by Mia Carson
“Why would I want to talk to you?”
“I know about the woman you’re seeing,” she said, and he heard the fake worry in her voice. “I think there are some things you need to know about her. Things that could ruin you.”
“And if I say no?” he said, debating whether he should call Sheriff Pueller to come and collect her for harassing him.
He heard her heels click against the stone porch, but she didn’t go away. “Please, I still care about you, and I don’t want to see you hurt. I just want to talk, and if you don’t want anything more to do with me, I promise I’ll leave you alone for good.”
Red flags popped up in his mind, but he wanted Nikki gone from this town and his life. Hoping he wouldn’t regret it, he opened the door and stepped to the side so she could enter. “Do you want a beer?”
“No, thank you,” she said with a soft smile.
“We can talk in the kitchen,” he said and led the way to the table, grabbing his beer off the counter as she took off her coat and sat down. Her dress was skimpier than yesterday, revealing her cleavage and every curve of her body. It was hiked far up her thighs, barely covering anything, but Alec’s eyes remained fixed on her face. He stared at her, bored. “Well, talk. What do you think you know about Iris that I don’t?”
She smoothed her hands down her dress, accentuating her chest, and he took a sip of beer, shooting her a look as she continued to preen as if that would make him magically fall into her lap. “I spoke with several people around this… lovely town,” she said with a grimace, “and she is an alcoholic with no money and no future. You can’t be with a woman like her.”
Silence fell between them before he laughed loudly. “Really? Wow, thank you for telling me that. I had no idea.”
“You already know this?” she asked, shocked.
“Yeah, I do. I know why she’s in the place she is, and I understand her,” he said leaning closer, his voice deepening with his anger. “You know why? Because someone I knew and trusted dragged me down to the same dark place not too long ago.”
Nikki glowered at him. “I did no such thing.”
“You slept with my best friend,” he said lightly. “You both stabbed me in the back, and then you expected me to just let it go. We were going to get married, have a life together.”
“We can still do that,” she said desperately and jumped up, snatching his hand in hers. “Please… this woman, she’s cheated, too. She’s not good for you.”
“That is a lie,” he said and tugged his hand free. “Iris’s reputation was ruined by an asshole who turned this whole town against her.” His neck grew hot, and he set his beer down slowly. “Who told you all these things about Iris?”
Nikki took a step back, her eyes dancing around the room. “Someone I met, I told you.”
“Who, damn it?” he asked.
“Deputy Jenson,” she blurted out. “He said that he still loved her and that she was messing around with you. It was driving him mad, so I told him we could help each other out.”
Alec’s chest tightened, and panic echoed around his mind. “Help out how?”
She let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders sagging. If Alec hadn’t known her for years, he might’ve bought her saddened look, but he knew it was all fake. “I want you back, Alec, I truly do. Just let me prove it to you.”
“And how the hell would you do that?”
“By proving that I’m better than Iris Newton could ever be.”
***
It was a little before five, but Joe called to tell her to go ahead and close the pawn shop so she could head over to the antique store. She hummed as she locked one door and hurried over to the other. She drew the heavy key from her pocket and kissed it before sliding it into the lock and opening the door.
As the door swung open, she reached to the right and flipped on the light. The overheads clicked on, one after the other, stretching across the room. A few bulbs were out, but today was about making a list of what needed to be done around the shop to get it back to its old self. The storage room was packed with items she knew she’d be able to sell fairly easily if she did a grand opening sale, just to drum up business again. She breathed in the air when she reached the counter and nodded her head.
“I’m back,” she whispered. “Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll get this place looking great again.”
Turning on music on her cell, she tucked it in her back pocket and set about sweeping the dust and dirt from the floor, then cleared off the old wooden display tables. Any minute now, Alec would walk through that door, and she didn’t even try to hide her excitement at seeing him again. She’d just dumped a stack of old magazines in a recycling bin near the counter when the deep tone of the bell sounded as the front door opened.
“Hey, I was thinking we’d get take-out again tonight,” she said without turning around. “I’m feeling burgers and fries, maybe a milkshake or two.”
“Sounds perfect, doll-face,” a man grated from behind her, and Iris whipped around. Jenson sneered at her from across the shop, and the look in his eyes said he was not there to chat about how great it was she had her dad’s shop back.
“Get out of here right now or—”
“Or you’ll what?” he snapped. “Call the cops? Cops are already here, honey.” He pointed to the badge clipped to his leather jacket. “I’m all you’ll ever need. I think it’s time you realize that.”
Iris backed slowly around the counter, keeping something solid between them. Jenson’s words slurred, and when he took a step closer, his legs wobbled. “You’re drunk,” she muttered. “Just turn around and walk out. I won’t tell anyone you were here.”
“Why do you always do that?” he growled, his hands curling into tight fists. “Why do you threaten me every time I try to offer you help?”
“Help?” she said sharply. “When have you ever tried to help me!?”
“Every damn day we were together,” he argued.
“No, you yelled at me every day we were together. You wanted me to be happy and cheery all the goddamned time. I'd just lost my parents! I lost my dreams… I lost everything, and you… All you wanted was for me to be your pushover girlfriend,” she yelled fiercely. “It’s never going to happen.”
Jenson’s mouth snapped shut so hard she heard his teeth crack together. He took another step and another, and Iris reached into her pocket for her cell. “Don’t you dare call him.”
Her finger froze on the screen as fear slithered its icy hand down her back. “Call who?”
“That bastard,” he snarled. “He’s not good enough for you. Never will be. You are mine, you hear me? You and this shop and this damn town, they’re all mine! You will never be rid of me!”
He kicked the closest piece of furniture, and it shattered, brittle from the days of neglect. Iris jumped but didn’t scream. Her finger swiped to unlock her screen and she hit the last number she called. It rang and rang on the other end, but Alec didn’t answer.
“Damn it,” she muttered and put it to her ear. “Alec! Jenson’s at the shop. Get here, please, just get here—get the fuck off me!” she screamed when Jenson charged her and lunged over the counter. His hands grappled for her cell, and he yanked it free of her hands. His other reached out, snagging her shirt, but she ripped free and sprinted toward the back of the shop. He roared in a rage and chased her, but she beat him to the storeroom, slamming the door shut in his face. She flipped the lock, but the door rattled beneath his weight and she knew it wouldn’t hold for long. As tears burned her eyes, she sank to the floor with her back pressed against the frail wood and her legs wedged against the other wall.
Alec… Please, God, get here, she begged. Please… please make it here.
“You let me in, bitch!” Jenson yelled and gave the door a hefty kick. “I won’t let him take you from me! You are mine! You hear me? You think this shop means anything? He’ll drop you the second he realizes what type of person you are!” He body-slammed against the door again, and Iris flin
ched at the loud crack that resonated around the storeroom. “Just come out and make this easier on yourself, Iris. I’ll forgive you.”
Something deep within her snapped. “You’ll forgive me? You fucking bastard! You nearly took my head off one night, you cheated on me, and you think I need your forgiveness? Go fuck yourself, you asshole!”
He yelled curses and slammed his hands against the door, and Iris pressed her back against it harder, wondering if she would get to see Alec again. Jenson had finally lost it, and there was no escaping this room. She hung her head and tried to tune out his screaming and focus on the one man who might be able to save her.
***
Alec moved to the living room and watched the dying embers of the small fire he had in the hearth to chase the October chill from the place that afternoon. Nikki paced behind him, her heels clicking and clacking against the hardwood, setting his teeth on edge. He wanted her gone, but she refused to leave until he heard every detail about Iris.
“I told you,” he repeated. “I know everything about her. That’s what you do when you love someone. You tell each other your secrets—all your secrets.”
The hair on the back of his neck prickled, and he raised his hand to it, a strange draft rustling his hair, though the windows were closed. Sudden worry filling his stomach, he moved away from Nikki and the fire to check the front door.
Her heels grew silent, and he breathed a sigh of relief for small miracles when he heard them running. He pivoted and saw her snatch the picture of Gyda Lundy and her husband from its place on the table, along with one of the boxes of files, and move towards the fire. Alec stared in stunned shock before his adrenaline kicked in, and he sprinted towards her just as she tossed the photo onto the embers and reached for several files. He picked her up and set her aside then reached to snatch the photo back before it had a chance to burn through the back of the frame and ruin it.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he snapped.
“I have to… You don’t understand,” she said and tried to shove past him again to get it, but he shoved her back until she landed on the couch. He towered over her, glowering, when his cell went off in his pocket. He reached for it, but Nikki stood up and pinned his hands in hers. “Please, just burn it…Get rid of it. For me. For us.”
His cell rang until his voicemail picked up, and it dinged a moment later, announcing a new message. “Why?” he asked. “What’s wrong with that photograph? Do you even know who it is?”
“Just do it,” she insisted louder and shoved at his chest.
“Nikki, what the hell is going on?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, the worry in her eyes real. “He said if I could get rid of the photo and files, he’d be sure to leave you alone as long as you left with me.”
“Who said?” he asked, the gears turning furiously in his mind. “What are you talking about?”
“He said he saw the heirlooms in Iris’s house before she sold them, knew who they belonged to, and heard you were digging around in the old town records with some old man,” Nikki muttered. “Then he saw the photo Iris had, and he thought she might know the truth about her family and the town.”
Alec tried to keep up with her rambling. Jenson found out they were researching the Lundy family? The photograph. He wanted them destroyed so Iris wouldn’t find out? They hadn’t even told her anything yet. “Jenson… Why would he…?” He trailed off as the realization hit him of just how far Jenson would go to keep his family’s secret and get Iris back. His gut clenched painfully. “Where is he? Nikki, where is Jenson right now?”
“How the fuck should I know?” she yelled and pulled away from him.
“You planned this together, didn’t you,” he stated. “You would come here, and he’d go to her.”
“He loves her,” she said, and the way she said it told him she believed the lying bastard. “He wants her back, just like I want you back, faults and all.”
Alec cursed vividly and grabbed her by the arm. “You are going to get out of my house and never come back, understand me? Do you have any idea what you just did? That man nearly broke her nose, and you just set him loose on her!”
Nikki tried to wrench her arm free. “What are you talking about? He said she was the one who smacked him and cheated,” she argued.
“You’re a goddamned idiot,” he snarled and reached for his cell as it dinged again. He pressed play on the voicemail, putting it on speaker, and when he heard Iris’s voice filled with fear, his heart stuttered and his anger roared to life. She screamed, and the call cut off. “Now do you get it?”
Nikki’s face drained of color. “I didn’t… but he said… I don’t know what’s happening.”
He shoved her out the front door, closed and locked it behind him, and took off for his truck, leaving her dumbfounded on his front porch. He floored it out of the driveway, squealing the tires, and tried to call Iris back but she didn’t answer.
“Come on, damn it!” he yelled and smacked his palm against the steering wheel.
Cars honked at him as he weaved in and out of the little bit of traffic on Main Street, then ramped the curb as he parked his truck. Jenson’s cop car was parked down a ways, and as Alec rushed for the front door, he heard the man cursing and screaming at the top of his lungs, beating on something hard.
“Iris!” Alec called out. “Answer me, damn it!”
He thought he heard her yell, but it was drowned out by Jenson’s endless screeching. The man charged out from the back hall, his nostrils flaring and knuckles bruised and bloody from beating at a door, most likely. Alec set his jaw, facing down the man who would not let go of a woman who wanted nothing to do with him.
“Where’s Nikki?” Jenson asked casually, though his voice shook with rage.
“I left her, just like Iris left you,” Alec replied. “Just walk away, Jenson. Let it go.”
He sniffed hard and shook his head. “No. Iris is mine.”
“No, I’m not, you jackass!” she yelled, the sound garbled by wherever she was hiding.
Jenson’s head whipped back around, and he opened his mouth to yell. Alec used the distraction for his benefit. He didn’t know if the man was armed, but he wasn’t giving him a chance to draw his gun if he was. They tumbled to the floor in a mad scramble of limbs. Alec wrapped an arm around Jenson’s neck, putting him in a chokehold in the hope of knocking him out, but Jenson flailed and his elbow clocked Alec hard in the face, loosening his hold.
Jenson pushed to his feet, fast but unstable, and Alec caught the whiff of whiskey on the man’s breath. He rolled to the side as a boot slammed down where his head would’ve been. He managed to find his feet and get his arms up to block a wild punch before dealing out one himself, sending Jenson staggering backwards, holding his jaw. With a wild yell, Jenson charged forward again, but Alec side-stepped and hit the man in the back. He flew into a nearby table, crashing into it as his movements grew more erratic. He grabbed a broken table leg, wielding it like a bat, and Alec’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re going to regret coming here,” Jenson leered with a dark laugh. “You’re going to regret ever laying a hand on Iris!”
He ran at Alec, swinging the table leg, and caught him in the side. He gasped for air from the hit but didn’t go down. Jenson swung again but missed when Alec ducked out of the way. He needed to knock the man out, but his attacks were too frequent to look around for something that might help him out. His hands landed on a table he backed into to steady himself and wrapped around something cylindrical. He whipped it around just as Jenson brought the table leg down. It shattered against the metal rod. Alec pushed forward, disarming Jenson quickly of the table leg, but Jenson reached out and they fought over the metal rod before it clattered loudly to the floor. Alec curled his hands into fists and decked Jenson hard in the nose. He didn’t give the man time to recover and hit him again and again, aiming for his sides and his stomach until the man was bent over double, gasping for air.
&nbs
p; Alec let his fists fall, breathing hard and trying to hold back the worst of his rage, but thinking of what this man might’ve done to Iris made it extremely difficult.
“Just give it up, man,” he said. “Before I put your ass in a sling.”
Jenson turned away from Alec, still bent over double. Alec wiped sweat from his face, expecting him to fall over and pass out from exhaustion and the whiskey, but when he straightened, a knife gleamed in his hand and his lips curled in a sneer. He didn’t make a sound and ran at Alec, slicing with the knife. He cursed when it cut through his forearm and again at his bicep, but he kept it away from his vitals. Jenson managed a kick to his side, and Alec fell backwards into a table, crashing to the floor. He shook his head to clear it, dust stinging his eyes, when he heard a feminine yell and a thud.
“Iris?” he asked loudly, trying to see.
“You dumb bitch!” Jenson roared.
Alec wiped madly at his eyes and saw Iris holding a broken bottle in one hand and backing away as Jenson stalked her with the knife.
“No!” he raged, and instinct and adrenaline took over.
Alec tackled Jenson to the floor. His hand reached for the knife and managed to pry it loose from the man’s hands. He tossed it aside and straddled Jenson’s chest, punching him hard enough to finally knock the man out. His head lolled to the side, and Alec fell off him, kicking his side for good measure.
“Alec?” Iris asked quietly.
He looked up, and Iris stood by the counter, the broken bottle clutched in her hand, her face as pale as the moon outside. “Iris,” he whispered harshly and pushed to his feet, needing to hold her. The bottle fell from her hand when he reached her, and she jumped into his arms, clinging tightly to him as he crushed her to his chest, kissing her cheek and holding her close. “God, I was so scared,” he whispered into her hair. “So scared I’d lose you.”
“The door,” she gasped, “he was almost through it. I didn’t know what would happen!”