Chapter 9

Maggie stalked back to her car, secured her long-range rifle in the safe, and got into her truck. Unbelievable. She literally just saved Hunter's life, and he thought it was Tristan.

"That's it. I don't care how hot he is. Or how nice he is to the kids in town. Or how much he loves his family. I'm done. Over him for good," Maggie swore to herself as she drove to Kord and Georgie's house. She was done with Hunter Townsend. There was a banker in Charleston, Charles Wicksmith, who had asked her out several times. It was time to say yes and move on.

The upstairs lights were off, so Maggie tapped lightly on the front door, not wanting to wake the younger children.

Kord opened the door with a grin. "So, Hunter finally got his comeuppance? I would have loved to be there. Although, from what I heard, there's no way I would have made that shot."

"News travels fast," Maggie grumbled as Kord opened the door.

"You know that. You're the one who taught me that," Georgie said, patting the sofa. "Now sit and tell me everything."

Maggie sat down on the couch and shook her head. "It's over. I'm over him. He thought it was Tristan. Didn't believe me when I walked up, still holding the rifle."

"How did you know he was in trouble?" Kord asked.

Maggie took a deep breath and closed her eyes for just a second. She saw the memory as if she were watching it live. "I dropped him off and made a U-turn to come here. As I was driving away, I might have looked back at my rearview mirror and saw him watching me. I might not have looked away because I was hoping he was watching me because he was ready to see the real me. But then I saw the man approach him. I didn't know him, but I saw him pull a gun from under his shirt.

"I drove off, parked, and got my rifle. I used the scope to watch what was happening. I saw the moment the man's face changed and the moment Hunter looked to Damon for help. So, I fired."

Kord looked down at his phone as she talked. She didn't take it personally. She was sure her own phone was blowing up with texts. "Granger says the man wanted something from Landry and he thought he'd given it to Hunter. The man had decided to kill Hunter the second before you fired. You saved his life for sure."

"I'm sure he still thinks it's Tristan." Maggie rolled her eyes.

"No, he doesn't," Lacy said, coming around the corner. It was clear she'd been listening the whole time. Great. Now Maggie was going to be judged by a thirteen-year-old girl.

"How do you know?" Georgie asked her. "And you shouldn't be eavesdropping. You should always make yourself known."

More movement and Landry Jr. walked out. "Hi, but Lacy is right. Hunter knows it was you. He finally looked you up. It's all everyone is talking about."

"It won't matter. He probably thinks the articles are lying," Maggie said sarcastically.

Lacy sat cross-legged on the floor and nodded. "Boys are so stupid, Miss Maggie."

"Hey, we're not stupid," Landry protested.

"Dense. Dumber than a fence post. Can't see what's right in front of them. Can see a deer or a gator a mile off, but can't see the girl standing right in front of you," Lacy said savagely to her older brother. Maggie couldn't correct her though. She felt the same.

Landry and Lacy began to argue, until Lacy dropped the bomb. "How did you find out all this information?" she asked her brother.

"Kyra," Landry said with a shrug.

Lacy smiled victoriously and then turned to the adults. "As you know, Kyra is Quad's younger sister, who happens to be in Landry's grade, and who has a massive crush on him. So, she's feeding him information in hopes that he'll talk to her more."

"Whoa," Landry said with shock written all over his face. "Kyra is just a friend. And where did you hear that she likes me?"

Lacy crossed her eyes and looked very much like her mother right now. "See," she said to the grownups. "Boys are stupid. Can't see what's right in front of them. Kyra's told practically the whole school she has a crush on Landry and look . . . he has no clue."

Landry looked angry for a second, but then he blushed. "Does she really have a crush on me?"

Lacy ignored her brother and looked at Maggie with more sympathy than a thirteen year old should have. "Good luck with Mr. Hunter. I would give him another chance if he stops being stupid. He's really nice, and he and Mr. Damon are the best at getting Lennie to stop crying when they rock her to sleep. Any man whom babies or dogs feel safe with is a good man. Now, I need to get to bed. Tomorrow Miss Georgie and Mr. Kord are letting Landry and me go see our dad."

Lacy left the room with her brother trailing after her, asking her over and over again about Kyra.

"Did I just get schooled on romance by a thirteen-year-old?" Maggie asked.

"Yes, and she wasn't wrong. The question is, will you forgive Hunter if he comes begging for forgiveness?" Georgie asked her.

That was the question. Would Hunter care enough to offer an apology? And even if he did, would it change anything? Maybe it was time to let go of the teenage crush she had on Hunter and grow up.

Maggie's whole family was waiting for her when she got home. Gage and her father were cleaning their guns and grumbling about disrespectful men. Her mother was smiling and baking at eleven at night. Timmons was filming himself doing a choreographed dance for social media.

Gage saw her first. "I'm going to kill him."

"Who?" Maggie asked.

"You saved his life and he doesn't even thank you? That arrogant ass needs to be taken down a peg or two," Gage replied.

"No man treats my baby like that. I've let it go on long enough, but no longer," her father said, clicking the shotgun back into place.

"Oh God, it was fire. I saw the shot you made and I was shook AF."

"Shook about what?" her mother asked, coming into the room with a fresh baked pie.

"Word was Hunter would be low-key salty upon finding out Maggie was a better shot than him, but I'm hearing he doesn't want to drag her anymore. He wants to apologize."

"No cap?" Gage asked Timmons.

"Bet."

Her mother rolled her eyes and set the pie on the table. "The question is: what does Maggie want? Does she want to forgive him or not?"

"It's been a big yikes for Hunter, but it hits different when it's fam." Timmons nodded his head and her mother's brow creased. Then she shook her head and decided to just ignore the mix of Timmons's Gen Z and millennial slang.

"I'll kill him and then Mags won't have to decide if she forgives him or not," Gage said with a smile that had Maggie worried.

"No," her mother said, "or no pie. We don't kill people unless it's with kindness." Her mother looked to Maggie and paused, "Or with a perfect shot to the head."

Gage smiled. "See? I have options."

"What do you want, Magnum? We've all known you like him or you would have cussed him up one side and down the other when he questioned your ability to shoot. But I also know you might have had enough. The decision is yours," her father told her.

Maggie took a slice of pie and sat back on the comfortable couch. "I don't know exactly what I want to do, Dad. Give me time to figure it out. And Gage, if anyone ends up shooting Hunter, it's gonna be me."

* * *

Maggie knew it was a mistake the second she hung up with Charles Wicksmith. She'd accepted the date he'd invited her to on a voicemail two weeks ago. She'd never called him back, but she thought she had to have a date with someone else before she knew how she felt for sure about Hunter.

If the strange feeling she had when she talked to him didn't tell her, her gut screaming at her to leave the dinner immediately sure did. Charles had come off as kind, confident, and intelligent when they'd met.

If this dinner had taught her anything, it was that he was a narcissist.

It had started off well enough. Charles was in his late twenties, clean cut with perfectly cut professional hair, and was wearing a suit. He took her to Port, a very nice restaurant that Ryker Faulkner favored quite often. They started off with polite chit-chat as they got to know each other. He enjoyed those tough-man competitions where they ran through fields and mud. He'd gone to an Ivy League college. He recently bought his first condo in one of the new upper-class modern developments that overlooked the water. He was a private banker for the large bank in town and felt free to tell her how much money he made. He worked with a lot of wealthy people and he loved to name-drop. Maggie was the opposite. She didn't like to talk about money, and certainly not about other people's money.

Then Charles had ordered his third gin in thirty minutes. The veneer of politeness fell away with each sip he took.

"I bet you feel stupid now," Charles said before taking another sip of his gin.

Honestly, Maggie had zoned out when he discussed his 401K and had a moment of panic being thrust back into the conversation, which had been solely about him for the past ten minutes. "How so?"

"For taking so long to go on a date with me. Women are like that. Shallow." Charles took another sip. "All they care about is money. I open my wallet, and they open their legs."

Maggie gasped, shocked at the sheer crudity of it. This came out of nowhere and now she was done. Maggie set her napkin down on the table, thankful that she drove herself to dinner, and stood up.

"Hey, where are you going?" Charles demanded.

"I'm sorry, I don't think this is going to work." Maggie placed a fifty on the table, feeling sorry that she'd already ordered her meal and didn't want the staff to get stiffed.

"No one walks out on Charles Wicksmith," he hissed. "What? Is my investment portfolio not big enough to get your panties wet?"

Maggie wanted to rage. She wanted to throw his gin in his face. But, she was a woman. Sadly, her first reaction was to say she was sorry again and try to avoid creating a scene or she might be labeled problematic. "No. I just need to leave. Goodbye."

Charles smirked and tossed back his drink. "I see what this is."

Maggie didn't stick around to ask what he meant. She hurried from the restaurant and didn't breathe until the door closed behind her.

Mumbling to herself about stupid men, Maggie walked through the lamp-lit parking lot to her car. She was reaching for the handle when she heard it. The footsteps were closer than she realized. Charles had somehow silently followed her.

Maggie whirled around to find him smirking no more than a couple feet from her. "I got your message," he said, his words slurring.

"What message?"

"In a hurry to get out of there so we could screw. Good thing you're wearing that skirt."

Maggie wanted to argue, but he was there, shoving her back against her car. Fear rocketed through every inch of her body. However, she wasn't one to freeze. Her weapons class at church taught her that.

"No. Don't touch me!" Maggie placed her hands on his chest and shoved. Charles stumbled back, but it wasn't far enough.

Charles grabbed her wrist as he stumbled, yanking her with him. "Yeah, fight me. Make the chase worth it. They all say no when they really mean yes. Do you know how I know? They all beg for more."

His grip tightened on her wrist to the point that Maggie flinched. "This girl is saying no and will never beg you for anything. Now, let go of me or I'll be forced to defend myself."

Maggie might be dressed in a frilly pink dress, but Hunter had underestimated her and now Charles had. She was tired of being underestimated.

Charles yanked her hard. Her shoulder protested as her body was pulled against his. Charles crashed his mouth against hers. His tongue demanded entrance, so Maggie gave it to him. Right before she snapped her mouth shut and bit his tongue, at the same time slamming her knee into his balls.

Charles yelped and fell back, cursing, while he grabbed his balls. Maggie yanked her wrist free from his now limp grasp. She tightened her hand into a fist and punched Charles in the face as hard as she could. Charles went down. He didn't know what to hold—his mouth, his balls, or his cheek.

"Don't ever touch a woman without her permission again. When a woman says no, she means it." Maggie gave him one more swift kick to his torso before leaping into her car. "Freaking men."

Maggie drove straight to the police station. Sure, she could have let it go, but one thing she learned growing up in a small town was accountability. If she did something wrong, by the time she made it home, everyone had called her parents and told them what she'd done. At the time, she hated it, but now she realized what it was. It was a village raising the children to be well-mannered and accountable for their actions. Miss Winnie and Miss Ruby weren't here to dole out punishments to Charles, so Maggie did the next best thing.

"I'd like to file a report," Maggie told the officer sitting behind the desk at the local police station.

"Aw, crap," a man in a rumpled and ill-fitted suit cursed as he walked through the lobby. "You're one of them."

"One of who?" Maggie asked.

"Olivia Townsend's neighbors. I'm starting to think I know everyone in Shadows Landing. What happened now and do I have to deal with Olivia? Or can I go to bed?"

"I'm Magnum Bell and a date tried to force himself on me tonight. I don't want it happening to someone else."

The man frowned, his eyes going down to her wrist and then locking on her face. "Is that your blood?"

Maggie touched her face and shook her head. "I bit his tongue when he shoved it in my mouth."

"Yup, you're one of Olivia's. I'm Detective Chambers. I got this one," he told the desk officer.

Thirty minutes later, Charles Wicksmith was in jail. Detective Chambers picked him up at a bar as he was being thrown out for harassing a waitress.

"He'll spend the night in jail and I'll talk to the prosecutor. Someone will call you in the morning, but my guess is he'll plead out faster than a cat on a hot tin roof." He handed Maggie his card. "Call me if he bothers you again. And Miss Bell? Good job tonight. You did everything right."

"Can you tell Hunter Townsend that?" Maggie muttered, not intending for the exhausted looking detective to hear her.

"I guess I'm not the only one with a Townsend problem," Detective Chambers said with a grin that looked out of place on his normally glum face. "Maybe we should start a club?"

Maggie surprised the detective by suddenly hugging him. "Thank you, detective. You're a good one."

It took longer than Maggie wanted to finally climb into bed that night. She had to fill in her family and soothe their worries, and, to add insult to injury, freaking Hunter Townsend wouldn't get out of her mind.