“Prefer if we could work that motherfucker over the same way he did a woman half his size, but if this is the play, I’ll back it,” Xander grunted, saying more words in that single sentence than he did most days.
“All right, then it’s set. I’ll let you know when the meet’s taking place,” Linc told me.
“There’s one last thing,” I said before anyone had a chance to get up out of their seats. “Stella’s landlord is a little too free with his position.”
Hunter’s brows went up. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, he doesn’t think anything of going into people’s apartments without an invitation—especially if they’re single and female.” I clenched my jaw, the muscle ticking manically as I thought of all the things she’d told me, but only after I pushed for the whole truth. She’d tried downplaying the whole thing, but I could read it on her face, she’d been holding back. It seemed to be a habit with her. She was so determined to handle everything on her own, without asking for help, that it had felt like pulling teeth. But when she finally told me the whole story, I wanted to find that son of a bitch and rip his head off.
“The man’s the very definition of a predator, taking what little power he has and holding it over weaker people. She doesn’t have proof, but she knows he’s been in her place when she’s not home, and things have gone missing.”
“What’s gone missing?” Marco asked.
“Money, a few pieces of jewelry that weren’t really worth much, but it’s the principle. Then there was underwear and a few bras.”
“Are you kidding?”
I shook my head, the venom in Cord’s voice mirroring what I was feeling inside. “She tried excusing it away, saying she probably just lost the stuff, but I’ve known assholes like that.”
“We’ve all known assholes like that,” Bryce gritted. “So we gonna pay this asshole a visit.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Then I’m in.”
I agreed to take Bryce and Hunter with me whenever I planned to take that particular trip, and the meeting concluded shortly after. I left the conference room, feeling good that the wheels on Stella’s situation had finally been put into motion, but that relief was short-lived when I rounded the corner into the reception area and saw the small crowd that had grown in such a short time.
“Son of a bitch,” I groaned, looking up at the heavens for some kind of divine intervention.
“Weston Scott,” Eden Sheppard, Linc’s wife, chided, propping her hands on her curvy hips. Behind her stood most of her crew. I guess the ones not there couldn’t get away from work. There was Marco’s wife, Gypsy. Bryce’s pregnant wife, Tessa. Dalton’s woman, Charlotte. Then there were the wives of my HVPD buds, Nona and Hayden. “You started seeing someone and didn’t tell us?”
I hoped Sage brought Stella back in a good mood after their lunch. Because she was about to experience trial by fire.
Stella
The smells that greeted me the moment I stepped through the doors and into Evergreen Diner made my mouth water and my stomach call out loudly to be filled with whatever was putting off that incredible aroma.
“You’re going to love this place,” Sage informed me as she led the way through the tables, all full, toward an empty booth by a window.
I didn’t doubt her for a second, but it wasn’t the food I was concerned with. It was all the attention the bruises on my face were getting from the rest of the patrons. A wave of self-consciousness slid through me, and I quickly lowered my head, trying to hide behind a curtain of my hair as I tucked myself into one side of the booth.
“It’s really crowded,” I murmured in a small, weak voice. “Maybe we should have gone somewhere with less people.” I cast a glance up at Sage sitting across from me. “Is everyone still staring?”
Sage’s hand came across the table and rested on top of mine. “Lift your head up, babe.”
The way she said it was gentle, kindness infused into those words, but there was no hiding that it was an order, and I did as she said for the simple fact I was shocked into lifting my gaze to meet hers.
“They’re just bruises. You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about. You did nothing to earn them, so don’t hold on to shame that isn’t yours. That belongs to the son of a bitch who’d dare to take his hands to a woman.”
She was right, and looking at it from her perspective had me squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin a little higher.
“There you go,” she said with a smile. “And believe me. As soon as West gets his hands on the guy that did that to you, the asshole’s going to wish his mom had swallowed instead.”
I let out a snort at her colorful words, and was just about to tell her West and I didn’t have the kind of relationship where he’d exact justice on my behalf, when a short, plump woman with curly hair that bordered on frizzy stopped at the end of our table.
“Hey there, darlin’. How’s it going?”
“Hey Sal. It’s going good. Just wanted to bring in my new bestie to try some of the best food in all of Hope Valley.”
The woman’s face flushed pink at Sage’s praise as she looked at me. I saw her register the bruising, then saw her push past it and give me a polite grin that didn’t hold even an ounce of pity. “Glad to have you, hon. I’m Sally. I run this place with my pain in the ass husband, Ralph.”
“What was that?” a booming voice called out from the back of the diner, and a second later, a big, bearded man’s face popped up in the pass-through behind the counter that led into the kitchen. “I heard my name.”
“Surprised you can hear anything, you old goat,” Sally shouted—yes, shouted—back. “You’re only hard of hearing when I’m asking you to take the damn trash out!”
“Woman, would you get off my back! I said I was sorry a million times. What more do you want?”
I looked around the diner and noticed that no one seemed bothered by the loud—and admittedly hilarious—argument taking place.
“How about a husband who takes the damn trash out!”
“Man, I can’t wait for you to be old enough for me to put you in a home,” Ralph returned.
“Oh please! I’ll have murdered you long before that time comes.”
“They do this all the time,” Sage leaned in and whispered to me. “Might be hard to imagine, but they really do love each other like crazy. Been married for years. Part of the draw to coming here is the show you get with your meal.”
I could see that. As it was, it was hard not to burst out laughing as the husband and wife continued to fight.
Eventually, Sally looked back at me. “Sorry about that.”
“Not a problem. I’m Stella, by the way.”
“She’s West’s woman,” Sage informed her, catching me completely off guard.
“Oh, I’m not—”
“Hoo-wee!” she cried, slapping her thigh. “Ralph! Another one of them Alpha Omega guys has landed himself a looker!”
“That’s not—” I tried again, but was interrupted when Ralph’s bearded face popped back up in the pass-through.