Read Online Bluestone Song by MJ Fredrick - Free Book Online Page B

intact. He’d been the
first to warn Maddox about getting involved, and he’d probably have
something to say about Maddox getting involved with someone who had
so much on her own plate.
    Maddox took a deep breath and drew his cell
phone out of his pocket. Better to hear it from the horse’s mouth
than try to figure out what Anthony would say.
    “Where are you?” Anthony said by way of
greeting.
    “Bluestone Lake.”
    “Running away?”
    Like he expected anything other than
bluntness from Anthony. When they’d met, Maddox had been pretty
damned arrogant. Yes, he was a drunk, but he was also a star and
he’d come to expect certain treatment from people he’d met—awe or
deference or at least respect. Anthony had given him none of those
things, had said what was on his mind. Nothing had changed in the
last two years.
    “Gathering my thoughts,” Maddox said.
    Anthony grunted.
    “Going to stay here a while. I rented a
house. Going to do some fishing. You should come up.”
    “God knows I couldn’t sit still long enough
to catch anything.”
    That was true. Anthony drank a hell of a lot
of coffee, and jittered more than anyone Maddox had ever met.
    “Did you call me to give me your whereabouts,
or do you have something on your mind?”
    As often as he’d gone to Anthony for help,
Maddox was taken aback by the man’s bluntness. “I have something on
my mind.”
    “You going to make me guess?”
    “A woman I used to know, used to date. She
still lives here.”
    “Still making me guess, Bradley?”
    “I—she—it’s been a long time since I’ve been
with someone.”
    “You asking my permission to get laid?
Because you’ve done that without my permission before.”
    “Yeah, not—only that.”
    “What, date her?”
    “Yeah. It’s been a while.”
    “This is someone you dated in the past?”
    “Yeah, when I was a teenager, before I left
for Nashville.”
    “Let me tell you something about revisiting
the past. It doesn’t mean you can change who you became.”
    “What?” Maddox hadn’t expected Anthony to be
overly enthusiastic, but he wasn’t sure what the older man
meant.
    “I mean, you go back to someone who knew you
before. Who knew you before you were drunk Maddox. You can’t change
that you became a drunk by going back in time.”
    “I’m not—” He started to protest. Was he?
    “She’s familiar, she’s from a happy time in
your life. You can’t recreate it, son.”
    “She might—it might be good for me. She needs
help.”
    “And you’re the one to do that? I don’t think
you’re in that place, Maddox.”
    “But if I do help her, won’t it help me?”
    “So what’s your motivation here, Maddox? When
you figure that out, call me back.”
    Maddox looked at the phone a long moment
after the call ended. Anthony had been right almost every time
before. But something in Maddox wanted to prove him wrong this
time. He was ready to take a chance, step out on his own.
     
    Word about Maddox renting the Barclay place
spread quickly throughout Bluestone. Beth heard it when she was
walking out of the grocery store. She had no idea what it meant. So
he was tired of staying in the RV—though she knew how roomy it was,
and rumor had it that it even had its own washer and dryer. Or he
wanted a better view of the lake, or more privacy. It had nothing
to do with her. He certainly had enough money to do with as he
wished.
    She only wished that knowing he was staying
in town didn’t give her a thrill.
    He hunted her down before her shift and
followed her to the back where she stashed her purse. She blocked
him from following her into the office, so he stood in the
doorway.
    “I’m staying until July.”
    “I heard.” She kept her gaze averted as she
locked her purse into the bottom drawer of Quinn’s desk.
    He blew out an impatient breath, as if he was
expecting another reaction. “So you don’t have to go work at the
casino. We can get you decent enough tips here.”
    She