Page 61 of Cursing My Cheating Husband

Their clumsy fumbling at last brought them close enough to get a good view into the room. Which was seemingly empty, with Maddox still showering behind the closed bathroom door. Their bodies went rigid with confusion.

“Where did they go? There’s no one there!” The taller one’s voice was already way too loud for effective stealth.

“Maybe they turned invisible? Or shrunk themselves?” speculated the shorter one.

“Why the fuck would they do that, idiot?”

“So we can’t find them to interrogate them!”

The taller one smacked his smaller buddy upside the head. “They don’t know we’re coming, dumbass!”

I watched them bicker, their supposed tactical operation dissolving into a playground argument. I guess there was no IQ test to join the militia.

Stepping out of the shadows, I conjured an invisible shield around myself. Just in case.

“Interrogate me about what?” I asked in a light, teasing tone.

They spun toward me, each pulling a gun and training it on me with unsteady hands.

I noted the way their fingers trembled on the triggers, how fear made their eyes too wide. Astrea had been right. This gang probably couldn't tie their own shoes.

"Don't move!" the taller one barked, trying to sound authoritative and failing.

I smiled. "Sure. What are you doing outside my hotel room?"

The rain was growing heavier, fat drops hammering down through the pine canopy. The sound of it seemed to make them jumpier.

"We want to know what's really going on," the taller one said, trying to hold his gun steady. “With all these other witches coming here. What are you planning?”

“A career pivot,” I said. “It's a job fair.”

"We're not idiots!" the shorter one shouted, waving his gun in a way that would be terrifying, if not for the bulletproof magic protecting me. "Don't expect us to believe that! We want to know the real story!"

"The real story is that it's a job fair. I'll text you the website if you want. All the info is there,” I added helpfully.

“How dumb do you think we are?”

“Oh, extremely.” It came out casually.

“We know you witches aren’t traveling from all over the world for a fucking job fair!” His gun-waving grew wilder and more uncontained. “At least try to come up with lies that are believable, you filthy⁠—”

I didn’t get to hear him finish the sentence.

Instead, I heard his jawbone shatter with a resounding crunch as Maddox’s fist suddenly connected with his face. He had charged out of the room with such speed that he was on top of the militiamen before any of us even saw him coming.

And he was wearing nothing but gray boxer briefs!

“Get away from her!” Maddox roared, savage and animalistic. I watched in astonishment as he moved with speed and precision, the now torrential rain streaming down his body, plastering the boxer briefs to his muscular thighs and large bulge. Both guns went flying into the underbrush, the taller man screaming in particular agony as Maddox wrenched the weapon from him.

The shorter one recovered first, lunging from behind while his partner circled around to attack from the side. As their fight training activated, they didn’t seem so helpless. Maddox caught the first man’s arm and flipped him over his hip, then grabbed the taller one by his tactical vest and slammed him into the muddy ground with ruthless force. When the shorter man scrambled up throwing a hook, Maddox ducked and drove his fist into the man’s solar plexus, doubling him over. Before he could bounce back, Maddox grabbed him by the back of the neck and drove his knee into the man’s face with a decisive crack of bone.

I hadn’t needed him to rescue me. My magic could have handled them both easily.

But there was still something about seeing Maddox’s power this way...

He was taking these two men like they were nothing. As dimwitted as they were, the militiamen were built and clearly knew how to fight. But Maddox was so dominant. He had a force and a fire vastly beyond what these younger men possessed.

And as he pounded away on them, rain streaming down the powerful planes of his chest, I suddenly noticed⁠—