by Mia Carson
Iris hummed as she dusted the shop and cleared off another table to shift a few items around. Joe was happy with what she’d done so far and the sales she’d managed in the three days she’d been working. Granted, she had to deal with several people giving her the stink-eye, but a smile stayed plastered to her face. Once they were out the door, she went to the back room and threw darts at an old board Joe had stashed back there. It wasn’t as good as going to the shooting range, but it was enough to take the edge off.
Her mind wandered to last night and Alec’s kisses warming her from her toes to the top of her head. She wanted to move forward with him, but doubts still echoed in her mind about what message that would send to them both. He’d think she was ready to move forward with the relationship, and she’d get her hopes up that it might actually work.
Deep down, she worried they’d both crash and burn, and she’d be completely broken this time.
Joe said he’d be out for most of the day again, but he didn’t say what he was up to and only left after a phone call. She’d asked him who it was, but he mumbled something about telemarketers and ducked out the back door. Iris knew he was up to something and called Sam to see if he’d heard anything, but her brother said he had no idea what she was talking about and promptly hung up on her. She texted Alec, telling him something was going on and asking if he by chance had anything to do with it, but he hadn’t answered her at all. The shop was empty and she was due for a lunch break, so she flipped the sign closed on the front door and moved to the back room. As she pulled her cell out to call Alec, the bell rang and she sighed.
“Damn lock,” she whispered, remembering she forgot to throw it. “I’m sorry, we’re closing for lunch.”
“Good, I’ll join you,” Jenson jeered when he stepped up to the counter.
“What do you want?” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest, making sure to keep her cell ready at hand. “Looking for a new picture to hang on your wall to cover up the holes you put in them?”
He glared at her and leaned over the counter, but she didn’t move a muscle. “Who said I put holes in my walls? Are you spying on me?”
“I just assumed after the last time,” she pointed out with a nonchalant shrug. “If you’re not going to buy something, then get out. Joe will be back any second, and I know for a fact he does not like you in his shop.”
“Oh? Since when? My father and I are always buying things from Joe to decorate his office at City Hall and his mansion—oh, and my lovely home, of course. My large, new house that’s not falling down around me.”
Her lips thinned, and she kept her mouth shut so she didn’t say anything to set him off.
He tapped his fingers on the counter, his gaze roaming around the room before they landed on the photograph of the Lundy’s. “Where did you get that?” he asked quietly.
Iris glanced at the photo then back at him, every muscle rigid in his body. “It’s Joe’s. He’s had it here for years. Why? You suddenly interested in your ancestors?” Everyone knew the Drayer family was directly related to the Lundy’s. They’d owned the town from the beginning, and no one had been able to get them out of City Hall.
“No,” he growled and made a grab for the photo, but Iris beat him to it. “Give it here.”
“No, this is not for sale, and you’re not going to damage it,” she informed him. “I suggest you leave.”
“You know it’s sad you had to get a job here, of all places,” he shot back loudly. “Right next door to your father’s pathetic store. How’s it feel to see two of your failures in this town every day? That shop and me.”
Iris took a step back at the hatred pouring off him. “You were not a failure,” she muttered, disgusted. “You were a disappointment and a cheating bastard. Now get the hell out of here, or I’ll call the sheriff.”
“And tell him what? The deputy came in to check on Joe’s shop? To make sure no scoundrels were harassing you?”
“The only scoundrel here is you.”
His face tightened, and his hands gripped the edge of the counter until his knuckles turned white. “That friend of yours—Alec? You tell him to watch his back from now on. If he touches me again, I’ll make sure he’s locked up for assault. And if he keeps coming near you, I’ll make sure—”
“You’ll make sure what?” she cut him off. “He and I are dating, so get it through your thick skull that I don’t want you. I want to be with him.”
Jenson yelled and lunged at the counter. Iris staggered backwards, her back hitting the wall as she gripped the photograph hard to her chest as if it could protect her. Sucking in breaths of air as fear warred with rage, she straightened and stared him down.
“Get out and do not come back, you hear me?”
He licked his lips and his eye twitched, but he lifted his hands and stepped back. “Just remember what I said. Besides, he won’t last in this town. Sooner or later, you’ll come back to me.”
Jenson’s heavy steps echoed around the shop. Iris didn’t dare move until she heard the bell jingle and spotted him walking past the shop window. She ran for the door and locked it quickly, backing away as if scared he’d return. Her mind reeling, she walked slowly to the back room and sagged to the floor, holding the photograph tightly to her chest. Her eyes stung with unshed tears of rage and fear at what that man did to her… what he still did to her. She tucked her head down and stayed there until two hours later when Joe let himself in. He said her a name a few times, growing more frantic by the second until she heard his shuffled steps moving closer and his shadow loomed in the doorway.
“Iris? What happened? Why are you on the floor?” Joe asked, reaching down to pull her up. “Iris?” He tried to take the photograph from her arms, but she wouldn’t let it go. She had no reason to hold onto it, but her fingers just wouldn’t give it up and Joe stopped trying. “Iris, you have to say something or I’m going to call Dr. Wallace. What happened?”
He guided her to the stool and sat her down. She sucked in a deep breath, but the shaking didn’t stop. “Jenson,” she managed to mutter. “He was here.”
“What did he do?”
“He… uh, he didn’t do anything, not really,” she said, but he headed to the computer and pulled up the security feed for the shop. Iris watched over his shoulder as he rewound the last hours until he saw Jenson come in the door. She knew what came next, but her eyes were glued to the monitor.
Joe muttered words under his breath that she knew were curses, words he never said. Ever. “That man will not step foot in my shop again. What did he say?”
Iris blew out a breath, puffing up her cheeks and blowing her hair from her face. “He… uh, he wanted me to tell Alec that if he touches Jenson again, he’d lock him up. But he never touched him. They haven’t seen each other since Friday… Joe,” she said when he sighed and hung his head. “What did Alec do?”
“I only found out about it today,” he said, holding up his hands as if to ward her off. “Jenson stopped by your place Friday night. He got in Alec’s face, and they agreed to see who the better shot was at the range on Sunday. Things got out of hand. Jenson went after Alec, but the man can handle himself, apparently. Alec said he got it all on video, so if Jenson comes after him, he has proof.”
Her chest seized by sudden anxiety, Iris jumped off the stool and snatched up her purse. “Where is he?”
“Who? Jenson?”
“No, Alec. I’m going to kill that man!” she stormed and rushed for the front door, the photograph still in her hands. “Joe, where is he? And don’t lie, I know you two were up to something today.”
When she reached the front door, she turned to look back and Joe’s whole body sagged. “Home. He should be at his home.” He rattled off the address, and Iris was out the door in a blink. She stalked down the street, keeping one eye peeled for Jenson in case he decided to return and the other for Alec just in case he wasn’t home. She garnered several annoyed looks from those she passed, but she ignored them all.
/>
Alec was an idiot, a damn fool for messing with Jenson in the first place. He didn’t know what he was capable of, hadn’t seen Jenson lose it completely. She had—enough times to know he was a ticking time bomb and was going to seriously hurt someone one of these days. She was halfway to Alec’s house before she realized she had the photograph in a death grip, but it was too late to do anything with it so she continued on her rampage down Main Street before turning right at City Hall headed towards the outskirts of town where the larger houses were built. It only took a minute for her to find Alec’s beat-up old black truck parked in the driveway. She hurried up the path and pounded her fist on the door.
“Alec! You open this damn door!” she yelled. “Alec Wolf!”
She kept banging on the door until she heard the lock click and it swung inward. “Yeah, she’s here,” he said, but not to her. His cell was pressed to his ear, and from the pissed off, worried look on his face, Joe had called him. “Right, I’ll let you know if I’m alive or not later.” He hung up and shoved his cell in his pocket as she barged inside.
“What the hell were you thinking?” she snapped once the front door was closed. “Why would you piss him off? Why did you provoke him like that?”
“Can you take a deep breath and calm down?” he said loudly. “And hand over that damn picture. The frame’s digging into your palm.”
She blinked a few times then glanced down as he uncurled her fingers from the sharped edges of the frame. A gasp escaped her, and he frowned.
“Damn it, Iris, you cut your hand. Come here,” he said and dragged her through his house to the kitchen. “Sit down and don’t talk for a minute, alright? You look like your head’s going to explode.”
“Because you went after Jenson!” she yelled as he grabbed a towel off the counter and pressed it against her palm. She winced, and he scowled at her but didn’t let up the pressure on her hand. “You can’t provoke him. You don’t know him.”
“Joe said he came by the shop,” Alec said stiffly, not looking at her. “He said it looked bad.”
She sank lower into the chair, loving the way he held her hand and hating that she liked it so much. “Yeah, it was bad,” she mumbled. “He wanted me to warn you to stay away from him.” Alec’s face broke out in a wolfish grin, and Iris lost it. “You’re an idiot, you know that? You don’t know what he’s capable of. I do! And if he hurts you… If he does anything to you like… like… Just leave him alone. I’m begging you.” The words came out in a ragged, stuttering mess. She bent over, her head hanging with one hand holding it up as she stared at the floor.
She waited for Alec to say something, but the house remained quiet. What she could hear was his heavy breathing, in and out through his nose, while he pressed the towel against her palm.
“That does hurt, you know,” she remarked.
The pressure let up, and Alec pulled the towel away. “The bleeding has stopped. I’m going to get you a bandage and the antibiotic cream. Don’t move.”
She did as he asked, the strength gone from her body as her anger and worry at what Jenson might do to Alec took over every muscle and every nerve. She closed her eyes, and that horrible night replayed repeatedly in her mind until she jerked up from her chair with a yelp and ran right into Alec’s hard body.
“You’re safe,” he told her sternly when she flinched away. His arms came slowly up around her, holding her loosely. “Iris, you’re with me. He’s not here.”
“I know,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest, and she let her body lean against his, her forehead resting against his chest and her arms limp at her sides. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault you’re involved in this anyway.”
His arms shifted and he held her close, kissing the top of her head. “Jenson’s not that bad. He’s just full of himself.”
She stiffened and shook her head, leaning back so she could stare into his eyes. “No, he’s not. He’s dangerous, and he’s basically got freaking immunity. He’s the son of the mayor, for God’s sake, so you can’t just beat him up.”
“Well, there goes my plan for tarring and feathering him later,” he teased, but she shoved hard at his chest, breaking out of his arms. “I was kidding. What did he do to you?”
The question caught her off-guard, and she laughed nervously, trying to control her erratic emotions. “He was an asshole who ruined my reputation. That’s it.”
“You’re so full of shit,” he said and crossed his arms over his chest. “Just tell me the truth.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” she insisted hotly. “You’re the one who insisted on being part of my life, but that doesn’t mean you get to charge in like a raging bull and demand to know everything about my past!”
“I do when it concerns me.”
She raised her hands and mimicked throttling him, exasperated. “Just let it go. Why can’t you do that? He’s not worth it.”
“If he keeps coming after you I won’t have a choice,” he stated.
Iris turned her back on him and glanced at the door. She should’ve run out of there. That would’ve been the smart thing to do, but she smiled bitterly, prodding the shallow cut on her hand. “You can’t run forever,” she whispered to herself, words her mom used to tell her and Sam.
“Iris?”
Her head fell back, and she chewed her bottom lip, hating the idea of reliving the night, but Alec was right. He should know, especially if him knowing would give him a better idea of Jenson’s instability.
“He always had a short temper when we were together,” she started quietly. “He yelled a lot, but never at me—not in the beginning. When my parents died and I was left to deal with Sam and the house, the bills, Dad’s store… I got depressed, really depressed, and stopped caring about everything except Sam.”
“What did he do?”
She turned around, her arms closing over her chest as if to ward off the bad memories, but there was no getting rid of them. “He yelled at me, told me to stop being pathetic and drunk. Told me to start acting like his girlfriend and suck it up. After he spread the rumors that I was an alcoholic and a cheater, I slapped him at Danny’s bar and broke up with him very publicly.”
Alec’s frown deepened, but she held up a hand to stop him before he lectured her.
“I know, it was stupid, but I didn’t really give a shit at that point. Months passed, and I dealt with everything the best I could. One night, he showed up at the house. He started ranting and raving about how he wanted me back, but I told him to get out and leave me alone.” She paused, and her face screwed up as Jenson’s words hit her as if he’d slapped her again. “He backed me up against the wall, slapped me once, and I decked him right back. His next hit would’ve broken my nose, but I saw it coming. He put two holes in my wall, but I managed to get into the bedroom and lock the door. He left and didn’t talk to me for a while after that.”
She waited for Alec to speak, but he stared at her from across the kitchen, his eye twitching and hands fisted at his sides. Then he snarled and stormed past her. “I’m going to break that son of a bitch’s neck!”
Iris took off after him and slid around him, shoving both her hands at his chest. “You can’t! Don’t you get that? He’ll have you arrested for assaulting a cop!”
“He can’t get away with terrorizing you,” he growled and tried to pick her up and move her, but Iris planted herself as hard as she could and pushed back against him. “You never told anyone what happened? Why?”
“His family owns this damn town,” she muttered. “All the land, everything. If I did anything to ruin him, he’d come at me and take everything I have, and I don’t have much left. So, I kept quiet about it.” She stepped back, happy that someone finally knew the truth but so exhausted from keeping up appearances all these years. She sank to the floor in Alec’s entryway and shook her head. “All I wanted was to get Sam better and get out of town, but we’re trapped here. There’s no way out, and now, I’ve dragged you into this mess.”
/>
Guilt at what she put Alec through consumed her, and she couldn’t even bring herself to lift her gaze to his. He had every right to kick her out, to be furious. Jenson would be watching him and the gun range now. Any slip, and he’d nail Alec with everything he could until he gave in and left town. Alec could run if he wanted, but she was stuck here with no money and no chance at a real future.
“You should just stay away from me,” she mumbled. “It’s better that way.”
Two hands reached down and grabbed hers, pulling her back to her feet. Iris averted his gaze until Alec reached out and turned her face gently back towards his. “Do you see me running scared right now?” he asked with a glint in his eyes.
“No, but you should be. I’m not good for you, not good for anyone,” she tried again. “I’m not date-able, and I’m certainly not anywhere close to girlfriend material. I have way too many problems to deal with, and I refuse to ruin someone’s life.”
“Iris, look at me,” he said sternly when her eyes looked anywhere but his face. “Please?”
She shifted on her feet. “What?” she mumbled without looking at him. If she did that, she’d lose what little resolve she clung to, telling herself this was for the best. “I can’t… I can’t date you, okay? I just can’t.”
“Because of your ex?” he said and laughed quietly. “We all have pasts, and I’m ready to deal with whatever yours has to throw at me. I can see the fight in your eyes, and the first time I met you, it was dimming. But suddenly, it was like someone lit a fire in you again, and the light that shone through your smile, your laugh… It was breathtaking.”
Slowly, her gaze shifted to land on his. “You did that,” she whispered. “I felt it that first night.”
“And you really think I’m going to run from something like this? Do you have any idea what you do to me every damn second I’m around you?”
“Why the hell do you even like me?” she muttered, unwilling to believe it so easily. “Everyone in this town hates me. Everyone.”
He grinned and leaned in closer, his arms wrapping securely around her body. “Good thing I’m not from this town,” he growled and slanted his lips over hers. His tongue played along her lower lip, and Iris shivered in his arms, her hands gliding up and around his neck to drag him closer. Heat cascaded over her body with every subtle shift of pressure in his hands, with every move of his tongue and his lips, but that nagging voice of doubt rose again and Iris shook her head.
