Twice the Malone by Laylah Roberts

10

Scarlett stared at her phone for the umpteenth time.

It had taken her three days to work up the courage to text him. She stared down at the message she’d sent. Should she have put something else? Something more personal?

Scarlett:Beau, it’s Scarlett. I just wanted to say I didn’t know you guys had anything to do with my boss that night. And I’m sorry things ended the way they did.

Maybe she should have toldhim how much that night meant. But no, her pride wouldn’t allow that. And considering he hadn’t answered, her instinct was obviously right. She didn’t need to make more of a fool of herself.

Maddox’s words still stung. They were like needles digging their way under her skin and settling in deep.

She took a breath in, let it out slowly. Since coming back to Chicago, she’d felt out of sorts. Like her world had been tilted on its axis and she didn’t know right from wrong anymore. She stared down at the salad she’d brought for lunch with indifference. She didn’t seem to have much interest in anything anymore.

Her phone buzzed with a text, and her heart skipped a beat. She dropped it clumsily then snatched it back up, cursing the crack that had appeared in her screen protector.

When she saw the text was from Margo, disappointment settled inside her.

Margo:This weekend. You and me. Night out.

All she’d toldMargo was that the cowboys had snuck out without saying goodbye. For some reason, she didn’t want to tell her about her boss.

Maybe because you’re worried Maddox is right, and he’s shady as fuck?

“Scarlett! There you are! What are you doing in here?” Richard demanded.

“Um, eating my lunch.” Or not eating her lunch more accurately.

“We don’t have time for that. We need to get across town now. Come on, won’t hurt you to skip a meal.”

Ouch. How had she not noticed what a complete asshole he was? It was like her mind had been awakened after a night with the Malone twins. The rose-colored glasses were off, and it painted Richard in a whole different light.

Maybe it was time to look for a new job.

* * *

“I can’t believeit’s taken you a week to get another phone,” Tanner griped at Beau as they walked out of the shop.

“Alec has been riding my ass since the other night. And it’s not like I could drive myself with this.” He tapped at the cast on his foot with a crutch, nearly upending himself.

“Still can’t believe you broke your foot.” Tanner shook his head.

“I didn’t break it. I just cracked a small bone in it.”

“Same thing, asshole.”

He hadn’t been thinking properly that night. The night he realized Snow was gone. That she’d betrayed them. He’d gotten shitfaced with Tanner. Then he’d kicked a wall. Yep. That’s how he broke his foot. Not his brightest moment. He was starting to think that Alec was right.

Maybe it was time to grow up.

He was an uncle now. He didn’t want Seb growing up to be like him. A complete idiot.

“Do you think all of the messages I’ve missed will come through?”

“Dunno, depends on how long the carrier keeps them for,” Tanner replied. “Sad to miss all those texts from hot girls, huh?

Yeah. That wasn’t it at all.

There was only one girl he wanted to hear from. Fuck, he wondered if she was all right.

He couldn’t help it. Even though Maddox was certain she’d been using them, Beau had his doubts. She’d been so unsure of herself, so sweet and self-conscious. If that was all an act, then it was a good one.

Maybe he should find her. Perhaps he could go to the city and just check on her. Maddox would kill him, but he didn’t have to know. Things just weren’t adding up for Beau.

Of course, he’d have to wait for this cast to come off. This is what he got for being a damn hot head.

* * *

Scarlett feltlike she was going to vomit.

“Come on, Scar. You haven’t been in a few weeks this will be good for you.” Margo prodded her into the building where their weekly Pilates session was held. She hadn’t been for a month. Because she’d been in a dark place, she hadn’t felt like doing anything. Not since she’d come back from that disastrous business trip.

Margo had laid a guilt trip on her yesterday, saying she’d barely seen her. So, she’d given in and said she’d come today.

Now she was regretting it. Lately, she’d barely been able to hold down her food. She’d lost weight. She’d hopped on the scales last night. Ten pounds in just over four weeks. That never happened.

“Sorry, I’m feeling a bit off.”

“You’re always feeling off lately. Those cowboy assholes didn’t give you an STD, did they?”

Scar looked around the room in embarrassment as people gaped back at her. Margo didn’t have a quiet or off button. She just blurted out what she thought, which could be funny or embarrassing, depending on the context.

“No, they did not,” she said firmly, wanting this conversation to be over with. Yikes.

Although they had left her with something worse. Longing. Regret. Self-doubt. And worry. Worry that they were right about Richard, and she was working for someone with questionable tactics and practices.

She really needed to start looking for a new job.

The instructor came in then and started the class. The first five minutes went fine. She was able to ignore her queasiness. But as she came out from one pose then went to stand, the world around her started to sway. Sweat broke out across her skin as nausea bubbled in her stomach.

Then everything went black.

* * *

“Here, let me help you.”

She groaned as Margo grabbed her arm, swinging it over her shoulders. Margo was five feet nothing and a strong wind would knock her over.

“I told you, I’m fine. The blood just rushed from my head when I stood up too fast.”

“Dude, you went down like a sack of potatoes. Boom!”

“Thanks for the visual.”

“Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything embarrassing while you were out.”

“Oh my God, I wasn’t even worried about that before.”

“But you didn’t, so you don’t have to worry,” Margo told her as she helped her out of the elevator onto her floor. They moved to her apartment door slowly.

She loved this apartment. It had plenty of cafés and shops close by and was only a twenty-minute ride on the train to work.

Opening the door, though, it didn’t give her the same sense of home it used to.

“You sit down, I’m going to get you some water and maybe something to eat. I don’t know what diet you’re on but maybe you need to up the calorie intake.”

“I’m not on a diet. I feel queasy. I don’t feel like eating. All I want to do is sleep.”

Except she hadn’t been sleeping well lately, her dreams filled with two sexy cowboys. Only, the dreams started off sexy and ended with Maddox staring at her coldly and calling her a whore, a bitch, telling her she wasn’t good enough for them.

He never said those things, of course. But her brain had warped what he had said.

“Scar! Scar!”

She looked up to find Margo standing over her, staring down at her in concern. She handed her a bottle of water. “Oh, sorry. Zoned out.”

“You do that a lot.”

“I know.” She remembered how Beau and Maddox had brought her back to reality.

Stop thinking about them.

“Maybe you should go to the doctor. I’m worried about you. You’re not eating, not sleeping, and you just fainted. That’s not normal for you.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“Something more happened than those two assholes walking out on you without saying goodbye, didn’t it?”

“They’re not assholes and yeah.”

“Okay, spill.”

Scarlett knew she couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. So, she told Margo everything between sips of water.

“Wow.” Margo just stared at her. “That’s one hell of a coincidence, you ending up in bed with a guy that bought some land out from under your boss.”

“I know.”

“You don’t think he was telling the truth about Richard?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been seeing Richard in a whole new light.”

“About time, the guy’s a jerk. You put him on a pedestal, and he doesn’t deserve it. So, what are you going to do now?”

“Um, nothing? Maybe find a new job.”

“You’re just going to let them think that you fucked them so you could get info for your boss?”

She winced at those words. They made her sound awful.

“That Maddox has some nerve accusing you of that. What a jerk.”

“I can see why he thought it.”

“But he wasn’t even on Richard’s radar, right? He didn’t know Maddox bought that land.”

“He didn’t know he’d bought the land. But he had been complaining about a guy trying to block him, whom I’m guessing was Maddox.”

“But he never told you his name?”

“No. But Maddox didn’t know that.”

“Fuck.”

Exactly.

“Well, maybe you could prove your innocence by becoming a double agent.”

“Um, what?”

“Get information on Richard for Maddox.”

She gaped at the other woman. “I can’t do that!”

“Why not? If he’s guilty of what Maddox said, then maybe there’s some proof in his office. Get it, take it to Maddox and voila!”

“Voila?”

“Yeah, you end back up in a cowboy sandwich. Hmm, I wouldn’t mind being the meat in a cowboy sandwich,” she said wistfully.

“Margo!”

“What? I’m jealous is all.”

“What makes you think I’m interested in being that meat again?”

Ew, did I just say that?

Margo shot her a look. “Don’t try to kid me. I know you, the reason you’re so upset is that you liked these guys. You just have to figure out if you like them enough to fight for them.”

* * *

Maddox staredinto the glass of scotch.

“Much as you might hope otherwise, it doesn’t hold the answer to all your problems,” a raspy voice told him.

He looked over the bar at Patty. He huffed out a breath. “Didn’t think it did.”

“Not that I’m complaining or anything, but you’ve been here a lot lately.”

He grunted.

“I’ll take that as my cue to leave you alone.” Her gaze went over his shoulder. “Alec. Don’t see you here much.”

“Been busy.”

“I heard. Congrats on your boy.” She shuffled away and his oldest brother sat.

“What do you want?” Maddox snarled.

“Haven’t seen your moody ass in a while.”

“So, you came looking for me? Heard of a phone?” Maddox asked.

“I have, and yours is off. What’s going on? This over that girl you and Beau were with a while ago?”

Maddox stiffened.

Scarlett wasn’t a girl. She was all woman. Gorgeous, sweet, and submissive. Or so he’d thought.

“She means nothing.”

“Yeah? That why you’re here? Drowning your sorrows.”

“I’m here because I wanted a drink. Alone.”

Alec sighed, leaning his elbows on the bar. “You know what I’ve learned over the years?”

“Nope, but I’ll pay you five hundred dollars not to tell me.”

Alec sighed. “Why the fuck do I keep trying with you assholes?”

“Dunno. You’re a slow learner?”

“Maddox, life is too short to be bitter and twisted. And it’s way too fucking short to be without the people you love.”

“That’s it?”

“I know that girl meant more than you’re trying to let on.”

“Oh, yeah? You psychic now? She was a one-night stand.”

“We both know that’s not true. If you want her, go find her. Don’t let some past bad experience stop you from being happy.”

“She’s a liar. She pretended not to know who I was. She slept with me for information.”

“If she’s guilty of all that, then why are you here wishing that you weren’t? Why is Beau walking around with a face like someone shot his dog? Did you give her a chance to explain?”

His jaw tightened.

“Course you didn’t. Because you’re a pig-headed Malone. Maybe you and Beau need to talk to this girl. Hear her side. Then the two of you can move on.”

Alec left before he could reply. But he was wrong. And Maddox wasn’t going near Scarlett.

Because if he did, he was very afraid he’d scoop her over his shoulder and carry her home.

* * *

“Hey, Charlie,”she greeted the evening security guard at the Stanson building.

“Scarlett, what are you doing back here?”

“I left my phone. I’m so forgetful at the moment.” And her queasy stomach and light-headedness weren’t getting any better. In fact, they were only getting worse. “Can I go on up?”

“Sure thing. The boss is in the office, but no one else is around.”

Damn it, she really didn’t feel like seeing Richard right now. He was part of the reason she’d left without her phone. He’d asked her to work late, and she’d been in a rush to catch the train before the weather broke.

Now, she was going to have to take an Uber home.

When she got to her office, she opened the drawer, pulling out her phone. Then she tiptoed back across the room.

“You must have found something on him!” Richard’s voice broke through the gap in the door and for some reason she froze. He sounded agitated.

“I don’t care how rich his family is, I want dirt on him. I want to make sure he knows crossing me isn’t something I will tolerate. Why the fuck did he even want that land?”

Is he talking about Maddox?

“Get me something to use on this asshole or you’re fired.”

She made herself move away from the door. She didn’t know for sure he was talking about Maddox, but she was scared he might be.

What should she do? Beau hadn’t answered any of her texts. Should she call him? But would he answer? Would he listen to her? Especially when she didn’t know that Richard was talking about Maddox.

After she got home and had taken a hot shower to warm herself up after getting caught in a downpour between the Uber and her apartment building, she grabbed her phone. She sat and stared at it, indecision plaguing her.

The buzzer to her apartment rang before she could figure out what to do. Knowing it would be Margo, since she was bringing over dinner, she let her up.

“It’s so wet out there.”

“We could have had a raincheck,” she told her as she took the Chinese food from her, setting it down on the table.

“No way, missy. You need to eat. Jesus, Scar, have you lost more weight?”

She shrugged, even knowing she had. None of her clothes fit. “I just don’t feel great. All the time.”

“You need to go to the doctor.”

“You know I hate doctors.” She’d had a bad experience with them as a kid when her parents had died.

“You’re going to make an appointment and go,” Margo said sternly. “Or you’ll waste away to nothing.”

“Not like I can’t afford to lose a few pounds.” She tried to make her voice sound teasing, but Margo didn’t look impressed.

And her ass tightened as she remembered how Maddox would’ve reacted if she’d said that in front of him. She wouldn’t be sitting comfortably.

No use thinking of him.

“I can’t believe that dick made you stay late. I hope you told him you need overtime pay.”

Of course she hadn’t. And Margo knew that.

Margo sighed.

“Something interesting happened, though. I left my phone and then snuck back into the office to snoop around, but Richard was in there. I heard him on the phone, talking to someone.” She recounted what she’d heard.

Margo paused, a forkful of food halfway to her lips. “You think he was talking about Mr. Broody Moody.”

She’d started calling Maddox that, while Beau was Mr. Happy Chappy.

“I think he might have been.” She pushed the food around on her plate, just the smell of it was making her stomach roll over. “Do you think I should try calling Beau to tell him?”

Margo wrinkled her nose. “He probably won’t answer.”

“I think I need to do some snooping. I need to find out what’s going on.” She didn’t want anything to happen to Maddox, even if she was upset with him.

She managed to eat a couple of spoonfuls of chicken fried rice before the nausea kicked in and had her jumping from her seat and racing into the bathroom.

She slammed onto her knees, knowing she’d be bruised from that later, and leaned over the toilet, vomiting up everything she’d eaten that day. Which wasn’t much.

When she was finished, she flushed and sat back against the bathroom wall. A glass of water appeared in front of her, and she looked up into Margo’s concerned face.

“Scar?”

“Yeah,” she rasped before taking a few sips of water.

“Is there any possibility you’re pregnant?”