Chapter Twenty-one – Crazy ‘Bout You
Chapter Twenty-one
Beckett
CRAZY ’BOUT YOU
Performed by Kelsey Hart
FOUR YEARS AGO
HER: Tight dress with no cleavage, or loose and flirty with a deep V?
HIM: I have all sorts of images in my head now that aren’t going to help me with the training I’m doing in fifteen minutes. So thanks for that.
HER: *** crying laughing emoji *** Just answer the question.
HIM: What is this for? And who are you going with?
HER: Holiday party at the hospital. And no one.
HIM: Might I suggest a boxy sweater and baggy pants?
HER: Oh, yes. Why didn’t I think of that? Maybe because I’d LIKE to end the evening with a date? Or the hope of a date.
HIM: Bad idea, Maise. If you fall for someone in Bakersfield, you’ll never move home to Rivers. Remember your endgame. Wait until you’re home to fall in love.
HER: Puh-lease. Like there are any single guys in Swift Rivers who are date-worthy.
HIM: Ouch. Just ouch.
HER: *** rolling eyes emoji *** Have you changed your mind about relationships? Have you suddenly decided you’re up for love and forever after?
HIM: *** person screaming in horror gif *** Believe me, this is not one of your romance novels. I’ll be single till the day I die.
PRESENT DAY
Once Maisey called the dispatcher, I stood guard over the sweatshirt and tried to let the fury rolling through me subside.
It was the same rage as I’d experienced with each of the notes but amplified with a horrible sense of foreboding.
Whoever this was, they’d escalated each time, and I was terrified the next time someone would be hurt.
That it would be Maisey who paid the price…
My heart hammered against my rib cage. I couldn’t let Maisey be hurt.
But what could I do to stop it?
As we were waiting for Cleaver to show up, Delilah appeared, coming from the tiny parking area in the back of Frank’s.
My jaw tightened as I scanned her. It was Sunday, so she wasn’t wearing her business uniform, but I was surprised to see she wasn’t in a skimpy dress or shorts either.
She was wearing black jeans, low-heeled cowboy boots, and a sleeveless blue top that made her eyes pop.
What new version of Delilah was this? What new role was she playing?
When she got close, she started to smile and say hello, but I cut her off with a snarl. “Was this you?”
Her lips tightened as she looked from me to Maisey and back. “This again? What did I supposedly do now?”
I closed the distance between us, towering over her. “Stop with the games, Del. Stop before something bad happens.”
Hurt danced across her face. Hurt that usually had me feeling like shit and backing off. “You actually think I’m wasting my time terrorizing poor little Maisey?”
I grunted out a sound of displeasure, and Maisey grabbed my arm, holding me back from doing something stupid, like shaking the truth out of Delilah. The wounded look on Del’s face disappeared into a scornful smirk.
“Whatever’s going on, I’d say the Campbell girls earned it.”
Her careless, hard remark only increased my fury.
Maisey had never done one thing to Delilah.
She’d been nice to her, had even tried to counter Chelsea’s rumors, but Del had never once seen it that way.
Guilty by association. I leaned my face toward her, dark with a promise I meant. “I swear, Del, if this is you—”
“You’ll what?” she tossed back just as Maisey said, “Beckett, stop.”
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Carter strolled up in jeans and a lavender button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His eyes darted between us, and he rubbed his nose with the back of his knuckles. “Do I need to call the sheriff? This looks pretty intense, Romero.”
Vader had relaxed enough that I’d let go of his collar, but now he gave a low rumble of warning and stood in front of me, protecting Maisey and me.
“It’s against the city ordinances to have your dog down here without a leash,” Carter said, looking at my dog and spinning his expensive watch around on his wrist.
Cleaver’s sheriff vehicle rolled up to the curb with the lights going but no siren. He hustled out of the driver’s seat and over to where we’d gathered in front of the bench.
Carter lifted his chin in greeting. “Perfect timing, Cuz. You need to cite Romero here for his unleashed dog. Maybe intimidation. He was going at Del good before I stopped him.”
I scoffed. As if he could stop me from doing anything. Even if he wasn’t high on whatever, he’d never be able to prevent me from cleaning the ground with his face.
Cleaver stepped into the middle of us, blocking Vader from Delilah and his cousin and shooting a warning at me. “How about we all calm down.”
A deep rumble in Vader’s throat had Cleaver frowning at him.
“Put your dog in the back of my rig, Beckett.” His voice was calm but deadly serious, and when I didn’t budge, he sighed. “Now, or I will have to cite you.”
“Beckett,” Maisey pleaded.
I reached down and grabbed Vader’s collar. My dog wasn’t happy about leaving, dragging his feet enough that I had to pick him up, open the back passenger door, and shove him inside. “Stay.”
While I was taking care of Vader, I heard Maisey start to explain to Cleaver that we thought the sweatshirt on the bench had been left behind by the person who’d been leaving us notes.
I jogged back, crossed my arms, and looked at Del. “Awfully convenient you showed up a few seconds later.”
Her face flushed. “I’m sick of you blaming Maisey’s problems on me.”
“I’m sick of my fiancée being terrorized,” I snapped back. Then, I turned to Carter. “What were you doing here tonight?”
Carter looked over at Cleaver. “Seriously? I don’t need to deal with this shithead. If you don’t get him out of my face, Cuz, I’m filing a complaint.”
“For what?” I bit out. “For demanding to know where you were when Maisey’s windshield was smashed all to hell?”
Delilah inhaled sharply, and Carter’s brows lifted in surprise. Either they were both better actors than I thought they were, or they hadn’t known.
“Romero. If you don’t calm down, I’m going to lock you in the back of my vehicle with your dog.” Cleaver’s tone was a calm attempt to defuse the situation.
Maisey twined her fingers with mine, and that simple, gentle touch brought me back to her. When I looked down, unshed tears glimmered as her eyes darted around at the crowd we’d gathered.
Damn. I’d made a scene, and Maisey hated being the center of attention. The only time she didn’t mind was when she was on her horse, bending and twirling as if the two were one.
When I looked back up at Cleaver, his lips were drawn in a straight line, but his voice was still cool and unruffled in a way that made me respect him more than I ever had before. “We can clear some of this up right now, Delilah, if you could just tell us where you were a few minutes ago.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “At home. Getting ready to come down to Frank’s for a drink.”
“Alone?” Cleaver asked.
“Yes, I was by myself. Mom and Dad were home, and their lights were on when I drove by the main house, but I can’t be sure if they saw me pull out of the drive or not.”
She didn’t really have an alibi if she’d been alone in the pool-house-turned-apartment where she lived behind her parents’ house.
But unless she’d changed shoes, there was no way the person I’d chased to Main Street had been wearing those fancy-ass cowboy boots.
They would have made more noise than the shoes the person in the hoodie had.
I glanced over at Carter’s shoes. He was wearing men’s dress shoes that I doubted would have been silent either. And what would he get out of smashing Maisey’s windshield and leaving threatening notes? The only thing Carter wanted was our land.
“Where were you?” I challenged anyway.
Carter’s eyebrow raised, and he dragged his knuckle across his nose again.
If he were all doped up, I could certainly see him thinking, stupidly, that attacking Maisey might make her dad and me assume the area was no longer safe, but we’d never sell because of it.
And why wouldn’t he just come at us instead of her?
“I don’t have to tell you shit,” Carter said then shot a glare at his cousin. “But I’ll tell you anyway so we can clear this up. I was at the office, waiting for a client. I’m sure there’s footage of me leaving if you feel you need to pull it, Cuz.”
“Are we free to go now?” Delilah asked, shifting closer to Carter and slipping her arm through his.
Cleaver nodded, and Delilah shot me and Maisey another dirty look as they headed for Frank’s.
As they walked away, I heard Del say quietly to Carter, “Thought you weren’t coming.” And his equally quiet response, “Client was a no-show.”
As they disappeared inside the bar, I tried to recall the crowd that had emerged from Frank’s as I’d burst onto Main Street at a full run.
Had the person I’d chased joined them as they’d walked out the door?
The entire group had moved farther down the street, disappearing around the corner of the building toward the small public parking lot at the back after Maisey had caught up.
It was the same direction Delilah had come from.
But she’d seemed legitimately surprised by what had happened to Maisey’s truck and hurt we were accusing her. She’d been defensive, as she always was, when it came to the Campbells, and yet she was the only person I knew who would be this unhappy with our engagement.
Nothing made sense. The rage I’d felt at seeing Maisey’s windshield shattered had eased some, but in its place, a frustrated impotence grew. My inability to do something about what was happening felt a lot like being stuck in a bedroom with flames outside my door.
I turned to Cleaver. “Speaking of cameras, does Frank’s have any outside?”
Cleaver scratched his chin. “I’m not sure, but I’ll ask. I know they have cameras inside and out the back door. We’ve used them before when a fight broke out.”