The next day, I was wondering why the hell I felt the need to be nice to an asshole. One last thing I needed to do before I left, had turned into a nightmare suddenly.

Meeting David at his house, to give him his guitar back had been the worst idea I’d had in a while. The fact that he was drunk when he opened the door, meant trouble, and I was learning the hard way.

Pain filtered through my jaw at the same time my head hit the floor.

“You stupid bitch! Do you honestly think you can make a life for yourself? You’re just a waitress! You have NOTHING. I don’t even know why we dated!”

Wincing, I scrambled back, and away from David’s leering face.

“You’re something else, you know. First, it’s no sex, then when I do make a move on you, it’s bye-bye David. No calls, nothing. Two months of dating you, if that’s what you want to call it, was a complete waste! Then you want to come over and what, be nice?”

I glared into the face of a huge fucking mistake. One of many over the years, but this one had really been over the top. The grandest of the grand in Suzanne fuckups.

Spitting some saliva and blood onto the floor, I managed to get my arms under me and sit up. I needed off the floor if I didn’t want him on top of me doing more damage.

“David, I just came by to give you the guitar and picks back. I didn’t want to leave with them.”

“Oh, and tell me I was an asshole?”

“That’s not what I said. I said we weren’t good for each other, and I needed to move on. After what happened, I thought it was probably best for both of us.”

He leaned over and pointed a finger in my face. “You mean you weren’t good enough for me. That’s what this comes down to. If I wanted you, I would have had you. I just didn’t fucking want you.”

David had about fifty pounds on me and a temper to match his muscles. Dark hair, good-looking. I’d been surprisingly flattered that he was interested in me when we ran into each other at the gym a few months back. It'd been short-lived, though, when he started pressuring me to have sex with him.

At the time, I thought he might be the ticket to the distraction I really needed. Someone new. Not who my heart really wanted, but it'd been a first floundering step into dating after Cade. David even had the same kind of smile sometimes.

Sometimes.

In the gym he’d always been so nice, encouraging. Even on the days I wanted to go home and call it quits, he’d gone out of his way to make it fun. When he’d smiled at me the first time, I saw something I wanted to see. A small sliver of the ghost of Cade. The problem was it was fake. All of it.

A real charmer in public, and something else entirely in private.

The first few dates had gone fine. It was pretty typical—dinner, followed by a movie. We saw each other at the gym and he visited Muse a couple of times.

I should have cut it off when I saw him checking out some other woman’s ass at the bar. For some reason, against absolutely all my instincts, I’d chosen to think that he was just doing that guy thing. No harm in looking. The behavior I expected all guys to do. Check out women, maybe even talk to a few. But in the end, it was harmless, right?

Except when it wasn’t. After telling him I needed more time with the sex thing, I found him fucking a brunette in the backseat of his car.

Opportunity number two to leave. Nope, I fell for the flowers, apologies and lies.

Why? His fucking smile. The one that reminded me of Cade.

I wasn’t a weak woman. Hell, I’d been through so much worse, and yet there I was, accepting the same excuses, from the same type of man, that I’d been with before. Yeah, I was that woman. Who couldn’t seem to make the right choices when it came to men.

There was a turning point to my thinking, however. It was like a light went off, or a switched was flipped one day.

I’d lost some weight and had just started feeling better about myself when it really hit me that I didn’t need David. He'd been an excuse to drown out my own sorrow. It'd been nice to have some male companionship, but after a while I’d found better outlets.

Our breakup had already been an inevitable outcome by the time it happened. Maybe he sensed it, because he’d tried to press the sex issue again. I broke it off after he tried to coerce me into bed one night after a few drinks.

Worst experience of my dating life, but I’d escaped unscathed. My dignity was a little bruised, but it could have been so much worse.

And now I was here. Obviously making another gigantic Suzanne mistake, by trying to return his guitar he’d lent me and forgotten at my house.

I didn’t want him to have an excuse to contact me going forward. I just hadn’t planned on showing up mid-day to a drunk man with a temper. If he hadn’t already proven that he was a jerk, this would have been the nail in the coffin.

David gave me a small smile like he might not be the asshole that he was. And for a moment, I thought he might leave it at a hard slap on the face. A slap that had surprised me and knocked me to the ground after stepping in his door.

But this was David, and he just couldn’t stop hurting people.

“Suzanne, you’re a waste of a life. You disgust me. Get the fuck out of my house unless you’d like to give me a blowjob as a goodbye present. You're lucky I'd even take one from a fatty like you.”

He raised his chin and flexed his shoulders as he stared down at me. The smug smile on his face said it all. He thought I was an idiot. I felt like it, but I wasn’t his idiot anymore.

I pushed myself up the wall and got my feet under me. No dizziness, nothing broken. Still alive and still kicking.

“Yeah, I’ll pass on that,” I said, as I brushed past his guitar in the foyer, and through his open front door.

I should call the police on his ass instead of walking away. The problem with that was it meant pressing charges. That led to restraining orders, and dodging a guy like David, while he waited for a hearing. I knew his type, he’d either push the limits of what the court allowed, or he'd make my life a living hell.

The law was shit when it came to protecting victims of domestic violence, and anyone that had been a victim of it could attest to that fact. A one-time offender might get a slap on the wrist and be able to plea it down to a misdemeanor. That type of guy would skulk off and leave a girl alone. Guys like David wouldn’t skulk. They'd get revenge.

The other downside was having to stick around Lakefield to see the charges stick, which could honestly take months, and I didn’t have that kind of time.

The sun had just peeked through some clouds as I set out down the sidewalk to the parking lot. I heard a crash behind me and felt something nick my leg. When I turned around, David was smiling at the door, the guitar I brought to him in pieces on the sidewalk just behind me. Fucker had tried to hit me with it.

“Want to fetch that for me, Suzanne? I must have dropped it,” he laughed. “Bring it back like a good little bitch and we can make up.”

The only thing I wanted to do was leave and get out of the situation as fast as possible. But that fucking smug smile. Jesus. I did the only thing I could think of, which was the same thing I’d done most of my life when bad shit happened.

Turning on my heel, I stuck my head up in the air, flipped my hair over my shoulder, and swung my hips as I walked down the cement toward my SUV. For good measure, I held my hand high above my head and flipped him off as I neared the last couple of feet to my door.

Eat that, David. You never got in there and never will.

I drove a block up and parked on the side of a gas station with an outdoor bathroom. Scuzzy, but it would do.

The lights flickered as I entered and the smell that hit me was nearly overwhelming. It was a mixture of puke and death. I wanted to get the hell out as soon as possible, but I needed to clear my mouth and examine the mess on my face before I drove home. After locking the bathroom door, I turned to the mirror. A split lip and a red cheek. Maybe a small bruise on my jaw. Not so bad.

The only problem was that every time I opened my mouth, more blood started dribbling down my chin. By some small miracle, the restroom did have soap and clean water. I wiped at the counter and sink with a soapy paper towel until it looked somewhat cleaner. After I washed my hands I inspected the inside of my lip.

Fuck. There was a small gash where it must have hit a tooth. It meant a couple of stitches and curiosity from clinic staff. Something I really didn’t need.

I blinked in the mirror a few times wondering what the fuck I was doing here. The person that stared back at me wasn’t the same person I was several years ago. She wasn’t even the same person she wanted be yet. Staring at the stranger that I’d become, I had to remind myself that I was changing that. Slowly, but the change was happening.

It'd been a hard road up to this point. I’d followed a low-life idiot to Lakefield with the promise of getting married and having kids. Then found out he was cheating on me after a couple of months. The fact that I miscarried the same day I found out, was equally as devastating. I cried a lot that week, but still punched him in the nose.

Then there were the incidents at random bars. Grabby customers, drunk patrons and men that just didn’t like hearing the word no. I’d made it through the dregs of some of the worst bars when I landed the job at Muse. One of the best things that'd happened to me by a long shot. Hired by the same man I couldn’t get over. Cade.

He might have felt sorry for me in the state I was in. Tired, depressed, and desperate to prove I wasn’t some skanky bar whore. The interview didn’t last long. We talked briefly about some of my more stressful experiences working bars, and the next thing I knew he was handing me a smock and shoving me out on the floor to work. He’d saved my life.

And even though my interest in him was never recognized, I wouldn’t have changed one single thing. I regretted absolutely nothing in my background. My life had landed me a job where I got to work beside him.

I was good at burying hurt and brushing off most of the bad stuff that happened now. There weren’t many things that could faze me. A few things, but not many. I had some distance on the bad in my life and had known a lot of good for the last couple of years. I’d grown a backbone somewhere along the way and I was proud of it.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

A backbone that I clearly hadn’t used when it came to my latest fantastic mistake. Otherwise, I would have told him to eat shit a long time ago. In the future, if anyone ever asked if I’d dated someone named David, I was going to emphatically deny it. David who?

My hair was tangled, so I pulled at it a little bit trying to get it under control and slipped a band around it to hold it in place. I swished some water around in my mouth, spit it out in the sink, then wiped my face.

Inspecting myself again, I took stock. Not perfect, but better. That damn lip was my only remaining problem.

I might have felt like crying if I’d been any other person. There were so many moments in my life where I’d wanted to give up, break down, and check out. But I wasn’t that person anymore.

Narrowing my eyes at the reflection staring back at me, I whispered, “Yeah. You in the mirror. You’re built of sterner stuff.”

Some blood seeped out of my mouth and I spit it in the sink.

I could only think of one person to go to that wouldn’t ask too many questions. A friend’s husband, Dr. Matthews. I’d seen him and Kate two days prior. They were in the city visiting, and Kate had invited me to join her for lunch this week. I’d turned her down expecting to leave today. And I would. I just needed a stitch.

I picked up my phone and dialed Kate.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey girl,” I replied, as I stuck some tissue against my lip.

“I thought you were gone already. Are you in Bakersville?”

“Uhm, no. I had to take care of something. But in my idiotic haste, I tripped going down the stairs with a box and now I have a split lip.”

“Whaaat? Oh Jesus, you sound like me. I dropped an entire pot of coffee on the floor last week. Thank God the babies were in the living room.”

I grimaced. That would have been horrific. She had the most beautiful twins I’d ever seen. I couldn’t imagine one of them being scalded.

“The reason I called, do you think Logan can throw a stitch in this lip of mine real quick, so I can take off out of here? The apartment is empty. I don’t want to wait at the clinic, then get a late start as that’ll put me into Bakersville after midnight.”

“Absolutely. I’m positive he can do that for you. He never travels without his bag. He says you never know when an emergency will happen, but between you and me, I think he carries it around for the kids. I swear to God; the man has a band-aid ready before they even do anything to themselves.”

I chuckled and felt a sting on my lip. Bad idea.

Kate continued, “Just come by the hotel. We’re here for a couple of hours while the kids sleep.”

“Sure thing. I’ll be over there in a few. Thanks, Kate. I owe you.”

“Never. You’re always welcome in my home, no matter where we are.”

While I drove to the hotel, I started feeling better about things. Even though I wanted to take a bat to David, his car, his house, and everything else that he owned. That would be crazy, though. No matter if he deserved it or not.

Logan met me at the door, took one look at me, and frowned. These alpha males and their instincts for trouble were uncanny.

“I fell down the stairs and I don’t want to talk about it,” I explained quickly. “Kate said you might be able to give me a stitch or two really quick.”

He clenched his jaw. The expression on his face told me he wasn’t happy with my excuse. He knew.

“Come in, and I’ll take care of it,” he growled. “And if this is a problem, I’ll take care of that too.”

I shook my head. “It’s no longer a problem. It was just a surprise, and it’s not happening again. Ever.”

Walking behind him I heard him mutter, “If you need help burying the body, I’m here.”

I chuckled but tried to keep my lip from moving. “Thought about it, but no.”

Kate came rushing across the suite’s living room and grabbed my shoulders. “You look like hell warmed over. You have to watch your footing. Was it the concrete stairs outside your apartment?”

“Yeah. Stupid stairs and a heavy box.”

Logan muttered something again that I couldn’t quite catch.

After grabbing his bag, I was seated at their dining table while he cleaned and sutured the cut. When he was done, he pointed me to the bathroom to clean myself up a little more and rinse my mouth out.

I felt a whole hell of a lot better when I emerged again. When I stepped into the living area, I studied their hotel room. They'd gotten one of the suites with a full kitchen and living room split between two bedrooms. Nice place to stay if you had to slum it in a hotel. Geesh.

Seated on the couch, Kate glanced at me and smiled. “Are you sure you can’t stay for lunch on Friday? All the girls are getting together. We'd love to have you join us.”

“No, I’m out of here in about fifteen minutes. But I’m going to miss you guys. Saw Liv earlier. Julia stopped by last week. I think I’m hugged out,” I chuckled. “You ladies make it hard to leave, but I need to take care of mom.”

She had a sad expression in her eyes as she played with a pen on the side table. “Yeah. You need to take care of yourself, too. I know it hasn’t been easy.”

For some reason I knew that she was talking about Cade. It warmed my heart that she recognized the grief I’d been going through, while making it even harder to leave. These were the friends that I’d made, and their friendship meant the world to me.

Logan brought me a bottle of meds and handed them to me. “Just the normal stuff. Two now and maybe one tomorrow if it hurts. The stiches are dissolvable, but I would suggest going into a clinic and getting it checked out next week. Ice for the swelling.”

“Thanks, Doc,” I replied, taking the meds from him.

He leaned in and whispered, “Things are going to get better. I promise. Trust me on this.”

When he stepped back, Kate gave me a long hug before I left.

Wiping my tears as I stepped out of their hotel, I climbed in my SUV and headed to pick up my trailer. The movers were packing it for me in the next hour, then I was out. On my way to a new beginning.