Page 54 of A Deceitful Pact

“It sure as helldoesmatter. I wanna know who the girl who broke Sawyer Anderson's heart is. She deserves a statue in the town square.” Beth makes me laugh. “Forget it, you don’t have to tell me. I know who it is.” Her voice goes soft. “And if it’s any consolation, I think the woman’s crazy.” I grip the wheel a little tighter when I think about Riley, and how typical of me it is to fall in love with a woman as stubborn as she is.

“Got any tips for getting over it?” I look across at Beth and smile.

“Yeah, know when to quit.” The smile she gives me is a little sad, and we remain silent until I pull up outside the bar.

“Friends?” I hold out my arms for a hug once she’s got out. I’m hoping that, one day, she finds a man who has the patience to give her what she wants.

“Always.” She reaches her arms around me and squeezes tightly.

“Now, don’t go finding yourself short like that again, there ain’t always gonna be a knight in shining armour passing by to save your ass.” I wiggle my finger at her as I head inside, and she takes off up the street laughing. Before I get to the door, I check my phone, and when I see that Riley’s replied, I get nervous.

7 pm?

It’s cool and casual, but it’s something and right now, I’ll take whatever she’s prepared to give me.

RILEY

“Are you okay?” Harriet stands in front of me with that stupid, blank look on her face.

“I’m fine! Why are you always asking me that?” I bite back at her. Truth is, I’m just as irritable and frustrated as I was yesterday,andthe day before that.

“Boss, why don’t you let us take care of this?” Hayden intervenes when he sees how close I am to losing my shit. “It’ll just be stupid kids messing around.”

I can tell from the unnerved look Harriet gives him, that she doesn’t agree and as I stare at spray-painted words on the side of my patroller that say QUIT BITCH, I hate having to admit that I’m getting scared.

First the photograph, and now this, it’s all a clear threat, and it would be so easy to take this to Sawyer and ask for his help, but I can’t keep giving him mixed messages.

“Why don’t you go grab us a coffee, and I’ll get this cleaned up?” Hayden suggests. Instead of arguing back, I give him and Harriet a break and head across the street to Jean’s.

I was already having a shitty morning before I stepped out the front door and saw the car. These past few weeks have been challenging; my sickness has disappeared, but my hormones have kicked in with a raging force. I’m either mad, sad or helplessly horny and after a whole hour of trying to get myself off this morning before work, a vandalised car was the last thing I needed.

“Three coffees,” I bark at Jean when she comes to the counter. Sensing my mood, she holds off on the small talk and gets straight to work. I look out the window, and when I see that Sawyer’s truck isn’t parked where it usually is, I immediately push all thoughts of him out of my mind. He does nothing at all to help with the helplessly horny thing and if being pregnant has taught me one thing, it’s that it makes me act far too rashly. My saying one thing and doing another isn’t something he should have to tolerate.

My phone vibrates, and when I pull it out of my pocket and see a text from him, a warm, fuzzy feeling in my tummy has me feeling a little less irritated.

My place tonight? Pizza with extra anchovies

I smile at the message before putting my phone away and leaving it on read. I need to think about my answer before I reply. The lower half of my body wants to say yes. Sawyerdidsay that if I needed anything, I could go to him. This could be classed as a need. It feels desperate enough.

He’s kept his distance but still managed to show me that he cares. I know the six tins of anchovies I found stacked on my doorstep when I got home from work last night were from him. No one else knows that they’ve all I’ve been wanting to eat, except for maybe the Walkers who run the grocery store.

“There we go,” Jean interrupts my thoughts, placing the coffees on the counter, and I hand her some bills before making my way back over to the station. Hayden has already gotten to work, scrubbing the side of my patroller with a sponge and dipping it into a bucket of foamy water. Despite the effort he’s putting in, the paint doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

“I’ll leave this here for you.” I place his coffee on the wall. “Sorry if I got a little snappy,” I tell him, offering him no explanation as I head inside to give Harriet hers. I make an apology to her too, before moving on to hide out in my office. Sitting and staring at my computer screen, I let my coffee go cold because I can’t drink it. I refuse to ask for decaf in case it makes Jean suspicious. My pants are already starting to get tight around my waist, and my time of this baby being a secret is running out. I can already predict the questions that it’s gonna raise. People in this town already think I’m incompetent because I’m a woman. Being a pregnant woman is going to convince them even more that I’m not cut out for the job.

Pizza with Sawyer is the distraction I need from all the things swirling in my head. It’ll beat being at home, alone, angry, and sexually frustrated.

7 pm?

I message back before I realize it’s a stupid idea and change my mind. I’m sure I can manage to find some self-control for a few hours.

I leave my cold coffee on the desk and head back out to offer Hayden some help. I shouldn’t let it, but the thought of seeing Sawyer later has me excited. He’s always so touchy and tentative, and I don’t like to admit it, but it feels like what I need right now.

“You want me to help with that?” I stand beside Hayden, impressed at the progress he’s made, now the words read IT BITCH which I guess is an improvement.

“Nah, I’m finding this quite satisfying.” He looks up at me with a cheeky grin. Things between me and my deputy have become a lot more relaxed since I spoke to Jace on the night of his wedding and proved I wasn’t his enemy. I played him the video that was on Billy McGee’s phone, and I also let him know that I’m here to take down the Gendrys. How much of that he’s told Sawyer and the others, I’m unsure of, but I definitely get the vibe that Hayden’s been told he can stand down when it comes to me.

I look back up the street when I hear the sound of Sawyer’s truck, and I’m confused when I see Beth Delaney get out of his passenger seat. A stab of jealousy slices straight through my chest, and it keeps on attacking when I see Sawyer smile and reach his arms around her. He pulls her close, and it scares me how much it hurts. She’s walking away in the direction of Cade’s garage when he says something to her that I can't quite hear. Whatever it is, it makes her laugh, and suddenly the thought of the two of them together puts a rage inside me that I can’t control.

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