Chapter Ten
Goddammit . I groan as I somehow manage to startle myself awake.
Is it the same day? The next day? Have I missed Silas and his mob coming to Crescent Oak? Why the hell does time feel like it keeps standing still?
I guess it ’ s the same reason as why a watched pot never boils—because I want it so damn desperately.
I grunt as I turn my neck from left to right.
Sleeping so soundly isn ’ t something I ’ m used to much anymore, but when the body is tired, one doesn ’ t have much say in the matter. Besides, I know I ’ m going to need all of my strength to be able to bring final order to this town with Silas and his outlaws.
Before I get up, I use the palms of my hands to rub my eyes deeply, being damn sure to swipe away any sleep that might be lingering. Since I ’ ve lost track of time already, I know that my wits are the only thing I have left for now.
I push myself up onto my elbows and glance around the sitting room. I built it as an attachment to my house the day that I decided Elyse was going to be my wife. I just never got the chance to show it to her—or ask her to be my bride.
Now that she ’ s on my mind…
With a deep breath, I finally get off the sofa and walk toward the front door. My eyes scan the ground looking for that letter that Sara Belle forced into my hand, but it ’ s not here.
I don ’ t remember Clemmy taking it when she huffed off, and she ’ s never been one for stealing. I ’ m no thief, Boone Mason, she once shouted at me when I gathered her up outside of Mollie ’ s whorehouse. The bitch herself accused the little girl of stealing from her, and even though there was no proof or description of what she allegedly took, I still had to ask her about it.
But the reason Clemmy boomed so angrily at me, declaring that she was no thief, became clear to me when she finally settled her rage down and managed to have a conversation with me.
“ I had my life stolen from me. Isn ’ t that enough to take?” she had asked me with a trembling lower lip and big, watery eyes.
In a weird way, I fell in love with Clem at that very moment.
Not in the way that I love Elyse or the way I loved any woman before her.
In a way that I knew she would always need to be protected, and I self-appointed myself to do it.
Even though Clem presents as a child, and even though I know she doesn ’ t need any form of protection, I can ’ t help myself.
I see her as a daughter almost, and I want to keep her safe.
Which is why her huffing off after declaring that we’re no longer friends is probably what wiped all of my damn energy out. And probably why I can ’ t remember what damned day it is, I think with a quiet chuckle.
However, the more I let things sit as I stand silently where the letter flitted to the ground, the angrier I ’ m become. Clem didn ’ t take the letter; she threw it at me when she realized what I ’ d done.
Crouching down, I run the tips of my fingers against the dirty, wooden floor before I raise them briefly to my nose and inhale. If the letter did smell like Sara Belle, I haven ’ t a fucking clue what her scent could possibly be, which is strange because once upon a time, I could smell her.
I could smell them all, and now the only scent that I can seem to capture is Clem ’ s.
A glance toward the small window next to the door tells me that it ’ s almost nightfall.
I should probably get out there and start my patrol.
Someone ’ s got to protect the monsters in this town at night.
And someone has to make sure they get what they deserve at the same time.