Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Hendrix
Maisie gasped. "How do you know that name?"
I hated seeing the fear in her eyes about as much as I hated watching her hands shake since I showed up. Something had her freaked out. I could see it when she was giving the sheriff her report. It was why I followed a hunch and showed up at her place tonight. Turns out, it was good that I came here. If I hadn't showed up when I did, she would have disappeared without so much as a goodbye.
"Because I'm good at my job. What I don't know is why you changed your name?"
"You expect me to believe you know my real name, but not why I changed it?" Maisie shook her head in disgust. "Don't play dumb with me. It doesn't become you and it just shows how stupid you think I am."
She tried to push past me but I stopped her with a hand to her elbow. "I'm serious. When I couldn't find anything about you from before you came to Willow Creek, I got curious. I broke into this place and searched. I found your old license but I didn't look you up. I wanted the truth to come from your mouth."
Maisie shook me off and the fire in her eyes that I was used to seeing was back. It was much better than the fear that was there just moments earlier.
"This isn't the first time you've broken into my place?!" she screeched, causing a sharp pain in my head from the high pitch.
I brought my finger up to my ear, rubbing out the pain and shaking my head as I answered truthfully, "Technically, no."
The cat was already out of the bag, as the saying went, so there was no point in lying. Plus, I wasn't ashamed of my actions. A person had to have feelings for that to happen and everyone knew that wasn't me.
"What the fuck, Hendrix? You can't just go around breaking into people’s places for no reason."
I smirked. "I had a reason. I needed to see what you were hiding and I found it." I shrugged like it was no big deal because, to me, it wasn't. I was known to cross boundary lines on occasion. Probably more than “on occasion” but it was what it was.
"If you say so." She crossed her arms and drew my attention to her perky tits. Ones I happened to know firsthand fit perfectly in my palms.
"I do say so. Now, are you going to tell me?"
I knew before the words left her mouth that this wasn't going to be easy.
"No. Frankly, it's none of your business."
"I mean, technically, it is." I lifted my palms and shrugged my shoulders. "I work with the local law enforcement and I'm duty bound to report a crime. No one changes their name unless they are running from something. And there are only two things people run from. Trouble or the law. Which one are you, Mais?"
That fear was back and I could kick myself for what I said. My first thought, when I saw the other name, was she was running from a man. It made me want to protect her. Now I wondered how right I was about her possibly running from the law.
"You expect me to confide in you when you just admitted you would run to the cops and turn me in? Thanks, but no, thanks. I would rather disappear again." Maisie turned on her heel, so I once again went for her elbow.
This time, the look she threw over her shoulder would've killed a lesser man.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to put your hands on a woman without their permission?" Her tone was icy as she ripped her elbow away from my grasp.
"Considering I didn't have a mother in my life, I'm going to have to say no. No, she didn't."
The pity in Maisie's eyes pissed me off. I didn't want her pity nor did I need it. It was hard to miss or care about something that was never in my life to begin with.
"I'm . . ." I cut her off with the palm of my hand before she could give me the usual I'm sorry you didn't have a mother —or some variation of—speech. I’d heard it enough times.
"I'm not going to turn you in. I figured you were running from an abusive boyfriend, but if the reason you changed your name is because you're in some kind of trouble with the law, then I want to help you."
She looked at me skeptically. "Why would you want to do that? You don't even know what I did. Hypothetically, that is."
I smiled at her. If she wanted to play hypotheticals, then I was game. There was nothing I wouldn't do for this woman. She just didn't know that yet.
"Because I can. Now how about you come back to my place, and we discuss what you think is so bad that you need to leave the bakery you love so much?"
I knew I had her at the mention of Wickedly Delicious. It didn't take a genius to know the bakery was her baby. Everyone in town could see how much she loved the place by the detail she put into every aspect of the place. Not just the baked goods, but the decor and branding.
"Fine. But I reserve the right to leave after I tell you my story if I think I'll be spending the night in jail. No offense, but no one is worth that. Not even you."
“Ouch!” I clutched my chest and gasped. "And here I thought we had a special connection. I would absolutely do jail time for you."
Maisie jammed her shoulder into me as she pushed past. "That's because you're insane."
Obsessed.
The word I would use to describe my feelings toward her was obsessed, but sure, if she wanted to think I was insane, then so be it. She would find out soon enough.
The drive to my place was short, as was the distance to everything in this town. I managed to buy a small cottage on the street behind where all the shops were located, which made driving to work quick and painless. And on the days I was feeling spunky, I jogged to the office.
I barely got the car in park before Maisie was jumping out and strutting her fine ass up the sidewalk. I took my time getting out because really, what could she do? It was my house, so I had the key. She was stuck on my timeline.
"Eager to spend the night with me?" I teased.
Maisie scoffed and placed one hand on her hip. "Have you forgotten I'm a wanted fugitive? It's not smart for me to be standing out in the middle of the street."
It was my turn to brush by her as I put the key in the door. I leaned in close until I could feel her shiver at my close proximity. "You're not in the middle of the street. You're standing on my porch and I promise I'll keep you safe."
"Can we please just go inside already?"
I pushed the door open and waved for her to enter ahead of me. In true Maisie fashion, she rolled her eyes but stepped over the threshold into my home. I'd dreamed of having her here since I first laid eyes on her in the bakery. I was just hoping it would be on better terms.
"Would you care for a quick tour?"
"No, thanks. I would rather get this over with."
Such attitude. If she knew how much that turned me on, I doubt she would be throwing it around like confetti.
"By all means. The living room is this way." I flicked the hall light on and showed her the way. My living room was nothing special; two reclining chairs and a large flat-screen TV on the wall. One end table sat between the chairs, but other than that, the room was devoid of any furniture or personal effects. I was a simple man who didn't need much.
Maisie dropped her bag next to the first chair and flopped herself down into it. I could tell already this was going to be like pulling teeth.
I mimicked her position in the other chair, except where Maisie was looking at the floor like it had all the answers, I was staring at her profile.
"Start whenever you're ready."
With an exaggerated exhale, Maisie kept her eyes on the ground as she spoke.
"My childhood wasn't what people would call normal. Sure, I had two parents and maybe, in some way, they loved me and my brother, but the life we lived was … unconventional , to say the least. My parents didn't give a shit about social norms or going with the flow. They did everything they could possibly do to go against the grain.
"It drove my brother and me crazy, so by the time we were teenagers, we agreed we would never be anything like them. We purposely did the opposite of what our parents wanted and maybe that's where we went wrong. We wanted so badly to be normal that we didn't see how naive we really were."
I didn't like where this was headed already. I could envision a young Maisie being taken advantage of because her parents hadn't properly prepared her for the cruel world.
"There was this group in our town that our parents insisted we stay away from, so of course Matty and I sought them out. We figured if our parents hated them, then it must mean they were normal law-abiding citizens." Maisie shook her head. "Boy, were we wrong."
"Did this group have a name?" I couldn't stay quiet any longer, and for the first time since entering the living room, Maisie looked up at me.
Maisie snorted. "Believe it or not, they didn't. People only talked about their leader, Atlas Decker, and his followers. That should've been the first clue this group was bad news, but Matty and I were desperate to see life from a different point of view."
"What happened to Atlas?"
For the first time, Maisie looked nervous but she maintained eye contact when she answered. "I killed him. Stabbed him in the neck, just like I did the guy today."