Page 4

Chapter Three

“That’s what I said. He followed me to the scene. He was out of his mind.”

It was the third time I had told my sister Evie what happened, and she still didn’t seem to understand.

“I still don’t see the problem.”

“He followed me to the scene!” I screeched into my phone.

It was three days later, and I was still parked on my couch, one leg tucked under me, a carton of half-melted Chunky Monkey ice cream balanced on my thigh. Each bite was supposed to calm my nerves, but all it did was make me feel slightly nauseous.

“What else did you expect to happen? He’s a Marine Raider, right? What do you think Drake would have done? What about Aiden?”

“Our brother and your husband are nuts. They have proven that over and over. I just figured that something was coded into their DNA and that’s what made them become SEALs. Beau was always cautious.”

I heard my sister snort.

“The guy stuck around even after Drake threatened to bury him in the woods. That should’ve been your first clue he wasn’t cautious. It figures he turned out to be the same kind of man as the rest of them. Anyway, what’s wrong with the SEAL types? Trenda and I are married to SEALs. Are you picking on our choices?”

I shoveled another big scoop of Chunky Monkey into my mouth, so I didn’t have to answer.

“I can hear you eating. It’s ice cream, isn’t it?”

I continued to chew and avoided answering the most annoying sister I had. Why in the hell had I thought calling Evie would be a good idea?

Dammit! I sprang backward on my sofa when a plop of ice cream dripped onto my couch. I set down my phone and ice cream carton on the coffee table and ran to the kitchen for a wet paper towel.

By the time I had the stain wiped up, I could hear Evie yelling at me through the phone’s speaker.

“I’m sorry,” I said, cutting her off mid-rant. “I spilled some ice cream on the couch. I needed to blot it out before it stained.”

“You’re as bad as my boys.”

I laughed. “Not even close. When are you, Holden, and Zephyr coming back for a visit?”

“Probably next month. Aiden has some leave coming up next week, so we’ve got some family time coming up. Plus, Karen and Drake are going to take our two well-behaved sons for a long weekend, so Aiden and I can get away.”

This time I snorted. “Well behaved, huh? Weren’t you the one who told me that last year he got Rufus out of his dog crate in the middle of the night so he could do reconnaissance after he found his Easter basket beside his bed?”

“I didn’t say reconnaissance. That was Aiden’s term.”

“Yeah, it was because Holden wanted to catch the Easter Bunny.”

“I should have thought of that. Of course, Aiden’s son would have been wigged out about a strange creature coming into his room in the middle of the night.”

I laughed. “I still have to hand it to the kid for confronting you after he found all the chocolate candy wrappers in your office trash can.”

“Shit, he was only four years old. Aiden is still mad that he wasn’t home to see that. But I hope you understand now.”

I scraped my spoon across the bottom of the carton of ice cream and came up empty.

“What do you mean, you hope I understand?”

“Some men are just wired that way. Holden is going to follow in his father’s footsteps. He’s a protector. Sounds like Beau is too.”

“I had things handled,” I protested.

“Yeah, like Chloe did all those years ago. Think of how you would have felt if you had bashed his head in. Trust me, it was better that Beau intervened.”

I thought about that time at the lake, and I had to agree.

“Okay, so Beau’s a protector. He’s still the asshole who didn’t call me after he came to town. He’s also the asshole who never called or wrote after he left town.”

“That’s not true. He wrote you a letter,” Evie protested.

“One letter in fifteen years. Be still my heart.” I hated hearing the bitterness in my voice. But I couldn’t help myself.

“It’s a letter that is practically falling apart since you’ve read it so often. Don’t you still carry it in your wallet?”

“Not that he wrote much,” I grouched.

“Yeah, but you still have it, right?”

I flopped onto my couch with a groan, pressing the cold spoon to my forehead. “Evie, you’re supposed to be helping me figure out how to get rid of him, not making it worse. He’s still calling. He’s left at least five messages. He said, and I quote, that our first date was a bust, and I owe him a do-over. He’s delusional.”

I got up and threw the empty carton in the trash and dispensed a big glass of water from the refrigerator.

“So, go on the date and tell him to stop bugging you. It’s simple.”

I set down the glass with a thump. “That’s a shitty idea. I don’t know why I called you. I expected something innovative, or at least sneaky.”

“Okay, here’s something else. Find out from Vic the next time he shows up at Maverick’s and confront him, just like you did last time. Tell him you don’t want to see him. How about that? Is that innovative?”

“Yeah, but I’ll have to see him. I’ll have to talk to him,” I whined.

“Since when did my sister turn into a wimp?”

I sighed. She was right. I needed to do something. Beau was driving me batshit crazy. The problem was I was dying to spend time with him, but I was beyond hurt that he hadn’t reached out to me as soon as he’d come home to Jasper Creek.

“Okay, that’s not a terrible idea.”

“See, aren’t you glad you called?”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “So, when are you guys coming to visit?”

“We’re working it out, I think, next month.”

“It’ll be great to see you and the boys. I adore them, and I love you so much.”

“We can’t wait. Love you too, Maddie. Call me after you confront your Raider.”

“He’s not my Raider,” I protested.

“Yeah, sure,” Evie laughed, then hung up the phone.

I stuck my tongue out at the dark screen.

I saw I had a text that had come in during my marathon call with Evie, so I opened it. It was from Fran Patterson. That woman was amazing. She and her husband had fostered Eli two times before this latest incident, and when I called from the hospital, they dropped everything and came to his side.

She’d sent a picture of Eli asleep, cuddled next to Nate Patterson on the couch. It made my heart melt. Maybe, just maybe, this time Eli had finally found a home worthy of him.

I sat back in the leather seat of my Jeep, glaring at the glowing sign of Maverick’s Bar and Grill as if it personally offended me. Because tonight it kind of did.

“Damn it, I’m not nervous!” I yelled out as I wiped my sweaty palms along my jeans. I bit my lip. If this went wrong, I was going to kill my sister.

Evie. That’s what I was going to do. I’ll call Evie. I reached over and plucked my phone out of my purse. I started to push in Evie’s number and then grimaced.

“No! I’m a grownup. If Holden can take on the Easter Bunny, I can take on Beau.”

I grinned. Damn, I sure wished I’d seen that.

With that thought, I pushed open the door of my Jeep and jumped out, planting my boots firmly on the gravel. I smoothed my palms over the sexiest top I owned. It didn’t show much cleavage, not that I had all that much compared to Trenda, but it was a crop top and showed off my belly button fake diamond stud. And that usually got a few male glances. Might as well let Beau know how much he’d fucked up by not calling me sooner.

“Dammit!”

We’d only been friends. It’s not like we’d dated or anything. It shouldn’t have mattered what I looked like. But I smiled anyway. He was a guy. It would matter.

My phone buzzed, and I fished it out of my purse. It was a message from Vic.

VIC:Your boy’s here. He’s been playing pool for a while. I don’t know how much longer he’ll be here.

My boy. I rolled my eyes and started stomping across the parking lot toward the door of the bar. As soon as I flung it open, I realized my mistake as people turned to stare at me. Great, just the impression I didn’t want to make.

“Hi Maddie,” Ruby Miller shouted out.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” Lacy yelled.

Lacy Cunningham had been doing my hair for eons, and Ruby was fairly new to town, and now worked at the Java Jolt. I usually hung out with them once a week. They were great girls.

“Come sit with us. We just ordered munchies,” Ruby said.

I grimaced. I didn’t want to be rude, but I needed to finish things with Beau and get the hell out of here.

STAT.

I walked past the hostess stand to their table. I grabbed a potato skin off their dish and took a big bite. As soon as I swallowed, I realized my mistake. My nervous stomach did not like greasy food. Ruby immediately noticed and handed me her ever-present Sprite. I sucked some of it down and felt better.

“What’s going on?” Ruby asked softly.

Lacy was wonderful, but she couldn’t read a room to save her life. Ruby, on the other hand, was extremely insightful and could pick up on everybody’s emotions. The only thing she wasn’t aware of was herself.

“Beau,” I whispered back.

“He’s here,” she said. “He’s playing pool with some woman.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Lacy asked as she looked up from her phone and took a big sip of her margarita.

“Beau,” I said.

“Oh, him again. I told you what to do. He’s hot. Take him home and bang his brains out.” She then went back to scrolling through her phone.

Ruby winced. “What’s the plan?” she asked.

“He needs to quit calling me.”

“Are you sure?” Ruby asked.

I bit my lip. Damn, how could she understand me so well?

“Why are you asking me that?”

She broke into a small smile, and her dimples showed. “Maybe because you switched out your normal belly button ring for a diamond stud?”

I blushed.

“I’m just here to tell him to stop calling, once and for all.”

“Okay. Then I’ve got you’re back.” Ruby pushed out of the booth. I looked at her and saw she was once again wearing a tank top with a big flannel shirt that came down past her butt. On girls’ night at one of our three houses, she’d get rid of that God-awful flannel shirt, and you could see just how great her curves were, but all she could say was that she was fat. There was no talking her out of it. My friend with her glorious red hair and her knock-out curves saw everything else clearly in the world, just not herself.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she shook her head. “I know what you’re thinking, and tonight is about your demon, not my demons.”

I sighed. She was right. “Okay, to the pool tables.”

I reluctantly followed her. As we got close, she suddenly stopped and I almost bumped into her. I sidestepped her to see what she was looking at. As soon as I saw the situation, I knew why she had stopped. There was Beau, his auburn hair gleaming under the pool light as he was lining up a shot, with a pretty, long-legged brunette leaning against a cue stick as she avidly studied his ass. It was clear that they were playing a game.

Beau made his shot.

She said something that I couldn’t make out, and he laughed.

Bastard.

He roamed around the table, bent, aimed, and hit the cue ball against a solid ball that banked against the side and easily dropped into a corner pocket. All that was left was for him was to sink the eight ball. It was an easy shot.

I saw that there were a couple of guys watching the game, so I strode over to the table, Ruby following me. Before Beau bent over, he saw me, grinned, gave a chin tilt, then took his shot and sank the eight ball.

“I should have never bet money on this game,” the brunette purred. “I should have thought of something else to bet if I lost.”

The two men watching the game laughed. Her meaning was clear. She walked up so close to Beau that she was practically pressed up against him. “Are you sure you just want my money?” she asked.

“That was the bet,” he said easily. He took a step back and held out his hand. She had to work hard to wiggle her fingers into the front pocket of her skin-tight jeans to pull out a twenty-dollar bill. I saw that she also slipped Beau her number.

“Let’s do this again sometime,” she purred.

He looked over his shoulder at the two men whose eyes were popping out of their heads. “I think Louie or Slim would be better bets for you next time. If you want, I can introduce you…”

The brunette gave him a considering look. “I think I’ll pass. Just know, it’s your loss.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake .

I looked over at Ruby and I knew she was thinking the same thing. This woman gave our sex a bad name.

The brunette had to push past Ruby and me to get to the bar, where I was sure Vic would flirt with her. So soon, all would be well in her world. Knowing Vic, he might even take her up on her blatant offer.

But still…ewww .

“Maddie, it’s good to see you.”

I’d been so busy watching the brunette sashay through the crowd, I hadn’t noticed Beau coming toward me. I wouldn’t have thought that was possible.

I looked up at him and realized he wasn’t looking me in the eye. Instead, he was looking me up and down, his gaze lingering on my abdomen. When he did gaze back into my face, his blue-gray eyes were dark blue. I licked my lips, trying to figure out what that meant.

Finally, I got my shit together. “I came to talk to you.”

“That’s good news. I’ve been trying to get ahold of you.”

“Can we go sit over there?” I said, pointing to a vacant top table at the back of the poolroom. It was covered with beer glasses and half-filled plates, but I didn’t care.

Beau looked over his shoulder.

“I’ve got a better idea. How about we play a game of pool?”

Ruby let out a giggle snort, and I glared at her.

“I don’t want to play pool, Beau. I want to talk.” I needed to shut his shit down. I hadn’t talked myself up for three days to confront him, to cave now.

“I’ll talk if you beat me at pool. How about that?”

I squinted at him.

“I’ll take that bet, as long as you agree to leave me alone if I win,” I whispered.

His eyes narrowed as he assessed me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ruby grinning. She’d seen me play pool. I didn’t lose.

Beau thrust out his hand. “Deal.”

I shook. “I’ll rack ‘em up. You break.”

“Pretty confident,” he teased.

I shrugged. I’d seen his bank shot. It wasn’t anything to write home about.

Louie and Slim both put money on their table, and Louie whistled to get other people’s attention.

Great.

Just great .

Beau looked over at them, then back at me. “Is there something I’m missing?”

“I worked here part time during the summer breaks to make money for college. I might have played some pool back then. How about you? You play much?”

I saw other people joining Louie and Slim, and soon more money was covering the table. I doubted anyone was betting against me. Louie was probably laying odds.

“From time to time,” he said with an easy smile.

I stepped back from the table after I racked up the balls, and Beau let loose with a fierce break. Two solids and one stripe fell in. He studied the table.

“I’ll take stripes.”

He was smart. That’s what I would have done.

He sank two stripes and missed the third. Then I was up. I smiled. I loved this part of the game. It wasn’t just about making a shot, it was also about making sure you set up your next shot. I lined up my shot, exhaling slowly as I felt the cool wood of the cue slide between my fingers. The moment the ball struck, the crisp click of impact sent a thrill up my spine. Three solids sank in quick succession, smooth as butter, before I finally miscalculated my spin and cursed under my breath.

When I looked up, Beau had a grim smile on his face, because while I had set up my shots, I had also made sure to leave the stripes grouped together.

It soon became a battle. We both circled the table, but I felt like Beau was still stalking me, like the predator he was. He was a good player.

But I was better.

I blocked out the chatter when Beau missed his shot, and I was left with two solids and the eight ball. The table was open, so I could knock one solid into a side pocket, and the other solid was an easy shot down the side into the corner pocket. I’d put some spin on the cue ball, so it didn’t follow the solid into the pocket. Instead, it set me up with a pretty easy bank shot for the eight ball.

I straightened up and pretended to study the table, even though I knew what I was going to do.

Why wasn’t I excited? Victory was literally in my grasp.

Beau caught my eye. He knew the shot I was going to take. I could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t cocky anymore. No more teasing. He was just watching.

Waiting.

I hesitated. Dammit, why was I hesitating?

Didn’t I want him to stop calling? Didn’t I want him to stop looking at me like that? Stop making me feel like I was seventeen again, all breathless and reckless and stupidly hopeful?

I bent down and lined up my shot. My hands were steady. But my mind? It was all over the place. I pulled back my stick and hit the cue ball.