Chapter 22 Baz
BAZ
Baz hadn’t ridden Lexie’s dirt bike since they were teenagers. It was like riding a bike: you didn’t exactly forget, but he remembered it being a lot bigger. Also, he didn’t remember getting quite so many bugs in the face, and he was pretty sure it had seemed a lot faster before.
Still, it was the only thing in Windrock capable of getting him to Wildcat Forks, and he had ridden here as fast as he could.
He didn’t know exactly where Arden was going, but this was the best guess he had, at least as a place to start. If nothing else, it was close to the family ranch, and he could get help from his parents and the sheriff’s department if he needed it.
When he passed the town limits, his sense of danger abruptly spiked, exactly as it had on that sun-drenched day when Arden was threatened in the meadow by the wild shifters when he’d first met her.
In that instant, he had absolutely no doubt where he needed to go, where he had to be.
He skidded to a stop in the parking lot of Sammie Jo’s diner, barely recognizing his own truck as he charged past it into the diner, to find Arden, his Arden—
“Get your hands off her!”
The slime in the suit, who must be Grant Hamilton, dropped Arden’s wrist like it was on fire.
Baz knew the other guy in the booth all too well; it was the big slab of muscle who had been harassing her in town.
But who they were mattered to Baz only to the extent that he needed to get Arden as far away from both of them as possible.
“Who the hell are you?” said probably-Grant.
Arden was on her feet now too, but she showed no sign of moving away from the table. “Baz,” she breathed out.
“That’s her boyfriend,” said the muscle.
“She’s got a what?”
Baz moved shoulder to shoulder with Arden. “Are these guys bothering you?” he asked her.
It was only as he noticed that the waitress and the other patron in the diner were staring at him that he remembered he was covered with mud.
He’d pulled on his clothes without doing more than hastily toweling himself off.
After the motorcycle ride, it had dried on him.
He could feel his hair sticking up in spikes. He probably looked unhinged.
If so, it matched the way he felt.
Arden let out a breath. “Baz, I guess it’s time you met my very, very ex-husband, Grant.”
“Husband,” Grant snapped. “I’m her husband and she’s my wife.” He looked at Baz as if he had just crawled out of a pig pen. “Who are you, again?”
“I’m only your wife because you cheated on the divorce paperwork.
” Arden leaned subtly against Baz, and he put an arm around her.
To her credit, she didn’t try to pull away in spite of the mud.
“And I just had an amazing idea. We’re going to the courthouse right now, and we’re going to file whatever we need to file, and I’m going to be done with you. ”
“I refuse.”
Baz leaned in. “What if I refuse my fist right into your face?”
“Excuse me?” From behind them, the waitress approached. “If there’s going to be fighting, you need to leave. Sorry, Sebastian,” she added.
Baz had known her, like almost everyone else in town, for his whole life.
“Actually, I think leaving is exactly what we’re going to do.
Arden’s right, we’re headed straight for the courthouse, we’re going to do whatever we need to do with her divorce paperwork, and then you’ll get out of her life for good. ”
The nearest courthouse was in the county seat, Spring Meadow.
Baz was honestly unsure if Grant would go along with it once he was no longer being loomed over, but either he’d come to his senses or his probably-bodyguard had talked some sense into him, because he and the bodyguard followed them there in a new-model dark SUV.
Arden relaxed immediately in the truck, clinging to Baz despite his filthy state. After loading Lexie’s bike into the truck bed, they pulled out, and he filled her in on developments after her departure.
“No one’s mad at me?”
“No. No one’s mad. I swear.”
“What about Declan?”
“I don’t know,” Baz sighed. “Hard to say. I’m still in charge, but ... it’s complicated.”
Complicated the situation might be, but once they got to the courthouse, the divorce was simple.
This was a no-fault divorce state, and they had already filed the intent paperwork.
Arden had signed everything she needed to sign.
The only thing remaining was a final decree of dissolution in front of a judge—the thing she hadn’t realized she needed.
“You’ll have nothing,” Grant spat venomously as they waited to be seen, although he kept his voice low. Baz had placed himself between Arden and her ex, with his arm around Arden’s shoulders. “You’ll be destitute.”
“I was, once,” Arden retorted. “I’m not anymore. You don’t have any hold over me.” She dropped her voice, too. “Remember, Grant, destroy those pictures you have, and I won’t go public with anything I know about you.”
Their names were called before Grant could answer.
The judge was brisk and no-nonsense. If she recognized Grant from his TV appearances, by either face or name, she gave no sign. They both agreed to the established terms, which gave Grant everything.
“You can contest and request a more equitable settlement, if you like,” the judge told Arden.
Arden shook her head. “No. I want a clean break. It was all Grant’s to begin with, and now it’s his again.” She glanced at Baz. “I have everything I want.”
After all of that, it felt oddly anticlimactic.
The divorce decree, signed by the judge and filed with the court, was effective immediately.
Afterward, Arden disappeared immediately into one of the restrooms. Baz waited for her in the hall.
She looked a little surprised to find him still there when she got out.
“You okay?” Baz asked her quietly as they headed back out to the parking lot.
“I guess so. The thing is, I thought this had already been done, so nothing has really changed—not in any major way.”
Grant was waiting by the SUV with Sloan. Baz slowed, anticipating another possibility for a fight, but the senator and bodyguard were talking quietly. Grant approached Arden with a fake smile.
“Friends?” he said, thrusting out a hand.
Arden shoved her hands into her pockets, and Baz pulled her close to him. “Not anymore,” she told him.
Grant’s hand dropped; his face twisted in a scowl. “Remember that I gave you every chance.”
“You just remember the terms of our deal. I want you out of my life, Grant, and I want you to leave my friends alone. That’s it, that’s all I want. If you make trouble for me, I’ll make trouble for you, but as far as I’m concerned, we can go our separate ways.”
Grant said nothing, just got into the passenger side of the SUV in silence. The bodyguard raised his eyebrows at both of them, with a look Baz interpreted as respect, and then got in after him.
As they drove away, Baz turned to Arden. “You were great.”
“I felt like a giant bitch,” Arden admitted with a half-laugh.
“Don’t say that. He had all of that coming and more.” Baz frowned down at her. “You sure you’re okay with not getting any of Grant’s money?”
“I don’t want it. I feel like it’s all tainted. Given the kind of life he lives, he’s going to be hit with an ethics investigation sooner or later, and I’d rather not have a lawyer serving me a summons. I just want all the strings severed so I can move on with my life.”
“In that case, I think there’s only one thing left to say.”
“What’s that?” she asked, looking up at him uncertainly.
Baz swept her into his arms and kissed her, right there in the courthouse parking lot. A couple of people passing by cautiously applauded, perhaps thinking they were witnessing a newly married couple. Baz grinned down at her, and her eyes sparkled up at him like stars.
“Congratulations, formerly Mrs. Grant Hamilton. I now pronounce you an unmarried woman. You’re free.”