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I should’ve told RJ to lock up. Now some customer is coming to bitch about why we haven’t gotten around to their car repairs yet and I’m so tired…
The wooden broom handle snaps in my hands, my anger and the pressure of the day catching up to me.
What do people think, that we used the excuse of a guy hanging dead from our sign to slack off?
But I don’t recognize the man in a black business suit who strolls out of the office and into the garage like he owns it. He looks wealthier than any of Rockland’s residents, making me certain he’s from out of town. Maybe his car broke down as he was driving through.
“We’re closed, and way behind, I know. If you tell me which car is yours, I’ll try to get to it first thing tomorrow when we open at eight.”
The businessman crosses his arms over his muscular chest, straining the black suit fabric, a smirk on his face. “I’m not here for car repairs.”
There’s something about him that’s…wrong. Like the suit is just a costume hiding whatever lies underneath. Maybe it’s the tattooed hands or the dirty blond hair brushing his shoulders that’s throwing off the stereotypical businessman image he’s trying to portray.
“Okay, then what do you want?” I ask him, my patience growing thin after the hellish day I’ve had.
“I’m here for Maddie.”
Those four little words, the way he said her name as if he holds some sort of claim on her, turn my world upside down in a way I know it’ll never be the same.
“Are you a fucking cop?” I ask him. Could he be a fed? I know he’s not from the sheriff’s department. When he doesn’t answer, I tell him, “Stay the fuck away from my wife,” I warn him, holding out the splintered broom handle like it’s a wooden stake.
“Your wife?” The man barks out a laugh and then tilts his head to stare at me, nothing but violence in his gaze. “God, you are a pretty fucking idiot, but an idiot all the same.”
I wave my makeshift stake higher. “Look, I don’t know who the hell you are, but you don’t want to mess with me and the Savage Kings.”
He takes several, cool, casual steps closer to me in his black pointy dress shoes with all the confidence in the world radiating from his massive frame.
“Oh, baby boy, I’m not the least bit intimidated by you or your little biker club.”
“Then you’re the fucking idiot, buddy.”
He laughs again. Cop or not, I still can’t fucking tell. “I’m not the one who thinks he’s been married to a woman more gorgeous than any he could have dreamed up for the past year. You know full well that Maddie’s out of your goddamn league, don’t you? I bet you don’t even know her real name.”
“All I need to know is that her last name is Robertson.Myfucking name. I don’t care who she was before…”
“Before she used you and your flight out of Vegas to escape her father?” As he comes closer, he says, “Tell me kid, did you never think to look up your alleged marriage license? I’ll let you in on a little secret.” He lowers his voice to a whisper. “There’s not one. There was no wedding. Maddie lied to you, and you must have been too drunk or too stupid to realize it. She’s been lying to you this whole time.”
Wow.Wow.
Okay, so, I did try to look up our marriage license to get a copy and frame it for our anniversary back in June. But Icouldn’t find it and I gave up, figuring it was a clerical error or the Clerk of Courts was way behind on updating the system.
Instead of telling this stranger who is nearly my height but with thirty extra pounds of muscle on him, I say, “Get the hell out of here and stay the fuck away from Maddie!”
“Or what? You’ll shoot me? Too bad that gun you left in the saddle bag on your Harley is in the bottom of the dumpster now.”
Ah, fuck.
“Now what? You gonna threaten to shoot me?” I ask him as I try to remember where the closest tire iron is, or any other tool that would be a better weapon than a broken broom handle.
“I don’t need a gun to kill you. I can do it with my bare hands,” the bastard says confidently. I knew those tattoos were ominous looking. They’re a warning of the damage he can do with his inked hands. “You’re a pussy who doesn’t deserve to be with Maddie.”
“No shit,” I say in agreement, hating how this stranger just walked in here and knows me better than my own wife. Even his eyes widen a tad in surprise at my admission. “But Maddie picked me. She’s spent the past year with me.”
“Because she didn’t have any other options! You sure as hell can’t protect her like I can. Do you have any idea the danger you put her in by going to that fucking PI?”
“What?”
“I cleaned up the mess you made, killed them both after I made them beg me for their deaths. And I’m gonna do the same to you,” he threatens. “Except, before I cut out your eyeballs, I think I’ll make you watch me fuck Maddie in your bed.”
