Page 4 of Back To Our Beginning

“Hand me your phone, Maddie,” he ordered.

“Why in the hell should I?”

“Please?”

I wavered.

“I said the magic word.” He smiled. Shit, it was the Beau smile I remembered. All teasing and coaxing.

I reluctantly pulled my phone out of my jacket pocket and handed it to him.

“What’s your passcode?” he demanded.

I ripped my phone out of his hand, turned away from him, and keyed in my six-digit passcode. He was grinning when I turned back to him and slammed the phone in his hand. He keyed something into my phone and I heard a ring. It came from his back pocket.

“There, now I have your number, and you have mine.”

“Gee, I feel so special.” I yanked my phone out of his hand again. This time, I shoved it back into my jacket pocket.

I gave a little wave to Kai and didn’t look at Beau as I hustled my way back to Michael and Fallon. I needed a drink. A double. I deserved it. I had successfully confronted my past, and it was finally a closed subject. I could move on.

“You, okay?” Fallon asked, as I slipped in beside her.

“I’m fine.” My phone beeped with an incoming text, so I grabbed it in case it was from one of my sisters or one of my cases.

UNKNOWN:What time should I pick you up tomorrow night?

I stared down at my phone in disbelief. The absolute audacity of that man.

“Is there a problem?” Michael asked.

I shook my head and continued to stare down at my phone as another message came in.

UNKNOWN:I see you looking at your phone. If you won’t answer, then I’ll pick you up at seven.

MADDIE:Am I supposed to be impressed that you know where I live, since you couldn’t be bothered to stop by any sooner? So, no. Don’t bother showing up. I won’t answer the door.

UNKNOWN:A Marine Raider never abandons a mission. I’ll see you at seven.

MADDIE:Do what you need to do

“Maddie? Everything okay?” Fallon asked again.

“Everything’s fine now,” I assured my friend. “And everything’s going to be much better when I have a twenty-four-ounce beer in front of me.”

Michael laughed.

Well, at least I fooled him. But Beau? He probably thought I’d won that round. But my hands were still shaking, and deep down, I knew the truth.

I hadn’t won a damn thing.

I’d just kicked a hornet’s nest, and the sting was coming.

* * *

I paced my living room. Usually it felt a lot bigger, but tonight it felt tiny. I felt trapped. I looked down at my smart watch. Twenty minutes to seven. Glancing over at my dining room table, I saw my laptop open with bills and piles of paperwork from work scattered around. Normally, I would have tidied that up, but I wasn’t going to go to any extra effort for Beau. Nope, I didn’t want him to think he was getting any special treatment.

I slid my hand down my curly hair and winced. The elixir I had put in to make my curls bouncy seemed to have lost its effect. I hustled to the bathroom and checked it out. I sprayed some more on my hair and applied another coat of pink lip gloss while I was at it. But it wasn’t for Beau, it was for me. Sometimes I just liked to look nice when I was spending time at home.