I had to do whatever I could to prevent Nolan from hurting the man I loved.
And I was running out of ways to keep Maddox alive.
“Maddox went to jail, Josie. Rightfully.” Nolan’s eyebrows rose. He almost looked handsome, but I didn’t trust his twisted smile. “I’m trying to save you from making a bad mistake. You’re involved with a man who has a record. A bad one. Vandalism, assault, theft. Arson.”
“Maddox didn’t burn down my shop,” I said.
“You don’t need to protect him.”
Like hell. “I know who the real arsonist is, Nolan. He can’t hide forever. Soon, everyone else will know too.”
“Josie, are you threatening me?”
I knew better than that. “It’s so hard to prove intent, isn’t it?”
“You’re snappy today. Little too much Matthias in you.”
“I just think it’s time for the world to know the man you really are.”
He sighed. “And I think you might be a bit lovesick and naïve. Do not trust Maddox. Don’t endanger yourself by letting him in your life.”
“It’s my life.”
“Don’t waste your heart on men who don’t deserve it.”
“Don’t tell me who to love.”
“Love is a dangerous game, Josie. People get hurt far too easily. Do you understand?”
Damn it.
How was this happening again? I had already broken up with Maddox once to appease Nolan. I lost him to Nolan, to the fire, to the justice system that failed us all.
Nolan wanted me, and I had no idea the lengths he’d go to coerce me into bed. I wasn’t about to be tied to the train tracks, but I couldn’t risk Maddox’s life until I proved it was Nolan who destroyed mine.
He sipped his coffee, offered me a smile, and then challenged me with another devil’s game.
“I’d like to buy your property, Josie.”
My heart stuttered to a stop. I didn’t answer. I didn’t have the words or the caffeine to imagine all the perverted scenarios that he would concoct. Didn’t that bastard do enough? I denied him once, and he set fire to my property. He burned it to the ground and left me with nothing.
What would he take if I refused him again?
“Absolutely not.” I said.
“The shop is gone, and you have no plans to rebuild. The lot is on Main Street, and the vacancy does nothing for the town. Let me take it off your hands.”
“It’s my family’s property.”
“And your family is running out of money.”
My insides turned into a slushie. “You don’t know anything about my family or our finances.”
“How’s your grandfather?”
His question was slimy, and he dared to ask it with a smile.
“He’s fine.”
Nolan nodded. “One of my campaign managers works at Willowbend. She knows your grandfather. Said his lungs were pretty badly damaged after the fire. He can’t work, and he can’t sell his business. You can’t rebuild the shop if all the money goes to his treatments. Or…” Nolan stared at me. “His gambling debts?”
Like Nolan didn’t have any vices. I didn’t speak, didn’t even acknowledge him.
“It’s time to sell, Josie. Time for a change. A new direction in your life. Find someone who can help, who wants to support you.” He reached for me, taking my hand. “You know I could take care of you.”
Repulsion and rage battled in my stomach. I had no idea which would win out, but it wouldn’t be pretty. I was taught to be polite, to be gentle, to be independent.
So why could I only imagine smacking him with a saucepan and kicking him between his legs?
“I will only say this once, Nolan. I’m not interested.” I forced him to hold my gaze and read my lips. He stared at them, but not to hear the words—he imagined what I’d do with them. “I don’t want your money. I don’t want your name. I’m keeping the property.”
His grip tightened over my wrist. My heart pounded as his voice lowered, a deliberate growl.
“You will not talk to me like this.”
Likewise. “I have a few more choice words I could say.”
“That’s Maddox talking.”
“He always could turn a phrase.”
Nolan’s grip turned painful. “Josie, I am only asking once.”
“But I will say no a million times.”
“Isn’t it enough that I would offer you this, even knowing I am lusting after another man’s scraps?”
I’d flip the table if he didn’t let go of me, but I didn’t know what happened after that. Who he would target next. What he would do.
Nolan strong-armed the town, but he had yet to raise his hand to me. Testing his patience wouldn’t save any of us.
“Let me go.” My voice was low, my own threat. “You’ve insulted me. If you respected me at all you’d apologize and release my hand.”
“And if I don’t?”
Hell if I knew.
But I didn’t have to find out.
The bell over the door rattled, but the chime choked off as the door was nearly ripped off the hinges. I didn’t have time to stop it. A blur of dark leather crashed over the table. Nolan’s chair was tossed back. The mayor slammed onto the floor.
Maddox prepared to strike.
“Stop!” I dove forward to grab him.
Nolan didn’t move, he waited for Maddox to make the first mistake. A dozen outcomes terrorized my mind—a fight, the police, charges, Maddox sent to jail for protecting me.
Or, Maddox ending it right then and killing Nolan on the floor of a coffee shop.
“Maddox, no!”
My cry probably echoed over the town. A dozen onlookers rushed inside the shop, and most of Nolan’s campaign hurried to his aid, rushing to help him from the ground. The rest separated Maddox from Nolan.
One man or a dozen, it wouldn’t matter. Maddox seethed, jaw clenched and eyes narrowed for the hunt.
“You don’t touch her.”
He didn’t care who watched. The threat resonated, and the news of the fight between town hero and villain would race through the streets. Nolan would never forgive him for upstaging his campaign rally.
God, this wasn’t the welcome home I hoped he’d get, but it was the one I knew he’d have.
“Maddox,” I whispered. “I’m fine. Please leave.”
He didn’t listen to me. He seized my hand where Nolan’s grip had nearly bruised. Difference was, Maddox’s grasp would. He pulled me from the store and tugged me into the street.
This was a disaster. I didn’t need the rescue. It was Maddox who needed the most help, the most protection. And now that he’d humiliated Nolan, I’d never save him from his own impulsive destruction.
I was out of time. I had no choice. I had to prove it was Nolan who targeted me, who set fire to my shop. The sooner he was behind bars, the easier I could protect the man I loved.
If I wasn’t already too late.
Someone was going to get hurt, but I’d do everything in my power to ensure it wasn’t Maddox.
Chapter Six – Maddox
That bastard put his hands on her. He was lucky I didn’t put him through the window.
Josie struggled until she realized how bad it looked for her. How bad it looked for me.
I had no idea why Nolan wanted her this time or why she would even meet with that son of a bitch. Then again, it wasn’t like she had been very forthcoming the last time I saw her.
Any other woman was better off opening her legs than her mouth. But it’d never been that way with Josie. I wanted in her heart. In her head. I had to know why she’d endanger herself in Nolan’s presence, or if she even realized how dangerous that man was.
How the fuck did she survive without me for a year?
How did I survive without knowing she was safe?
Her apartment was close enough, but everybody watched me drag her away. Where the hell did they all come from? One raised voice, and the damn church bells rang to alert the village that Andrew Maddox had returned, and he’d claimed the virtuous again, ready to steal innocence and draw blood.
Josie was generally optimistic, but even she questioned me as we reached her apartment. I locked the door while she squealed some bullshit chastisement. I wasn’t listening. As long as I had her safe, as long as I had her in my arms, she could call me every name in the book and I’d still teach her more and dirtier profanity.
“Are you out of your mind?” Josie collapsed against the wall. “Maddox, you can’t act like this! If Nolan decides to press charges—”
I didn’t let her finish. She was already pinned to the wall. Something inside me snapped.
When I was in jail I counted the hours until I saw her, and when I was with her I memorized every blessed second I held her in my arms. She had kicked me out the other night, and part of my mind shredded itself. It was forged together now, glued with testosterone and stitched with adrenaline.
I kissed her, silenced her every protest of my lips and captured her within my arms. That didn’t mean she quieted. Her mew of indignation treaded a thin line between anger and submission.
I missed her submission.
Josie was always beautiful, but she destroyed me when she turned feisty. That’s when her almond eyes turned vibrant, a dancing darkness. Her lips, pouty and full, begged to be kissed.
I needed her, and I wouldn’t rest until I knew she was mine. I’d give my life to know she wasn’t hurt, scared, or trapped with that fucking bastard who wanted her as a prize, not because she was the most amazing woman in the world.