“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Her crystal blue eyes lit from within and her mouth curled at the corner.
Jax’s gut twisted. He knew that Evie look. His table companions might have known her longer than Jax had, but they didn’t know her as well. The respectable suit and slicked-back curls couldn’t disguise the evil genie within.
Mild-mannered Bill, the banker, fell for the act. “I never hear anything until it’s all over. My wife complains I’m a very bad gossip.”
“Oh, Alice will like this. Be sure to tell her.” Evie’s smile broadened wickedly. “Miss Ward filed her intent to run for mayor an hour ago.”
Jax watched his table companions with interest. The banker seemed genuinely pleased. The accountant looked shocked but intrigued. Clancy, the only current mayoral candidate besides Mavis—looked as if his head might explode.
A grin teased at Evie’s lips, until she turned to Jax. “The guys have a few things to tell you. You should probably answer your phone.”
She swayed off—not bounced or ran or the usual Evie things but a deliberately provocative sway as she headed for the other table.
Jax got her message. She wasn’t that hard to read. She despised the current town council—represented by Clancy. She wanted Jax to turn his head and open his eyes. So he did.
The lighting wasn’t good, but the tall, elegant woman welcoming Evie looked a little too sophisticated for a small town like this. The diminutive Black man standing up and pulling out a chair wasn’t anyone Jax recognized. He, too, had a polished city appearance. Suits like that didn’t come off the rack.
Huh. Maybe Afterthought wasn’t quite the backwater he imagined.
Behind him, Clancy threw back his martini and spluttered. “They’ll make this town a laughingstock. Excuse me. I need to make a few phone calls.” Without offering to pay his bill, he got up and walked out.
Clancy didn’t think Blacks should run for office? Half the town had brown skin! Jax was starting to understand why Evie wanted Clancy defeated.
“Well, if your girlfriend is siding with the freaky part of our fair town, you’ve lost any chance at gaining the county’s business,” Geoff said pragmatically, chugging his beer.
Freakyside? “Not my girlfriend,” Jax responded automatically, even if he might want her to be. Antagonizing the establishment wouldn’t help his pocket, but he’d enjoyed the sick look on Clancy’s smug face. He might be more like his anarchic friends than he’d thought. “Evie’s family will never support any of the mayor’s cronies. So it’s pretty much a given that if there’s a freaky side of town, she’s on it.”
“What about her mother?” Bill asked anxiously. “I thought Mavis was running.”
“Only because no one else was. I’m guessing this means she’ll step down, unless there’s animosity there too?” Jax wasn’t liking the idea of losing business before he even started, but he wasn’t insane enough to oppose Evie and her family. He’d learned that lesson—
The Malcolms might be on the wrong side of normal, but they knew where the bodies were buried—literallyupon occasion. Yeah, he’d rather have them on his side than Clancy and the mayor.
Geoff snorted. “No animosity there. Mavis got Larry started on his fashion career. If her family is supporting the fag’s campaign, Clancy has good reason to turn tail and run. This election might actually be interesting.”
Fag? Jax winced at the archaic slur, then worked through the implications.MissWard had been born male—at least in the town’s eyes. Afterthought had just become much more interesting.
“Well, my policy is to avoid politics.” Cutting off any more derisive remarks, Jax gestured at the menu. “I invited you to dinner, gentlemen. I hope we’ll be working together in my bright new future.”
He didn’t pull out his phone until he excused himself to go to the bar for more drinks.
Roark’s voice mail was almost gleeful. “The Swenson family is still a Stockton client, and your idiot ex-firm hasn’t changed your passwords. Their files are a treasure trove. The family claims Grandma Swenson is coo-coo and wants her locked away before Senator Augustus announces his run forpresident. The good senator signed those contracts between Sovereign and your father thirty years ago, while he was still just a Realtor. Read da contracts sooner dan later, lawyer man.”
Jax had no idea what the Cajun idiot was aiming at—but he could guess, and his gut twisted, a certain sign of trouble.
If anything shady had occurred thirty years ago, they were sitting on a powder keg that might blow up a presidential campaign.
Evie’s eccentric candidate for mayor paled in comparison.
* * *
Evie timedher departure from the restaurant to coincide with Jax’s. It had been pure luck to find him there. He’d been uncommunicative all day—apparently for good reason, judging by the company he was keeping. Macho Man worked fast to already be on the inside of the movers and shakers. Well, she supposed, all that took was a barrel of money.
“I gather you have momentous news.” Evie took his arm.
She had walked here. Apparently, so had he. Mosquitoes buzzed in the humidity of the mild June night, but home was little more than half a mile away. She fell in step with his long strides.
Jax slowed down to accommodate her. “Seems you do, too. What’s with the new mayoral candidate? Clancy looked as if he’d swallowed a snake.”