Page 19 of One Night Collision

She shakes her head, tears forming. "You don't understand. Until I let go of what he did to me, what we could have won't matter. I can't give you what you deserve."

I grab my shirt, anger and hurt mixing dangerously. "So you're just giving up? Using your ex as an excuse to run away?"

"It's not that simple!"

"Nothing worth having ever is," I shoot back, pulling my boots on. I stand at the door, looking at the woman who's somehow crawled under my skin in ways no one else has.

"I'm not him, and I never will be," I say, keeping my voice steady despite the storm inside. "You can compare me as much as you fuckin' want to, but there's no comparison. Ball is in your court, Mags. It's your decision. You gonna let him keep fucking up your life, or are you brave enough to live the life you want?"

I don't wait for her answer. The door closes behind me with a finality that aches. I hope like hell she finds her courage, because walking away from her might be the hardest thing I've ever done. And life has handed me a lot of hard shit over the years.

Chapter

Fourteen

Maggie

It’s been two days since Damien walked out of my apartment. Two days without any texts or phone calls. Two days without seeing him smile or seeing that dimple that makes me crazy. And while I hate it, I don’t regret it. I can’t. Because all the reasons I did it still stand.

I didn’t pull back from him because I didn’t want him or because what we had wasn’t perfect and beautiful and everything I ever dreamed it could be. I pulled back because I can’t let Calvin ruin his whole life out of spite—and he will.

That text message that had come through on my phone while we’d been doing unspeakably filthy and wonderful things to each other had been a cold dose of reality intruding on that idyllic moment.

Calvin, in typical Calvin fashion, had gone after Damien in a way that I don’t have a hope in hell of fighting back against. My ex-husband will destroy everything that Damien loves and it will just be collateral damage. And I care about him too much to let him lose everything because I was too fucking stupid to see what an entitled dick Calvin was before I married him.

“The last time I saw that look on someone’s face, their truck engine blew and their dog died.”

I look up to see Troy James walking into the shop. “No Dr. Phil-isms allowed, Officer James.” I point to the sign that says exactly that which is hanging just above the register.

He glances up at it and grins. “I need one of those for the station… But seriously, Maggie, you look like hell. The landlord still giving you shit? I thought Damien took care of it.”

“He did… He fixed it. It’s not about the shop.”

Troy’s expression sharpens. For just a split second that affable, small-town good-guy image disappears, and I can see just how sharp he is. “So Damien’s the issue then. What did the fucker do?”

I laugh at that. I can’t help it. “He didn’t do anything. It’s just… things get complicated, you know?”

“I’m married to my ex-wife’s sister. Complicated, I get,” he tells me.

I blink at that. Like I know it. Everyone in town knows it. But when he puts it that baldly, it still sounds weird as hell. “Yeah, I guess you do.”

“This got anything to do with a certain big shot who walks around this town acting like he owns the very air we breathe?”

I roll my eyes. But I need to talk to someone. And I don’t have any friends. Not really. Since the divorce, I’ve just been going through the motions, but I haven’t dared let myself get close to anybody. But Troy helped me then. He put me in touch with the right organizations that help DV victims—people who helped me realize that domestic violence is a lot more than just cuts and bruises. That financial control and isolation are part of it too. He’s, aside from Damien, my only real friend. “Troy, if I tell you something I need you to promise me you won’t repeat it… Please?”

“Is this personal or legal?”

“Personal. No laws have been broken.”

He nods. “Then you tell me and I’ll take it to the grave.”

“Calvin told me before I left him that he would never let me have the life I wanted. If it cost him every dime he had, he’d make sure I was miserable for the rest of my days… and I let myself forget that. Just for a minute. But he wasn’t bluffing. He bought out a debt portfolio from the mortgage company that just so happens to include the mortgage on Damien’s parents’ farm. He will wreck their lives and Damien would hate me for it.”

Troy shakes his head. “You’re going at this all wrong, Maggie. You still think Calvin has all the power and he doesn’t… Fancy suits aside, Damien walks around this town just like anybody else, but the dude is fucking loaded. Before he left his hotshot big-city law firm, he made a heck of a name for himself and a pile of money while doing it. Christ above, I saw a bill he sent Cody and damn near swallowed my tongue.”

None of that makes sense to me. Like I know he’s successful, but successful and loaded are different things. “So why the fuck is his parents’ farm mortgaged?”

“Because they wouldn’t accept his help,” Troy says. “Just talk to him. Tell him what you told me and let him handle it. Because I promise you that however much of a badass power player your ex thinks he is, Damien’s got his ass beat.”

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