By Starlight (15 page)

“Even though it’s against the law?”

“My dear boy,” Seth tutted, “take it from me, an old lawyer who’s been around long enough to know, when I say that there’re many different ways to look at every rule on the books. When one of them is broken, it’s done in degrees. Some folks just tip over the line while others take a flying leap. Some acts are committed on purpose while others are accidents.

“Take this Prohibition nonsense. If those dimwits enforcing the laws believe that everyone who goes to a place like this one to have a drink is a criminal who deserves to be locked behind bars, well, it isn’t going to take long before half the country’s in jail! When people are struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table, all this worrying about liquor should be the least of our concerns! It’s poppycock! Let a man have a drink, by God!”

“I can see both arguments,” Maddy interjected. “While I understand alcoholic drink can be a problem, the majority of people who drink are harmless. Someone can become addicted to anything. In here, people can forget their troubles for a little while, just like if they bought a ticket to the movies,” she explained. “What do you think, Jack?”

“I believe in following the law,” he said simply.

“I hate to tell you,” Seth chuckled, “but I think you’re involved in the breaking of one right now.”

“I didn’t say
which
one I was going to follow, did I?”

They all laughed at Jack’s joke, but Maddy could see that he wasn’t entirely kidding. There was a hint of seriousness in his eyes, as if he was weighing a difficult decision. She’d seen that look before, years earlier, back when he was wondering whether he should listen to his father and leave Colton for school out east. Whenever she would ask Jack what he was thinking, he’d lie and say that everything was fine. He’d wanted to spare her any suffering, but that had been a mistake; maybe if they’d talked about it then, things would have been different. If she asked him now, she wondered if he would tell her.

Right then and there, Maddy made a decision.

If she wanted to believe that they had a future together, that what they shared that afternoon on the bridge was the first step toward rekindling their love, then she couldn’t keep waiting for answers; she’d have to demand them. It was the only way she’d know the truth, the only way they could go forward.

She just had to ask.

IT WAS WELL AFTER
MIDNIGHT
when the last customer left the speakeasy. Sumner had closed the door behind him, leaving Maddy alone in the basement. She stood over the washbasin beside the bar, cleaning the last of the glasses Karla had cleared from the tables. After all the commotion of a cellar full of drinking men and women, the room seemed unusually quiet; the only sounds came from the wiping of Maddy’s cloth across the glasses and the faint strains of Ruth Etting singing “Ten Cents a Dance” on the record player.

“Ten cents a dance…that’s what they pay me…,” Maddy sang along softly.

Jack had left almost an hour earlier, offering to make sure Seth made it home safely, even if the former lawyer protested that he
wasn’t
drunk and
didn’t
need any help. Maddy had been slightly disappointed; she’d hoped that the two of them might’ve had some time together. There were still so many things they needed to talk about, especially—

From somewhere nearby Maddy heard the sound of a door being locked. Looking into the dark depths of the cellar, she saw Jeffers walking purposefully toward her. The sight of him startled her; every night since the speakeasy had opened, she’d closed by herself, cleaning up and counting the money that had been made. She’d thought she was alone.

And now she felt certain she was about to get yelled at.

Jeffers had yet to say anything to her about what had happened when she’d run off and left the speakeasy. Thankfully, nothing too bad occurred in her absence; Seth had gone on and on about how much fun he’d had behind the bar, though she wondered how much liquor he’d poured into his stomach instead of customers’ glasses. But she also knew Jeffers would find no humor in it; instead, he’d think she was ridiculous and irresponsible,
a
woman
, weak in every way, and would want to teach her a lesson. Jack’s knocking Sumner unconscious only made things worse. Ever since Jeffers had arrived at the speakeasy, she’d been waiting for him to give her an earful. But it hadn’t come, at least not yet.

“Here,” Jeffers said, hefting a crate of liquor bottles up onto the bar. “This oughta replace what you poured tonight.”

While Maddy restocked the alcohol, Jeffers opened up the money box and began thumbing through the bills and coins.

“Looks like we done pretty damn good tonight,” he said.

“More than that,” she replied. “Once it’s all counted up, I’d be surprised if tonight wasn’t our best night yet.”

“You reckon it was ’cause people wanted to see if Jack was gonna chase you round the room again?”

Maddy winced. For the briefest of moments she’d wondered if Jeffers was going to ignore the problem and let the matter pass without comment. Now she knew she wouldn’t be so lucky.

“I’m sorry about what happened,” Maddy said, straightening up and looking directly at him, just like she’d done the day he came to the mercantile and proposed opening a speakeasy. “I know I was wrong to leave, but I never would’ve expected that Jack was going to show up here. When he did, I panicked. It was a mistake.”

“You’re damn right it was!” Jeffers snapped, tossing the cash box down so hard its contents spilled out, sending a couple of coins clattering to the floor. “If a fool like Sumner does somethin’ stupid and runs off half-cocked, I ain’t a bit surprised, but you know better! What woulda happened if Utley had come sniffin’ round again, huh? What if that drunk, worthless lawyer’d started pourin’ free drinks or passed out and the place got robbed blind? What then?”

“I said I was sorry,” she answered truthfully.

“Words ain’t good enough,” Jeffers spat. “You wanted to be partners in all this, but it looks to me like you don’t know what that means. This here is dangerous! Both our asses is sittin’ on the line. One of us gets caught, one of us goes down, the other’s gonna be sharin’ the cell next door.”

Maddy knew he was right; even though Sheriff Utley had given them some leeway, that didn’t mean they weren’t still breaking the law. She’d understood what Seth’s argument had been earlier, that there were degrees of lawbreaking, but she wondered what an honest-to-goodness lawman would’ve thought if he’d been sitting there listening. He probably would have arrested her on the spot. No matter how she tried to look at it, in order to provide for her family she’d taken an incredible risk in going into business with a man the likes of Jeffers Grimm.

“It won’t happen again,” Maddy said firmly.

Jeffers didn’t answer, choosing instead to stare at her; no matter how badly she wanted to do so, Maddy didn’t look away. Neither of them spoke, their silence growing deeper when the record suddenly finished, the player’s needle skipping near the label.

Suddenly Jeffers began to grin, then folded his arms and rested them on the bar; the crates groaned loudly from holding his considerable weight. Maddy imagined he thought this was all some kind of game. “Seemed like you weren’t none too concerned ’bout seein’ Jack tonight,” he said. “What happened? The two of you spend the day kissin’ and makin’ up for lost time?”

Maddy blanched, her eyes widening with shock. Immediately she knew she’d made a mistake; from the way Jeffers’s eyes narrowed, he’d understood the truth just as surely as if she’d come out and said it.

“I was…I was just…surprised to see him y-y-esterday…,” she stammered, looking away in a clumsy attempt to cover up for her error. “It took me off-guard is all…​Tonight, I knew he was coming…”

“You gonna see him when you leave here?”

“No,” Maddy answered quickly before again wishing she’d lied.

Jeffers chuckled, a sound that only served to unnerve her further. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” he snorted. “Even after all them years you spent wonderin’ why he left you like he did, he just waltzes back into town and it’s just like it used to be. He must have a hell of a way with words. Your heart didn’t get stomped on good enough you want more? You ain’t nothin’ but a fool.”

Maddy was so flabbergasted by what she’d heard that she could only stare. Never in her life had she been spoken to in such a way. There was a part of her that was glad Jeffers was on the other side of the bar; if he’d been just before her, she might’ve reacted just as she’d done with Jack and slapped him; the consequences of that were too terrible to imagine.

“It’s not like that,” she said, her voice raw.

“Sure it is.”

“I’d never let myself get hurt like that again.”

“If you meant that, you wouldn’t be givin’ that scoundrel the time a day, let alone swappin’ spit,” Jeffers chided her.

“Don’t talk about him like that,” Maddy replied, so upset she worried she’d start shaking. “You don’t know him.”

“Don’t lie to yourself that you do,” Jeffers replied. “If you know so much, then why’d he come back here?”

Maddy’s heart began to race faster and faster. She hated to admit it, but Jeffers was right; she
didn’t
know why Jack had returned to Colton. She’d tried to ask him, but he hadn’t given her any real answers. Still, she just couldn’t give Jeffers the satisfaction of being right.

“He came to see his father,” she lied.

“Bullshit,” Jeffers sneered.

“It’s the truth…,” she insisted, doubting that she was very convincing.

Jeffers laughed. “When he come in tonight, he told me he’s workin’ for some fella back in Seattle wantin’ to buy up land round here for somesuch,” he explained, showing that he already had the answer. “He ain’t here ’cause he’s feelin’ sentimental. He’s here ’cause a money.”

“He told you?” Maddy asked, too shocked to try to disguise it.

“Maybe he’s more forthcomin’ with me ’cause he knows I’d have an interest in what he’s sellin’,” Jeffers suggested. “He remembers I got a way with business. That I got the stomach for takin’ a chance.” He paused, looking at her so intently that she began to feel uncomfortable. “So why ain’t he tellin’ you his reasons?”

Maddy’s head was spinning like a top. Was Jeffers telling the truth? Was Jack here because he’d been sent on an errand by his rich boss? Had Jack made Jeffers an offer? It sounded unbelievable. She didn’t know what to think.

“Kinda puts a cloud over that fancy future you musta been plannin’.” Jeffers chuckled, obviously enjoying himself.

“I’m not doing anything of the sort,” she answered.

“Don’t give me that crap,” he snapped, an edge to his voice, as if he were giving an order. “I ain’t like them rubes standin’ on the other side of the bar, willin’ to believe anythin’ so long as you’re pourin’ me a drink.”

“I’m not lying. After what happened between me and Jack,” Maddy explained, “I’d be a fool if I wasn’t being cautious.”

“That’s good to hear.” Jeffers said with a nod. “Otherwise, I’d be worried you was headin’ for another heap a trouble.”

Maddy paused. “What do you mean? What trouble?”

“You get your hopes up,” he explained, “Jack’s just gonna knock ’em all down. He ain’t the type to go givin’ your trust to.”

As he spoke, Jeffers moved around the corner of the makeshift bar and began to approach her. Maddy felt more and more uncomfortable, but there wasn’t much she could do about it; because of the empty liquor crates and boxes full of glasses crowding the tiny space, there wasn’t anywhere for her to move. She found herself pressed back against the cellar’s brick wall, watching the space between them slowly shrink.

“Why would you say that about him?” she asked.

“Use your head,” Jeffers replied. “He’s been livin’ in the big city all these years, spendin’ time at fancy restaurants and clubs, listenin’ to music with every kind a broad you can think of lookin’ him over, seein’ a picture whenever he feels like it. He’s been citified. After all that, whatever’d make you think he could come back to a place like this and be happy? A little nothing town like this one, he’d be bored outta his skull in no time. Hell, odds are he’s already countin’ the days till he can leave. He don’t belong in Colton no more’n Hoover or Howard Hughes do. He ain’t for here no more…he ain’t for you…”

No matter how hard she tried, Maddy couldn’t keep her lower lip from trembling. Jeffers was right. Jack himself had told her so; once he’d gone to Boston, once he’d seen what a big city had to offer, he’d known he couldn’t come back. It was the reason he’d refused to contact her. So why now, after all the years he’d spent away on the East Coast, in Seattle and who knew how many places in-between, far away from her, could she have ever expected him to suddenly change his mind?

So what does that make our kiss this afternoon…?

Maddy hated the first answer that leaped to her mind; he’d needed to come back to Colton for business, just like he’d told Jeffers, and since she was still here, he’d decided to have himself a little fun for old times’ sake. What could it hurt? And when it was over, he’d leave just like before, no matter what it did to her…

“You don’t need him.”

The sudden sound of Jeffers’s voice startled her. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t realized how close he’d come; he towered in front of her so completely that she could see little else. Placing one hand against the brick above her head, he leaned in, leering down at her. Try as she might, Maddy couldn’t retreat any farther.

“What you need is someone who’ll make you feel like a woman,” he continued, his voice a low growl. “You need a real man.” Lowering his hand, he took some of her hair between his fingers.

“Jeffers, please…,” she said uncomfortably, turning her head to the side, as far away from his touch as she could get.

“Someone who’ll please you,” he kept on as if she hadn’t said a word of protest. “Make you cry out in pleasure late in the night, make you want him inside you again and again and again.” His breath began to come fast, insistent. “I could make you feel that way…”

“Please, don’t…”

“I’d make you feel like you ain’t never felt before…” As his last word trailed into the heavy silence of the speakeasy, Jeffers ran his finger down the side of Maddy’s cheek; to her, it felt as if he were dragging a razor blade against her skin.

In that instant Maddy knew that if she did nothing, he was going to force himself on her whether she wanted him to or not. He was going to rape her in the basement of her father’s mercantile. Jeffers Grimm wasn’t the sort of man who gave a damn that a woman said no.

But it wasn’t until he grabbed Maddy’s breast that she acted.

Unlike the almost delicate way he’d touched her face, Jeffers gave her breast a hard squeeze, making her yelp with pain. Just like when she’d slapped Jack, Maddy reacted without thinking, driving her elbow into Jeffers’s stomach while stomping on his foot with the heel of her shoe. It felt as if she were hitting a mountain. She harbored no illusion that she’d hurt him but was hoping to surprise him instead; it was unlikely that he was used to a woman fighting back. To her amazement, he backed up enough for her to squeeze by and hurry to the other side of the bar.

When he turned to face her, a thin smile creased his hard face; he reminded Maddy of a wolf toying with wounded prey. “I like it when a gal gets a little playful,” he growled.

Maddy didn’t answer, watching him carefully, ready to make a run for the door if he came after her. Instead, Jeffers popped the cork out of a bottle of whiskey and took a slug, wiping his beard with the back of his hand.

“You know what I like ’bout you?” he asked.

Maddy remained silent.

“You got a spine,” he answered anyway.

“Stay away from me,” she warned.

Jeffers laughed; listening to him, Maddy realized how futile her warning was; if he wanted to take her, her only hope was to run. She was so unnerved that she started walking backward toward the door. He didn’t follow. It wasn’t until she was unlocking the door that he spoke again, his voice clear all the way across the basement, and just as menacing as if he were right beside her.

“When you realize Jack ain’t the man you think he is,” he said, slamming the now empty liquor bottle down on the bar, “I’ll be waitin’.”

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?”

Jack watched as Seth turned back to him, the man’s eyes looking off somewhere over his shoulder, bloodshot and wild, before slowly drifting back and narrowing as he tried to focus. His mouth hung slack, his lips wet with spit. Standing in the foyer of the old lawyer’s home, a dim lamp lit inside the door, Jack could see how flushed Seth’s cheeks were, how unsteadily he tottered and slumped into an old chair.