Bad Boy's Bridesmaid (69 page)

Chapter Seventeen – Josie

The knocking echoed through my apartment.

Damn it. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. The papers bundled
over my chest. They made lousy blankets. I tossed them on the couch and checked
my watch.

Seven o’clock. A three-hour nap?

Ew. I figured I’d be tired, but this was downright lazy.

The persistent thudding on the door chased away my
grogginess. I listened, wishing to hear Maddox call for me. But the rapping was
too light and feminine. Plus, she tapped out the rhythm of our high school
marching band’s drum cadence. As relieved as I was that it was Delta on the
other side of the door, two weeks had passed since Maddox left.

I guessed he wasn’t coming back tonight either.

I didn’t bother with a headband. My curls went wild,
billowing around my head. Delta snickered when I let her inside, but she had
endured my puffball pigtail phase in junior high with me. A little volume
wasn’t scaring her away. She came bearing an accordion folder stuffed with
insurance forms and a paper bag filled with Chinese food.

I wasn’t in the mood to eat. Didn’t even think I could.

“
Whoa
.” Delta nearly dropped her armload as she
stared at my apartment. “Okay, Josie. It’s time for you and me to go out and
get some air.”

She didn’t hand me the insurance paperwork. I took it
anyway. More to add to the once meticulously sorted piles of newspaper
clippings, police reports, and information I found on the fire.

Delta headed to the coffee table with the food. No room
around the piles of papers there. She tried the kitchen but my counters
sprawled with bags of chocolate chips, mixing bowls, and the construction plans
for Nolan’s proposed bed-and-breakfast. Delta thumbed through my notebooks and
ignored the whiteboard in the corner.

“All right, this is fucking weird, Josie. Even for you.”

“I’ve been a bit busy,” I said.

“No, you’ve been a bit
crazy
. What the hell is all
this?”

I sorted through the papers on the couch as best I could.
Nothing was giving me the answers I needed anyway, so I pushed everything onto
the floor to make room for Delta and dinner.

“I’m trying to figure something out.” I edged away from
the bag of Chinese with a quick swallow. “And it’s…hard.”

“And not at
all
obsessive.” Delta picked up the
paper at her feet. A newspaper article from the fire. Next to her were the
court documents and transcripts from when Maddox was tried. “Josie, what are
you trying to do?”

Right now, I was desperately avoiding my once favorite
Kung Pow Chicken. “I have to figure out who burned down my shop.”

“Oh.” Delta paused. She put it together pretty quick. “So
Maddox left for good? Hasn’t been back?”

He hadn’t returned my texts, calls, anything. “He’s
gone.”

“Did he know you were doing all this?”

“No.”

Delta cautiously balanced the container on her knees and
speared a piece of General Tso’s chicken with a plastic fork that already lost
a prong. “What’d you find out? Anything you didn’t already know?”

Yeah. I uncovered one big revelation that didn’t help any
of us. “It wasn’t Nolan Rhys.”

Delta snorted. “I could have told you that.”

“I swear…it just made sense. He was so obsessed with me
and Maddox. But the timeline is wrong, and he would have lost too much money
burning it down just to buy the land and rebuild what he wanted.”

“You know who the criminal is, don’t you? Forget the
papers and the charts and all the
investigations
.”

“It wasn’t him.”

“Josie, he went to
jail
.”

My chest squeezed. Guilt hurt worse than any loneliness.
“I know. I framed him for it.”

“You
what
?” Delta stilled, the fork an inch from
her mouth. “Did…you forget to bake the cookies before you ate the dough?”

“I’m serious.”

“Did you happen to leave the gas oven on?”

Goddamn it. It wasn’t a joke. I ruined my life, and I
lost the man I loved. All because I was so stupid, so helpless to stop the
inevitable.

“Nolan threatened his life, and I knew he was in danger,”
I said. “I gave an anonymous tip to the police so they would hold him in a cell
until I could get out of the hospital and prove it was Nolan who set the fire.”
I kicked the papers at my feet. They scattered. I didn’t bother picking them
up. They couldn’t help me now anyway. “It wasn’t Nolan. Goddamn it. It wasn’t
Nolan.”

Delta quieted, and I hated it. Without her talking, she
could hear the break in my voice. I’d collapse in tears, and it’d do nothing
but humiliate me and waste more time that I could have been finding answers and
researching. I rubbed my eyes. It hurt, but it stuffed the tears down.

“Josie, when was the last time you slept?”

I didn’t have time to sleep. Not like I could anyway, not
with him gone and my mind racing and my heart shattering and my stomach
flipping and my body aching—

“I just napped,” I said.

“When was the last time you ate?”

“I’m really,
really
not hungry.”

“I’m officially worried about you.” Delta sighed. “I
talked to Sean. He said you called off from the paper three days in a row. Have
you left the house at all?”

“I saw Granddad.”

“Good.” She sounded too relieved. “How is he?”

I didn’t want to answer that one. “Worse. Sullen. He’s
not eating much, and the last time I visited him he only said one thing.”

“What was it?”

I gritted my teeth. “
I’m sorry
.” 

“For what?”

“He didn’t say. Just…everything probably. We moved him to
the different wing, and he knows we don’t have the money for it. That guilt is
killing him, and there’s nothing I can do to…help. I can’t pull him out of this
depression.”

Delta shifted the papers on the coffee table and dug out
the framed picture Granddad gave me. She flashed the photo at me, and I didn’t
realize how much I missed Granddad’s smile until I saw it beaming from that
perfect time years ago when the shop kept us all together.

Just another reason to find the man who destroyed it.

I pointed to the wall where I hung police reports and
newspaper articles with details on the chief.

“I have two other suspects,” I said.

Delta laughed. “Suspects? Are you setting up an
interrogation room in your kitchen? A forensics lab in the bathroom?”

“Chief Craig was blackmailing Maddox.”

Her smile faded. “He
what
?”

“He paid him thousands of dollars, but the chief was
looking for a reason to throw him in jail before Maddox exposed him.”

“Exposed…what?”

“His affair with Chelsea.”

Delta blinked, completely shocked. “But that’s
impossible
.
He’s been married for fifteen years. They have kids!”

Revealing Chelsea would destroy the chief and his family,
but exposing the abuse and prostitution? No wonder he wanted to keep it quiet.

I handed her a stack of papers from the town’s zoning
office—every complaint and letter and hearing notice about our property line.

“And Bob Ragen threatened Maddox and me after the town
meeting. He said if he knew Granddad would have been hurt in the fire, he’d
have
lit the match years ago
.”

“Holy
shit
!”

“Given all the problems with our property lines and
survey markers and uh…” I shrugged, suddenly aware of how pale my blonde best
friend was, and how identical she looked to the rest of the town. “He didn’t
like my family. Bob’s not stable. He could have easily broken inside and caused
the fire.”

“Okay.” Delta paced the room, rapping a finger over my
whiteboard. “But…what can you do with all this information? What do you hope—”

“If I can prove Maddox was innocent and have his record
wiped, I might be able to win him back.”

Her shoulders slumped. “Even if Maddox is innocent in
this crime, he’s guilty of others. If he hadn’t been jailed for arson, he’d be
behind bars for something else by now, maybe something worse or bloody.”

“That’s not true.”

“I know how you felt for him, but his leaving is for the
best. You haven’t slept, you haven’t eaten. And honestly?” Delta bit her lip.
“Your apartment is one copy of
Catcher in the Rye
short of an NSA watch
list. Maddox is not worth this stress. He just isn’t.”

“I’m in love with him,” I said.

“He’s not right for you.”

“He’s the
only
one who’s right for me.”

Delta didn’t believe me. “He’s dangerous. He was back for
only a few weeks and look at how much trouble he caused. How many times did he
get into Nolan’s face? And the Chief? Josie, he’s too frightening to even get a
job in this town.”

“That because no one will give him a chance.”

“He’s not a man who deserves a second chance. I know you
blame his parents, and I know you think it’s just his upbringing and that he
can be changed…but he thinks with two things—his cock and his fists. Neither of
those will get your store back or help you take care of Matt.”

I sighed. “I really don’t have time to be lectured.”

“Make time. You
need
to listen. Maddox leaving is
the best thing that could happen to you.”

“Delta—”

“I came here to give you another file I found at work—the
reports we had to re-do after we conferred with the police.”  She prevented me
from reaching for the folder. “But I’m not helping you drive yourself crazy.”

“I’m close to figuring this out.”

“No, you aren’t. Put it down, come outside with me, and
we’ll walk so you can clear your head.”

“You don’t understand.”

“You hurt now, but I promise. One day you’ll see that
Maddox was the wrong man for you—”

“I’m pregnant.”

The air trapped in my chest. It was the first time I
admitted the truth out loud. It still shocked me more than Delta.

She sunk onto the couch. I followed.

“You’re…
pregnant
,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“With a
baby
?”

God, I hoped so. “It’s not a gingerbread man.”

“And you’re...it’s…”

“Maddox’s baby.”

Delta paled. “I thought you were on…”

“We…no. Not anymore. We were trying.”

More than a few times.

Her mouth dropped open. I was lucky she was too shocked
to chastise me. “Does he know?”

“No.”

“Does
anyone
know?”

My smile forced the words out. “You?”

“Oh God, Josie.” Her eyes closed. “How far along are
you?”

“I just found out earlier this week.”

Now she got pissed. She slapped my arm but immediately
apologized like I was carrying Maddox’s secret baby in my shoulder.

“You didn’t tell me! How could you let this happen?”

“Once upon a time, Maddox and I wanted to start a
family.”

“And now?”

“He wants nothing to do with me. I don’t even know how to
get in touch with him.”

She snorted. “Call the nearby jails.”

I groaned, rolling off the couch to hide from the smell
of the food. “Don’t start.”

“Seriously. Call his parole officer. He can’t leave the
state, right?”

“Somehow I don’t think he cares.”

This was supposed to be a happy occasion, but everything
turned inside out, upside down, and then tangled itself in a knot of bad
decisions and heartache.

Maddox would have been so excited. All he ever wanted was
a baby and me and a life where we could just
love
each other. He
deserved nothing less.

“It might be for the best.” Delta broached the subject
gently, but not cautiously enough. “I don’t know if he’d be a good father.”

I stiffened. “Why not?”

“It’s not like he comes from a good family. And his dad?”

“He’s the reason Maddox wanted to be a father. He wanted
the family he never had, Delta. We take it granted—your parents, what Granddad
and Nana did for me when mine died. No one tucked Maddox in at night or threw a
ball with him or helped him with school. He grew up with abuse and drugs and…”
I didn’t even want to think of it. “I’m going to clear his name and win him
back. He should know that kind of love.”

Delta quieted. “He might not forgive you for what you
did.”

“I have to try.” The tears prickled my eyes. They stung,
but not as much as the loneliness gnawing at my heart. “The baby needs a
father. Maddox deserves a second chance. And I…”

I didn’t even know anymore. I just wanted answers. The
mystery exhausted me, and every second it went unsolved tore me further from
Maddox’s arms. Delta took my hand.

“What can I do to help?” she asked.

“You don’t happen to have a spare candy shop lying around
do you?”

She giggled. “I’ll check my closet at home. Haven’t
cleaned it out in a couple years. Maybe I’ll find something.” She picked up the
papers at her feet, absently sorting through the piles. “You know, I used to
have a ton of Nancy Drew books. Maybe…we could sort the suspects again?”

For all the good it’d do. I had two suspects, and neither
made sense to me. Still, two heads were better than one, especially when mine
was jammed full of anxiety, frustration, and baby names.

Delta woofed down her dinner and settled in on the floor.
She agreed with me. We were missing something. No matter what angle I
approached it, I couldn’t find enough evidence that proved
or
denied
Chief Craig or Bob Ragen had anything to do with the fire. Every lead led to
more uncertainty. We’d never figure it out without a confession.

But that meant confronting someone. I wasn’t prepared to
piss off two of the most dangerous men in the city without Maddox at my side.

“Maybe it was Benjamin!” The idea struck Delta so
suddenly she spilled her soda and tore the papers in her hand. Her smile grew
into a hysterical laugh. “He wanted a new place where he could take
Jean-Baptise on a walk, so he made his very own
parkette
.”