The Bad Boy's Biggest Mistake (7 page)

“She’s only in her thirties. Kevin is in his early
twenties.”

“Exactly,
a woman Marla’s age
needs a man with experience.”

She stared at him for several seconds and cottoned
on to what was happening. Laughing, Vicki thumped him in the arm. “You’ve got a
thing for Marla. What’s wrong?
Afraid of the competition?”

“Kevin is no competition.”

Chuckling, Vicki waited for him to secure his bike
outside the building.

“I can see the attraction with Kevin. She can train
him to be exactly what she wants, whereas you, you’re damaged goods.” She
pointed at him.

Stefan growled.

“Come on, let’s go and say hi to the mysterious
Marla.”

Vicki opened the door in time to see Kevin handing
the other woman a flower. The single red rose shook as it passed from one hand
to the other.

“Thank you, Kevin,” Marla said.

Marla looked past Kevin’s shoulder and gave a sigh
of relief.
“Hi, Vicki.
Tristan’s expecting you. Lunch
hasn’t arrived yet, but I expect it to be here soon.”

“Hello, Marla,” Stefan said. His voice was dripping
with charm. Vicki rolled her eyes.

“Don’t worry about lunch. How are you settling in?”
Vicki asked, ignoring the two men.

Marla’s gaze flitted between the two men. On the one
side was sweet and innocent Kevin, and on the other was domineering Stefan.

“I’m doing great. The cookies you brought yesterday
were amazing.”

“Do you have a last name?” Stefan asked.

“Don’t be rude. I’m pleased you liked them.” Vicki
gave the woman the best reassuring smile she could. She wanted to put the other
woman at ease. Stefan wasn’t a horrid man, even though he held a presence that
promised danger if he was pushed.

“Last name is Gates. I’m Marla Gates.”

“Lovely to meet you, Miss Gates.”

Vicki had enough of the flirting. She started to say
as much when a feminine cry came from Tristan’s office.

Frowning, Vicki followed the noise and ignored
Marla’s warning. Who could be inside Tristan’s office making a pleasurable
noise?

She opened the door and gasped. A woman was bent
over his desk. Her skirt was pulled up and panties pulled down. The marks on
her flesh were hideous. Tristan turned to her. “Vicki?”

He looked at her then at the woman bent over his
desk.

“Why have you stopped?” The woman’s head turned, and
Vicki was struck through the heart. His wife, very current wife, was the woman
bent over the desk.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” he said.

Kate moved from under him. Vicki watched with her
mouth open staring at the other woman.

“Tristan, who is this?”
Kate
asked.

His wife was even more appealing in the flesh than
Vicki could handle.

She stared at him with tears in her eyes. Stefan,
Marla, and Kevin stood behind her watching the scene.

“Don’t start, Kate. Vicki, I promise this isn’t what
it looks like.”

“I only came for lunch. I didn’t come for this.”

The first tear started to fall, and she wished with
all her heart she could make the pain stop. She needed to get over this.

“I can’t do this. This is unfair even from you,”
Vicki said.

“Please, I swear, this is completely innocent. I
didn’t know she was coming here. I would have told you.”

She had no choice but to believe him. Tristan didn’t
explain himself.

“Excuse me, who are you?” Kate asked. The other
woman offered her hand with a smile to her lips. Vicki stared at the hand then
at the woman.

“No one.”

Turning on her heel she walked away. She brushed
past the three people behind her and rushed out of the door. Vicki needed the
fresh air to help her breathe. She felt like air had been cut off from her
lungs. Breathing was a problem.

Crashing through the door, she ran around the
building to get to the shaded part. With the sunshine bearing down, Vicki
couldn’t think, let alone deal with her pain.

She’d heard her name being called on the way out of
the building. Ignoring her name and everything else, Vicki closed her eyes.

Kate was back. What did it mean? She didn’t know the
answer. His wife looked way to comfortable for this visit to be fleeting.

“Vicki, are you all right?”

Opening her eyes she saw Stefan staring down at her.

“I can’t deal with this. It’s too much. Will you
take me home?” she asked.

“Of course.”

He didn’t say anything else. She climbed on the back
of his bike and let him take her the short distance home. Stefan saw her to her
door. “Vicki, who was that
woman
?” he asked.

“Her name is Kate. She’s Tristan’s wife.”

Chapter
Six

Vicki had run away from him again. Not that Tristan
could blame her. If he’d seen one of Vicki’s ex’s in such a position as Kate
was with him, he’d have run, or would he? For the longest time he looked at the
space where she’d been standing. His woman looked broken all over again. He was
reminded of the time he’d seen her in the hospital after she’d lost the baby.

Never in all of his life did he ever want to see
that look on her face. The sadness he’d witnessed in her eyes tore him apart.
He was the cause of her sadness.

“Well, she’s a strange girl,” Kate said.

Anger unlike anything he’d ever felt ran over him.
“I think it’s time you took a break, Marla. Kevin, take Marla to lunch.”
Staring at Stefan he gave him a nod and then slammed his office door. Without
waiting to hear if the outer office door to the station closed Tristan turned
to his wife.

He’s never known such anger. Even when he’d found
Kate with another man who gave her what she needed, he’d not been angry. Disappointment
was the only emotion he recalled. The woman who was supposed to have loved him
betrayed him.

“Well, Tristan?” Kate took a step back.

“Don’t start, Kate. You haven’t got the right to be
questioning me,” he said.

“You’re a married man.
The girl
who ran off looks a little in love with you.
I think you should be
careful.”

The chair in front of him went crashing to the
floor. Looking at his beautiful wife made him feel nothing but disgust and
anger.

“Married? You’ve been shacking up with your fucking
pain slut of a boyfriend. Remember, the man who can hurt you more than I can.
Vicki is no strange girl. She’s the fucking woman I love.”

His words were a revelation to him.

“Please, Tristan. She’s a passing fancy. There’s no
way you can be in love with such a girl. It can’t happen. I won’t let it,” Kate
said.

The woman Tristan never met stood in his wife’s
place. Kate looked older and more sinister than he ever recalled. This woman
before him wasn’t used to being passed over. Her intelligence, beauty, and
overall cunning never allowed a person to look over her. He’d once fallen for
her charms.

No more, Law Castle had cured him of her. He was in
love with Vicki and had been for a long time. She was an addiction to him.

She
was also going to be the mother of your child.

You
broke her heart because of Kate.

What
commitment do you really have to Kate?

“I want a divorce,” he said.

“What?”

“I want a divorce. I want you out of my life. I
never want to see you again.”

“You can’t mean that,” Kate said.

Frustration bloomed inside him at her words.

“What part are you having trouble with? That
girl,
as you call her, has put up with
more shit from me than she ever deserved. I was her fucking first, and instead
of giving her a ring, my name, and house with a fucking picket fence I didn’t,
because I’m married to fucking you.” Tristan started yelling the words. He no
longer cared who heard his business. Everything he said needed to be heard,
especially by Kate. “She was pregnant with my baby. You know, I fucked her
without a condom, and a baby started to grow.
You
got your pissing tubes tied because you couldn’t stand the
thought of losing your figure. Vicki didn’t ask for anything, and she lost the
baby—but I could have been a father. Mine and Vicki’s baby couldn’t have taken
my name because of you. No baby of mine is growing up a bastard. Give me my
divorce, Kate, or I swear to God, you’ll live to regret it.”

Tristan stormed out of his office without looking
back. No one was in the building as he passed the front desk.

“Like that you’re going to leave me?” Kate asked,
shouting at him.

Turning back to face her Tristan snorted. “You were
never mine to keep.”

“Divorcing me will never be easy, Tristan. I will
make you pay.”

“Bring it on, bitch. I’m ready for this to be over.”

He moved out of the station and saw several of the
locals gazing in his direction. Stefan was waiting for him across town next to
Noah and Drew’s mechanic shop.
 
Jake,
Brent, and Connor were stood with him talking instead of working. They stopped
when they saw him.

“The blonde was your wife?” Stefan asked.

“Vicki
tell
you the truth?”

“Yeah, what I want to know is why a fucking married
man screwed around with Vicki.” Stefan grabbed the collar of his uniform and
slammed Tristan against the wall.

Tristan took everything the other man gave. He
deserved to be hurt and more for what he’d done to Vicki. The young woman
deserved so much better from him. “It’s a long story. Vicki knows the truth.”

“Yeah?
I
don’t think Vicki would have slept with you if she’d known you were married
from the start,” Stefan said.

“You’re right. She hasn’t slept with me since. Is
she home?” he asked.

“Zoe is comforting her,” Connor said. “I took her
over as soon as Stefan gave us the heads-up about you.”

All six men stared him down. They made a scary
combination, Noah, Drew, Stefan, Connor, Jake and Brent. All of them looked at
him as if he was a piece of shit, and he relished it. He needed their
punishment.

“You know, the Law Castle Bad Boys may be a bit of a
joke to you, but we take it seriously. We live by our own set of rules, and
there has never been much trouble,” Stefan said. “We don’t fuck unwilling women
or hit on other men’s women. Cheating is not something we allow. The women we
fuck know the score. Our women know they can trust us. Once you’re our woman,
you’re our woman.”

“I fucked up. I’m not one of your gang.”

“The only thing stopping me from putting you in the
grave,
Sheriff
, is the fucking marks
on your wife’s ass. She’s only just turned up in town. I know you weren’t the
one to put them there. You and your wife have a different story. I don’t want
to fucking hear it.” Stefan folded his arms. “But you tell me why I should postpone
Vicki’s parents from collecting her?”

Running fingers through his hair Tristan looked off
toward Vicki’s house. He wasn’t used to explaining himself, and he didn’t like
it. However, these men with their circus clown of a club helped to run and keep
this town decent.

“A lot of shit is going on between Kate and me. I
won’t deny that. I love Vicki. I really do, and it has taken Kate showing up
for me to realise it. I will never hurt Vicki. She’s my future even though
she’s too fucking young for me.”

Stefan stared at him for several minutes. “We don’t
judge here.” He moved out of the way. “You hurt Vicki again, and I’ll be
putting her on the back of my bike and driving her out of town in the next
instant.”

Tristan nodded. He accepted the terms before making
his way back over to Vicki’s house. He needed to make things right between
them. No way would he accept anything less.

****

“Yuck, this coffee is disgusting. I think I need to
give you coffee lessons. How do Stefan and the others cope with this?” Zoe
asked.

Vicki burst out laughing. She poured some whisky,
left over from when Tristan visited, into her coffee and made her way into the
room. Zoe scented the air and scowled at her.

“It’s a little early to be drinking.”

“It’s five o’clock somewhere.” She sipped her drink
feeling the disapproval rolling off Zoe. “What? I’m not an alcoholic. I just
need to forget everything that has happened. Surely you can appreciate that?”

Zoe reached out, pushing the hair off her shoulder.
“What’s the matter? Stefan looked worried, and then everyone is talking about
that woman visiting Tristan.”

News travelled fast in Law Castle. It was one of the
pitfalls to living in a small town.