“You stupid little bitch. Have youforgottenwho my husband is?”
“The old, saggy balled, washed up, chief of police? I wouldn’t brag. He’s hardly a catch.”
Deeks’ laughter was louder than I expected. He’d followed me over and was preparing himself to break thingsup again. This woman had made a fool of me once, but I was a fast learner, and this time I was prepared for anything she threw at me. The comment about her husband, however, seemed to be the one to tip the scale.
This time, I threw the first punch, the flash of pain in my knuckles making me swear as I decided I was all in and threw my body at her. The war cry must have alerted the people in the kitchen to exactly what was going on, because as Maisey threw me to the side, I saw them filter from the room and hurry towards the two of us.
Deeks was the first to stop me, his thick arm a bar across my stomach as he hauled me to my feet and back. I sagged against him, my body giving up long before my head did. My hands felt swollen as they hung by my side, but the rage continued to boil my blood. Irrational hate for this human being was the only thing in front of me.
“You haven’t heard the last from me. I will charge you with assault.”
I scoffed in her direction. “I’ll be in the cell next to yours, my mood not improved and no one to break us apart. You may have married the chief of police, but that doesn’t supersede your record, dumbass.”
I didn’t hear Deeks laugh this time. I felt it as he pulled me farther back. I hadn’t even realized my legs were treading air.
“Get out of here, Maisey.”
“Yeah,” I reiterated. “And if your husband asks what happened to your face, tell him to come talk to me. I’m pretty fucking sure he’ll be interested in why you’re stalking me.”
“This ain’t over, skank. I still have friends in The Hut.”
“Friends who have probably fucked Drew since you’vebeen gone. Sure.”
I knew I’d managed to get under her skin. She ran the strap of her bag over her shoulder three times before she spun on her spiky heel and marched out. I was breathing so heavily, my ears were ringing, but that wasn’t to say I missed the look on Rusty’s face.
“You. Go home and sort your shit out, kid. Calm the fuck down. Come back when you can act like an adult.”
“Rust—”
“Go. Home.”
No matter how much I needed the money, I didn’t argue. With a quiet apology to Janette and Sam, I grabbed my things and slipped out the back door. Deeks, who seemed to be a permanent shadow, followed me out without saying a word and slipped a cigarette in his mouth while he mounted his bike. He wasn’t judging me, he was just being, and even with my mood, I appreciated him for what he was doing. Today, he was a silent companion, and a slightly misconceived, hairy and overweight version of my conscience.
It seemed as though I was quite the metaphor for my life these days. All day I had been mulling over the fact that Drew had too many moods to conceive. I’d spent hours agonizing over the fact that I didn’t know him at all and berated myself for being so goddamn stupid. I had accused him of not knowing who he was, when here I was, completely lost and unable to recognize myself or a single decision I had made. What did that make me?
A hypocrite? Absolutely. An idiot? Certainly. A defeatist?
Fuck.
I was almost half way home when I realized I didn’t want to be in the house alone. I was craving something normal.Something that I’d had before all of this shit quite literally went to the dogs. I wanted to go and watch Tate at practice like I used to do before Mom and Dad had died.
Easing my car to the shoulder, I turned around slowly, waving to Deeks that I was okay, and headed for the road that would take me to the Babylon Bulldogs’ practice field.
The boys were moving around in perfect precision as I pulled up. Their formations were comfortingly familiar. It was something I’d seen run since I was old enough to sit on my daddy’s shoulders at a game.
The little huddle of coaches off to the side had me stepping out of my car and up to the fence to watch closer before I was chased away. Deeks’ motorcycle gave off a deafening roar as he pulled in behind me, which meant all eyes on the field were now turned to us, which was about the same time I noticed that Tate wasn’t there.
Tate wasn’t there.
I was about to launch into full-scale panic when I turned to stare at the man behind me, the only other person who would know why I was so distraught. He knew as well as I did that there was a target on my back—that someone wanted to hurt me to get to Drew. What if they were using Tate to get to me?
“Deeks?”
“Relax. He ain’t here because he’s still at the club, kid.”
I didn’t respond. I was already swinging around my car door and slamming it closed. I was halfway down the highway when I saw him finally catch up with me, his head shaking as he tore along on my tail.
He was smart enough not to stay as close as we pulled up. I had slammed on my breaks only inches from the gates, mycar skidding and kicking up dust as I threw her in park and twisted the keys from the ignition. He was still climbing from his bike when I slipped through the opened gates, my name sounding exasperated as it fell from him.
