Forbidden Fling (Wildwood Book 1) (20 page)

“Your father and your brother have joined in the unanimous Hayes chorus. Consider me well versed on your opinions related to my presence in Wildwood.”

Ethan slid toward the edge of the booth. “Delaney—”

“Enough.”
She cut a look at him, hoping he could see she was serious. “For God’s sake, I’ve had enough for one damn day. I heard you, okay? And I heard Jack. I’m not deaf.”

That seemed to confuse Ethan into silence.

She maintained her face-off with Austin. Not because she wanted to, but because he was standing in the middle of the path to her only exit. “I’m simply here to do what I’ve been told I need to do. Then I’ll be leaving. As soon as humanly possible. I promise.”

She started around him, toward the door. If she could reach fresh air, then the security of her car without another confrontation, she might just hold on to her sanity—

Austin slipped his hand around her arm, and fire ripped up the middle of Delaney’s body.

Shit.

Shit, shit,
shit
.

“Hold on there a minute, Ms. Hart.” His words may have sounded mild, but his expression was hot with suppressed anger as he pulled her around to fully face him in one smooth move. Not exactly hostile but definitely meant to send a message as he pushed her back against a column near the entrance. “I believe we need to straighten out a few things.”

Here we go again.

Unlike his father, Austin released her, but he was still creating a very clear block to the exit.

“Austin.” Ethan’s frustrated voice cut into her thoughts, which made Delaney realize her head had gone foggy. Her vision gray around the edges. She didn’t remember Ethan standing from the booth. “Stay out of this.”

“There is no staying out of this. What she does affects all of us.” Austin’s dark gaze swung toward Delaney again. “And you are causing nothing but trouble around here—for everyone.”

He kept his voice low, but the rough timbre was more menacing than if he’d been yelling until her ears rang. “You obviously didn’t take me seriously the first time, so I’m going to tell you again, and this time you’d better take my words as the
goddamned gospel
.
Get your ass the fuck out of town.
”

Delaney was shaking inside—with fear, with fury—but she fought to find a reasonable tone. “As much as I would love to do just that, your father has made it impossible for me to leave. I’m only here to do what his ordinance requires—”

“You’re not here at all. You got me?” He moved in, closing the last few inches between them, and towering over her. “You’re already gone. As in
now
. Not tomorrow. Not the next day. But
now
.”

Delaney’s heart beat so loudly in her ears she could barely hear. Her adrenaline revved, her fight or flight kicking in, which was about to become a problem—because she didn’t have anywhere to fly.

“If you think you’re going to resurrect the hellhole where you killed our cousin, you’re not only wrong—you’re
dead
wrong.
It. Won’t. Happen.
”

The clear threat shot a shiver up her spine. Her face and fingers had gone icy.

“Austin.” The single word from Ethan carried a heavy this-is-your-last-warning threat. “Back the fuck off.”

Ethan put his hand against Austin’s chest, but his brother knocked it away, nearly hitting Delaney’s chin.

Without looking away from Delaney, Austin spoke to Ethan. “No one is going to turn our family upside down again.”

“I don’t want to be here any more than you want me here, but
your family
made it impossible for me to stay away.” She needed air. Needed an escape route. She could stay calm and collected when she had room to move. But when she felt trapped, she wasn’t nearly as composed. “If you don’t like it, talk to Jack and Ethan. In the meantime, I’m going to do what I was told to do.”

She squeezed out from between Austin and the post and headed for the door.

But Austin cut her off again, and Delaney’s heart tripped. “You little bitch,” he rasped, barely more than a whisper. “Just who in the fuck do you think you are?”

Bitch.

She was a lot of things, but she was not a bitch.

A brittle, shaky kind of frenzy snaked through her and made her bold. Made her reckless. Made her more like the girl she used to be.

She stepped into him, instead of away, and looked him directly in the eye. The move surprised him, and he leaned back.

“I
think
I’m a taxpaying business owner of Wildwood.” She lifted her voice now, instead of quieting it. “I
think
I’m entitled to feel safe in my community. I
think
the sheriff’s department is bound by law to provide safety for their citizens, not instill fear in them, like you’re trying to do right now. I
think
I have rights that are upheld by the constitution,
Deputy Hayes
.
That’s who I think I am.
” She took a shaky breath, ready to shatter into a million pieces. “So either arrest me or get the hell out of my way, right now, and
let me leave
.”

Ethan wedged himself between her and Austin, glanced over his shoulder, and bit out, “Go.”

Ethan paced the parking lot of Patterson’s while Austin leaned against his cruiser, arms and ankles crossed.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Austin said. “Do you want her raising that bar again? Do you want to drive a wedge between yourself and the entire family again?”

“What the hell is wrong with
you
?” Ethan yelled back. “Do
you
want to lose your fucking job? Do
you
want the department to get sued for harassment?”

Austin just shook his head, that superior attitude radiating disgust. “Dude, you’ve got to shut that bitch down. Dad’s going to pop a blood vessel.”

Ethan felt sick. Physically sick. Like he was going to lose the acid churning in his stomach any minute. He wanted to knock some serious sense into Austin, but if he did, Austin’s suspicion would peak. And if Austin’s suspicion peaked, he’d stir the shit by dropping innuendos with the family.

Delaney had enough trouble with his family.

“Sometimes you’ve got to get your hands dirty to put change into motion. And I know how fussy you are about getting dirty. I’m just stepping in to do what I know you won’t. Hell, you’ve already got enough problems with Dad and Uncle Wayne as it is.”

“They make their own goddamned problems, then try to blame them on everyone else. She only came back because he forced her into dealing with that dump.”

Austin’s eyes narrowed. “Dude.” He laughed the word with surprise. “
Dude
, you’re hot for her.”

Fear stung the pit of Ethan’s stomach. “Don’t try to deflect the conversation from your screwup. You always do this when you’re wrong.”

“I’m not wrong. And, hey, I don’t blame you. She was a hot little piece back in high school, but now . . .” He whistled long and low. “That bitch has aged to perfection.”

Ethan needed—
needed
—to put his fist in Austin’s gut.

A dozen goddamned times.

“
God
, you’re
such
an idiot.” Ethan threw a hand toward him in a “whatever” gesture, and started for his truck.

“You’d better think about what you do before you do it from now on, bro,” Austin called after him. “We both serve at the pleasure of the almighty Jack Hayes, who happens to be indebted to Wayne Ryan because you didn’t do what you were told. And don’t expect Mom to take your side against Dad either. Aunt Ellen’s face-plant has her all wound up.”

Ethan pulled open his truck door and froze, halted by that punch of guilt.

“If you think you fell from grace when you bailed on Ian’s last birthday hurrah, how do you think the family will feel about you letting Hart restore that building?”

He turned on Austin. “It has nothing to do with
letting
her. It’s about following the law, Austin. You know, that thing you swore to uphold and protect? That thing you make a living enforcing?”

“Hard to imagine miser Wayne parting with his gold nuggets to fund the reelection of a man who can’t even control his own son. When Jack’s happy, everyone’s happy.
Shut her down
, bro, or
I will
.”

Ethan dropped into the driver’s seat a hundred pounds heavier than when he’d stepped out and turned over the truck’s engine. His drive home took only a minute, but in that sixty seconds all his problems tangled into knots.

That badge gave Austin a God complex. Where Jack knew when he was crossing the line or pushing the limits, Austin didn’t believe either lines or limits or, evidently,
laws
applied to him. He would jump at the chance to drop innuendos about Ethan and Delaney to their family, because Austin held a long-standing grudge over Ethan’s star status growing up. He’d reveled in Ethan’s fall from grace over Ian’s death. And relished any chance to both rub the event in Ethan’s face and remind everyone why Austin deserved to be the favorite son.

After pulling into the driveway, Ethan shoved the truck into Park but didn’t turn off the engine, still arguing with himself about going to Phoebe’s to check on Delaney. Man, talk about a shitty day. He wanted to be there for her, even if that meant getting the brunt of her anger.

But she’d never agree to see him. And then he’d be stuck explaining himself to Phoebe. And the whole idea went downhill from there.

He slammed a fist against the steering wheel. “Fuck.”

God, he was so over this family bullshit.

He turned off the engine, climbed from the car, and rounded the back, cutting across the lawn toward the front door, hoping he still had a few beers in his fridge. He seriously needed to alter the alcohol-to-red-blood-cell ratio pumping through his veins.

Movement near the house drew his gaze and halted his feet. The motion-activated porch light flipped on, drenching Delaney in light where she sat on his front steps. His heart jumped toward his throat.

She stood slowly, her gaze holding his, her expression unsettled.

Holding a porch column with one hand, she fisted the other by her side, but she said nothing. The silence felt heavy with uncertainty and secrets, desire and need, frustration and guilt.

This mess was an insanity-inducing cocktail that made Ethan feel reckless, as if he wanted to chuck it all and move somewhere no one knew him. Somewhere with beaches and bars. Forget all about his screwed-up family. Dump the job that ruled his life.

Just like Delaney had.

She’d walked away from her unhealthy life with nothing. Started over at eighteen in a new town. No family. No friends. Built herself up to a great position in a great company all on her own. Then come back to face her ugly past when it was the last thing she wanted.

She had such strength. Such guts. In comparison, he felt like an absolute coward.

He planted his hands at his hips and set his feet. “Okay. Let me have it.”

“Have what?”

“Whatever you need to unload.” He lifted his arms out to the sides. “I deserve whatever you’ve got.”

Her brow pulled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He glanced over his shoulder and around the street. “Where’s your car?”

“I, um, I parked a few streets away. Paralleled between two cars so my license plate wasn’t—” She stopped and let all her air out, but she kept her voice down, as if she were aware of the lights on in the houses nearby. “Never mind. I’m just here to tell you that what happened between us will stay between us. I won’t tell anyone. So it won’t get back to your family through me.”

“What?”
He shook his head as he took a few steps closer.
“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you care?” His voice sounded strained as he tried to keep it low. “First my father attacks you, then my brother. Neither of which you deserved. And both in public. You should be raving mad, not trying to protect me from my own damned
family
.”

“Don’t ask me why I care.” The first hint of anger touched her voice, and she came to the edge of the porch with a stance he was beginning to recognize—spine a little straighter, chin a little higher. “That’s demeaning. What kind of person do you think I am? Why
wouldn’t
I care? You’re not your father or your brother. I certainly know how far an apple can fall from the tree, how quickly family members can turn on each other, and how easily they can abandon you when you need them most.

“I also know how badly that hurts. How it can leave an empty space inside a person. Make you feel like you don’t belong, even when you do. I don’t think anyone deserves that. I think family should stick beside each other. I realized all that too late and lost my sisters because I was young and selfish and left too soon. But I was only eighteen. I didn’t know any better. Your father and your brother do know better, and the way they treated you today is bullshit. So yeah, I’m pissed . . . but not at you.”

His stomach seemed to squeeze and float at the same time. He didn’t know how she said so much so quickly. He was dumbstruck at her insight into people, relationships, and human nature. Awed at how open and forgiving she was after all the shit she’d been through.