How much would I have to tailor my life if I stayed with Teller? He showed me how much I deserved. He defended me. But how far did it stretch outside the borders of a town I had never wanted to return to?
Regardless, I had too much Townsend in me to let her get the last word. “At least I can walk around town with my head held high knowing exactly who I am. Everyone will look at both of you and wonder who you’re trying to lie, cheat, and steal from. You won’t even be able to look at each other and wonder just how far that trust is gonna go. I bet there’s already question.”
Damien’s jaw went tight. I hit a nerve. “Come on, Wendi. We’re done here.”
“That’s the only thing we can agree on,” Teller said, his voice hard. “Don’t ever come to Flatlanders again.”
Damien tugged on Wendi’s arm and they disappeared into the building Riley and Logan had gone into. The block was quiet. People had stepped out of the surrounding businesses to watch us. I was in public, but inside, I was empty.
That was it. I had no family. None. It was me and this damn bar.
I had Teller. But Wendi and her cutting words had hit the mark. Was she right? Were his feelings for me constrained to this small town? Was I restricted to a place that had never wanted me?
Tires squealed around the corner and a pickup roared down the street. Guys’ laughter spewed out an open window. Two teen boys leaned out the passenger windows, and a third popped out the rear window on the other side.
“Get fucked, Flatlanders!” They all tossed something.
Teller’s strong arms cinched around me, spinning us around, and he curled over me. Splats hit the front of the bar and the ground in front of me. Drops of red, blue, and yellow littered the sidewalk. Paint?
“Are you all right?” Teller asked, his worried voice in my ear.
“Yes.” No. I wasn’t fucking all right.
I had no family left. My marriage had been a sham longer than I’d ever known. And the town hated this bar. It did not want me to succeed.
I straightened just as the front door banged open. Cruz and Lane sprinted down the block, their boots striking the cement. Tate and Tenor were behind him. Tate had his phone to his ear.
“Red pickup. Dent in the rear fender,” Teller told him. “Four kids. I think the Blake kid was driving.”
Tate repeated the description into his phone.
I took in Flatlanders. The paint was already drying under the hot sun, staining the window and the brick around it. The sign above the door, the one I’d just had redone, dripped with garish red paint.
A choking sound left me. I tried to swallow my sob, but I hiccuped instead.
“Hey.” Teller tugged me into his embrace. “We’ll find who did this, and they’ll pay. We’ll get it cleaned.”
“It won’t matter.” I sounded hollow to my own ears. “Nothing matters.” My vision got blurry, then cleared when tears streaked down my cheeks. Teller tried to catch them, but they were falling too fast.
I broke out of his hold.
“It’ll be all right, Maddy.”
“No. It never is.” My chest was so heavy I could barely draw in a breath. “Don’t you see? It never is. It’s always fucked way before I ever realize.”
Teller was a great guy, but then what? Would my relationship be done way before I knew it? Would his family and the whole town know before me? Or worse, there was no other way to be with him without continuing to sacrifice the life I wanted for myself?
I shouldn’t let Wendi’s words taint what I’d built for myself, but she’d always had a way to hit where it hurt the most. And there was something or someone at the ready to cause pain.
“I’m done here.” Not just with the reception. I was done with trying. I was done with waiting for the next bad thing to happen. I was done with Bourbon Canyon and the shitstorms it had given me. I was done worrying about what happened next. “I’m done.”
Teller’s brows drew together and concern infused rough, handsome features. He’d sensed what I meant too.
Fear seized my heart. I couldn’t be done. This couldn’t be done. But what was I supposed to do? My skin felt too tight. A cyclone spun inside of me and I couldn’t outrun it, but I was surrounded by reminders of everything I lost. Teller could be my tether, but I didn’t…
I didn’t have it in me.
Tate approached us. “We’ll get who did this, Madison. It’ll be all cleaned up before you open.”
