Chance at Love on Mystic Bay (Island County Series Book 6)

by Karice Bolton

  “Uh, sure.” I glanced at Chance and he held onto my hand, pulling me into him.

  “You don’t have to go,” he whispered.

  “Does she bite?” I whispered back.

  “I’m not sure.”

  I giggled but excused myself to follow Harmony into the restroom. She quickly checked the three stalls to make sure they were empty and I had a sudden urge to flee. Why did they need to be empty?

  “Chance is one of the good guys,” Harmony told me, her gaze staying firmly on my reflection in the bathroom mirror. “He deserves someone who is good right back to him. . . That won’t play games and won’t end up destroying him.”

  “Are you staking your claim?” I asked, turning to face her head on.

  I didn’t enjoy being glared at in the mirror.

  “Are you just waiting for him to move back down here?” I placed my hand on my hip and felt the first little pulse of fury rise. “You’ve been sneering, smirking, and glaring at me all night. Every once in a while you flash a toothy grin in my direction to get on Chance’s good side, but I don’t buy it for a second. You want him, and if you plan on putting your claws into him once he moves down here—”

  Harmony’s scowl turned into a smile and she nodded. “That’s what I wanted to see.”

  “What?” I was scowling so hard I probably looked as if I were squinting.

  “That you care for him.”

  “Of course I care for him,” I fumed. “And obviously you do too.”

  Harmony sucked in a deep breath and twisted her lips into a sour pucker.

  “You’re right.” She nodded, her expression softening. “I care about Chance a lot. His whole family is absolutely incredible.”

  My heart was now hammering wildly in my chest. I never expected for the night to go this way. He was my date tonight. Whether he was my date tomorrow or next year remained to be seen, but I never expected to be invited to the restroom of a seedy bar so a woman could tell me to leave a man alone.

  “His family is wonderful,” I agreed. “So what are you getting at?”

  “Chance deserves a woman who’ll make him happy. He is one of the kindest, most loyal, and protective men I’ve ever met. He needs a woman who makes his life full and happy, a woman who changes the way he looks at life and at taking chances.”

  And she thinks that would be her. I gritted my teeth and tried to remain calm.

  “I’ve known him for years, Maddie.” She sucked on her bottom lip for a split second. “And I’ve never seen him look at a woman the way he looks at you. He worships the ground you walk on. He absorbs everything about you. Whether it’s the way you smile, laugh at his friends’ jokes, or just sit quietly and listen, he is noticing it all and reveling in everything about you.”

  I stared at Harmony in shock. I was readying for a fight, not an invitation to date her friend and I was left speechless.

  “I don’t know you well at all, but from the few short hours I’ve been around you I can tell you’re genuine. You’re open and you’re ready to see where life takes you. You’re not promising him the world and after hearing what you’ve been through, I understand why.” She reached out and squeezed my arm. “Just know that if you decide to take this to the next level, Chance will never hurt you, not intentionally. He’s a really great guy.”

  “Why aren’t you . . .” my voice trailed off.

  “He deserves better and I know it. My life thrives on drama. If it’s not there, I’ll find a way to manufacture it. I don’t like it about myself, but I’ve learned who I’m drawn to, and it’s not someone who is good for me. It’s not a question about wanting the bad boy. It seems I always want the wrong boy.” She grinned and shrugged. “But such is life. Maybe someday someone will knock some sense into me, but I’d certainly never do that to Chance.”

  Her words gutted me. Regardless of the fact I was about to smack her only minutes before, my heart hurt for her.

  “Please don’t ever think that you’re not good enough for someone. It’s not true. He’s no better than you and vice versa.”

  She cocked her head slightly and nodded. “Thank you for that.”

  “It’s true and anyone who has told you different you ought to sic your cousin on.”

  “True enough.” She flashed a grateful smile.

  “Should we get back before we hear relentless jokes about what we’ve been up to in the bathroom for so long?” I asked.

  “You definitely know Chance.” She looped her arm through mine as we left the bathroom.

  As we came up to the table, the guys got quiet, which worried me. I scanned their faces and they all looked extremely guilty.

  “I get it. I get it. You’re all trying to convince Chance to come down here.” I sighed and Harmony let go of me as I slid next to Chance.

  “Yeah. We were.” Stone dropped his eyes to his beer and let out a melancholy groan. “Getting a little taste of Chance just makes me want more.”

  “Tell me about it,” I teased, gripping his arm tightly.

  Chance turned to look at me for a long moment, and my insides twisted into a complicated knot of the unknown.

  Giving him up might be a little harder than I realized.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I have to confess I was a little bit nervous when Harmony dragged you to the restroom.”

  “I wasn’t exactly sure where that rendezvous was going either.” I shoved the pillow into the backseat as Chance turned onto the street in front of my house.

  I fought the disappointment that wanted to sneak its way in now that our weekend away was over. I’d learned so much about Chance, and it only made me want to know even more. “I thought I might need to put up my dukes for my man.”

  “Your man?”

  “Well, you know metaphorically speaking.”

  “You know, you’re an awesome travel buddy,” Chance said, glancing at me with a grin.

  “You like peace and quiet on your road trips. . . mostly comatose travel partners.” I laughed, knowing I fell asleep halfway up the interstate again.

  “I just like your company.”

  “Whether I’m conscious or not, huh?”

  “I must have it bad if I’m willing to happily sit next to you while you’re sleeping.”

  “You have it bad?” I asked, feeling all my insides cozy right up to the idea of seeing Chance for the long-term.

  Whether he was going to be here or there or anywhere I wanted to give this a shot. I was so giddy with happiness I couldn’t stop staring at him.

  “Maddie?”

  “Mmhm?” I barely mumbled out.

  “What does your scumbag ex-fiancé look like?”

  “Mark?” I choked out, whipping my head to look out the windshield. “Wiry, wimpy, pale, douchey by nature, a heart of stone, weak . . .”

  “A guy matching that description is sitting on your porch.”

  A garbled squeal came out of nowhere as I punched my thighs in frustration.

  “Keep driving. Just go around the block,” I instructed.

  “I can make him go away really quickly.”

  “I don’t doubt it, but I’m going to be an adult about it.”

  Another warble escaped my lips as we drove by and saw him sulking on the steps, staring at a magazine.

  “Oh, he makes me so mad.”

  “As well he should.” Chance turned on the blinker and slowly turned down the street. “So how many times are we going to circle around the block?”

  “Just this once. I need to get my head on straight so I don’t jump out of the car looking and sounding like a raving lunatic.” I sniffed in a snort. “I need to be calm, cool, and to the point. It’s a small island and word travels fast.”

  “That it does.”

  We passed by Mrs. Coleville’s house, and she waved, her smile widening when she saw who was driving me around, but out of nowhere, Coco jumped out of her arms and headed to the street.

  Chance pounded on the brakes and our car sl
id to a screeching halt with Coco placing her butt on the curb and watching us like we were the crazy ones.

  Mrs. Coleville slowly made her way to Coco and scooped her up, giving us another wave.

  “Remind me to never travel this road again,” Chance said, his face as pale as I’d ever seen it.

  “Ditto.” I leaned my head against the headrest. “Well, that certainly put things in perspective. Life can be too short.”

  “I’ve heard from Jewels that the dog has a death wish and now I believe it,” Chance said, gripping the wheel.

  I chuckled as my mind drifted back to the near stranger on my porch.

  For years, I’d dreamed of confronting the man who’d betrayed me. I’d played out all kinds of scenarios time and again where I came out the woman on top. I wasn’t a woman scorned, I was a woman with a mission.

  To put him in his place.

  But another woman beat me to the punch. The one who ditched him before his big day stole my thunder, really.

  Now, it was like he was just some guy I used to know, who had really bad decision-making skills. Well, life skills, actually. He was the one with the problems, not me.

  Mark was simply a guy in my history book. He no longer had the authority to dictate how any other page of my life would go.

  Even today.

  In fact, he wouldn’t even make it in the cliffnotes version of Maddie Wildes’ life story.

  As Chance turned the last corner putting us back on my street, I brought in a deep breath and looked over at the man who’d brought me out of my shell.

  Chance.

  “If you want me silent, in the car, out of the car, on the porch, up the street . . .” He glanced at me quickly. “Just tell me and I’ll do whatever you need.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I don’t have an issue laying him out on the ground either.”

  My eyes flashed to Chance’s and his devilish grin appeared.

  “And for that I’m eternally grateful, but I feel like I’d want the first chance,” I joked.

  We pulled into the driveway, and Mark stood up immediately. His eyes landed on Chance before moving to me in the passenger seat. I couldn’t read his expression, but apparently that had never been a knack of mine with him.

  “Well, this ought to be fun,” I said under my breath as I opened my door and climbed out of the car.

  I shut the door and Mark took a step forward while Chance got out of the car and leaned against the hood, folding his arms in front of him.

  “Did you not get my email?” I asked Mark.

  “Yes, I got it.” He smiled and walked over to me, barely giving Chance another look.

  Mark’s hair looked disheveled, and his overall appearance made me think he hadn’t been taking care of himself recently.

  Then again having a fiancée call things off near the big day has a tendency to throw a person’s routine out the window.

  “So what made you come all the way out here, Mark?” When he looked like he was about to come in for a hug, I crossed my arms and took a step back.

  “I don’t think so.” I glared at him. “You do remember you left me with ten pounds of salmon and lime M&M wedding favors to eat by myself, right?”

  He brought in a deep breath and glanced at Chance. “Is there a place we can go to talk privately?”

  I looked around my yard and street. “This is about as private as a person can get.”

  “Without him.” Mark pointed at Chance.

  “No. He’s part of my life now and knows just about everything that went down with you.”

  “What I did was really shitty—”

  “You already apologized in your email. I don’t need to hear it again.”

  “Listen, Maddie. I didn’t know.”

  “Didn’t know what exactly?” My brow arched. “The time you were supposed to show up at the church or that someone was busy changing the locks on the home we shared together.”

  Mark’s shoulders sank. “No, I knew both of those things.”

  “Well, then I think that says it all.” I turned to walk over to Chance.

  “Are you happy?” Mark asked and I whipped around.

  “Extremely.”

  “Maddie, I want to apologize about my family’s behavior. I didn’t know the full story.”

  “What full story, Mark?” My pulse pounded, but I refused to let my anger take over. I didn’t want to give that power to Mark.

  “I had no idea my father—”

  I held up my hand to cut him off. “I don’t want to hear it. You had no idea about much of anything because you didn’t talk to me after you decided not to show up on a day that generally takes two people to make it complete.”

  “You did have time to call a locksmith, you did have time to cancel the tux rental prior to the big day, you did have the wherewithal to have my loan called, and—”

  “That wasn’t me.”

  A startled laugh came deep from within my belly. “Well, that makes it all better.”

  Mark’s gaze flicked to Chance. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Tell you what in particular.” I narrowed my eyes.

  “About my father.”

  I drew in a shaky breath and looked over my shoulder at Chance.

  I never told a soul about Mark’s father, not even my sister. I’d buried it with all of life’s other unpleasantries. A threat was made and partially carried out the moment my family opened the Sunday paper, and I had no intention of finding out if Mark’s father would make good on the rest of the threat.

  “Maddie, what is he talking about?” Chance asked quietly, walking up next to me. He slipped his arm around me, but I couldn’t answer.

  The sickening feelings spread through me as I stared at Mark, who resembled his father’s appearance too closely at a time like this.

  “I was engaged to be married to a woman named Heather. She broke it off a few weeks ago. She’d come to me about something my father did and rather than believe her, I listened to my father. I believed my father.” He shoved his fingers through his dark hair and glanced nervously at Chance. “She broke off the engagement by sending a note and a video clip of my dad. I guess it wasn’t his first time trying to come on to my fiancée.”

  Chance’s embrace tightened.

  “Your father had flirted off and on prior to the wedding, but I just dismissed it as his personality. I didn’t like his behavior, and it made me uncomfortable, but I figured I was marrying you, not him.” I looked up at Chance before returning my attention back to Mark. “Once it became obvious that you weren’t showing up at the church, I stayed in the dressing room, trying to wrap my head around what happened. I’d chased out my family because I was so humiliated and I just wanted time alone. Your father came in and aggressively tried to hit on me.”

  Mark’s expression slid to horror and I continued.

  “When I didn’t accept his advances, he swore that my family would regret the day we moved to town. The next day, the newspaper article came out, and I got the paperwork about my loan being recalled with a note from your father promising threats of all sorts if I ever told a soul.”

  “I had absolutely no idea. You have to believe me,” Mark stammered.

  “She doesn’t have to do anything,” Chance said, his entire demeanor changing into a man who was about to pounce.

  Mark slid another nervous glance in Chance’s direction. “No, you’re right. She doesn’t have to do anything.”

  “I always loved you, Maddie.” Mark took a few steps back and sat on the stairs. “I was in deep at the bank. I’d gotten into some trouble, and I didn’t want to drag you into it. I made some loans I shouldn’t have. I knew it was only a matter of time before it caught up with me. I just couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t ruin your life like that.”

  “Not like that, but in another way equally as brutal.” I dropped my hands to my side. “I deserved a phone call, a message, a face-to-face, it’s not you it’s me talk.”
<
br />   “I don’t dispute that, but I was young and dumb.”

  “Don’t play that card, man,” Chance nearly growled.

  “What do you want from me?” Mark stood up, his hands in the air.

  “Nothing,” I nearly shouted. “I want nothing from you. I didn’t want you to come here and tarnish my home, my friends, or my future memories of this place. Just having you in my driveway makes me want to sell the place. Life isn’t all about you and your moments of clarity.” I shook my head. “So what that your dad is a lech and you’re a borderline criminal. That’s your problem, not mine, and most importantly. I. Don’t. Care.”

  “I didn’t know he called your loan as a threat until last week.”

  “But you knew he called my loan, Mark.”

  He nodded.

  “So you had plenty of opportunities to be decent. You didn’t have to lock me out of the home we shared. You didn’t have to have the boxes of my things delivered to my parents’ home. There were multiple occasions where you could have shown some decency that had absolutely nothing to do with your troubles.”

  “You’re right. There’s no disputing that.”

  “I know.”

  “Formal charges are going to be filed against me in the next few days. I’ll be serving out a reduced sentence along with paying out restitution. My attorneys have been working with the prosecutor on a plea deal because I came forward with information about my father.”

  I internally recoiled from the news and stared blankly at Mark. I wanted to say I was sorry to hear that, but nothing came out because I actually wasn’t. I didn’t know what all had gone on, but my hunch was that innocent people had been victimized by the Minchesters.

  “Before I went away, I wanted to tell you that I was sorry in person and explain as much as I could.”

  I hesitated and looked up at Chance. I wanted to be a kind person and have sympathy or show empathy toward Mark, but it just wasn’t in me. I dug deep, but I was all tapped out.

  But then it hit me and a slow smiled crept over my expression as I stared at Mark. I tilted my head as I studied the man who showed me the dangers of losing myself. I brought in a deep breath, and it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from my soul.