Read Online Stirring Up Trouble by Andrea Laurence - Free Book Online

challenged.
    â€œHaven’t you? You seem remarkably calm for a first-time offender.”
    â€œYou don’t know anything about me, Fancy, so don’t pretend that you do. You sit in your fussy little historical home and bake your snooty little pastries, all the while judging everyone around you, but you don’t know anything, little girl.”
    â€œI know better than to let a man like you kiss me a second time.”
    â€œOh, good, we’ve gotten that cleared up. I was worried you might want me to do it again, and I’d hate to disappoint you.”
    â€œDisappoint me ? Please. I’ll be just fine without your whiskey-tainted breath on my lips.”
    They paused in their argument as another officer came in. He sat down at a desk opposite Simon’s and started filling out some paperwork.
    â€œWhatcha got, Grady?” Simon asked.
    The other officer looked up with a grin. “We’ve got another giant penis. This one is on the water tower.”
    â€œDamn,” Simon swore. “That’s going to be hard to clean off.”
    â€œIt’s the fourth one in less than three weeks. The Rosewood Times has started calling him the Penis Picasso.”
    â€œPenis Picasso?” Simon nearly choked on the words. Emmett chuckled in his seat beside her.
    Maddie shook her head. She hadn’t heard anything about more crude graffiti popping up, but she wasn’t surprised. The teenagers in town were bored. Rosewood was a dull place for kids that age. Outside of school activities and sports, there was nothing to do. It wasn’t much better for the adults in town. That’s why so many of them loitered at Woody’s and drooled over local gossip. But the Penis Picasso ? Who would come up with a name so ridiculous? It would just call attention to the artist and make them go out of their way to do more.
    All she knew was that if a penis showed up on the side of her bakery, heads would roll. She’d track that little bastard down and watch him repaint her wall.
    â€œWhat’ve you got, Simon?” Grady looked over at Maddie and Emmett as they sat sulking in their chairs.
    â€œDisturbing the peace and disorderly conduct.”
    Grady frowned at the two of them. “Isn’t that your older sister?”
    Simon sighed. “It is. It’s such an embarrassment for the family, you know? I’m sure it will break my grandmother’s heart to know her oldest granddaughter is a common criminal.”
    Maddie wished she had free hands to reach out and throttle him. “Oh, Granny’s gonna hear about it all right,” she taunted, “but when I’m done, you’re going to be the one in trouble, Simon. This whole thing is totally uncalled for.”
    â€œOh yeah?” her brother challenged. “We’ll just wait and see what she has to say after you go in front of the judge Monday morning.”
    Maddie shot up in her chair. She thought she would pay a fine and go home. Facing a judge made it seem a lot more serious. Her best friend, Lydia Whittaker, had a run-in with the local judge the year before over an incident during the Rosewood Fall Festival parade. Her antics had ruined it for everyone, traumatizing the newly crowned Miss Rosewood and nearly breaking Ivy Hudson’s neck. The judge had thrown the book at her, giving her a huge number of community service hours and an outrageous fine. But in Lydia’s case someone could’ve been hurt, and frankly, she deserved it. This dustup with Emmett wasn’t nearly as serious, and yet her stomach started turning somersaults in her belly. “The judge?”
    â€œYep,” Simon said with a smile that unnerved her. “I can’t wait to see what Judge Griffin says about your little neighborhood battle.”

Chapter Five
    Maddie was the walking dead by the afternoon. She was in the kitchen with her head down on the counter, asleep, when the door chime startled her