Chapter 3 #2
Sure, she hadn’t been answering his calls. But that was because he mostly called her to berate her. And she didn’t need to listen to all the ways that she’d disappointed him for the 644th time. There was only so much of that a girl could take.
And she seemed to have reached her limit.
Which is why she’d dodged his calls for the last few days. However, if she’d known that he was going to send Vince after her . . . she’d probably have answered them.
Probably.
This was so typical of her father. He loved to use dynamite when a match would work.
“He couldn’t have tracked her down himself?” Reeves asked. Probably unwisely.
Her father didn’t like being questioned. And Vince would scuttle back like the cockroach he was to report everything to him.
Actually, that was a bit mean to cockroaches.
“He’s too busy to worry about something that’s so beneath him.” Vince glared at her.
“But he sent you to deliver the message?” Reeves drawled. “Obviously he doesn’t think much of you if you’re just his message boy.”
“That isn’t true!” Vince said, growing red in the face.
Reeves took a step toward Vince, his arms crossed over his chest. Hmm. She hadn’t noticed before, but Reeves was pretty built and he was several inches taller than Vince.
He could take him. If Vince played fair.
She knew firsthand that he didn’t.
“This isn’t delivering a message,” Reeves told him. “This is an abuse of power. Not to mention the publicity nightmare this could be if that woman posts that video online.”
Vince stared around as though he thought the old lady would suddenly reappear. “I’ll find her. Get her to delete it.”
“Yeah? How you gonna find her?” Reeves asked.
“Can’t be that hard. I’ll door knock.”
God. Vince was such an idiot.
“Right. And then what? Ask her for her phone? What if she won’t give it to you?”
“Simple. I'll take it.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Reeves muttered. “Do you really think that’s a good idea? Think about that for a moment.”
“What? Why?” Vince asked.
“You need a warrant for that, dumb ass,” she muttered.
Vince took a step toward her, his hands clenched into fists. Reeves quickly stepped between them.
“Stand down, Officer Mason,” he said in a stern voice.
“You are such a bitch! Don’t call me dumb! I’m not the one who is talking shit to someone who knows where she lives.”
Fear struck her. Hard.
Would he do something to her place? She didn’t care about herself. But she did care about her babies.
What was she thinking? Why was she such an idiot? She was all they had . . . if anything happened to her . . .
“Officer Mason, was that a threat?” Reeves asked in a low voice. “Because if it was, I’m going to have to take action.”
“What?” Vince asked, sounding dumbfounded. He wasn’t used to people questioning him.
“Do I need to take action?” Reeves asked in a low voice.
“What sort of action?” Vince blundered.
“The sort that finds you stripped of your badge and in a jail cell.”
“For what? I didn’t do nothing.”
Dear Lord. She wanted to correct his language, but figured she should stay quiet at this juncture.
See? She could be smart.
“You threatened to go to Maya’s house,” Reeves said.
“Yeah, so? Didn’t say I was going to do anything bad.”
“Really? Because it didn’t sound to me like she was going to invite you over for a cup of tea and some cookies.”
Definitely not.
“So here’s the thing, Officer Mason. I answered a call from a member of the public about an officer of the law assaulting a female citizen.
There are witnesses. Some of those witnesses have phones.
And now I just heard you state that you were going to turn up at her house to harass her more.
Do you see how this doesn’t look good for you? ”
Wow.
Reeves wasn’t her type, but she kind of wished he was. She’d never had someone stand up for her before.
It was a strange feeling.
Vince opened his mouth and closed it.
“I’m going to talk to Maya about what just happened. You are going to get into your car and leave. What you will not do is ever pull her over again or turn up at her house. If you do, I will be coming for you and it will not be pretty.”
“Now who is being threatening?” Vince muttered.
“Yeah? Here’s the difference,” Reeves said.
“Pay attention, I’m about to educate you and I’m not sure you’re the best student.
That wasn’t a threat, it was a promise. And it was from a man to .
. . whatever you are. Not from a cop on an ego trip to an unprotected, far smaller than him, woman. You see where I’m going with this?”
Vince had no idea. That was easy to tell. Maya bit her lip against explaining this in language he could understand.
It was hard, though.
So hard.
But Vince didn’t care about the fact that she was a woman and that she was smaller than him. That was the part he got off on. Although she objected to the unprotected part.
Maya could defend herself.
“Fuck, you don’t get it.”
“I don’t have to stand here and take this!” Vince said. He pointed at her. “Talk to your father or things are gonna get worse.”
Nice.
His last words to her were a threat. Just perfect.
Vince strode off and got into his cruiser, performing a U-turn that forced several cars to stop for him.
Idiot.
She sighed. “I’d say thank you but I think you might have made things worse.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Worse than him arresting you in front of members of the public?”
“You’re worried about the public backlash?” she asked. That explained his reasons for interfering.
Kind of disappointing.
“Yeah, I care about the public perception of the police,” he said.
“Because they need to be able to trust us. But more than that I care whether the police force here is trustworthy. About whether they’re doing their job properly or pulling over vulnerable young women so they can hurt and intimidate them. ”
“He didn’t hurt me, I’m fine. I’ve been dealing with Vince for a while now.” Although he’d only started acting like a jerk after their one and only disastrous date. “Thanks for the help, but just so you know, I’m not defenseless.”
“No? And what would you have done if he’d handcuffed you and got you into the back of his car? He could have driven you anywhere. Done anything to you. And no one would have known.”
Maya swallowed heavily. “Are you trying to scare me?”
“Yep. Is it working?”
“Yep.” But not because she was worried about herself.
You have to think of your babies.
“Do you want to make a complaint, Maya?”
“A complaint?” she repeated. Then she made a scoffing noise. “Right. Like a complaint will do anything except make Vince angrier.”
“If you told your father about this, he’d have to take it seriously.”
She shook her head. Poor, deluded Reeves.
He was a good guy.
But he hadn’t lived here long. He didn’t know much about the way this town ran. About the way her father operated.
“No, he won’t. My father will ask Vince what happened. And then whatever lie Vince tells him, he’ll buy. Because my father has never once believed me.”
Not since her mom died, anyway.
But she didn’t want to think about that right now.
“You’re kidding me?” Reeves said.
“Guess you haven’t been here long enough to notice, but my father has his favorites and I’m not one of them.
Vince and my stepbrothers, sure. They can do no wrong.
Look, you’re a good guy. But if you want to survive here, then the smartest thing you could do is keep your head down and stay away from me.
Trust me, all I ever bring with me is trouble. And you don’t need that in this town.”
“Yeah? What does that mean?”
She pressed her lips together. “I have to get home to my babies.”
“Your babies?” he repeated.
“My animals.” Worry filled her. “If Vince goes near my house . . . he might hurt them.”
And now she thought she was going to vomit.
“He won’t go near them,” Reeves told her. “I’ll put the fear of God in him if he goes close to your place.”
She wasn’t sure that would work. With someone who wasn’t a dumb asshole, yes. With Vince . . . yeah, she held little hope.
“Is there a reason Vince doesn’t like you?” Reeves asked.
“You mean, besides the fact that I’m not scared of him? Which is what Vince gets off on.”
His gaze narrowed. She’d said too much.
“Is there something you need to tell me about that?” he asked.
“No, there is not. Look, Vince took me out on one date. I regretted it, didn’t want anything to do with him, and he didn’t take that well.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
She shrugged. It didn’t matter much what he liked or didn’t like, it was the truth.
“I have to go,” she said. “Thanks for the help.”
“Wait a second.” He reached out and grabbed her wrist. The same one that Vince had grabbed, unfortunately.
She hissed and flinched away.
“Shit! I hurt you? How did I hurt you?”
Maya cradled her arm against her chest. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“Maya,” he said with concern.
“Bye, Reeves. Thanks again.”
She climbed into her car and started it up, pulling out onto the road. As she drove along, she found herself peering around. It was then she realized that she was obsessively looking for Vince.
He’s not going to do anything to you.
Sure, he was an idiot and he had a temper issue. But he was still a cop and her father was still the police chief.
Hopefully that was enough to keep him away from her.
Her hands were shaking as she drove. God, she hated being scared. She hated that other people had the power to make her afraid.
Maybe it was time to leave town. Move somewhere else.
But living here was hell on her nerves.
She turned into her driveway. Her mom had left her an inheritance when she’d died and she’d used it to buy this place. It wasn’t much. A small three-bedroom house with terrible insulation and a leaking roof.
However, she owned it outright and the reason she’d chosen it was for the land. It was fully fenced, private, and had enough room to house a chicken coop as well as let the dogs roam.
Plus, the neighbors didn’t care about her comings and goings.
The driveway was a bit rough. She really needed to patch it. It could get muddy as heck when it rained hard and she usually had to leave her car parked out on the street or risk getting stuck.
Parking in the garage, she walked up the short footpath to the back door.
Hen Solo, Princess Lay-er, Jabba the Cluck, and Chew Bok-Bok all clucked at her from their enclosure. She walked over and let them out. “Hey girls. I’ll be back. Have at it.”
She then headed to the backdoor and braced herself.
Dougie ran at her full force, hitting her right in the shins.
“Hey Doug-Doug.” She reached down and picked him up.
When Dougie was happy, it wasn’t just his tail that wagged, it was his entire body.
He was a mix of French bulldog and something else that she couldn’t figure out.
He’d been dumped by his owners because he had eyesight issues.
He had bulging eyeballs which some people thought made him look ugly.
But she thought he was adorable.
A high-pitched barking started and she saw Gummy heading her way. She let Dougie out and greeted Gummy. Gummy didn’t like to be picked up and could be rather snappy about it. So she just patted her as Gummy moved past her.
Princess Priss, her white, fluffy three-legged cat, meowed at her from where she sat on the back of the sofa.
Queen Supreme.
Maya patted her before checking in on her hamster.
“Hey, Marshmallow,” she said. “You doing okay?”
He was so cute. When he wasn’t farting up a storm.
She headed into a spare bedroom where she knew she’d find the last of her brood.
A snort warned her off, but she moved slowly into the room, knowing once Big Berry saw her that she’d be fine.
“It’s just me, Big B,” she said to the big black and ginger pig who was standing guard over the huge dog behind her.
A dog that was shaking in fear. She hated that. Tank had been with her for four months now, after she’d rescued him from his asshole owners. But he was still so scared.
He was a Staffy-Bullmastiff mix. A gorgeous tan and white boy with the saddest eyes. He had old scars from where he’d been hurt by his previous owners.
“Hey, Tank, baby. It’s just me,” she said in a quiet voice, sitting on the floor.
As soon as Tank had arrived, Big Berry had decided that the dog was hers to take care of. They were pretty much always together and Big Berry was extremely protective.
Maya couldn’t help but wish that she had a Big Berry to protect her.
“Good girl, Big B,” she said to her. “Why don’t the two of you come outside?”
She’d noticed the puddle on the bedroom floor, but she wasn’t going to mention it. Tank sometimes got scared and lost control of his bladder.
Poor baby.
She got up and moved to the door and Big B followed. Tank followed her, giving Maya a worried glance.
“It’s going to be okay, baby,” Maya told her. “I’m never letting anyone hurt you again. Any of you.”
Big B let out a snort as though she understood what Maya was saying.
And completely agreed.