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“Officer Goody Two-shoes,” Colton corrected with a dry tone that impressed me. “Let him go.”

For a moment, I considered just doing what I’d planned—killing Chip and leaving his body where it fell. The plan hadn’t been great in the first place, though, and Colton’s presence complicated it further, making the chances of me getting away with it much slimmer. Slitting a man’s throat in front of a cop was reckless, even for me. And it would cause all sorts of problems that would get in the way of my hunt.

Therefore, the knife left his neck, but my knee landed in his balls. Chip groaned and crumpled to the ground in an undignified heap. I drove my boot into his ribs for extra measure.

I looked up at Colton, who had his eyes narrowed on me in what I assumed was disapproval.

“I’m a woman who kicks a would-be rapist while they’re down.” I refastened my knife to my belt. “Sue me. You can arrest him now.” I spat on Chip’s prone body on my way past.

“I know where he lives, I’ll find him in the morning. When he’s sober. When his wife can witness it.” Colton fell into step with me.

“Cold. But can’t say I hate it.” I was pleased though disappointed that it wouldn’t rid me of Colton’s presence.

“Hadley, stop,” Colton demanded.

When I didn’t stop, skirting around him, he grabbed a hold of my upper arm.

“Hadley, you were just assaulted.” His tone was infuriatingly gentle.

I peered at his hand then at him. “And you think this is an appropriate way to touch me after an ‘assault?’” I was genuinely interested in hearing his response.

He instantly released me, as I thought he might, but he stood in my path. I could round him then flat out run to escape his presence. But he was obviously looking for a fight, and I didn’t run from fights.

He looked me up and down as if he were looking for wounds. Eventually, his gaze landed on my black eye. “Are you okay?”

I choked out a laugh. “If you want to check on the victim, he’s right there.” I pointed in Chip’s general vicinity, where he was trying to pull himself up.

Colton didn’t so much as glance in his direction. “Hadley⁠—"

“Let me guess,” I cut him off, impatient, angry, and drunk. Colton obviously wanted me to be a lot of things, a lot of things I couldn’t and would never be. “You pined after me for years, never letting another Mary Sue get close to my precious memory. Fucking them because, as noble as you may be, you’re also a man, and you need to fuck.”

Colton’s nostrils flared. I was pissing him off. Good.

“But you never settled down because you were waiting for me to come home, come back to you.” I was guessing, though I would’ve bet my nonexistent retirement account that I was accurate. “Well, here I am.” I did a slow spin, holding my arms above my head, shaking my ass for the hell of it. My eyes narrowed when I faced him once more. “Not quite the blonde-haired cheerleader you remember. And definitely not someone worth waiting for. But you’ll overcome that, right? Convince me to change my hair back, cover my tattoos, wear less makeup, and slot back into your perfect life because who could resist the good guy who’s here to protect us all from the dangers of the world.”

Maybe I was laying it on a little thick, but I was fucking over being in this town without leads. I was pissed off that I was here at all, let alone having to face all these fuckers from my past. And yes, I might have been overserved.

Whether or not Colton deserved me saying all that shit might’ve been up for debate.

Colton’s gaze was ice-cold by the time I stopped talking. “Finished?” His voice was flat.

“Something you’ll learn about the new me, baby,” I drawled. “I’m never finished.”

“You’re fuckin’ finished.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “It’s my turn now.”

I smiled. “Of course it is.” Men didn’t let a woman spout all that shit without replying. Even the good guys. Actually, there weren’t any good guys when you bruised a male ego. They were all assholes.

“I did not wait for you. Pine for you. I worried plenty that you were lying in a ditch somewhere, that you were dead. Because that’s what you do when someone you love leaves town in the middle of the night without a goddamn word and doesn’t come back for thirteen years.” He spat the words at me like tacks, all of his own pain and resentment sharpening each of them.

I didn’t think I had it in me to feel the angst of someone else’s expectations, disappointments, but there I was, skin stinging from the impact of his words.

“I also knew that even as a high school cheerleader, you knew your own mind,” Colton continued. “You didn’t want to be in Dreadwood Falls, so you weren’t. You didn’t want to be with me, so you weren’t. I ain’t gonna long for someone who doesn’t want me, darlin’. I dated plenty. Fucked plenty too, because as you said, I’m a man with needs.”

Unexpectedly, my stomach dipped with hunger—not for a cheeseburger. From the murderous gaze, the fury in his words, and the general hostility in his posture. The good guys didn’t turn me on. But Colton wasn’t entirely good anymore. And it suited him.

“I got married,” Colton went on, unaware that his fury was making me hot for him. “Not quite Mary Sue, but I’m sure you would have something to say. She was a good woman, but we were wrong for each other. Divorced two years ago. No kids, though I want them some day.” When he inched closer, the breeze carried his cologne and unique scent to my nostrils, further eliciting a physical response, my panties becoming wet. “I’ve lived a whole fucking life while you were gone, Hadley, likely nothing that would impress you, but a life, nonetheless.”

The bridge of my nose began to tingle in response to his approach, at the violence in his tone, at the dark side of the good guy who had not existed thirteen years ago. This, I could work with.