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“You fucking rigged it, Koster!” he shouts. I turn around, and he charges, tackling me to the ground. Shit. He swings, but I flip him to the side with a good shove to his chest and knee to the groin. I’m on my knees and get a solid punch in before I’m grabbed and yanked backward by two dudes each the size of the Hulk. Fighting a guy who’s been drinking too much to hold Cutler back, the fucker hits me with an uppercut before I can free my arms and fight back.
But when I do . . . I land heavy on top of him. Two punches and the sad sap is groaning in pain and hiding his face like it’s worth protecting. This time, security pulls me back. Yanking out of their grip, I raise my hands, shrugging my shirt back in place. “I already stopped.”
Jeffrey Whaley, our town deputy, cuts through the crowd. “Why am I not surprised it’s the two of you fightin’ again?”
“Because Cutler can’t seem to keep his insecurities under wraps,” I reply.
Whaley grabs me by the elbow and the twin Hulks back away. “You’re out of here, Koster.”
“What the hell? He fucking started it.”
Deputy Whaley never saw things for how they were. He preferred to pick and choose who his criminals were. Today, I guess I’m the bad guy. “Shut it, or I’ll take you to jail.”
Delilah pushes through the crowd. “Jason was defending himself, Deputy Whaley. All these witnesses can back him up.”
“Step back, Mrs. Cutler.”
“It’s Noelle,” she corrects with fire in her eyes.
He stops and eyes her. Releasing my arm, he says, “You jump from one bad decision to the next. Cut your losses on this one before I see you in jail right along with him.”
“No.” She steps in front of him, proving his point, and crosses her arms over her chest. “You have the wrong guy, and I’m not going to let you get away with this.”
“Well, there’s nothing you can do, Ms. Noelle, so step aside.”
As proud as I am of her, I can handle it. “It’s okay, baby. He’s not going to take me in. I’ll be back.”
Seeing her all fired up like this, fires me up in ways we can’t act on. She’s feisty and fierce. Her hands are on her hips, and she’s passionate when she raises her voice. “Actually, Jeff Whaley, it’s not okay—”
Cole grabs her arm and tugs her toward him. I’m in action to take that fucker down once and for all, but she’s already swinging and lands a perfect right cross, his jowls shaking under the impact.
Deputy Whaley sighs, and then yells, “Take her into custody.”
25
Delilah
I’m not scared.
I probably should be, but I’m not.
I’m never scared when I’m with Jason. You would think having been so close to Cole when he flew at Jason, I’d be rattled. I’m not. And even though I’m leaning over a cop car handcuffed, I’m not worried. Not one bit.
His cheek is pressed to the same trunk as mine, both of us staring at each with smiles on our faces. “Maybe you shouldn’t have told him his wife’s famous blue-ribbon recipe was a rip-off of your mom’s,” he says.
Laughing, I reply, “Maybe, but it’s true. Shows what cheaters the Whaley family have always been.”
“Commit a crime and you walk away with a warning in this small, fucked-up county. Expose the truth about an apple crisp, and you get a night in jail. Sounds about right.”
“They won’t book us,” I say. “They have nothing on us.”
He stares at me like he’s seeing me in a whole new light. Oh wait . . . he is, and asks, “Since when did you grow a pair of balls the size of Kentucky?”
“I’m just tired of it all. Tired of being called Cole’s wife. Tired of being called a whore to my face from rumors spread all over Solace Pointe. Tired of hiding who I want to be. Tired of hiding us. I’m so fucking tired of all the bullshit. Do you ever just get tired of it all, Jason?”
He smiles. “Yeah, that’s when I decided to come home.”
“But this is my home. I have nowhere else to escape to.”
We’re both lifted by our shoulders and brought around opposite sides of the car. Our heads are pushed down as we’re loaded into the back of the cop car. The doors slam closed, and we look at each other. Blue and red lights illuminate the night around us when Jason leans forward, and says, “Marry me, Delilah.” Not a question. It’s a plea followed by a smile and nudge. “Fuck this town and marry me. We’ll live like the shunned in our private paradise by the lake. We’ll fish and fuck, raise a family, and pour so much love into that farm and each other that no one will have cause to say anything bad.”
