Down & Dirty 1_A Shameless Southern Nights Novel

by J. H. Croix

  My blood ran cold and a numbness started spreading from my head to my toes. Victoria looked at me sympathetically, carrying on. “He wasn’t on the list of approved people to visit with Austin, or to pick him up, so we told him to leave. I thought you should know someone was here.”

  “Thank you,” I managed, actively trying to keep my teeth from chattering as terror set in. Fear coiled tightly in my gut and my instincts were shouting. Wesley had found us. He knew where we were, and he knew Austin came to this daycare. To be sure, I bit out, “This man, did he have longish blonde hair and very dark eyes?”

  Victoria nodded, confirming my worst suspicions. “He did. He was wearing jeans and a black sweatshirt, if that helps.”

  In my mind’s eye, I could picture Wesley perfectly. I could see the sneer he would’ve been wearing when she asked him to leave and the way his slightly dirty hair would’ve been hanging just so over his eyes. Tears jumped to my eyes and my hands started trembling so badly I was relieved I wasn’t holding anything, since I definitely would’ve dropped it.

  “Thank you. Thank you for not letting him take Austin.”

  Her eyes softened with understanding. “It’s our pleasure, but we’ll also be keeping a closer eye on Austin from now on.”

  “Thank you.”

  I could say the words a thousand times, and Victoria still wouldn’t understand how profoundly and deeply grateful I was to her. Even if it was the policy at the school that children were only collected by those specifically authorized to do so, I knew that Wesley could be charming when he wanted to be. He’d certainly charmed me into making stupid decisions.

  God, I knew better than anyone else how manipulative and deceptive he could be. And now he knew where we were. A scream made its way to my throat, but I held it back. I had to compose myself for now, get Austin to safety. That was my first priority.

  After that, once I knew he was safe, then I was safe. Only then could I panic, freak out, scream into my pillow and let the tears that were building flow free. Moving to Cypress had been my hail Mary pass, I had no idea what to do from here.

  “Should I go get Austin?” Victoria asked kindly, clearly seeing that I needed a minute.

  I nodded, forcing myself to take a deep breath. “I’d appreciate that.”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  Watching her walk down the hallway to Austin’s classroom, I willed myself to calm down. Austin didn’t have to know about this scare. He couldn’t know. He’d been through so much at the hands of his father as it was. I wouldn’t allow Wesley to hurt him. Not again.

  A five year old had no business worrying about and protecting his mother the way Austin did with me. In the past, I hadn’t always had a choice about what Austin did or didn’t know about, but this time I did.

  I would protect him from this. He was settling in so well here. I wasn’t going to let Wesley steal his comfort and peace of mind again. I would do anything to make sure that didn’t happen. Seeing Austin appear at the far end of the hallway with Victoria and a genuinely happy smile on his face strengthened my resolve.

  Dropping to my knees, I opened my arms to him and scooped him up in a bear hug when he ran right into them. Breathing in the sweet scent of his shampoo and the slightly metallic smell of mud clinging to his clothes from playing outside, I felt like I could breathe properly for the first time since seeing Victoria’s expression when I arrived here.

  “How was your day, honey?” I asked him brightly, trying to will myself past the place of frantic fear inside. Rising to my feet, I held his hand as we walked out to the car.

  Austin clung to my hand as if he knew how much I needed to feel him there with me, safely by my side, but I didn’t think he could tell how freaked out I was. “It was soooo much fun, mommy. We made mud pies and I colored in a dragon.”

  “Yeah?” Waiting for him to climb into his seat, I fastened him in and immediately felt like even just walking around my car was putting too much distance between us. Almost jogging, I rounded the front of the car and was in my seat seconds later, doors locked.

  “Yeah. I have the dragon in my backpack. Do you want to see it?”

  I smiled at him, desperately trying to beat back the fear rising inside of me as we drove to the apartment. I’d gotten extra locks, and I knew Wesley would’ve had a hard time getting in, but he’d proven time and time again that he wasn’t easily deterred when it came to getting to us.

  “Sure buddy. It’ll go on the fridge as soon as we get home.”

  Austin frowned, giving me a clue that I’d tripped up. “But we only decide if it goes on the fridge if I like it more than one of the ones we already have up.”

  “I’m sure it will be if you’re this proud of it.” False bravado and confidence filled my tone as we approached our building. I checked every car in the lot as we drove in, but they were all familiar. Nor had there been any unfamiliar vehicles that I’d noticed parked nearby.

  Still, I couldn’t help the near overwhelming fear that threatened to sweep me into its current as we climbed the stairs to our apartment. I could’ve called Jeremy, and a small part of me wanted to do it. Badly. But I couldn’t get him caught up with all this. I wouldn’t endanger him any more than I already had.

  Taking Austin straight to his room as soon as we got to the apartment, I told him to change as an excuse to keep him in there for a little while as I checked the apartment. Thankfully it wasn’t big and I could check every room and closet big enough to hold a person before Austin was done.

  It was empty but for the two of us. Wesley wasn’t here. Yet. My stomach churned, and I gripped at my side for my purse. I’d started keeping pepper spray in there after one incident with Wesley eerily similar to this. My fingers closed around air, and I realized I must’ve left my purse in my car in my rush to get Austin to safety.

  I was torn between wanting to dash back to the car for it and locking myself in the apartment with Austin. The reality, however, was that I couldn’t stay locked in with Austin forever and even if I was, Wesley would get in if he wanted to.

  And if he did, I’d need that pepper spray if I had any hope of incapacitating him for long enough to call for help or do anything to protect us. Torn as I was, Austin was safe in here and I needed that spray.

  “Sweetheart,” I called out to Austin. “I have to run back to the car quickly. Could you do me a favor and stay in your room until I get back?”

  “Okay mom,” he called back. I took a deep, steadying breath and heading for the door. Double and triple checking that it was locked, I took off down the hallway at a run. I didn’t want Austin to be by himself for any longer than strictly necessary.

  The sun was only just starting to set and the town was startlingly peaceful for as worked up and panicked as I felt inside. Voices drifted over to me from the park behind the building and from the insides of the apartments I passed, while the smell of dinner cooking drifted through the air.

  Everything seemed so normal that it was almost painful to believe that my normal could be shattered so quickly—in the blink of an eye and one conversation with a near stranger. I got to my car in record time, unlocking and grabbing my purse so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.

  I was moving so fast that I would’ve missed it had I not turned back to make sure, yet again, that I’d locked the car. In the faint glow of the orange flashing lights as I pressed the button to lock the car, I saw a piece of paper wedged under the wiper on my windshield.

  My stomach dropped to my feet and it felt like my limbs had been made from lead, but morbid curiosity propelled me forward. I didn’t stop moving until I was back at my car, pulling the note out from under the wiper and gripping it tightly so as not to drop it.

  The note wasn’t signed, but I knew exactly who it was from. I lost the fight against the tears and my laden limbs, sinking to the ground with my back against my car and hot tears flowing down my face as I read Wesley’s message.

  You’ve been bad again, my Marie.r />
  I know that you’re fucking some new guy and I know that you’ve let him spend time around my son. That will not happen again, Marie. You hear me? If I see your new boyfriend around Austin again, he will pay. He shouldn’t be fucking with another’s man family. It’ll be safer for everyone if you stop seeing him at once, you know that don’t you baby? I hope you do, I won’t warn you again.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Jeremy

  Exhaustion was weighing me down by the time I got home after dinner with Sonny. We’d stayed at the Mexican place for a few more hours. He’d told me everything he knew about Marie’s ex before we’d moved on to other topics.

  It was nearing midnight by the time I put my truck in park in my driveway. It’d been a long, hot day and my talk with Sonny hadn’t been easy by any stretch of the imagination. After hearing the hell her asshole ex had put Marie through, I’d wanted to go to her immediately but Sonny had talked me out of it.

  Just as well, since as I hopped out of my truck I saw that same fucking van with the tinted windows parked right down the street. I’d had enough for one day. My nerves were shot to shit and my rage and irritation were at an all-time high. I wasn’t in the mood for bullshit intimidation or mind games.

  Whoever was in that vehicle, I was going to beat the shit out of them tonight. Enough was fucking enough. Slamming my truck’s door behind me, the loud banging sound woke up some of the dogs in the neighborhood and a few started barking.

  The noise barely registered with me as I walked over to the van. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that it’d be smart to call Sonny, or even Tyson. I could’ve called one or all of my brothers if for no other reason than back up, but I didn’t do it.

  I was over this fucker, whoever it was. I wasn’t letting him drive away again and I definitely wasn’t hiding in my house until my brothers got here. As I got closer to the van, I saw the dark glint of a handgun starting to come out of the window.

  Instead of the sight slowing me down, it sent a shot of adrenaline pumping through me and I walked faster, not giving a fuck if the dude had a gun on them. When I didn’t stop my approach, I heard the van’s engine roar to life. I started to run, but I wasn’t fast enough

  Before I could make it to the van, or even make out the face of anyone inside it, the van squealed away, gravel flying and hitting my shins as it spun away. I roared in frustration, “Fuuuuuck.”

  I stood in the middle of the road, staring at the spot where the van had turned off of my street. Blinding rage tore through me as I watched it disappear. And there was not a fucking thing I could do about it.

  Needing to blow off steam, I marched back to my house and started shedding my clothes as I soon as I got inside. I had a punching bag in the garage, and it was about to get the brunt of my frustration.

  Changing quickly, I pulled on my shorts and left the clothes I’d been wearing on the floor behind me. I wasn’t thinking clearly. If I had been, I probably would’ve heard my phone ringing earlier, but I was almost to the garage when I noticed the sound.

  I wouldn’t have answered the phone for anyone but her in that moment and I knew it as I doubled back to where I’d dropped my jeans. Digging in the pockets, I retrieved my phone and saw that it was her calling.

  Marie.

  Sliding my thumb across my screen, I pressed the phone to my ear and tried to control my breathing. It was still far too heavy from the emotions rolling around, warring for space inside me. “Hello?”

  She didn’t say anything at first, keeping quiet for so long that I pulled the phone away from my ear to make sure she was still on the line. Maybe I’d taken too long to answer and I’d missed her call. Seeing that she was still on the line, I gripped my phone tighter and strained to make out any sound I could. “Marie?”

  “Jer… Jeremy?” she stammered, sounding breathless.

  “I’m here, baby,” I said soothingly, doing my best to keep the rage from my voice. “I’m here, talk to me. What’s going on? You okay?”

  “I’m okay,” she said curtly. Her tone shifted. There was something different about her voice, something I hadn’t heard from her before. It was cold, almost empty.

  What the fuck?

  “Do you want me to come over?”

  The stammering combined with the strange tone in her voice? Something was up, something was wrong.

  I needed to see her, to touch her and to satisfy myself that she really was okay. Marie clearly didn’t want the same thing. My words were barely out before she barked, “No. Don’t come here.”

  “Okay. Just talk to me then, Marie. What’s wrong?” My heartbeat, racing from anger and the residual adrenaline from the incident with the van outside, sped up again, but in a different way. This time it felt like it was clawing to get to her.

  “There’s nothing wrong,” she replied, her tone flat and void of emotion. It scared the shit out of me, even when catching sight of a gun hadn’t done a single thing to me, hearing her like this made my heart constrict with fear.

  Marie didn’t wait for me to respond, talking fast and in a tone that told me she wasn’t expecting me to argue or disagree. She was firm, succinct and crystal fucking clear. “I can’t see you anymore, Jeremy.”

  “What?” I interrupted her, not bothering to control my tone or the volume of my voice.

  She didn’t hesitate. “You heard me. I said I can’t see you anymore. Thank you for everything, but I can’t continue anything more with you.”

  What the fuck was going on here?

  I tried to interject again, but she wouldn’t let me. “I can’t stay on the line with you for too long, Jeremy. Again, I can’t see you anymore. Please don’t try to contact me in any way.”

  The next second, the line went dead and the dial tone droned in my ear. I pulled the phone away from my ear, staring at it dumbly. She hadn’t told me why she apparently couldn’t see me anymore, and she obviously didn’t give a shit about hearing what I had to say.

  She’d hung on me. As simple as that. I didn’t understand it one fucking bit. Thinking back to how she’d kissed me just hours earlier, it was hard to reconcile that girl with the cold, emotionless girl I’d heard on the phone just now.

  I stopped trying to as I headed into my garage, ready to punch the fuck out of that gym bag with one question on repeat in my head:

  What. The. Actual. Fuck?

  What’d changed her mind between her agreeing that I could take her and Austin out tomorrow and kissing me sweetly goodbye to now? Now she wouldn’t allow me to get a word in edgewise and hadn’t given me a single word of explanation.

  The dull dial tone as she’d hung up on me echoed in my mind. I didn’t know what was going on with her or what’d happened. The question was whether I wanted to know, and moreover, whether she’d ever give me the opportunity to find out.

  * * *

  Marie & Jeremy’s story continues in Down & Dirty #2, available now!

  Click here: Down & Dirty #2

  For a sneak peek, keep on reading!

  Sneak Peek: Down & Dirty #2

  Jeremy

  I can’t see you anymore, Jeremy.

  I’d lost count of the amount of times I’d heard those words echo in my head since Friday. Three long days.

  Only hours after a searing kiss and making plans for the night, I’d been playing Marie’s words on repeat in my brain ever since.

  The strange tone of her voice and the way her words caught on each other just didn’t feel right. Something had changed in those hours between us seeing each other at the salon and that haunting phone call.

  Given what my brother Sonny had told me about her ex, I had my suspicions about what that something might’ve been. Yet, she hadn’t even given me a chance to find out.

  Marie. It might’ve only been weeks since she’d moved back to Cypress Creek, but she’d already become special. In ways I hadn’t considered anyone could.

  Every time I closed my eyes, she sashayed through my thoughts—
her clear green eyes, the sweet lines of her body, the way her lips felt under mine, the way it felt to be buried inside of her.

  In a short span of time, she’d slipped through the cracks in my defenses, right into my heart.

  I’d long since written off the idea of falling in love—not worth it, it only invited pain and loss in the end. Yet, I hadn’t realized I’d only been able to write it off because no one had ever gotten to me. Not the way Marie did. Merely the thought of Marie made my heart soft and my cock hard. The latter I was used to. The former? Not so much.

  Now she’d effectively shut me out.

  The salon loomed in front of me, the herb planters on either side of the door and the awning above them made the place look peaceful and inviting. I knew it was a sanctuary to many women in town, even to Marie. It’d been nothing but a building to me until she’d started working there, now it represented a place where I would find her.

  I glanced down at my watch, confirming it was late enough Marie would’ve left to pick Austin up from daycare already. I’d planned it like this.

  Sarah, the salon’s owner and Marie’s boss, asked me to come in to talk about the construction at the salon, but I’d asked if we could meet now—just before closing time. I was hoping for a chance to talk to Sarah about Marie once we were done talking business. If only to make sure she and Austin were okay.

  Leaning my head against the seat in my truck, I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath. I was exhausted.

  Sleep had been elusive since Friday and the sticky, humid heat of the day hadn’t made things any easier. It was nearing sunset and the clear blue sky outside was gradually fading into dusk, but the heat hadn’t let up.

  The air conditioning in my truck was blasting frigid air right into my face, helping to keep me awake and from melting at the same time. Sighing, I reluctantly shut off the engine and reached for the door handle, stepping out of the cool reprieve of my truck’s cab and down the sidewalk into the salon. Though I knew Marie wasn’t there anymore, I couldn’t help but steal a glance at her station.