Page 47 of Wicked Ends
Sally’s eyes flashed hotly, and she shook her head slowly. “We both know you’re all talk, Maddox. You value your life too much. Now, run along back to Cole.”
She waved her fingers in a dismissive gesture and tugged me forward when Maddox moved his leg.
“Who the hell was that?”
“My brother’s best friend. The hierarchy around here goes like this… at the top, the pres position, we have Cole Bailey. His second is Maddox… Mad Maddox they call him, and believe me, he lives up to that nickname. Then there’s my brother, Gage. They’ve all been best friends since they were kids.”
“Okay, that’s a lot,” I said, trying to keep the names straight. The only one I’d heard before was Cole, because he was Marcus’ older brother. There seemed to be a surplus of dangerous men in Hade Harbor.
“So, your brother’s in the MC?”
Sally nodded. “Since he was a teenager. It pretty much saved his life, actually. He was going down a…” she blew out a breath, “dark path.”
“And now?”
“Oh, he’s still on that path, but he has company,” she quipped and disappeared into a bathroom stall.
I used the restroom and washed my hands. The cool water helped cut through the heat crowding my head. I was tipsy, I washot and itchy in my jacket, and my guard was low thanks to the evening’s fun atmosphere and company.
I was too tense all the time. My habit of hiding myself and staying invisible was being challenged here every day, and maybe that was okay. It was setting my nerves on edge, but I had to get used to it.
I stared at myself in the mirror and took my suit jacket off. Today, I had a simple black sleeveless top that tucked into my skirt. I hadn’t planned to remove the jacket, but it was too damn hot to keep it on.
Sally whistled as she joined me at the mirror. “Nice. Definitely more bar appropriate. Oh, while I have you alone… be careful around Wade. I know he’s handsome and smart and only a bit full of himself…”
“Just a bit?” I burst out.
Sally laughed. “Okay, maybe a lot, but some women find him really charming… I’m talking half of his classes, and he’s been there and done that with far too many starry-eyed English majors to be taken seriously. The man’s a player.”
“He’s slept with his students?” I asked.
Sally nodded. “Understatement.”
“How old is he?” I wondered.
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure, mid-thirties to early forties, maybe? He’s on the tenure track, so safe to say older than us.”
“How come he doesn’t get fired?”
“None of his conquests have ever complained about him, and he doesn’t play favorites in class or give good grades depending on how good they are in bed, I guess. That’s all it takes for the board to turn a blind eye when you’re a well-off, good-looking white man in a town like Hade Harbor.”
I stared at her in the mirror, guilt burning through me. Little did she know I’d done the same.
“Hey, don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, but he’s left a string of broken hearts in his wake. I’d feel the same way if it were an office he’d slept his way through. It’s disrespectful.”
I nodded and swallowed the knot of tension in my throat. Sally didn’t seem to take as much issue with student/professor relationships as I did. Maybe that was because she had no idea that I’d made the same mistake as Wade, in this very bar, less than a week ago.
Sally smacked her lips together and passed me another tube of lipstick, this one a dark-red lip stain.
“Try it. I think it’ll look great on you.”
I slicked it on, past arguing with her. I was starting to see that what Sally wanted, she got, and I was okay with it. Tonight had been worlds better than sitting at the Night Owl watching the grainy TV and worrying about tomorrow.
Sally’s phone rang, and she answered, indicating to me that she was heading back out. She left, and I finished applying the lip stain before stepping back from the mirror and studying myself.
My cheeks were flushed and my eyes bright. The lip stain was bold, bolder than anything I’d ever worn before, but I liked it.
“Pretty as a picture, birthday girl… too bad it’s going to get all messed up.”
