by Ava Miles
Their conversation relied heavily on pleasantries. Small talk annoyed the shit out of her—especially small talk with family.
“Feel free to have some wine or beer. It doesn’t bother me,” David announced as they started.
Tanner and Meredith exchanged the married couple look. Peggy studied her woven napkin, her gut clenching.
“Okay,” Tanner finally said. “I’ll have a beer. Mere, do you want some wine?”
She gave a wooden smile and nodded.
“Peg?”
“Nothing for me.” She could suddenly smell her father’s stale beer breath.
David had lied. It did bother him. His eyes flicked over to the glasses too often. She felt bad for him, but inside, an inferno raged. She was his younger sister again, listening as he came home drunk after curfew, fighting with Tanner. All she’d ever wanted was for him to stop drinking and be happy.
It hadn’t worked then.
It wouldn’t work now.
She was as powerless to help him as she’d been with their father.
Sweat beaded on her brow. She dabbed at it with her napkin and pushed her food around on her plate. David chattered on like the local politician he was. She’d forgotten his talent for spinning a yarn while saying absolutely nothing. Utter bullshit.
“So, I’ve heard there’s a poker tournament at Mac Maven’s new hotel starting tomorrow,” he interjected as Meredith cut them pieces of the chocolate raspberry cheesecake Peggy knew she wouldn’t be able to swallow.
“Maven’s big time! I’ve watched him at WSOP on ESPN. They don’t call him Maverick for nothing. Have you met him?”
Tanner’s fork sliced through the cheesecake. “Yeah, we’re friendly. He’s a great guy.”
Her brother leaned forward with a gleam in his eyes. “Do you mind if I throw my hand in at the tourney tomorrow? I can’t pass up the opportunity.”
“I thought AA didn’t encourage addictive pursuits like gambling,” Peggy said, her voice acid.
Silence descended, sharp and electric.
“I’ve got everything under control, Peg,” David reassured her with his fake smile.
Her bullshit quotient pinged past acceptable limits. “And yet, you keep staring at the alcohol like it’s your be–all–end–all.”
“Peg—” Tanner warned.
She ignored him. “David, do you think I don’t know the signs? I’m a cop. If you can’t drink alcohol, you fulfill the urge with something else. Gambling is a popular vice. Just like it always was with dear ol’ Dad.”
Tanner’s hand crashed onto the table. “Peg, that’s enough.”
She stood, her napkin falling to the floor. Fire engulfed her. “No! It has to be said. Playing in a poker tournament is a stupid idea, David. If you won’t resist temptation for yourself, do it for your family.”
Why couldn’t he see how much he was hurting them?
David’s eyes narrowed. “I’m an adult. I make my own choices.”
Her fist punched the air. “Not on this. You come here to…what? I still don’t know why. Make–up with Tanner after your last indiscretion? I show up here to give you another shot, and the first thing you say is that you want to join a poker tournament. How can you forget alcohol and gambling addictions run in the family?”
“I know that better than you, Peg,” he muttered, lowering his gaze.
“I doubt that. All three of us lived in the same slice of hell. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you make another stupid mistake while you’re in my town.”
Tanner jerked his head in warning. She ignored him.
“Your town? You’re my sister. Stop acting like the Deputy Sheriff.” David stood. “I can take care of myself.”
Her hands clenched on the chair. “How many times have we heard that? Your wife has stuck by you, just like Mom did with Dad until he finally left her. What about your kids? What about them? ”
She thought of Keith and thanked God she hadn’t brought him. She couldn’t be more grateful that he didn’t have to deal with a father like this. Like her own.
Tanner walked over until he was in her face. “That’s enough,” he growled, deep grooves around his mouth. “You’re only making it worse.”
Meredith cast her a pleading look, but what the hell did she understand? Her father was a sweet man who gushed over his two girls. He’d never put booze and cards before them.
“He’s just like Dad,” she whispered, the hurt of it breaking her heart wide open again. “Can’t you see?”
Tanner put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed. “Why don’t you head home? You’re not thinking straight.”
She clenched her hands at her sides, wanting to make him see. “You’re the one burying your head in the sand. He hasn’t changed. When are you going to stop enabling him?”
David shoved his chair aside, the violence causing Meredith to jump. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here. I’ll play poker if I damn well feel like it.”
She thought of his two young daughters. They deserved a better father. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”
Her arms pumped as she slammed out of the house. She couldn’t stop her father, but she could stop her brother. Save his kids from growing up the way she had.
And she knew just who she could go to for help.
Chapter 37
The intoxicating smell of popcorn permeated the house. Mac microwaved the butter, trying not to worry about Peggy and their earlier interaction.
Rhett had come over under the pretense of watching a movie with Dustin and him, but it was obvious he was trying to regain the ground he’d lost the other day in the Aspen Room. When Abbie had talked to Mac about Dustin and the poker babes’ cleavage, he’d raised his hands and said he was staying out of it. She hadn’t been too happy about that.
Dustin hadn’t let his mother’s determined attitude about Rhett affect him. He’d turned into a teenage Cupid, and it was pretty amusing to watch.
The timer went off, and Mac dumped the melted butter all over the popcorn.
Abbie cringed. “Mac. Some of us don’t have a crazy metabolism like the rest of you.”
“Please,” Rhett drawled, rubbing his thumb over her hand before she could yank it away. “You’re beautiful. Sleek as a sea lion.”
“Don’t those things have whiskers?” she tartly replied.
“Rhett, man, you need major help,” Dustin interjected. “Animal references so don’t work with chicks.”
Abbie’s gaze flew to Dustin. “And you’d know that—”
“Beats poetry. You’re as beautiful as a rose, ” Mac interrupted his sister in a British accent to save his nephew. “Seriously. Now, who’s up for the movie?”
Dustin jumped off the bar stool. “Since I picked it, I’m in. Mom, why don’t you and Rhett stay in here and talk?”
Her hand flew to her neck. “Dustin! Enough.”
“I’m game if you are, sugar,” Rhett murmured, waggling his eyebrows. “I told you I’m not giving up.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Since it’s another blow–everything–up movie with aliens, I’ll pass.”
“Me too, then,” Rhett said. “I’ll keep your mom company.”
“But I thought you came over to watch a movie.”
He shrugged. “It was only a ruse to be close to you.”
“Nice one, Rhett!” Dustin snagged the bowl of popcorn. “I’m going to have a field day with you two. Right, Uncle Mac?”
He wiped the butter off his hands with a towel. “Leave me out of it. Dustin, we’d better make a break for it before your mother decides to hit us,” he said, his face breaking into a wider grin.
“I’m too much of a lady for that,” Abbie replied, fingering her butterfly lapel pin.
“Amen,” Rhett agreed.
“But I’m not above dying your white soccer socks pink.” Her finger pointed at her son for emphasis.
Mac chuckled. “Now, you’re in trouble.”
His phone
buzzed as he slung an arm around Dustin’s shoulder. “I guess it’s just you and me, kid.” He glanced at his phone. Peggy. His stomach plummeted. Somehow, Peg calling him—something she never did—rung the alarm bells in his system.
“Hello,” he answered.
“I’m outside your house. Can we talk?”
He cupped the phone and slapped Dustin on the back. “Peggy’s here. Why don’t you go play a game for a minute? I need to see what she wants.”
Dustin studied him. “She still pissed with you after last night?”
“Probably.”
“Don’t call her a sea lion.”
“Smart ass. I’ll find you in a bit.”
“Do you need me to help you two get together like I’m doing with mom and Rhett?”
“You haven’t done it yet.” Mac headed to the door.
After a fortifying breath, he turned the knob. His muscles clenched at the blast of fury emanating from her. Any attempt at a poker face had melted away. Then he saw the wetness around her eyes. The thought of her crying made his insides clench.
“David?” he asked in a gentle voice.
“I need to talk to you. In private.”
Her posture was so rigid he was afraid she’d crack if he touched her.
He dismissed his office as too formal. “Let’s head up to my room. Abbie and Rhett are in the kitchen. Dustin’s in the family room playing video games.”
“Fine.”
Yeah, she wasn’t interested in saying hello. He schooled his features as they ascended the stairs. He’d need to tread lightly tonight. Disaster hovered all around her. She preceded him into his room and froze beside him.
“This is where you sleep?” It was almost an accusation.
Having seen her undecorated white walls and utilitarian navy bedspread, he knew his bedroom had to look like a sultan’s palace to her. The plush burgundy curtains and bedspread made a dramatic impact against the gold walls. His king–size sleigh bed and hotel linens looked plush.
“I read in here too,” he replied, his belly a maze of swirling nerves. “But I don’t watch TV. I don’t believe in having one in the bedroom.”
Her eyes widened at that, but she didn’t say anything. It was weird—and oddly nice—to see her standing in his room. He’d hoped to show it to her.
This wasn’t how he’d imagined it.
He fought the urge to take her in his arms. “What happened?”
Her posture snapped into military precision. “My brother wants to play in your tournament tomorrow. I want you to deny him entry.”
She might as well have slit his guts open. He studied her. There was a frantic gleam in her eyes that he’d never seen before.
“Tell me what happened at dinner tonight.”
She flew into action, pacing on his Turkish rug. “David tried to make light of it, but he still wants a drink—bad. I could smell it on him.”
He clenched his hands to stop from reaching for her. “Keep talking.”
“He said he knew about you and your hotel. Wanted to play. Hell, he even asked if we’d run across you.” Her laugh was dry and shrill. “Isn’t that funny?”
He’d lost his funny bone. “And what did you say?” he asked, even though he knew the answer.
“Nothing. That’s not the point. The point is he’s in AA for the second time, and gambling is so not on the program.”
Mac crossed his arms, striving for calm. “Perhaps that’s for him to decide. I learned a long time ago you can’t stop anyone from doing what they want.”
She thrust her chin out, her eyes filled with fire. “Bullshit! I can too. You can deny him entry.”
His head buzzed as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. He knew what his answer had to be, and he knew what that would do to them. He could already hear the death knell.
“I can’t do that, Peg,” he said as gently as he could. “Everyone can enter so long as they’re eighteen and can pay the fee.”
Tell me what’s really bothering you here, he wanted to say, but he knew she wasn’t ready.
She strode forward until she was inches away. “He could fall off the wagon if he does this. Gambling is another addition, and he’s an addict.”
Her fear ate at him.
“Do you have any idea how many addicts come through my hotels per year?”
She looked at him blankly. “No.”
“Neither do I. Because it’s personal, Peg. I’m not a morality checker. People need to make their own way.”
Sometimes the God’s honest truth hurt like hell.
“He’s my brother, Mac.” Old hurt coated her voice, making it crack.
He stilled. It was the first time she’d used his first name outside the bedroom. He knew it. She knew it.
“I know he is, but you can’t save David, Peg.” He put his hands on her shoulders and massaged the rigid muscles, unable to fight the urge to touch, to comfort. “Anymore than I could have saved my old man or you yours.”
She broke his hold. “That’s not what this is about!”
He leaned down until he was close enough to see the frantic pulse in her neck. “Yes, it is. No one likes to feel helpless, but this isn’t something you can fix. Even if I stopped him tomorrow, he’d find another way to play if that’s what he wants to do.”
“Not while he’s in my town.”
Oh, she was so damn tough. It broke his heart.
“You can’t legislate this away, Peg.”
She clutched at her shirt. “If your damn hotel wasn’t here, he wouldn’t even be thinking of it!”
The vicious cut made him lock his knees to stand upright. “If not my place, then another.”
“That’s what your kind always says.”
The venom couldn’t be missed. He supposed it had always been there. He’d heard those words before. He’d fought against other people’s judgment his whole life. He’d built things. He’d given money to charities. He’d helped his sister raise her son. But it was never enough to convince narrow–minded people Mac Maven was anything but a kind.
Apparently Peggy was no different—despite all they’d shared.
Inside, he started building a wall to keep the hurt out, laying brick after brick to buffer himself from her words. He executed extreme control of his facial muscles, not revealing anything. “I’m sorry you think that way, but if you and Tanner can’t talk him out of it, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Then you really don’t love me.”
His wall rose as high as the Empire State Building. All around him, the world went numb. “Loving someone isn’t always about doing what that person wants.”
Her finger thrust into his chest. “No, it’s about supporting them. And you won’t support me in this.”
Why couldn’t she understand? If he did what she wanted, he’d be throwing away everything he’d tried to become. “No, I won’t. It’s not your life, Peg. It’s his.”
Her face fell. “He’s my baby brother! He has a wife and two kids. They don’t deserve this.”
Ah, here was the crux. “Neither did you. Neither did I.”
She stalked away. “Stop talking about me! Think about how you’d feel if this were Dustin.”
Her attempt to manipulate him packed a punch. He girded his walls with steel. “I can’t deny anyone from my tourney on these grounds, Peg. David hasn’t done anything to be disqualified. Please understand. My reputation is at stake here.”
She fell back a few steps, like she’d lost her balance. “Then I don’t mean any more to you than your businesses. I guess that’s why they call luck a lady. I can’t compete against her.”
Inside he was filling with iron, becoming an automaton—completely unfeeling. “I’m not asking you to compete against her, but this business means as much to me as being a deputy means to you. Would you refrain from arresting someone if I asked?”
Her brown eyes blinked. “There’s no comparison.” Then they narrowed. “We’re done here.”
She shrugged him off. “Not enough.”
Why wouldn’t she listen? He wanted to shake her. His rage sealed the hole like a blow torch, making him impenetrable again. “Well, then we’re even because that’s how you feel about me. You’ve never said you love me. Not once. You’ve never even called me Mac one goddamn time outside the bedroom until now. What does that say about you?”
Rage overtook heartbreak.
He strode forward, armor in place, realizing he needed to get her the hell away from here. All his patience was gone. “I’ve never been good enough as I am! And I’m fucking tired of it. I’m nothing to be ashamed of.” His fist punched his chest. “I’m someone, dammit! You just refuse to see it. It’s easier to brand me as a poker player and a maverick than it is to get over your preconceived notions. Fuck that. I’m more than that.”
Her jaw clenched. She waved a hand dismissively. “Fine! Be yourself. I don’t want you anymore. But you will do what I want.”
The death knell sounded a second time, harsher and more damaging.
“No, I won’t.” If she wanted to lock horns, he wouldn’t back down. He couldn’t on something this important.
Her mouth twisted. “If you don’t stop my brother from entering your tournament tomorrow, I’m going to call the Feds to tell them I have new information on the bomb threat.”
He sucked in a breath. The foundation of his tower of steel cracked inside him. The walls he’d built to protect himself fell in resounding destruction. His heart pulsed, naked and vulnerable in the aftermath.
“You promised me,” he ground out.
She threw both arms into the air. “Which was stupid of me. I’m a deputy, first and foremost.”
He stalked over to her. “No, you’re a scared, frightened woman who’s now resorted to blackmail. What in the hell did I ever see in you?”
“I don’t care what you think of me as long as you do what I say.”
How could he have forgotten the depths to which she’d stoop to get what she wanted? Hadn’t she attacked him and his family at the town meeting to stop his hotel?
