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The Pump was in full swing by the time Maddox strode through the double iron gates, the dungeon-like entrance a distinct feature of the bar. Fitting, because the place was once the town jail, and when the owner, Caleb Duncan, bought the dwelling, he salvaged as much of the original structure as he could. Raised in a family of Irish drinkers and a recovering alcoholic himself, he deemed every bar a jail. Go figure why he'd ever want to work in one. Though there is something to be said about facing your issues head on.
Maddox immediately tagged his team through the crowd, three of them sitting at a back table with a girl perched on each of their knees. A battalion of drink glasses and beer bottles, all at various levels of consumption, littered the table along with empty baskets of wings and fries and other pub fare.
"Yo!" John 'Arrow' Avery, a sniper on the mend from a leg injury, signaled Maddox through the crush of bodies. " Take these!"
Maddox nodded as Arrow stood up and gestured at the open seats. Two of the girls, definitely twins, and all smiles and giggles, clung to each of his biceps. Arrow herded the girls through a cluster of beer drinkers, all of them cheering and cursing at the ball game on the big screen. They wouldn't see that ol'hound dog until Monday morning when he came up for air.
Maddox scanned the vibrating crowd before he headed to the back tables. He tagged Tori at the bar, holding court in some kind of animated chat with the bartenders, her bare arms wild and pointing before she threw her head back and laughed so loud, he heard her above the wailing fiddles. He flicked his gaze over the rest of the people crowded around the line of bar stools. Most of them were off-duty personnel, flirting co-eds, or tired locals trying to get a drink and unwind before going home. Finally, he caught a glimpse of Evie, her curly hair flying as she scurried in the direction of the washrooms near the side exits. Her ex-boyfriend, Angus, the asshole, collided with the bathroom door when she let it slam shut in his face.
Fucking idiot.
Maddox watched the other man, dressed head to toe in sports fan regalia, as he banged his fist on the women's bathroom door, then paced back and forth before giving up and shoving into the men's room.
Where does she find these dicks?
Maddox headed in the direction of the washrooms, his eyes moving between the ladies' and men's room doors.
"Hey there, Maddox!" A knot pulled in his stomach at the boisterous drawl that came from his six." Haven't seen you in here yet." He frowned down when a hand wrapped around his forearm, fingernails painted a desperate shade of red. He looked over Angie Bird's tired, midlife crisis body planted in front of him. Just great. She was the last person he wanted to get sucked into talking to tonight.
"At least not since I started." She smiled like the Grinch. "What can I get ya?" She nodded at her beer tray.
"Whatever's on tap."
"I'm on tap." She shook her mess of badly colored hair out of her face. "So, you hear I'm single again?" Her hopeful features shone like a 3D map of crevices that years of hard drinking and smoking, not to mention backseat fucking, had carved into her sagging skin.
"I've been hearing all kinds of things about you, Angie—even from the dogs."
"You know it." She winked her fake lashes at him and leaned closer. "Anytime you want to try out my kitty doggie-style, I'll give ya a real treat."
"No thanks. I'm taken." He looked toward the ladies' room.
She waved a hand. "Ah, that don't bother me none."
He stepped around her but stopped short when a pair of steady eyes caught his attention through the wave of people. Fuck. Evie. He tried to hold her accusing glare, but she flicked her eyes from him to Angie, then turned and headed in the other direction, back through the tables toward the bar. It was no secret she hated Angie, and not without good reason from what he'd heard. Just his bad luck for her to see him talking to that bar tramp. Why any man would reach past Evie to grab that cheap piece of ass was a mystery. Maddox watched Angus stumble out of the men's room, still yanking up his zipper. A moment later, Angie slid past him and tugged him inside.
"Maddox!" Tori's blonde curls bobbed up over the crowd as she jumped on top of her bar stool and waved. "Stay right there!" She pointed at him, then grabbed Evie's hand and weaved them both through the people line dancing around the tables.
He kept his eyes on Evie, though she purposely avoided looking at him.
"You made it!" Tori clapped him on the shoulder, then held on to steady herself. She looked back at Evie." Told you he'd come. She didn't think you would, but here you are."
"Here I am." He focused on Evie until she met his level stare. She didn't say a word, just looked sideways to where Angie leaned over Angus's table, giving her boobs a shake as she set down the tray of beer for him and his buddies. Evie looked back at him with an accusing raised eyebrow.
"Come on, guys." Tori heaved a sigh and looked between the two of them. "All this foreplay and neither of you pull the trigger. Go dance or hump or something —Oh! Over here!" She clutched Maddox's arm and waved frantically at the bartender, who looked through the crowd while setting down two drinks. "We gotta go get those before someone steals them ... or spikes them."
Evie put a hand on her bouncing friend's shoulder. "I'll go. You stay." She disappeared back into the crowd with such lightning speed that Maddox was sure he saw movement streaks behind her. He watched the neat bounce to her hips as she walked.
Tori rolled her eyes." Are you always this slow with women?"
He watched Evie strategically avoid her ex's boisterous table, moving in time to the line dancers, keeping pace on the other side of them until she arrived at the bar." Only when she's a skittish runner."
"I know, right?!" Tori bobbed her head in agreement." Girl's gotta get out there and try new shit. Stop running back to the devil she knows. I'm getting a sore arm from throwing so many real men at her, hint, hint, but she keeps u-turning to her comfort zone." She swatted Maddox's shoulder but wobbled off her high heels.
Maddox held her steady. "Don't you think you've had enough tonight?"
"Not nearly enough. I've been waitin' for—Hey, Georgeman!" Maddox jumped back as she waved both her arms like a veteran aircraft marshal.
"Blondie." Georgeman muscled through the crowd and grabbed up Tori and swung her around. The air burst with her squeals of delight.
Georgeman nudged Maddox with Tori's laughing body. "When my girl here said you were comin' around, the boys and I started takin' bets if it was true."
Maddox scowled at his teammate's huge grin. "You guys are dicks."
"A rich dick now, thanks to you. I'm up twenty bucks." He chuckled and used his bottle to point toward the bar." But soon as I saw her, I knew you wouldn't be far behind." He juggled Tori into the crook of his shoulder and nodded at Evie. "That boy has been sniffin' around her skirt all night, though."
Maddox looked from Georgeman to where Evie stood among to the line of waiting people, in time to see her switch her eyes from him back to some suit standing beside her. The man tossed some bills on to the tray, then handed her the drinks the bartender had set down.
"Hey, I think he just paid for our drinks!" Tori clapped her hands together and squealed. "Way to go, Evie. That's the way to do it. I don't even know that guy." She danced her way through the crowd to the bar.
"Well, hell," Georgeman shrugged. "Easy come, easy go."
"Oh, don't you worry none." Angie Bird squeezed herself through a group of people with a mug of beer on her tray. "I'm still here." She thrust both the beer and her tits toward Georgeman. "Need these?"
Maddox watched her lick her lips before she bent to tie her shoe, giving them both an eyeful of her wrinkled cleavage. "I'm out." He sauntered to the back of the bar and took a seat with the rest of his team before ordering a whiskey neat from a passing waitress.
A moment later, Georgeman dropped into an open chair beside him, drinking the mug of beer from Angie's tray. "Free beer," he shrugged.
"You got no shame." Maddox solemnly drank his whiskey.
"Nope. Not in this place on a Friday night." Georgeman leaned back in his seat and happily drank his free booze.
Two hours later, Maddox had completely lost patience with Evie's evasion maneuvers. Clearly, she held Angie's advances against him. From his vantage point at the back of the bar, he'd tracked her travels to and from the drink counter, the dance floor to line dance, and several detours to the bathroom before sliding past one of the three men posturing and jockeying for her attention. Tori was no help, constantly offering her more alcohol and other men. Evie chased every drink Tori pushed at her with a glass of water and cleverly sidestepped the men.
Though Maddox watched her smile up at one of the more persistent suits from earlier, she wasn't dodging this one so easily. Maddox narrowed his eyes as Evie smiled politely, then struggled away when the suit tried to pull her down onto his lap as he sat down on his bar stool.
Maddox tossed back the rest of his whiskey and stood.
"Headin' out?" Georgeman looked around the massive pair of boobs on the blonde sitting in his lap. She was the second one he'd acquired over the last hour.
Maddox nodded and dropped some money on the table to cover his tab. His eyes never left Evie and the man trying to ogle her. "See ya Monday."
"Good luck." Georgeman chuckled, then went back to his newest conquest.
Maddox headed into the thinning crowd of people. Most had left in twos and threes as the night wore on or retreated to the tables in the darker corners at the back. Tori was still living it up with the bartenders, not noticing that Evie had slipped away, that asshole Angus taking full advantage and stayed on her six.
Maddox strode around the couples, swaying and grinding between the tables as Evie walked toward him, her head down as she tapped on her cell phone.
"So," he planted himself directly in front of her. "You finally ready to let me take you out of here?"
She looked up; her face flushed with surprise before she narrowed her gaze. "Think you're asking the wrong girl. Angie's over there." She clutched the phone tightly in her palm.
"Kitten, I know exactly who I'm askin'."
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I haven't had enough drinks to believe that BS. Try that line on someone else tonight." She glanced down at her phone when it rang and lit up.
"Claws in, you know you're the only one I take home from bars." Her chin snapped up, and he held her stare.
She opened her mouth, but her phone lit up again, this time without a ring tone.
"Do you need to get that?"
"No, it's just ah—nothing."
"Nothing?" He looked pointedly at the phone when it lit up again.
"Yes, I was just..." she let out a long breath as Angus stepped between them, slamming a hand on Maddox's shoulder before swaying into Evie's face.
"Not so fast, Missy. You're not leavin' here without givin' me my money." He belched undigested alcohol into the air.
Maddox looked at Angus's hand on his arm and debated between breaking it at the wrist or the elbow.
"Back off, soldier boy." He pointed a finger into Maddox's chest. "This is between me an' her." He leaned further into Evie and belched again. "Right, Babe?"
She reared back and pinched her nose. "My God, Angus, did you leave anything in the bottle?"
Angus belched and leered into Evie again. Maddox gripped the finger in his chest, then twisted the whole arm before casually tossing the entire body across the peanut shell-encrusted floor.
"What the fuck!" Angus screamed as he slid on his stomach, arms and legs flailing through a pile of peanut shells.
"Oh my God!" Evie jumped when Angus's head stopped short against the bar. "You killed him." She jumped forward, but Maddox wrapped an arm around her waist and hoisted her against his chest.
"He's fine."
Georgeman and the rest of his team were suddenly beside and behind him.
"You jerk!" Angie flew past them all, going down onto her knees beside Angus's heap of useless limbs. "Are you okay? Oh, shit; is my Baby, okay? Talk to me." She wrapped his head in her hands then gingerly placed it in her lap.
"She fuckin' owes me," Angus moaned and rolled over, his hand flopping around for Angie's. "That bitch owes me."
"Maybe we should call 911." Evie looked back at Maddox, her eyes wide and blinking like a panicked owl.
Maddox leaned over the bar and spoke to the bartender before he reached back for Evie and herded her out of the building. He didn't stop moving until they reached her truck, where he crowded her against the driver side door and caged her in with his palms laid flat against the roof.
"Now—" He leaned down, but she looked over her shoulder, back at the bar.
"He's going to come after you, you know. He's like that, all about petty revenge." Her brow creased in extreme worry. "He'll sue you, me, the school, the Navy."
"Evie, focus." He snapped his fingers under her nose.
She turned back. "You have no idea how big a baby he can be. I slapped him in the back of the head once, and he still accuses me of violently attacking and abusing him."
"I'm sure whatever you did, he had it coming." He leaned down, so he looked directly into her worried eyes. "Fuck worrying about him. Worry about me."
"I am... worried about you." She visibly swallowed and stared up at him. "Angus is vindictive."
Satisfied, he straightened to his full height. "Why are you giving that loser money?"
Her eyes widened. "Money?"
"Ya. He said you owe him, and I saw your screen." He nodded at the phone still clutched in her hand. "It's opened to a bank transfer."
"Oh," she looked down at her cell. "He left some DVDs at my house, and I threw them out. It's easier to just pay him than deal with his bullshit."
Maddox shook his head. "Of all the fucking idiots I've seen you with. That one is the worst."
She blinked and recoiled, then raised her chin. "He wasn't always like this."
"Ya, I think he was."
She sighed and shook her head. "I knew it was a mistake coming here. This place is such bad luck for me." She swayed forward and banged her forehead against his chest.
He put a hand in her soft hair. "You got smart putting him in your rearview. Now you just need to drive away."
"Good advice." She blew out a breath. "Thank you, though, for coming to my rescue. Again. You guys really take your oath to protect and serve seriously, huh?"
"That's the police force. We're, the only easy day was yesterday."
"Interesting. Teachers should adopt that one."
"And you should always have someone at your six."
"I do. I have Tori."
"Someone besides another ninety-pound girl."
She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "You really are old fashioned. Are you trying to say that I need a man about the house?"
He lifted her chin with his finger. "Oh, you need a man alright, but not one about the house. You need one who's all about you." He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers before either one of them could think better of it.
She stood stock-still for a long moment while he kissed her, and just when he started to worry he'd moved too fast, she curled her hands into his chest and kissed him back. Heat sparked through his gut as she slid her hands around his neck and pressed herself into him with a soft sigh. Pure, unadulterated lust fired down his abs and settled into his balls. His body throbbed for more.
He pressed himself into her apex and groaned when she pushed her hips and breasts to him in receipt. "Kitten," he stroked his tongue against hers, testing for a reaction. When she sighed and chased his tongue with her own, he nudged her against the truck and ground his hips into hers, loving the way she swayed against his body and mewled into his mouth.
Fuck, his nuts were on fire, but reaching down to rip open his zipper was out of the question right now, so he kept humping her against the door. He didn't know how long they stood there, dry fucking against the vehicle, but he couldn't stop himself, completely eating at her mouth with her lips as hot and needy beneath his.
Before the friction between them ignited a three-alarm fire, or he pushed her into the back seat and screwed her senseless until the sun came up, he gripped the truck's roof railing and reluctantly lifted his head. "I have to get back in there to take care of that guy, once and for all."
Evie slowly opened her eyes and stared at him with blissful confusion. "Wh—what?"
He smiled when she held on to the back of his neck and pulled him forward, bringing their lips together again. He happily indulged her new hot kiss and reveled in the surge of heat that rolled through his groin. He leaned in as she stroked the base of his hairline with her soft fingers, the gentle delicate sensation firing his mind into a carnal oblivion all over again. She could ask him to do anything right now and he'd do it. No questions asked.
With a sigh, she pulled back slowly and spoke against his mouth. "Didn't you just tell me to forget about Angus? He's a bad loser that likes petty revenge."
"Oh, he's a loser alright, and I'm going back in there to make sure he knows that he's lost you for good this time." Maddox rested his forehead against hers. He leaned down and wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted her away from the truck door as he opened it. "What's your cell number?"
She swayed on her feet as she recited it to him with a dreamy look on her face. He punched it into his phone then sent her a text." I want you to call me if he gives you any shit about tonight."
She looked down at her phone when it lit up with his text. "But... wait." She held onto his arm. "Please don't do anything crazy. Promise me you won't confront him again."
He helped her into the truck's cab and closed her door. "I don't make promises I don't intend to keep. Go straight home." He tapped on the window then turned and headed back into the bar.
******
