Page 24 of Decked Out with Ivy

“Guessing the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Hear your old man liked the hard stuff.”

Cody grumbled, letting the curses hit his teeth instead of allowing them to flow freely from his mouth. Ivy’s head tilted up at him. He didn’t look at her. He didn’t want to see the pity. He worked too damn hard to become someone despite his shitty upbringing, and the last thing he needed was pity.

“Cat got your tongue? I’m sure you’ll find it again when you get that piece of ass back to your place.”

Ivy gasped. Cody bit back the desire to lay this guy out. One punch, and he could level him, but that’s what the asshole wanted. He wanted Cody to snap. Maybe it would be worth it. His reputation was already damaged, barely hanging on from total ruin. So what if he gave it all up? At least he’d be doing it honorably. The story would be twisted. He wouldn’t be made out to be the good guy, but Ivy would know. And that’s all that mattered right now.

“You are not a nice person,” Ivy said, and Cody couldn’t help but smile at her sweetness. Here he was contemplating ramming his fist into the bastard’s nose. She could have said a million different things, strung a litany of curse words together, but she didn’t.

“I’ve been called worse, sweetheart.”

Whatever little restraint Cody had left snapped. He dropped his arm from Ivy, positioning her behind him as he stepped toward the asshole. The jerk smirked and lifted his camera.

Flashes of light burst around them in double time. The sound of the shutter working overtime cut through the faint Christmas music floating out from a glass blowing studio.

More flashes illuminated the day, but these lights were red and blue. A sheriff’s vehicle pulled up to the curb, and a man with brown hair and an intimidating glare stepped out in a finely pressed uniform.

“This man harassing you?” the sheriff asked, nodding toward the photographer. Cody realized what the sheriff did there. Harassment was a crime.

“As a matter of fact,” Ivy said. “He is. He got his shots. We were more than generous, but he won’t stop following us.”

“It’s a public sidewalk, man,” the photographer said.

“You’re standing in the parking lot and that’s private property. How do I know that? Because my sister and my brother-in-law own the glass blowing studio and the bike shop.”

“Then I’ll just get back on the sidewalk.”

A slow smirk tugged at the corner of the sheriff’s no-nonsense face, his green eyes sharp and filled with authority, like a man who didn’t have time for games. “Oh, but then you’ll be walking by The Happy Apple, and that portion of sidewalk is owned by Terry and Walt. And while they are nice people, there is one thing they will not tolerate, and that is harassment of the people in their community. So I can write you a ticket now for trespassing, harassment, and jaywalking, since I saw you commit that crime earlier, or you can take your camera out of here.”

“Write the ticket.”

The photographer lifted his camera and took another shot. He was being spiteful now. Probably hoping Cody would snap, and he’d make enough money to live off through next year.

“Or I can hit you with failure to comply with an officer, and that’s a class two misdemeanor. We can work out the exact charge down at the station.”

“You’re not going to arrest me,” the photographer said.

“Try me,” the sheriff didn’t even blink.

“Fuck this, man!” The photographer turned the other way. He stopped, spinning around, and stared right at Cody. “Like I said, it’s only a matter of time before you fuck up, and the law won’t be there to protect you.”

“Is that a threat?” the sheriff asked.

The photographer held his hands up in front of him, before turning around and continuing down the sidewalk.

“Thank you.” Cody held his hand out to the sheriff.

The sheriff took his offered hand. “No problem.”

“Thanks, Matt. We could have dealt with him, but he was getting a little aggressive.”

Cody hated he put Ivy in the middle of that. The photographer got all the shots, they would be making the tabloid sites soon enough, but at what cost? Was it worth it to use Ivy like this? Even if she agreed to it, and they had a deal, she deserved better.

She deserved to walk down Main Street and take in all the window displays and sing along to the random lines of Christmas songs that escaped from an open door. She deserved the Christmas time she wanted to show him.

And he didn’t only want her to have it, he wanted to have it with her.

His body froze at the revelation.

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