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“Well, that, or maybe you’re here to bring us some fresh beers. We’re running low,” he said, waving a bottle in her face. “We can talk later. Maybe I’ll swing by your place for a chat.”
His cronies grinned, reveling in the spectacle.
Cowards.
Lexie took a few seconds to calm herself, then smiled in a sort of serene way. He didn’t know what was coming, but she did, and it felt wonderful. “You know what, Kyle? I feel sorry for you. I do. I can’t imagine what it must be like to walk around lacking the basic human decency that makes a person worth something.”
Kyle’s squinted like he’d misheard her, but she knew he hadn’t.
“I know people think that being born a Garrett makes you lucky, but not me. I think it makes you weak. Spoiled. Unlovable. I think you know it too. And I think it terrifies you.” She looked at him like he was the most pathetic creature she’d ever seen. “People don’t respect you, they don’t even like you. Come on, do you really think these guys hang out with you because they’re your friends? It’s because you pay for their drinks, numbskull.” She paused to relish in his reaction, to watch him squirm as her words found their mark. “I may not have money, or status, or any of the other crap that you think is so important, but at least I can say that I’ve earned my way through this life. That I never relied on mommy and daddy to bail me out of trouble. That I grew up loved. That I’m proud of the person I am. Can you say any of those things?”
Judging by his face, Kyle had gone from amused, to shocked, to outraged, to downright embarrassed as Lexie’s tirade poured out of her mouth without any filter whatsoever. For too long, she had censored herself around him, not wanting to make waves or cause trouble. Now, she wanted to rock the boat. Hell, she wanted to sink the damn thing. She had her back to the crowd, but she knew people were staring, she could tell by the way Kyle kept flicking self-conscious glances over her shoulder. Let them look, she thought. Let them see him for what he truly is.
“I want you to hear me when I say that this hold you have over me is finished,” she told him. “First thing tomorrow, I’m filing for a restraining order. After that, I’m going to hire a lawyer and get my divorce with or without your signature. Oh, and I think I’ll get myself a dog too. Maybe a Great Dane or a Doberman. I’ll get him professionally trained, so that he’ll attack on command. What do you think of this one: Rip Kyle’s testicles off?” She twisted her face and shook her head. “No, that’s too long. Don’t worry, I’ll think of something. In the meantime, are you starting to get the point that I’m making here? Have I made it clear enough for you?” The question was rhetorical, of course, so instead of waiting for a reply, Lexie took the bottle from him and smiled sweetly. “I’ll be right back with those beers for you. Oh, and one more thing,” she whispered, leaning in close. “If you think I’m bluffing, I dare you to test me. You’ve taken everything from me. My confidence, my self-worth, my freedom,” she growled. “I have nothing left. How dangerous do you suppose that makes me?”
When she pulled back, Kyle was white as a ghost. She’d humiliated him, cut him to shreds in front of his peers, the lot of them standing there with open mouths as she turned to walk away.
“You bitch—” Kyle grabbed hold of her arm but she snatched it back just as quick.
“No!” she shouted, giving him a mighty big slap across the face. In her peripheral, she noted that the whole restaurant was watching. Wade had laid a baseball bat atop the bar, ready to use it if he had to. Only the soulful sound of Tracy Chapman’s voice wafting from the jukebox broke the tense silence. “That is enough,” she said, infusing finality into her voice. “You don’t control me anymore. You don’t touch me ever again. We are done. Sign the divorce papers and leave me the hell alone.”
This time, when she walked away, he didn’t dare stop her. Lexie didn’t look back, didn’t pay any heed to the dozens of eyes trained on her. All she cared about was getting out of there as fast as she could. Her heart pounded. She felt hot. Maybe it was just adrenaline, but she was suddenly hit with the most intense urge to find Nico, to kiss him until they were both gasping for air, then demand that he take her right then, right there.
“I’m sorry about that, Wade,” she said, untying her apron and tossing it in the dirty linen basket.
“Don’t sweat it,” he replied with a wink.
“And thank you for the extra hours, but if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got somewhere to be.” She swung her purse over her shoulder and sauntered out the door.
“Yeah, you do,” Annie jeered as she left.
Once in the quiet stillness of the parking lot, Lexie took a brief moment to luxuriate in what she’d done, before unlocking her car and climbing in. Her first instinct was to go straight to Nico’s cabin and wait for him, but when she looked down at her uniform—wrinkled, sauce-stained, and probably smelling of sweat—she decided she should go home and shower first.
Then, she got an even better idea.
“Sorry I dragged you into this,” Nico said, tentatively touching a particularly sore spot on his cheek. He couldn’t make out much from the glow of lights on the dashboard, but he was fairly certain the moisture that came away on his fingertips was blood.
“Are you kidding?” Frank replied from the driver’s seat. “That was hella fun!”
Nico frowned, then winced as the movement made the cut on his face sting.
They were almost home. In hindsight, there were probably a hundred better ways they could have gone about acquiring the sample currently sitting in Nico’s pocket, ways that didn’t include getting their asses handed to them by a bunch of burly mountain men, but all of them were either too time-consuming or too reliant on local cooperation to work, something they were never going to get. He didn’t think—at least, he hoped—none of them had had any intention of killing a couple of cops when they caught them snooping around their community, but they sure made it clear that they weren’t welcome. Luckily for Nico and Frank, their presence hadn’t been discovered until after they’d succeeded in what they went up there to do. Needless to say, it had been a hasty, messy exit.
Grunting at the dull aches and sharp pains that it took to move, Nico dug the little plastic bag out of his pocket, the tiny flecks of red dust inside shifting around as he dangled it in front of him. He’d used a pocketknife to scrape the dried remnants off the tailgate, thankful it was still there to be collected.
“You think we’ll get anything out of this?” Frank asked, eyeing the bag. The man was practically giddy.
“God, I hope so,” Nico said. “In the meantime, this nev—”
“Never happened,” Frank finished. “I got it.”
The town was quiet when they drove through. Nico stared out the window as they passed the business district, still pretty even at night with it’s warm glowing streetlamps and twinkle lights in the trees, not a harsh LED to be seen. A gentle summer rain had started falling from the sky. According to the weather report, they were in for a damp and unseasonably cool few days.
Frank dropped him off at his cabin. They agreed to keep the chief in the dark while they waited for the blood results to come back, though whether they could lie their way through the barrage of questions about what had happened to their faces was yet to be seen. After unlocking and going inside, the first thing Nico did was toss his jacket over the nearest chair. He trudged to the kitchen, grabbed a glass, and poured himself two fingers of whiskey. There was enough light coming from a lamp in the corner to see what he was doing, yet not enough to confirm or deny if he’d over-poured. If he did, it was purely accidental. At least, that’s what he told himself as he pulled a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and collapsed onto the couch with a sigh. Nico knocked the whiskey back and as the burning liquid warmed his insides, he immediately wished he’d brought the whole bottle over. Lifting the peas to his face, he began icing his sore parts in order of whatever hurt the most.
He’d really done it now. West would probably demand he be stripped of his command and sent packing when he found out about this. He guessed that wouldn’t be so bad. He’d never intended to stay here permanently, anyway. Then again, he also hadn’t planned on Lexie, the perfect stranger he was dangerously close to falling in—maybe not love, but something—with. At the thought of her, Nico remembered their conversation earlier. Like an idiot, he looked around to make sure he hadn’t missed her, as if she might be sitting silently somewhere in the room, before coming to realize with a twist of the gut that she’d obviously declined his offer to come here and wait for him. He was starting to ask himself why when a small noise came from the bathroom. His heart leapt. He felt himself smile as the knob turned and the door opened into the blackened room.
Nico dropped the packet of peas onto the coffee table and squinted through the gloom. “Lexie?”
