Holy hell sticks.
Nel’s cheeks reddened, and she grabbed the box and shoved it into the bag.
“Sorry.” Sorry onsomany levels.
Nel gave her a thin smile. “Thanks.” Then she shot to her feet and hurried off.
Maggie rose slowly. She felt sick. A deep, might-throw-up-her-lunch kind of sick.
She forced herself to run again. Faster this time, like she was trying to outrun the reality of Ethan and Nel being together. She pushed herself so hard that ten minutes later, she had to stop in front of a boarded-up shop to catch her breath.
Jesus, this Ethan stuff was messing with her head.She’dbroken up withhimwithout letting him explain that night. She had to deal with everything that came with that, including him moving on and dating other women.
She scrubbed her face, still catching her breath, when voices from inside the vacant building reached her.
“This ismytown. This is myfather’stown. And those fucking SEALs think they can muscle their way in?”
She stiffened. His father’s town? Was that the sheriff’s son?
“I agree,” a second voice said. “They’re a bunch of tin soldiers. But what can we do?”
Maggie’s skin prickled.
“We make their lives hell.”
Maggie stumbled back at the threat in those words, but her heel rolled over a rock, and she yelped as she fell to the ground.
Crap.
Maybe he didn’t hear. Maybe?—
The door flew open and Gerome Ward stepped out, followed by a guy she’d never seen before.
Gerome’s eyes narrowed. “The fuck? You listening to my conversation?”
She rushed to her feet, her chest moving fast, but she wasn’t sure if it was due to her run or the way Gerome looked at her like he wanted to stomp on her. Maybe both. “No. I was running and tripped.” Not a lie. But also not the entire truth.
Gerome lifted a brow. “Convenient totripin front of my barbershop.”
Was there ever a convenient place to trip? And this place didn’t look like a barbershop yet. “I’ll go.” She went to step around him, but he grabbed her arm.
“Hey. I didn’t say you could leave.”
The initial shock twisted into something darker, and her voice hardened. “Whether I leave or not isn’t your choice. Let go of me.”
“Or what?”
Was he serious? Or she’d kick him in his stubborn balls.
A loud, booming voice suddenly barked behind her.
“What the fuck are you doing touching her?”
Suddenly, Ryan and Connor were either side of her. She had no idea who the words had come from; she hadn’t evenseen them coming. And by the expressions on Gerome’s and his friend’s faces, neither had they.
Gerome held her arm for one more second before releasing her. Then Ryan stepped right into the guy’s space. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Gerome’s eyes narrowed. “We were having a conversation.”
