Jacked

CHANCE CARTER

Chapter 1

Jack

I didn't understand why they were so excited already. My opponent hadn't even arrived yet, so there was nothing to see and nothing to cheer for, but that didn’t stop the crowd of rednecks and bikers from filling the air with their jubilation.

From the jeers and hoots that reached me from across the parking lot, I surmised that the guy I would be laying out today was a fan favorite. That suited me just fine. Being the underdog was a hell of a lot easier than he would find out disappointing his fans was. Since I didn't have any fans, I didn't have anyone to disappoint but myself. It worked out better that way.

The smoke curled lazily from my lips for a fraction of a second before I sucked it in, allowing it to coat my lungs with ash. The bricks of the bar's back wall were rough on my skin, even through the thin layer of my t-shirt. It was a hot night, and sweat prickled on my brow. If anybody noticed, they probably thought it was fear.

I didn't give a fuck what they thought.

I wasn't here to win the twisted adoration of a few small-town hicks or to fuel their blood lust either. I wasn't here because I liked the feeling of bruised knuckles and a battered skull. I wasn't even here because of the anger issues I undoubtedly carried in the black part of my soul. I was here for one reason and one reason only. The prize.

I only ever showed up for the prize.

The crowd behind the bar had swelled a little by the time I finished my cigarette, at least twenty guys stood around a pickup truck that had seen better days, joking with the fight’s organizer as he took bets and made predictions.

I resisted the urge to light up another smoke. The next one was my victory cigarette, and that was as sacred a ritual as any other I knew. It could be my cigarette of defeat too, but I already knew I had nothing to worry about. These guys were all too cocky, too eager. The fighter they'd lined me up against obviously hadn't met proper competition before, and those were always the easiest to take down. I'd been doing this for years and the defeats stuck out in my memory vividly—none of them started like this. No, if I was going to get beat, it was going to come out of the blue and surprise me.

Someone broke through the crowd and approached me, a stubby looking fucker who hadn't lost the gleam of greed in his eyes since Roddy first introduced me to him a couple weeks ago. He was both the owner of the rusted old pickup and tonight's organizer, and no doubt he soon hoped to win big on the lottery of brute strength. Roddy, who ran interference between me and all the guys who wanted to see me taken down, had warned me to be careful with this one. Clarence Stillwater was as cocky about his fighter as he was ugly, and that said something.

He stopped in front of me, pulling the brim of his baseball cap lower over his wrinkled forehead. "What's your name again, kid?"

I sucked my teeth and gave him a once over before answering. "Jack."

"Just Jack? You don't got a fighter name?"

I nodded. "Just Jack."

"You're still game?"

"There still a prize of two grand for the winner?"

His thin lips split into a crooked, almost jagged smile. This guy was missing quite a few teeth, enough to make me wonder if he'd ever gotten into the ring himself.

"Yeah, the prize is the same."

I shrugged. "Then I'm still game."

He paused a beat, eyes narrowed on me like I was a pest in need of squashing. "You're not a man of many words, are you?"

"Not when there isn't anything more that needs saying. I'm sure I'll express myself well and good when your fighter shows up."

"He's coming," Clarence assured. "I wouldn't get too eager though. There's no prize for losing."

I cocked a wicked grin. "Then I guess I better not lose."

An obnoxious, lifted pickup growled into the parking lot, filling up three stalls as it parked haphazardly. Clarence immediately turned from me with a wink and started walking over to it, greeting the giant of a man who stepped out with a friendly clap on the back.

I didn't blame them for thinking this guy was gonna beat me to smithereens. He was the obvious choice—huge, corded with muscles, and he looked as mean as a pit bull. He had a few inches on me and his hands looked perfectly sized to crush my skull. Hell, I would have bet against me if I hadn't met me before. It was a mistake I doubted any of these rednecks would be making twice.

"You ready, Just Jack?" called Clarence in a sneering tone.

My lips curved into a smile and I nodded, stepping away from the wall and walking into the clearing the assembled crowd had formed just for me and this ogre.

"Alright folks," Clarence said, silencing the excited chatter. "Here we got Just Jack, hailing from Bell Springs, going head to head with Angry Angus, Jackson's very own. You've got two more minutes to place your bets before the excitement begins."

Angry Angus took his place across from me in the "ring", and was obviously trying to mean mug me into shitting my pants. I was much more interested in trying to figure out who was betting on me. Just because I was used to being underestimated didn't mean I had no ego to speak of. These days, people who knew what they were doing when it came to arranging these sorts of fights knew that I wasn't the kind of guy you should fuck with, and I was beginning to wonder if maybe Clarence did know what he was doing after all. He was about to make one hell of a killing on bets.

Clarence ended the betting and called out the rules—which were basically just that there were no rules. And then it was time to dance.

Angry Angus came at me fists first, brain last. They always did. People who'd heard my reputation thought I was a good fighter because I was the toughest, which made it easy for them to think I would lose against the toughest guy they knew—who undoubtedly had to be way tougher than me. What most people didn't pick up on was that I was just the smartest fighter. And I had a high pain tolerance to go with that.

Angus got a few hits in right away, one right hook to the face that damn near shattered my cheekbone. The guy had a strong arm, I'd give him that, but while he was focusing on getting his knuckles in line with my face, I was focusing on his footwork and movement. Before he threw a cross, he always wound up clumsily and left the right side of his face unprotected. He threw his whole body weight into his jabs and often stumbled instead of stepping through to distribute the force. And he wouldn't know what a guard was if it hit him in the face.

I jumped back from the fray after the first few hits, swirling the coppery taste of my blood between my teeth before spitting it onto the ground. Angus was smirking, hamming it up for the crowd as they roared their approval. He lifted his hands to urge their applause to reach a crescendo like he thought he was some sort of fucking Roman gladiator. Idiot.

I approached him with my hands up, peering up at him from behind my closed fists. He reeled back for a cross and I sidestepped to the left, boxing him in the side of the head before quickly moving out of the way of the defensive punch he tried to counter with. He missed. I swept low and came up with an uppercut to the gut, which in his defense barely seemed to wind the colossus. He managed to slam a hit against my shoulder as I pulled back, but it wasn't nearly as powerful as his first few had been.

I could have danced around him for ages and tired him out easily, but in my experience the only thing that ever achieved was pissing off the crowd, so instead I struck out again and again with blows meant to stun more than harm. He reeled around in a circle trying to follow my movements, and I stopped long enough and at just the right distance to entice him into a jab. He was so frustrated by this point that he held back less than usual, lurching forward as I ducked his punch at the last second. His momentum made the fist I sent under his jaw even more powerful, and his teeth slammed together with an almighty crack.

The giant stumbled forward. The giant stumbled back. He turned in a half circle, eyes searching and blinking. And then, with all the drama of a great iceberg crashing into the sea, Angry Angus collided with the pavement.

The cheers stopped. Everything stopped. For a moment, the only thing I could hear was the muffled twanging country music coming from inside the bar, and it was like time had frozen solid right at the moment of my victory.

Then, the whispers began.

It made sense that this crowd of buffoons, who had been so vocal about seeing me smashed out against the concrete, would lose their voices the moment they realized they'd been wrong. Now they tried to make sense of what had just happened in quiet tones, like if they didn't address it out loud they wouldn't have to accept the consequences. Tonight's consequences being, of course, that they'd just lost a ton of money and worse, now had to acknowledge that the biggest guy in their town still wasn't tough enough to beat up some random stranger most of them had jeered at for being too pretty to fight. Idiots.

The only person I felt a little bad for was Angry Angus, since he was probably real proud of that moniker and would now be facing an existential crisis. Was he just not angry enough? Was that it? Should he change his name to Slightly Irate Angus? A Little Bit Irritated Angus?

As I mused on these thoughts, wiping the blood from the corner of my mouth, Clarence grabbed my arm and pulled me back over to the brick wall as the men started trying to rouse their Goliath.

"Here, kid." He stuffed a handful of bills into my palm. "I'd suggest getting out of here before Angry Angus gets up again."

I laughed and unfolded the money, counting it. "I don't think Angry Angus is going to be getting up anytime soon," I said. "Not if he knows what's good for him."

Clarence was not amused. There was a sense of urgency in his eyes, which had gone all shifty and kept darting back to the disheartened crowd.

"You're awfully cocky, just like Roddy said you would be."

"It comes with the territory." I finished counting and nodded at him. "Alright, get out of here before these hillbillies realize you fleeced them."

Clarence's eyes bulged. "I did not."

"Sure you didn't. But I bet me being cocky isn't all Roddy told you." I grabbed a smoke from the pack in my pocket and tapped it between my fingers. "Now go on."

Clarence didn't argue any further. He and his winnings were out of the parking lot before I'd even had a chance to light up.

I shoved the cash in my pocket and grabbed my lighter, flicking the mechanism as I started ambling back in the direction of the main street. My plans for the night included a cold beer and a warm woman, and it didn't look like I was welcome to either of those here. Just as well. I didn't much feel like having any of these guys glare daggers at me all night.

The road was quiet, almost desolate. Even so, I wasn't worried. I wasn't even worried when I heard the sound of footsteps fall into step somewhere behind mine.

I should have been.

Chapter 2

Melissa

It was a discomforting combination, being both gawked at by people when they thought I wasn't looking while also not being able to meet my eye. About an hour into my shift I was ready to yell at somebody, but I kept my feelings to myself for once. There was nothing to be accomplished by snapping at one of the Alibi's patrons, just in the same way there was nothing to be accomplished by trying to cover the bruise around my eye up with make-up. It wouldn't change anything, and it certainly wouldn't make people look at me less.

I kept pouring out beers, trying not to let everyone's obvious curiosity irk me too much. Not one of them had had the balls to ask me about the black eye yet, and I doubted any of them would. Not the patrons, anyway. Not most of the staff, either. I expect they all had their own suspicions, most of which were probably right, and I would have been quite happy to keep pretending there was nothing out of the ordinary if they weren't all so fucking bad at it.

Naomi Smith ended up being the only one who stepped up to the plate and asked, even though she was the least likely to spread the gossip out of all of them.

"What the hell happened to your face, honey?" She stood at the stretch of bar we kept free for the servers to pick up their drinks, one hand on her hip while the painted black fingernails of her other hand drummed on the empty serving tray.

I didn't bother lying. Naomi would see right through it, the same way she saw through every lie I told.

"Donnie and I had a fight," I said simply. "It's fine."

Naomi didn't flinch. She had more tattoos than most people had sense and hadn't stayed at the Alibi so long just because the tips were good.

"Did you get him back?"

I snorted. My boyfriend, Donnie, was about twice my size and as mean as a rattlesnake when he was drunk. Much as I would have liked to have gone after him with a rolling pin the second he hit me, I was smarter than that. I knew that as soon as he sobered up, cooler heads would prevail.

"He was drunk," I said, skirting her question. "It's the first time he's done it and mark my words it will be the last time."

Her chestnut eyes narrowed on me judiciously. "Baby, that's what they all say. I know that he's...well, Donnie Berland, but that doesn't mean you gotta take shit from him."

"I don't take shit from anyone, Naomi." I slammed down the two beers I'd been pulling for her, the foam sloshing over onto the tray. I hadn't meant to put them down so forcefully.

"There's a shiner just below your eyebrow that says otherwise," she snapped back.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it."

She lingered a second longer, probably debating making a scene just to prove her point. I didn't blame her. She had two girls at home and was fiercely defensive of them, and somehow since I started working here two years ago that protectiveness had transferred to me too. She was a mamma bear and I was just another one of her cubs, even though I was only six years younger than her twenty-eight and had proven on more than one occasion that I could handle myself. I wouldn't have lasted this long at the Alibi if I couldn't, despite what anybody else might think.

"Naomi! We gettin' those drinks over here or what?" Naomi's customer hollered from the other side of the room.

She let out an irritated sigh and picked up the tray, shooting me a look that made it clear our conversation was far from over before she turned and yelled a reply. "Keep your pants on, Duncan. It's other people who have to drink for you to become more attractive, not the other way 'round."

The bar burst into laughter and I let out a breath. I'd barely convinced myself that Donnie and I's scrap was water under the bridge. How the hell was I supposed to convince her?

"Hey, bartender," a gruff voice called.

I turned to face the grizzled man who'd just sat down, taking in his stained plaid shirt and the sheen of sweat on his bald forehead. "How about you get that tight ass over here and pour me a drink?"

Oh, so not the right night to talk about my ass.

I put on my sweetest smile, the one that I seemed to pull out exclusively for situations like these, and sashayed down the length of the bar. A lecherous smile crept up his fat mouth, and his bloodshot eyes shot straight to the cleavage of my white v-neck. This guy was a trucker through and through, and the locals around him quieted as I approached so they wouldn't miss a second of what was about to happen.

"You wanted a drink, sugar?" I asked, batting my lashes.

Neil Buckins, a regular and a sweet old man to boot, chuckled from beside the trucker, who remained unconcerned.

"Depends on what else is on the menu," the trucker said, exposing a gap-toothed smile.

He was reading the wrong signals from my beatific expression. Idiot.

"Hmm..." I said, letting my fingers stroke over one of the taps as I considered his proposal. He licked his lips and watched. "We've only got simple fare here at the Alibi. Burgers, fries, that sort of thing. But I'll tell you a secret." I crooked my finger, urging him to lean in closer.

He did, nearly panting like a dog. I imagined his dick was probably about to explode out of his pants, the creep.

The trucker leaned in, and I scooped up a cup of half-melted ice from the sink just out of his view.

"Here's the secret," I said, biting my lip flirtatiously. "Are you ready?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

"You can't order any of it unless you speak with a little respect," I snarled, upending the glass over his head. “Asshole.”

He screeched in alarm and nearly fell backward from the stool, frantically brushing the ice off of him and trying to retrieve the cubes that had made their way down his shirt.

For the second time in five minutes, the bar erupted into laughter.

"Looks like she wants you to cool off a bit, you dirty trucker!" heckled someone nearby.

The trucker stopped and glared at me, then slammed his hat down on his head and stormed out the front door, hoots of laughter chasing him out like nipping hounds. As soon as he was gone, things went back to normal. I served my waiting customers, and people even stopped gawking so much at my eye. All in all it seemed like it was going to be an okay evening, even if I had Naomi's inquisition to deal with at some point.

Then my boyfriend walked through the door.

It wasn't Donnie entering so much that was the problem, since his uncle owned the bar and he was in here most nights. It was always his friends I took the greatest issue with. They were loud and obnoxious, and brought out the loud and obnoxious side of Donnie that I couldn't stand. When they all got drunk together, it was all I could do to run interference and do damage control to make sure Donnie didn't make too much of an ass out of himself.

I saw Lara, one of the servers, notice them entering and stopped her with my hand on her arm. "I'll take their table," I said.

She was fairly new here, and seemed appreciative—if a little confused. I threw my bar towel over my shoulder and stepped out onto the floor, painting on my smile as I approached their table.

"There she is," said Donnie proudly. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me tight against his side, head nestled against my ribs. "We're gonna grab a round of beers, babe. Put it on my tab."

Donnie's "tab" was essentially the five-finger-family-discount, in that the tab kept growing but he never intended to pay for it. Every few months, Hank would call up Donnie's parents and let them know the damage, and they'd send over some money to cover it.

"Are you sure she can handle that, Don?" asked his friend Matt, whose hair was so blonde it was almost translucent. "You know, being how clumsy she is and all."

Matt and Donnie's other two friends snickered like he'd just told some sort of private joke. At first I didn’t get it. I realized with a wave of white hot anger that they were referring to my shiner, but bit back my retort

"Nah, she's a good girl." Donnie looked up at me and winked. "She always learns from her mistakes."

Great. He was drunk already. I knew Donnie acted like a dick around his friends, but this was a new low. Would he be sitting there so high and mighty if his friends knew how he'd cried on his knees after hitting me last night? How he'd begged me not to leave him? I doubted it.

"Just the usual?" I asked sweetly.

Donnie gave me a pat on the butt and nodded. "Thanks babe."

I walked away from the table, and by the time I reached the bar I'd decided that Matt was getting something a little extra special in his beer. I snagged two empty bottles from Naomi's tray when she came to pick up one of her orders and dumped the dregs of flat beer and saliva into the bottom of Matt's drink before filling it with the new stuff. Then I dropped the drinks back off at their table and hoped at least tonight Donnie would know his limit and stay within it.

It was a busy night, and it was late before I got a chance to take a break. Luckily there was nobody else out back when I got out there, and I pulled up one of the wooden crates that the cooks sat on for their smoke breaks and sat down to finish the sketch I'd started before my shift.

The girl on the page looked a lot like me, but the black bruise surrounding her right eye marked her as something else. Something about the disfigurement made it more difficult to recognize my own features. It didn't fit on my face. It wasn't me. It didn't matter that the girl beneath it had the same long nose, the same full brows, and the same pouty mouth—the black eye made my face seem alien somehow. The picture was probably finished, but I wasn't finished with it yet and so kept shading the black eye while I figured out why I couldn't recognize myself even in a drawing that could have served as a mirror image.

Why? Why? Why?

Was I disappointed in myself? I supposed a little. I always told myself I wasn't the kind to take shit from anyone, but for whatever reason that didn't apply where Donnie was concerned. Worse, I was angrier at myself than I was at him. The reasons why were all toxic, but I couldn’t keep them out of my head.

I shouldn't have baited him so much. I should have ducked. I should have known better than to argue with him when he was drunk. The embarrassment at being seen like this, at being pitied by people like Naomi and gossiped about by everyone else, was much worse than anything else he could have doled out. If I'd just been a little more careful...

The back door creaked open and my heart kicked up in my chest. I slammed the cover of my notebook closed and stuffed it back inside my bag, smiling in greeting at James, one of the line cooks, as he lit up a smoke.

"Busy night?" he asked.

I rose to my feet and headed for the door. "It comes and it goes."

Chapter 3

Jack

It was a long walk, so when my phone lit up with a call from my sister I was only too happy to answer it.

"Hey sis," I answered, trailing smoke from my victory cigarette in my wake. "What's the word?"

Sadie's bubbly voice never failed to make me smile, especially after a fight when I was licking my wounds and nursing the feeling of loneliness that always inevitably followed each one—win or lose.

"Oh you know, living the dream," she replied. "The semester has only just started and I'm already totally in over my head. Do you ever just want to go somewhere quiet and scream until your lungs give out?"

I laughed and took another drag of my smoke. "All the time, baby sis, all the time. What's stopping you?"

"Nowhere that quiet on campus, I'm afraid," she muttered bitterly. "Not that I think anyone would bat an eyelash. As soon as the fresher parties are over everyone turns into giant zombie slugs."

"I hope you're not partying too hard," I said sternly, even though I already knew she liked parties about as much as she liked stats midterms.

"Yes, I've just been kicking it up here." Her dry tone brought more of the smile out on my face. "A cute guy asked me if I was going to one of the off campus parties last weekend and I couldn't think of anything funny to tell him so I just told him the truth."

"And that was?"

She sighed theatrically. "That I was going to spend the weekend binging Rupaul's Drag Race and actively hiding away from my responsibilities."

A sudden laugh choked from my throat. Sadie was nineteen years old now, but she'd been making me laugh since she first learned to speak. Our ten year age gap didn't put emotional distance between us the same way it did with other siblings, and the fact that I was well into my teens before she even went through her first annoying little sister phase certainly helped.

"Ah, I miss you kid," I said, taking a deep draw and exhaling a plume of smoke into the thick, hot air. "How are things going, though, for real?"

"They're fine. Same as always, really. My new roommate is a peach, and she's nearly as antisocial as I am so we're getting along like a house on fire. How's home?"

The footsteps that I'd been ignoring for the past few minutes were now close enough that I could make out the individual footfalls. There were three guys at least, and they weren't trying to be subtle anymore. I swore under my breath without thinking.

"What is it?" Sadie asked. Her tone went from casual to concerned in a heartbeat, but I didn't want to worry her.

"Ah, nothing. Something just came up that I have to deal with. Can I call you tomorrow?"

"Sure. Love you, Jack!"

"Love you too, sis."

I hung up the phone and spun on my heel to face the guys following me. They'd lost the element of surprise, so rushing me seemed the next best choice. In the brief moment I had to steady myself before they reached me, I recognized their faces from the fight. They were friends of Angry Angus, undoubtedly ones who'd put down a load of cash on him to win. Idiots didn't even know they'd been hustled by that piece of shit Clarence.

I would have liked to report that I laid them all out in ten seconds flat, but that wasn't how it went down. I was a good fighter but I was only human after all, and a human can only take so much abuse. Three beefy guys with chips on their shoulders were out of my ability.

They were quick about it, at least, laying hit after hit so furiously you'd think I nailed their mothers or some shit like that. It was probably just cause even though they outnumbered me they were still scared of me, and didn't want to risk giving me enough time to breathe and hit them back. Cowards.

I shouldn't have expected any better conduct from rednecks whose main weeknight entertainment was watching their friend beat the shit out of whomever was brave enough to stand across from him that week, but it was disappointing nonetheless. Nobody had any scruples these days.

They beat me to a pulp. I tried to fight back where I could, but before long the blood from my forehead blurred my vision and my muscles were too weak from their beating to land anything decent.

I barely registered them picking me up once I collapsed onto the pavement, but understood their intent the second a pickup pulled up alongside them and they tossed me into the back of it like a sack of flour.

They were going to dump me somewhere, probably leave me for dead along the side of the road or something equally fucked up like that.

It wasn't the first time in my life that somewhere in my brain it registered that I should be fearing for my life, and it likely wouldn't be the last. It also wasn't the first time I ignored that little voice and all the baggage that came along with it.

If I was going to die, I was going to do it without reliving everything I'd gone through in my life, everything I'd done, in the hopes that I could extract some kernel of peace in my final moments. I was mad and I was going to stay mad, and that was what was going to keep me alive.

No matter what these dipshits did to me.

It turned out that the assholes who jumped me weren't as stupid as I thought.

Well, they were still fucking idiots, but at least they knew better than to risk going down for a murder charge by leaving me out to die somewhere. In fact, they very considerately dropped me off at a Greyhound station, and I came to with the sensation of something wet on my face and bright lights turning my eyelids pink.

It was a wet cloth, I soon realized, and once I blinked my eyes open I saw an old woman at the end of the cloth, staring down at me compassionately as she wiped some of the blood from my face.

My whole body ached like I'd just run a marathon and then got the shit kicked out of me afterward. It even hurt to open my eyes, and the swelling had already started on the right side of my face. I'd been worse off, but I wouldn't be winning any beauty pageants anytime soon.

"Thank God you're alive," said the woman in a low, gravelly voice. The wrinkles around her eyes seemed to pull back as her concern ebbed from critical to minimal.

I was on my back, spread out over a concrete bench. She was sitting beside my head, and studied me intently as I—groaning and hissing—sat up. She offered me the cloth she'd been using on my face but I waved her away. There were worse things I could be covered in than blood.

"You must've really pissed somebody off," she observed.

The abruptness of her comment amused me. I reached in my back pocket for my smokes and realized that my pack and the two grand in cash had mysteriously disappeared. Well, there wasn't a mystery about it. The assholes who jumped me were probably all puffing up a storm while they counted their winnings.

The thought irritated me more than it did that I'd been jumped in the first place. Beating up a guy is one thing, and I guess I could see how their tiny brains might feel a sense of justice in that action. But stealing my money and taking my smokes? That was low. Very low. They'd left me my wallet, thankfully, so I could at least put the bus fare on my card. Just another expense in my already expensive life.

The old woman adjusted her purse on her lap, pulling something out and handing it to me. I accepted the pack of cigarettes, but stared at her incredulously.

She shrugged. "You look like you need one."

"Thanks." I put one between my lips and sighed. "You got a light?"

She delved back into her bag and came out a second later with a lighter. "I'm Glenda, by the way."

I let out my first exhale and chuckled, staring at the row of houses just beyond the station. "Glenda the good witch."

"If you like." She put her handbag back down by her side and ran a hand through her short, white curls. "In this situation I might just be your fairy godmother. I don't want to exaggerate my role in your recovery, but I did worry for a while there that you were going to die and I was going to have to call somebody to get you off my bench."

I laughed, harder this time, even though I felt a sharp pain in my ribs with every exhalation. "Your bench?"

"At least a few nights a week," she explained. "My boyfriend lives the next town over. Given the circumstances, I felt it only fair to share."

"Well I'm glad you did, Glenda." I tried to pass the rest of the pack and the lighter back to her, but she shook her head with a small smile.

“You keep them. We’ll call it my good deed for the year.”

I laughed.

She cocked her head to the side and examined me. "So...what kinda trouble are you in? I'm assuming since you're fixing to get out of town."

I inhaled and held the smoke, letting the last few foggy hours coalesce in my brain. It was like watching a half-wrecked movie reel and I could barely even remember where the hell I'd been when they got me.

"What town is this?" I asked. "Can't be sure I need to get out of it if I don't know where I am."

"Cannon," Glenda replied.

"Cannon," I repeated, trying to recall if I had ever seen it on a map. "We far from Bell Springs?"

Glenda shook her head. "Pretty close. There's a bus that goes right there, I think. Do you have money? If you need it, I don't mind buying you a ticket."

I finished the smoke and stomped it out on the ground, shaking my head. "I think I'd rather go get a drink," I told her. "Can you recommend me a bar?"

She clucked. "Not in this town. Most folks seem to head down to the Alibi if they're looking' for a drink and some trouble, but I reckon you've had enough trouble tonight."

"Ah, Glenda," I said, smiling warmly at her. "I'm always looking for a little trouble."

She gave me a flat look. "You're gonna get it with an attitude like that. Now are you gonna tell me what happened to you or not?"

I'd been avoiding the question, but not because I was embarrassed or upset or anything like that—I just didn't want to think about it. If I started thinking about it, all it would achieve would be me heading back over to Bell Springs on the next bus and getting even with the assholes who'd left me here, and that was the kind of trouble I really didn't need.

"Let's just say there's no honor among small town folk," I replied sardonically. "Can you point me in the direction of that bar you don't think I should go to?"

Glenda gave me a final once over and gestured to the street running parallel to the station. "Turn up to the right and keep walking. It'll be the only place that's busy at this time of night."

"You gonna be alright on your own if I head off?" I shot her a cheeky grin and Glenda rolled her eyes.

"Honey, you just worry about yourself."

"Thank you for the help, Glenda the Good Witch." I tipped an imaginary cap to her and rose to my feet, gritting my teeth to help manage the pain that stabbed me all over my body. Was there anywhere that didn't hurt? A single square inch of my body that didn't feel like it had been put through a meat grinder?

Hobbling slightly for the first little while, I made my way up the street toward the next adventure.

Chapter 4

Melissa

Another whoop sounded off from across the room, and I looked over the top of my taps to see Donnie’s friend Matt with his hands around his mouth, yelling something at one of the girls walking past their table. I sighed.

The other staff here generally left Donnie alone when he came in, so it fell down to me to tell him and his friends that they needed to keep it down. I hated that. Donnie was at his worst when he was drunk, as last night's incident reminded me, and I wasn't feeling quite up to dealing with that again. Nonetheless, he was my problem.

I passed over the drinks I'd been pouring and stepped out from behind the bar, reminding myself with every step that I had a right to tell them to shut up and if they gave me any sass I had a right to get rid of them. It alarmed me to think that it wasn't repercussions from my boss I worried about, but repercussions for Donnie himself.

"Hey," I snapped when I reached their table.

All four sets of drink-addled eyes turned to me. All four sets carved a path from my tits to my ass and back up. If Donnie saw any of his friends checking me out, he clearly didn't care. That got my back up too.

"Hey baby," Donnie crooned.

"You guys are being disruptive." I tried to sound as authoritative as possible, but I could already see how little they cared. "You need to quiet down a bit."

"We're just having a bit of fun, Mel," said Derek.

"Yeah, Mel," sang Andrew.

I looked to Donnie with imploring eyes. "Please keep it down. Your uncle would ask you the same thing if he were here."

"I didn't realize you were dating the fun police," Matt said.

The rest of them laughed like he'd just cracked the funniest joke they'd ever heard. They were a bunch of idiots, and I was almost completely sure that if Donnie was around them less he would be less of an asshole. There was a direct correlation between how much time he spent with these idiots and how aggressive he was at home.

Donnie must have read in my eyes how done I was with this conversation and his friends, as he waved at them to quiet down.

"Chill, guys. We can be a little quieter. Wouldn't want to stress out my baby girl."

It was almost sweet, except there was a distinctly mocking tone that set my teeth on edge. I would talk to him about that later. Well, not later, he'd still be drunk later. I'd talk about it with him tomorrow, and maybe I’d even suggest that he consider cooling it on the booze for a while.

"Thanks." I scooped up a couple of the empty glasses from the table and left without offering them another drink. If they wanted one, they could either play nice with the one of the servers or come and get one themselves.

Back at the bar, Neil Buckins tipped his head and raised his beer. "Nicely done."

I laughed. "Wrangling my boyfriend has got to be one of my most profitable skills."

"That and pouring the best beer in town."

I appreciated the compliment, even if it was hardly a sterling attribute to have. Neil was a nice guy, and he was one of the more pleasant people to surround me on my shift.

I didn’t know what it was, but something deep inside me urged me to look up from the bar and toward the front door. It was like a tug that came from the pit of my belly, shocking me in its urgency. My gaze snapped up to the door just as the most beautiful, broken man I'd ever seen walked through.

I say broken because he looked it—one eye swollen, lip busted, a gash across his cheekbone. He'd done a fair job of cleaning up the cuts, but there was some residual blood creeping up into his hairline and I could tell the wounds were fresh.

What really struck me was how he looked underneath all the gore. Even with all that it was easy to see he was movie star gorgeous. His sandy hair was tousled in a way that would have looked effortless if it weren't for the dark streaks of blood. He had a wide, angular jaw and full lips, with just a shadow of dark stubble on his cheeks. As he got closer, I could see that his nose was a little crooked in the middle, like it'd been broken once or twice before. Based on his current appearance, that didn't surprise me.

The strange man took the seat next to Neil and rested his elbows on the bar top. I spent so long staring at the way his biceps bulged against the cotton of his t-shirt, and at all the tattoos snaking down to his wrists, that I forgot for a moment that I was supposed to be serving him drinks.

I came back to myself, blinking rapidly, and met his gaze. It wasn't the hint of amusement on his lips, nor was it the intensity of his stare that made my breath catch—it was the way the room seemed to fade out of focus the moment our eyes met, and it felt like I was falling into the swirling hazel depths like Alice down the rabbit hole.

"Pilsner, please," he said.

"Coming right up." I moved down the bar and started pouring his pint, conscious of his gaze on me the whole time.

Who was this guy? Why hadn't I seen him around before? And what the hell had happened to him?

I had so many questions that I didn't even know where to start. Apparently he had a few of his own, too, because when I slid the drink down in front of him he caught my gaze again and gestured to his eye.

"That's one hell of a shiner you've got there," he said.

"I could say the same for you."

The man prodded at his swollen lid and hissed. "How bad does it look?"

"It’s pretty badass, if I'm being honest," I said. "What's the other guy look like?"

"Other guys," he corrected. "And a lot better than they'll look if I ever see them again."

I leaned in a little closer, almost instinctively, though I flipped a glance over the guy's shoulder to check to see if Donnie was looking. He wasn't, too caught up in whatever hilarious story he was telling to his salivating fans. Even if the flirting was completely harmless, I didn't want to see what Donnie might do if he saw me chatting up a stranger like this. He may have been fine with his friends checking me out, but he became pretty territorial when it came to anyone else.

"I haven't seen you around before," I said. "You live in town?"

The man shook his head, taking a long drink of his beer. I watched the level in his glass lower and figured he must've really needed that drink. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been so curious about someone.

"No, I'm from Bell Springs," he said. "Name's Jack."

"Jack from Bell Springs," I mused. "I'm Melissa, from here. Hardly ever been anywhere else, if I'm being honest. What brings you to Cannon, Jack from Bell Springs?"

The smile he offered made heat swell in my core. It was pure mischief, like he'd just gotten a look up my skirt and was thinking naughty thoughts about what he'd seen. I clenched my thighs together and held onto my smile like a life raft to keep from drowning in the sudden onslaught of lust.

Christ, I hadn't felt like this about anyone since...well, ever. Donnie was my only long term relationship and though there'd been times where he'd filled my stomach with butterflies, these days it was more often moths. I sent an anxious glance Donnie's way again, sure that he must have felt my sudden flaming interest for this newcomer. He was still joking around with his friends, and it didn't even bother me that they were getting rowdy again.

"I guess you could say I kinda just ended up here," Jack said. He ran his thumb over his jaw thoughtfully and I couldn't help but notice how gigantic his hands were.

"Well I only hope the rest of your night is better than the beginning of it clearly was."

He laughed. "You too, sweetheart."

Okay, I was officially gone. Lost somewhere in the void. Nobody had ever called me sweetheart, or at least not like that. There was something dark and raw about every word that came from Jack's mouth, and I was utterly spellbound in his presence. Red danger lights started flashing in my head.

"Hey, Mel?"

I turned to see Naomi at my side, a pained expression flattening her features. This couldn't be good.

"What is it?"

She huffed a sigh and glared over in the direction of my boyfriend and his friends, then grabbed my arm and guided me out of earshot of the patrons. "One of Donnie's pack grabbed Anna's ass. She wants me to leave it alone but I'm sorry, this time I just can't. You're the only one those boys will listen to and I need you to go read them the riot act."

My good mood plummeted. I couldn't have a single moment of peace, could I? I didn't blame Naomi for asking me to take care of the situation, not even a little. I felt awful, even though I wasn't responsible. More than that, I was embarrassed.

"Please tell Anna I'm so sorry," I said. "I'll take care of it."

"Thanks hon." Naomi let out a relieved sigh and pushed some of the dark hair that had escaped her ponytail back from her forehead. "It's been a crazy night, huh? Must be a full moon or something."

I laughed. "Must be."

Returning to the bar, I went down the line of drinkers to see if anybody needed anything. I didn't know how this confrontation was going to go or how long it would keep me away from the bar. Was it too much to hope that it was going to be over quickly?

I saved Jack for last, both because I'd only just gotten him a drink and because I figured his face being the last thing I saw before I entered the battle dome was pretty ideal.

Concern flickered over his expression when I approached. "Everything okay?"

"Oh yeah," I said, waving a hand dismissively. "Nothing I can't handle, but I've got to leave the bar for a sec. Want another beer in case it takes me a few minutes?"

"Does it have anything to do with what happened to your eye?" Jack asked.

I frowned. Now my good mood had officially been trampled on and mud-soaked.

"I don't think that's any of your business."

He didn't flinch. "I wasn't trying to pry," he said. "You seem like you can handle your own. I just hate the thought of a nice girl like you getting caught up in something nasty. I can help."

It could have been condescending if he didn't seem so genuine in his intention. Jack really did want to help. He didn't know what it was or what it might be that I needed help with, but he'd picked up my subliminal distress signals and was at the ready if I needed him. Unfortunately, like all things where my boyfriend was concerned, I needed to handle this one alone.

"Your concern has been noted," I said with an appreciative head nod. "I'm fine. Just a little bar business. Now do you want another drink or not?"

He smiled and shook his head. "I'll wait until you're back."

I nodded and walked down to the other end of the counter, stepping out onto the bar I could feel Jack watching me. It was oddly comforting, and I found myself walking with my head high and my shoulders square and straight.

Chapter 5

Jack

God, she was beautiful.

When I first walked into this shitty dive bar she shone out like a beacon of light, drawing me forward with promises of a cold drink and a warm smile. I'd never wanted someone so much in my life, which right off the bat meant this girl was trouble. Her sweetness was at odds with the fire raging under her skin, like her smile was just honeyed bait and anyone who got too close might soon find their hides torn by her ragged teeth. I couldn't help thinking that I wouldn't mind that so much, actually.

I watched her tight little ass sashay over to the table at the far side of the room that I soon noticed was composed of real meathead looking dudes who'd been pissing me off since the second I stepped in. I didn't like loudmouths. They were only ever loud for some reason, and it was never because they had anything to say. The inadequacies of strangers didn't make a great bar soundtrack, but I soon was able to forget them after spending a single second in the company of the effervescent Melissa.

Her short, dark curls bobbed as she spoke to the men at the table, one of whom in particular was glaring at her sourly. He rose, and they started heading outside. I nearly gave in to the desire to follow them, but it really wasn't my place. I'd already overstepped by asking her about the eye. I couldn't help it. I didn't even know the girl and I already wanted to smash the teeth in of whoever did that to her. I imagined someone giving a black eye like that to my sister and saw red.

When the door closed behind Melissa, I turned back to my drink and took a sip. I'd downed nearly the whole beer, and it was starting to ease the full-body ache I was experiencing, though the sharp pain in my ribs refused to abate.

"You're that fighter guy, aren't you?" the guy beside me asked.

I looked over to see he had his whole body turned toward me, one hand resting on his paint-stained jeans. He was an older fella, probably in his late fifties or early sixties, though he still had a full head of grizzled salt and pepper hair sticking out at every angle on his head. His face was a peachy pink that told me he'd already had a few tonight, and I wondered if I was going to end up having to tell another nosy drunk to fuck off.

"I saw you scrap over in Rutina a few months ago," he continued when I still didn't answer. "You were incredible. Your hands were so quick I knew the second you started that the other guy didn't have a chance."

"Thanks."

I turned back to face the wall behind the bar, disinterested in playing out the rest of the conversation. People occasionally recognized me and wanted to talk about my fights, but they soon learned that wasn't a topic of conversation I was open to.

I fought because I needed to and I was good at it, not because I enjoyed it. Sure, I enjoyed letting out the tightness in my muscles, drawing on every last drop of anger and rage that swam in my veins and putting it into a punch, but I took shame in that enjoyment. It wouldn't matter if I was fighting the biggest asshole in the world, I would still be overly conscious of the fact that my mom would have disapproved and that was enough to make me want to forget it entirely.

"You here looking for a fight?" the guy pressed.

Jeez, couldn't he take a hint?

I scowled into my drink and upended it, draining the last few mouthfuls, then cleared my throat. "No."

"Probably for the best," he said. "You look like you've had all you can handle tonight."

I was getting really tired of people commenting on the fact that I'd obviously had the shit kicked out of me. My shoulders tightened and I shot a glare in the nosy guy's direction.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

His eyes widened and he shook his head. "No, no. I'm sorry, son. I didn't mean no offense. I guess I'm a little star struck is all." He chuckled at his joke, but his face fell when he saw I wasn't chuckling too. "Hey, when Melissa gets back I'll buy you your next beer," he said. "I didn't mean to step on your toes and I can tell I have."

He was clearly a nice guy and I felt bad for making him so antsy. I sighed and faced him again, forcing my lips up in the corners in a way I hoped would come across as friendly.

"It's no problem," I said. "I've just had a long night. As you and everyone else here can plainly see."

"Name's Neil Buckins," he said, extending a hand toward me.

"Jack Paxton."

We shook hands and Neil took a swig of beer, some of it dribbling into his wiry beard.

"I heard you talking to Melissa. You're from Bell Springs?"

"Yup. Just passing through."

"You just go from town to town, looking for fights? How does that work?"

"No, it's not like that." I didn't really want to talk about fighting, but talking to Neil seemed like a good way to pass the time until Melissa got back. The longer she was gone, the more anxious I was to go out back and make sure she was okay. I decided I'd give it another couple of minutes and then I'd let myself give in to that compulsion.

"I get a call every few weeks or months from a guy who fixes fights for me. He gives me a time and a place, I go. Simple as that."

“So you’re only a part-time fighter,” Neil mused. “What do you do when you’re not out there cracking skulls? Or are you just making enough money that you don’t need to worry about it?”

I studied him, but could detect no sign of malice in his intent. He was just a chatty old man and I was the new, exciting exhibit at his local bar.

“You ask a lot of questions.”

He grinned, exposing a set of teeth that were whiter and straighter than I would have pegged him for. “I’m a curious kind of guy.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you then. I’m just an average construction worker most of the time. There’s not a lot of work back home, but I take it when it comes up.”

“Interesting.” Neil stroked his beard and shuffled closer on his stool. “And you say you’re just passing through?”

“Yup.”

“Any chance I could compel you to stay?”

I cocked a suspicious brow and leaned away from him. I still couldn’t figure out whether I liked the weirdo or not.

“Why would you want me to do that?”

“It’s nothing shady, I promise. I’m managing a new development they’re putting up on the outskirts of town. We need as many hands as we can get, and yours seem about as strong and capable as they come.”

I laughed, shaking my head in bemusement. “You don’t know anything about me except that I’m a good fighter.”

“That says a lot about a man though, don’t you think? You’re strong, dedicated, and persistent. That’s more than I can say for most of my guys.”

He clearly picked up my disinterest, and in one last flagging attempt he produced a business card from his wallet and slid it over in front of me on the bar.

“Just think about it,” he said. “There may not be much work in Bell Springs, but there’s lots here with this new contract. And it’s not so bad a place. Unless there’s something keeping you in Bell Springs of course.” He grinned slyly. “But from what I saw of how much you were checking out Melissa, I’d bet my hat that you’re an unattached man.”

He was awkward and a little strange, but I liked Neil. I liked his lack of inhibition and there was something very sincere about him. That didn’t mean I would stay in Cannon and work for him, but it was enough for me to take his card.

Briefly, I allowed myself to wonder what it would be like if I did stay in Cannon. Maybe I could get to know the Alibi’s beautiful bartender a little more. Would it be so bad to be away from home? It wasn’t like I had anything there other than a run down house and a load of childhood memories. The memories were probably to blame for me staying there so long. Bell Sprins and Sadie were the only things I had left to connect me to my mom, and since Sadie was away at college I didn’t have much of her either.

If I was going to leave Bell Springs though, I needed more of a reason than just a possible job offer from some half-cut hick I met at a dive bar after getting the shit kicked out of me a town over. I didn’t tend to waste too much time planning things, but I took a little more care than that.

“Thanks, Neil,” I said, tucking the card into my back pocket.

I was about to say something else to him, something casual to move the conversation away from me, but a movement at the side of the room caught my eye. Melissa and the guy she went outside with were coming back inside, and from their expressions I could tell the conversation hadn’t gone well.

Melissa was walking straight for the bar, jaw set tight, the guy trailing behind her looking like he was about to murder someone. He grabbed her arm and wrenched her to a stop. My hand tightened into a fist and I sat up straighter, ready to dive into the fray.

“Thought you weren’t looking for a fight?” asked Neil with a smile as wide and toothy as a crocodile’s.

I ignored him, too focused on Melissa. She whirled on the guy and snapped something at him, then gestured toward the back hallway. He yanked her closer and then shoved her back toward the hallway, following as she stumbled down it.

“I’m not,” I said.

I wished I hadn’t drank the rest of my beer already. I could have used some cold refreshment to brace me for whatever situation I was about to get myself into. I rose to my feet.

Neil raised a quizzical brow as I rose to my feet. “That’s not what it looks like.”

“No,” I said. “I’m not looking for a fight, but it sure as hell looks like that guy is.”

Chapter 6

Melissa

Donnie was such an asshole when he was drunk. He was king of the assholes, crowned and anointed. The only good thing that ever came out of him being drunk was that he usually couldn’t get it up, so I didn’t have to deal with his stinking breath blasting on my face while he clapped himself on the back for “rocking my world”.

I should have been used to it and yet I found myself breaking down in tears as he forced me down the back hallway so he could continue our conversation. If you could call it that. Apparently me telling Donnie to tell his friend to keep his hands to himself or get out was grounds for an argument, even though it wasn't even my ass Matt had grabbed.

Donnie thought I was trying to boss him around and Donnie did not like being bossed around. He was used to occupying the upper echelons of Cannon "society", and people rarely told him no. This occasion didn't have to be quite so explosive, but I could tell he was itching for a fight from the moment he stepped through the door. I just happened to be his favorite person to fight with.

Donnie blocked me against the wall, one hand on either side of my head. His breath reeked of beer and cigarettes, and when he talked spittle covered my cheek.

"Who the fuck do you think is in charge here, bitch?" he slurred.

"Donnie, you're wasted. Let's talk about this when you're sober."

We weren't even fighting about the ass-grabbing anymore. I couldn't say what it was Donnie hoped to achieve from this confrontation, but I wasn't interested.

I tried to duck his arm, but he lowered it and got right up in my ear, hissing, "You'll go when I say you can go. We're not done."

"What do you want?" I snapped back.

He pulled back and grinned lecherously. "Just a little kiss from my doting girlfriend. And a little fucking respect."

"Not now." I grimaced at the thought of his mouth on me. "Let me go."

"No."

"I have to get back to work."

"I own this place. I call the shots."

This wasn't the first time Donnie had said something to that effect and it wouldn't be the first time I corrected him, but I wasn't feeling up to fighting with him about the ownership of the bar, nor did I feel like spending even a second longer in his company.

I dropped into a squat and slid along the wall until I was far enough away from Donnie to stand up unhindered, then started fast-walking toward the rest of the bar. If I could just get there...

"Hey!" Donnie barked after me. "I'm not done with you!"

I gritted my teeth and kept walking. This was the kind of mood he was in when he hit me before, and I wondered if he would be ballsy enough to do that here, in front of everyone he knew. I doubted it, but I wanted to escape to the safety of the bar before I had the chance to find out.

I exhaled a sigh of relief when I reentered the busy space, though Donnie's stomping footsteps behind me were hardly comforting. At least he would have to drag me back by force if he wanted to continue the conversation without an audience.

"I said I'm not done with you!"

"I think you are."

The voice was one that I didn't know well but had committed to memory the first time I heard it. Honey. Gravel. Sex. Who else would it be standing up for my rescue other than the hunky stranger, Jack?

I turned, seeing that Jack had intercepted Donnie and was now standing between us, his back to me.

"What did you say?" Donnie growled. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm the guy who's telling you that Melissa deserves better than to be disrespected by a drunk asshole like you. And I'm the guy who's going to make sure you don't do it again."

His powerful baritone may as well have shaken the floor and walls. It felt like it did to me, at least, and everyone around had stopped and taken notice. The music was still playing, but the humming of chatter was nowhere to be found. Everyone in the Alibi was curious to see how this would play out.

"Melissa, get over here." Donnie pointed to the spot in front of him. "Before I get mad."

"I'm going back to work," I said levelly. "We can talk when I'm finished."

"We'll talk now!"

"She said no, shit for brains," Jack boomed. "I suggest you go sober up and take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror."

"You've got some nerve… She’s my girlfriend and this is none of your business." Donnie's friends had gathered behind him, all cracking their knuckles or spitting or doing whatever else they thought tough guys did in these situations.

Jack, on the other hand, seemed completely unruffled. Though he was standing straight and his words cut like a finely honed blade, his expression was steady and his body was relaxed. He looked like he was in his element.

"You think that's nerve?" Jack asked with a sardonic smile. "How about this—we take this outside, settle it like men, and the winner gets the girl."

Heat flashed between my legs and I exhaled a tiny gasp. Jack glanced over at me, his lips curled in a wicked grin that sent a wave of tingles out to the tips of my fingers. I wanted to scream at both of them, especially at Jack for making such a bold, ridiculous statement. I wasn't just some prize to be won. I was a flesh and blood human being with a goddamn mind and will of mine own.

That being said, I couldn't deny how enticing the prospect of being won, of being claimed, by the hulking stranger whose very appearance screamed danger was. I couldn't deny how my heart raced in my chest, veins jumping from my skin with every beat.

"Oh, so that's what this is about," Donnie sneered. "You want my girl, huh? She's a pretty fine piece, but she's not worth getting your ass kicked over."

Jack looked back at Donnie and let out a bitter laugh. "If that's the case, then I'll understand if you don't want to fight. For the record, I'd say she's worth one hell of a beating—not that I’m going to be the one getting beat.”

Donnie's face turned beet red and he bunched his fists at his side. "I'm going to beat your fucking face in, asshole. Let's go."

"Donnie!" I raced forward, blocking his view of Jack. "Don't do this."

"Shut up," he muttered. "This isn't your business."

"Donnie, please—"

"I said shut up!"

"Hey!" Jack approached. "Don't talk to her like that."

"Hey all of you!" cried Naomi, who was walking by with a tray of food against her hip. "Take it outside! Now!"

Remarkably, Donnie didn't try to fight Naomi too. I would have been so embarrassed if he did, so I was grateful that he was at least invested enough in his feud with Jack that he didn't notice being called out by one of the bar's waitresses.

"Stay here," Donnie ordered, pointing to a spot on the ground like he wanted me not to move an inch from it. "I'll be right back."

I wanted to follow the two men—and their entourage of curious bystanders—outside, but it wasn't Donnie's command that stopped me. I was still at work, and the drink tickets were undoubtedly stacking up at the bar. I watched the door swing closed behind them and ran a hand over my forehead, slicking the sweat back against my crown.

Naomi placed a hand on my shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine." I offered up a weak smile. "Nothing like a bit of small town drama to start the night off right."

She nodded and walked away to her tables and I made my way back to my spot behind the bar.

I caught up on drink orders pretty quickly, but only because I'd been doing this so long that my hands practically had a mind of their own. My brain was occupied by thoughts of what was going on outside, unsure which of the two men I was supposed to be more concerned about. Donnie was my boyfriend and the obvious choice, but then again Jack was only fighting him because of how awful Donnie was being to me. Jack was also fighting to "win" me, and I wasn't sure what that entailed but I knew it wasn't the kind of thing I should be hoping for. That didn't mean a part of me wasn't secretly thrilled and did actually hope for Jack to win, just so I could find out what that meant.

I slid a fresh beer to Neil, and he winked at me. "I hope your boy's got health insurance."

I blinked. "What?"

"Donnie," he said gruffly. "I hope he's got health insurance. He's about to get his ass handed to him." Neil shook his head bemusedly. "That boy don't know what hornet's nest he just kicked."

A stab of worry lanced through me. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you know who that is?" Neil pressed. "He's a fighter, gets paid for doing bar brawls for people to bet on. I've seen him before and your boyfriend will be lucky if he makes it out without any broken bones."

My heart dropped into my stomach, nausea rolling over me. Jack seemed like a genuine, kind person, but I didn't know him from Adam. If he decided to smash Donnie's face in to teach him a lesson, it sounded like he could do just that without breaking a sweat. Concern for my boyfriend ultimately compelled me to drop my rag onto the counter and dash toward the back doors. Admittedly, I was also curious to see Jack at work.

"Where are you going?" Naomi stopped me at the door, arms folded over her chest and a tight expression on her face.

"I'm going outside," I said.

She clicked her tongue. "Do not get involved with whatever those idiots are doing out there. You could get hurt and it’s up to them if they want to break their fists on each other’s faces."

Naomi was always such a mother hen. Though I was touched by her concern, it was up to me to decide whether I wanted to get involved or not, and that's exactly what I told her. She relented and stepped aside, and I crashed through the door, hoping that I wasn't already too late.

Too late for what, I didn't know.

Chapter 7

Jack

Though my opponent had taken to stomping wherever he walked, I strolled as coolly as a spring breeze. I was in no hurry to break his teeth, nor was I in any hurry to have him pound on my already tender bruises. There wasn't any way in hell this wannabe bad boy was a legitimate threat, and I was happy to take my time and enjoy the ride. It wasn't every day I got to fight for such a valuable prize.

Once we were outside, I pulled a smoke from my shirt pocket and lit up, leaning against the grimy back wall of the bar and waiting for everyone to assemble in the parking lot. If it were a paid fight, this would usually be the time people started to make bets. Me and my opponent would glare at each other for a couple of minutes first to build the tension and make the crowd sweat. In this case, I just wanted to enjoy my smoke first.

"You sure you want to do this?" I asked Donnie, who had taken to pacing a few feet ahead of me.

"You want to back out, big guy?" jeered one of his friends, a short balding guy in a plaid jacket.

"You're all talk, aren't you? It's just a show so chicks think you're bad ass," another added.

I chuckled, smoke billowing from my lips. Other than that, I paid no mind to Donnie's friends. I was out here to fight him, and the rest of them may as well have not existed as far as I was concerned. This was between me and this churlish asshole, who was looking more unhinged by the second.

"What's the matter with you, anyway?" I asked him, waving my smoke in the air for emphasis. "You've got a beautiful girl, real nice too, and you treat her like shit. What's that about?" I took another inhale while he glared at me, his friends shouting at me to shut the fuck up and at him to kick my face in.

"Is it because she's too good for you?" I continued. "Everybody can see that, you must be able to too. She's way too good for you so you gotta keep her down to feel better about yourself. I bet that's it." I grinned. "Am I close?"

In my life I had seen a great many angry men. I'd fought a great many angry men. But never, never had I seen someone quite so infuriated as Donnie was just after I insulted him. He didn't lunge at me, which was what I half-expected him to do. I hoped for it too, since an emotional attack is always the easiest to defend against if you could anticipate it was coming. But Donnie didn't lunge, he stood there and bared his teeth at me like a wild animal, face so bright and red you could have fried an egg on it.

I quickly surmised that Donnie knew he was no match against me when it came to verbal sparring. His vocabulary obviously fell short somewhere after "I'm going to fucking kill you" and he knew it too, which was why he was letting me rag on him like this. I imagine his plan was to beat the ever living shit out of me to make up for it, but that straight up wasn't going to happen.

I finished my smoke and tossed it on the ground, crunching it against the gravel with my foot. "No matter," I told him. "I'll treat her better than you ever could."

Donnie had had enough. He shot forward, fists first, aiming a blow at my jaw. I easily sidestepped him and he went stumbling past me, throwing his hands out to catch him as his momentum drove him toward the ground.

I knew it was cocky, but I couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't really fair of me to challenge someone so drunk and so inexperienced to a fight, but if anyone deserved a good beating, it was this guy. Anyway, I would let up on him before things went too far. I wasn't out to kill or maim anyone—I just wanted to teach him a lesson.

"You're dead!" he screeched, standing back up and going for me again.

I let him land a blow on my shoulder, countering with an uppercut into his sternum that knocked the air from his lungs. Pain exploded through my shoulder but I gritted my teeth and forced myself back a step, then swung a punch into his jaw.

Donnie staggered back. The crowd was a mix of people cheering for me and cheering for him, though his friends easily drowned out the cheers for me with angry boos.

"That was a dirty hit!" one yelled.

I rolled my eyes but didn't lose focus. I doubted they would be so scrupulous about the rules if it was me bent over, spitting a stream of blood and spit onto the gravel. Some other people in the crowd chorused in in my defense, and considering I was standing there waiting for Donnie to recover, I found the whole thing fairly ridiculous.

"Are you done?" I asked him.

Donnie looked up at me and snarled. "Not even fucking close."

I had to hand it to him—at least he didn't give up that easy. It was probably more to do with the booze and the crowd than anything else. He might not be feeling my hits tonight but he would sure as hell be feeling them in the morning.

"Alright then." I squared up with him, focused on his face over the tops of my fists.

The crowd went wild as we approached each other again. I went in for the first hit, narrowly dodging a shot at my head as I pulled back. Donnie strode forward and let his rage take control. Big mistake.

The Vikings used to send these crazy motherfuckers called berserkers into battle. They'd get them all drugged up and send them off to do their thing, which was basically just scaring the shit out of the other side while in a fury so great that they felt no pain and tore through their enemies like butter.

Donnie came at me like a clumsy berserker. It might have been terrifying if it wasn't so funny. He charged me, teeth gnashing, arms flailing, eyes wide and crazed, and I didn't doubt that he would rip me apart given the chance.

His first mistake, of course, was assuming he would get a chance.

I slipped aside at the last second and landed a kick on his ass that sent him sprawling. My supporters laughed and hooted with joy.

Donnie got up faster this time, turning back to me with fire in his eyes.

The back door squeaked open. I wouldn't have paid it any mind if I didn't recognize the long-limbed brunette running out toward us, an expression of pure horror marring her pretty features.

I smiled at Melissa, a big, white, blood-free smile. It was more than she'd be getting from her boyfriend. Her eyes widened with shock and I recognized a second too late that I'd taken my eyes off of Donnie for too long.

The sucker punch cracked against my jaw and flung my head to one side. I threw up a fist reflexively and managed to catch him in the shoulder, sending him back a couple paces while I recovered.

It was a good punch. Even if he was a shit fighter, the guy could throw a good punch and I'd give him that at least. My split lip opened up again and I wiped it against the back of my hand.

"Stop now!" Melissa called. "This is enough."

I laughed and shook my head.

"Your boyfriend’s determined to make a fool out of himself, sweetheart. Besides, it's in your best interests for me to win."

"Get inside!" Donnie screamed.

I had lost count of how many times tonight he'd pissed me off just by speaking to her.

"What? You're afraid of her seeing you lose?" I taunted. "If you’re nice maybe I’ll help you finish with a little dignity."

Donnie's attention turned straight back to me and he stepped closer, holding his fists up and tracking my movements with his eyes. So, the rage had worn off. He was getting tired now, and in his tiredness he must have realized that he wasn't getting anywhere by attacking me blindly.

"Get him, Donnie!"

"You've got this!"

"Fuck yeah, new guy! Fuck him up!"

This was probably the most exciting thing to happen in Cannon in a long time and the energy was electric. I fed off it, letting it fill me, letting it push me up straighter, hold my hands higher, make my feet lighter.

I was a fighter. And this, this was my ring.

Donnie took the next swing, dodging one I aimed for his head. He nailed me in the ribs and I cried out as agony threatened to overwhelm me. I would be lucky if my cracked rib was still only just cracked.

Donnie took advantage of my pain and hit me in the chin while I was doubled over. I staggered back a couple paces and slammed a cross punch into his jaw. Then I got him with a headshot on the other side. Spit and blood flew into the air and he fell backward, landing with a meaty thunk against the gravel.

I clenched and unclenched my fist, letting the pain of that motion distract me from the searing pain in my side. The sounds of the crowd filtered in, either cheering for Donnie being down or urging Donnie to get back up. It took a second for anyone to notice he'd been knocked out cold.

It was over. Thank fuck. Fighting someone I truly despised was just as draining as it was rewarding, and I needed a good drink and an ice pack or two asap.

"He's out!" someone called. "Fight's over."

People started filtering back inside, a few coming over to clap me on the back as they left. I stood immobile, staring at Donnie's prone figure like he might leap back up and attack me again if I looked away for even a second. I wasn't afraid of him but I didn't trust him, and experience had taught me that assholes like him didn't generally take losing well.

Melissa was at his side the moment he hit the ground, and his friends lingered nearby. I watched his eyes flutter open just as the last of the onlookers disappeared through the back door, and confidently strode toward him.

Melissa, seeing me approach, froze like a deer in the headlights. "Leave him alone," she said, pink coating her cheeks.

"I'm just going to help him up," I assured her.

She nodded and rose to her feet, giving me space to squat down and offer Donnie my hand.

He glared, turning his head to spit on my boots. Where I might've felt a little bad for him before, since he'd just proven to everyone in the bar how pathetic and full of it he was, now I was ready to pull the rug out from under him entirely.

"Have it your way then," I said brightly. "I'll just collect my prize and be on my way."

I stood up and stepped over him, meeting Melissa's eyes.

She had backed against the wall of the building, palms resting on the brick. The air between us felt thick, like slogging through smoke and ash, but I continued forward.

She looked almost like she might run, might dart away like a frightened deer. I wondered if I would chase her.

I had never challenged a guy to a fight over a girl before, but I could see myself fighting for this one over and over again. She stared at me defiantly, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. Her beauty and charm would have made her an excellent prize, far better than any of the other ones I'd ever gotten for flinging my fists around, but it was those eyes that made her truly irresistible. She communicated more with one look than some people did in a whole conversation, and I sensed that she took the world in like that too. Those eyes saw everything—for what it was, what it could be, and what it never would be—and I was transfixed.

Too transfixed, as it turned out. I didn't see or hear the guy sneaking up behind me until I felt the glass bottle break on my head and the world around me went dark.

Chapter 8

Melissa

I rushed forward, screaming out a curse at Matt and threatening his manhood if he didn't back the hell away from Jack.

Stupid! Stupid! I should have known that one of Donnie's friends would pull out a trick as dirty as bottling Jack, and I should have seen him sneak up behind him. I'd been too focused on the intensity of Jack's stare, at the damp warmth that settled between my thighs as he approached. I felt more alive in that one moment than I had my entire life, which was absolutely insane.

Bat. Fucking. Shit.

He was a stranger, some guy who'd waltzed into my bar and thrown my whole world into disarray with a few words and a charming smile. Why was my body reacting to him like he owned me already? My body didn't even react like that to Donnie!

As Jack walked toward me, the whole world blurred into nothing. My bones rattled with every step. My heart thundered in my chest, so loud that I was sure he could hear it.

Only the crash of the shattering glass brought me back to the present. Panic and horror ripped through me and I jerked forward, ready to try to stop his fall. An arm wrapped around my waist and held me still, and Jack tumbled to the pavement like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

I heard laughter but barely registered it as I struggled against whoever held me, trying to get to Jack as the blood saturated the back of his head. He was a gigantic figure, but laid out on the pavement like that he looked so helpless. In that second, my heart broke and I couldn't even really be sure why.

"Stop fucking struggling!" Andre hissed in my ear. "You're such a fucking bitch sometimes."

"Let go of me!" I elbowed Andre in the sternum and he released me with a breathy wheeze. Before I could reach Jack, however, Donnie grabbed me by the arm and tugged me back.

"Where the hell are you going?" he growled. "I'm right here. Don't you want to make sure I'm okay?"

He jerked on my arm with each word, shaking me. I felt nauseous by the end of it.

"Come on." Donnie nodded toward his friends. "Let's get out of here."

"We should get him help," I said shakily. "He could be really hurt."

"I fuckin' hope so," Derek commented, laughing. When he laughed it really showed the country bumpkin in him, and he sounded like a mix between Goofy and Donald Duck. I hated the sound of his laugh before, and I hated it even more now.

"We can't just leave him!" I objected.

Donnie tugged on my arm and I stumbled a few steps before I started walking alongside him. He and the others ignored me now. We piled into Derek's truck, me tossing a look behind us at Jack's prone form and willing him to get up. I couldn't leave here without knowing he was going to be okay, and Donnie wouldn't let me stay. I did the next best thing I could—I sent a quick text to Naomi and told her that someone needed help in the parking lot. Luckily Donnie didn't see me do it. He was too busy joking with his friends about how that would show that idiot for messing with the D-Man.

I hated Donnie's friends.

Derek dropped us off in front of Donnie's house, engine roaring as he sailed off into the night. Donnie hadn't spoken a word to me the whole ride and I sensed an impending fight. I wasn't sure I was strong enough to deal with it tonight. I certainly hadn't been last night.

When I held back while Donnie walked to the door, he rounded on me and scowled. "Are you fucking coming or what?"

I scurried forward, hating myself for just not being able to tell him to fuck off.

Things had been good between us at one point, so good that I thought he would be the answer to all of my problems. Growing up poor didn't matter if I married Cannon's golden boy. Never finishing high school didn't matter either, because my role would be as a trophy wife and nothing more. It was something I'd expected, something at times I'd even looked forward to. I wanted a family and Donnie seemed like the best way for me to achieve that objective. Now I was beginning to question everything I used to hold as fact and it was overwhelming.

Donnie unlocked the door and stomped inside, kicking off his shoes halfway down the hall. I closed the door behind us and hung in the doorway while I slipped off my beat up sneakers.

I must've taken too long because Donnie stomped back down the hallway and stopped in front of me. I could see that he was exhausted, but there was still a spark of anger in his eyes that I was going to have to face down before either of us would get any sleep.

"I can't believe you went to help him," he muttered. "After everything I've done for you, you ran to the side of a guy who wanted to win you in a fight like some sort of whore. Is that what you are? Just some whore who'll go with whatever man pays the highest price?"

"Donnie..." I reached out to comfort him. He was clearly humiliated and I didn't blame him for being angry at me for what did seem to be a betrayal.

He smacked my hand away. "Don't Donnie me, whore. You loved that tonight, didn't you? You loved watching us fight over you, and you probably would have loved it even more if he'd taken you back to whatever shithole he lives in and fucked you afterward like the little slut you are."

I should have denied it immediately. I shouldn't have even let him finish laying out his accusations, because the second he did I know he saw it in my eyes that he was right.

I couldn't help that I found the fight exciting, the prospect of being taken by the tall, sexy stranger enticing. I fought against it with every ounce of logic and reason that I possessed, but my body couldn't lie like my brain could and Donnie saw right through whatever words I'd been about to use to placate him.

"I can't believe you!" He shoved me back.

I hit the door, the handle jamming painfully against my hip, and cried out in pain.

"I can't believe how fucking easy you are! Are you always on the lookout for a new dick to suck or was there just something about his that called to you? Huh?"

Tears blurred my vision and I stepped forward, trying to speak. "Donnie, no! I would never—"

"You wanted this! You wanted to see me get beat! Does that make you wet, Melissa? You get turned on by the violence, huh?" He was screaming now, spitting with rage. "How do you like this!"

The backhand cracked me across the cheek and I went reeling back. My skull vibrated as it hit the drywall, teeth clacking together.

The tears came first. Before the understanding of what had just happened, before my mind had time to put the pieces together, my eyes stung with tears. I splayed my palms flat against the wall, absorbing the inanimate chill into my bones in the hope of it grounding me somehow, because the fear and sadness resonating in my hollow body was too much to take.

Donnie was still standing in front of me, hands shaking by his sides. I don't know how long we stood there—me with my back against the wall, biting back tears; him with eyes like pinpricks of iron and a rage floating on drunken fury. I brought a hand to my face, cushioning it against my bruised cheek.

Everything that I experienced the first time he hit me came back, now compounded with the maelstrom of emotions from this second time. I was still in shock but needed to ask myself an important question—would there be a third time?

Experience had taught me that isolated incidents are few and far between in this world, and Donnie had taught me that wishing for change leads only to pain. The terror of the moment split me apart, and it was with great effort that I stayed standing on two shaky legs.

"Mel..." Donnie's eyes softened and he took a step toward me.

I flattened myself against the wall. "Don't come any closer."

"Mel, don't be like that. I barely touched you."

I gulped and shook my head. I wasn't sure whether I was shaking it at his words, the situation, or just Donnie himself. Things that had cracked between us the first time I felt pain from his touch had shattered now, and as I stood amongst the pieces I wondered which of them he might use to rip my throat out. I had no idea what he was capable of. I used to think he wasn't even capable of this, and I should have known after the first time that things would only continue to get worse.

"I need a minute," I croaked out, letting my hand drop beside me.

I didn't say anything else; couldn't say anything else. I just waited for him to react.

He looked like he wanted to stop me, and I could picture him caging me in with those strong arms I used to take comfort in, could picture him spitting poison from lips I used to love to kiss and rage from eyes I used to trust. I pictured it all in a split second and another shudder of panic passed through me, but he let me go.

"I'll be in the lounge." Donnie backed up a few steps before turning on his heel and walking away from me.

I took what felt like my first breath in hours, gulping it down like water in the desert. I turned and started heading for the door without thinking. I just needed some cold air on my face, which felt like someone held an open flame to it. I just needed to relax.

"Where are you going?" Donnie called.

I froze mid step even though I had no reason to feel guilty. "I just need some air."

He appeared at the end of the hall, arms folded over his chest. "There's lots of air in the house."

"I just need some air," I repeated, hoping it drove home my point.

Donnie narrowed his eyes at me but eventually nodded. "Don't take too long. I'll worry."

I left, stepping out into balmy evening. The air was dry and warm, and it carried the perfume of acacia and dust. I sat on the front step, running my fingers over my fresh bruise.

How had this happened? How had I gotten here?

The whole point of being with Donnie was that he represented such a strong departure from my childhood. I'd grown up as a nobody, not even knowing who my real parents were or why they'd left me in the hands of a state that had no idea what to do with me. Donnie had grown up the most privileged boy in our town, so when he took an interest in me—nobody, misfit Melissa—I knew it had to mean something. Being with him was supposed to give me a purpose. It was supposed to help me grow new roots to supplant the ones that had been nipped off before my first steps. I wanted to build a life and a family with Donnie, something stable and good, but the idea tasted stale in my mouth and the thought of being with Donnie even staler.

I was tempted to wander off into the night and never return. It would have been the easiest option, at least in the way that I could go without having to say a word of goodbye to anybody—especially Donnie. Unfortunately there was such a thing as ID and material possessions. I didn't have many, but I had enough that I knew I couldn't leave this very second. But was I strong enough to leave at all?

The door creaked open and I closed my eyes. I waited too long. I waited too long and now I was going to get it for making Donnie "worry". My heart raced and palms began to sweat, and I braced myself as his footsteps approached and stopped just beside me.

Donnie took the spot next to me, sprawling out his long legs and staring into the night.

"I didn't mean to hit you," he murmured.

I was silent. I couldn't tell whether I was too afraid to speak or just too upset, but either way Donnie didn't wait for my response.

"You know how I get, baby. I'm just a hothead where you're concerned."

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I froze but he barely seemed to notice. "It's just 'cause I love you so much. You can't blame me for that, can you?"

I could blame him for a helluva lot more than he seemed to think I could. And I did. The only problem was I didn't know how to say any of this, nor did I know if I could. Or if I would survive if I did.

"I just want to go to bed." I extricated myself from his embrace and rose.

Donnie stood as well, and I looked away so I wouldn't have to see what appeared to be genuine compassion in his eyes, but couldn't be. If he had any genuine compassion, things between us would be going very differently.

"Baby, let me make it up to you." He grabbed my arm, as gently as he could, and stroked his fingers down to my elbow. "It'll be all about you. I'll make you feel so good we'll forget this whole thing even happened."

The fact that he thought any of this was forgettable was laughable.

"Not tonight." I offered up a weak smile. A fake smile. "I'm tired."

Donnie let me go to bed without further complaint, which was almost surprising. This was how he got me the last time though. He was so sweet and caring and understanding that he almost did make me forget what he'd done, but that was when I wanted to forget. Now I didn't know what I wanted.

As I lay in bed, the sound of the TV blaring from the living room, my thoughts drifted to my fighter. I hoped he was okay. Guilt gnawed at my insides for leaving him. But what was I supposed to do? I only hoped I would have a chance to make things right.

Chapter 9

Jack

The first thing I felt was a throbbing in my skull that refused to quit. It felt both like my skull had expanded and shrunk while I was passed out, and I couldn't tell where the pain was coming from but knew I was damaged somewhere.

Something cold nestled against my head. I flinched, groaning.

"Well that's a relief," said a husky female voice.

The cold came again, but this time I settled into the icy relief it brought.

What was the last thing I remembered before waking up? A pair of ice blue eyes, wide and expressive. A deep, furling lust. A stabbing pain on the back of my head.

It all came back, and my eyes darted open. Where was I? Gravel bit into the flesh of my arms, which placed me in the parking lot still. The woman above me was wearing the same white shirt and black shorts that seemed to be the Alibi's uniform and looked to be in her late thirties. Her hair was dyed jet black, and it hung over her generous rack, sleek and straight. Her makeup was heavily done, but not necessarily caked on, and tattoos covered almost every inch of her but her face. She was the last person I'd expect to wake up to taking care of me.

"What happened?" I asked.

She pressed something down above me and fresh splinters of cold sawed through me. An ice pack, I realized as I hissed in pain. She merely smiled.

"One of the royal dickhead crew bottled you," she said. "Which normally I'd say was your fault for being stupid enough to fuck with them, but in this case it sounds like you almost knew what you were doing."

"Almost." I snorted. "Too fucking right, apparently."

How was I supposed to know Donnie and his apes played dirty? And not in the nice way. Not even in the fun way. Just the sad, pathetic way.

"I'm Naomi." She was sitting on the ground next to me, legs sprawled out ahead of her and one hand supporting her while she held the ice pack to my head, but she balanced her torso long enough to shake my hand. "Melissa told me what happened and I came out here to help."

Melissa... Fuck, I hoped she was alright. I'd been so close to having her tonight. I could tell just from the look in her eyes that she knew exactly what the stakes were in our little wager and was ready to submit, and I would have made it worth her while a thousand times over.

A bit of a moot point now, I supposed. At least she'd cared enough to get someone to come out and make sure I wasn't dead.

I groaned and pushed myself up to a seated position, and Naomi followed with the ice. I grabbed the bag myself until she let go and then pulled it off my head entirely. When Naomi gave me a disapproving look, I laughed.

"I'll be fine. I've had worse."

"Even more of a reason for you to go get checked out."

I shook my head. "I'm fine. I'm more worried about your friend, to be honest. Is she okay?"

"Melissa?" Naomi frowned and looked at me like I'd just asked her if fish fell from the sky on Wednesdays. "She's fine, why?"

"Like you didn't see the big shiner she was sporting today."

Naomi nodded in understanding. "Oh, you mean that," she said. "Yeah, she'll be okay. It might not seem like it, but Mel can fend for herself." As a sour afterthought, she muttered, "At least that's what she keeps telling me."

I swung my legs round, glad that they hadn't taken to kicking me while I was down. Donnie hadn't landed many hits on me so I wasn't much worse off than I was after the first fight. A minor miracle.

"Why's she with him?" When Naomi gave me a guarded look, I rolled my eyes. "I just got bottled by one of her boyfriend's friends after picking a fight with Douchebag Donnie himself because he couldn't stop laying his hands on her. I think I've at least earned a little background information."

Naomi chuckled at this and tossed the bag of ice toward the big green garbage bin backed up against the far wall. It bounced off just under the lid and landed on the ground with a wet smack.

"They've been together for years," she said. "His family owns half the town and I guess Donnie wanted to add the prettiest girl in Cannon to his list of possessions. Donnie always gets what he wants."

I gritted my teeth. "You're not making a strong case for me to leave her alone. It sounds to me like the town golden boy could use being knocked down a few pegs."

Naomi ran a hand through her hair, eyes distant as she spoke. "I don't know what it's like where you're from, but around here we stick to the status quo. One of the things you just don't do is pick fights with the Beringers."

"Where I'm from, you don't just stand by while a nice girl gets brutalized by a stupid rich kid," I shot back. "Why hasn't anybody done anything?"

Naomi pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her expression turned thoughtful.

"You know, that's the question, isn't it? Because right and wrong still exist in the world, we're all technically playing by the same rules. I think it's this town, you know? Nobody wants saving and nobody is willing to save anybody else. It's just the way it's always been. People mind their own business and drink away their problems when it all gets too much to handle." She shrugged and met my gaze. "If you know what's good for you, I'd suggest minding your own business and getting out of here while you can. Donnie's not the type to let something like this go."

I laughed and considered her advice. What if I did let this go? I could go home, back to where things made a little more sense and where I could have a little rest for what felt like the first time in days. I just wanted to go to bed and not wake up for at least sixteen hours, maybe more. Then I'd have a smoke and go back to sleep for another sixteen hours. It was an enticing prospect, but I still couldn't drop the knot of worry in my gut.

"What's gonna happen to her?" I asked.

Naomi raised a dark brow. "Melissa?"

"Yeah."

She shrugged again. She did that a lot. "She'll either figure it out or she won't. She's not the kind of girl you can save, cowboy. She's been through more than most people realize and when she's good and ready—not a second before—she'll do what she needs to do to free herself from him. If she doesn't, on the other hand..." Naomi let out a pained sigh. "She'll wind up married and pregnant, and the only pleasure she'll get from life is what she can scrape out of being a mother."

"You're her friend?"

Naomi nodded. "One of her only ones. She doesn't let anyone get too close."

"Are you close enough to convince her to leave him?"

Naomi laughed. "Nobody convinces Melissa to do anything, honey."

"Can't you try?"

I was starting to get irritated with her airy replies, and it came out in my biting tone. Naomi's lips broke into a grin and her eyes filled with warmth.

"I think it's very sweet that you care so much about her even though you don't know her," she said. "I spend more time than anyone worrying about that girl. It's strange to see an outsider come in and take such an immediate shine to her."

"Can you blame me?"

I sat back on my hands and recalled how easy it was to talk to her, how enjoyable I found her company. She rode the line between innocent and seductive like she’d been born there and it was intoxicating. Then there was the evident goodness in her. She might be from the rough side of the tracks, but there was a light in her that I worried her asshole boyfriend wasn't far from putting out.

"This isn't your fight," Naomi said, placing a gentle hand on my arm. "People are looking out for Melissa, don't you worry. Better yet, she's looking out for herself. I really believe that she'll come out of this in time, and she'll be stronger. You should go back home and fight whatever dragons you've got there."

She read the hesitance in my eyes and she grew serious.

"If you really want to help Melissa, you'll go," she said. "Donnie will only get more pissed off if he sees you again. Things will be better if he thinks you've turned tail. They'll be better for her."

I still didn't like it, but I had to admit that Naomi knew what was going on better than I did and, at the end of the day, it was Melissa's life. I didn't belong here. I barely knew the girl and I'd been in this town for all of about two hours. It was time for me to go home.

"Do you want to come in with me while I close up for the night?" Naomi rose to her feet and offered a hand to help me up. "I'll take you to the bus station after."

I accepted her hand and we walked in together. I sat at an empty booth with a fresh beer while Naomi saw to the last few patrons and locked the doors. I could've walked back to the station, but I ached to high hell and I was thirsty too.

Naomi dropped me off at the station a little while later, coaxing a promise not to get into any more fights in Cannon from me before letting me out of her car. I liked the girl, even if I did find her a little overbearing. A place as rough as the Alibi needed a strong personality with a big heart like hers. It made me feel better about leaving Cannon knowing that Melissa would have someone like Naomi to help her when she decided to end things with Donnie. I just hoped it was soon.

As I bought my ticket, I couldn't shake the feeling that I should be doing more. But what could I do? Naomi was right—I didn't belong here.

Much as I wanted it to be, this wasn't my fight.

Chapter 10

Melissa

The ceiling fan whirred. Round and round and round, blades blending together until they formed one continuous circle. I watched, my eyes trying to track the movement in the dark while Donnie's snoring form twitched beside me. He was having a dream, I supposed. He'd been asleep for at least half an hour now, yet I'd been in bed for over two hours and still couldn't drift away.

I should have been exhausted. Dealing with Donnie was exhausting, and crying always made me sleepy, but something like electricity coursed through my veins. I knew exactly why, too.

Jack.

It was a simple, unassuming name, but he was far from a simple, unassuming guy. He embodied strength and dignity. He was good and righteous. He was a little cheeky, too. Probably more than a little, though I didn't know him well enough to really say. I found myself wishing I did.

Where was he now? Was he okay? These thoughts had been swirling relentlessly in my head since the second I laid it down on this pillow. I pretended to be asleep when Donnie came to bed, especially when he tried to initiate sex again, but let my eyes drift open once his rumbling snoring started up on the other side of the bed.

I doubted I'd be getting any sleep tonight. I doubted I'd be getting any peace either, and I knew it wasn't just Jack I had to blame for that.

What was I doing? The man sleeping beside me was a monster. He was cruel and spiteful and mean, but something was keeping me here and I couldn't quite figure it out. It wasn't just fear, either. That would be too simple. The fear was a driving factor every time I backed down from him, but it never lasted for long. I wasn't used to being afraid of things, and being afraid of people seemed almost ridiculous when I'd spent so much of my childhood learning to defend myself mentally and physically from anyone who might want to harm me. I had too many walls to hide behind, too many places I could retreat if things became too much for me to handle. Even Donnie couldn't get me there.

I had a long history of cutting people out of my life like ripping a square from a quilt if I felt it was what I needed to do to survive. Donnie was the only person who had gotten close enough to hurt me in a very long time, and the fact that I let him keep hurting me was mind boggling.

True, I was scared of more than just his anger. I was scared of what might happen to me in this town without him. I would lose my home. Would I lose my job too? I was scared of being broke and destitute, of sliding back into the chaos I'd risen from. Then again, I'd only risen with his help. I guess part of me felt like I owed him for that, and this was how I could repay my debt.

I turned onto my side, away from Donnie, and squeezed my eyes shut until bright colors danced across the backs of my lids.

It wasn't right.

I knew it wasn't right. I'd always known. But knowing something and acting on it are two very different things, and for all my strength I wondered if this was one thing I'd never be able to wrestle with and win.

I needed a distraction, and I couldn't bear wondering about Jack anymore. Quietly, and so slowly that I could practically hear my joints creaking, I rose from the bed and tiptoed into the ensuite with my phone.

Once in the bathroom, I closed the door and sank down to the tile. I shot off a text message to Naomi, asking her if Jack was okay. It was just past three, which meant she'd be on her way home from closing up.

My phone buzzed and I cursed inwardly, flipping it onto silent and listening for movement from the bedroom before daring to open the text.

He's fine. Just dropped him off at the Greyhound.

My heart began to hammer in my chest and I texted her back.

He's leaving??

What was I expecting? He wasn't from here, and the Cannon locals had made it obvious how unwelcome he was. Still, the thought of never getting to see him again struck a chord in me. I ached, knowing that from now on out my gallant hero would forever be a memory and nothing more. This experience would fade away and I would forget how good it felt to have someone stand up for me, even though I always thought I preferred to stand up for myself.

Naomi texted back a minute later.

Took some convincing on my part. Be careful with Donnie, okay babe? Let me know if you need anything.

I stared at my phone, rereading her first sentence over and over again. So Jack hadn't immediately dashed for the nearest exit when he came to. What did that mean? Did he want to stay because he wanted revenge? Maybe he just wanted to rest for the night. But maybe, just maybe, he had wanted to stay because of me. The thought filled me with such warmth that for a moment I forgot the bitter reality of my situation and indulged in fancy instead. I imagined what might have been if Donnie hadn’t been there. The flirty conversation we might have had, how his visit could have been an entertaining little aside in the endless tedium of Cannon life.

Then reality kicked back in, and I remembered I was on the bathroom floor in my boyfriend's house, hiding the fact that I was texting my friend because I didn't want to risk upsetting him again.

The tile was warm still from the day, but I felt a chill creep into my bones. This wasn't right. I didn't deserve this. I didn't deserve Donnie.

There was a guy out there who believed in the goodness in me just from meeting me at the bar. He believed I was worth more than the life I'd always told myself I was already overshooting to have, and frankly he made me feel more wanted in the short time of knowing him than I had the entire time I'd been with the guy sleeping in the other room.

So what was I still doing here?

I let my phone fall into my lap and stared into the dark. The panic rising in my throat mixed with the adrenaline in my veins, spurring me to action.

I rose, feeling jittery and jumpy and not entirely sure what to do with myself. It was overwhelming to realize that the life I was living needed to change without knowing how exactly I could accomplish that. The only thing I did know was that I needed to get away from Donnie and I needed to do it now.

I crept back out into the bedroom. My heart drummed on my ribcage so loud I thought it might wake Donnie, but he was a sound sleeper. Especially when he'd been drinking.

I worked slowly and quietly in the dark, gathering my purse and a pair of shoes but deciding not to risk getting changed. It was a warm night and I didn’t want to waste time if Jack’s bus could come at any moment. My pajamas would have to do.

My blood sang in my ears as I made my way down the silent hallway toward the front door. I carried shoes in my hand, my bare feet soundless against the hardwood. Each step could be the one that betrayed me, the one that found a squeaky floorboard and magically roused Donnie from his drunken slumber. How would I explain myself if he caught me? I was too far to go back now. I couldn't pretend that I'd only been stepping out for some air, nor did I want to. I would have to face him and all of his anger if he woke up, and that thought terrified me more than the thought of making it on my own ever had.

Still, I didn't stop. I made it all the way to the end of the hall and stared at the front door, gulping down a knot of tension in my throat.

The door would not be quiet. I was tempted to climb out a window rather than risk the door’s squeaky hinges, but I refused to let Donnie have control over me even while I was leaving him. If the door woke him, at least I'd be outside and halfway to town before he realized what happened.

I reached for the handle, turning it and wincing as it squeaked in protest. I stilled and listened for sounds of movement from inside the house but thankfully heard nothing. Then, with agonizing slowness, I stepped out onto the deck and closed the door behind me.

Now all I had to do was get in my car and drive away. Simple. Minus the fact that Donnie would almost certainly hear the sound of my little Toyota thrumming to life.

No fear.

No looking back.

No hesitation.

I didn't put on my shoes until I was inside my car and the doors were locked. It was still dark in the house and that allowed me to relax just a little. With a shaky hand I turned my key in the ignition and stared hard at the bedroom window.

It stayed dark. If Donnie had woken, he hadn't turned on any lights. Not yet, anyway. I started backing down the driveway, and without even glancing back in the rearview I headed off in the direction of the bus station.

I felt weight drop from my shoulders with turn of the wheel. The further I got from Donnie, the better I felt, and after about a mile I rolled down the window and let the warm air blast against my smiling face.

I'd done it! I'd left Donnie!

Sort of.

He probably didn't know I'd left him yet, and that would be its own set of problems once he found out, but the important thing was that I'd made the first move in my new life. Everything I did from here on out would be my choice, and that realization was so liberating that I indulged in a crow of delirious laughter.

I didn't know what I was going to do when I saw Jack again, or why I was seeking him out in the first place. I just knew that I couldn't let him disappear from my life—even if all I got to do was thank him before he went on his way.

I arrived at the bus station and parked near the ticketing office, dashing out to the waiting area with a hopeful smile.

There was nobody there.

I looked around in a panic, only to see a lone bus pulling out from one of the bays, and realized that my only shot at seeing Jack again was about to roll away before my eyes.

"Wait!" I called, waving my hands in the air and sprinting after the bus. "Stop!"

The bus only accelerated, belching out a thick cloud of smoke as it turned onto the main road.

"No!" I kept running. My feet ached from my long shift but I couldn't stop. Not when I was this close. Not when I'd tried so hard.

I couldn't even see his face through the darkened windows, only the reflection of the desolate bus station as the bus roared off toward destinations unknown, carrying my gorgeous fighter with it.

Chapter 11

Jack

They nearly didn't let me on the bus. I thought I was going to lose my mind, and made it very clear to them that I wasn't going to leave quietly if they denied me boarding just because I looked like I'd been through the ringer. I had been through the ringer, which was exactly why I needed to get home. ASAP. Now that I'd decided I was headed back to Bell Springs, I wanted to be there like, yesterday.

I was tired. My eyes felt heavy in their sockets, and even resting my forehead against the window didn't help. I wanted to sink into my bed and never come out of it again, to sleep so long that my aching body wasn't aching anymore by the time I woke up. Hell, at this point a coma sounded like paradise.

I wasn't sad to put Cannon behind me, but I still couldn't stop thinking about the girl. No amount of sleep or cold drinks would help me where thoughts of her were concerned. I had a sinking suspicion that Melissa would strut around my mind for a long time to come, and I resolved right then and there that the best thing I could do was dive back into my Bell Springs life and forget this fucked up nightmare of a day even happened. If Sadie asked me about it, which she wouldn't, I would lie. I would lie my face off, even to myself, just to blot the image of Melissa's tear filled eyes from my mind because I knew I'd go crazy if I didn't.

Naomi assured me that I was making the right choice, but it didn't feel that way. I couldn't describe it, but I kept feeling this tug in my gut that told me to stay. It was like Melissa had tethered me to this place and I was going to have to rip myself free by force.

The bus began to creep out of the station, and I clenched my battered fist. I tried to picture her, wherever she was. I tried to picture her happy, even though I knew she wasn't.

"Wait!"

The voice was faint, but so high pitched and desperate that it caught my attention. There was no reason for anybody to be screaming anything at this hour unless it was directed at this bus.

I craned my neck to look out the window behind the bus, and that was when I saw her. Her arms in the air, her eyes wide and pleading, her long legs sprinting as fast as they could, but even those gazelle legs couldn't compete with this bus.

I was on my feet before I even had a second to think. "Stop the bus!" I yelled.

Was she crazy? What was she doing chasing after my bus? What was she doing here at all?

The driver shot a glare back at me.

"I said stop the bus!" I yelled again.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" He looked in his rearview and saw the girl chasing the bus, but turned onto the main street anyway. "You should've said your goodbyes before we left, pal. We're not stopping until we get to Grand Dam."

The couple other people on the bus, though interested in what was transpiring, obviously agreed with the driver. Nobody wanted to fuck around at three in the morning and I didn't blame them. They all wanted to get where they were going, but the problem was that I wasn't going the same place. Not anymore.

I stormed up the aisle and stopped next to the driver. "Stop the bus and let me off," I said, as calmly as possible, though I felt anything but calm. "Please."

He ground his teeth but reluctantly pulled over to the side of the road. "I'm not waiting for you," he warned. "You get off this bus and I'm out of here."

"Great. I hope it's a good trip." I jumped down the stairs and turned to see Melissa, still running, but far behind us.

A million things hit me at once. I was confused but happy to see here there. I was worried, too, since I didn't know what had happened since I'd seen her last or if she was okay. Most of all I felt something hot deep in my chest, something that made me hustle as quickly as I could down the road, gritting my teeth every time I jostled my ribs.

Melissa stopped in front of me, panting. Her face was pink with exhaustion, hair a tangled mess. She was wearing pajama shorts and a tank top, and I could see the outline of her breasts through the thin cotton. I licked my lips, watching as she broke out into a wheezing explanation of what she was doing there.

"I'm so sorry...I know you're probably...you probably don't want to get messed up in my drama, but it meant so much to me what you did today. I—"

I didn't need an explanation. She would never have to explain herself to me. I surprised her by wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close, ignoring the biting pain that shot out from my side. It was worth it just to hold her.

Melissa melted against me, hands balled in the fabric of my t-shirt and face pressed against my chest. It felt good to have her there, like I was finally satisfying my inexplicable need to protect her. I had her in my arms now and she was safe there, and whatever she wanted to tell me didn't matter.

It felt right.

She smelled like beer, but also something feminine and earthy and all her own. I nuzzled my head against her shoulder and inhaled, feeling her pulse jump in her throat. My cock responded but I pushed the feeling down. Now wasn’t the time, but fuck if it wasn’t hard to tell my body that when she was pressed so tight against me.

After a minute or so, Melissa gently pushed on my chest until I pulled back a little.

She looked up at me, tears brimming in her beautiful crystal eyes. I pushed a piece of hair from her face, and smiled. "Hey."

She laughed. "Hey."

"You chased after my bus, crazy girl."

Melissa buried her face in my chest, groaning in embarrassment. "I'm sorry! That was such a weird—"

"Shh." I rubbed a comforting circle on her back, unable to hold back a smile at how cute she was when embarrassed. "No, I'm glad you did. I was worried about you."

She lifted her face up again, and this time she was so sad it hurt to look at her.

"Yeah, well as it turned out, I was worried about me too," she said, wiping a tear from under her eye. "Can I take you out for a bite to eat?"

My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I hadn't eaten since the afternoon. Things had been a little too crazy for me to even consider food, but now I was ravenous.

"Yeah, let's do it."

I released her and we started walking back toward the bus station. Melissa kicked gravel out of her path and stared at the road ahead, obviously troubled.

"What happened tonight?" I asked.

"You mean after..." She scrunched up her face in disgust. "After Matt hit you with the bottle?"

"Matt." I tested the name aloud. "Glad I know who to thank for the massive headache. And yes, I mean what happened after that."

"I'm so sorry I left," she said, looking anywhere but at me. "Donnie wouldn't let me stay and..."

I stopped. "Melissa. Look at me."

She turned and our gazes locked. I enunciated every word so there would be no misunderstanding.

"You do not need to apologize for anything that happened tonight. I may not know much about you, but I know that you are not at fault. Not for any of it. You're a victim, sweetheart."

She winced. "Yeah. I know. But it's like I turn into a different person when Donnie’s around, someone who doesn’t fight for the same things I normally fight for. I'm embarrassed."

We started walking, and when she threaded her fingers through mine I felt a swell of pleasure in my chest.

"You don't need to be embarrassed, especially not around me," I told her. "I'm just happy that you're here. That's all that matters to me."

We made it back to the parking lot and she directed me toward a little silver sedan. She hadn't even closed the door properly before running after the bus, which made me happy for some reason. We were quiet as we got settled. She was a vision of calm as she buckled her seatbelt and I almost forgot the events that had brought us here. Hell, staring too long at those pajama shorts would probably make me forget my own first name. I stared out the front window instead.

"You're right, you know," she said. "About me being a victim. And I know you're right. I think it's just going to take some time to mentally sort through everything that's happened between Donnie and me. I'm kind of mess in the meantime." She started driving, eyes laser focused on the road ahead of her. "Even as I'm with you, and I know that leaving Donnie's house tonight was the right thing to do, part of me still wants to turn this car around and try to sneak back into bed before he notices. Part of me is heartbroken. Part of me is just delirious. I don't know what to believe anymore."

"Don't believe anything." I looked over at her, admiring her profile, the way her chin sloped into a long elegant neck and how her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks when she blinked. "It's times like this that relying on your instincts can save your life. Until you can believe in something, you've got to trust your gut."

She glanced over at me for the first time since we'd gotten in the car, and it was a skeptical glance.

"What if my gut told me to abandon you on the side of the highway and floor it all the way to San Francisco?" she asked.

I chuckled. "Then I'd say it's been nice knowing you, Melissa, and I wish you the best in the Golden City."

Melissa didn't head back into town like I expected. We soon hit the freeway, and I began to wonder if maybe she wasn't kidding.

She must have heard my unspoken question because she smiled. "We're heading a town over. There's a twenty-four hour diner just off the highway that I think you're gonna like."

"Is there nowhere in Cannon we can eat?"

Her brow wrinkled. "It's better if we don't."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "Donnie's family is involved in almost every business in Cannon. It's great when you want to get a table quick, but not so great when you've just snuck out in the middle of the night to pick up the random stranger who is on the top of Donnie's shit list."

"Point taken. Donnie doesn’t know you’re gone?"

“No.”

“Are you going to go back?”

She stiffened, and I almost regretted asking the question. Almost. I deserved to know, especially since I was the top of his shit list, as she said.

"I don't know what I'm doing, if I'm being honest."

"Melissa,” I said in a low, soothing tone. “Why are you with him?"

Silence filled the car, and I wondered if that would be the end of the conversation until we got to the restaurant. Naomi told me Melissa liked to put up walls, so I shouldn't have been surprised when she changed the topic.

"So, are you one of those people that don't believe breakfast should be eaten outside of the morning or what?"

Chapter 12

Melissa

It was like the crappy fluorescents of Ma's Diner brought out otherwise hidden facets of color in Jack's bruises. He looked way worse than I thought he did before, and that familiar stab of guilt twisted in my stomach again. He didn't want me to feel guilty, but that didn't mean I could just stop feeling it. He was a mess and now I'd pulled him into my mess. Who knew how many more bruises he might wind up with because of me?

A waitress greeted us at the door with all the unconvincing cheer of someone working a boring night shift and all the suspicion expected when two battered looking people show up for breakfast at four a.m.. If Jack's face looked worse under the lights, mine couldn't have looked great either. I ran my hands through my hair self-consciously as the waitress, Cheyenne, showed us to our table and gave us menus. When she left to grab us some drinks, I let my menu rest on the table and looked over at Jack.

"You wanna hear something strange?" I asked.

He smiled at me over the top of his menu. "Always."

"I know nothing about you, not a lick, but I feel like I know you. I trust you."

"That is strange," he replied. "And dangerous. I could be a bad guy."

"You're not." I met his gaze boldly. "You wouldn't be here with me if you were."

The corner of his mouth quirked and he stared right back at me. "All the same. Who says I have pure intentions?"

My tummy did a little flip. The cut on his lip and his bruised face only enhanced his roguish features, and just from looking at him I doubted anybody would infer his intentions were anything close to pure. I suddenly felt like I was dining with a lion, and I wasn't sure whether I was the meal or not. If I was the meal, would that be so bad?

"Don't be like that," I chided. "It's a good thing. It feels nice." I swallowed. "It feels safe."

Jack's expression dipped from devious to solemn in a flash. "Of course." He nodded and raised the menu back up. "I'm glad you feel safe with me. I just mean that you should be more careful. There are a lot of people out there who would gladly take advantage of that kind of trust."

I raised my menu up too. "I know."

Cheyenne came back around to take our order, then disappeared with the menus. There was no more hiding.

Jack's eyes travelled down my face, taking in each inch like he expected to be tested on it. My cheeks warmed and I gnawed on my lip. I wasn't a lip biter, not by a long shot, and it made me feel like a child. I decided it was time to get the conversation rolling.

"I don't know where we should start," I admitted.

Jack raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"With all of this." I gestured between us, around us. "I just pulled you off of a Greyhound in the middle of the night after sneaking out of my abusive boyfriend's house. How do we even begin talking about all that?"

Jack's half-smile made my legs feel rubbery. I resisted the urge to suck my lip back between my teeth and met his gaze.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he said. "You don't owe me any sort of explanation. I got off that bus because I wanted to, end of story. If you want to sit here in silence until the sun comes up, that's perfectly fine with me. If you want to talk about the weather and sports, also fine. Don't feel like you have to explain anything to me."

"So we can talk about whatever I want?"

He chuckled and nodded. "Sure. Shoot."

I didn't even need to think about it.

"I wanna know more about you," I said. "All I know so far is that you're some badass fighter guy and that you have a weakness for damsels in distress."

"That about sums it up." He took a sip of his coffee and leaned back against the seat, one arm resting over the back of the booth. I had to tear my eyes away from the swell of his bicep.

"I think there's a lot more to you than that. Where are you from?"

"Bell Springs," he said. "It's about thirty miles from here, but is almost exactly the same otherwise."

"You grew up there?"

Jack nodded, and glanced down at his cup. I got the sense he wasn't used to opening up to people, and if I weren't so damned curious I might back off. I couldn't help myself though. He wasn't like anyone I'd ever met and I wanted to know everything there was to know about him.

"Do you have family there?" I asked.

Jack shook his head. "Not anymore. Not really. My mom died a few years back and my sister's living on campus at Arizona U. She's the only family I've got. Nothing interesting there."

There was a sadness in his eyes that struck a chord in me.

"What was she like?" I asked. "Your mom?"

His lips curved into a wistful smile. "Just like my sister," he said. "Willful. Stubborn. Caring. She always had something to say about something and never let anybody get away with pissing her off."

"She sounds like she was a great woman," I replied. "I'm sorry for your loss."

I wanted to know more but I didn’t want to end up pushing him too far. We all had our emotional baggage, and I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to lose somebody I loved as much as he clearly loved his mom. Then again, I didn't know what it was like to love somebody that much in the first place. It wasn't something that upset me to think about, just another fact in my fucked up life, but it stuck out to me at moments like this when I wondered who was better off in the end.

"She was a great woman," Jack replied. "I did everything I could to save her but it wasn't enough. I know it wasn't my fault, and that cancer's the kind of motherfucker that doesn't care how hard you try or how much you love, but it took a long time for me to wake up every morning without a massive knot of guilt in my chest, you know?"

I was surprised by how much he was opening up to me. Surprised and touched. There were a couple other people in the diner, but it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves, like our little booth was cut off from the rest of the diner and the world.

"Cancer," I repeated. "That's rough. I'm so sorry."

"Breast cancer," he said with a solemn nod. "I've been looking after my sister ever since, but these days she mostly looks after herself."

His face brightened when he talked about his sister. I was always jealous of people with siblings, especially those who got along well with them. Growing up alongside other foster kids provided some sort of camaraderie, but it wasn’t the same.

"What's she like? Your sister?"

"Sadie's something else," he said. "She's nearly finished her Economics degree and makes it look easy. You would never think she'd had any tragedy in her life, like it didn't make a mark on her the way it did me. She's basically the light of my life, to be honest."

I laughed, feeling more and more at ease the more we talked. I already trusted Jack, but filling in these knowledge gaps was doing wonders to reassure me that trust was well-placed.

"Tell me about you," he urged. "Have you always lived in Cannon?"

I wasn't used to talking about my childhood. The only time it ever came up was when Donnie tried to dismiss my opinions, including how I felt about his drunken behavior. He said if I grew up normally I wouldn't have so many hang ups, and that I should relax a bit. Now anytime I revealed something personal about myself, I always wondered when it would be used as ammunition against me in the future. I didn’t have that worry with Jack. He stared at me so intently, with such genuine compassion, that it all came spilling out.

"I was a foster kid," I told him. "I never knew my parents and I moved around quite a bit when I was a kid. I basically showed up in Cannon not long after my eighteenth birthday, on a road trip to nowhere with no plan and no idea of what I was going to do with my life. I got a job at the Alibi and have been there ever since." I shrugged. "And that's about it. A boring story."

"Not boring." His gaze skewered me to the spot, and my mouth dried from the intensity of it. "Nothing about you could ever be boring."

Cheyenne showed up with our food just as I was about to douse myself with my glass of water. Jack was an engineer when it came to designing looks that made my heart race and my spine tingle. Was he even aware of what he was doing to me? Here I was, spilling my life to a stranger more intimately than I ever had before, yet somehow getting hot and bothered in the process.

We dug into our food, silent at first. Jack was obviously starving and started devouring his burger and fries without inhibition. I wondered if food was the only thing he devoured with such enthusiasm.

"You asked me earlier why I'm with Donnie," I said, absently swirling a fry in some ketchup.

Jack's gaze shot to mine and he swallowed his mouthful of food. "It's none of my business."

"I think it is, after everything that happened today," I said with a light laugh. "After all, I did leave you to die in a parking lot."

"That wasn't your fault."

"Look, do you want to know or not?"

Jack cocked a brow and smiled. "Go on, then."

I swallowed and licked my lips. I'd only just started realizing all of this myself, so putting it into words wasn't the easiest thing for me to do. I was ready to get it all out though, ready to not let it hang over my head anymore.

"I guess I just always felt like someone the world forgot. I think lots of foster kids feel like that. You're shuffled around like a deck of cards, and at the end of the day you're just one face among thousands. It's so incredibly clichéd and sad, but Donnie made me feel special. The first time he saw me, he zeroed in on me like I was the most important person he'd ever met, and in a stupid small town way I felt honored to earn the attention of one of Cannon's famous Beringers. That faded after a while, but since then I think I've been afraid that I don't know how to stand on my own anymore and that I would only end up proving to Donnie and everyone else that I'm just the nobody girl I was from the start. I don't want to fade away like that." I let some of my hair fall in my face and screwed up my features. "That sounds so stupid. I'm sorry."

Jack's hand covered mine and he squeezed. "Never apologize for what you think. And it's not stupid. I get it."

"You do?"

His smile was gentle, but I couldn't help feeling something a little more sexual from the weight of his warm, dry hand on mine.

"It's kind of the same with me and fighting." He drew his hand back and picked up his mug, running his fingers down the length of it thoughtfully. "It was something I started doing when I found out about my mom's cancer. For money, anyway. I was always the kind of hot headed kid that got into fights, but when I started being able to make money from it, that was a real game changer. I dropped out of high school and didn't have any prospects, so suddenly being able to make good money and support my mom and sister was huge for me. I stopped for a little bit right before my mom died because she always hated it, but I had trouble surviving in the real world. It didn't feel like a place I could fit into without my identity as a fighter, and I needed money too much to stay away for long. Now it's just the way my life is."

"It doesn't have to be," I told him. "You could quit fighting."

"And you could quit Donnie."

"I'm going to.”

As soon as I said it, I realized it was true. Hell, I must've known that when I crept out of his house earlier, but I just hadn't let the full weight of it sink in yet.

"I guess I just...I guess I just don't know how. It's going to be rough."

Jack’s expression softened. "Do you want me to come with you? I can protect you if he tries anything."

"No." I shook my head, wishing it were that easy. "I need to do this on my own."

We lapsed into silence. Hot claws of panic dug in at the base of my throat as I thought about what I had to do, but I knew there was no way of getting around it. This was happening. I was going to leave Donnie. I should have done it years ago, but better late than never I supposed.

"Will you stay in town?" I asked. "Just in case?"

"In case of what?"

"I don't know. In case I need you, I guess."

Something passed over Jack's face, whether hesitation or discomfort I didn't know, but he finally nodded. "Yeah. I'll stay."

I dropped him off a couple hours later at a motel not far from the Alibi. Doing so was the easiest thing I had to do that morning, but losing his comforting presence was still difficult.

"Jack?" I asked as he was about to leave the car. I’d driven him to the other side of the building to say goodbye after he picked up a room key, and now I idled just outside his door. "What did you mean when you told Donnie you'd fight for me as the prize?"

He stopped midway out of the car and blinked. "Exactly that."

I dipped my head, bashful for the first time in a long time. "But what would being your prize entail?"

Jack's grin was dark and wicked. A tendril of fire stroked my belly and my hands gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white.

"Let's put it this way, sweetheart." He smirked. "Prizes are meant to be enjoyed."

Jack left without another word, closing the door behind him and sauntering up to the door of room 103 like the parking lot was his living room. I took a deep breath. Today was going to be a long one.

Chapter 13

Melissa

The sun was just thinking about rising for the day when I got back to Donnie's place. The front door was still unlocked from my flight earlier, and nothing was out of place when I stepped through it. Donnie clearly hadn't woken to find me gone nor had he heard me leave. He had no idea what was coming his way.

I went to the bedroom to find him sprawled out, face down on the mattress. He was snoring lightly, peaceful as a babe. When he was like this, he almost looked innocent, and it was enough that I could nearly forget everything he'd done to me, all the times he'd made me feel so small. Part of me ached to crawl back into bed with him and forget this ever happened. I could, too. I doubted Jack would come looking for me to see if I'd really done it, and since he was the only one besides Cheyenne at Ma's Diner who knew about my late night escapade, pretending that nothing had happened would be as easy as just not seeking him out again.

The thought of never seeing Jack again hurt me more than the thought of leaving Donnie. In the end, that’s what compelled me to start packing a bag, tossing in as many clothes and items as I could fit. I didn't bother trying to be quiet and was actually a little irritated that Donnie didn't stir at all. To think I'd been so worried about every creaking floorboard a few hours earlier, when it turned out I probably could have rung a gong next to his head without him noticing. Go figure.

I finished packing and stood at the foot of the bed. My heart hammered against my ribs, punching out a staccato rhythm of fear. It would be easier not to wake Donnie. I could be out of here with no consequences and no drama if I didn't. It didn't feel right, though. I needed closure and he needed to know to stay the hell away from me. Still, it took quite a lot of effort to force myself to walk around the side of the bed and nudge him awake.

He snorted, shuffling over onto his back and opening one bleary eye.

"What?" he groaned.

"I'm leaving," I said, filling my words to the brim with confidence.

Donnie blinked open the other eye and ran a hand over his face. "For work? What time is it?" He craned his neck to look over at the alarm clock, then looked back at me in confusion when he saw it was only six.

"Where are you going?"

He sounded almost innocent in his questioning, like a young boy to his mother. He sounded like he needed me. Or maybe that was just my subconscious still trying to trip me up. Either way, I wasn't giving in.

"Out of this house and away from you." I adjusted the bag on my shoulder, and Donnie's eyes zeroed in on the movement.

He sat up in bed, no longer sleepy.

"Get back in bed," he said. "I'm not in the mood."

I gritted my teeth and took a deliberate step back. "I'm not joking. I'm leaving you, Donnie."

Donnie swung his legs to the floor and ran a hand over his face, eyebrows knitting together in anger. He was quiet for a moment, and in that silence my heartbeat rang out like a heavy bass drum.

"What's your problem?" he asked. "Is it because of our fight last night? Babe, you know how I get when I'm drunk. You shouldn't pick fights with me when I'm like that."

"And that's exactly why!" I folded my arms over my chest and channeled my anger into staring him down. "I didn't pick a fight with you in the first place, and I shouldn't have to be careful about when to pick fights so I don't get beaten. I certainly shouldn't have to take the blame for you hitting me. You think you own me but you don't, and it's time for me to take back my life."

"You don't know what you're saying." His voice was cold. Direct. I could tell things were about to take a turn. The only question was, was I ready for it?

"I know exactly what I'm saying."

Donnie charged up to his full height, towering above me with a menacing expression. I held his gaze, jutting my chin out.

"If you try to leave me I will make you fucking regret it," he growled. "You like that cushy job of yours? You like having a fucking place to live?" He stepped toward me and I stepped back.

Was he going to hit me? Keeping my arms crossed was the only way I knew to keep him from seeing my shaking hands but it made me feel vulnerable. I lowered my hands to my sides but clenched my fists.

"I don't care what you do. No amount of threatening will be enough this time. I'm through. And you know what, Donnie? This is your fault. It always has been. Every time you've pushed me around and mistreated me, you've been pushing me further and further away. It's too late now."

I turned to leave, finished with this conversation and finished with this life, but Donnie grabbed my shoulder and dragged me back. I stumbled and nearly fell back onto the bed but managed to catch myself in time to stay upright.

"Don't touch me!" I shrieked. "Don't you dare lay a fucking hand on me ever again!"

"Don't fucking walk away from me!" he screamed back.

"You. Don't. Own. Me!"

I bit out each word with all the pent up malice I'd been saving up like tarnished pennies.

"You had your chance and you blew it! You don't make decisions for me anymore. We're over!"

Donnie didn't pull me back when I stormed for the door this time, but he followed me down the hall, stomping and screaming.

"I gave you everything! I made your life so fucking good! You don't just get to walk away from that!"

"I'll run then!" I shot over my shoulder. "I'll skip. I'll fucking dance away if I have to."

Donnie threw his hand out just as I reached the front door. I managed to open it a crack before his bodyweight slammed it closed again, and when I turned around I found him glowering down at me.

"You're making a mistake," he seethed.

"No, this is the first thing I've done in years that hasn't been a mistake. Now are you going to let me leave or am I going to have to call the cops?"

I watched his expression flicker as he weighed his options and horror sent icy tendrils up my spine. I didn't want to know what kind of nasty ideas were crossing his mind, and I worried that his darker instincts would win out. I was in danger every second that I spent with him, but never more than that moment. He could have killed me and I wouldn't have been able to stop him. He was bigger than me, stronger than me, and so much crueler. I anchored my feet to the ground and held my breath.

Donnie's hand pulled back, and he ran his thumb down my cheek. "Baby, please don't go."

I let out a breathy sigh. He seemed to think that meant I had succumbed, but it was really a sigh of relief. He leaned down to kiss me and I stopped him with a hand to his face.

"I've been gone in my mind for a long time," I said. "Not that you ever noticed."

Was it hurt that crossed his face? Did I care if it was? It was hard to be with someone for so long, to live with them and share every part of your life with them, without developing some sort of attachment. But any pity or sympathy I felt for Donnie was buried so deep under all the resentment and agony that I stared at him in cold indifference. Then, straight backed, I turned and opened the door.

Donnie followed me out onto the deck. "What can I do? I'll be better, baby, I promise. Please don't leave me."

Now he just sounded pathetic. I laughed bitterly under my breath and strutted over to my car, yanking open the door and sliding in without even sparing him a parting remark.

"You'll be back!" he cried as I started backing down the drive. "You can't survive without me!"

I flipped him the bird, smiling serenely. Not a fucking chance.

I rolled into the motel's parking lot just as the sun was stretching long rosy fingers over the horizon. The dry heat kissed my bare thighs and arms as I walked to the building, promising a long, hot day ahead.

It felt like there was a little bird trapped in my ribcage, fluttering this way and that, filling me with excitement and trepidation. I'd just done the unthinkable, and now I was free. Completely free. It was just as scary as it was liberating, since I faced a world of unknown obstacles ahead. At least with Donnie I knew he would always be my main opposition. It was exciting to think that I'd have new dragons to slay, even if I did feel like a foal taking my first steps outside of the womb.

One thing I knew for sure was that the man whose door I searched for down the long line of motel rooms was the most exciting, most dangerous unknown of them all. He had eyes like a dust storm and made my core sizzle every time he looked at me. There was an electricity between us that demanded exploration. And there was nothing stopping me.

Room 103. I stopped at the door, hand hovering just below the room number. Then, with a wide smile, I knocked.

Chapter 14

Jack

I was a light sleeper, always had been. Our house growing up wasn't in the nicest neighborhood, and as a kid I used to jump at every sound.

When I got older, the noises still woke me up, but I could get back to sleep without shitting myself worrying that a murderer was coming in to get me. Except by then my sister was at the age where she started worrying about monsters. I don't know how many times I woke up to her saying she'd had a bad dream or heard something scary, and I never minded since it was impossible to be mad at a girl with eyes as big and sad as hers.

When my mom got sick, I would wake up every time I heard her coughing or groaning in pain in the middle of the night and go help her. She always told me to stay in bed, but I kept going to her anyway.

I didn't have to be a light sleeper for the knock on my door to rouse me. I sat up in bed and cursed, both due to the sharp complaint from my ribs and also from the realization that my mystery knocker was probably Donnie. I didn't know how he found me. It didn't really matter. If he'd come to finish what we started yesterday, then I was going to indulge him. As long as he came alone, or at least as long as his idiot friends kept out of it until it was their turn.

I threw on a pair of pants but stayed shirtless. It wasn't even seven yet but it was already goddamn hot in my room. I lumbered over to the door, undoing the latch and opening it wide.

A punch to the gut would have been less breathtaking than the sight of Melissa standing on my doorstep, still wearing the same cute little pajama set she’d worn for our midnight rendezvous. She was smiling confidently, exposing two bright sets of pearly whites, and something seemed different about her. The girl hadn't slept all night but she looked brighter than I'd ever seen her. Happier. I smiled too, unable to help myself. She was contagious.

"What did you mean when you said you'd claim me as your prize?"

I cocked my head to the side, puzzled. Hadn't I already answered this?

She must've sensed my confusion.

"Be specific," she urged.

Oh, this was right up my street. I would have much rather show her what I meant, but if she wanted to hear me say it, then I'd give her everything she could take and then some.

"I meant that after I beat up your boyfriend, I was going to take you with me, probably to somewhere just like this." I ran my hand down the door frame, the metal cool against my fingertips. "From there, sweetheart, I would’ve stripped you naked and made you cum on my cock so many times that you’d forget what day it was."

Her eyes widened, pupils dilating and filling her irises with black. She let out a little sigh, and my cock strained against the front of my jeans.

"You won the fight," Melissa said quietly. "Are you going to take your prize?"

I didn’t hesitate even a second.

"Damn fucking straight."

I grabbed her chin and slammed my mouth down on hers, blood burning under my skin. I'd gone from sleepy to horny so quickly that my brain still hadn't caught up, but luckily my cock had. Her pillowy lips parted for me like melted butter and I slipped my tongue inside, massaging her tongue and pulling forth little moans of pleasure that made my cock ache.

We walked back into the room until the door closed, then I pressed her up against it, wrapping one of those slender legs around my hips so I could grind my hardness where it would do the most good.

Melissa needed this, I could tell. She was almost frantic in how she touched me, running her hands everywhere and anywhere, fighting back against my kiss with a frenzy of her own. Hell, I needed this too. I'd been sexually frustrated since the first moment I laid eyes on her, and only now was I letting myself feel that frustration to its full extent. I craved her to my bones, like I'd never wanted another human being in my life. Her skin was hot and soft under my touch and I touched her all over, stroking along her thighs, her feather soft stomach, her slender neck. Her hands wandered over my bare chest and I let out a hiss as she found my cracked rib.

"I'm sorry!" she whispered.

I chuckled, kissing down to her neck and sucking. "My whole body could be broken and I'd still want you to touch me."

She moaned and arched back. I sucked her skin between my teeth and nibbled, savoring her sweetness. She was the best prize I'd ever fought for, the only one I'd ever risk so much for. I'd get the shit kicked out of me over and over again, relive that day from hell a thousand times, if it meant I got to end the day with Melissa in my arms.

I captured her wrists and held them above her head. Her tits heaved with each heavy breath and I dove between them, licking and sucking the soft flesh, grinding my cock against her heat until I thought I would explode. She was fucking gorgeous. I lifted her other leg around my waist and let go of her wrists so I could balance her juicy ass in my hands, squeezing with relish and walking us over to the bed. I let her down gently, laying her across the pillows like a priceless artifact.

"I'm glad you came," I said. "I was worried it was going to be Donnie knocking down my door."

"No Donnie talk," she commanded. "No talk at all. I'm your prize. Treasure me."

“You’re a commanding little minx, aren’t you?” I grinned. "Sweetheart, I’m going to treasure the fuck out of you."

I slid her tank top over her head, hissing with pleasure when I saw she was, indeed, going braless underneath. Her nipples were perfectly round and peaked with lust, and I sucked each delicate pink nub into my mouth in turn while she writhed beneath me. I scraped my teeth over them as I sucked, and Melissa squealed with pleasure. She squealed even louder when I slipped my hand under the waistband of her pajama shorts and stroked one finger along her wet seam. Her hairless pussy was warm and wet, and her folds parted easily for my probing finger. I kissed up to her neck as I began to explore her, sliding my finger into her tight heat and making her hips curl up from the mattress. My thumb rubbed in circles over her clit and I timed each thrust of my finger with the scrape of my teeth on her throat. She tasted so good. She felt so good. I couldn't wait to be inside of her, to stretch her wide and make her scream my name in rapture.

Melissa's hand cupped my cock through my boxers, squeezing the outline of my shaft with her delicate fingers. My eyes rolled back into my head and a shiver coursed through me like an electric current. I'd never wanted someone so bad. I'd never felt so powerful and yet so goddamn weak all at once. This woman held me in the palm of her hand—quite literally—and I found myself thinking I would do anything and everything to please her. Satisfaction wouldn't be enough. I wanted to ruin her, to exhaust her so fully and completely that she could never leave my bed.

I pulled back enough to inch her shorts over her hips and down her long legs, and Melissa kicked the fabric off once it reached her ankles. My boxers went next, and though I felt another stab of pain as I maneuvered them off of me, it seemed like it was coming from somewhere distant. The pain couldn't reach me here, with this goddess of needs and wants. It was all pleasure and only pleasure.

Melissa's gaze lowered to my turgid cock and widened. I smirked. I never had anything to worry about in the dick department, but seeing the expression on her face still felt good. Long and thick, my dick was probably my favorite thing about myself. If all went to plan, it would soon be Melissa's favorite thing about me too.

She reached for me, wrapping a hand around the back of my neck to tug my lips back to hers. I kissed her hard and deep, grinding my length up her stomach as our bodies flattened against each other. She felt so good, every inch of her soft and sweet and perfect. Her nails scraped down my back just hard enough to make my hair stand on end and my cock throb.

Another second without being inside her would kill me. I shot out a hand to the wallet on the dresser, cracking open one eye so I could fish out the condom I kept there. She snatched it from my hand and I opened my other eye to look down at her.

She read the question in my eyes. "I want to put it on," she said, pushing my shoulder until I backed up a little.

I felt another pulse of heat radiating between my thighs and gritted my teeth, watching hungrily as she tore open the packet and reached between us to start rolling the condom over the head of my cock.

Every touch of her hand on me sparked electricity that I felt deep in my balls. She made something as mundane as putting on a condom feel erotic and new, and by the time she'd finished rolling it down to the root I was shaking from the need to get inside of her.

Melissa lay back, staring up at me with half-lidded eyes and a sexy little smile that drove me wild. I found her entrance with the head of my cock and pressed inside a little, testing her.

"Fuck," she moaned.

She was tight, and my second push went a little further before I had to pull back. My forehead was sweating, arms shaking. I pressed forward again, and this time I slid down to the hilt in perfect, velvety heat.

The pleasure was indescribable. Melissa wrapped her legs around me and angled her hips up to press me inside further and I saw stars. Her body felt like it was made for me, designed to bring the purest pleasure. I sank into her heat and pulled back over and over again, dialing up the sensation each time. We kissed hungrily as our bodies writhed together. She bit my lower lip and held it and I growled, ramping up the intensity of my thrusts to show her who was boss. Of course, that was exactly what she wanted me to do, and Melissa's keening wail as she approached her climax soon filled the room. Fuck, was it a turn on.

I slammed harder, pulling one of her legs over my shoulder to change up the angle. Melissa's hands dug into my back and she thrust back against me until the room echoed with our ragged breaths.

Heat and searing pleasure bubbled up inside of me, and I knew I wouldn't last much longer. Melissa was so close though—I could feel it in the way her pussy gripped me, could see it in her glassy eyes and tense expression. She was desperate for her climax and I was just as desperate to give it to her.

I slung her other leg over my shoulder and reached even deeper inside of her. She shouted out some colorful expletives and then, like a dying star, she exploded right beneath me. The air rushed from my lungs as her spasms milked my swollen cock, and I slammed harder and harder until finally I released inside of her. My body turned inside out and the world turned upside down, and it was more than just intense.

It was heavenly.

I let Melissa's legs go and collapsed on top of her, shaking. For a while all we could do was breathe together, and the aftershocks of my orgasm rolled over me one by one.

It was light outside by the time we finally fell asleep, and the closed curtains glowed with the promise of a new day. I held Melissa tight and decided, right then and there, that I wasn't going to let her go.

Chapter 15

Melissa

I woke slowly and with a happy smile on my lips. The happiness was purely to do with the fact that I'd just slept better than I had in months. The good sleep was probably because I was more tired out than I had been in months, but I had to chalk some of it up to my sleeping companion. Some of the happiness too.

Jack was still passed out next to me, one long leg tossed over mine and his face turned to the wall. He looked different when he was sleeping, and I rolled onto my side to observe him for a little while.

The sun had passed over the window, which meant it was sometime in the afternoon. I didn't want to check my phone to find out what time exactly because I was worried of what else I might find, and I wanted to extend this pleasurable mini-vacation from reality as long as possible. Before long I would have to face the decision I made last night.

And the fall out.

Jack's lashes were long for a guy's, something I hadn't noticed until I saw how they swept his cheekbones while he slept. His hair was rumpled and his jaw unshaven, but he still looked like he belonged in a cologne advertisement or something. The tattoos that ran up both his forearms blossomed over his shoulders and chest, and I reached over to trace the outline of a skull, wondering what all of his tattoos meant. I'd never had so many questions about a person before.

That thought reminded me of how little I knew about Jack. I knew he had a sister and that he grew up in Bell Springs. I knew that his mom had passed away a few years ago, and I knew without him having to tell me that it had been a truly devastating loss. He was kind and compassionate, but Donnie had seemed that way to me too at first.

What was I doing?

I pulled my hand back but stayed watching him, listening for the rise and fall of his breathing in the dimly lit space.

How did I know that this guy wasn't just using me too? We'd never talked about what this was or what we wanted, and I was in serious danger of having my heart broken by him. He waltzed into my life out of nowhere, magically possessing every quality I longed for in a partner, and that was dangerous. It wouldn’t take long for me to fall for him, even if I hadn’t already begun the process. And make no mistake, I had. I was one stiff breeze away from tumbling right down that crevasse and I knew better than anyone that falling was a helluva lot easier than climbing back out.

I turned onto my back and stared at the ceiling, frustrated. I wanted to trust Jack. I wanted to let myself want Jack. I felt this profound connection to him that I couldn't put into words, and I wanted to think that he felt that too. Bad experiences had taught me that pinning your hopes on a person only ever ended in disappointment.

"Good morning," came a gravelly voice from beside me.

I let my head fall to the side, where Jack was looking over and smiling at me. His eyes were warm and I couldn't help but return his sleepy smile.

"It's definitely not the morning anymore."

He laughed, grunting as he reached over me to grab his phone from the bedside table. He sighed and lay back. "It's 1:30."

That wasn't so bad. I didn't have to start my shift until four.

"Go back to sleep if you're tired," I told him. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't, crazy girl." Jack slipped an arm under my shoulders and rolled me, bringing my face to his chest. I was careful not to prod his injured rib, though he seemed like he was able to deal with the pain.

Me, on the other hand, I couldn't deal with pain. Not of the emotional variety, anyway. And this felt too good. Being with Jack felt too fucking good for me to deal with.

"I should go." I tried to pull out of his hold but he held me tight. "Jack, let me go."

"No."

"Why not?"

I looked up at him. He was smiling down at me, those lips curled into a deliciously devious smirk.

"I'll let you go if you can tell me that you honestly want to go," he offered. "Say the words and mean them and you're free to leave."

That wasn't fair.

"This isn't a good idea," I said. Those were words I could mean. "It was fun, but I need to get back to my life now. What's left of it, anyway. I've got lots of work to do if I'm going to set out on my own."

"I can't disagree with you there," he replied, stroking my head with his gigantic hand. "These next few days are going to suck. I disagree about this not being a good idea, on the other hand."

I opened my mouth to fight him on it, to find some way to communicate what I was going through without having to admit how deeply I felt him in my bones and how much that scared me, but he silenced me with a chaste kiss on the lips. My body liquefied.

"It's crazy," he whispered, lips brushing across mine in a feather soft touch. "This whole thing is crazy, but there's something between us, sweetheart, and I want to explore that. Don't you?"

How could I argue with that? I literally didn't even have the power to speak and so just kissed him back.

"I feel that too," I admitted afterward. "And it scares me."

"I know." He was quiet for a moment, and I listened to his heart thump in his chest. Jack reached over and tipped up my chin until our eyes met. "Why don't you come with me?" he asked. "You can leave all this drama behind. No strings."

It was tempting. The part of me that loathed confrontation would've been quite happy to just never show up for work again, to never have to worry about running into Donnie or seeing any of his goons. What a relief it would be, knowing that I could go the rest of my life without seeing Donnie's watery blue eyes narrowed with hate.

But it wouldn't be real. And it wouldn't be right.

"I know it's not much of one, but I've got a life here," I told him. "I can't run away from that. I've never known anything other than Cannon and the thought of leaving is too much, too soon. I'm sorry."

His face fell a little, but he nodded. "I understand." With a curl of his lip, he added, "Would it be alright with you if I hung around for a while then? I just don't see how I could physically walk away from you."

Something hot bloomed in my chest and I let my face fall against his shoulder, breathing in his manly, musky scent.

"I would like that," I said.

"Maybe you could even stay with me," he suggested. "For as long or as little as you'd like, of course. I don't mean to be too forward, I just know that you probably don't have anywhere else to go."

Reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Shit. I really didn't have anywhere to go, did I? I'd been living with Donnie for so long that I forgot what it was like to be on my own, and I didn't even have a clue where to start in terms of finding a place. If it wasn't this motel room, it would be one just like it but without the benefit of a resident sexy man. My only other option would be going to stay with Naomi and, while I knew she'd take me in like an injured puppy in a heartbeat, I couldn't ask that of her. She had two kids to worry about already, not to mention enough drama with her own exes to fill up a daytime soap.

"That would be great, actually." I kissed his chest and propped my chin up to look at him. "Really, really great."

"Oh yeah?" He grinned and ran a thumb across my cheek. "And how do you intend to pay for your room?"

I bit my lower lip, letting my eyelids flutter over my cheeks. Then, in a husky voice, I said, "Do you accept..."

I swear to god his breath hitched.

"American Express?"

Jack let out a burst of laughter. "Cheeky little minx."

He rolled me onto my back, jamming his body between my legs. He was hard against my stomach and my body responded instinctively, heat flaring in my core. I remembered how hot the sex was the night before and warmth stained my cheeks.

Jack rested on his forearms above me, mouth brushing lightly against mine as he spoke.

"I'm afraid we don't accept American Express," he murmured.

"What about Diners Club?"

His tongue swiped over my lower lip and I shuddered with pleasure. "No credit cards. And before you ask, cash isn't an option either."

"Then how am I expected to pay you?" I asked sweetly. "What is it you want me to give?"

"Everything."

His lips claimed mine, passion unfurling around us like golden starbursts. I sighed and let him take me, let him guide me to new, pleasurable heights. He was a better lover than Donnie ever was, and I couldn't recall ever coming as hard as I did in his arms the last time.

He fucked me slow and gentle. Hard and fast was incredible, but slow and steady made me feel like he was sampling my body like a fine wine. And the buildup of pleasure? Fucking explosive.

By the time we pulled our sweat soaked bodies apart for good, it was nearly time for me to go to work. I couldn't believe we'd spent the afternoon having sex, and what's more I couldn't believe that I still wanted more.

"I don't want to go to work," I said, sitting up. "I don't know what I'm walking into."

"What do you mean?" Jack sat up beside me, pulling me against him as he pressed his lips to the top of my head.

I sighed. "Donnie's Uncle Hank runs the Alibi. I don't think breaking up with his nephew is a fireable offense, but then again everything in this town more or less works the way the Beringers want it to. Labor laws be damned."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Jack asked.

It was tempting, which shouldn't have surprised me. Jack was walking, talking temptation, and if I could have him at my side at all times to chase away the bad guys and hold me close when I was feeling sad, I would be over the moon. That wouldn't solve any of the problems, though. It would just sweep them under the rug.

"Just another one of those things I have to deal with alone," I said regretfully.

"I respect that about you, you know." He kissed down to my shoulder, holding his lips there as he spoke. "Nobody would blame you if you asked for help. In fact, I would rather be with you from now on, just to make sure that nobody fucking touches you. All the same, you're fearless and you've got principles."

"If I was that fearless I would've broken up with Donnie a long time ago," I muttered.

"But you still did it." He nuzzled against my neck. "And you did it on your own terms."

"I guess so," I said. "I just hope I don't end up regretting it."

"You won't."

He said it with such conviction that even though I was doubting myself, at least I could believe in him.

Chapter 16

Jack

Much as I tried to convince Melissa to just stay a little while longer, she eventually had to go to work, leaving me alone. I had no idea what to do with myself. If I were at home and didn't have any work to do, this was usually the time that I'd do some work on the house. It was an old place, and probably wasn't worth the frustration of fixing it up, but I couldn't just let my mom's house rot. It wasn't right. Even if I ended up leaving Bell Springs for good, I would never let that house fall to pieces.

But I wasn't in Bell Springs right now, and therefore had nothing to do. I also didn't know how long I was going to be here, but I figured it was long enough that I should find something to occupy my days.

I stretched down to pick up my jeans from the floor and fished the business card out of the back pocket. Then I tossed the jeans away and leaned back against the pillows.

Neil Buckins, it read. Project Manager.

"Fuck it," I muttered. "Worth a shot."

I grabbed my phone from the side table and punched in Neil's number. He picked up after only a couple of rings, sounding every bit as bright and cheerful as he had when I spoke to him at the bar.

"Hi Neil, this is Jack. I don't know if you remember me but—"

"Jack the fighter!" he roared. "It's great to hear from you. Heard about that mess last night...awful, just awful. That Beringer boy can be a real villain when he wants to be. I thought after that I wouldn't be hearing from you."

"Yeah, well I decided to stay in Cannon for a bit." I scratched my head, second-guessing myself on whether this was a good idea. "You said you had some work—"

"Fuck, do I ever have some work. You'd be surprised how few guys there are in this town who know which side of the hammer to use, if you know what I mean. Can you come by the job site tomorrow?"

"Sure," I said. "And thank you. I appreciate you taking a chance on me."

He laughed, and I could just picture his ribald face filling with cheer. "I bet on you once and I'll bet on you a dozen times more. See you tomorrow, Jack."

I hung up the phone and stared up at the ceiling. I guess I had a job. A real one. If everything went as smoothly as Neil seemed to think it would, then it might be a while before I needed to fight again. It was a comforting thought. I couldn't imagine having someone lay into me right now, not in the state I was in. Plus, I needed to save up all the strength I had in case Donnie or his friends tried anything while I was staying here. I would find it strange if they didn't.

I had a couple missed texts from my sister asking if everything was okay, and I decided to call her just to keep things simple. Even as the phone was ringing I still didn't know how much of what happened yesterday I was willing to reveal to her. She hated me fighting almost as much as mom did, but for now it was what I needed to do if she was going to stay in school. She worked part-time making coffee as it was, and full-time during the summers to save up money. Education didn't come cheap, but I refused to let her pass up on the opportunity to better herself.

"Hey bro," Sadie answered. "I was worried about you. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine," I said. It wasn't exactly a lie. The past twenty-four hours had been a mix of shit and roses, so I figured calling it even was fair. "I just had a busy night is all. How are things going with you?"

"Same old, same old," she said with a light laugh. "I've been thinking about coming home for a weekend soon. When would work for your schedule?"

My eye twitched. "Uh, I'm not home right now."

"What do you mean? Where are you?"

"I'm in Cannon," I said. "It's about thirty miles away from Bell Springs."

"Cannon..." She sounded suspicious. I didn't blame her. It wasn't like me to up and move to another city without any warning. "What are you doing there? I've never even heard of it."

"It's a small town," I said. "Probably around the same size as home. There's some work here so I'm just going to ride it out for a while."

"Riiiight."

"Really."

Sadie laughed. "Brother, you are so full of shit. What's her name?"

Damn my sister and her uncanny ability to tell when I was lying. It was annoying as hell.

"What makes you think I'm staying here for a girl?" I asked. "You know how things are at home. It's hard enough to get a job delivering pizza, never mind in construction."

"That hasn't sent you searching for greener pastures before," she pointed out. "You're a total homebody, so if you're staying in a buttfuck nowhere town called Cannon then it must be because of a girl. Either that or you've officially lost the plot."

I sighed. This wasn't a game I would be able to win. "Her name is Melissa."

"I knew it."

"You're very smart. Give yourself a pat on the back." I rolled my eyes but couldn't keep the grin from my face.

"Jack's got a girlfriend!" Sadie teased. "Jack and Melissa, sitting in a tree—"

"Do not start with me," I warned. "Just because I've never given you a wedgie doesn't mean I don't know how."

She giggled. "Alright, tough guy. I won't bother you about your girlfriend. How long are you going to be there?"

"I don't know."

"When you find out, let me know. Maybe I could come visit."

The thought of Melissa meeting my kid sister wasn't unpleasant. But not now, it was way too soon.

"Yeah, maybe. I'll keep you in the loop. Now get back to studying."

"Yeah...studying..."

Sadie might joke, but she was the hardest worker I knew. She could study for hours on end and not break a sweat.

After my phone call with Sadie, I was officially out of distractions. Now there was nothing but me, an empty motel room, and my thoughts. I wished Melissa didn't have to work. I could have spent all day in bed with her as easily as breathing.

My stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn't eaten since my burger the night before. Ma's Diner felt like it had happened years ago, and my stomach was feeling that too.

I took a quick shower, debating my options while the hot water cascaded down my back. I didn't know anywhere in this town other than the bus station and the Alibi, though I could probably find somewhere to eat if I put my mind to it. But why bother? I already knew where to find the Alibi and I already knew that they had the sexiest bartender in the world.

I got dressed, realizing that I was going to have to go back to Bell Springs at some point, or else I was going to have to get real used to the shirt and pants I had with me. And the blood stains on them. I couldn't even tell if it was my blood or not.

I remembered the route Melissa took when she drove me to the motel yesterday and was able to find my way down to the bar on foot. On the way I got a good look at my new locale, which looked remarkably similar to my old one. The same squat stucco houses, the same long, dusty roads, the same weathered, tired faces. Fuck, I may as well have been in an ad for rural Arizona. Everything looked and smelled the same but it wasn't comforting the way familiar sights and smells are supposed to be.

I wanted something different. I wanted out. I would stay in Cannon as long as Melissa wanted me here, but I decided right then that once I was out of Cannon, I was out of everywhere like it too. I wanted something different. I wanted big leafy trees and fields of green and rain. I wanted a fresh start. Melissa had inspired me, and I wondered how she would take the idea of making a fresh start with me eventually. I couldn't imagine anything more cathartic than the salt spray of the ocean on my skin, especially when my present nightmare was the baking sun and red dust, like I was strolling through a Martian landscape.

I reached the Alibi after about a twenty minute walk, and I was thirsty by the time I got there. And starving. The kitchen smell hit me when I walked through the door and my mouth watered.

At first I didn't notice that the place fell eerily silent. When I did notice, I looked around to see the few customers staring at me, though they quickly looked away before we could lock eyes.

Well, it looked like last night's drama had gotten more than just Neil's attention.

I looked to the bar for a friendly face, but Melissa wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere, as far as I could see, which I found unsettling to say the least. I took a table at the back and waited, ready to jump to her defense again the second she called on me.

Chapter 17

Melissa

None of the staff from last night were on shift when I first got into work, which was a small blessing. I wouldn't have minded Naomi so much, especially since she really stepped up for me when I needed her and I owed her for that, but I could do without the questions of any of the other girls who'd been around when everything went down with Donnie. It was bad enough that I was probably going to be questioned by the customers, and definitely by my boss.

I put my stuff away in the back without running into Hank, though I could tell he was in because there was light showing under the crack of his door. That was a problem for another time. I went right to work behind the bar, catching up with the regulars and trying to seem as cheery as possible.

A little over half an hour into my shift, Hank came out from the back hallway and gestured for me to follow him back to his office. Dread settled in my stomach like a lead weight, but I tossed my bar towel by the sink and went down to accept my fate. If he was going to fire me, so be it, but I wouldn't be going down without a fight.

"Hey Hank," I said cheerily when I entered his office.

"Don't Hey Hank me." His mouth flattened into a sour line. "Sit."

I took a seat across from his desk, squeezing my hands into fists out of his line of view.

"Things got fucked up last night," Hank said, scratching his head. "And from what I hear, you had front row seats."

"Are you referring to when your nephew and his friends nearly killed someone in your parking lot?"

Hank narrowed his eyes. "From what I hear, the guy who got knocked out was also the one who challenged Donnie to a fight in the first place. Is that true?"

I ground my teeth. "Technically, yes."

"And I also hear you’re what they were fighting over. Is that true?"

"Where are you going with this?" I was getting irritated now. "Are you going to fire me or what? I've got customers out there."

"Fire you?" Hank shook his salt and pepper head, laughing lightly to himself. "Donnie would love that, I'm sure. He's all worked up about whatever happened between you two, but I'm staying out of it."

"Then why did you pull me in here?"

Hank sighed, leaning back in his chair and fixing me with an appraising look. I let some of my hair fall in front of my bruised eye, though I knew he could still see it. Having everyone look at me piteously was taking some getting used to and I couldn't wait for the day my face was healed. After that, I'd never let it get beat up again if I could help it.

"I'm glad you broke up with him," Hank said after a moment. "I know, I know, I said I was staying out of it and I am, but for what's it's worth I would be on your side if I were taking one. That being said..." His mouth slid into an almost apologetic smile. "I can't have any drama in my bar. Not more than the usual, I mean. I know it would be near impossible to avoid Donnie in this place, and I don't expect you to do that, but I do expect you to keep things wrapped up. If there's another big scene like we had up in here last night, I'm gonna have to fire you."

"Your honesty is appreciated," I replied. "Don't suppose there's any way you could have a similar chat with your nephew?"

Hank let out a barking laugh. "It wouldn't matter if I sat him down for a goddamn presentation with a quiz at the end and everything. That boy will do what he wants, and it's not my business or responsibility to set him right. Family is family."

I sucked in a breath, trying not to blow my fuse when Hank was offering me a clear olive branch. This was nearly the best-case scenario for how this situation could've played out, but I was still profoundly frustrated. Donnie got everything he wanted and nobody ever told him no. Not even his uncle, who low key despised the little prick. It didn't matter that I was the one sporting bruises down to my soul thanks to him or that he wouldn't have felt an ounce of guilt if he had gone too far and killed Jack last night. Everybody let Donnie get away with it because it was easier than trying anything else.

"Fine," I said. At least I got to keep my job. "If he's even a little rude to me though, I'm just going to walk away. If I don't remove myself from the situation I could snap and I don't want to cause a scene in your bar."

He shrugged. "Don't care. Walking away is fine, it's the staying and yellin' I want to avoid."

I wanted to add that he didn't mind yelling when it was his other customers or that we had a reputation as being a fairly wild and rowdy bar. I suspected Hank had been contacted by Donnie's parents and was given strict instructions not to let their son make a fool out of them. If so, I wished I could tell them it was too late.

"You better be getting back to work," Hank announced, slapping his leg and sitting upright. "Go make me lots of money."

I left his office, irritation sizzling just below the surface. None of this was fair. He should be warning his nephew to stay out of the bar, not telling me that my ass was on the line if something should happen. I was the victim here. Now that I'd finally accepted that fact, it was extra frustrating to be treated any other way. Not that I wanted to be victimized or anything, but I wouldn't have minded a little bit of respect.

I headed straight back to the bar, but the hulking man in one of the side booths caught my attention. He wasn't just any hulking man—he was my hulking man. I changed course and headed straight for him.

Jack had showered since I saw him last and his hair was still damp. He'd shaved too, and looked so fresh that I could almost look past the cuts and bruises to the Armani model underneath. Not that I needed to look past his rough edges to see just how freaking sexy he was. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday and I felt bad. It was my fault he was here without any other clothes or possessions, and I made a mental note to run out in the morning to pick him up a couple new shirts to show him how much it meant to me.

"Hey handsome," I greeted, resting my hand on my hip. "I didn't expect to see you so soon."

Jack smiled. "I was hungry," he said. "And I knew for a fact I'd find something delicious here."

"Only the best."

"Don't I know it." He added a flirty wink at the end and heat seared my core.

I was about one saucy comment away from crawling up onto his lap and kissing that smile right off his face, but that was surely another kind of scene Hank was hoping to avoid.

Instead, I opted for something a little less steamy. "Have you ordered yet? Who's helping you?"

"Uh, no. And nobody yet." He shrugged. "I don't think I'm very popular around here."

I shot a glance over my shoulder just in time to catch Gerry, the server who was supposed to be working this section, look away. She was standing by the bar, chatting with one of the regulars, a bussing tray balanced on her hip. If she was too busy to take Jack's order I would eat my hat.

"My apologies for the shitty service," I replied. "First drink's on the house. You must be pretty hungry, too."

He caught my eye and grinned. "Ravenous."

Now how the hell was I supposed to get anything done with him making my brain turn to goo with just one word like that? It wasn't fair.

"I'll get you a menu."

Before I could turn around, Jack called, "No need. I know what I want."

I cocked a quizzical brow. "From the menu?"

The look in his eyes could be considered nothing less than smoldering. I swallowed hard and wondered if anybody would notice if I pulled up a stool behind the bar for the rest of the night. Never mind getting anything done—how the hell was I supposed to stay standing when he looked at me like that?

"Just a burger and fries," he said. "For now."

"Righty-roo."

I turned away from Jack just in time for him to miss the flash of scarlet on my face, a side effect from saying something as stupid as "righty-roo". I couldn't help myself. Was it normal for someone to react to another person this much? We'd barely talked and now I was too hot and bothered to dive straight back into work. I dropped off his order at the kitchen, intending to hang out there for a second while I had a nice cold drink of water, and ran into Gerry on the way.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" I asked.

The willowy brunette grabbed her order from the window, her fluorescent pink nails standing out against the white porcelain. She had the gall to look offended.

"What are you talking about?"

"You left a customer sitting out there without even so much as a menu for god knows how long. I ended up having to take his order."

Gerry thrust her nose in the air. "I don't have to serve nobody I don't want to if I'm worried about my health and wellbeing. That guy's no good."

I rolled my eyes. "Worried about your health and wellbeing? That's a crock of shit."

"Don't you swear at me like that," she snapped. "I heard about what happened between that guy and Donnie. Poor thing. The last thing I want is to encourage him to keep coming here. If you've got a problem, take it up with Hank."

It took me a second to realize that Donnie was the "poor thing" in this equation. At least, according to Gerry.

She tossed her hair over her shoulder—hair that should have been tied up—and waltzed out of the kitchen. I glared at her sourly, wishing I could take this to Hank without him throwing me out of his office.

This small-town life was killing me. It might take five years or it might take fifty, but eventually stagnating in this backwater, with its petty drama and blatant nepotism, was going to be the end of me.

Chapter 18

Jack

I wiped the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand, feeling another drop of it wind down my back as I stood up. It was a hot day and I was tired, but fuck if a little hard work didn't feel good. I'd been working for Neil for a week now and still found myself enjoying every day, even if it was backbreaking labor in sweltering heat.

"Lookin' good," said a voice from beside me.

I glanced over to see Neil gazing down approvingly at the eight-foot section of wall I was working on. I didn't want to preen too much, but I was proud of myself too. Neil discovered almost right away that I had a knack for carpentry, something I hadn't even realized myself. Though I'd spent most of the week doing the kind of grunt work that gets pawned off on unskilled laborers like me, he'd been peppering me with carpentry projects to test my skills and teach me some new ones. All week, Neil had been setting me up to do the framing that day by myself. It was the best day of work so far.

Maybe it was just because I knew I got to go back to my crappy motel room "home" after this, where Melissa would be waiting for me. That never failed to put me in a good mood. It was Friday, too, so I had a whole weekend of fucking and resting ahead of me. A man couldn't ask for much more in this life.

"Thanks boss." I licked my lip. It was salty with sweat.

"The other guys are heading out for the day," Neil continued. "You seemed kinda lost in your own world so I figured I'd come and let you know."

I laughed. I was completely caught up in what I was doing.

"Friday afternoon already?" I joked.

Neil clapped me on the back. "I think you're gonna get on just fine around here, kid. Just fine. I've got beer in the office if you wanna grab a brew before you go."

"Can't tonight." I stripped off my gloves and ran my hand through my hair, which stood up in every direction. "Rain check?"

Now that I knew I was only a quick drive from Melissa, I couldn't wait a second longer to get to her. I wasn't all that interested in hanging with the other guys, either. I made small talk with them during the day, but I didn't intend for it to go any further than that. I had no plans to hang around here long-term and I didn't trust anybody in this town as far as I could throw them, minus Neil and Melissa. And Naomi too, I supposed, though I'd only seen her once briefly since she took care of me in the parking lot that one night.

"Sure thing." Neil smacked me on the back again. He was one of those physically affectionate guys who didn't think he was physically affectionate. He would probably run screaming in the other direction if somebody came at him for a hug, but he was down for a firm handshake or back smack any day of the week. It was endearing.

Melissa had loaned me her car for the day, since she didn’t have to work until later that night. Just as I unlocked it, my phone rang. Roddy’s name flashed on my call ID and I frowned but answered.

“Hey Jack,” Roddy said with obvious false cheer. “How are you doing? Heard that last fight of yours was a game changer.”

I snorted. “If by ‘game changer’ you mean I got jumped afterward and got the shit kicked out of me, then yes, it really changed the game.” I slid into the car and stuck my keys in the transmission, hoping to wrap the call up quick.

“Shit man, I’m sorry to hear that. I just meant that apparently you were on fire. Clarence said Angry Angus didn’t even know what hit him.”

“Yeah, well his friends sure did. How can I help you, Roddy?”

“Straight to the point, I like it.”

He was always trying to cozy up to me, the same way a snake does to a mouse it’s not ready to eat yet. Except Roddy was slimier, like an eel.

“I’ve got a fight for you,” he continued. “This one should present a little bit more of a challenge, but it’s a little more money too.”

I nearly asked him how much more money, but my thoughts drifted back to the beautiful woman waiting for me, and I knew Melissa wouldn’t like it. Besides, I was taking things in a different direction now.

“I’m not your guy.” I turned the key and the AC started blasting out at me, warm from a long day of sitting in the sun. “I’m not doing fights anymore.”

“Jack Paxton not doing fights anymore?” he said incredulously. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not kidding. I’m done with that shit.”

I could almost hear him crunching the numbers in his head, trying to figure out how much money he stood to lose if he wasn’t able to replace me. And there would be no replacing me. People paid big bucks to watch me scrap, and many of my fights over the years had been the result of people asking for me by name.

“I can get you a bit more money,” he said hopefully. “Not much, since I still gotta turn a profit and all, but there’s a little bit more there if it’ll entice my favorite fighter.”

I had to cringe at that one. The AC was blowing out cold air now and I luxuriated in it for a moment while Roddy continued to try to sell me something I didn’t want.

"Swear to god, man, this one's in the bag for you. I'm willing to throw in a little bonus for a lose though if things turn that way. That's just how much I care."

Alright. I'd had enough.

"Not interested, Roddy. Don't call again."

I hung up while he whined down the line at me, begging me to reconsider and to not "be like that". Then I pulled out onto the road and started driving.

It surprised me that I wasn't more interested in Roddy's offer. I hadn't thought much about fighting since my last, but it was never something that occupied much of my thoughts. I always rose to the challenge when Roddy called, though. Always. It had become almost a knee jerk reaction since I needed the money more than I needed anything else. It wasn't a question before.

Now I had Melissa, and I had good, stable work. There was more to lose, even though, in this case, there was more to gain than usual. I wasn't going to do anything to fuck up what Melissa and I had. It was fledgling, but it was right.

I couldn't get to the hotel fast enough. I was buzzing by the time I pulled up in front, the same way I was every time I got to come home to her beautiful, smiling face. I'd never lived with a girlfriend before, if that was what Melissa was to me, but so far I saw the appeal.

I slid my key into the lock and heard shuffling from the other side of the door. With a curious smile, I entered.

And got jumped.

Rather than having the shit kicked out of me, however, I soon found a soft pair of lips on my own, and a lithe body wrapped around my torso. I grabbed Melissa's firm ass to hold her up and returned the kiss with enthusiasm, still laughing with surprise.

"Miss me?" I asked, lips feathering over hers.

She pecked me on the lips again and pulled back, grinning. "Oh, baby—you have no idea."

The gravelly tone of her words sent a flood of heat straight to my cock. I growled and turned her around, pressing her back against the flat of the door and grinding my hardness against her.

"I think I might have some idea," I murmured.

Melissa reached between us, stroking me while rubbing against herself too. My legs turned rubbery, and I let her down, ready to drag the little vixen to the bed by her hair and have my wicked way with her. Melissa had other ideas.

The second her feet hit the ground, Melissa ducked around me. I turned to see her on her knees before me, and my brain fucking exploded. Her mouth stretched into a devious grin and she stripped her shirt off while I watched, revealing a dramatic lacy black bra underneath that hugged the curves of her tits perfectly. My cock was now at full attention.

"I went out this morning and did a little shopping," Melissa said, running her hands up my thighs.

Her fingers brushed over my zipper, and my legs shook. I had to lean back against the door for support.

"You look good enough to eat," I replied.

She unzipped me and dragged my jeans down my legs, following suit with my boxers. Her wide-eyed admiration of my cock did not go unnoticed, and a white flame licked at the pit of my belly.

"I could say the same for you," Melissa drawled.

I about fucking lost it.

"Don't tease me, sweetheart," I warned. "I want you way too fucking bad right now."

"Don't tease you?" She cupped my balls in one hand and began to massage them. I saw stars. "Why would I do something like that?"

I growled and grabbed a fist of her hair, angling her face to look up at me. God, she looked good from that angle. That mischievous smile still dominated her lips, and it killed me. She killed me.

"Why don't you tell me what you want," she drawled. "Tell me how I can serve you after a long, hard day of work."

Fucking hell. Fucking. Hell.

I couldn't take it anymore. Melissa wanted me to tell her what I wanted? I would do her one better. I would show her.

I grabbed my cock in one hand and guided it into her waiting mouth, pulling her head closer to my groin as her lips enveloped my shaft.

Melissa went to work without hesitation, gobbling my meat down nearly to the root, all the while keeping her eyes on mine. Her mouth was so hot, so wet. So fucking good. She moaned, sending vibrations of pleasure all the way to my balls and making me squeeze my eyes closed. When I opened them again, she was mashing her tits together, putting on one hell of a show for me as she bobbed faster and faster.

"Ah fuck," I groaned. "Your mouth is so fucking hot."

Her lips still managed to curve into a smile, even with her mouth stuffed. I'd never had a hotter blowjob in my life, and I'd had my fair share. There was something so raw and sexual about the moment, yet it still carried that trademark intimacy that came standard with everything we did together.

"Fuck, sweetheart, I'm gonna cum." I groaned and gritted my teeth, stroking the back of her head.

Melissa moaned again and went deeper still. The pleasure built inside of me like a dam, and I let more of my weight rest against the door in preparation for it to break because, fuck, it was going to be a good one.

Melissa added more suction and looked up at me with those big, sexy blue eyes, and I broke.

My whole body throbbed with wild pleasure, pulsing in time with my cock as I spilled in her mouth. I had to lean my head back and moan. My skin tingled everywhere, like tiny sparks dancing on my skin.

I came back down to earth just as Melissa started kissing up my body, pulling my t-shirt off with her. I captured her lips in a rough, bruising kiss and pushed her toward the bed.

"Lie down, sweetheart," I told her. "I'm about to rock your fucking world."

Chapter 19

Melissa

I heard the shouts and hollers before they even opened the door. Donnie and his friends, fresh from some idiotic adventure or something akin, burst through the Alibi's front entrance with enough force to startle a couple of the customers just tucking into their Friday night beer.

I rolled my eyes but didn't watch as they found a table in the corner, too busy counting out change for my last customer. Naomi approached the bar, casting a look at the rowdy group and then one at me. Her expression was soft, full of pity, and I shook my head vehemently.

"I'm over it. I doubt Donnie is, but I am, and I'm going to pretend like nothing happened from here on out," I told her.

"Isn't this the first time you've seen him, though?" she asked. "You know, since you broke up."

Since I hadn't gone into details about how that break up had gone down, Naomi naturally assumed the worst. It was messy as far as breakups go, but it could have been much messier. No matter the mess, however, I was willing to look past it and move on. I needed to if I wanted to stay sane.

"It is," I confirmed. "But that doesn't change anything. Except the fact that I'm not serving their table, of course."

"I assumed." She cracked a smile. "I'll keep 'em in line."

"All you have to do is keep 'em in drinks," I replied. "It was never my job to keep Donnie from making an ass of himself, and it's not yours either. It was a service I provided out of the good of my heart, and if he crashes and burns now, that's his own goddamn fault."

Naomi winked. "I like it. Can I get a Bud and two vodka tonics?"

I went back to work, and it wasn't long before I forgot all about the little foursome in the corner. They would not be forgotten though, unfortunately.

"...Can't believe she's such a slut!" Matt practically yelled. It was loud enough for me to hear it from across the room, which meant it was loud enough for almost everybody in the bar to hear.

Andre chirped in next. "Yeah man, and that trashy new boyfriend of hers..."

His voice faded out as Donnie's booming laughter barreled over it.

I refused to look over at the group, even though I knew they were all waiting to see my reaction. I couldn't react, not when Donnie probably knew that Hank had warned me to keep it together. Even if he hadn't, Hank was only in the back office right now. I didn't want to lose my job tonight, so I kept ignoring them.

Naomi came back for more drinks, and this time her expression was even softer. I couldn't take it.

"I'm fine, Naomi."

"You don't look fine. You look like you've swallowed a whole egg, baby."

I looked up and frowned at her. "Fresh or hard-boiled?"

Naomi's lips cracked into a smile, and we had a giggle together while I filled her orders.

"At least my ex isn't a gold digging tramp!"

My smile fell. I couldn't tell which one of them had said it this time, but it didn't matter.

"Fuck this," I muttered, slapping my towel onto the counter and heading out onto the floor.

Naomi followed me. "Babe, wait."

Donnie and his friends were watching me. I could feel their eyes on me, and the frustration bubbling in my gut warned me that I was playing right into their hands. That made it so much worse because I didn't know what I could do that wouldn't play into their hands. I stopped and allowed Naomi to turn me to face her.

"Remember what Hank said about causing a scene... Those boys are disrespectful as all hell, but you know how things work around here." She scowled over at them. "Let me handle this one, okay?"

I was more curious to see what her handling the situation would entail than I was assuaged by her plea. Reluctantly, and with a great, world-weary sigh, I headed back behind the bar.

Naomi came with me, patting me reassuringly on the back. It didn't matter how obviously uncomfortable physical affection made me, she still insisted on doing it at every turn. When I first started working with her, it used to scare the shit out of me every time. I wasn't used to people touching me at all back then, and hell I couldn't remember when my last hug was. Now I was starting to see the comfort in it, and I realized she was wearing me down.

"Can I get a sweet tea, darlin'?" she asked.

I nodded and got back to work, trying to ignore the raucous laughter coming from the side of the room I was pretending not to notice.

I slipped the tea onto Naomi's tray, and she winked at me, grinning wide, as she lifted it into the air and started sashaying toward the back of the room.

I was going to check the bar for refills, but something told me to keep watching Naomi. I absently ran a rag over the bar top as she walked closer and closer to Donnie's table, where all four of them had their heads bent together in laughter. The table was a mess of beer and napkins. They always made such a goddamn mess.

Naomi executed a perfect fake trip as she walked past their table. It was glorious—screeching, arms spinning, legs buckling beneath her. She crashed onto the floor palms first, but her tray and the glass of sweet tea went tumbling to the right; straight into Donnie's lap.

I never realized, before breaking up with Donnie, how few people in Cannon liked him. I guess people never said anything or acted like it around me because they thought I'd tell him, which is fair enough. I wouldn't want to shit talk a Beringer in front of his girlfriend either. But now that I was on the outside looking in, with the rest of Cannon's residents, I'd begun to appreciate just how much the Cannon community disliked him. His family was respected, sure, but that respect didn't extend to Donnie, or at least not in the way he always seemed to think it did.

What better place for a poignant examination of this trend than the town's favorite bar? And what better situation than one so hilarious that it made the whole bar erupt into laughter? Hoots and cheers filled the air as jubilation rippled through the crowd, and Donnie’s face flushed redder than a ripe tomato.

It wasn't enough. Watching Donnie get humiliated a thousand times in front of everyone he knew would never be enough to make up for everything he'd done to me, but fuck if it wasn't a good time.

Donnie charged up out of his seat and started madly berating Naomi, dripping sweet tea all down the front of his jeans and onto the bench seat.

“You stupid bitch! Why don’t you watch where you’re fucking going?”

Those around Naomi sprung to her rescue. She, unlike Donnie, was very well-liked, and taking a tumble as she did was guaranteed to earn some sympathy. I would have never suspected, however, that the same people who helped Naomi back to her feet would have no problem calling out the raging Beringer for his uncalled-for insults.

"It was an accident," Benny, one of the regulars said sternly, wobbling his Lorax mustache. "Get over yourself."

"Leave the poor woman alone," contributed Benny's wife, Sheila. "There's no place in this establishment for that kind of rudeness."

That was the cherry on top since there wasn't a staff member in there who hadn't been harangued by Sheila Gladstone at least once and everybody knew it. Donnie looked like he was going to start unloading on Sheila and Benny too, but after a second he gritted his teeth and jerked his head toward the door. His goons got up and followed his lead.

"Donnie, wait!" I called, not wanting to miss the opportunity to rub dirt in his wound a little more.

He stopped at the door, looking over at me expectantly.

I grinned. "You forgot to pay your bill."

Donnie threw his hands in the air and continued storming out of the bar, yelling over his shoulder, "Put it on my tab!"

As soon as the door swung closed behind him, the Alibi's patrons served up a second course of laughter. Sheila high-fived Naomi, who—ever the dutiful waitress—was already cleaning up the mess.

Things soon got back to normal, though the cheer of the evening lingered long into the night. I hung with it for a while, letting everyone's smiles lift me somewhere that my angst about the Donnie situation couldn't reach me. Soon, however, that happiness began to crumble.

It wasn't that seeing Donnie get a little taste of his own medicine wasn't satisfying—it was how powerless I'd been in all of it. I didn't like having my battles fought for me, and I certainly didn't like not being allowed to fight my battles in the first place. Plus, it didn't escape my notice that the only way to get one in against Donnie was to "accidentally" spill some tea on him and laugh him out the door. It was ridiculous that there wasn't a better way to tell him off. It was ridiculous that I had to sit there and watch while that shit unfolded.

All in all, I felt trapped. Behind my bar. In this town.

In this life.

Completely and utterly trapped.

The obvious solution was to set myself free. But how? I already felt so much freer than I had before, and maybe that was why I’d been content to sit back and ride things out for a while. Now the time for sitting back was over. I needed to get out there and do something about it myself.

I was cleaning glasses when the thought hit me. I would save money, enough money to get me out of Cannon forever. I didn't know where I'd go—somewhere bigger, but beyond that, it didn't matter. First I would need to save, and from there I'd formulate the rest of the plan as needed.

Even as I planned a new life, I couldn’t shake the fear that I would almost certainly fail. I had nothing to offer the world outside of Cannon, and barely anything to offer in Cannon. What would I even do?

I chewed over these thoughts for the rest of my shift. Then, tired in more ways than one, I climbed into my car and motored over to the motel that had become my home and sanctuary. Donnie's house was much nicer and fancier in almost every way, but that didn't bother me a lick. I was happiest when I was with my fighter in our little hideaway, where we could watch TV and pig out on snacks in peace.

Even still, I couldn't force a smile as I walked through the door. Jack looked up from the couch, where he'd been reading, and furrowed his brow.

"Everything okay?" He got to his feet and crossed the room, gathering me in his arms.

"Fine," I lied.

I couldn't tell him. I wished I could. He would have all the right words to reassure me that I wasn't a waste of space in the world, that I had more to offer than just bartending and a broken past. But as soon as I thought about letting him in on my little plan of almost certain failure, the words died in my throat.

I was on my own in this world. I always had been, and likely always would be. Just because Jack was here now didn't mean he was going to stick around. Just because I wanted him forever, didn't mean he wanted me forever too.

Chapter 20

Jack

“Okay, now hold your hands out," I instructed. "And whatever you do, don't open your eyes."

Melissa did as instructed. One of the things I loved about her was that she was very good at taking instructions. Maybe later I'd play with that a little, but for now, I had something else I wanted to give her.

I pulled the rectangular box from behind my back and placed it onto her outstretched palms.

"Okay, open."

Melissa's eyes flicked open and she looked at the object in her hands. Her lips curved into a smile, but it was a weak one. "You got me paint," she observed.

"I know it's not much..." I scratched the back of my head nervously, self-conscious about her lack of enthusiasm.

"No, baby it's great." Melissa leaned over and pecked me on the cheek. "Thank you. I can't wait to get started on it."

"I just noticed you haven't been drawing much recently and you said you would paint if you had paint… I thought it might help inspire you," I offered.

"I'm sure it will. That's great. Are you all ready to go?"

"Yeah, basically," I answered, trying not to sound as deflated as I felt.

It had taken Melissa over a week to reveal how much she loved art, and only then because I'd stumbled on her doodling on some napkins at work. Apparently, Donnie had done a number on her in that regard, and even though she was talented, he'd always discouraged her from pursuing her passion. Melissa didn't even consider it a passion because she never thought she'd be good enough to do anything with it. She was wrong, of course, and I hoped if I kept encouraging her, it would only be a matter of time before she figured that out for herself.

Maybe I was overstepping my boundaries with the gift. Why was I so useless at shit like this? All I was trying to do was cheer her up a bit since she'd been in a rut for days now. She would deny it if I brought it up, but something was bothering my girl, and nothing I did seemed to help.

Today's outing was an example of me meeting my wit's end in my attempts to cheer her up—the Fall Fair. It was a cheesy date idea, but it was hard to be unhappy when surrounded by laughter and music and screams of joy. Now I was beginning to wonder if I should just call the whole thing quits and suggest a movie marathon instead, but she seemed enthusiastic about it. We spent so much of our time in our room together. We both needed to get out.

I pulled on a shirt and turned to the door, where Melissa was waiting. Someone rapped forcefully on the wood.

I dropped all thoughts of fun and games and strode for the door, putting a possessive arm across Melissa's shoulders to guide her away.

"It could be Donnie," I murmured.

"And you don't think I can deal with him?"

"Of course you can," I said, kissing her on the cheek. "But I'm not taking any chances."

I pulled on the handle, fully expecting to see the smug prick's face. What I got instead was a bushy mane of sandy hair.

"Jack!" my sister squealed, tackling me in a hug.

"Oof." I caught her, spinning her in a circle before setting her back on the ground. "Jeez, way to give a guy a heart attack."

"I'm glad to see you too," she tutted. Her wide hazel eyes swung to Melissa and Sadie grinned. "You must be Melissa! I've heard so much about you!"

"And you must be Sadie," Melissa greeted.

Before she could say anything more, Sadie enveloped her in a friendly hug as well. Melissa clapped her awkwardly on the back and backed out of it a second later.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Sadie let out a great sigh and pushed her way into the room. "Ugh, you would not believe the week I've had. I swear to god one of my professors is out to kill me with all the homework she assigns. So I thought hey, why not visit my big brother and I can finally meet the mystery girl in his life. And here I am." She finished with a flourish of her hands as she dropped her bag onto the floor. "You're cool if I sleep on your couch, right?"

Fuck. I looked over to Melissa, nervous about how she would take all this. Sadie could be a lot to handle, and she'd just muscled her way into our little life without any warning while Mel was already in a bad mood. This could be disastrous.

Surprisingly enough, Melissa laughed and nodded enthusiastically. "I can't wait to hear all about what Jack was like as a kid! I have this theory that he was secretly a little sweetheart and he's just too tough to admit it."

"Not quite a little sweetheart, but I'm sure I've got a few tales to tickle your funny bone."

"We were actually on our way out," I interrupted before Sadie could reveal anything I couldn't take back. Not that I knew what the devious little thing had up her sleeve. "We're going to the town's Fall Fair if you wanted to come."

"A small-town Fall Fair?" Sadie made a show of cleaning her glasses on her shirt and putting them back on with a determined expression. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, big brother. Not for the freaking world."

"Great, it's settled." Melissa grinned and threaded her arm through mine. “Cannon doesn’t have much of a social calendar, but the fair is the highlight.”

I hadn't seen Melissa in such a buoyant mood all week. I never thought that my saving grace would be my annoying kid sister.

"To the fair!" Sadie declared, thrusting a finger into the air like she was a seasoned general on her final battlefield.

I rolled my eyes. It was going to be an interesting day.

"Sadie, no."

"Um naw a dah."

"What?"

Sadie finished chewing her mouthful of popcorn. "I'm not a dog,” she argued. “You can’t tell me no.”

I folded my arms and looked down at her imperiously. “You’ve already had popcorn and mini donuts. Cotton candy’s just going to make you sick.”

Melissa snickered. “He’s so bossy.”

Sadie turned to her, wide-eyed. “Right? It’s like he thinks he’s the king of everything.” She looked back at me and, with a smug turn of her lips, shoved another handful of popcorn into her mouth.

I glared at her as she chewed.

“I’m in college now, Jack. You wouldn’t believe the kind of shit I get up to, and I won’t tell you because I don’t want you to get your dainty panties in a twist.”

Bits of popcorn flew everywhere while she spoke and I grimaced. “Disgusting.”

“Says the guy who spent years two through twenty-two covered in dirt.”

“I did not.”

She stuck her lip out. “Did too.”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Paxtons!” Melissa yelled, getting between us and forcing us apart. She made a great referee. “Everybody relax for a second.”

Sadie and I both burst into laughter. We'd never been able to stay mad at each other for more than a few minutes on the worst of days, and we weren't even really arguing. I missed my sister when she wasn't around, but I was glad to see she was still her normal, bratty self.

“You think they’d teach you not to be so stupid in college,” I said, reaching around Melissa to smack Sadie in the arm.

“And you’d think having a girlfriend would have made you a little more cultured,” she retorted, also reaching around Melissa to smack me in the arm.

Melissa glared up at me. I offered up an expression that I hoped was suitably chastened.

“What are we going to do now?” Sadie asked. “Besides getting me cotton candy, of course. It’s not a proper fair unless I leave with a fatter ass than I came in with.”

I rolled my eyes. Sadie was a curvy girl, always had been, and she’d always been very proud of the size of her rear in particular. I guess it was something she got teased about in middle school, and with true Sadie grace she’d managed to turn that negative experience into a positive one by owning her curves. I had no problem with that. I was proud of how confident she was. I would have a problem, however, with her getting neon-pink vomit all over our tiny bathroom.

“We could hit up the midway,” Melissa suggested. “Maybe afterward we could see about another couple of rides? I’ve been eyeing that Ferris wheel.”

Sadie snorted, and I sent her a warning look but, as she always did, she ignored it.

“You won’t get my brother on a Ferris wheel.”

Melissa cocked her head to the side, eyeing me with interest. “Why not?”

Sadie beamed. “He’s terrified of them. We went on one together when I was what…four? Five?” She looked to me for help, but I merely glared. Sadie laughed and continued. “He was in his teens in any case. And he bawled like a baby the entire time.”

“I did not!”

“Did too!”

I growled with frustration. "I'm not starting this again. And I didn't cry." I caught Melissa's eye. "I was a little bit upset. I don't like heights, and I'd never been on a Ferris wheel before."

Melissa's expression melted into pure goodness, and she took my hand. "That's okay. Everybody is afraid of something." She tossed a saucy wink to Sadie. "We can hold your hand and get you through it."

I jerked my hand away, and the two girls descended into giggles, Sadie spilling popcorn everywhere. Much as I didn't appreciate the teasing, and I would get Melissa back for it later, I loved seeing them get on the way they did. They were the two most important women in my life, and them being friends could only be a good thing.

We headed toward the midway, and I had to drag Sadie back in line when she bobbed off to get some cotton candy.

"If you want some you can get it later," I reasoned.

She pouted, but she knew I was right and let me guide her away.

My phone rang, and I looked at the screen, ready to ignore it. I saw it was my boss, however, and stopped the girls so I could answer it before we reached the chaos of the midway.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jack, it’s Neil.”

Neil did not sound happy.

"Hey, Neil, what's up?"

"Looks like some vandals got onto the job site sometime last night or today, I don't know. Anyway, the place is a fucking mess. There's spray paint, busted walls, and they fuckin' TP'd the place." He sighed. "Think you could come around and help me clean it up? I can't leave it like this."

The girls were watching me expectantly, and it broke my heart, but I couldn't leave Neil in a bind. He'd been good to me so far when he had no reason to, and I wanted to be the best worker I could be.

“Sure. I’ll be there in twenty.”

"Great. Thanks, kid."

I hung up the phone and ran a hand through my hair, wincing. "I've gotta go into work."

“What happened?”

I relayed what Neil had told me, and the girls were horrified.

“That sucks balls,” Sadie said. She turned to Melissa. “Do you want to stay at the fair for a bit longer? No reason we have to leave just because Jack’s gotta go be a hero.”

Melissa looked at me, then back to Sadie. “I don’t see any reason why not.” She fished in her pockets and pulled out her car keys, passing them to me. “You can borrow my car. It’s not a far walk back from here.”

I was hesitant to accept. I didn't like the idea of the pair of them walking home in the dark without me, but they weren't children. I grabbed the keys, kissed Melissa, and hit the road.

Chapter 21

Melissa

"Well, what first?" I asked, turning to face Sadie. She looked so much like Jack, from the devilish tilt of her lips to the hazel eyes that seemed to swallow the light around them. Sadie's nose was also a perfect copy of Jack's, though without the crick in it. She was gorgeous, and I envied her curves. I hoped the two of us could become friends and it was looking like that was a strong possibility.

"Ferris wheel?" she asked hopefully.

I laughed. "Let's do it."

Though we'd been heading toward the midway, I didn't feel like winning a giant stuffed bear anymore if I didn't have Jack to win it for me. Stupid, I know.

We walked over to the Ferris wheel and stepped into line, chatting the whole way.

"So you and Jack have quite the age difference, right? Ten years or something like that?"

"Ten years almost exactly," Sadie confirmed.

"And what was that like growing up?"

She mulled the question over for a minute, finally giving a noncommittal shrug. "Fine, I guess. We didn't play together or anything like that, but he was always there for me and seemed impossibly old for most of my life. He's a good brother and made a great guardian after my mom died."

"He told me about that. I'm sorry for your loss."

Sadie waved away my pity as the carnie ushered us into a carriage and the bar was strapped down over our laps.

"From what I understand, you didn't even have parents. Or any siblings. That can't have been easy."

I chuckled. "Having no family makes Christmas a lot simpler."

The wheel began to turn, and air rushed past my face, tousling my hair and tickling my cheeks.

"Well, you've got us now," Sadie replied, staring out over the fairgrounds as we rose higher and higher into the air.

It warmed my heart. When we reached the top of the Ferris wheel, Cannon in its entirety spread out just beyond the fairgrounds, and I realized how small my life had been before Jack came into it. No family. Small town problems. No drive to do anything else. My life was still small, but I was making steps every day to pursue something else, and eventually I would have enough money to get out of here for good and seek my happiness. I hoped that happiness would include Jack, but it was still too early to tell if I could trust him as much as I wanted to—if he was in this with me or if I was making fanciful notions alone. Sadie's words brought comfort and helped me believe that this was long-term and that I'd found something in Jack that I could build a life on.

"I appreciate that," I said finally. "I really, really do."

"And I appreciate how happy you've made my brother. I've never seen him like this."

I glanced over in surprise. "Really?"

"Really." Sadie nodded emphatically. "He's always been quick to crack a joke, but there's been this underlying bitterness lingering since around the time mom got sick that he just hasn't found a way over yet. When he's with you, that part of his personality seems lighter, like it's being erased." She shrugged. "I suppose love will do that to people."

Love. Love.

We'd never discussed the L word, which wasn't a bad thing since we'd only been going out for a couple of weeks now. I didn't tell Donnie I loved him until we'd been dating for six months. Then again, what Jack and I had felt different. It was more passionate. More intense. Deeper. Just being near him was enough to put my body on high alert, and I missed him every second we weren't together. I felt almost pathetic for it, but I was trying to remind myself that it was okay to love and it was good to feel something so positive.

I didn't respond to Sadie's comment, mostly because I didn't know what to say. Instead, we fell into silence next to each other, gently swinging with each brush of the wind, staring out at the lights of the fair and the town just beyond it.

After the Ferris wheel, Sadie pulled me onto the Tilt-a-Whirl. After the Tilt-a-Whirl, I found the nearest bench and plonked down on it with my head between my knees.

Sadie sat next to me and ran a hand over my back in comforting circles. I tensed up at first, but soon relaxed my shoulders when I found I quite enjoyed it. It was soothing, and I needed some of that to combat the nausea threatening to ruin my night.

"Mom used to get nauseous a lot, as I'm sure you can imagine," Sadie told me in a low, airy voice. "She tried not to let on how much she was suffering, which for the most part worked in my case." She chuckled. "Hell, I was like six the first time, and I had no idea what was going on. So when Mom said she wasn't eating because she'd already eaten earlier, I believed her. Jack didn't though."

The story was helping, giving me something to focus on as I overcame the motion sickness. I was so embarrassed that I was reacting like this in the first place, but Sadie was acting like it was the most minor of inconveniences, and that she dealt with shit like this all the time. It helped.

"I didn't know about this for a long time, but she was too nauseous to sleep sometimes, and she would stay up all night in bed, miserable and alone. After my brother discovered she was doing that, he started bringing his blanket and pillow into her room at night. He would sit in her armchair and stay there until morning just to keep her company, even if he couldn't keep his eyes open the whole time. She tried to get him not to but, Jack being Jack, he didn't listen."

The nausea was starting to pass now, and I pulled my head up and leaned back against the bench, nodding for Sadie to continue her story.

"When she went into remission, she told everyone who would listen that Jack was the one who saved her, that he helped her through some of the loneliest, most depressing hours of her life."

"That's a really sweet story," I said.

She smiled. "It is, but it's sad too. The cancer came back a couple of years later, and Jack did the same thing again. He put his whole life on hold so he could move home with us, and after she died, he took me in as his own kid without ever raising a single complaint. I think he still feels a little guilty that whatever he did the second time around wasn't good enough somehow, that if he'd actually been doing his best he could have saved her again."

"How could he think that though? He was young but old enough to know how cancer works."

Sadie laughed. "I never said he consciously thinks it. I think it's just one of those things that rattles around in his head, you know? I wasn't surprised to hear he'd gotten together with a girl whose past was maybe not so cut and dry as most, and I'll be honest, I worried about what you would be like."

This chat had gotten much deeper than I expected it to, but it had accomplished the job of chasing away my nausea. I was too distracted by the whirring gears in my head to notice it, anyway.

"I hope I didn't disappoint you," I replied. "I care about him."

She smiled brightly. "I can tell. And no, you didn't disappoint me.” She waved a hand. “I was just going through that whole long-winded story so you'd know how much it means when I say that I think he's finally found someone who will take care of him as much as he will take care of them."

My stupid overemotional eyes stung with tears, and I blinked them away as an overjoyed smile dominated my face. Then, surprising both of us, I pulled Sadie into a tight hug.

"All this because the Tilt-a-Whirl made me sick?" I joked.

We pulled apart, and Sadie grinned. "It seemed like a good moment." She shrugged. "I'm better with numbers than I am with people."

We both laughed and rose from the bench to dive back into the fair.

The hours flew by, providing plenty of opportunities to laugh and get to know each other, but also plenty of time for me to digest everything Sadie had told me. Jack was a good guy. A really good guy. I'd never thought any different, but having confirmation was still reassuring. I was beginning to accept that in this situation, perhaps it wasn't too good to be true that I was happy. Maybe, even, I deserved that happiness. I deserved something good. And I couldn't ask for that goodness to come from any better source.

As it got later in the evening and the fair started to wind down around us, Sadie decided it was finally time for her cotton candy, and we agreed that after that we'd head back to the motel.

I caught sight of a familiar set of tattoos as we approached the cotton candy stand and stopped. "That's my friend Naomi from work," I said. "Mind if I go say hi while you get your fix?"

"Not at all. You sure you don't want any?" Sadie replied.

I laughed. "I'm good but thank you."

I walked over to Naomi, whose face lit up with enthusiasm the moment she saw me. Her girls, Bridget and Veronica, were just at the age where hanging out with their mom at the fair was lame as hell, and they gladly stepped away for a moment while the two of us caught up.

It was good to see Naomi outside of work and it reminded me that I could have a life outside of work if I wanted. Donnie always whined if I spent too much time with anyone else. With Jack, so far I just hadn't wanted to spend time with anyone else. Nevertheless, it was a good catch up and put me in an even better mood than I was in before as I strutted back over to the cotton candy stand.

Then my mood fell.

Sadie was no longer alone. There were three guys hanging around her like flies—none other than Matt, Andre, and Donnie. I expected that Derek was probably around somewhere too since the group seemed never to go anywhere incomplete, but thankfully he was missing in action.

Sadie's expression and body language showed she was not interested in any of the guys, but they had her backed against the stall. I knew from experience that getting past them would mean physically pushing them away.

"Everything okay?" I asked, pushing past Matt to stand beside my friend.

Sadie snorted. "I was just explaining to these lovely gentlemen that I'm not interested in their attentions and would very much like for them to leave me alone. Evidently, the men here speak a different language than I'm used to since they have yet to vacate my personal space."

"Not all the men," I replied. "Just these ones. Do you speak Neanderthal?"

"Get out of here, Melissa," Donnie snapped. "Don't you have some greasy construction worker you need to go bend over for?"

"Very original," Sadie said dryly. "Did you come up with that yourself or was it more of a group effort?"

Donnie glared at both of us. Matt stepped up to the plate.

"We're just trying to have a good time. No need to be so uptight."

"Uptight?" Sadie repeated. "So a girl has to be uptight not to want to spend time with you? You must meet a lot of uptight women."

I laughed, watching as Matt's pale skin bloomed cherry pink. It was about time somebody told him off, and he was not happy about it.

"Sadie, meet my ex-boyfriend Donnie and his lovely friends," I said by way of introduction.

She guffawed. "This is your ex-boyfriend? No wonder my brother kicked your ass so easily. Was there even any competition?" She cocked her head to the side and squinted at him appraisingly.

Donnie immediately backed up a few paces. "Disgusting. You're related to that loser?" He tapped his friends on the back. "Let's go. We're wasting our time. I wouldn't want to touch her with a twenty-foot pole."

"Let's not get too ambitious about the size of your pole," Sadie called after them.

I couldn't help it anymore. I broke down into a fit of laughter, and Sadie soon followed. We must have looked mad, laughing so hard next to the cotton candy stand that we couldn't breathe, but it felt good.

"You're officially my new favorite person," I told her. "Honestly, I've never seen them turn tail so quickly."

"What can I say?" Sadie said with a grin. "You don't have a brother like mine without picking up a few things."

Chapter 22

Melissa

I was upset to find that Jack still wasn't back by the time we got to the room. I had no idea how long he was going to be or what kind of mood he was going to be in when he got home, but I was on cloud nine. Today was exactly what I needed.

Sadie and I had a couple glasses of wine in the room together, but I got her another room to sleep in for the night. I wouldn't have minded her sleeping on the sofa at all but I wanted to do something nice for both Paxtons. The youngest, a nice sleep on a fairly nice bed. The eldest, a mind-blowing lay. Whenever he came home, anyway.

Jack shuffled through the door just after eleven, covered in dirt and sweat. He looked like he'd had a long day and I wondered if maybe my sexy plan should be put on hold.

"Hey baby," I said, rising from the couch to go greet him. "How was it?"

I kissed him on the mouth, letting my touch linger on his shoulders before backing away. He rustled up a small smile and stroked his thumb over my cheek softly.

"It was fine. Neil and another guy and me had our work cut out for us though. There was a lot of damage."

"Do they know who did it?"

Jack shook his head and stepped around me, already stripping off his shirt. "Neil's looking into it, but there's no security other than a few floodlights and some fencing. Not much he can do at this point."

Jack stretched his arms behind his back, and I watched his muscles ripple deliciously under his skin. I licked my lips.

"Did you and Sadie have a nice time?" He turned, and his expression changed when he saw the look of pure hunger on my face.

I bit my lower lip, nodding as I walked toward him. "Had a run in with Donnie," I said, reaching for the button of his jeans.

Jack stood immobile as I continued undressing him, but his cock was already hard by the time I worked his jeans over his hips.

"Your sister gave him a lesson in talking to women that he won't soon forget. She's a real chip off the old block."

I pulled down Jack's boxers, and he stepped out of them, finally reaching for my hips and pulling me tight against his chest. I leaned forward, inhaling the smell of cologne and male sweat. I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off him if he was covered in garbage, and a little sweat here and there didn't bother me at all.

He ran his hands up my sides. "I'm glad you guys had a good time," he murmured. "I missed you."

"Missed you too." I leaned up for a kiss, smiling as he wrapped me in his arms and pulled me up toward his lips.

We kissed soft and slow, a tired, sleepy kiss. We'd both had exhausting days, Jack more so than I, so it was nice to take things slow while we settled in for the night.

"A shower?" I asked.

He grinned and pulled back, staring down at me with a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Only if you come in with me."

"Of course." I stepped away, stripping off my shirt slowly, taking care to stretch my arms far above my head as I did to show off my smooth stomach. I was braless underneath, and I barely had the shirt off before Jack palmed my breasts and started pinching at my nipples.

"You're so fucking beautiful. Have I told you that?"

I laughed. "Once or twice."

He told me every day without fail. It was just another one of those things he did that made me feel like the most special girl in the world.

I shimmied off my pajama shorts, and Jack groaned when he saw I was naked underneath those as well.

"Naughty girl." He reached around to smack my ass. "Have you just been sitting here waiting for me all night?"

"Not all night," I answered with a flirty wink.

Jack gently nudged me toward the bathroom. He wrapped his arms around my waist while I walked and kissed my neck as his hands explored the plane of my belly and my aching breasts.

My body came alive, itching to feel more of him. To feel all of him. I reached back and ran a hand up the side of his thigh while I waited for the water to warm, loving how taut his muscles felt under my fingers. How could this powerful, mighty man also be the kindest and sweetest I'd ever met? How could the same guy who fucked me senseless on a daily basis be the same person from Sadie's story? He was so good on the inside, but all that was wrapped up in a delectable bad boy package. I was powerless to resist him.

That was good since I had no intentions of doing so.

We stepped into the shower together, the hot water cascading over us like a mountain stream. I closed my eyes. We weren't in a motel bathroom anymore—we were in a private penthouse, one that was just for the two of us and nobody else. It was an easy fantasy since being with Jack made me feel so disconnected from reality. Everything was just a little brighter, a little warmer, a little better.

He turned me so my back was to the water, pushing my hair out of my face and running his thumbs over my cheeks. I rested my hands on his hard chest. God, he felt good. The man was cut, and I mean cut. Two weeks of being together and I still could not get used to how sexy he was without his clothes. His tattoos wrapped all the way around his chest, and I traced them with my fingers as he looked me deeply in the eyes. Then Jack kissed me, and the world slipped further away than ever.

Our need had grown since our first soft kiss in the bedroom, and with it, our fire. He consumed me, devouring my mouth with a ferocity only my Jack could compose. I battled against him, lips and tongue, seeking to show him how much I wanted him in the same way he was showing me. I grabbed his cock and began to stroke it. I couldn't hold back anymore. Hell, I'd been waiting for him to get home for hours. I needed his dick, and I needed it now.

"I want you," I told him. "Fuck, I want you so bad. Waiting for you has been killing me."

Jack grinned, droplets of water dripping from his chin. "Oh yeah?" he drawled. "Did you touch yourself while you waited?"

I shook my head. "I wanted to wait. I only wanted your hands on me."

He groaned and leaned forward, pulling my lower lip between his teeth and sucking hard. I cried out from the sudden pain, and he released me, licking my lip and replacing that pain with pure pleasure.

"Touch yourself now," he instructed. "Show me how much you want me."

Easy. My hand dropped to my mound, and I started rubbing at the tender nub of flesh, letting the pleasure wash over me just like the water. Jack kissed my neck, biting and sucking as his hands traveled over my body. He groped my ass and breasts, which only added to the pleasure building between my legs. I moaned and leaned into him, holding myself steady with my free hand and not being able to do much else. It felt too damn good.

Jack's lips trailed up to the shell of my ear. "Are you nice and wet for me, sweetheart?"

I moaned again. Before I could find the wherewithal to answer, he covered my hand with his own and slipped a finger between my lips.

"Fuck," he grunted. "You're soaked."

"All for you," I managed to rasp.

"What am I going to do with you?"

The question had a dark undertone that made my spine tingle with anticipation.

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

In an instant, Jack pressed me face first into the tiled wall. It was cold against my breasts and cheek, and I let out a startled squeal and instinctively tried to back away. He didn't let me, only hooked an arm under my belly to pull my ass up higher.

"This," he hissed, slamming up to the hilt in one smooth motion.

I saw stars. It took a moment for my body to adjust to the sudden intrusion, but the moment was so hot that I didn't even notice. Jack kept me pressed tight against the cold tile as he ravaged me, pumping in and out with more energy than I would have thought he could muster after such a long day. Thank god he could. And hell, thank god I was on birth control and we didn't have to use condoms anymore. Getting tested together was a bit of a pain in the ass, but it was worth it for moments like this.

"All I could think about all day was how much I wanted to come back here and fuck you," Jack whispered into my ear. "I can't leave you or your sweet pussy alone."

"Good." I began thrusting back against him, moaning louder and louder as the pleasurable sensations swam through me. "Me and my pussy don't want to be left alone."

Jack laughed, but it turned more into a moan when I reached down and began to play with my clit. He dug his nails into my hips and thrust harder. His panting breaths blasted against the back of my neck, making my hairs stand on end.

"Baby," I cooed. "Fuck, baby I'm coming."

Jack leaned closer, pressing his chest against my back and bringing his hands around to massage my breasts.

"That's right, sweetheart. Come for me. Come on my cock."

I loved his dirty mouth.

My orgasm ripped through me, sending shockwaves of ecstasy from my core to the tips of my hair. I cried out in rapture, letting my weight sink into the cold tile like a rag doll. Jack held me up, still pounding into me, though I could feel him tense up as his orgasm approached. With a final roar, he slammed home and stayed there, pressing sloppy kisses into my neck as we both recovered.

"That has got to be the filthiest shower I've ever taken," I remarked a moment later.

Jack slowly eased back and turned me, guiding me back under the warm water and reaching for the soap.

"Well, you're a very dirty girl." He smirked and began running the soap over my body.

"Only where you're concerned."

Jack kissed my forehead and, even though it was already so full, my heart continued to swell in my chest.

Chapter 23

Jack

Being with Melissa was an adventure full of surprises, but one of the things I found most unexpected about our relationship was how easy it was. After a long day of work, I could come home and relax, just be myself, and that was something I’d never had with a woman before. Something about her very presence soothed me, and I was content to wile away my downtime reading on our crappy little sofa while she got ready for her shift, did a crossword at the table, or watched one of the stupid home and garden shows she was addicted to.

I flipped the page of my book, a cheap collection of local history, and listened to Melissa hum as she painted her fingernails at the table. I was completely content. It was so domestic. So calm. It was the kind of life I never thought I’d find satisfying, but all I wanted to do now was give Melissa the beautiful house and yard she wanted so she could fill it to the brim with her positive energy.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a new email from Sadie. I smiled. She left a week ago, and I already missed the little brat. We'd had a great weekend together, and she left on the Sunday with a promise to visit again soon.

I opened the email and, after scanning it, looked up at Melissa.

She glanced over. “What? What’re you smiling about?”

“I just got some good news,” I replied, setting my book down and rising from the couch. I strolled over to the table and stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders while she finished her pinkie.

“What kind of good news?”

Melissa was going to be ecstatic. I was bursting to tell her.

"I sent a couple of your drawings back with Sadie since her roommate is in the fine arts program. Her friend loved them and showed them to a couple professors, and they all agreed that you're very talented."

Melissa’s shoulders tensed. “You’re joking.”

I walked around the other side of the table, wanting to get a better look at her face. I didn’t understand. I thought she would be happy to have a little outside validation, but her eyes were hard as she waited for my answer.

"I'm not joking," I said. "I wanted to prove to you once and for all that you're talented since you seem to be the last person to realize."

Melissa jammed the brush back into her nail polish and rose from her seat with enough force to send it teetering back. “That’s none of your business.”

Much as I didn't like her sudden rage, it looked fucking good on her. Her narrowed eyes were like slits of ice, beaming cold fury straight into my soul. Her jaw was tight, accentuating her cheekbones, and her lips were pressed together in a flat line. I wanted to reach for her, to take her into my arms and silence her rage with a kiss, but now wasn't the time.

“I was just trying to help.”

She shook her head. "No, you were trying to stick your nose where it didn't belong!" she shouted. "What I do or don't do with my art does not affect you. Why are you so pushy about this?"

“Pushy?” I furrowed my brow, stepping around the table toward her.

She sidestepped and went the other way to keep the distance between us, and for the first time, I saw suspicion in her gaze. What did she suspect me of?

“Sweetheart, I wasn’t trying to be pushy about anything. It’s fucking frustrating to see you be so talented but so down on yourself all the time. All I wanted to do was prove to you that you’ve got talent and that it’s okay to think that.”

“Why’d you wait until now to tell me then, huh?” The accusation glistened in her eyes. “You knew I’d be upset, didn’t you?”

“Jesus Christ, woman,” I bit out. “I was trying to surprise you. I thought it would be a happy surprise, not that you’d act like I’d just pissed all over your daisies.”

Melissa bunched her fists. I had an image of her attacking me, of me wrestling her down into submission, and I couldn't help the fire that burned through my veins. It was the strangest sensation because my body ached to touch her, to taste her, but my heart ached because of how angry she was with me. Something was wrong. Melissa wasn't the type to freak out for no reason, so if this was a sore spot, I needed to know why.

“Baby, sit down. Let’s talk.”

“I don’t want to talk,” she growled. “I’m going to go for a walk. I need some air.”

I followed her to the door, reaching for the handle before her. She flinched back, and it cut like a fucking knife. I let go and walked back, hands in the air.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, sweetheart. I just…” I scrubbed my hand through my hair, frustration bubbling up in my chest. "Please don't walk away from me. Stay. Talk."

She stilled, eyeing me. Finally, she gave a short nod. I approached, cautiously at first, and reached for her hands.

"Why is this upsetting you so much? Tell me."

She took a couple of deep breaths and licked her dry bottom lip. Finally, she said, "You won't understand."

"I will."

Melissa furrowed her brow and stepped away, letting my hands drop back to my sides. She walked over to the table and sat down, resting her weight on her arms.

"It started with stuff like this with Donnie," she said quietly. "He nudged his way in, little by little, until before I knew it he was controlling my whole life. It wasn't explicit, per se, but he was an influencing factor in nearly every decision I made on a day to day basis. There were things I would do because I knew it was what he wanted, things I wouldn't do because he wouldn't." She looked up at me, eyes brimming with tears. "I can't do that again. I won't."

I swept to her side, squatting down and holding her hand in mine. "Hush," I murmured. "I would never do that to you. Your life is your own, and I'm sorry if I overstepped. Honestly, I was just trying to do something good for you."

"I know you were," she said, voice cracking with emotion. "I didn't mean to freak out so much, but the second you brought it up, it's like it triggered a reaction inside of me." She let her face fall forward onto the table, sniffling. "I'm so fucked up, Jack."

I slid an arm under her knees and gently lifted her from the chair. "No you aren't," I murmured, carrying her to the bed and laying her on it. I climbed on beside her and pulled her against me, cradling her in my arms and murmuring reassurances into the crown of her head. "You've been through a traumatic experience, and sometimes it takes a while to recover. I don't blame you."

She sniffed and buried her head into my chest, blowing hot breaths against my t-shirt.

"Did they really say they liked my work?" she asked in a small voice.

I chuckled. "Yes. And I wish you wouldn't be so surprised. You're a talented artist."

"I'm not an artist. I just scribble things sometimes."

"But they're good scribbles."

"Good for a bartender, maybe, but not good enough to actually do anything with."

I sighed. "Baby, this is the attitude I'm talking about. You're talented, and I wish you understood that in the same way everyone else does."

Melissa shifted in my arms until she was looking up at me. The blue of her irises stood out vibrantly against her tearstained, pink eyes. I brushed a strand of hair from her face and leaned down to kiss her, unable to resist the call of those perfect, pouty lips. They tasted of salt from her tears and of that sweetness that was undeniably hers.

I pulled away, happy to see I'd left a small smile behind on her lips.

"Thank you for believing in me," she said. "I don't think I've ever said that to anyone before."

"The only thanks I will accept is for you to start believing in yourself. Will you please consider doing something with your art? I don't care if you just start scribbling on the walls, I just hate to think you're too afraid to pursue something that could be a real passion for you."

"I'll think about it," she agreed.

"Good." I pecked the tip of her nose.

Melissa giggled. "That goes for you too, you know."

I cocked a questioning brow. "I don't know. What do you mean?"

"The whole believing in yourself thing," she elucidated. "You're smart and talented. You could be anything you want in life, but you seem determined never to move forward as long as you can get by doing what you're doing."

I hadn't thought about this much, so it was surprising to hear it from somebody else. True, I hadn't pressed myself to succeed, but I'd been so busy taking care of my mom, then my sister, that it just never seemed like a priority. I still wasn't sure it was.

Like she'd read my mind, Melissa started offering up suggestions.

"You could go back to school for your GED, maybe even start picking up some skills and see what works for you," she said. "You're capable of anything, you just need to prove that to other people."

"Thanks, baby." I kissed her again. "You're right. It doesn't have to be anything crazy all at once."

"Exactly. We can both move forward one baby step at a time."

"I guess I'm so used to living in the moment that I didn't think too much about it," I mused. “When my mom got sick, the future became a scary and uncertain place. It was better just to deal with the problems I had in the present and leave everything else for later. I'm out of touch when it comes to planning ahead."

Melissa pushed me onto my back, shimmying up my chest until she was lying directly on top of me. I liked the feeling of her weight there, and I especially liked the feeling of her tits squished against my sternum.

"I have a confession to make." She smiled. "I've been saving to get out of Cannon for a couple weeks now."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"That's good. Gold star for planning ahead." I leaned up and nibbled playfully on her nose.

"I'm telling you because..." She looked down bashfully, and when her gaze found mine again, I got lost in the sea of her eyes. "Would you want to save with me? And maybe we could get out of Cannon...together?"

It's hard to describe the feeling that burst in my chest the moment she said those words. I was warm and fuzzy and all those other stupid emotional descriptors, but I was more than that.

For the first time in my life, I felt whole.

Chapter 24

Jack

It was a rowdy Friday night in Cannon, not that I was out experiencing it. I was sitting quietly on the couch, scrolling through the internet on my phone as I learned more about going back to school for my GED. The process didn't seem too complicated, and soon enough I could have a complete education and move onto gaining more specialized skills. And from there? Who the fuck knew, maybe even the world.

Another drunk passed by the motel, hooting and hollering with his friends. The high school had just won a big football game. Or maybe this weekend was that country music festival... Didn't matter. I only hoped it wasn't too crazy at the Alibi, where Melissa was currently slinging drinks. Now that we'd started saving money together, working had become less of a chore. It wasn't ideal that our schedules were so opposite, with me working in the day and her working mostly afternoons and evenings, but at least we were working toward something together.

Our savings were adding up slowly but surely and, even though we were still living in a motel, we were happy. Fuck, I'd never been so happy. The only thing that could've made it better was if I got to share this experience with my mom and sister too, but at least I could still talk to Sadie whenever I wanted to.

My phone interrupted my reverie, blaring out the ringtone I used especially for Neil. Given the hour and the fact that it was Friday, I got a bad feeling in my stomach.

"Hey," I answered.

"Hey Jack," Neil said with a sigh. "Can you come down to the site? There's been more vandalism."

I sat up straight, frowning. "Are you shitting me? Is that normal?"

Neil let out a caustic laugh. "I've been working this area for the last twenty odd years, and I've never had a site vandalized more than once, and never this destructively. So it goes though, I'm afraid. So can you get down here?"

"Yeah." I rubbed my eyes and checked the time. Melissa wasn't due home for another four hours or so, and I had nothing better to do.

"Melissa's got the car. Can you come get me?"

Neil picked me up in his truck a little while later, looking just as grim as I felt.

"Sorry to call you out on a Friday night," he said when I got in the cab. "The other guys have all started drinking already, and I can't just leave it. The customer would have a shit fit if they came down this weekend and saw the state of the place."

"What'd they do?"

He stared straight ahead at the road, though I saw his jaw tick. "You'll see."

We drove in silence the rest of the way. When he pulled into the driveway of the most recent house we'd been working on I understood why he might've found it awkward to tell me.

OUTSIDER TRASH was spray-painted across the garage door in bright red paint. The door had been kicked in several places too, dented probably beyond repair. I swore under my breath and walked up to get a closer look.

"Is this everything?" I asked.

Neil stepped up beside me, shaking his head. "This is the worst of it, but they fuckin' TP'd some of the other houses again."

We got to work painting over the garage door and cleaning up all the garbage. We were both tired from a long day of work, so it was a slow process, but eventually we got it back to almost the way it was before. Neil was going to have another look at the garage door on Monday and see if we needed to get it replaced, but at least we covered up the hateful message.

Outsider trash...

I wondered why Neil hadn't mentioned yet that the message was obviously directed at me. Maybe it hadn't crossed his mind. It was the first thing that crossed my mind though, as well as a list of potential suspects. Not that I needed a list to know that whoever committed the act was either Donnie or somebody doing Donnie's work for him. They must have been behind the last incident, too. It wasn't like I could prove that, though, unless I somehow got him to implicate himself. That was the most frustrating aspect of the whole thing.

A couple hours later, I hopped back into Neil's truck for the ride home. He'd been suspiciously silent while we cleaned, and the air in the cab was tense. I chalked it up to the stress of the night, but Neil soon proved me wrong.

"It's unfortunate," Neil said. "Really, really unfortunate." He sighed and glanced over at me with a solemn expression. "I'm sorry, Jack, but I gotta let you go. I'll pay you for tonight's work of course, but I can't keep you around any longer."

I already knew why.

"Because I'm the target of the vandalism?"

He grunted in acknowledgment. "Yup. I know it ain't your fault, but I can't afford to have my job site continually vandalized. You've been a great worker, and I think you've got a real future ahead of you in carpentry if you apply yourself."

I stared out the window, grinding my molars as I struggled to keep my heart rate calm and steady. I wanted to go out and beat the living daylights out of something. No, not something. Someone. And someone in particular.

"You know it was Donnie, right?" I asked.

Neil shrugged. "I don't know nothing for certain. I'd say it's a good possibility though, since that boy certainly has it out for you."

He pulled up in front of the motel with an apologetic look.

I didn't feel much like reassuring him that all would be well since I was fucking furious, but I managed a quick, "It's okay. I understand. I don't blame you."

And I didn't blame him. Letting me go was the smartest choice for Neil's business, and I couldn't fault him for that. Donnie, on the other hand, I blamed the fuck out of him. The problem was there wasn't much I could do to retaliate if anything. Melissa wanted me to stay away from Donnie, both because she didn't trust him not to take things too far and because she didn't want to lose her job, and I intended to respect that wish. I just wished myself that Donnie wouldn't make it so hard to not beat his face in.

"You're gonna do great, Jack," Neil said. "Put me down as a reference, and I'll make sure to talk you up to high heavens."

"Thanks." I forced a smile. "For everything. I've learned a lot from you, and I appreciate you taking a chance on me."

He tipped his head in reply, and I got out of the truck, storming toward the door of the room without looking back. The moment I heard Neil pull back onto the street, another idea took me. I needed to see Melissa. I could run over to the Alibi and grab a couple of drinks and something to eat, and maybe that would be enough to keep me from tearing my hair out in frustration. I wouldn't tell her about getting fired just yet, but I didn't know if I could handle another minute without seeing her pretty, smiling face.

The bar was unusually crowded, though I managed to get a table in the far back corner. It wobbled on one of its legs but that didn't bother me, and soon I had an ice-cold beer in front of me and a pretty little brunette to go with it.

"I didn't expect to see you tonight," said Melissa, leaning over to press a chaste kiss on my lips. "I'm glad you came in."

"Just wanted to see you."

Her eyes lit up. I would never get over seeing her smile.

"Anything else I can get you? You look..." She looked me up and down. "You look a bit dirty, babe. What've you gotten up to tonight?"

I probably should have taken a shower before I came down here, but the thought hadn't even occurred to me.

"More vandalism at the job site. And it was hungry work. Can you put me down for a double cheeseburger and fries?"

"I'll even throw on an extra pickle or two for you, my hard working man." She tossed me another smile over her shoulder as she strutted off, hips swaying deliciously. Her ass was so fucking biteable. Even if I was frustrated as fuck, I still had my girl.

Now that I was sitting down, it was time to think about what I was going to do next. I wanted to have a backup plan when I told Melissa what happened because I didn't want her to worry. I could tell how much getting out of Cannon meant to her, and without work, I was going to be a drain on our savings rather than a contributor.

I didn't care all that much about getting out of Cannon. I wanted to leave this shithole, don't get me wrong, but I didn't have a lifetime of baggage associated with it. I wanted to find somewhere I could happily call a home but I could wait for that as long as I had her. But somewhere along the line, her dreams had become mine, and I couldn't stand to be the one who threw a wrench into those plans.

I went out for a smoke after finishing my burger and beer. The nicotine entered my system like a soothing balm, almost as soothing as that first look at Melissa tonight had been.

Briiing.

I dug my phone out of my pocket, half wondering if maybe Neil had changed his mind. Roddy's name came over the screen instead, and I rolled my eyes but answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, big guy. How's life treating you?"

"What do you want, Roddy?"

"I just thought I'd call and check in, see how my favorite fighter is doing. I've got an offer that I know you're not going to be able to pass up," he said.

The smoke curled in front of my eyes, and I blew on it. "You've got two minutes. Go ahead."

I should've told him to fuck off, just like I had the last time we spoke. I already told him I was done with fighting, so who the fuck did he think he was calling me with another fight? Unfortunately, he caught me in a tight spot. I didn't want to think about how Melissa would react if I took this offer of a fight, so I chose not to think about it and just listened.

"Alright, so I've got this guy, real nasty piece of work. He's been in jail a few times, and it's undecided whether he's killed a guy or not. Nobody else wants to fight him. I don't know if you can beat him, but you don't have to. Four grand for the fight, win or lose."

Four grand just to tousle with this guy for a few minutes? That was a lot of money. Sure, he could be the scariest fucker out there, and I could get the ever-living shit beat of me, but at the end of the day, I'd walk out of there with enough cash to finally get Mel and me out of this dump of a town.

"I'll think about it," I said after a pause.

“Yeah, of course man, of course. Uh, only thing is I need to know pretty qui—“

“I said I’ll think about it, Roddy. Don’t push your luck.”

I hung up and let my head fall back against the brick.

Chapter 25

Melissa

Because the of the high school's big win, the whole town was out and ready to party, which meant the Alibi's atmosphere was charged like an electric eel. It was just another one of the things I hated about small towns. None of these people gave a crap about the kids on the field, they just didn't have anything better to do with their time, and they wanted an excuse to drink. I supposed it wasn't hurting anybody and made the whole idea of living somewhere so small more bearable, but it frustrated me all the same. Nobody cared that there were more exciting things out there in the world. Nobody even thought to look. All this made some people happy, but it wasn't even close to being enough for me.

I was happy when Jack came in for some food, even if he did seem a little troubled. He was trying to put on a front, I just wasn't sure to what end. Was he just stressed? Tired? Or was there something else going on?

He left without mentioning what had him so upset, and I didn't have time to ask, so I figured we would talk about it later. I spent most of my shift run off my feet with drink orders, and only finally got a chance to slow down in the last hour or so. Once I reached a point where everyone's drinks were full, and nobody was waving me down, I indulged in a little relaxation activity.

That's what drawing had always been for me. It was a way for me to figure out the world around me like I was etching my thoughts onto the paper. It was the best way for me to unwind too, which was probably why I'd gotten so good at it over the years. Not that I was a professional, by any means.

I had to admit that Jack's little plan worked. I was finally becoming comfortable with the idea of being an artist, and it felt good. Painting had become my new obsession, and I'd used up nearly all of Jack's gift.

I didn't have my sketchbook with me, so I just grabbed a pen and a cocktail napkin to doodle on. It started out as just a few chaotic lines, but I layered stroke after stroke until Jack's handsome face became recognizable.

Around then was when Donnie and his three musketeers walked through the door.

It was normal for him to come into the bar so late, and at first, I didn't even glance up. I'd gotten used to Donnie's presence when I was working. So far we'd barely spoken, save to exchange a few barbed comments here and there when he thought nobody else could hear him. I even thought that we might be able to spend the rest of my time here in peace.

Then Donnie sauntered up to the bar with the sneer that he always wore when he saw me drawing. It churned up all the old feelings that I'd been doing a piss poor job of sorting through on my own. Talking things out with Jack had helped, but Jack wasn't here now. Anxiety clawed up my throat. My hand longed to cover the drawing, but I refused to appear embarrassed by something that mattered so much to me. Not anymore.

"You know the great thing about drawing on cocktail napkins?" Donnie asked.

His friends flanked him, waiting eagerly to hear my response.

"Hello boys," I greeted with false enthusiasm. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"The great thing about drawing on cocktail napkins," Donnie continued, even though I didn't want to hear it, "is that you can still use them afterward."

He snatched the napkin up before I could do anything and blew his nose, loudly and dramatically, before scrunching it into a ball and tossing it onto the bar top.

I glowered at him but was mindful not to react. He wanted me to freak out. He wanted to push me. I would not do what he wanted.

"Can I get you guys a drink?" I repeated coldly.

"You know who probably really needs a drink right now?" Donnie asked, looking each way at his friends. He turned back to me. "What's that loser you're dating named again? Zach?"

I gritted my teeth but didn't answer.

Donnie barreled on. "I'm surprised he's not in here tonight. Say, how many beers does it take to forget that you're a loser who can't even keep a construction job?"

What the hell was Donnie talking about? I was torn between wanting to ask him and wanting to tell him to get the hell out. In the end, I chose the more diplomatic, third option.

"Can I get you guys a drink?"

Donnie must have caught the flicker of surprise on my face. His expression soon molded into one of pure glee. "Oh, you don't know, do you?" he taunted.

The bait finally worked. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"That backwoods hick you're dating just got fired, big time." He flashed his teeth in a wide grin, one that made my stomach turn. "I knew he was no good from the second he first walked through that door. No good, slimy son of a bitch."

His friends laughed, all agreeing with him and egging him on.

"I bet it's not going to be long before you come crawling back," Donnie jeered. "Not that I'll want that pussy of yours now that it's all gross and diseased. Seriously, you should think about getting a rabies shot. I bet you're not the only animal he's been fucking."

I lost it.

I. Lost. It.

My vision bled red, and my hands started to shake. All I could hear was the thudding of my blood in my veins and the choppy breaths I managed to suck into my lungs. The next thing I knew I was grabbing the mostly full beer of the guy down the bar and dumping it over Donnie's head.

It was one of the most satisfying things I had ever done or would ever do in my life, but that didn’t mean it was a good idea. Donnie started sputtering and screaming bloody murder. His friends didn’t know what to do, and watching them flit around Donnie anxiously while he shouted, shaking beer from his hair with every turn of his head, was the best part of the whole thing. It was like they were of a hive mind and I’d just shorted out their leader.

Hank, drawn by the commotion, came storming onto the floor. He took one look at Donnie and the satisfied expression on my face and pointed to the door.

“I told you, Melissa! No drama! You’re fired!”

It was quiet in the bar by this point, but those around who’d witnessed the debacle started rising to my defense.

“You didn’t hear the shit he was saying to her, Hank!” a woman called.

“You can’t fire Melissa!” a man chimed in, while the rest of his group hollered their support.

I was touched that so many people were ready to bite the bullet for me, especially against two Beringers. I wanted to jump on top of the bar and start making bows, but that would have only made Hank angrier.

He stomped over to me and shook his head. “Sorry, Mel. I told you.”

Donnie snarled, “Want me to drag her out?”

“That won’t be necessary.” There was sadness in Hank’s eyes now, and I wondered how much he wished he was kicking Donnie out instead of me. We’d been working together a long time and, while things had always stayed professional (or as professional as things could be in a dive bar), I liked to think the old man had a soft spot for me.

Soft spot or no, he was still making a godawful mistake. Donnie deserved everything I’d done to him and more, but since nobody ever stood up to him in this godforsaken town, I got to play the whipping boy. And I was pissed.

“Fucking Beringers,” I spat, slapping my bar towel down onto the counter. “You can all go fuck yourselves! Or each other, for all I care. I don’t know what kind of weird shit your fucked up egotistical family is into, but I’m better off without you.”

With that, I threw my middle fingers into the air and stormed out the door.

The adrenaline and rage coursing through me were powerful enough to numb my panic, but not for long. I made it out the door and to my car before I realized the full extent of tonight's misfortune. Unless Donnie was just trying to mess with me, Jack got fired today. I also just got fired. We'd been saving as much as we could but neither of us were making great money, and we certainly didn't have enough to leave town and start somewhere new.

By the time I got back to the hotel, the panic had crystallized, and it was with a stomach heavy with dread that I stepped through the door to what had become our little home. Our little hideaway from the rest of this godawful town and all the people determined to bring us down in it.

"Hey," Jack said, rising from the couch when he saw me. His thick brows were drawn down in either concern or stress. I figured it wasn't concern since he probably didn't know I'd been fired.

"You got fired?" I asked, letting the door slide closed behind me.

Jack ran a hand through his hair and walked toward me. "I was going to tell you as soon as you got home," he said. "I swear I wasn't trying to keep it from you. I just didn't want to stress you out at work."

I sighed and walked over to the bed, tossing myself onto it and lying limp. "I'm not mad," I said. "I can't be. I got fired too."

"What?" His tone contained a level of urgency that I was much too tired for, and he was only going to get angrier when he found out why I was jobless. I just hoped that when he did I'd be able to keep him from storming off into the night seeking justice.

I patted the bed beside me. I needed to feel some comfort after the day I'd had, and even though we were both stressed and on edge, I knew that comfort was one thing I could always count on from Jack.

He lowered himself onto the bed and pulled me into in his arms, my face resting on his chest. I listened to his heartbeat for a while, enjoying the simple silence of the moment.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" Jack asked.

I told him everything, leaving out only some of the more specific insults Donnie had hurled at me. I felt him tense up more and more with every word, and I started rubbing his arms, his back, anywhere I could reach just to try to get him to relax a little bit.

"What about you?" I asked.

Jack was quiet, jaw tight. Finally, he said, "More or less the same thing, I guess. Donnie was an asshole, and I suffered for it. He's the one who's been vandalizing the site and Neil had to let me go to save his skin."

"That's a bit harsh."

He grunted. "I don't blame him. Donnie's vendetta was expensive from the other side."

It wasn't fair. None of this was. The fact that Donnie was still getting to dictate my life, even though we were so over it wasn't funny, made me mad as hell. But what could I do? I couldn't retaliate, not the way I wanted to.

"What are we going to do?" I let the question hang in the air, unsure of whether I expected Jack to respond or not.

"I uh, I got an offer tonight," he murmured. "One fight, win or lose the take is four grand."

I shuffled around in his arms until we were face to face, until I could gaze into the limitless depths of his eyes.

"What did you say?" I asked.

I was trying to be calm, even though it would kill me to hear that he'd already accepted the offer. I could still talk him out of it, but I liked to think he would consider me a little in his day to day decisions.

Jack held my gaze but chewed on the inside of his lip. "I'm considering it. I wish I wasn't, but I am. If I do it, we can finally get out of here, take the four grand plus the little extra we've got and go from there. We wouldn't have to ever hear the name Donnie Beringer again."

I had to admit it sounded tempting. If it were anything other than Jack's health and safety on the line, I would have jumped at the chance to leave now. The thought of anything happening to Jack, however, overwhelmed any and every impulse to take the money.

"There's no future for us if something happens to you," I replied. "Four grand is a lot of money, sure, but I've seen the aftermath of one of these fights. It could be so much worse than that. Plus, there's no saying that one hit in the wrong place isn't going to do irreversible damage. It's too dangerous. I can't risk it. I won't. Please don't do the fight."

He looked at my face, like he was taking it in for the last time, eyes, cheeks, nose. His tender expression was so out of place amongst all the tattoos and muscles, like a daisy among thorn bushes, but it was uniquely Jack. It was an expression reserved for the people he cared about, and I loved that.

I loved him.

The thought popped up from the depths of my mind, where it had obviously been forming for some time now. No wonder I was so frantic not to see him harmed. No wonder it hurt me so much to know that this whole town wanted us apart.

"I won’t do it," he said. "I only wanted to hear what you thought, but I’m not gonna do anything that will upset you." He leaned in for a kiss, feathering his lips against mine.

I sighed and pressed in close to him. He was so hot, feverish almost, and his body was so hard. He tasted like heaven, and I drank deep, letting him pull me so close I wondered how we'd ever peel ourselves apart.

"I love you," I murmured into his lips.

Jack stopped, pulling back enough to look me in the eye. His mouth curved into a half smile that took my breath away.

"I love you too," he said. "So much that it fucking hurts."

When he kissed me again, he kissed me hard.

Chapter 26

Jack

I knew I would have to face everything that happened today sooner or later, but for now, I got to escape. I got to escape into her.

Melissa was my sanctuary, my paradise. She always had everything I needed and more, and she was always willing to give it. Between the sheets, we were different people with different lives, but we were still perfect for each other.

Hearing that she loved me... Fuck, it was the greatest rush I'd ever known. And finally getting to say it back felt so good that I let the rest of the world fall away into the background and rode the swell of happiness to another world.

I took her mouth in a rough, demanding kiss. I was so pent up that just holding her made me instantly hard, and the kiss sent showers of sparks tumbling down my spine to my balls. I ached to drive inside her. I wanted to hear her scream.

Melissa's hand dove between us to wrap around me, squeezing me through the fabric of my pants. I groaned and bit down on her lip, then rolled atop her and dragged her hands away.

She blinked up at me in confusion, but I hid my intention behind a devilish smirk and pulled her wrists over her head. I loved the feeling of her hands on me, but right now I needed something else from her. I needed her release.

In one smooth movement, I pulled my belt free from its loops and wrapped it around the top of the headboard, securing her delicate wrists to the wood. She could easily get out of it, but that wasn't the point.

Melissa's eyes widened, pupils dilating with want. Her nipples pebbled through the front of her t-shirt, and I couldn't resist riding the fabric up to her neck to get a taste of them. My mouth covered one delicate pink nub. Melissa moaned, arching up and panting as I continued to suck and bite along her fleshy mounds, alternating between them. I moved down her stomach, trailing kisses tortuously slow until I reached the waistband of her shorts. Her legs always looked so damn good in these. It was the only thing I'd miss about her working at the Alibi.

I slipped the shorts down her tanned thighs and stroked my finger back up, brushing the soaked front of her panties. She squirmed, groaning in frustration.

"I want you so bad," she moaned. "Please, Jack."

I grinned. "You know, I quite like the sound of you begging." I kissed up her thigh, fanning hot air over her sex. She wiggled again. "Maybe I should leave you tied up here all night, soaking wet, so that I can hear you beg a little more."

I would never do that, and Melissa knew that, but the fantasy was turning me on so much that I thought my cock my rip through my jeans. Seeing her so tied up and helpless was worth it, though, as were the words that fell from her swollen lips.

"Please, Jack. I'm dying here. Please touch me, fuck me, do whatever you want with me." Her eyelashes brushed her cheeks as she sent a pleading gaze down at me. "I feel like I'm going to explode."

I took my time pulling the little scrap of cotton down to expose her pussy in its full glory, pink and swollen with need. My mouth watered and I licked my lips, grinning up at her.

"Fuck, sweetheart, I just can't deny you a goddamn thing."

With no further warning, I dove between her thighs. Melissa arched off the bed and cried out, body shaking. I pulled her legs over my shoulders to get deeper, deeper in her heat. I grabbed handfuls of ass in each hand and pulled her up against my face. She tasted like sex, and I could eat sex for every fucking meal. I swirled my tongue around her clit then sucked on it hard, and the moans above started to sound almost like sobbing. She needed this. I needed this too.

I released one of her cheeks and inserted two digits into her pussy, stroking her g-spot as I suckled on her tender clit. She was tight, squeezing my fingers. I thought about how good she was going to feel on my dick and nearly came in my pants. What was it about this girl I found so irresistible? Every little thing she did was the sexiest thing ever. Every moan. Every wiggle. I was surprised I ever let her leave this bed.

Melissa's moans were growing in volume. She was getting close. I inserted another finger, stretching her and thrusting in and out while I swirled faster with my tongue. She writhed on the bed, tits jiggling enticingly. It was a hell of a fucking view and one I wouldn't soon forget. She was trussed up and powerless against my assault, and I was taking her all the way.

"Oh my god!" she screamed. "Yes! Jack! Oh god!"

Melissa came hard, flooding my fingers with moisture and squeezing them hard. I kissed and sucked until the spasms began to subside, but beyond that, I gave her no time to recover. I couldn't wait a second longer to fuck her.

Melissa's eyes cracked open when she heard me rustling with my clothes, just in time to watch as I spread her legs wide and rammed my cock deep inside of her. She bucked up, moaning, and I bit down on her nipple while I thrust into her furiously.

"Feel good, baby?" I hissed into her ear. "You like when I fuck you rough?'

"God yes!" she panted. "Don't stop!"

I had no intention of stopping, not until I'd had my way and filled her with my seed. I kissed and sucked on her neck between ragged breaths. Sweat coated my brow, my back, but I barely noticed. It felt so good to be inside of her.

I kept up a punishing tempo, alternating between long, deep thrusts and shorter ones, keeping her on her toes. I nearly lost it when I felt her long, slender legs wrap around my hips and urge me closer, trying to gain some semblance of control even when she was at my mercy.

We were perfect together, and nothing showed that more than when we fucked. We became two wild, exotic beasts who could communicate without speaking, without even a look. And as Melissa climbed toward her second orgasm, crying my name out over and over again, I sank my teeth into the soft skin of her throat and growled like an animal. She screamed.

Pleasure churned in my balls, an explosion on the horizon. The second her pussy clamped down on me like a vice grip, I lost it, thrusting wildly as I came hard.

My head spun from the force of my climax, from the sheer deliciousness of it. I peppered soothing kisses along her neck as I recovered. She panted, catching her breath. Neither of us spoke.

My body was sweaty and limp atop her, and my heart beat powerfully in my chest—enough to vibrate through her like we shared a pulse.

I wasn’t used to being the one to call Roddy. It didn’t surprise me that he picked up right away, even though it was well past midnight. Scumbags kept different working hours, I supposed, and I was this particular scumbag’s favorite meal ticket.

“Hey man,” he answered. “I’m glad you called. I was starting to worry.”

I was out in the motel parking lot, an unlit cigarette dangling from my free hand as I stared up into the night. The cloudless sky was speckled with stars, and the moon hung heavy and low. It was a good night to make a change.

“You’re going to be disappointed then,” I said. “I’m only calling to tell you I’m not interested in the fight.”

Roddy chuckled. “You wanna play hardball? That’s fine, man. I’m sure I can find another couple hundred bucks to throw on top. You’re worth it.”

“Not interested.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m fuckin’ not, okay?” I bit out.

I didn't like being questioned, especially by some sniveling suck-up who only pretended to give a shit. Roddy would happily see me beaten to death if it meant he got a fat enough paycheck.

“I’m done with fighting.” I stuffed the smoke back into my pack. Right now the only thing I was craving wasn’t a thing at all, but a gorgeous woman who happened to be sleeping not far away. The sooner this conversation was finished, the better. “Don’t call me again. I don’t care how sweet you think the deal is. I’m done with that shit.”

“You’re making a big mistake!”

I laughed bitterly. “Sure.”

“I mean it!” he snapped, just as I was about to hang up. “I could make things very bad for you.”

I could practically smell his desperation through the phone, and it only made me roll my eyes. I hung up the phone and walked back to the room.

I'd grown accustomed to living as a man with nothing to lose. I lost more at a young age than I ever thought I would, and for a long time, my sister was the only thing keeping me from going off the deep end. Where that kind of dive might've taken me, I don't know, but I'm glad I never got to find out. I needed her innocence during those dark years after my mom's death because the chaos in my head tempted me to toss away the last of mine.

It was different with Melissa. I didn't need her to keep me in line—I kept in line because I needed her. I wanted to be the kind of man she deserved. Her happiness was my happiness, and I wasn't fucking that up for anything. I should've stopped fighting ages ago. Then again, if it brought me to her, maybe I was quitting at just the right time.

I crept back into the room as quietly as possible, but Melissa still stirred a little. She didn’t wake fully, just enough that she cooed as I slid back under the covers and bundled her into my arms. She burrowed into my warmth and let out a deep, contented sigh.

It was such a simple moment, one I knew would probably get lost in the depths of my memory by the time I awoke the next morning, but perfection is often in the simpler things. A cool breeze on a hot day. That first taste of a frosty beer.

And the sigh of the woman I loved as she nuzzled into my arms.

Chapter 27

Melissa

Not surprisingly, Jack and I didn't have an easy time finding jobs in Cannon. He soon had his fill of slammed doors and decided to go look for work in another town, so he dropped me off at the laundromat one sunny Wednesday morning and went to do just that.

I didn’t intend to sit by idly, either. I loaded up the washing machine with clothes and set it going before taking a seat at the back of the room and pulling out my aging laptop. It sputtered to life, clicking and groaning for several minutes before I could even open up a browser window. Finally, however, I was all set to look for jobs.

Cannon didn't even have its own Craigslist, and it was no surprise that the online job listings for the immediate area were few and far between. Apparently, like Jack, I was also going to have to go a bit off-book and find something outside of Cannon. That was fine. We could end up in another small town, but would that be the end of the world? If nothing else we could do the same thing we were doing here. It wasn't like we had a place we'd have to pack up or anything. That was one of the few benefits of living in a motel.

It took me a shorter amount of time than anticipated to apply for jobs. I only hoped Jack had better luck. I couldn't say for certain how long we'd last in this town on the savings we had, but I knew it wouldn't be long. We'd be on food stamps before either of us knew it.

I didn't have any hang-ups about accepting charity. Lord knows I'd done my fair share of relying on strangers to provide the very basic of necessities. The ultimate foster kid pipe dream was acquiring some rich old folks who just want a kid to spoil and love, and each time I got moved I dreamed about what my perfect new family was going to be like. In the end, even the ones who seemed promising at first soon showed their true colors. It wasn't until I got much older that I understood why people who seemed to hate children would willingly take in strange ones. The whole time I assumed it was out of the goodness of their hearts because they needed someone else to love and I needed someone to love me. I didn't realize how many foster parents only took kids because they got money from the state, or how little they cared about my wellbeing.

My perfect happy family never came. I didn't dwell on that anymore. I got out of there and that was all that mattered. I was a free woman now, even more so since I'd ditched Donnie and found somebody who loved me with no strings attached.

Being in foster care did teach me a great deal about humility, about savoring the kindness of strangers when and if it came—albeit with a healthy dose of skepticism. And you know what? Accepting help from the state was a helluva lot less demeaning than accepting help from Donnie, and I’d been doing that a lot longer than I ever should have.

I knew that if our money ran out and we were forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel for a bit, we’d pull through just fine. It was still a situation I greeted with almost as much trepidation as I would hopping back in Donnie's bed.

Trying not to think about my potentially bleak future, I looked up at the washing machine to see how much longer I had on my load. I sighed. All out of jobs to apply for and I still had twenty minutes left on my first wash. Bummer.

I returned to my senior computer, navigating my Facebook for a couple of minutes before an idea struck me. I quickly pulled up the website for the University of Arizona and clicked through to look at their fine arts page.

Jack was an inspiration to me. I wanted to paint his face in a thousand colors so other people could see what I saw there, see the ever-changing facets of his personality in stark relief against his handsome features. He was the one who'd finally gotten through to me about the importance of following my dream. I felt I owed him for that, even though I knew he'd never accept anything more than a kiss in gratitude. The fact that there were professors at the U of A who thought I was talented was incredible, and I figured it couldn't hurt to have a look at what their program offerings were, even if I couldn't hope to afford it anytime soon.

Washers and dryers buzzed, people chatted around me, but for a little while, I was in another world. I constructed a fantasy out of course outlines and projects for what my life could be. The school offerings drew me in, and the second I noticed the link to the scholarships and funding page, I clicked through without hesitation.

I applied for several scholarships. So what if I didn't stand a chance in hell? If I didn't try, I'd never know. The only break I took was to change over the washing and put on a new load, but then I sat back down and got right back to it. Some of the applications I had to leave half filled out since I would have to gather up a portfolio, but there were a few I sent off right away. It felt good. Even if I never heard even a whisper from U of A, at least I'd started working toward something. It may have looked like standing still, but I was finally moving forward.

I looked at a couple of other schools and applied for more scholarships and grants while I waited for my laundry, but my laptop's battery steadily chugged down to zero, and I was forced to abandon it. I had just pulled out a book when a familiar head of inky hair bustled into the laundromat. The overfilled laundry basket blocked Naomi's face, but I shot up and waved at her to catch her attention.

"Hey!" I grinned. For a day that had started so bleak, I was beginning to enjoy it.

"Fancy seeing you here."

Naomi staggered over to me and, releasing a great sigh, and dropped her basket down onto a table. "One of these days I'm going to spring for my own machine," she grumbled. "You have no idea how much laundry two teenage girls produce. My oldest refuses to wear anything more than once a wash and my youngest seems to use every towel in the house whenever as much as a single toe gets wet."

I went to stand next to Naomi, and she started sorting out her lights and darks with the kind of focus and quick hands you could expect from a Blackjack dealer.

"At least they're not as dirty as boys," I offered.

Naomi snorted. "Boys will happily live in the dirt. I could do with a stinky boy if it meant I did laundry less often." She grabbed the pile of lights and shuffled over to an open machine. "How are you doing? I'm so sorry about what happened at the Alibi. Hank was a real dick about the whole thing."

I shrugged and wrinkled my nose. "Hank had to do what he had to do, I guess. He warned me that he couldn't afford to play fair."

"He warned you not to make a scene," she corrected, grabbing her laundry soap and filling up the machine. "He never said he was going to let Donnie antagonize you into making a scene."

"Same thing."

Naomi slammed the door closed and sighed, leaning against the machine as it hummed to life.

"Still, it was bullshit. And things have been so much worse since you left."

"You're just saying that."

She shook her head, a hard glint in her chocolate eyes. "I'm not. We got a new guy on your shifts, and he's about as useless as they come, which has made Hank stressed, so he's been salty all week. Then there's Donnie. Who would've thought that removing his favorite plaything would agitate the boy?"

I chuckled. "So you're saying you wish Hank had kept me so Donnie would still have something to play with?"

She gave me a flat look. "You know what I mean. He's been even more of a dick than usual and seems to think that just because Hank fired you, he's now the king of the castle, and everyone needs to kiss his ring. It's disgusting. At least you intimidated him enough to keep him in line."

"I did not intimidate him," I said with an incredulous frown.

"Sure you did." Naomi stepped around me and grabbed her pile of darks, moving them into the next washing machine. "Maybe not when you were together, but afterward definitely. He was just as intimidated by your success and your ability to live without him as he was by that hot newcomer guy you replaced him with. Why do you think he acted out so much? Donnie needed to prove that he wasn't as much of a loser as everybody already knows him to be, but at least he knew he had to have limits so as not to make an ass out of himself in front of you."

Naomi stopped and turned to me, hand on her hip. Her expression was taut, thin lines fanning out from the corners of her eyes as she studied me. "I know I probably don't have to say this, but promise me you'll stay away from him. He's not just extra annoying. He's been more aggressive than usual, and it worries me to think of how he would act if he got you alone somehow."

"I don't need telling twice." I lifted my hand into a three-fingered salute. "Scout's honor, I'll stay away from him."

"Good."

"Thank you for the warning."

Naomi sighed. "I just wish I could do more for you. I still can't believe Hank fired you."

We chatted for the next couple of hours while we both finished up our laundry, then Naomi waved goodbye and disappeared into the night. I glanced at the clock for the fifth time since I first took my clothes out of the dryer, then checked my phone. I still hadn't heard from Jack, and he was supposed to have been back already. What was his deal?

I waited for another twenty minutes and left a voicemail and two texts on Jack's phone before I got annoyed enough to heft my basket up into my arms and strike out on my own. It wasn't too far a walk back to the motel, but it wouldn't be fun. I was equal parts worried and irritated. Maybe a little more worried, especially with the ominous warning I'd received from Naomi only a couple of hours before. Wherever Jack was, I hoped he was safe.

Chapter 28

Jack

The cold metal of the bunk bit into the flesh of my palms where my hands squeezed the sides, feet tapping anxiously on the floor. The sound of my sneakers against the cement seemed to fill the small space, resonating in my skull.

I was alone for now. Deputy Morris abandoned me about an hour ago, storming off with his paperwork and laptop to another part of the precinct. I was almost certain he wasn't allowed to do that, and I was completely certain that I was within my rights to request a phone call. Deputy Morris didn't give two shits about my rights and had made that abundantly clear.

I tried hollering out a couple times to see if that would attract attention from another member of staff, but all it did was make me feel even more like a caged animal than I already did.

The clock on the opposite wall ticked silently through the hours. Melissa was either still waiting for me at the laundromat, or had already given up and gone home. Either way, she had no idea where I was. I was desperate to call her and let her know I was okay, and that I didn't skip out on her on purpose, even though I didn't have any other information to offer. I had no idea what they'd picked me up for. I got back to the motel after my job search with the intent of grabbing a quick shower before I met up with Melissa, but I didn't even make it as far as the front door. Before I knew it, I was being hauled into a police car and locked up in this cell. What the hell was going on?

I felt like rattling the bars and screaming until my lungs gave out, but I knew it would be better if I preserved my strength and even better than that if I stayed calm. For whatever reason, these guys were out to get me, and I wouldn't give them anything more than I had to.

The long hand on the clock started making another rotation of the dial before the door to the holding area opened again. It wasn't Deputy Morris who entered the room, but a short, older man with a balloon-sized gut and sidling gait. He evaluated me with eyes that looked bluer than the ocean when juxtaposed against his ruddy face, and I stared right back. It took a second for me to notice he wasn't like all the other cops I'd seen—the gold and white star on his shirt identified him as the sheriff. This could either be a very good or very bad thing.

"Jack Paxton," the sheriff rumbled, his floppy chin wriggling like a bundle of kittens when he spoke. "My name is Sheriff Beringer."

I gritted my teeth. Beringer. Of course it was.

"Do you know why we've brought you in here today, Jack?"

I rose from the small bed, crossing over to the bars and looking the sheriff straight in the eye. "I have a feeling it has something to do with your family, but I'm not sure how."

"My family?" Beringer raised a quizzical eyebrow. "No, son. This ain't got nothing to do with my clan."

"I haven't done anything wrong. I don't know why else you would have hauled me in here if not because of Donnie Beringer's ridiculous vendetta."

The sheriff's jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed into slits. "I'm going to do you a favor and forget you said that."

"Don't." I grasped the bars and leaned in closer. "Are you saying this has nothing to do with Donnie? What is he, anyway? Your cousin? Nephew?"

"None of your fucking business!" Beringer snapped. "You better learn to mind your trap when it comes to talking to authority, son. You'll soon find that I am not the kind of man you want to be messin' around with."

Beringer removed his wide-brimmed sheriff’s hat to wipe the sweat now glistening from his tomato-red forehead. He put it back on and tossed me another surly look before depositing himself in the office chair across from me and picking up the file from the desk.

He cleared his throat and began to read.

"Jack Paxton. Twenty-eight years old." He looked back up at me. "It seems you have quite the propensity for underground fighting, which I'm sure as you know is illegal in the great state of Arizona, as well as everywhere else in this country."

I backed away from the bars, needing space to process what he'd said. Immediately my thoughts flew to Roddy, to the threat he tossed at me before I hung up on him the last time we spoke.

I could make things very bad for you...

How had he managed to sell me out without implicating himself? What could he possibly have as evidence that he could use to damn me?

I decided not to acknowledge what the sheriff said either way. I just licked my lips and stared him boldly in the eye.

"I want my phone call."

Sheriff Beringer nodded slowly with a tight-lipped smile. "I thought you might." He pulled out his handcuffs and slipped the file back onto the desk. "Get to the back of the cell. If you try anything funny, I won't hesitate to take you down. Fighter or not."

I did as he said, not letting out even a peep of complaint when he snapped the cuffs on my wrists and drew them tight enough to bruise. He led me to a phone and cuffed me next to it, informing me that I had five minutes and that was it. I thanked him, offering up a cheery smile. His obvious confusion was my only consolation in the whole humiliating ordeal.

The phone was grimy and old as dirt, the ringing coming through like I was hearing it through a wall. I couldn't even lift my free hand to block my other ear. Thankfully it was quiet in the police station.

"Hello?" Melissa picked up.

It was such a relief to hear her voice. No matter what fresh hell they put me through, at least I could always close my eyes and picture her pretty face. The thought that I might not get to touch her again sent a stab of agony through my chest, but I suppressed it. I wouldn't last long in a place like this if I let depression get the best of me.

"Hey babe, it's me."

"Jack! I've been worried sick. Where are you?"

I sighed. "I'm at the police station."

I waited for her reply with bated breath. I didn't think Melissa would leave me over this, but I still feared it more than anything else. I could handle anything the world threw at me as long as I had her.

"Oh my god! What happened? Are you okay?"

I tried to lift my hand to run it through my hair but was cut short by the metal cuff. Frustration rippled through me.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I think I've been arrested, though it's a Beringer's world at the police station too, so I'm not really sure what's going on. They didn't let me call you until now, but I've been here for hours."

Melissa's voice began to rise in pitch and volume. "What? Are you fucking serious! That's crazy! I swear to god, Jack, I'm going to get you out of there. What did they say they brought you in on?"

"Illegal fighting, apparently." I grimaced. "Babe, listen, I don't have much time. I need you to make some calls for me."

Melissa and I went through the details of what was going to happen next, which didn’t take too long since all I knew was that I needed a lawyer and all I could afford was a public defender. After that, Sheriff Beringer came back and hung up the phone for me before I had a chance to say a proper goodbye.

"I wasn't done," I said calmly, trying to hide my growing rage.

I didn't even have a chance to tell Melissa that I loved her before he hung up. What if something happened to me in here and the last thing I said to her was something about how we were going to figure all this out?

"Your time was up," he replied in a flat tone, re-securing my hands behind my back and leading me back to the cell.

I highly doubted that, but I bit my tongue.

"You win many of your fights?" Beringer asked as he unlocked the cell. He slid the door open, and I stepped inside, walking up to the back wall and standing with my nose against it while I waited for him to un-cuff me.

He took his sweet time.

"You hear me?" he asked.

I didn't respond. He was trying to bait me into saying something incriminating, and I was done speaking until I had a lawyer present. I wasn't stupid.

"Well, I hope for your sake you did." He pulled the cuffs off and retreated, locking me back into my new home. "'Cause where you're going, you're gonna have to do lots of fighting."

I waited until the sheriff left the room before I turned and massaged my aching wrists. I wanted to scream. I wanted to pound my fists on the floor until it cracked. Or until my fists cracked, which would be more likely.

Instead, I sat down on the edge of the little bed and gripped the cold metal. And I waited.

Chapter 29

Melissa

Prisoners shouted from the upper windows as Sadie and I marched up the prison's front steps, everything from marriage proposals to lewd questions about my tits. Sadie squeezed my hand reassuringly and kept tugging me forward, even though my heels begged to dig in and pretend none of this was happening. Not that my heart would let them.

"I've never been in a prison before," I admitted in a hushed tone.

We approached the front doors, and she glanced up at me. "Me neither. Try not to think about it too much. Just pretend my brother is away on some retreat or something."

"Right..." I looked up at the ever-vigilant lens of the security camera, swallowing hard. "No sweat."

Sadie yanked on the front door, an industrial hunk of steel that squealed in protest with the force of her pull. She marched through like a woman on a mission, and I scrambled along behind her.

I wasn't sure who was supposed to be comforting whom today. Sadie was great at helping keep me calm when all I wanted to do was crawl up the walls, bawling. I was not as great at keeping her rage in check. I only hoped Jack could help relax her a little because at this rate I could see her doing some damage to the next person who looked at her the wrong way.

The front door led into a small waiting area with a check-in desk and a few chairs. There was a metal detector just before a hallway that led off inside the prison, with a burly looking guard standing in front of it. Sadie stomped over to the desk and gave the guard behind it our details. He checked us in and told us to wait with the others in the waiting area until visitation began.

"This is bullshit," Sadie muttered, slumping down into one of the cheap plastic chairs. "I can't believe my brother's in prison. In fucking prison! Was the judge who denied him bail a Beringer too? Who the hell isn't in this goddamn place?"

"I don't think there are any Beringers in here at least," I said, glancing around at the deflated looking souls also awaiting their turn to speak with loved ones. The prison was a couple of hours outside of Cannon, further than that for Sadie. She was staying the night with me, but she'd have to go back to Tucson tomorrow for school. It was selfish, but I wished she could stay with me until we got Jack back. I hated sleeping alone. All I could think about was how much I missed him. It felt like ten years, even though he'd only been in prison about a week.

"I'm going to skin every last one of them," Sadie muttered through clenched teeth. "I can't believe we're actually visiting my brother in jail right now."

"He won't be here for long."

"We don't know that."

I grabbed Sadie's hand and squeezed. It surprised me how naturally the action came, and when she leaned in against my shoulder, I rested my head on top of hers.

"This is all a misunderstanding," I told her. "It's gotta be."

Inside, I knew that wasn't likely. I knew that Jack was facing near-impossible odds in a justice system that was rigged against guys like him, guys without money or education. I also knew that the crimes he was being charged with were crimes he'd committed. Jack had made a name for himself in illegal bar fights, and his prize for that was an orange jumpsuit with a prisoner number. It made me sick to think about how impossible the situation was, so I tried not to think about it.

"Alright, everybody," yelled the guard standing in front of the metal detector. She gestured over to the metal table beside her, on which rested a stack of plastic boxes. "Line up in front of me. Put your keys, spare change, any metal, and your shoes in here. Wait behind the red line until I call you forward."

Ten minutes later we were inside the prison proper, waiting on one side of the world's most depressing phone booth as the guards ushered in the prisoners. Sadie and I both craned our necks to catch sight of Jack. We saw him at the same time and shot up from our chairs, pressing our hands to the glass in our desperation to get closer to him.

"No touching the glass!" one of the supervising guards yelled.

Sadie shot a glare at him that could have cut diamonds, but he merely turned it right back on her.

Jack, seeing all this, laughed as we all sat down. I picked up the phone and held it between Sadie and me so we could both hear.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get you on the visitor's list," he said. "Prison is an administrative nightmare."

"I hope that's the only kind of nightmare it is," Sadie said.

Jack shrugged. The sleeves of his jumpsuit were rolled up to his elbows, and his dark hair was messy like he'd just rolled out of bed. I inspected every inch of skin I could see but could find no bruises. I just hoped there weren't any hidden ones.

"It's been fine," he said. "The others leave me alone, for the most part."

"And you've been getting enough to eat?"

Jack's lip curved into a half-smile, eyes twinkling. "Yes, Sadie. And I've been cleaning behind my ears and everything."

"You can't blame her for being worried," I defended. "It's a full-time job these days. Fuck, we both miss you so much."

"And I miss you too." His expression softened, and he sat forward in his chair. "Uh, they're transferring me to a federal prison next week."

"What?" Sadie gasped. "That's so much worse, isn't it?"

Jack winced. "It'll be fine. Even if it isn't, I'm resilient. I'll push through."

Sadie sniffed, and I knew without looking that her angry facade was slowly crumbling into agony. I ran my hand down her back in soothing circles.

"It's okay," I said. "We're going to figure this out. There's gotta be something we can do, right? Do you know how long until they have your trial?"

Something flashed across Jack's eyes, and he shifted in his seat. "It probably won't go to trial. My lawyer says I should do a deal. I have no idea what kind of evidence they have on me, but it doesn't look good. It might just be easier to plead guilty in return for a reduced sentence."

"How reduced?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. It'll depend on how much evidence they have on me and how much more they can gather."

"How could this happen?" Sadie sobbed.

She was breaking my heart. A week ago I wouldn’t have even been able to picture what a crying Sadie would look like, and now I had one sniveling next to me while her brother, the love of my life, faced a future so horrible I was having difficulty wrapping my head around it. I understood what she meant. How could this happen?

Jack smiled in a way that I'm sure was meant to be reassuring, but I'd never seen such sadness in his gaze.

"Don't cry, baby sis. I'll be fine. Three square meals a day and I don't have to pay rent. Plus I've got all the time in the world to get super jacked."

That didn't help either of us, but I forced a smile. Jack shouldn't be the one cheering us up. We should be the ones cheering him up. After all, he was the one in prison.

"I don't want them to transfer you," I said. "I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure that doesn't happen."

"I don't think there's anything you can do, sweetheart."

I shook my head, denial gilding my veins. "There is, and I'll find it. I'll empty out the last of our savings and see if I can take out a loan so we can get you a better lawyer."

Jack frowned. "Don't do that. You'll only end up fucking yourself over. I can survive whatever happens to me as long as I know that the two of you are okay."

We're not, I wanted to say. We're not, and we won't be—not until you're home.

But that wouldn't have helped any of us, so instead, I said, "We'll be good. We've got each other, don't we Sade?"

My surrogate little sister blinked up at me and smiled, nodding her head weakly. "And we'll always have Paris."

"Nerd," Jack quipped.

"Loser," Sadie quipped back.

I laughed, and it was the first time since I got that awful call that I meant it. I wished that I could pull the two siblings in for a big hug, that I could bury my nose in Jack's chest and breathe in his scent. There was just enough of it on the bedsheets to taunt me at night, to remind me that no matter how tightly I wrapped those sheets around myself, they were a poor substitute for the real thing.

"Please just don't sign a confession or anything," I begged. "Not yet. Give me some time."

I caught Jack's gaze and held it, hoping he could read in my expression how deadly serious I was. I wasn't going to lose him—not to hell, high water, or prison.

"Sure, sweetheart. I'll hang on for now. If I get transferred before you get a chance to visit again, just know that I love you both so much and I'm thinking of you every second of every day."

"I know," I said.

Sadie sniffed. "Me too."

"And Sadie..." Jack's eyes crinkled at the corners, and he grinned. "Take care of my girl, okay?"

Sadie and I drove back to Cannon in silence. As soon as we got back to the motel, she'd toss her bag in her car and be back off to university. And I'd be alone. I was dreading the endless hours of silence, especially since I still didn't have a job or a goddamn clue. I was going out tomorrow to look again, but I didn't have much hope. I wasn't holding onto much hope for anything these days.

"He's going to be just fine," I said as we turned onto the exit toward Cannon. "He's the toughest guy I know."

"Do you know anyone else in prison?"

I glanced over at her with a flat expression. "Point taken. All I'm saying is that I know in my heart he'll be fine."

Sadie sighed and looked out the window. "I hope you're right."

Yup, the girl had broken my heart today. She was always so strong and outspoken, so seeing her defeated like this was rapidly sapping my strength. I knew then that however long it took to get Jack back, I'd have to be strong for the both of us. Even though I didn't know Sadie that well, I loved her brother and I loved her and I was happy to do whatever I could to support both of them through this. Was this what it was like to have a family?

"What the fuck..." My thoughts rapidly shifted focus when I turned into the motel parking lot and saw Derek's truck parked not far from Sadie's.

Derek was sitting just inside, drumming his hands on the steering wheel. He pulled his phone out when he saw me and started texting as he urged the engine to life. I parked my car in front of his bumper so he couldn't drive off and wrenched open my door. Sadie followed.

"Hey!" I yelled, tapping on Derek's window until he finally rolled it down. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled up at me like it wasn't incredibly creepy for him to be hanging around outside the place I lived.

"I'm meeting someone here," he said.

"Likely fucking story," I snapped. "You know this is where I live, don't you? Did Donnie send you to spy on me or something?"

"Should I be calling the cops?" Sadie asked.

"I told you, you dumb bitch, I'm meeting someone." Derek's eyes flashed with malice, and he glared daggers over at Sadie. I leaned down into his window and locked eyes with him.

"I'm not stupid," I growled.

"Well you sure fuckin' look it right now," he snarled.

"I'm calling the cops." Sadie's phone was in her hand a second later, and she began to dial.

"Fuckin' fine!" he shouted. "I'll leave. I'll meet my friend elsewhere."

"I hope she doesn't charge extra for that," Sadie retorted.

Derek glared at her, then turned to glare at me. "Donnie wants to talk to you."

"Too fucking bad," I said. "I don't want to talk to him."

I blocked Donnie's number ages ago, as well as those of all his friends. There was no way I was getting anywhere near that asshole.

I turned and walked back to my car so Derek could finally vacate his spot. Before I closed the door, he called out to me, "Don't forget, Mel. Donnie always gets what he wants."

Chapter 30

Melissa

Given the events of the afternoon, Sadie offered to stay with me at the motel another night. I declined. I wished I hadn't. It wouldn't have been fair to her though, especially with the long drive back to Tucson and the classes she would have to skip to stay. Her grades were already shaken up by this whole situation, and I didn't want to be the one who made it worse.

Nevertheless, once I was alone in my room—our room—I was instantly miserable. I tried turning on the TV so I could zone out for a few hours, but every little TV moment seemed to remind me of Jack and of how messed up things were. Crime shows were out of the question, obviously, but even Home and Garden TV failed to distract me. All I could think about was how Jack would be rolling his eyes if he were with me, though I knew he secretly enjoyed my guilty pleasures almost as much as I did.

I was so bored and upset that the knock on my door later that evening was almost welcome. Almost. I didn't want to see anybody unless they were Sadie or Jack, and even Naomi's smiling face wouldn't have made me feel better. Unfortunately for me, Naomi wasn't the one standing there.

Donnie was wearing one of his nicer shirts and had gotten a trim recently. His hair was shorn close at the sides with a great big flop on top that he probably thought was fashionable. I wouldn't have been surprised to learn that his barber screwed it up on purpose.

I didn't intend to ask him, in any case. The second I saw his smug mug leering at me through the crack in the door, I went to slam it in his face. Donnie was faster, shooting out a hand to stop me, before jamming his shoulder into the door to send it—and me—flying back.

I stumbled back a few paces, startled. I was too flabbergasted to scream, which I knew somewhere in the back of my head was what I should be doing. Donnie was unpredictable at the best of times. I had no idea what I could expect from him after everything we'd been through recently.

"That's no way to welcome an old friend," he tutted, straightening the collar of his shirt as he strolled into the room. He let the door slam shut behind him and stood in front of it with his hands at his sides, fingers twitching like he was ready to catch me if I ran.

"You're not a friend," I snapped. "What do you want?"

Telling him to leave would be pointless. If I wanted him out, I needed to play this smart.

"You, obviously." He rolled his eyes like I'd just asked the most inane question there could be. "I don't know why you have to make everything so difficult. Your boyfriend's in the slammer, and he's not coming back. I'm here to re-stake my claim."

"Your claim?" I balled my hands into fists and breathed in deep through my nose. "You have no claim on me. I'm not a piece of property, and I'm not a pet. If you leave now, I'll think about not having you arrested."

Donnie chuckled and took a step toward me. I took a step back.

"You think cousin Ernie's going to arrest me? You've got to be kidding." He snorted. "That guy is wrapped around my finger like the rest of this town."

I stared hard into his eyes, wondering what the hell I'd ever seen there in the first place. Features that I used to find handsome now made my stomach turn, and the thought of him laying a single finger on me made my skin crawl. It felt like there wasn't enough air in the room and I had a vision of myself falling to my knees and gasping for breath as the panic overwhelmed me.

No. Not today. Today I win.

Donnie had terrorized me for too long, and now he'd gone too far—he'd taken away the man I loved.

"I never expected you to fall so low that you'd send an innocent man to jail just to get a girl back," I said.

"He's not innocent." Donnie raised an incredulous brow. "You don't really think he's innocent, do you?"

Of course I didn't. I knew that Jack's fights were illegal, but that didn't mean any of this made sense. If any other town issued a warrant for Jack's arrest, I might have thought differently, but this had Beringer stink all over it. Seeing Derek in the parking lot today fueled this suspicion, and Donnie showing up now solidified it.

Especially since Donnie wasn’t denying that it was he who sent Jack to prison.

"You must've had to pull some pretty big strings with the sheriff. And all this for little old me?"

"I always get what I want." There was a hard glint in his eyes that sent my heart racing up the bottom of my chest. I swallowed.

"So I heard. I must say, I'm a bit flattered that you went to all this trouble just to get me back."

He shrugged. "It wasn't much trouble at all."

I licked my lip. Now if I could just get him to openly admit it, I might be able to do something about it.

Donnie, apparently, was finished with the conversation. He didn't give me time to question him further about Jack, probably because he knew how close he was to revealing something important to me. He took advantage of my moment of weakness and charged forward with his hands outstretched. One hand grabbed my arm in a tight grip, but I rolled back my other shoulder just in time to avoid him grabbing me on both sides. Then, with every ounce of strength I could muster, I threw my free fist into his face.

Having never punched someone before, I was unprepared for how much it hurt. It felt like an electric shock blasted up my arm from my knuckles to my shoulder, numbing it while also setting it on fire. I cursed and pulled my fist back to my chest. Then, to help the point sink in, I kneed him in the balls.

Donnie groaned and staggered back. I yanked my arm free from his grip and ran around him to the door, grabbing my keys and purse before heading out into the night and hauling ass to my car. He didn't follow me.

Only when I was in my car with the doors locked did I allow a smile to creep up my face. I was terrified and panicked, and my hands shook as they turned the key in the ignition and started out onto the road, but I'd finally gotten a little revenge on Donnie. My punch landed right on his eye, too. What perfect, poetic justice. I hoped he got a massive bruise from it.

I didn't know where to go at first, so I just cruised around while I got my breathing back to normal. The rush in adrenaline took some time to subside. When it did, the fog in my mind cleared a little, and I decided to head over to Naomi's.

Naomi was at the front door before I even shut off my engine in the driveway. She had her arms folded over her chest and, despite the tattoos across her cleavage and the denim miniskirt, she looked quite motherly.

"Is everything okay?" she called out to me.

I unfolded myself from the driver's seat and slammed the door behind me. "I'm not sure."

"Come on in." She waved me inside. "I'll put on a pot of tea."

Five minutes later, I had a steaming mug of green tea in my hands. Naomi sat across the kitchen table, fingers tapping on the ceramic of her mug while she waited for me to speak.

"Donnie tried to attack me tonight," I said. "I think."

"You think?" Her eyes widened, and she leaned in closer. "What happened?"

"He was drunk and barged into my room, talking all this bullshit about claiming me back as his woman now that Jack's locked up." A shiver ran down my spine at the memory, at the realization that if I hadn't escaped, who knew what could have happened. "I kneed him in the balls and landed a punch on his face when he tried to grab me, then I got out of there."

Naomi grabbed the landline from the counter behind her and slid it toward me. "I think you should call the police."

I gave her a flat look. "And say what? That I assaulted Donnie Beringer?"

"In self-defense."

"I don't know if that'll even matter as far as Ernie's concerned." I sighed. "I don't want to risk it. Not yet, anyway."

Naomi looked down into her mug and ground her teeth, thinking. I sipped on my tea, or tried to at least. It burned my tongue.

"I want to kill that guy," she muttered a second later. "He's got the whole town in a chokehold, 'cept nobody seems to notice until he squeezes. By then it's too late." She looked up and fixed me with an entreating stare. "Is there anything I can do to help? You can stay here for a while if you're worried about him coming back. I can give you my bed for tonight, and we can move the girls around for tomorrow."

I shook my head. The last thing I wanted to do was inconvenience my friend. If I got spooked I could always change rooms, and besides, I doubted he would be coming back during daylight hours.

"No, I'm okay for now. There is something else I wanted to talk to you about though."

She nodded for me to continue.

"Donnie didn't deny tonight that it was him who got Jack sent to prison, which would make a lot of sense to me. He didn't outright say it, but it made me think maybe the situation isn't quite so hopeless after all."

Naomi sat up straight, spilling a little of the tea clasped in her hands. It was like a lightbulb had gone off in her head, and for the first time in days, I felt a spark of hope.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Maybe nothing, but if it's something I think I might know a way we can solve your Donnie problem for good."

Chapter 31

Jack

I was somewhere far away. Around me was an endless blanket of quiet, of solitude. There was no distant yelling, no metallic groaning, and no echoing sounds of footfalls against cement. Those were the sounds of the prison. I wasn't in prison. At least in my mind, I wasn't. Sprawled on the threadbare mattress of my top bunk, I closed my eyes and tried to enjoy every last second of my last night before being shipped off to federal.

It wouldn't be this quiet there, and I wouldn't be so at ease. Worse still, I would be even further from Sadie and Melissa. Life wasn't fair sometimes, I supposed, but this was the kind of thing I'd been preparing for since I first started fighting. Every dog had its day, and every reward had its risk.

My only regret was that I hadn't spent more time with Melissa. It was a cruel twist of fate, letting me get so close to her just before I was locked away for god knows how long. And Sadie, poor Sadie. At least she was out on her own now. I would have never forgiven myself if she got put into foster care because of my stupidity.

The sounds of the prison filtered back into my consciousness. I could only ever hold them at bay for a little while. I sighed and turned on my bunk, letting my feet dangle over the edge while I stared at the opposite wall. My cellmate, a tightly wound Puerto Rican with a jovial sense of humor, was out playing cards with one of his friends. I wondered if I should join him.

A loud metallic clang drew my attention to my cell door, where a guard was rattling his baton against the bars.

"Paxton," he barked. "It's your lucky day."

The way he said it made it sound like it wasn't even in the same week as my lucky day. I slowly lowered myself to the floor and approached the open door, hanging just inside the cell while I assessed the situation.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He gestured toward the front of the prison with his head. "You're out."

"Out where?"

The guard rolled his eyes and turned on his heel, walking off in the direction he'd gestured. "Come on, Paxton. I ain't got all day."

I walked after him, conscious of the curious stares that followed us down the prison block. My heart hammered with trepidation. Was there some Beringer influence inside the prison too? It didn't seem likely since most of the people here had never even heard of Cannon, but I didn't know how else to explain what was going on. I could only assume that wherever this guy was leading me, I wasn't going to like it. Unfortunately, I wasn't in any position to resist.

"What's going on?" I asked when we reached the secured door leading out of the prison block.

"Exactly what I said," he replied, clearly irritated. "You're being released, meathead."

My jaw fell open in surprise, and I staggered behind him through the door as it opened, then through the next set of doors, until we finally stepped out into the booking area of the prison.

I ran through the motions of my release in a fog. I was still so in shock that it didn't seem real. I kept expecting someone to jump out with a camera crew and tell me I was being pranked. It would be a cruel prank, but it seemed so much more likely that all this was fake than it did that I was a free man.

And then I stepped out onto the dusty front steps of the prison and took my first breath of free air.

Sadie and Melissa were waiting for me by the road, both of their mouths set in wide grins. Sadie ran for me, tackling me in a flying hug and cackling like a madwoman as I spun her around a few times.

"You're free!" she cried. "I can't believe it! Oh my god!" She pulled back and looked up at my face, wrinkling her nose. "You stink."

I rolled my eyes and cuffed her on the shoulder lightly. "I'm afraid the weekend spa outing was canceled this week, so I am inadequately perfumed."

Sadie laughed and backed away, leaving an open path between Melissa and me. She was still a few feet away, probably wanting to stay out of Sadie's way. Our eyes locked.

"Fuck, you're even more beautiful than you are in my dreams, sweetheart." I strode toward her, wrapping a handful of her silky caramel hair in my fist and using it to tip her head back. "You can't be real."

My other arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her tight against my chest until I could feel her tits squeeze against my chest. My cock stirred, coming back to life after what had been a long couple of weeks. For now, I stared at the lines of her face, the curve of her cupid bow's mouth, the roundness of her creamy cheeks. Her eyes were bright and alive, almost like the color of her irises undulated just beneath the surface.

"I missed you," she murmured. "And for the record, I don't think you smell."

I laughed. "Good."

I brushed my lips across Melissa's, still trying to process my incredible luck. She sighed and lifted up her heels to kiss me.

I pulled her even tighter as our kiss bloomed into something fiery and sweet. It tasted of fear and desperation, of need and want and desire so fierce I thought my knees would buckle from the force of it. She sighed into my mouth, and I nibbled on her bottom lip. It was so good to have her in my arms again. It took a significant effort to pull away long enough to catch my breath, then I dove in again and slipped my tongue between her lips ,eliciting a groan of pleasure from my perfect, wonderful girl.

"I worried that I would never get to kiss you again," she murmured.

I let go of her hair and ran my thumb lovingly down her cheek as we gazed deep into each other’s eyes. "I'm here now, and I promise you I am never going to leave you again."

She smiled and looked down. "God, I hope you're right."

"Sweetheart, look at me."

She did as instructed, her long eyelashes fluttering up from her cheeks. The expression was so demure and innocent that I wondered if I would even make it to the car without sliding a hand in her jeans to see if she was just as wet as I was hard. I already knew she would be.

"Never," I said. "I am never leaving you."

She smiled, and I swear I saw her eyes mist with tears. Sadie interrupted us before we could say anything further.

"Not that I don't love prisons as much as the next chick, but would you mind if we got out of here?"

Melissa laughed and grabbed my hand, leading me out toward the parking lot while Sadie filled me in on the details of what had gone on since I last saw them.

"So Donnie is a piece of shit, as we all know, but he really one-upped himself this time. Apparently the night you got arrested he got shitfaced and was bragging to everyone who would listen at the Alibi that bad things happened to people who crossed his family, and how he didn't bend the rules so much as he created them, yadda yadda." She took a breath. "Well anyway, he said similar things to Melissa, and even though they didn't have enough evidence to say he set you up or anything like that, it was enough to get a judge to look into the arrest process. The judge ruled the evidence inadmissible due to the conflict of interest and the lack of proper arrest procedure, and here we are." She raised her hands demonstratively just as we reached Melissa's car. I gave the little beater a tap on the roof, happy to see it again.

"Only thing is..." Melissa piped up, squeezing my hand. "I had to spend the rest of our savings on a fancy lawyer. Your attorney was useless. Sorry babe."

The financial blow sucked, but at least it was better than spending the next several years in prison. I had my life back. I had my girl back. I had a second chance.

"I understand," I said. "You did what you needed to do."

Melissa parted from my side and slipped into the driver's seat. Sadie gestured for me to take the passenger seat and climbed into the back, scooting over until she was in the middle. She popped her head between the two front seats.

"I never thought I'd say this," I said, "but I'm excited to get back to Cannon."

Melissa laughed. "Me too."

We stopped for some food at a greasy burger joint just off the freeway but otherwise drove straight back to Cannon without even stopping for gas. I was glad we didn't make any other detours. I wouldn’t have even wanted to stop for food if I wasn't starving and if prison food wasn't so damn unpalatable. My first real meal was nothing special, but it tasted fucking divine to me.

The motel parking lot was just as I remembered it. I wasn't sure what I expected, considering Cannon was the least likely place to change in the whole country, but I still felt like I should should see things through different eyes. It was almost alarming how easy it was to pretend that the past couple of weeks hadn't happened. It was like I'd been on vacation.

Sadie hopped out of the car first, already pulling her car keys out of her purse.

I rose from the car and rubbed the bank of my arm over my forehead to swipe away the sweat already beading there. It was a hot day. At least I would get to spend the rest of it inside in the air conditioning, rather than out in the yard with a bunch of sweaty guys. Again, I wondered how I could be so fortunate.

I glanced over at Sadie, wondering if she was going to stick around for a while.

"I was going to stay tonight, but I figure you guys probably have some catching up to do," she explained when she saw me looking.

Oh, did we ever. I loved my little sister.

"I'm going to visit next weekend," she continued. "And the three of us are going to celebrate properly."

Melissa came to my side and wrapped her arm around my waist, snuggling in next to me. "Thanks for all your help, Sadie. I could not have gotten through this without you."

"Pfft." Sadie waved her off. "As if you couldn't have. You're a stone, girl."

"I mean it."

Sadie's expression softened, and she bared her teeth in a grin. "I wouldn't have made it without you either. We can buy each other tequila shots next weekend as thanks."

"Deal."

I broke away from Melissa and pulled Sadie into a hug. She squirmed, muttering something about "prison stank", but I didn't let go until I was good and ready. Sadie might pretend like this whole experience was no skin off her back now that it was over, but I knew her better than that. We'd both lost so much in life. Before Melissa came along, each other was all we had.

"Thank you, sis." I kissed the top of her head and let her go. "I can't wait to see you next weekend."

Sadie waved and got into her car. Melissa snuck back under my arm as we watched my sister leave, neither one of us saying anything until her car rumbled out of sight on the long stretch of desert highway.

Chapter 32

Melissa

My back hit the door so hard I thought it would crack in two, yet somehow it still wasn't hard enough.

"Fuck," Jack groaned, slamming his palms on either side of my head as his body pinned me in place. "I've missed you so fucking much."

I could tell exactly how much he'd missed me just by the hardness rubbing into my stomach. And he would know exactly how much I'd missed him the second he saw my sopping panties. The anxiety and fear that had burned inside of me day and night since his arrest evaporated and left only need in its wake. Raw, primal need. I wanted him inside of me, around me, everywhere and anywhere I could get him. I nearly lost him. His promise to never leave me again was everything I wanted and more.

His bruising, passionate kiss, was everything I needed.

Jack grabbed the keys out of the hand balanced on his chest and reached around me to unlock the door without his lips ever leaving mine. We stumbled into the doorway, and he slammed the door shut behind us. I cleaned the room to perfection in anticipation of his homecoming, not that he noticed. His hands found the bottom of my shirt and tore it off.

“I thought about you every night.” Jack trailed kisses down my collarbone, scraping his teeth over my skin. “I thought about that hot mouth of yours, about your tight, sweet pussy. I thought about all the wicked things I would do to you when I got out and it nearly drove me crazy.”

He raked his nails down the tops of my breasts and followed with his mouth. I arched back as the sensations turned my core into a puddle of heat. There was no doubt in my mind that he owned my body the same way he owned my heart and soul. My skin was on fire. My thoughts became pictures and feelings instead of words, naughty tableaus of all the things we’d been missing.

“I came on my fingers so many times pretending they were yours,” I whispered hoarsely. “No matter what I did, though, I was never satisfied.” I looked down at him, kneeling before me and kissing the plane of my stomach with an expression of pure bliss.

“What can I do to satisfy you, baby?” Jack reached behind me and snapped open my bra. My breasts spilled free into his waiting mouth, and he began to rub his hand between my thighs, moaning when he felt my heat.

“I need your cock. I need you to split me wide open and fuck me harder than you’ve ever fucked me before.” I pulled on his hair to tip his head back, staring down at him intensely. “I want it to hurt.”

Jack’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“I won’t know it’s real unless it hurts,” I explained. “I need to feel something real. This all seems too good to be true.”

Jack stood and took my chin in his hand, squeezing just to the point of pain. A complementary throb of pleasure sizzled in my core.

“That’s what you want?”

I tried to nod, but he was holding me too tight. "Yes," I hissed. "And also…” I slid my hand lightly along the front of his jeans, teasing his hard length. “I want you to take me in whatever way you want to.”

“You are so fucking hot.” He bent down and slammed his mouth against mine, biting my lower lip with a viciousness I’d never felt before.

My heart swelled with my love for him and the happiness of the moment. The angst of nearly losing him and my worries about our future faded into the background, just as I knew they would. We both needed this, a wild, uninhibited fuck where we got to lay aside the fucked up world outside our doorstep and just be with each other.

Jack pulled back from the kiss and stepped back. “I’ll tell you what I want you to do first,” he said in a thick, honeyed voice. It sent a chill of pleasure down my spine. “Get on your knees and show me just how much you’ve missed me.”

My legs jellified so falling to my knees was easier than ever. I scrambled to unbuckle his belt and undo his pants, letting them fall to the floor. His cock was swollen and thick, a drop of precum glistening enticingly at the tip. I inhaled his musky scent and squeezed my thighs together as my sex throbbed insistently.

I wasted no more time in getting my mouth on him, licking off the salty precum before swallowing him whole. Jack's powerful thighs quivered. I started to suck, stroking the base of his cock with one hand while kneading his cool balls in the other, just the way I knew he liked.

Jack's hand slammed against the wall. "Fuck baby, that's so good."

I hummed along his shaft and took him deeper, gagging a little before pulling back, drool dripping down my chin. I didn’t know how many times I’d fantasized about this exact moment while he was gone, but the reality was more than living up to expectations. It was so hot, so primal. Jack started to thrust his hips into my face, setting a punishing pace that I eagerly matched. My eyes watered with the effort of taking him so deep but I didn’t let up. This wasn’t the only way to show him how much I’d missed him, but it was the most effective.

“I love feeling my cock slide down your throat while you look up at me like that,” Jack said, stroking the top of my head lovingly as he jammed more of his dick into my mouth. “So innocent but so dirty at the same time. You're a fucking wet dream, sweetheart."

Oh god, I couldn’t stand another second without releasing some of the tension between my thighs. I dropped a hand and started rubbing myself through my jeans. Jack grinned evilly and pulled away so suddenly that I fell forward onto my hands.

"Nah ah ah," he tutted, grabbing my forearm and hauling me to my feet. "You said you wanted it to hurt."

He tossed me face down onto the edge of the bed, holding me in place with a firm hand on my back as he undid and pulled down my pants. I barely had time to register what was happening before the first firm whack landed on my backside. The stinging pain coupled with sparks of electric pleasure that caused me to cry out.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Over and over again, Jack’s palm came down on my ass. Over and over again, I groaned in ecstasy. He periodically massaged my smarting skin between smacks but didn't let up until I was nearly numb and I was sure that my butt was bright red.

The blows stopped. I heard the rustling of fabric behind me and turned my head to see what Jack was doing just in time to see his abs ripple as he pulled the t-shirt over his head and dropped it to the ground. He grinned at me. His hair looked boyishly ruffled, and his eyes were bright with lust and excitement. Jack lowered his chest to my back and nibbled along the skin of my shoulder, rubbing his jean-clad erection against the top of my ass.

“That enough pain for you, sweetheart?” he murmured into my ear.

The hairs on my neck stood on end. The noise that came out of me was more like a purr than anything else.

"Such a good girl." His tongue flicked over my pulse, and I shuddered. "I fucking love you.”

I heard the emotion in his voice, heard the conviction. Jack loved me down to his bones. My heart swelled with the joy of the moment, the sheer ecstasy of being madly in love, especially when that love came with an unlimited supply of delicious orgasms.

“I want to have a baby,” I blurted.

It probably wasn't the best time to casually bring it up, but I couldn't help it. Nothing was missing from our relationship, but I knew that bearing Jack's child would make me happier than I'd ever been. I loved him so much that I wanted to build a person with him, and I only hoped if he was going to shoot me down, he'd do it gently.

Jack lifted up and turned me over, staring down at me with the crease between his eyebrows that always came out when he was thinking hard.

“You do?” he asked.

I could only nod.

Suddenly, Jack’s serious expression split into a beatific smile. He fell on top of me and started kissing me wildly, sloppily, getting every inch of my face before pulling back to smile at me.

“I want us to have a baby too,” he said. “Everything is a little crazy right now, so maybe we should wait awhile, but…” He nipped the tip of my nose. “Hearing you say that has made me so happy.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “You’re my dream, Melissa. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and find out you were never real, but somehow you just keep getting better and better. If I woke up at this point, I think I’d die.”

His goofy expression had faded into something more serious, tawny eyes full to the brim with truth and desperation. I took his face in my hands and kissed him, long and slow. I didn’t know how else to say all the things bubbling in my mind. All I could do was show him.

We rolled on the bed in a tangle of limbs as the kiss grew in tempo. His steady hands unbuttoned and inched off my jeans and panties until they reached my ankles, where I kicked them off. His skin was hot where it touched mine, burning his brand right down to my bones. I luxuriated in the perfection of the moment, of the kiss. I would have waited a hundred years to get him back and feel his touch on my skin again, but the fact that I had him back so soon was incredible. Indescribably so.

I was slick and ready for him and didn’t want to wait any longer. I wouldn’t be satisfied until our bodies were joined, until I could feel him moving inside of me, bringing me closer to orgasm with every stroke.

“I want to ride you,” I told him. “Please.”

Jack moaned. “You know I can’t deny you anything when you ask so nicely.”

He rolled onto his back, and I climbed astride him, taking his meat in my hand and slowly guiding it inside me. The fit was tight, and I took it slow while my body readjusted to his girth. I sat down fully, and Jack hissed, gripping my hips tightly.

“That feels so good, baby.”

I moaned in response and began to ride him. We set a pace together, his hands guiding my hips as they moved back and forth. His cock went deep, filling me entirely, and I leaned back just enough for it to hit my g-spot with every stroke. The pleasure was so intense it was almost overwhelming. The level ratcheted up again when Jack's hands began to wander over my stomach and chest, tweaking and stroking my nipples, squeezing my breasts, scratching down over my stomach. I upped the pace. My breasts bounced with the force of my movements, and Jack swore, biting his lip.

“You’re so fucking hot,” he growled.

I was getting close. I was so lost in the pleasure that I couldn’t even respond to him, except to cry out in rapture. Every grind of my hips a step closer but also a step further away—from my pain, my worries, my reality. We were lost in space together, and it felt so fucking right.

I found the slope and began to climb, hanging onto his chest for dear life as the sweat prickled on my face. “I’m cumming,” I squealed.

Jack grunted and grabbed my hips, thrusting up in time with my movements until the room filled with the sound of heavy breathing and slapping skin. I let my head fall back and released a throaty scream.

I descended into what I can only describe as bliss, coming apart piece by piece until I felt neither solid nor incorporeal. I was sensation. I was emotion. And, like I always was with Jack, I was alive.

Chapter 33

Jack

Being out of prison brought a flood of positivity into my life, but I never forgot who was to blame for my incarceration. Thoughts of revenge had swirled through me day and night the entire time I was locked up, and the momentary reprieve I received from the joy of my homecoming didn't last long. By the morning after my first day back, I was wishing and wondering how I could get Donnie back. Melissa didn't have a clue and I didn't want to tell her. If she knew how much my hatred of her ex-boyfriend dictated my thoughts she'd only be upset. It was something I needed to solve myself. Melissa and Sadie got me out of prison, but the prison of my mind could only be traversed alone.

Melissa had a job interview in the morning, some bartending job at another place in town. She offered to reschedule it for me but I told her to go. We needed the money and I needed the space to do what had to be done. What I'd been waiting weeks to do.

I didn't know where to find Donnie, but I knew where he lived and figured that would be a good place to start. Melissa pointed the place out to me once and I burned the location into my memory exactly for this purpose. She took the car to her interview so I walked. It wasn't far. I reached the quaint rancher just as I started to sweat under the morning sun, and stood outside for a minute while I gathered the energy for what I was about to do.

Then, with my fists tight at my side, I walked up to the door and knocked.

"Who is it?" called Donnie from inside.

Good. He was home.

"Jack Paxton," I called back. "You may remember me as the guy you got sent to prison recently."

Pounding footsteps approached and Donnie yanked open the door, glaring at me.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

I evaluated him calmly—the obnoxious way he styled his shit-brown hair, the angry tilt of his mouth and the little snub nose that would have looked better on a rabbit. This person, this pest, was the reason my life nearly ended just as it was beginning. I wanted to lay him out flat and kick him until his kidneys came out this throat. I wanted to snap his bones one by one like toothpicks. And that was just what I wanted to do to him for hurting Melissa. He would never survive if I punished him for all of his crimes.

"I'm here for an apology," I stated. And then I waited.

Donnie blinked and stared at me, then broke into raucous laughter. "An apology? You've got to be fucking joking, right?"

I shook my head. I was dead serious.

Donnie's shoulders shook and he bent over, gasping for air. He righted himself and wiped a tear from under his eye, shaking his head with mirth.

"I guess that's why Melissa likes you so much," he said. "You're a funny guy. I'm sure that makes up for the tiny dick."

"You apologize right now," I said evenly, "and that'll be the end of it. For what you did to me, at least. What you did to Melissa is a whole other ball game."

Donnie stepped out onto the porch and jammed a finger into my shoulder. I stepped back.

"You think you can just come over here and demand an apology?" he asked. "You must be out of your goddamn mind. Why would I apologize to you when I'm not sorry for shit? The only thing I'm sorry about is that you're out early. You should be rotting in prison right now like the scumbag you are."

Irritation prickled down my spine but I didn't react. He was trying to get a rise out of me, probably hoping that if he pushed me far enough, I'd attack him. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me put behind bars again.

"You know what? You and that bitch deserve each other," Donnie continued. "You're both trash. I don't know why I wasted so much time on you. All that shit with that development took time, you know."

"What shit?"

I had a feeling I knew what he was talking about, but I wanted him to say it.

Donnie rolled his eyes. "Come on. You got the message didn't you? Or are you that stupid? I rolled over that job site you were working on twice. I fucking got you fired. Doesn't that make you mad?"

It made me furious. All of this might have been avoided if I'd kept that job, if Melissa had kept hers. We might've had enough money to get out of there before shit went sideways. Not to mention the fact that Neil was an innocent bystander in all of it and I was furious that he had to pay for Donnie's obsession too.

"You're a sad, lonely loser," I replied. "When will you realize that you've lost? It's over."

"It's not over!" Donnie's face purpled and spittle flew out of his mouth. "It's not over until I say it is! I'm the one calling the shots. You're nothing, prison trash under my shoe. I could have you back in jail in a heartbeat."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. Sure."

Donnie's frustration continued to grow. I wasn't reacting the way he expected, the way he thought an illegal fighter like me should react, and it was driving him crazy. I was winning and he didn't know how to take the field back. It felt good, even if it would've felt better to bust in his skull.

"You got away this time. Lucky you," he sneered. "That's only because coming up with evidence for illegal fighting isn't easy. The video of you fighting that your friend Roddy and I doctored wasn't perfect but the police were eager to take you in. Everyone thinks you're a scumbag and it's only going to be a matter of time before something comes up that they can finally put you away for." He smirked, obviously feeling triumphant. "Maybe next time it'll be something a little more serious. Maybe they'll find drugs in your car. Maybe they'll connect you to robbery. I wouldn't get settled for too long."

There. I could kiss him. Who would've thought that all I needed to do to get him to confess was let him preen about his victories a little?

I feigned shock and clenched my fists at my sides, giving him the idea that I might retaliate at any second.

"You forged the evidence against me?"

Donnie tapped his nose. "I just greased the wheels of justice a little. You're not innocent, so why should you be treated as such by the law?"

I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to last here without actually hitting him, so I figured it was time to leave.

"Thanks, Donnie," I said, letting my hands fall limp. "I'll see you around."

I turned on my heel and started stalking off down the driveway. Donnie wasn't finished with me yet.

"What?" he sputtered. "That's it? You're a fucking pussy!" His footsteps clattered down the porch and followed me up the drive. I didn't turn around, not until the last second. He wanted a fight and he wasn't going to let me go without one.

I turned just in time to see him draw his arm back to send his fist careening toward my face. My reflexes kicked in and I ducked out of the way, the skin of his knuckles just grazing my cheek. Then, because he'd already swung at me, after all, I finally indulged the itch in my arm and punched him in the jaw so hard that he collapsed to the ground in a heap of dirty clothes and douchey hair.

"Thank you, officer." I smiled, one of the many genuine smiles I'd been mustering since I got back from jail.

"We'll be in touch."

The young deputy nodded his head at me and dropped the tape recorder into a plastic evidence bag. The thing was tiny, but it felt like a twenty-pound weight in my pocket all morning. I still couldn't believe that my plan had worked, unoriginal as it was. The police now had a recording of Donnie's confession, both to the vandalism and the falsification of evidence. Plus, when I originally asked to speak to Sheriff Beringer, I was informed that he was on suspension.

For the first time in a long time, things in my life were balancing. Who knew? Maybe soon they'd even settle for good.

Chapter 34

Melissa

"Can I get a vodka soda with a slice of lime and two Coronas?" Janine asked, not looking up from her notepad.

"Sure thing," I responded brightly.

I grabbed two Coronas from the fridge and dropped them onto her tray. She still didn't look up, obviously consumed in whatever she had scribbled on it.

"So have you been working here long?" I asked.

Janine looked up and blinked. "Uh, yeah. A while."

"What's the crowd normally like?"

You would think I'd just asked her to come back to my place after work and look at my collection of severed heads. By the time she answered, I'd already begun filling the tumbler with soda water.

"Pretty standard, probably the kind of crowd you're used to." She shrugged and picked up her tray the second the last drink landed on it. "Thanks!"

I watched her trundle off and sighed. It was only my first day, true, but I had a feeling my notoriety as Donnie Beringer's ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend of the guy responsible for getting Donnie arrested would make the other townsfolk nervous around me for a while. Even though Donnie was the town's resident douchebag, many still rallied around him like the prodigal son when his time of need came, if only for the fact that his family had a lot of hands in a lot of pies. Not fingers, whole hands.

My new job was in a place called Virginia that was like a dressed up version of the Alibi, with dressed up prices too. Even so, it looked like the same kinds of people came to drink there. My question to Janine was more about trying to make small talk than it was trying to learn anything about the new place. Too bad she wasn't keen to talk.

I let my mind slip into silence as my shift ticked away, pouring drink after drink after drink and hoping that sometime soon everyone would stop looking at me like I belonged in a zoo.

I was so consumed in my work that I didn't even notice the familiar face who sat down across from me until I looked the man directly in the eye to ask him what he wanted to drink. The words died on my tongue.

"I was hoping to talk with you in private," said Graham Beringer, Donnie's father.

I swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, sure. We could go out back?"

I hadn't heard anything from Donnie's family since he was arrested a couple weeks previous and didn't expect to unless I was called to testify at his trial. The fact that the patriarch himself had come to speak with me made me incredibly nervous. Was he going to threaten me? Coerce me?

Graham and I walked out back together in silence. As the metal door slammed shut behind us, leaving us alone in the humid back alleyway together, I had to suppress a shard of panic working down my spine. Donnie’s father never approved of me and the little time I’d spent time with him had been nerve-wracking.

That being said, what could he do? Donnie had already tried his hardest to ruin my life and he failed. I was ready to take on whatever the biggest Beringer had in mind.

"I won't sit here and bullshit with you," Graham began, running a hand through his salt and pepper hair. It was graying with age, but I could see how he would have looked the spitting image of his son in his twenties. "My son has caused some trouble for you, trouble enough that you could sue the shit out of him if you wanted to."

The thought of suing Donnie hadn't occurred to me. Honestly, all I wanted was to put it all behind me and forget about it. I had Jack back and he was the only thing in my life that mattered now. Graham didn't need to know that, though.

"I would like to kindly ask that you refrain from taking any sort of recourse against him. I also believe that Donald won't be able to settle while you're around. Something about you and your relationship is like an obsession for him, and he simply won't drop it. So, I would like for you to leave Cannon forever and never contact my son again. The second request in particular is less a request and more a demand."

My eyebrows shot up. Who did he think he was? Just because he owned a lot of real estate in Cannon didn't mean he could eject citizens whenever he got the urge.

Graham read my expression before I could say anything and held up a hand to stop me. "I know. I am willing to offer compensation if you cede to my requests, but only if you do both and if your friend Jack agrees to do the same. If you leave Cannon and don't cause any more trouble for my family, I'm prepared to write you a check for thirty thousand dollars and call it a day."

Thirty thousand dollars? That was an insane amount of money. I could only imagine the kind of advice Graham had received from his fancy pants lawyer to come out with that kind of offer. I wondered how much I could take the Beringers for in court if that was the amount they were offering us to walk away.

"I'll think about it," I said.

Graham's eyebrows fell together and his mouth turned sour. "I need an answer now."

"Too bad," I replied. "I need to talk about your offer with Jack. I'll get back to you by tomorrow."

I took great satisfaction from denying him, especially since I bet I was the first person to do that in some time. Graham was desperate and it showed.

"Fine," he said finally. "But I expect to hear from you by nine AM sharp tomorrow. Understand?"

I nodded. "Completely. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Jack laughed. It was the last response I would have expected from the news.

"Don't you think it's at least a little funny?" he asked. "The great Graham Beringer had to come all the way down from his high horse to deal with this. Donnie must be in some pretty massive shit right now." He grinned. "I think it's reasonable to find that funny, after everything."

I chuckled. "You're right. I guess I was too focused on the very serious issue of deciding what we want to do. Thirty grand is a lot of money."

Jack shrugged. "That's up to you, sweetheart. He was your boyfriend. He was your abuser."

"Yours too," I pointed out. "Just in a different way."

We were cuddled up on the couch, my head resting against his side. I looked up at him with serious eyes.

"I don't want to be bought off."

"Then don't be."

I groaned. "But thirty grand..."

"We could go for more if we sue," he suggested. "I know this isn't about the money for you, though."

"It isn't about the money, you're right, but I don't know what it is about, you know? I don't know what I want from all this except outta here."

Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Either way, we're getting out of here. You just gotta decide whether you want to leave quietly or with a middle finger salute to everyone on the way out."

I smiled at the thought of me walking down Main Street with my middle fingers high in the air, laughing maniacally. The fantasy was nice, but in reality... I still just wanted to forget about all this. I wanted to start over somewhere new, start a family.

"Let's take the money." The words fell out of my mouth and I knew the second they did it was the right choice. "I just want to get out of here. If we take the money we can put a down payment down on a place and never look back."

Jack kissed the top of my head. "I think you're right, sweetheart. This is our chance."

Our chance.

The words resonated in my brain. Everything we'd been working toward, struggling for like moonwalking through quicksand, was finally clicking into place. And all it took was a little prison time and trauma. Go figure.

Chapter 35

Jack

I wiped the sweat from my brow and stood back to admire my work. My boss, Marshall, came over and, seeing my smiling face, inspected my project.

"Yep," he said. "That's an IKEA bunk bed."

I laughed. "I struggled with this one, okay? The instructions were impossible."

"You're a man, you're not supposed to use instructions." He playfully smacked me on the shoulder, chuckling. "You did a good job though. I didn't think it was possible to get all the furniture put together in the time we had today. You've got some impressive work ethic, just like Neil told me."

I bent down and started gathering up all the garbage from my work. "You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”

“Funny, too. Just like he said.”

The burly foreman's face split into a wide smile. "You keep it up and once you're finished getting that GED I can take you off odd jobs and start you on carpentry. I've got a buddy down at the trade school and it wouldn't be hard to get you in there."

I stopped and stood to my full height, unable to hide the smile on my face. "Thanks, Marshall. That means a lot."

"Not as much as it means having a worker who's actually worth their salt." He clapped me on the back so hard I jerked forward. I still hadn't gotten used to that. "Aren't you glad you moved out of that nowhere town?"

I laughed. "You have no idea."

All Melissa and I ever told anyone about Cannon or why we left was that it was too small and we wanted to be somewhere more connected. She and Melissa spent a lot of time together now that we lived here and I loved it. It was good for both of them.

Marshall strode off and I finished cleaning up my work area, still pleased with his comments. Neil must have felt pretty bad for firing me, since all three jobs who checked my references offered me the position. In the end I got to choose my favorite of the bunch, and I was more certain than ever that I'd made the correct decision.

Finishing time rolled around faster than I expected, and my heart started to race when I realized that I was only a ten minute drive away from home and from Melissa. We'd only been here a couple of weeks, but so far the happiness refused to dwindle. I got excited every morning to see what the day was going to bring, and I could tell Melissa was feeling it too. We were different here. Better. We were the versions of ourselves we'd always wanted to be before but didn't know how, and distance and a little time had helped us get there. The money from Donnie's dad didn't made things harder either.

I bobbed my head to the radio the whole way home, soaking in the cool air from my air conditioning and thinking about the night to come. We were having spaghetti for dinner, something I was looking forward to. Melissa discovered a love for cooking when we got here. She'd never explored it before because she didn't want to cook for Donnie, but now that we had a proper kitchen she excitedly made dinner every night. And hell, I wasn't going to complain—even if she wasn't nearly as good a cook as she was an artist.

I pulled up to our little stucco paradise and strolled up the tidy front path. I was barely inside the door before Melissa came bounding into the foyer covered in paint.

"Baby!" she cried, throwing herself at me.

I caught her and held her in a tight hug, not caring if any of her paint got on me. These were my work clothes, and besides it was worth it just to touch her.

"Hey sweetheart." I pulled back and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips.

Her eyes were bright with excitement and she grinned up at me. "I sold another painting."

"What? That's amazing!" I picked her up and spun her. "Which one?"

"The bigger cactus."

"I liked that one. Your patron has good taste."

"You like all of them," she said, punching me in the arm. "And stop calling the people who buy my paintings 'patrons'."

"That's what they are."

She rolled her eyes but I caught the corners of her mouth twitching. Grabbing my hand, Melissa dragged me into the living room.

"Sit, I have more good news."

I sat down on the leather recliner and waited patiently for her news. I could tell it was something big because I hadn’t seen her so excited since the day I got out of jail.

Melissa clasped her hands in front of her and bit her lip. "The University of Tucson finally got back to my about my application."

"And?" I leaned closer.

This wasn't just big news, it was the biggest. Melissa spent a lot of her time working on her art recently, but still didn't know where she was going to go with it. Being accepted into a fine arts program was the next big step that would take her to the next adventure.

"They want to offer me a spot in the program!" she squealed. "A full ride!"

My mouth dropped open. I shouldn't have been surprised to hear it since she was incredibly talented, but it was still a shock. An amazing shock.

I charged up out of the chair and wrapped her in my arms, swinging her around the living room. We laughed, a silly, carefree laugh.

"I gotta tell Sadie," I said, depositing her back on her feet. "We can have her over for celebratory drinks."

I slipped my hand into my back pocket for my phone but Melissa stopped me. "Wait, not yet."

"Not yet?" I grinned. "More news? Not sure I can take any more."

"This isn't news so much as a thought." She turned bashful all of the sudden, letting her gaze drop to the floor.

I lifted her chin with my fingers and stroked my thumb over her cheek.

"What is it?"

"I..." Melissa smiled. "I want to have a baby. I know that we said we would wait and that it wasn't the right time... but things have been coming together so perfectly lately and—"

I cut her off with a swift kiss on the lips, wrapping my arms around her waist and squeezing. My heart pumped into overdrive and my head spun. I didn't say anything more, just swept her into my arms and took off toward the bedroom.

I remembered the days when our whole lives took place in a room the size of our living room. I remembered the days when the future was a scary place, when we didn't know whether we'd have two dimes to rub together at the end of the week. I remembered the days when we were in transition from our past lives to the life we had now. We were happy then and we were happy now. And with a baby in our future, I knew we would be happy always.

Chapter 36

Melissa

Jack lowered me to the mattress like I was made of fine China, supporting me all the way down. A giant grin covered his mouth, one that refused to abate even when I started kissing him. I traced the outline of his smile with my tongue and teeth.

"You really want to have a baby with me?" I asked.

It seemed too good to be true that all I had to do was ask. We were far from where I thought we would have to be to start a family, after all. Hell, we weren't even married. At the end of the day, whether I wore his ring or not didn't matter, but I still craved the commitment the act of getting married provided. For us, marriage would never be a business contract or a thing to do just because we felt obligated to. If we got married, our marriage would be about declaring to each other and the world how perfect we were for each other and celebrating that fact.

"You know I'm still on birth control, right?" I giggled as Jack began to kiss down my neck. "I can't get pregnant for at least another month after I stop taking it."

His breath fanned my throat, sending prickles of pleasure into my hairline. "I know," he said. "But don't you think we should practice?"

I chuckled. As if we didn't practice enough.

"I suppose you could use a little bit more practice if you intend to get it right."

Jack lifted his head and I grinned mischievously.

"What are you saying?" he drawled, dipping his mouth to my neck and sucking hard on it. "Are you unsatisfied, sweetheart?" His teeth scraped over my skin and I arched up. "Are you telling me I'm not up to snuff?"

I did a noncommittal shrug against the sheets. "You're fine."

"Fine?" His growl reverberated through my throat. My toes curled and I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning.

"Yeah, fine."

Jack scooted me further up the bed and unbuttoned my jeans with one hand while he kept lavishing attention on my sensitive neck. Without warning he plunged under the waistband of my panties and rubbed a finger over my clit in a slow circle. My breath caught.

"I think you're lying," he murmured, moving on top of me until his hard length jabbed into my leg.

"Me? A liar?"

His deep chuckle kicked my heart into overdrive.

"Yes, a filthy liar." His finger found my entrance and slipped inside. It was tantalizingly slow, so slow that I tried to arch my hips up to get more of him inside. "If I'm just fine, then why are you so wet, baby? Is there someone else turning you on?"

Any words I might have been about to say evaporated before ever reaching my lips. I moaned instead, low and guttural, as his thumb took up stroking my clit and his finger pumped in and out. I luxuriated in the feeling, in the sheer ecstasy of his touch.

Until it stopped.

Jack pulled his hand away and sat back on his heels, grinning down at me.

"Hey!" I complained.

Jack's eyes darkened with lust. "Tell me how much you want me. Tell me how wet I make you, and how I'm the only man who can fuck you like I do. Only when you do that will I give you what you want."

"Playing hardball today, I see."

He smirked and ground his erection into my leg. "I always play hard ball, sweetheart. Now tell me who owns that sweet pussy of yours."

I felt my cheeks redden and my mouth dried up. Fuck, he made me so horny when he talked like that. And how could I deny him a single thing he wanted?

"This pussy is yours," I told him. "Nobody else fucks me like you do. Nobody else loves me like you do. I'm yours forever, Jack. Body and soul."

Something shifted in his expression, lifting the lust away just enough for some love to sneak through. He reached for my face and held it tightly in his hands, eyes boring into mine.

"I love you, Melissa. I love you so much it hurts and I love that pain too. I need you forever." His eyes turned pleading. "Say you'll marry me."

My mouth fell open. Talk about coming out of left field.

"Of course!" I practically screamed. "Yes!"

Jack's mouth crashed into mine, and the next moment was a flurry of movement and flying clothes as he ripped the fabric from both of our bodies in a frenzy of lust.

We never broke the kiss as he entered me, sliding in tauntingly slow. I grunted in complaint but Jack took his time. He always knew how to put me on edge, how to make me squirm with need. He also knew how to satisfy those needs, how to make me scream, how to make me beg.

Our chests pressed tight together as he began to move. First it was long, slow strokes. Each one was a gift and a curse, as I had everything I wanted but still needed more. I needed the passion. I needed the friction.

Jack pulled back from our kiss and looked me in the eyes, holding my face tenderly.

"I love you, Melissa Collins."

"I love you too, Jack Paxton."

He grinned. Then, without any warning, Jack thrust back inside so quickly that I screamed in surprise. My hair stood on end. My body glowed from the inside out.

This man was my savior. My fighter. And soon, my husband.

Epilogue

Three years later ...

It was a beautiful day. Happy energy buzzed through the air, coaxing the nervous graduates lined up on stage to smile and wave out at their friends and loved ones. Sadie waved at us from her seat in the middle row with a blinding smile.

"Wave back," I urged gently. When that didn't get me anywhere, I sighed and picked up my shy toddler's hand and waved it around.

Jack chuckled softly beside me and I glared at him.

"What?"

"Nothing."

My glare narrowed until my eyes were merely slits. "Spit it out, Paxton."

He had the nerve to don an expression of bewilderment. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

The lie might have been convincing if it weren't for the subtle tilt of his lips. Smug bastard.

"Hmm. Fine." I turned my nose up at him and looked the other way.

Jack's hand found my chin and turned me back. He pressed a gentle kiss on my lips, and for a second I forgot that I was supposed to be mock angry with him.

"You're just adorable, is all," he said. "You're the most supportive parent here and you aren't even technically a parent."

"I'm a parent!" I complained, pointing demonstratively at the beautiful dark-haired girl on my lap. Emily had just turned two and today was a rare occasion of quiet from her. Normally she babbled nonstop about whatever crossed her mind, but the crowd was making our shy girl nervous.

"Not Sadie's, though. It's just cute. I know it means a lot to her, too."

My heart warmed and all was forgiven. I took Jack's hand in my free one and squeezed. Meanwhile, I hugged Em close and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair. She had her father's hair, as well as his eyes and mouth. She had my nose though, and Jack always said she took after me the sass department too, though that remained to be seen.

We had a few minutes before the ceremony was due to start, so when Dr. Ferdinand caught my eye from down the row and gestured me over, I happily placed Em down with her dad and walked over.

"Mrs. Paxton," Dr. Ferdinand greeted. "I forgot that your sister was graduating this semester. And you'll be finished soon, correct?"

I nodded. "Only another year or so."

"I wanted to commend you on your latest project. Dr. Gerstimer and I were chatting about it between classes the other day and we both agreed that your use of color has a definite and unique style to it. Your work certainly stands out amongst the crowd, particularly for someone with such a relative lack of experience. You should be proud."

"Thank you, Dr. Ferdinand." I bit my lip in an effort not to smile so wide my jaw fell off. "I wouldn't be where I am now without you."

He shrugged. "Who knows? In any case, I'm excited to see what you come up with next. Is that your husband you're with?"

"Sure is. And our baby girl Emily."

"You have a beautiful family."

"Thank you. I'm lucky."

The MC walked onto the stage and I gave a curt goodbye wave before making my way back to my seat. My pulse danced under my skin, a jaunty, happy clog.

"What was that about?" Jack whispered.

I leaned closer to him and ran my hand over Emily's crown. "He wanted to commend me for that underwater painting I did."

"Good job, sweet heart." Jack leaned over and kissed the top of my head. "I told you you could do it."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

He still rubbed it in my face whenever he got the chance that he had been right all along about where I could end up. Since fair is fair I rubbed it in his face whenever possible that I was right about him being able to go further in life if he applied himself. He just finished trades school and now had a carpentry designation that had opened up so many doors we didn't know which one to go through. Jack was still sifting through job offers, but whichever one he selected in the end would be incredible.

On stage, the MC began to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege to introduce you to the class of 2021."

The crowd applauded, and I got Emily to clap too, even though she was more interested in a piece of lint on Jack's shirt. Thankfully she stayed quiet and settled while the graduates walked across the stage. When it came Sadie's time, both Jack and I shot up from our seats and cheered. Emily, never one to be outdone, cheered even louder.

We met up with Sadie on the lawns outside of the auditorium after the ceremony. When I say "met up" I mean she tackled Jack into a flying hug and then hoisted Emily into her arms and started singing the Lion King song.

"You'd think that being a college graduate would make you act more mature," Jack commented.

Sadie stuck her tongue out on him and rested Em on her hip. "You'd think being married would make you more chill."

"Guys, guys." I got between them, giggling. "Can we be civil just for one day?"

Both Paxtons started laughing uncontrollably.

"Civil?" Jack asked, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "We're family. Civil's not in our vocabulary."

"Yeah, Mel." Sadie came into my other side and wrapped an arm around me. "What's the good of having family if you can't fight with them a little?"

"If that's how you feel, great. But know that if you get us kicked out of the restaurant tonight I will beat the crap out of both of you."

"Better keep it together, eh big bro?" Sadie said, grinning.

"Anything for this woman." Jack pressed his lips against my hair.

We broke apart, though Jack held onto my hand, and continued down the lawn toward the parking lot while Sadie excitedly rattled off story after story about her graduation. This kind of scene had become so normal for me that it was crazy to think how my life had been when I first met Jack.

Though with Donnie, I’d been alone. Though busy, I’d been unfulfilled. And though I believed I was happy, I didn’t even know what happiness was.

I knew what happiness was now. I knew true joy, true wonder. I knew the kind of uniquely sweet pain that comes from waking up in the middle of the night to soothe one’s baby back to sleep.

More importantly, for the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to have a family.