Poor Raegan. Taken advantage of.
Poor Raegan. Look what mess she’s gotten herself into.
I look at Claudia who’s been leaning casually against the brick wall of her bakery since the raucous began. She gives me a pitying smile, only confirming my suspicions.
“Is this true?”
At first I don’t realize Mayor Musthaven has directed the question at me, but I quickly recover and nod my head. I can’t form words right now. I don’t trust them not to fuck up the eloquent explanation Aidan so cleverly concocted. I don’t know why, but he’s purposefully left Jamie out of the story.
“In that case,” the mayor continues, “thank you for intervening.” He then turns to Twitty Simmons, the quiet and mouse-like sheriff I hadn’t even noticed was there. “Twitty, can you please escort this man to the station?”
The sheriff steps to attention as if he’s ready to salute. His dark beard and mustache cover most of his face, but his eyes light up at the command from the mayor.
“I’ll come with you,” Aidan insists. “I’m sure you need a proper statement.”
“Thank you, Mister Ward.” The mayor nods his approval before continuing. “By the way, I wanted to chat with you about the walking trail expansion at the park. You mentioned before that you’d be interested in making a sizable donation?”
“Absolutely,” Aidan confirms as they head toward the police station side by side like old friends.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Simmons takes Patrick by the arm and pulls him to his feet.
“Y’all can’t be serious?” Patrick protests. He starts playing to the crowd, hoping one of them will speak up. “You saw what he did! He used his strength against me! He can’t do that!”
“That only applies to paranormals, son,” Twitty politely informs him.
I feel my stomach drop to my toes as Patrick passes in front of me. He looks me straight in the eye and says, “You know what he is, don’t you? You’re gonna regret this, Raegan!”
The rational part of my brain knows he’s just acting out. He’s trying to say anything he can to get out of the troublehe’s caused. But when I look at Jamie, his face isn’t all that reassuring. Instead, he looks distressed. Like he’s made a terrible mistake. And for the first time ever, I question whether or not he’s keeping something from me.
I take a step toward him in need of a simple explanation, but he’s already walking back to Double Double. He doesn’t even look at me, only strides determinedly down the sidewalk without a second glance, and I feel something inside me break a little.
It feels like we’re in a fight, only…I don’t know what either of us has done wrong.
I feel a light touch on my elbow and see Claudia beside me. “Are you alright?”
I nod without truly answering, my hand pressed to the tender skin at the base of my throat. If not for the physical mark Patrick has probably left behind, none of this would feel real.
Claudia moves to stand in front of me, forcing herself into my line of sight. “You should go get checked out at the clinic,” she says, but I’m not really listening. Instead, my entire focus remains on Jamie as he heads back to Double Double, his form slowly fading into the crowd until I can no longer see him.
I understand he has a business to run, but he couldn’t spare a few minutes to come check on me? Compared to his overprotective behavior lately, this feels extremely out of character. This on top of what Patrick just spewed at me, it makes me wonder what’s really going on.
I’m confused and angry, but most of all I’m hurt, seeing him walk away.
“Come on,” Claudia insists, taking my hand, “I’ll go with you.”
I lean into her slender frame instinctively, seeking some sort of comfort. Then I let her steer me to her car around the corner and together we drive to the clinic on the other side of town.
Chapter Eight
JAMIE
Itry to focus on work for the rest of the day, but everyone who comes into Double Double wants to know about the “brawl” that happened in front of Bound and Buried. No one seems to know exactly what happened, and I’ve heard everything from Patrick hanging the sheriff upside down by his ankles (I have no idea how that scenario got so mixed up) to Ethan and Aidan getting into a shouting match over Raegan.
I have no intention of setting anyone straight, so I just nod along or shrug and claim I don’t know anything. Because somehow, throughout all the chaos, no one seems to be talking about me. It’s as if the few who had a front row seat mutually decided to redact me from the plot. Or they just forgot I was there.
I really hope it's the latter, because if they think they’re doing me a favor, they’re wrong. Pretending I wasn’t involved suggests I have something to hide, and once people start catching on, they’ll start to ask questions.
I can’t believe I let some pathetic asshole, whose worth amounts to less than the dirt on my shoe, get inside my head. Though I can’t deny the fact I dropped the ball when it comes tooverestimating the size of his balls, I didn’t think Patrick would really try anything. I assumed he was all bark and no bite, but apparently I was wrong.
