“A majority of my campaign signs were pulled from yards during the night,” he said. “The rest I had stored in my family’s barn. Someone burned the lot of them on the edge of my family’s property.” Nolan sipped the coffee Chief Craig offered, grimaced, and set it down. “I’m not a betting man. I only put my chips down when I’m expecting to win. But…given the circumstances…”
Josie bore the insult to her grandfather’s debts with more poise than I did. She didn’t back down. “You’re going to accuse Maddox of vandalism…why? Just because he’s in town?”
“It’s a serious crime when a politician is targeted,” Nolan said.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake. Maddox didn’t do this.” She pointed at me. “Tell them.”
“I didn’t do it,” I said, for all the good it’d do.
“Josie.” Chief Craig edged between her and Nolan, just as a precaution. “You might want to do Maddox a favor and call his parole officer and lawyer.”
“He didn’t do it,” she said. “Why would he jeopardize his parole? When would he have done this? What evidence do you even have?”
The chief hid his smirk. “Maddox was on Mayor Rhys’s property.”
“No, he wasn’t!”
Son of a bitch. Why did it take me this long to see through Nolan? He wouldn’t piss on his own campaign just to toss me in jail overnight. They’d never get enough evidence to prove it was me, and that worked for him. He wasn’t after me.
He struck at Josie.
Nolan took too much enjoyment from this. I’d have broken his damn neck if he smiled any wider at her. “Maddox was at my barn yesterday.”
“I don’t believe you.”
This hurt more than getting cuffed and slammed into a cell. “Sweets, I was there. I was doing a job.”
If it were any other gig, I would have tried to impress her with my work ethic. Anything, no matter how small, was worth it if I could prove to her I wasn’t a complete deadbeat with a record who couldn’t hold a job unless he was holding a gun.
I hadn’t told her about Nolan because I didn’t want to piss her off.
Ironies of ironies.
“You’re working for Nolan?” Her voice caught somewhere between disbelief and rage. “Why?”
Nolan answered for me. “I hired him to rewire my barn lights. He did a job and was paid for it.”
“Why would you hire him?”
“Oh, well, before his arrest, I paid him to do all sorts of odds and ends for me.”
It was a strange feeling to watch another man break my girl’s heart. Nolan did it masterfully. Deliberately. He watched as every passing second struck her like a slap to the face.
“You’ve worked with him before?” Josie whispered to me. “Even now? You…you helped him?”
“I needed the work, Sweets.” Wasn’t that the same excuse every asshole gave to justify his ends? “I figured I’d fix his barn and get some…extra money.”
Chief Craig raised an eyebrow. That bastard knew exactly why I took the job, and he practically salivated over the thought of another grand in his pocket. And why not? Either he got money from me or he got his dick sucked by a woman too doped up to realize when she was getting abused.
“I didn’t set the signs on fire,” I said. “I was in and out of his property during the day. I came back home. Stayed in.”
“This happened during the night,” Chief Craig said.
“So?”
“Where were you last night?”
Nolan listened too intently, imagining why Josie squirmed. That little fucker meant for her to admit it aloud. He had warned me to stay away from her as part of our agreement for my parole. He treated her like she was his property, like she belonged to him and I trespassed. Now he’d shame her and make her explain where she spent the night.
That was easy. She stayed in my arms, in our bed.
Having orgasm after orgasm as she rode me throughout the night.
But I doubted she wanted him to know that.
“I was at home,” I said.
Chief Craig cleared his throat. “Is anyone willing to…substantiate that claim?”
Josie lowered her gaze. She had no reason to look so humiliated. So scared.
“He was with me.”
“All night?” Nolan interrogated her behavior more than mine.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? You couldn’t know where he was at all times. What about when you slept?”
“She said I was there,” I said. “I have an alibi.”
“Josie, are you certain?” The chief ignored me.
She sucked in a desperate breath. “We…weren’t sleeping the whole night. He didn’t leave the house.”
Hardly left the bed.
Nolan’s stare burned through me. I could practically smell the gasoline he used to ignite his own campaign property.
“Could have just asked me, Nolan,” I said. “Saved yourself the dirty work.”
Nolan regained his composure. “If Josie says he was with her all night, then I suppose he’d have no reason to leave her. The vandals might be one of the Braddock’s kids, some sort of practical joke.”
Chief Craig moved slow, disappointment threading his motions. He’d have to try harder to land my ass back in jail, and I was sure he’d try.
“Fine. You’re free to go, Maddox. But don’t give me a reason to haul you in here again.” His voice lowered. “Don’t want anything to happen to those you leave behind.”
Asshole. Nolan threatened Josie, and the chief harassed my sister. No one was safe in this godforsaken town.
And it was about to get worse.
Josie didn’t wait for me. The station’s chime twinkled as the door slammed behind her.
Fuck.
I knew it was possible that she’d find out about my jobs for Nolan sooner or later, but I’d hoped it’d stay a secret. She’d never forgive me for taking a job from him. Nolan was more than an obsession to her—he was the cause of everything evil in the town. She didn’t care that other men had the same reasons to burn her shop, and she ignored every logical explanation that proved Nolan wasn’t the arsonist. He was just a lecherous bastard who’d never torch a building that would have benefited him financially.
But she wouldn’t forgive me for my desperation.
I had to try.
Nolan stopped me before I chased her, stepping in front of the door. I wasn’t in the mood for threats, and murder would be too damn noticeable in the middle of the police station.
“I told you to stay away from her.” He buttoned his suit. “This should guarantee it.”
“You really think you can keep us apart? Are you that pathetic that you’d burn your own damn signs just to humiliate me?”
“They were misprints. This way I can order a new batch with the insurance money.”
“Glad you could break her damn heart to stretch your campaign budget.”
“You never did tell her you were my errand boy, did you?”
She had a good idea now. “Doesn’t matter. She’ll forgive me.”
“Are you so sure?”
“Josie’s mine.” I leaned closer. “The sooner you realize it, the safer you’ll be.”
“Another threat?”
“Unlike yours…my threats are guaranteed.”
Nolan raised his eyebrows. “Do you think she’s worth it?”
What kind of question was that? I didn’t answer. He shrugged, passing from the door to let me chase after her.
“It just seems strange a love that strong wouldn’t last through prison,” he said.
“What the hell do you know about—”
“I know she never visited you in jail. Never wrote. Never called. Maybe you ought to ask her why she deliberately ignored you in prison…even after you saved her life.”
Ice shredded my veins, and doubt planted deep in my mind, in that dark and unsettling place I knew existed but fought to suppress. Nolan left me to assist the chief on another lead.
Son of a bitch.
I wasn’t playing his games anymore, and I’d make sure he paid for humiliating Josie.
First, I’d find her, explain myself, tell her why I slept with the devil to give my angel her halo.
Then, I’d get to work.
Three men threatened Josie, but one just wormed his way to the top of my shit list. I didn’t care if Nolan was responsible or not. Once I was through with him…he wouldn’t need his damn campaign signs.
Dead men didn’t get elected.
Chapter Thirteen – Josie
My phone rang for the tenth time.
This ended now. I was done ducking calls, done simmering in anger, just done with Maddox.
How was I supposed to trust a man who would betray me, who would work for a man like Nolan? I sacrificed so much to try to protect Maddox, and he walked right into the lion’s den.
He helped the bastard who burned down my shop!
I answered the call and tried to sound anything but heartbroken.
“Maddox, I mean it. Stop calling. I will not talk to you—”
“Uh…Josie? This is Larry from Willowbend Health Care Center...”
I dropped my bowl of cookie dough. I had been too depressed to even bake the damn cookies.
“Larry? I’m sorry! I thought you were…is everything okay?”
Larry’s heavy sigh froze the half batch of cookie dough sitting in my stomach. “It’s Matthias. There was an accident.”