Recognition brightened the other man’s eyes as he looked at her. “Well, our day just got a whole lot better,” the first man, shorter than the other, said as they started toward her, ignoring the cups of coffee Maggie had placed on the counter for them.
“You leave that girl alone and get out of my diner,” Maggie said, coming to stand between her and the two men, her voice hard and cold.
What the hell was the woman doing? Those men could snap her in two if they had the mind to do it.
“Step aside, lady. This has nothing to do with you.” The taller of the two grabbed Maggie by the shoulders and lifted her clear off the ground with a grip that was sure to leave bruises, depositing her none too gently out of his way.
“Hey,” Maple screamed at them and stood from her seat, toppling her shake and sending the chocolate treat spilling down her front. In the second it took for her to reach them, Maggie had righted herself and was rounding on them again. Bonnie came out of nowhere, her face contorted in fury.
“Get the hell out of here before I lose my shit,” she screamed at them, holding her hands up as though she’d karate chop them or something. Had the situation not been so volatile, Maple would have laughed.
The men had no such qualms, laughing at the three of them as the bigger of the two made a grab for her with his meaty hand, but Maple dodged it. She hadn’t noticed the diner had emptied while she and Bonnie had eaten.
“We don’t want any trouble. Just leave us alone, and we’ll forget calling the cops,” she said as she edged her way to the left, keeping a table between them but taking their attention away from the other two women.
“Get the Alpha bitch,” the shorter of the two men said moments before the door chimed and several men Maple didn’t recognize waltzed in.
“How about you ladies head on out of here for a bit?” one of the men said, keeping his eyes on the two who had been harassing them. “You, too, Maggie.”
Maggie made a growling kind of noise, but then ushered her and Bonnie out the door.
“Should we call the cops?” Maple asked, her knees shaking as they hurried a short distance down the sidewalk.
“Honey, in this town, those guys are the cops. It’ll be fine. Don’t you worry,” Maggie said as a loud crashing sound, followed by what sounded like a howl, came from the diner. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
“I haven’t paid for my meal,” Maple protested as the woman ushered her to her car.
“I’ll make you pay double next time.”
Bonnie was right there with them. “She’s right. Go on home. You have chocolate all over your shirt, and you know that’s gonna stain.”
Maple couldn’t care less about her clothing. She glanced back toward the diner. “You’re certain they’ll be okay in there?”
“They’ll be fine. In fact, I’d be surprised if they weren’t subdued and getting them ready to take them away as we speak,” Maggie assured her as she patted her tall hairdo as if making sure not a hair had fallen out of place—which it hadn’t.
With the sticky mess all over the front of her, Maple couldn’t very well get the shopping done she’d wanted. She’d have to come back into town another day. “Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you later, Bonnie. It was nice meeting you, Maggie,” she said as she fired her softly purring engine.
“We’ll catch up soon,” Bonnie offered as she closed the door. Both women backed away, giving her the room she needed to pull out.
It wasn’t until she was leaving town that she thought to call Jaxon, and by then, it was too late. He’d made her promise to let him know when she was ready to head back to the cabin. Rather than risk an accident by calling while driving, she’d use her landline at the house to call and let him know she was there. He wouldn’t be expecting her to be done so early, and she didn’t want to disturb him if he was still working. That was the excuse she told herself, anyway. The truth was, she was still a little shaky over the incident at the diner and needed a few minutes to decompress.
When she got to the cabin, she went straight for the phone. If he got wind of what had happened at the diner, he’d worry for nothing. It had taken a few minutes for her nerves to settle, but she was fine. No one had been hurt, and the men were in custody. At least, that’s what Bonnie and Maggie had led her to believe.
She picked up the receiver, and her heart sank. She depressed the cradle a few times in rapid succession, hoping for a dial tone, but nope. Nothing. Damn.
Sixteen
Maple glanced at the clock as she stripped her shirt off, heading for the laundry room to soak it. Maybe the chocolate shake wouldn’t stain, but she wasn’t going to hold her breath on that one.
She thought about sorting more boxes while she waited for Jaxon, but the only room she had left to go through was her grandma’s, and she wasn’t ready to do that yet. And she sure didn’t feel like going back into town. Besides, with her luck, she’d get there and end up coming straight back. Why waste the gas money?
The Sugar Shack wasn’t as far—only a few minute’s drive. She could go out there and see what
