while. In my drunken state of mind, somehow, I forgot that Maddox was right behind me. Dancing around, I turned and faced him again. Damn it.
“I owe you an apology,” he called. His voice drifted over the music just loud enough so I could hear him.
“You’re damn right!” I yelled. “And then some.”
He held out his hand. I stopped dancing and stared at it. With a sigh, I gave in. I’d let him apologize, then go back to dancing.
Nodding toward our table, I ignored his hand and walked to the booth. He slid in beside me.
“My choice of words was terrible,” he said. It was much easier to hear him here in the booth with the tall backs blocking some of the sounds.
“Well, thank you for apologizing,” I said. I was about to tell him that I understood he was trying to be helpful and let it go, but then he kept talking.
“My words were true, but the delivery was all wrong.”
Damn. He just kept digging his hole. Kara and Abby slid into the booth across from us, and Jury grabbed a chair to put at the end of the table as I tried to decide exactly what to say to the pompous asshole.
“It’s a good thing you have a pretty face,” I said. “Because your communication skills blow.” I sipped my tea and soothed myself. He should’ve quit while he was ahead.
But he didn’t look impressed by my words or particularly bothered. “You know, Bethany, in the time I’ve known you, I’ve put my foot in my mouth twice and said
the wrong thing. But my intent was never to hurt you. Everything I’ve done has been with good intentions.”
My jaw went slack and the little stirring straw fell out of my mouth and into the glass. “Excuse me?”
“Is this the type of person you are?” He looked at me like he never had in the time we’d known each other. “Do you take shots at someone to make you feel superior?”
My hackles rose. How dare he assume what type of person I was? He was the one that had been pushy, condescending, and overbearing every time we’d been around each other. He was right, though, I really had been trying to hit him where it hurt. My mind wouldn’t move fast enough to formulate a defense and throw back at him how inappropriately he’d treated me.
“At least now I know I’m not missing out on anything,” he muttered. He slid out of the booth and looked over at Kara and Abby. “Enjoy your night.”
He left, leaving his beer on the table and walked to the door without a backward glance.
“Well,” I huffed.
“Shit,” Jury said. “I’ll see you guys later.” His chair scraped as he jumped up from the table to follow Maddox out the door. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to Abby’s forehead. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours to take you all home.”
She nodded, then Kara and Abby watched him run after Maddox before both of them turned their gaze to me.
“What?” I asked.
Abby arched an eyebrow. “Was that necessary?”
“Do you remember what he said to me?” I asked. “Or are you forgetting how awful he was? The date? At the trail?”
“No, Bethany, you’re in the wrong here. Maddox was trying to help. His heart was in the right place. Yours was not. You intentionally tried to hurt him.”
I looked at Kara for backup. She didn’t know Maddox and might have been more on my side.
Kara shrugged. “Sorry, Bethany. You were pretty harsh. He sounded like he was trying to apologize.”
Well, fuck. So much for my fun night out. Now I felt like absolute shit. This entire night was one big reminder about why I tended to stick to myself. Mom life was the only life I needed. Every time I tried to do anything outside of just focusing on my daughter and my business, it turned into a disaster as this night had been.
I pulled out my phone and arranged for a rideshare on their app. It dinged immediately that there was someone already outside. In our small town, ridesharing programs were popular for the drivers but weren’t all that used for the riders. The drivers liked to hang out at our only bar in hopes of picking up a rider. “I’m going to head home,” I said. “This was enough excitement for one night.”
“I’ll come with you,” Kara said. “You care if I crash at the office?”
“Sure,” I muttered. “That’s fine.”
I nodded toward Abby. I wasn’t mad at her, but she’d defended Maddox instead of me. Maybe I had been harsh, but after the things he’d said to me, I had a right to be. She was supposed to be my friend.
6
Maddox
Mondays were always dull at the station. It was nice when I was in school because I worked on homework during the boring times.
But I was between classes at the moment, so there was nothing but mundane Monday. I’d cleaned all the desks and had resorted to dusting all the legal volumes on the bookshelves. Again. I’d just dusted them the Monday before. And the Monday before that.
We didn’t have a lot of crime in Black Claw. Even humans had some sort of sixth sense about them that made them steer clear. But officers were still needed, around the clock. Wrecks, accidents, and the small bit of crime we did have.
When the shelves were dusted, I sat at my desk and tried to pretend I wasn’t thinking about my damn mate. I’d thought about her nonstop since Friday night when she’d basically told me I was an idiot with nothing more than a pretty face.
There was no way we were meant to be together. She was a total... well, she was a bitch! Our argument in the bar played in my head over and over, as it had all weekend. Like a movie that wouldn’t stop playing on repeat.
I should’ve done things better, different. Said the right thing this time instead of fumbling through chastising her. But still, what she did crossed the line. It was one thing to argue or chastise me for being too condescending, but it was another to imply that I wasn’t anything more than handsome.
Though, I had implied she was stupid for hiking in the woods alone. That had been bad. I probably shouldn’t have done that. I hadn’t meant to, but the damage was done.
In the middle of my hundredth replaying of the incident, the station phone rang. I snatched it up, fully expecting it to be something like a donation request or fender bender.
“Black Claw PD, this is Maddox,” I said.
“Hey. Maddox. This is Elaine at county dispatch. We’ve got a public disturbance call that just came through.”
That was definitely more than a fender bender. “Hit me with the details.”
She rattled off the description and address. “I’ll be right there.”
Per protocol, I called Grandpa and forwarded the station calls to his cell. As sheriff, that was part of his job description.
I hung up as I got into the cruiser and headed toward the address. It wasn’t far from the station, so it took me approximately three minutes to get to the scene. I radioed dispatch when I got there and turned toward the house. A neighbor stood in the yard across the street.
As soon as I stepped out of the cruiser, I knew where I was. I felt her, under my skin like a shiver down my spine. Biting back a groan, I walked toward the raised male voice I heard. The address was a well-kept home with a long driveway, and the sound of shouting came from the back yard. The neighbor hurried over. “Behind the house. I’m afraid he’s going to hurt her. She’s such a sweet girl.” The older woman wrung her hands.
“Don’t worry, ma’am. I’ll take care of it.” I took another moment to touch her shoulder reassuringly, then headed down the driveway.
Don’t act rashly.
Ignoring Artemis, I rounded the corner of the house to see a man shouting at Bethany. She looked far more rational than she had the other night. I didn’t like the person I met then.
She was drunk.
That didn’t help her case at all.
“What’s going on?” I asked in my deepest cop voice with my hands on my hips.
Bethany swung around to face me with shock on her face. “What the hell are you doing here?”
With my eyes on the guy standing way too close to my mate, I tried to make Artemis calm down and moved closer. “Got a call about a disturbance. Everything okay?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s fine. You can go.”
“Well, once a complaint is made, I can’t just go. What’s going on?” I moved in, crowding probably closer than I would with any other suspect.
“This gentleman,” Bethany said with steel in her voice, “is one of my tenants. I’ve notified him through certified mail that he was evicted and given him the ten days that are allowed by law. I actually extended it for a second ten days. He failed to pay his rent or remove his belongings, so I changed the locks. I will have someone come move his items to the front porch and lawn, as is outlined in the lease so that he can pick them up or they can be picked up by the city to take to the dump.”
As she spoke, the tenant’s face got redder and redder. If I didn’t give him an opportunity to speak, he’d end up blowing anyway. “Sir? I need your name and ID, please.”
He pulled out his wallet and handed me a driver’s license. Andrew Hamilton. Like the president. No, wait, that was Alexander. Okay, then.
I studied the license and then handed it back to him. “Is this what happened, Mr. Hamilton?”
“Excuse me,” Bethany said before he could speak. She held her hand up so he would wait. “I have no reason to lie.”
Ignoring Bethany, I looked at the tenant. I wasn’t asking him if he thought it was true because Bethany could’ve
been lying. I asked him because that was protocol. Both parties had to be allowed to explain their side of the story.
“Sir,” I repeated. “Did you fail to pay your rent even after Ms. Leeds gave you notice?”
The man puffed out his chest, but unfortunately for him, all it managed to do was stick his rotund stomach out. “Well, I’ve been a bit behind, but there was no reason that she had to change the locks. I could’ve caught up.”
I nodded and refrained from exchanging a glance with Bethany. One sentence from the guy and I could tell he was a complete loser. Hell, I knew from the time I saw him, but whatever. I had to give him a chance to talk.
Just hit him with your fist.
Artemis knew I couldn’t do that, but his possessiveness for Bethany made him a little irrational.
“So, you knew you could be evicted,” I said.
“Well, I didn’t think she’d actually do it.” The pale man’s cheeks reddened, and he glared at Bethany. “I mean, who only gives a man ten days to move?”
“I gave you more than twenty, and you’re already two full months behind on your rent.” Bethany wasn’t taking a single ounce of his shit. “One more week and you’ll be three months behind. I’ve been more than lenient.”
“Yeah, right. A spoiled brat like you? You’ve got no idea what it’s like to get behind, do you? Probably a trust fund baby.”
“Enough.” I fixed him with a glare. “It sounds like she went through the proper channels. If you want to dispute it, you have to go through the courts.”
He opened his mouth to argue again, but I held up my hand. “I said enough. Showing up at someone’s house—”
“Office,” Bethany interrupted.
She stared me down when I shot her an exasperated look. “Showing up at someone’s office isn’t the way to solve any problems. Especially with an attitude like you’ve got.”
His next words made my blood boil. “This bitch doesn’t give a shit about life. Sometimes things get tough, but all she cares about is making her money.”
I had to remind myself of my position.