Page 43 of The Masks She Wore

?And why would I do it again?

?The bartender slid the glass over, but before I could even reachfor it, someone was clearing their throat beside me.

?Perfect, this was exactly what I needed. A conversation.

?With an eyeroll, I straightened and turned, finding the captain’s wife, near ex-wife, glaring at me with her beautiful light green eyes. She was gorgeous, and she had stood by her husband’s side far longer than she should have. I hated that he was ruining his marriage at a chance for a different pussy.

?“You stay away from my husband,” she told me, pointing a finger at me. “Stay away from him or I swear to God, I’ll put you in prison.”

?At least it would be an all-girls prison.

?I couldn’t make their already rocky marriage worse, I felt bad for her, but I couldn’t lie to her either. She already wanted to leave, the world knew about that, telling her this might be the final nail in the coffin, but wasn’t it better that she knew? It was the first time I had met her, the first and only time, I was sure. I couldn’t let the opportunity go.

?“He dropped my mother’s case,” I told her, softening my eyes, but not with pity. She didn’t want pity, she wanted the truth, that much I knew for sure. “When I confronted him about it, he told me there wasn’t enough evidence, and when I pushed, he told me that if I sucked his cock, he’d consider reopening the investigation.”

?Rage flamed in her eyes.

?“There’s a reason it’s still closed,” I told her carefully. “But he keepspush—”

?The sting came before I saw her hand, the sound like a gunshot in the room.

?I fought the urge to grab my cheek as I met her eyes evenly, my eyes burning, my cheek pulsing. I probably deserved that for all the shit I had done in the last hour.

?“Don’teveraccuse my husband of doing something like that again. Howdare you,” she hissed, looking me over with such disgust, it almost made me cower.

?But I refused to shrink. I would not make myself smaller to make her feel better. I told her the truth, it was all I could do. It was up to her to believe it or not.

?When I didn’t react, she huffed and turned on her heel, disappearing through the people who now all stared at me.

?Great.

?This was justperfect.

?I turned back to my drink and reached for it again only for a hand to slide it out of reach.

?I closed my eyes and worked my jaw. I didn’t need this tonight, I truly didn’t. Maybe it would be better if I just went home. Just turned around and left.

?I didn’t have to face whoever it was, I could just leave.

?But the entire room was staring at me now. Everyone was waiting to see what Marla Bennett’s daughter would do after that public show.

?So, I straightened again and turned, ready to question whoever it was only to freeze when Max’s light brown eyes met mine.

?Perfect!

?He glared at me, rage in his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

?I felt those tears burn hot, threatening to fall as my blood ran cold. I could feel the whole room focused on me, every conversation now shifting to why the captain’s wife had done that, why I was now being confronted by an unknown male.

?And not that it truly mattered after only one night, but I could feelhiseyes on me too, watching me, observing how utterly fucking pathetic the girl he fucked was.

?Why should I care about that though? No normal person would like being stalked and fucked. It was a police matter, technically, I should be afraid for my life, yet here I was,worriedabout how he now saw me.

?Whoever he was.

?Maybe all of those horror movies truly had rotted my brain away just like Viv suggested.

?“How did you know where I was?” I asked, my heart racing, my face burning. I just wanted to leave. I wanted to go home and curl into bed. It’s all I could think about now. How comfortable my bed was. How cool my pillows were. How quiet my suite was. Peaceful.

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