“I never thought you were stupid.”

“But you thought I was incapable of managing the world on my own.”

“You were incapable! You’d been sheltered for so long you were clueless about how the world worked. You kept stumbling from one pile of trouble to the next.”

I shook my head, suddenly exhausted. “I’m not that girl anymore, Joe. I haven’t been that girl for a long time.”

“That’s not true!”

“Part of me will always be the woman you met. But I’m not that naïve anymore. I’ve seen too much—a whole lot more than you even know—and I’ve grown up. I don’t need someone to pull me out of the holes I fall into. I need someone to crawl out of them with me.”

He didn’t respond.

“You need someone you can control, and I am uncontrollable.”

“That’s not true.”

A wry smile lifted my lips. “Which part?”

He started to answer and then closed his mouth.

“You say you hate your father, but you’re more like him than you know.” I took a step back. “Now what are you doing here? Looking for more evidence to use against me? You’re not wearing your uniform, but I guess that doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t officially report it, anyway. You’d give it to your daddy.”

Anger burned in his eyes, and he took a step toward me. “You are being incredibly stupid right now, Rose. Whether you believe it or not, I am trying to help you. This is the only way I know how to keep you safe until I can do what needs to be done.”

“Fine,” I said, waving my left arm in an arc. “Why don’t you enlighten me, Joe. Tell me what I’m supposed to do right now.” I moved closer until just a few inches separated us. “If you were the puppet master, what would you have me do?” I lifted my eyebrows. “The sky’s the limit.”

“Look, I know you find it hard to trust me right now—”

“What do you want from me?” My voice came out softer and more pathetic than I’d intended.

He started to speak, but then stopped, his eyes full of pain. “You know what I want, but I want you to want it too. And you damn near hate my guts, so that’s not a possibility right now. But maybe you’ll give me another chance when this is over … when I’ve had the chance to prove to you that I’ll do anything to protect you.”

“Hell would have to freeze over first.”

“So you’d rather play house with that uptight prick?”

I held the Taser up again and shoved it into his chest. “You’re the one who showed me how to use this, so you know I can do it. Now get the hell off my property.”

Joe shook his head in disgust. “You couldn’t have me, so you ran to him. You don’t love him. You just found a place-filler until you could have me back.”

“Get the hell off my property!”

“You can dish it out, Rose, but you sure as hell can’t take it.”

“You expect me to stand here in my own barn and let you insult Mason? Would you have liked it if I’d let him insult you when you and I were together?”

“I’m pretty damn sure he did. He shoved a wedge between us. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to seeing him suffer like I have.”

“You shoved a wedge between us, Joe.” Then a new thought hit me like a lightning bolt. “Oh, my word. You’re doing this for revenge.”

Confusion flickered in his eyes.

I gasped as the idea sunk its teeth into me. “If you can’t have me, then no one can. Maybe you’d rather see me rot in jail than spend the rest of my life with Mason.”

“No! How can you think that?”

It didn’t seem like the man I’d loved, but I wasn’t sure what to believe of him anymore, and I was tired of trying to figure it out. All I knew was that Mason and I were in danger, and all roads led to J.R. Simmons. And by letting his daddy’s conspiracy unfold, Joe had chosen his side. “If Mason dies because of you—” I waved my hand between us “—because of this, I will never forgive you. Do you hear me? Not only will you not have me, but you will have an enemy for life.”

“I can’t be held responsible for what happens to him. I’m doin’ the best I can to keep you safe.”

“And what exactly are you doin’?”

“I can’t tell you. But your arrest … Mason’s dismissal from his job … all of it and more are part of my plan. You just have to trust me.”

“Same damn song, thirty-second verse. How am I supposed to trust you when you won’t even trust me with the truth?” I asked in disgust, shoving the Taser at him again. “Now get the hell off my land.”

“I’m still going to protect you, Rose.”

“Protect me?” I laughed bitterly and held out my hands. “Do your worst, Joe.”

He wisely kept quiet and walked out the back door, heading in the direction of his house.

A war raged inside me. The woman who would always love the Joe I’d met that hot Saturday on Memorial Day weekend wanted to believe he was telling me the truth. But the woman I’d become, the jaded and rough-around-the-edges woman, didn’t trust a word that had come out of his mouth.

I suspected the answer was somewhere in the middle. Only I didn’t have time to puzzle it out.

Chapter 14