Once Upon A Half-Time 2(112)

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.





6





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.