Dalton rolls his eyes. “By that time, I’d had my bad experience with a woman, so he was welcome to them. It’s not like he’d have had a problem anyway. When he showed up, they paid attention. He screwed around a bit, and then he set his sights on Isabel, which I couldn’t figure out.”
I sputter a laugh. “Don’t let her hear you say that.”
“Nah, she said it herself. I don’t mean any insult. But she was fifteen years older, and he had his pick of women, and it wasn’t as if he knew her well enough to fall for her. He acted like a new stallion in a herd of mares, making his way through them, and when he came to Isabel, he figured he’d have a go and then move on. I mean, obviously she’d be all over that, right?”
“She wasn’t, was she?”
“Hell, no. Isabel might have an eye for younger men, but she’s never been hard up for attention, and she’s a helluva lot pickier than ‘young and good-looking.’ When Isabel rejected him, she figured he’d sweep up his wounded pride and stalk off. He didn’t. The more she said no, the more he wanted her. Pretty soon, she complained to Gene.”
“How’d that go?”
He shifts and makes a face. “I said this was shortly after my ‘bad experience.’”
I know what he’s talking about. When Dalton was young, he had plenty of women happy to introduce him to the joys of sex. He’d been in his late teens, and they’d been five to ten yea
rs older, so everyone knew it was just fun. Then he reached his early twenties and relationships became a possibility. He wasn’t interested, and if the women were, he stepped away. Then he hit the one who didn’t give up so easily.
“It wasn’t even one of my usual casual-but-committed relationships,” he continues. “We hooked up a couple of times, and she hinted at wanting more. Seeing the warning signs, I backed out, as gently as I could.”
“She didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”
He nods. “At first, it was like she was just trying to change my mind. But then … I’d come home, and she’d be in my kitchen, making dinner in her underwear. I’d be sleeping, and she’d slip into my bed. Hell, she walked into my shower once. Fucking scared the life out of me. First time I ever locked my doors.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. It was bad. If another woman even talked to me, she’d get in their face, and it wasn’t like I was trying to pick anyone up. We’re talking conversations with women. Normal conversations.”
“What’d you do?”
“Tried to handle it myself. When I couldn’t, I asked other guys for advice. They laughed. Told me I should take advantage. So I went to Gene. He didn’t laugh, but he didn’t see the problem either. Even my mother wasn’t much better. She felt sorry for the woman, who’d obviously fallen hard for me, and said I should be more understanding. Maybe I should give her another chance. This woman is fucking up my life because she wants me back … so I should give in? Because, fuck yeah, that’s the kind of woman I want.” He shakes his head, and in his eyes, there’s old hurt, old pain, old anger.
“That’s bullshit,” I say.
“Yep, but it happens to women all the time, doesn’t it? That’s what I realized. Gene was telling me that this woman wasn’t a threat, wasn’t actually hurting anyone—including me. She just liked me a lot, as if…” He waves his hands. “As if that’s my fault, because I’m so irresistible.”
I smile. “I think you are. But yes, it’s bullshit, and yes, women hear that all the time. He just likes you. You should give him a chance.”
“Exactly. I pulled my head out of my ass and realized that when women came to us with the same problem, we didn’t do jack shit. If it wasn’t assault, then it was just a guy trying to get sex.”
“Boys will be boys.”
“Right. And this is my very long way of explaining what happened with Owen and Isabel. Iz came to Gene with her complaint. Gene told her to be firmer with her refusals.”
I snort a laugh.
“Yeah,” Dalton says. “No one is firmer with her refusals than Isabel. So I tried to handle Owen and made an even bigger enemy in the process. I also realized this wasn’t some guy being atypically aggressive with a woman. He had a past. He must. So I started digging. It was the first time I’d done that.”
“And?”
“First, I checked his reason for being here. As deputy, I didn’t have access to that, but I knew where to get it. I discovered that he’d come here after an attempt on his life. He’d had a fling with a married woman, and the husband went after Owen, who narrowly escaped. The man vowed to finish the job. So Owen came to Rockton.”
“Uh-huh. Not exactly how it happened, is it?”
“No, and Gene should have looked at Isabel’s complaint and at least wondered if there was more to Owen’s story. He didn’t. So I did some research when I went to Dawson. Turned out there was no fling, but not for lack of trying on Owen’s part. He was stalking this woman, and her husband went after him because the police wouldn’t. I also dug up his name as the defendant in a rape case. What they used to call date rape.”
“He wanted sex, and the women didn’t, so he took it.”
“I’m not even sure if he asked. It was a college thing. A frat party. She said he put something in her drink. He denied it and said the sex was consensual. It never went to court. She dropped the case and dropped out of college, claiming harassment from Owen and his buddies.”