by Sosie Frost
Because Maddox was lying.
Chapter Ten – Maddox
Town hall meetings were a shit-show.
The monthly business discussions were little more than a circus, and all of Saint Christie became the animals pissing under the tent. Not that bureaucracy didn’t have a place in a small town made up of apple pie, Uncle Sam, and disability checks, but the town meetings didn’t move fast enough to solve any problems.
The people delivered signed petitions with grandiose speeches to fix one pothole. A “citizens’ watch group” blocked the seeding of the new baseball field because they weren’t spending money on other towns’ kids…even when the other town visited to play a game with the high school. On the first Monday of every month, the residents completely shut down the entirety of Saint Christie’s government, and then they bitched about inefficiencies the rest of the week.
I wasn’t supposed to be here. Promised Josie I’d head to my motel so I wouldn’t cause a scene. But I couldn’t leave Josie alone with Nolan Rhys and Chief Craig, even if they were distracted by the unscheduled, unsightly, and unsanctioned dog humping that tore through the streets this morning. The scandal rocked Saint Christie. I walked in late, lingering in the back of the room as tempers flared.
“She was molested!” Mrs. Greentree appealed to the one hundred uncomfortable people subjected to their fourth retelling of the story that day. Most shifted in their seats, peeking at pictures others took of the event. Nolan and the councilmen struggled to gain control of the meeting from the dais. Wasn’t happening.
Mrs. Greentree sobbed into a handkerchief. “She was compromised by that brute of a dog!”
Jean-Baptise, with his six inch afro and puff ball tail, was anything but a brute.
“He was tempted!” Benjamin Ducacus shouted.
“Don’t you dare apologize for his behavior! If this is how you raise your animals—”
“Apologize?” Benjamin’s face turned red. “You owe me five thousand dollars for studding my dog!”
“I owe you? With my poor Millie taken advantage of in the middle of the street?” Mrs. Greentree waved the copy of the agenda before her face. “Oh, Lord have mercy, I think I’m getting weak…”
Two residents grabbed Mrs. Greentree before she collapsed.
The minutes were directed to reflect that half of the town sympathized with Jean-Baptise, and the other half crafted a rousing defense of Millie the shih tzu. Luann McMannis handed out I Stand With Millie buttons, Benjamin passed out pocket constitutions, and representatives from the animal shelter offered people pamphlets on spaying and neutering their pets.
And I thought jail was bad. Stolen cigarettes had nothing on life in Saint Christie, where poodles and potholes dictated town ordinances.
Except most of the audience forgot the dogs when I stepped into the room. If the damn dogs were disruptive to town business, my presence in the back row, so close to Josie, was cause for a goddamned riot. The town silenced. Luann’s buttons clattered to the floor. The uniformed officer on duty edged closer to me.
I didn’t need extra security to ensure I didn’t torch fucking city hall. Not like I didn’t have the eyes of the entire town burning through my jacket.
Nolan pounded the gavel, silencing the whispers. He frowned, staring me down.
“Mr. Maddox, are you joining us?” He pointed to the audience. “Take a seat.”
With pleasure.
I claimed the chair next to Josie. The meeting rumbled with more rumor than she could stand. Her fingers twisted in the paisley pink scarf she used to control her curly hair.
“What are you doing here?” She hissed. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” Her gaze darted around until she realized she’d awkwardly made eye contact with everyone else sneaking glances. “Just…you should wait outside.”
I loved her because she was so innocent. Even I wasn’t stupid enough to make an appearance then suddenly leave for the deserted town while everyone was stuck in a damned meeting discussing library donations and fornicating dogs. I’d be accused of plotting everything from littering to murder, and Josie would be trapped in the middle. Again.
It wasn’t fair to her. Josie was a girl who only broke the rules when she switched brown and granulated sugar quantities in her recipes. They already looked at me like I was a deviant molesting her, some big bad wolf waiting for the chance to get blown. Christ, if they only knew what I had Josie do, what I’d taught her, and how goddamned good she was at pleasing me, it wouldn’t be my soul they stopped praying for.
“My poor dog is traumatized!” Mrs. Greentree demanded the council’s attention once more. “We spent two hours at the veterinarian! Tell them, Dr. Adams!”
The town’s vet awkwardly shrugged. “To be fair…it did alleviate her aggression issues.”
I laughed. Josie didn’t.
Benjamin stormed to the podium, shifting ninety year old minute-taker Annabelle Nickers out of his path. He slammed a photo of his poodle on the overhead, upside down and backwards.
“My Jean-Baptise did nothing wrong! And the fact that we might now have mutts in his name…the very thought—”
Mrs. Greentree gasped. “Oh, my poor sweet, Millie! She’ll have Shih-Poos!”
Josie covered her mouth to stop the giggle. A stray kernel of popcorn smacked my arm. I looked up, catching a wide-eyed Delta. The little firefly of a girl mouthed an apology and gestured to Josie. I picked up the kernel and dropped it into her hand.
Josie shifted backward in her seat, peeking over the aisle to whisper with her friend.
“Now’s your chance to get that puppy you always wanted,” Delta snickered. “A shitty-poo!”
Benjamin batted Nolan’s plans for the sewer taps out of the way to place a detailed diagram of the street corner on the overhead.
“I demand a resolution!” Benjamin pounded the projector. “Wider sidewalks in this town to prevent atrocities like what happened to Jean-Baptise from happening again!”
“Jean-Baptise is fine!” Mrs. Greentree hid her face in a handkerchief. “Probably smoking some cigarette and ignoring his responsibility to the puppies.”
“I am not giving one cent to your…your…bitch!”
The town gasped.
Josie leaned close. “This is getting good.”
The arguments ceased as Bob Ragen stood so fast he knocked the chair out from beneath his dirty jeans and mud crusted boots. He shouted, gaining the attention of the room.
“For Christ’s sake, no one here cares about the goddamned poodle or shitty zoo!”
“Shih Tzu!” Mrs. Greentree corrected.
Bob didn’t care. “Nolan, get your shit together and control this rabble. I have real business with this council.”
Not often I agreed with Bob Ragen, but the asshole had it right tonight. Unfortunately, Josie nudged my arm.
“Promise me you’ll behave?” she whispered.
“No.”
“Just this once?”
She must have expected a show. Not that Bob Ragen ever spouted off without inciting half the damned town.
He didn’t wait for an invitation to the podium. Bob claimed the overhead and unwadded a dirty paper from his pocket. Councilman Grossi unwrinkled the old paper and attempted to put it on the projector without dusting the ink off. The properties on the survey belonged to Bob Ragen’s father and Matthias Davis.
“Here we go.” Josie nibbled on a fingernail.
“Time’s come to make decisions here,” Bob pushed a greasy finger on the projector, patting the dotted line dividing his property from Josie’s. “This has gone on for long enough.”
For the first time, Nolan and I agreed. He waved Bob off. “It’s a civil matter. We can’t do anything. Take it up with Matthias.”
“Can’t. He’s still laid up, nearly burned to a crisp.”
A harsh whisper rallied the meeting. Their gazes shifted to us. Josie pretended not to notice.
>
Bob continued. “I don’t know what Matt Davis and his family are playing at, welcoming an arsonist back into their home…”
Christ. Now the townsfolk started talking. It’d take three batches of cookies tonight before Josie unstressed enough to even consider going to sleep.
Delta’s sharp shush silenced the gossip, but that just gave Bob Ragen the floor, uninterrupted. That asshole could do more damage with an incoherent sentence than the entire council and their illustrious mayor could accomplish in a year.
“This is a survey of my property. Look here. You can see it. These lines?” Bob slammed the projector. “My lot. Matthias Davis has siphoned off three foot of my land for the past fifty years, and I want to know what will be done about it.”
Josie sighed. So did Nolan. He gestured to the councilmen. None of them felt like dealing with the issue and decided now was the best time to check email on their phones.
“I need some goddamned answers,” Bob spat. “Every damn month I’m getting the run-around. Don’t care if she is the town sweetheart or if everyone feels bad cause her delinquent boyfriend got pissed off and burned the place down.”
I tensed. Nolan grinned. “Let’s keep the discussion relevant?”
“Facts are facts. I know this town don’t like holding to them, but this is my survey and it shows my land. I want compensation for the years I was infringed on.”
Josie crossed her arms. Delta coughed something uncouth.
“The building isn’t there anymore, Bob.” Nolan glanced to Josie, his gaze lingering a moment too long. “I think you owe someone else in this meeting a debt of gratitude for solving your problem.”
“We’ll light a candle in his honor,” Josie muttered.
Bob wasn’t done, especially now that somehow he held the attention of the town for more than just a fleeting second of disgust. He balled a fist and slammed the projector.
“I want these lines investigated. Revised. I’ll push it to the Zoning Hearing Board if I got to.”
Josie finally stood. “Bob, I’ll work with you. Later. Okay?”
“That ain’t good enough this time.” Bob pointed at the council. “When are we gonna make her take care of that hellhole property?”
“Hellhole?” Josie sounded hurt. “It’s vacant now.”
“Yeah, a nuisance property. Got rules on the books to prevent that sort of mess from happening.”
Now the tides turned. A few people grumbled at Bob to sit down, and even his son-in-law urged him to take his seat. Bob didn’t move, but he stumbled, good and drunk for the meeting.
“Ordinances, gentleman.” Bob called to the council. “Someone’s gotta maintain that land. The grass is over three inches tall.”
“By whose measurement?” Delta asked. Her uncle told her to quiet down.
“Mine,” Bob said. “I can measure three inches.”
Delta’s grin earned another murmur through the crowd. “With the ruler in your pants, I’d wager.”
Nolan pounded the gavel. “You promise to mow the grass if it gets high, Josie?”
She played the game. “Sure, before it gets to a nuisance level.”
“It already is!” Bob was losing the crowd, but his voice crackled and spit. His face burned red. “An unkempt property is a breeding place for vermin. Think the Davis’s ever cared?”
Delta boo’ed. A few others joined in.
Chief Craig sighed. “Bob, sit down.”
“Goddamn it, no! That lot is next to mine. I need to get my own damn customers, and I won’t let them get chased off by weeds and rats.”
Nolan frowned. “There are no rats on her property.”
Bob sneered. “No. But we got plenty of coons.”
A moment of shocked silence passed over the meeting.
Adrenaline surged through me.
I hadn’t murdered yet, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t. Josie grabbed my arm before the meeting turned into a massacre. Fortunately, the rest of the town sprung to action. They all stood, shouted at Bob, and effectively silenced him before his racist ass spouted off again.
Josie stared, as if Bob had hauled off and smacked her—or at least her dark skin. Chief Craig ordered his officer to open the back doors, and Benjamin Ducacas and Councilman Grossi grabbed Bob’s collar and dragged him from the meeting.
Benjamin called after him. “Sleep it off, Bob. You’re goddamned drunk.”
The town clapped as the door shut, but Josie stiffened. Despite the apologies from the council and the support of the town, she stood. She stormed after Bob, slamming the door in a rotten fury that silenced the hushed whispers.
I followed, smirking at the gossiping townsfolk. “And you thought I was trouble.”
Nolan pounded the gavel as the new accusations and murmurs let loose. Chief Craig called after me as the door shut.
“Bob gets home in one piece tonight.”
I couldn’t guarantee that, but it might have been the first time the town would turn a blind eye to any black eyes or lost teeth found in a puddle.
Josie had caught Bob by the time I reached her side, but the conversation shifted the instant he spotted me.
“Hell no.” He pointed a shaking finger in my direction. “I’m not getting fucked over by him again!”
“You got something to say to her?” I edged close. Josie leapt before me. “Why don’t you and I have a go? I’ll teach you how to treat a lady.”
“Maddox, stop! I’m talking to him.”
“Don’t think you’ll like what he says.”
She ignored me. “Bob, I know our families had their differences, but we’ve always tried to be kind. My Granddad even chipped in when your father died and you didn’t have enough for the funeral.”
Bob spat on the ground. “I’m not going to be intimidated by him again.”
“Intimidated?” Josie ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t understand?”
Bob pointed at me.
Shit.
“You sent your asshole boyfriend after me once. Gonna do it again?”
“What?” Josie shook her head. “I never…what are you talking about?”
“Last year. That bastard there tossed me against the goddamned wall of my store and broke half my windows.”
Son of a bitch.
Josie’s mouth dropped open.
“I was trying to buy your goddamned property, to settle this fucking dispute once and for all. Then this asshole rammed my head into the wall.”
I should have shut him up, but Josie sputtered, confused. Bob grunted.
“Don’t try to play dumb. You sent him to intimidate me into paying more money, and it damn well worked.”
So much for him not telling a soul like he fucking promised in exchange for leaving his jaw unbroken. Not like I wanted to waste my energy on the town drunk, but I was hired to send a message. Christ, the money I got for the job was spent before I earned it anyway.
Josie stepped away from both me and Bob. “Maddox threatened you?”
Bob sneered, staggering as whatever he drank finally caught up to him. “Cracked a rib. Shoulda sent him the medical bill, but he got his time in jail. Asshole.” He flipped me off. “Keep your damn property. Ain’t giving you or your family a dime.”
“We never asked for—”
“Christ, had I known Matthias would have blown through the insurance money and been strapped to a hospital bed, I’d have lit the match years ago.”
Holy shit.
Every muscle in my body rent, and I tasted bile. Bob tripped over his feet, stalking away.
That son of a bitch wasn’t getting far.
I raced after him, but Josie caught my arm. She spun me back, but she hadn’t heard the spiteful, vile truth of Bob Ragen’s words.
I knew the racist prick would one day cause trouble for Josie and her family. But was he just threatening us? Or did he admit his fucking guilt?
Hell if I knew, but I couldn’t find out if Josie didn’t let me go.
&nbs
p; Her words punched through me.
“Did you…did you assault him?” She already knew the answer. “I can’t believe this! Why the hell would you attack him for offering on my property?”
“Josie—”
“Don’t.” She pointed at me. “Maddox, I knew you were trouble when I started dating you. I knew your history, and I knew you were dangerous…but this?” She stepped away, every inch separating us ripping through my heart. “This is why we can’t be together. I can’t do this anymore.”
“Let me explain.”
She shook her head. Her voice wavered.
Fuck. I made her cry.
“I’m sorry, Maddox. This is over.”
“I’m sorry too…because you’re not leaving me.” I grabbed her hand before she could escape. She struggled, but my grip tightened. “I’m not letting you go until you understand why I did what I did.”
“Why would I even listen?”
“Because you know you’re in danger.” I held her gaze. “And I’m the only one who can protect you.”
Chapter Eleven – Josie
“Let go of me!”
It wasn’t the first time Maddox carried me home, but this wasn’t like the time he accidentally got me drunk on an iced tea that was a little too long-island for my tolerances. He hauled me over his shoulders. When I tried to wiggle away, he smacked my behind.
Hard.
Then he threatened to carry me all the way to his motel room.
I never feared Maddox before, but I had every reason to get pissed at him. Assaulting Bob Ragen? Was he insane?
And he wondered why I said he was bad for me. Why the town thought he was dangerous.
No wonder Chief Craig had searched for a way to put him behind bars. Maddox lived on the wrong side of the law, never responding to a conflict like a reasonable person. He didn’t look for trouble, but he never hid from it either. And every time he came home with a black eye or busted lip, he asked me for forgiveness.
I couldn’t pardon his crimes, but I’d take responsibility for them, for what would happen if we stayed together. I couldn’t handle blood on our hands, and I was running out of ways to prevent it from spilling.