“I most certainly have not—”
“Lady, you need to get a life, or get—” Maizy turned to him and shook her head. Anything he said to Tabitha would be misconstrued and spread around town. He bit back the word before he said it and tried to scoot her behind him but Maizy wouldn’t allow it. The fact that he was right—she did need to get a life or get fucked—didn’t matter.
Another tall, warm body came up to stand beside her and Seth Carter said, “Is there a problem here?”
Tabitha scowled when she looked over at Seth, who was soon joined by Lucy. Like any bully, Tabitha backed down once she realized she was outnumbered by people who planned to stand up to her. She sniffed and walked away with her nose up in the air with a parting shot. “Disgusting perverts.”
Lucy growled quietly and said, “I am getting damned sick and tired of that fucking bitch. Who shoved a burr up her ass anyway?”
Seth chuckled and said, “Sis struggles with expressing her feelings.”
“I hate her fucking guts.”
Seth and Lucy both smiled at Heath and Maizy, and Seth said, “I think we’ll leave you two to your conversation.” Lucy winked at Maizy and waved as she walked away, looking rather satisfied with herself.
“Did she call you?” Maizy asked, once they were all alone again.
Heath covered a wide yawn and then said, “She texted me when you were done. I don’t think she was purposely trying to get us together.”
“No. She would see it as ‘expediting the outcome.’ I feel like such a baby now, Heath. I’m sorry you heard me.” Damn, how loud was I wailing that he could hear me through the wall? Loud enough, evidently.
He held her shoulders and gazed deeply into her eyes without saying a word for a long time. “I love you, Maizy, and hearing you cry tells me you still love me…us.”
She nodded. Turning her gaze down the street, she could see Tabitha standing on the sidewalk the next block down, watching them.
Heath noticed her, too, and walked Maizy to her car. “I’m not giving up, Maizy. Cody said we should leave you alone to give you a chance to heal but seeing you just makes me more determined.”
Dark clouds moved in front of the sun and the wind gusted as he opened the door for her and closed it once she was in. It wasn’t a question of whether or not they loved each other. The question was whether that love was enough, when it was forbidden.
* * * *
Heath walked into the house and found his brothers in the kitchen. Without preamble, he said, “I saw her this afternoon.”
He picked up the toolbox and went out the back door to get started for the evening. Spencer followed him outside, buckling on his tool belt, with Cody on their heels.
Cody said, “We need to leave her alone, Heath.”
Heath knew the words were hard for his brother to say so he didn’t get pissed off at him. Cody was the realist in the bunch but Heath also knew that Cody still trusted his instincts.
He looked up at his brother. “She’s in so much pain, Cody, and I can’t stand it. It’s not over yet. Not by a long shot. What we have…it goes bone deep for her, too. I don’t know how it works out, but it ain’t over yet. Hand me that level, will you?”
As he pointed at the needed tool, the site of the new tattoo Seth had started for him that afternoon throbbed on his biceps. A shapely little belly dancer with long black curly hair. He welcomed the sensation. He welcomed every prick of the needle that would embed the reminder of their sweet little Maizy in his skin for the rest of his life.
Cody breathed out through his nostrils, looked between him and Spencer a couple of times, and then got to work as well. If they couldn’t have her in their arms on their night off, the least they could do was finish her deck. Heath had to believe that it would be hers one day, just like the three of them would.
* * * *
Saturday night, Maizy sat next to Lucy in the limo on the way to male stripper heaven as Imagine Dragon’s “Radioactive” thumped over the vehicle’s impressive sound system. She would’ve preferred a night spent at home in her comfy jammies and a chick flick but she wouldn’t have missed Lucy’s big night for anything.
Maizy had planned the stereotypical bachelorette party for Lucy, complete with a limo trip to a ladies-only strip club in Morehead. The Booty Parlor had received an enthusiastic thumbs-up from several of the girls who had gone there for Rachel’s bachelorette party a few years before. Camilla Parks had also given it her seal of approval after laughingly telling them that an old boyfriend had worked there and she knew several of the male dancers who were still employed there.