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“But you didn’t tell anyone what really happened?”
“I did. The first guy who showed up, I told him. But all he saw was a drunk slut with too many tattoos. Trailer trash versus a cop. He didn’t believe me. Later, a lawyer came to see me and tried to talk to me, but it didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.”
She turned to look at him. “I did it, Jimmy. I let some sleazy asshole stick his dick in me for a bus ticket. Nothing else matters. I’ll always know that I did it.”
Easy pulled her in close and held her against him while she cried. After a few minutes, he said, “Sometimes bad choices seem like the only choices. I know how that is. You looked in my box.”
She pulled away to look at him. “You have so much.”
“I do,” he agreed. “I have family that loves me, a little niece to watch grow up. But for a long time I didn’t realize it. I treated them like shit. Worst of all, I had a girl who loved me, and I treated her like shit, too.” He smoothed back her hair so he could see her face. “Can I have you again, Daisy?”
She looked up at him with clear blue eyes, and he held his breath. Her lips parted, and he waited on a knife edge to get a glimpse into his own future.
“I’m sorry. Are we interrupting a Hallmark moment?”
Daisy gasped in surprise, and Easy let go of her. Matt had enlisted two mouth breathers to back him up. They stood behind him and tried to look menacing. Easy would have laughed if he wasn’t so damn irritated.
“I told you, Daisy’s mine.”
Easy shook his head. Matt didn’t give a shit about Daisy. It was more likely that his ego was bruised, and in a small town like this everyone had heard about it. Easy weighed the merits of explaining that if he needed two other guys to finish the job it still wouldn’t be a victory, not that they stood a chance. Two pissants and a loudmouth were hardly intimidating.
“These are shitty odds,” Easy told Matt. “You should’ve brought more guys.” He stepped forward, putting himself in front of Daisy, just in case one of them had brought a gun. “Obviously, you were too stupid to get it the first time, so let me be perfectly clear. Daisy… is mine. So suck it up, boy band, because she’s leaving with me.”
“Like hell,” Matt shouted and lunged.
Easy side stepped him and swept his legs out from underneath him. He went down in the dirt, just as the other two charged. Easy pivoted and rammed his elbow into the large one’s gut. He doubled over with a grunt. The third one was still advancing. So, Easy threw a punch, catching him squarely in the face. He went down harder than Matt, blood misting from his nose.
The one he’d winded was back for more, so Easy grabbed his shoulder with one hand and made several quick jabs with the other. Somewhere around the third or fourth strike, he felt a rib crack under his knuckles.
Matt was up by now and swinging hard. He caught Easy in the back with a kidney punch. Easy stumbled a bit. Matt kept up his pursuit, but the younger man was all enthusiasm and no strategy. When his next swing missed, he over-extended himself. Easy brought his fist down hard, cracking Matt’s jaw and sending him to his knees.
“Want to go another round?”
Matt didn’t respond, and Easy turned away. A body slammed into his, but this one was small and female. She was sobbing and he wrapped his arms around her.
“Everything’s fine,” he murmured in her ear.
“I know.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“Because you fought for me.”
Easy pushed her away a little and wiped her cheeks with his thumbs. He grinned at her. “Is one of these guys Ricky, by any chance? If not we could go looking for him. I’m on a roll.”
She laughed through her tears and leaned in to kiss him. He lifted her to her toes and pressed his lips to hers.
“Yes,” she told him when he let go.
He knew which question she was answering.
Chapter 37
Daisy barely got off the bike before Tildy tackled her. Easy watched in amusement as the two women hugged each other fiercely.
“You didn’t answer your phone!” Tildy accused in between sobs.
“I got rid of my phone,” Daisy told her.
“Well, get another one!” Tildy cried. She took a step back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“You really missed me,” Daisy said grinning. “Either that or pregnancy hormones.”
“Both,” Tildy replied.
Hawk snorted. “Yep. Let’s blame the hormones,” he said wryly. Before Tildy could yell at him, he said, “Slick’s taken over our kitchen. Family dinner.”
Easy followed Daisy into Shooter’s old house. There were more hugs between the women, while the men set the table. Easy had met Sarah over Family dinner, one she made especially for him. She squeezed his arm as she passed by, and he wondered if she was remembering the same thing. He’d been a dick to her that night and on many other subsequent nights.
