Trouble on Tap Read online

  Unlike the others, who were glued to the diner’s front windows, he sat with his back to the hubbub outside and sipped coffee from a bright-red mug. “Looks like your chickens have come home to roost and have shit all over our police chief. He had a promising career going until you came back to town.”

  Mateo. Her gut twisted. She hadn’t thought of his job. An arrest was a day that ended in Y for previous generations of Sweets, but not so for the Salvation Police Chief.

  She lowered her voice, hoping against logic that the few people in the diner weren’t doing everything they could to overhear. “Larry took the first swing.”

  “Looked to me like your protector returned a lot more than one swing’s worth.” He glanced up from his half-empty coffee mug. “Oh no, our police chief is done carrying a badge, unless someone who has a lot of influence were to go to bat for him.”

  She snorted. “Someone like you.”

  “Now that you mention it, that does sound like me.” His lips curled in a cruel mockery of a smile.

  The air wheezed out of her lungs and she sank down onto the chair next to his. How did she get here? Bargaining with the man who loved to bedevil the Sweets at every turn. “What do you want?”

  “Cancel the fundraiser for the veterans’ center.”

  “But that’s something good that will benefit the whole town. Why does your hatred for my family outweigh the good we can do?”

  He sat his mug down on the counter and swiveled his chair so he faced her. Loathing rolled off him in waves as a crimson flush crept up his neck.

  “Because you’re bad for Salvation,” he snarled. “Your family likes to think of themselves as eccentrics with hearts of gold who are involved in criminal hijinks, but to me, your people are the broken windows in a neighborhood. You’re the first sign of things going downhill. Fool that he is, out there, Mateo was trying to protect your reputation—as if that was possible. Well, I’m trying to protect this town so that it grows and prospers. If your family name is connected to anything like the veterans’ center, it will only tarnish Salvation.”

  By the time he was done, Tyrell’s round cheeks were bright red with bitter frustration. It wasn’t just a power grab, an ego trip, or revenge for the Christmas special documentary crew that had caught him dancing with his horse. He really believed what he was saying. There’d be no convincing him otherwise. He’d keep fighting her every step of the way—and he wasn’t above fighting dirty and taking down anyone who got in his way.

  “Cancel the fundraiser. That’s it?” She pictured Miranda’s rounding belly and her throat tightened. Then she imagined Mateo handing in his badge and going to jail because of her.

  He nodded. “One word from me and the judge sets a low bail and dismisses the charges. Then everything goes back to normal.” He narrowed his eyes. “Do we have a deal?”

  She nodded, unable to get words past the lump in her throat.

  “Good. I’ll go speak to the judge.” He stood and took a few steps toward the door then stopped and pivoted back to look at her. “Don’t think about double-crossing me. I’m not the kind of enemy you want to have.”

  Sunset’s last orange hues were barely visible in the western sky when the dog picked his head up off Olivia’s lap and jumped down from where they’d been snuggling in the porch swing. Handsome, perched on the porch railing, executed a deep feline stretch and stared out into the darkened driveway. Headlights pierced the night as Mateo’s truck rumbled up the gravel road.

  Her hands shook as she brushed them across her favorite yellow skirt and stood. Waiting on the porch after she’d called Luciana to let her know Mateo had been taken into custody had been the longest hours of her life. Against her better judgement, she’d pinned all her hopes on the mayor delivering on his end of the bargain, and he had. Relief swept through her as she released the breath she’d been holding since he’d started up the drive.

  Mateo got out of the Salvation Police Department SUV, stopping at the back bumper and stared at her. Awareness sparked between them, making the rest of the world disappear. This was where she belonged—with the man she loved.

  Energy buzzed through her, lightening her steps as she hurried to the railing, ready to call out to him, but something in the ramrod-straight line of his back and the grim twist to his lips stopped her. Dread spread like icy crystals throughout her body.

  Not heeding or noticing the undercurrent, the dog went nuts, yapping and hopping along beside Mateo as he made his way stiffly to the front porch.

  He glanced up at her cheek and winced. “Are you okay?” He reached out but stopped before his fingers grazed her bruised cheek. “I never meant to hurt you.”

  “You didn’t.” She pressed her hand to the bruise; the swelling was already going down. “When you swung your arm free, I stumbled and whacked my cheek against the diner’s brick wall.” But a scraped cheek wasn’t what made her insides twist. “Did they file charges?”

  He jammed his fingers through his hair, as if he could shove everything that had happened out of his head. “The whole thing was captured on The Kitchen Sink’s security cameras. You can see him take the first swing and then hear him taunting. The sheriff’s office took the case to avoid conflict of interest with my department. They aren’t filing charges.”

  Relief made her shoulders sag. “So what happens now?”

  He didn’t answer at first. Instead, he climbed up the porch steps and went to the door. After unlocking it, he pushed it open and then turned to face her. “You need to find a new place to live…as far away from me as possible.”

  Her breath caught and she clasped her hand to the base of her throat. “Mateo, don’t—”

  “I’m no good for you.” He turned away from her, showing her only the scarred left side of his face as he stared straight ahead into his dark house. “I knew it in that hotel room, when I was still whole, but when you came home I let myself forget. I played pretend. Seeing that video brought everything back. I’m not a man anyone should be with, let alone you.”

  Pulse pounding in her ears, she rushed across the porch, grabbed his arm and forced him to turn and look at her. “Let alone me? What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means that I’m a fucking walking disaster!” he roared. “Just look at my face and you can see that. What’s even scarier is the fact that I’m the lucky one. The other poor bastards with me ended up dead. And today, I try to help you and I end up making things worse because now your shit of an ex-boyfriend won’t just want money, he’s gonna want revenge. Just get the fuck out of my life. You don’t belong here—you never did and you never will.”

  He slid his arm free and went into the house, closing the door in her face.

  Olivia just stood there, trying to make sense of the world and of the man who she’d loved for most of her life. A numbness drifted over her, the kind she hoped would never go away because that’s when the bone-deep pain would hit, hard enough to drop her to her knees.

  She couldn’t be standing on Mateo’s front porch or be in the cabin or even Salvation when it hit.

  Scooping up Handsome, she walked to her car. The keys and her purse were still in it. Without thinking about where or how or what next, she got into her Fiat, drove down the driveway and turned left onto the highway. She didn’t even look back when she hit the Salvation County line.

  Chapter Twelve

  The pounding on Mateo’s door wouldn’t stop. It broke through the hangover headache beating his brain to a pulp and continued relentlessly. He sat up on the couch, still dressed in yesterday’s clothes that now stunk of bourbon and shit-ass decisions about his life. The dog had his nose pressed to the bottom of the front door, sniffing, as if whatever was on the other side was better than a T-bone steak.

  Olivia.

  His pulse ratcheted up and he jumped from the couch. That was how the mutt reacted to her every time—something they both had in common. She’d come back, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to push her away another time
. He’d fail her again.

  “Mateo Garcia, we know you’re in there,” Miranda hollered through the door. “Open up right now!”

  Relief and disappointment double-punched him in the gut. Not Olivia, her sister. He nudged the dog over with his foot and opened the door.

  Both of Olivia’s sisters stood on his front porch looking as if they were ready to storm the castle, all they were missing were pitchforks and torches. The dog obviously didn’t get the same we’re-here-to-slay-you vibe, since it had gone all waggle-butt as it weaved a figure eight around and between the sisters’ feet fast enough that he was nearly a blur. Neither Miranda nor Natalie seemed to notice.

  “Where is she?” Miranda asked, worry making her voice hard.

  “She’s not answering her phone,” Natalie said.

  His stomach dropped to his knees and his chest tightened. “How long?”

  “How long what?” Miranda snapped.

  “How long since anyone has heard from her?” She was alright. She had to be alright.

  “Two days.” Natalie twisted her fingers around the gold chain circling her neck. “Not since you were arrested.”

  “She was here when I got home. We had…words. She drove off.” Then he’d called in sick and opened the bottle he’d crawled out of this morning. “I’ll alert the sheriff’s department and the highway patrol to be on the lookout for her car, just in case there was a wreck.”

  Just the image of her trapped in that ridiculous yellow Fiat at the bottom of a ditch was enough to liquefy his insides.

  “You don’t think Larry…” Miranda’s voice trailed off.

  “He left town after the paramedics cleared him.” That’s why it had taken him so long to get home that night. He’d insisted on following the asshole’s car until he crossed the county line. “The deputies, highway patrol and my officers had a BOLO on his car just in case he decided to make a reappearance. He hasn’t.” He started to close the door. He had to get them out of here, then he’d spend the day combing the back roads looking for any sign of Olivia. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

  “So that brings us back to you.” Natalie slapped her hand against the door, stopping him from closing it, and narrowed her gaze. “What did you say to make her leave?”

  “The right thing.” He shut the door.

  It had been the right thing. If it hadn’t, it wouldn’t hurt so much.

  The chipper sound of the bells tinkling as he pushed open The Kitchen Sink’s door the next day stepped on Mateo’s very last nerve. The sun shining so brightly when he’d woken up this morning had stomped on the first. The dog’s cheerful, greeting followed by his fruitless search for Olivia in the house for the second day in a row and corresponding whimpers, had obliterated several more. The sight of her strawberry body wash in the shower next to his bottle of plain old no-smell shampoo had snapped more than a handful of nerves right in half.

  He’d grabbed the bottle, her shampoo, her conditioner, her pink razor and some fluffy spongy thing hanging from a rope and dumped them all in the trash. It hadn’t done a damn thing to make him feel better. He still felt as if a tank had driven over his balls, backed up, and repeated the process until he had pancakes hanging between his legs.

  “Well, look who decided to drag his sorry carcass in for lunch,” Ruby Sue said from her stool behind the cash register.

  He just barely swallowed a snarly comeback. Biting her head off wouldn’t fix the FUBAR he’d made of his life by falling in love with Olivia, just like spending twelve hours driving every back-road, highway and country lane in a one-hour radius of Salvation yesterday hadn’t turned up even a flash of Olivia’s yellow Fiat. “I’ll just grab a table in back. I’m meeting Luciana.”

  She grabbed two menus and led him through the crowded tables toward the booth in the back corner. “So you know half the town figures you have her tied up in some sort of sex dungeon. Personally, I think Olivia skedaddled after you flashed her your ugly.”

  “Like anyone could miss it,” he said, not even trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice as his slid into the booth.

  Ruby Sue smacked him on the head with the laminated menu before slapping it down on the table. “I’m talking about the ugly on the inside.”

  “Look, Ruby Sue.” He picked up his menu as if he didn’t know every item listed on it and peered over the top at the woman determined to give him a what-for. “I love you, but I’m just not in the mood right now.”

  “What, to hear that you’re acting like a moron? Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your big grumpy-man feelings, but you need to suck it up.” She slid into the booth opposite him, her narrow-eyed gaze pinning him in place and burning a hole right through the menu he was pretending to read. “I’ve been watching you with Olivia. I know what’s going on here. Life hurts and love breaks your heart nine times out of ten but when it’s that one, then it’s a whole other ballgame.”

  “None of that matters to someone like me.” It couldn’t. He wouldn’t let it.

  “What kind of someone is that?”

  “One who manages to hurt everyone around him.” There. That was the ugly truth of it. He couldn’t be depended on because he always failed them in the end.

  Ruby Sue reached an arthritic hand across the table and yanked the menu out of his grasp, forcing him to look at her. “Well my goodness, let me go get the bandages with all the cartoon characters on them so I’m prepared for the worst.”

  All he’d wanted since he got out of the VA hospital was to be left alone, and he’d mostly accomplished that goal until Olivia rolled into town. Now he was trapped in a booth with the Sweet triplets’ self-appointed fairy godmother reading him a homespun riot act. There’d be no stopping her until she’d said her piece, so he settled back against the booth. “Just spit out whatever it is you think you need to tell me and then leave me alone.”

  “Like I need an invitation to tell you what I think.” Ruby Sue waved off the approaching waitress. She fiddled with the gold band she always wore around her thumb. A bittersweet look came over her face, as if the ring were both a good luck charm and a curse. “A long time ago, I was engaged to Julian Sweet’s eldest brother, Josiah. Oh Lord, that man.” She looked up and smiled. It wasn’t her usual snarky grin, but a soft smile that gave a glimpse of the woman she’d been decades before. “Tall, dark and handsome didn’t begin to do him justice. He was the one who inspired my pecan pie recipe. I was making a pie one day when he stopped by to visit and spilled some apple moonshine in the pecan goo before it had gone in the oven. It was the best pie I’d ever tasted in my life, and I’ve never made it any other way.”

  Great. An old-time love story. That was exactly what he needed right now. “Is there a point to this?”

  In a heartbeat, her smile transformed into a glare. “I always have a point to make to those who aren’t too thick-headed to understand it.” She paused, took in a deep breath and clasped her hands together tight enough that her bony knuckles turned white. “One day, not too long after the pie discovery, Josiah’s moonshine still blew up. The explosion took him and everything in the area straight up to Kingdom Come. One moment he was here and then he was gone.” Her voice broke on the last word and she blinked ferociously until the tears threatening to fall surrendered to Ruby Sue’s overwhelming iron will. “I think of him every time I bake a new batch of pies. I remember his smile and his laugh and the way his hand felt on the small of my back when we danced. The memories are a comfort but it doesn’t change the fact that the one man I ever loved is gone, and there’s nothing I can do about it—but you can do something about Olivia.”

  The ache he’d tried to drink out of existence hit him with full force, battering his ribs and squeezing his chest tight. “She made the right choice to leave.”

  “Why, because your face is all scarred up? Do you really think she’s that shallow or are you that dumb?”

  That was part of it but there was more. He’d hurt her in the end, and he wo
uldn’t be able to live with himself. It was better this way. She’d find someone who deserved her. “I’m not someone people should depend on.”

  Ruby Sue rolled her eyes. “And yet this whole town does.”

  “It’s Salvation, the crime rate is pretty much zilch. I’m more figurehead than police chief.”

  “So your sister and the rest of your family, they don’t depend on you?” Exasperation increased her volume and turned her words sharp. “I’ve seen you with that little munchkin niece of yours. Only a fool would say she couldn’t depend on you. Same with others in this town. I know you helped Marna Simons when she broke her hip and needed to get back and forth to physical therapy. Then there’s than mangy mutt who thinks you’re the best thing since Meaty Bones. All sorts of people depend on you. God knows Olivia depended on you, from the time she was a little one. Your parents were some of the few in town who’d let their kids play with the Sweet triplets. That girl fell in love with you back before she even knew what it meant.”

  “It’s too late.” The ache spread through his body until even his bones hurt. “She’s gone and if she’s smart, she won’t come back.”

  “Then pull your head out of your rump and find a way to get her back to Salvation.” Ruby Sue scooted out of the booth and stood at the end of the table staring down at him as if she’d had just about all of his stupid she could take. “Life doesn’t give you anything. You have to fight for it. So go fight for that girl.”

  Without waiting for a response, not that he had any clue what to say, she turned on her heel and marched over to one of the waitresses. Mateo picked up the menu again. He didn’t need it, but he needed to do something with his hands because his grasp on what he thought was right was slipping.

  It had only ever been sex—amazing sex, the kind of sex that tore him apart and then rebuilt him—but it was just sex. He’d told himself that lie year after year, hotel room after hotel room, pretending that Olivia was just his pre-deployment good-luck charm.