Redeeming Justice (39 page)

And with that she pirouetted gracefully, did a complete one eighty, and swept from
the room.

Alex was pretty sure Meghan’s parting shot, the implied
fuck you
, would be her final word for the day. But he discovered that wouldn’t be the case,
not that he’d be that lucky, when she appeared at the dinner table with that traitor
Zeus at her side once again.

Matter of fact, the entire cast of Family Justice, except for Brody who he’d already
fucked with, had starring roles. Cam and Lacey were on hand as were Drae and Tori
along with their rambunctious pup Raven who was making Zeus crazy. Betty appeared
with Gus who was actively sharking around Carmen, and eventually Ben showed up with
Ria in tow.
Oh joy
, he thought. The gang was all here.

For the first time in his life, Alex Marquez felt like the odd man out. The point
was driven home with cruel precision when he appeared in the arched doorway and everyone
turned and looked at him. The entire crew,
his
entire crew, was gathered around Meghan. She was like the sun, and they were planets,
swirling in her gravitational pull. Alex was churning internally. He needed everything
to be the way it had always been. It was the only way he could cling to his illusion
of power and remain in control. From the moment she appeared on his doorstep, he had
been slowly losing the carefully maintained checks and balances he relied on.

The meal had been a miserable farce. He presided over a table divided, and it was
killing him. Alex felt damned. In a rare moment, he let his guard down and said the
first thing dumb-ass thought that came to his mind, regardless of how callous and
mean-spirited his words sounded. He didn’t doubt for a second that he was going to
hell for his rude behavior.
Fuck
. If his mother or sisters had been there, he’d really have been in deep shit.

Settling back in his chair, he propped his feet out straight beneath the table and
appeared to all the world, relaxed. Looking round the table he met everyone’s gaze
then turned to Meghan last and said, “So, Meghan. What’s left on the bucket list?
Is there anything else you’d like to check off before you go on your way?”

Until then, he’d never really considered what that expression,
hearing crickets
, meant. He knew now. The room became silent and the air so heavy that he swore everything
downshifted into slow motion. Drae and Cam looked at him with faces frozen in absolute
astonishment at the unforgivable lack of decorum he’d just subjected them to. In his
mind’s eye, he envisioned the ceremonial passing of the ass hat award to him from
both men.

For her part, Meghan sat completely still with no outward show of emotion or reaction
of any sort whatsoever to the obvious dismissal he’d so boldly thrown at her in public.
There wasn’t a person present who wasn’t gaping at him with expressions that ranged
from fury to shock to disappointment.

Just when the deafening silence threatened to get ugly, she spoke. “At least I
have
a bucket list,” she began, a warning tenor in her voice. “Pity the fool who has no
dreams and only focuses on the past.” The look she gave him was dripping with false
sympathy. The same look you’d give someone who was too fucking stupid for words.

“As for your intentionally insensitive question, don’t you worry about little old
me, Major. I know when my welcome’s up. You didn’t need to embarrass your friends
like this.”

Shame washed through Alex. She’d totally put him in his place by challenging his unseemly
behavior. He’d been a coward. Afraid to face her privately for fear of losing his
strictly imposed self-restraint, he’d clung to his master of control delusions and
acted like a dick. He was shaken when she stood up and threw her napkin on to the
table near his plate. The expression on her face let him know she was going to have
her say in front of everyone, and he’d have to sit there and take it ‘cause this hellish
situation was of his own making. It didn’t help that in his mind, as she geared up
to lay into him, she looked like some fiery Celtic goddess with blazing emerald eyes
and the type of breathtaking beauty that robs men of their sense.

“You know, Major, what you’re doing here is so predictable. I expected better from
you. At least something original. Not the oldest
dude
fallback in the book.” Her contemptuous expression hit him square between the eyes.

Glancing at the women gathered who collectively looked like they were plotting his
imminent demise she went for the gold. “C’mon ladies, you know what I’m talking about,
right? The one where Mr. Macho gets spooked when actual feelings for a woman bite
him on the ass so he acts like a dick as though sleeping with her had been an optional
activity at summer camp.” Alex felt every single person at the table squirm at her
blunt honesty.

“I get that my being here upset your perfectly managed little apple cart but why is
that such a bad thing? Is it because shit was so great for you, before?
Pfft.
Honestly, you’re pathetic. By shutting me out you’re throwing away something that
won’t ever come around again. Good job. Now you and your superior intellect can live
happily ever after –
alone
. Hope that works out for you, asshole.” Her green eyes were shooting sparks of scorn
that Alex swore singed his skin.

He watched her walk away from him, felt a constriction in his chest and chalked it
up as the inevitable. She would have left eventually, he tried to convince himself.
Better now than later. Later when it would have killed him outright, instead of now
when it was just gutting him.

The solid, impenetrable wall of stillness that descended around him was the only thing
that kept Alex from shattering into a million pieces as every single person left behind
after her bull’s eye performance glared at him in disbelief.

Later, isolated and alone in his room, he’d had to endure the sound of one person
after another stomping past his door all evening on their way to the guest room, no
doubt to say their good-byes to the woman he’d rather dramatically pushed away.

In full martyr mode he’d gathered whatever she’d left behind from their time together,
all the lingerie, jewelry and gifts, and had them taken to her room by a scowling
Carmen. He imagined that by removing all reminders of their time together he’d have
his space back without her presence oozing from every nook and cranny.

She left the next morning. Early. Carmen went out of her way to twist the knife by
tersely informing him his guest had left behind anything and everything that he had
given her. Even the parasol. Ignoring the statement she was making he focused instead
on being petulant about her dismissal of what had been gifts.

Now that she was gone he was going to press the reset button, re-boot his life, and
slide back into familiar routines. He’d get used to being alone again. It might take
some doing, but he’d find a way to wipe her from his memory. He’d have to if he had
any hope of surviving.

There was no joy left in her extended road trip so Meghan didn’t even try to pretend
otherwise. After driving away from the Villa de Valleja-Marquez, she let an hour or
so eat up the road under her tires and then pulled over. She’d been in such a hurry
to get away from the hacienda that all she did was load her crap into the back of
her SUV and head out. No route in mind. No destination set.

Finding a gas station with a convenience store attached and a little greasy spoon
luncheonette where she stopped to get her bearings, Meghan was numb from the aftermath
of Alex’s dismissive performance. He didn’t have the balls to speak with her privately
- something that pissed her off big time. But still, she understood. He was scared.
Life change wasn’t what either of them had expected when things between them first
exploded.

But it was more than sexual attraction, she was sure of it. At least for her that
was true. But Alex got spooked and bolted. Now look at the mess they were in. Some
part of her wanted to hold out hope that he’d come to his senses but the man who treated
her like shit yesterday in front of everyone had been so intent on pushing her away
that she’d had no choice but to throw in the towel.

Wandering aimlessly through the aisles of the tiny store, she tossed all sorts of
items into her basket—candy, pastries, gum, a couple of juices for the cooler, some
ice, even a few magazines. Random supplies she’d need now that she was on the road
again. After gassing up and cleaning the windshield she pulled up a mapping app and
started entering data into the navigation system. Even with the most direct route
possible, it was still going to take a week to get home. While Meghan didn’t relish
being alone with her thoughts in a car for that long, she conceded it was probably
for the best. She’d have time to think and come up with a plausible story to tell
her family and decide what on earth she could possibly do next.

“You’re killing me Ponytail,” Cam whispered in his wife’s ear as he held her against
him in the warm lap pool. Coming quickly to the end of her pregnancy, Lacey’s back
constantly ached so they took every advantage of the relief she found by relaxing
weightless in the water.

“I can’t help it,” she mumbled quietly. “Couldn’t you have stopped him? He’s made
it that much more difficult to get her back by being such a…
sheesh
. Such a guy.”

“Believe me, if we’d known what he was going to do, one of us would have knocked him
the fuck out before those words left his mouth.”

Because the pool area was private, his gorgeously pregnant wife had donned a simple
halter-bathing top, which barely contained her ripe breasts and a pair of bikini bottoms
that rode under her huge bump leaving the sexy tummy swollen with child bared to his
eyes and hands. Cam stroked his big hands on the protruding bulge where his son or
daughter lay. He loved Lacey’s rounded belly. To him it was pretty much the sexiest
thing he’d ever seen.

“Are you so sure that getting her back is even a possibility,” he questioned anxiously.
“I know you’ve been talking to her. What’s she saying?”

When his normally chatty wife didn’t say anything, just floated silently between his
legs with her back resting on his chest, he had his answer.
Women
, he thought wryly. They certainly did stick together when it came to one of their
own.

Turning her, he settled his quiet wife on his lap, lifted her chin with his finger
and stared deep.

“Out with it, wife,” he gently drawled. Still nothing. “I can’t help if you don’t
tell me what’s going on,” he persisted.

Lacey sighed and nodded but a worried frown lingered on her face. “She’s being all
stoic, which only makes Tori and me crazy. Thinks Alex is better off without her.
Some rubbish about tortured alphas and survivor guilt.”

Wow
, Cam thought. Meghan understood their Big Daddy even better than he imagined. She
was just as bad as him though. Had he been this bloody stupid when it had been him
and Lacey hanging by a thread? Luckily, his Ponytail had refused to give up on him.
In Alex’s case though, he’d pushed the poor woman caught in the crossfire pretty far
away and her background with a family of cops and firemen meant she actually bought
into his conflicted soul bullshit. What a fucking mess.