Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
Maverick
I stomped out of the office and headed straight for my truck. Pissed didn't even begin to describe how I felt in that moment.
Betrayed was a good word.
As it turned out, Jo was just another lying bitch who liked to keep secrets.
I don't know why I was surprised. Just because the guys on my team had found the few good women in the world didn't mean that every woman was decent.
In fact, most of them weren't, and no amount of time in this small town would change my mind.
I needed to get away. To clear my head and calm down before I did something stupid. I had made a lot of stupid decisions since coming to Willow Creek but no more. Things were about to change, and they started now.
I drove out to my house and was about to go inside when the rage I was feeling took over and consumed me.
Fuck this.
Fuck hiding and calming down. I was going to take care of this problem right now.
I peeled out of my driveway and headed back into the center of town. It barely took five minutes before I was pulling into the driveway and throwing the truck in park. With angry steps, I marched straight up the sidewalk to the front porch.
I pounded on the front door with every intention of breaking it down if it came to that. With each bang of my fist, the anger inside me grew.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," the voice on the other side of the door hollered. "Geesh, what's with the urgency."
The door swung open with enough attitude that I nearly fell inside.
"What the fuck, Maverick?" Jo looked at me like I was the wrong one here. "Why the hell are you at my house?"
We had very clear rules that had worked for the last eight months. I never showed up at her house, and this thing between us stayed hidden. That all changed when Vanessa let Jo's secret slip.
"We need to fucking talk." I pushed past her and straight into the house.
"No, you need to fucking leave. We had an agreement, and you're breaking it. I don't need my neighbors talking about my sex life."
I didn't give two shits about her neighbors at the moment.
"Your neighbors can go to hell as far as I'm concerned." The viciousness in my words seemed to surprise Jo, and I could see why. I had never spoken to her like this.
"What's your problem?" Jo crossed her arms, and it was then that I noticed what she was wearing.
"Why the fuck are you answering the door in a robe?"
A very skimpy robe at that. One that barely covered her ass and was see-through enough that I could see her nipples when she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Because I was getting out of the shower when you started banging down the door like it personally offended you."
It wasn't the door that offended me.
"Your hair isn't wet."
Jo threw her hands in the air and made her already short robe ride up even further, showcasing her insanely sculpted thighs.
"That's because it's not my day to wash my hair. Now are you going to tell me what your problem is?"
"You're my problem," I hissed. "Or should I say B. Feather is my problem."
Jo sighed and rubbed the spot between her eyebrows. "Nolen told you." It wasn't a question. More like a statement which pissed me off even more. My friend had known and never said anything. I would deal with him later though.
"Actually Vanessa let it slip because she thought Nolen told us."
I expected Jo to be angry that Vanessa knew, but she didn't seem the least bit surprised by the information I shared. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I roared.
"What?"
I had to give Jo credit. She had no problem going toe-to-toe with me even though I probably looked like I was seconds away from ripping her head off.
"You told Vanessa as well?"
"No, I didn't tell Vanessa," she snapped. "Nolen explained her situation and asked me if it was okay that he said something to her. I wanted to help, so I let him spill the beans. Last time I checked, it was my secret to share."
I got right up in Jo's face. "Fucking secrets. I told you from the beginning I hated them, and still you kept this from me."
Jo pushed my chest, and I let her move me back. "Don't start with this secret bullshit," she yelled right back at me. "That's not what we are. We're fuck buddies. I call you when I need to scratch an itch, and that's all."
I stumbled back at the venom in her voice even though I knew she was right.
We weren't anything to each other. We had sex, and then Jo would leave.
There was no cuddling. No post-sex talking.
It was nothing more than two people enjoying each other's bodies when the time allowed.
That was exactly how I wanted it to be. Yet for some reason, hearing her scream it in my face after finding out what a big secret she was keeping left me reeling.
"I don't know why you're so pissed anyway? You're the one who agreed to this arrangement. Would you've changed your mind if you knew what I was doing?"
That stopped me short. Would it have changed things? I was thinking the answer was yes.
"Yes, it would have."
Now it was Jo's turn to take a step back and look at me like I was the one with the secret.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me. It's really that big of a deal that I write for the newspaper and have a town blog?"
"It's not about that. It's the fact that you kept it from me but told Nolen."
"I kept it from everyone. That's why I was able to keep it hidden for so long because no one knew. And I didn't tell Nolen anything. He's just damn good at his job."
Yes, he was. He was one of the best, and I was glad to have him on my team. Even if I was pissed off at him at the moment.
I was pissed off in general and apparently horny because I couldn't keep my eyes from slipping down to where Jo's robe kept playing peekaboo with her pink nipples.
It was torture because I knew exactly how they tasted and how she responded when I sucked them into my mouth.
The noises she would make. Jo was very vocal in the bedroom or anyplace else in my house we would fuck.
With each new thought, my cock grew harder until it was pressing against the zipper of my jeans. I knew there was no way I was masking my lust, and when Jo licked her lips seductively, I was a goner.
I'm not sure which one of us moved first, but before I knew it, our lips were crashing into each other.
I pulled away enough to growl, "This doesn't change anything. I'm still mad at you."
Jo met my attitude with some of her own. "I don't give a shit as long as you fuck me."
Oh, I was going to fuck her all right. I was going to fuck her so hard she was going to wish she never kept a secret from me.