Chapter Nine
CHAPTER NINE
Owen straightened and released her. She let go of him feeling like she’d come perilously close to the edge of something amazing or devastating. Maybe both. She pulled his keys from her back pocket to hand to him.
Leaving the headlights of their vehicles on, Sawyer and another deputy, a guy named Jake she remembered from high school, crossed to where she stood with Owen.
Sawyer put his hands on her shoulders and gave her a narrow-eyed scrutiny much like Owen had, but with a completely platonic vibe. “You okay, Keels?”
“ I’m fine.” She looked at her mugger where he lay motionless on the pavement. With his eyes closed he appeared very young. “He scared me, but didn’t hurt me.”
Sawyer squeezed her shoulders and released her. “You told dispatch you were mugged.”
“ He threatened me with a knife and demanded my purse. I threw it thinking he’d go after it and leave me alone. That kind of worked. I have two credit cards, but carry only a little cash. My phone’s worth more than anything in my purse, but that’s not what he wanted.”
“ Knife’s on the pavement near the CRV’s front driver’s side tire.” Owen used his toe to nudge the unmoving form curled on the ground. It was then she noticed blood oozing from a scrape on Owen’s elbow. And he was standing there without a shirt or shoes. He had to be feeling the cold .
“ I patted him down. Nothing in his pockets,” Owen stated.
Sawyer and Jake each took an arm and hauled the kid to a sitting position. A scrape on his cheek looked painful. Jake replaced the zip ties with handcuffs.
“ You recognize him?” Sawyer asked.
Jake shook his head.
“ I know our local juvenile offenders, and he isn’t one of them.” Sawyer pulled off the beanie revealing tousled brown hair in need of a haircut. “What’s your name, son?”
When that produced only a sullen scowl, Sawyer asked another question. “How old are you?”
“ Fuck off.”
Sawyer squatted to the kid’s level. “Hell, you don’t look much more than thirteen or fourteen.”
“ I’m sixteen, asshole.”
“ That’s Lieutenant Asshole, and you being a juvenile made my evening a hell of a lot more complicated.”
“ I know him.”
All the guys’ heads swiveled in her direction. “I swear I know this kid. Did you go to Vista Middle School in Sacramento?”
“ Fuck you.”
Sawyer rose to his feet, frowning as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You gotta expand your vocabulary kid. ‘Fuck’ will only get you so far in this world.”
“ Fuck you again.” His voice shook behind the bravado.
“ Fernando.” Keeley said the name and the boy’s gaze flew up to meet hers, then he ducked his head when he realized he’d given himself away.
“ You’re Fernando. You were in Ms. Demaris’s math class when you were in eighth grade.”
He hunched his shoulders. “I’m not Fernando. I don’t know you.”
“ His name is Fernando. I don’t remember his last name. He was an eighth-grade student at Vista Middle School when I was subbing there. That would’ve been three years ago. I remember because I’d gotten my teaching credential like a month before. Pam Demaris took a temporary leave of absence and I subbed for her for several months.”
Sawyer shook his head. “You’re shitting me. A kid from your school shows up in Sisters and tries to mug you?” He crouched down again. “Listen up, Fernando. I’m going to read you your Miranda rights. Pay attention because there’s going to be a quiz at the end.”
Jake retrieved the knife and slipped it in an evidence bag, then used a flashlight to look behind the trees and under bushes. Keeley guessed he was looking for a backpack or anything else a kid might’ve had with him.
All through the conversation Owen stood at her back, not touching her, but his body radiating enough warmth it felt like he was. Which made her hyperaware of him.
She entertained the fantasy of leaning back and having him wrap his arms around her, holding her tight to his chest. Oh god, if only.
Her Owen crush was spinning out of control.
Done Mirandizing, Sawyer eyed Fernando. “How does a sixteen-year-old get to my town? Seems you’d need keys to drive yourself all the way from Sacramento, if you still live there. Curious, since you don’t have anything on you. I’m guessing someone dropped you off. You tell me who that was, kid, and the DA might look favorably on your cooperation.”
“ You said I don’t have to talk, so I’m not talking.”
“ A plus on the quiz, kid.” Sawyer motioned to Jake. “Put him in back of the cruiser.”
“ I’ll get the camera footage.” Owen pointed to cameras mounted at the corners of his building. “I’m taking Keeley to my apartment. You want to get our reports you can come up.”
Sawyer nodded. “All good. I’ll join you once Fernando’s on his way to the station.”
** *
Owen grasped Keeley’s hand and pulled her with him across the parking lot.
His control was shaky. Her hand in his steadied him, but he couldn’t stop the loop playing in his head.
She’d been working for him , had crossed his parking lot, and hadn’t even made it to her car before a punk kid had pulled a knife on her. He didn’t think the kid had any intention of using the weapon, but intentions didn’t keep misjudgments from happening. She could’ve been badly hurt, or worse, before Owen could protect her.
That control had frayed perilously close to snapping when he’d had his hands on her. Kissing her would’ve been a colossal mistake. But god, he’d wanted that more than his next breath.
Kissing her would be an affirmation of life, proof she was okay, and it would put a dent in his craving, which he was having more and more difficulty controlling. And he knew if he kissed her, that control would slip.
He’d thought he’d been so fucking smart hiring her to work at Easy Money. Keep her close and be better able to keep tabs on her. That’d been the plan, and sure, that part had worked out. But Jesus H. Christ, seeing her nearly every freaking day, being in the glow of all that sunshine, only made the grinding need more acute.
He’d spent today working on his house and had been glad for the physical exertion. Using a sledgehammer, he’d broken through the plaster on a wall he was taking out. Then he’d run the Sawzall and used a pry bar to tear out the framing.
His idea was to remove the wall and open the kitchen to the dining area, where he planned to build an island with a work area on the kitchen side and stools on the other.
He’d thought of plumbing it for a sink but had decided against the idea. He’d caught himself wondering if Keeley’d like a kitchen island with a sink, and had confirmed he was truly screwed.
The lumber delivery had come at the right time to give him a break from her. He’d needed a day without anticipating working at the bar like a happy idiot because he’d get to keep eyes on her all night.
A day without seeing her walk into the bar and smile at him like a fucking ray of sunshine.
A day without hearing her voice, without smelling her scent of sunshine and blossoms when she passed by him.
A day to get control of his goddamn dick so he didn’t have to fight a hard-on whenever she was around.
Normally he’d have checked on the bar operation before heading upstairs, but hadn’t because he’d wanted to avoid Keeley. He should’ve gone downstairs at closing to make sure his employees made it safely to their cars. He’d screwed up.
“ Wait, Owen.”
“ Why?” he snapped.
She looked startled and her hand tightened around his. He needed to dial back his shit. She didn’t need him snarling at her because he couldn’t deal with his own frustration.
“ I think I left my keys in my locker. I’m really sorry, but would you mind unlocking the door so I can get them?”
“ Later.” He kept her hand in his as he climbed the stairs. His door hung open, evidence of how fast he’d exited his place after she’d called him.
All he’d heard was she was in the parking lot and scared, and he’d flown out of the apartment. He ushered her inside and pulled the door shut behind them.
Once inside, he forced himself to let go of her hand and step away from her. He crossed to the kitchen and opened a cupboard to retrieve the kettle from the top shelf. He filled it with water and set it on the cooktop.
Where the hell were the tea bags? If he kept busy, maybe he wouldn’t haul her into his arms and pick up where that interrupted kiss left off .
She disappeared into his bathroom, returning minutes later with his blue and white first aid kit. She set it on the dining table and began taking out supplies.
“ What are you doing?”
“ Preparing to clean the scrape on your elbow. Your sweatpants are torn at the knee, so we’ll see if you have a scrape there too.”
“ I’ll take care of it myself.”
He set a mug on the counter and finally found a box of tea pushed to the back of a drawer.
Did tea go bad? He hoped not because the box was years old.
The kettle started whistling and he turned off the burner and poured steaming water over the tea bag.
“ Here.” He set the steaming mug next to her.
“ You made me tea.”
“ You like tea.”
“ I do. I’m not sure how you know that, but I do like tea.” She gave him an assessing once-over. “Are you taking care of me, Owen?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, then winced when the movement pulled the road rash on his elbow.
“ Look, princess, your mom gave me this tea when I was sick a couple years back. I can’t stand the stuff, but she said it makes people feel better. You had a shock. I’m sticking with Abby’s advice that the tea will help you feel better. Don’t read any more into it than that.”
“ Got it. I’ll let it cool while I take care of that scrape.” She moved to the sink. “Now come over here so we can run warm water over it.”
He was already shaking his head. “I’m good.”
“ You have dried blood all the way down your arm. I can see there’s dirt in the wound.” She narrowed her eyes. “If you don’t let me clean it, I’m calling Mom so she can tell you to let me clean it.”
He gave her his patented Owen scowl. She ignored him and reached for her purse to get her phone .
“ Goddammit. Fine.” He hated being outmaneuvered.
She smiled sweetly like she hadn’t threatened him to get her way. She ran the water, testing it with her finger. When the temperature was to her liking, she pulled his hand under the stream. With liquid soap, she gently washed and rinsed, washed and rinsed, until the dried blood was gone.
She was standing too goddamn close. Her touch was soothing, her hair smelled like sunshine, and her shoulder brushed against the bare skin of his chest.
Earlier, relief that she was safe had nearly made him lose his shit, and if Sawyer hadn’t shown up when he had, Owen would have kissed her. He’d have taken that mouth with his and put to rest the constant question of how they’d be together.
And here she was getting in his head again.
She held her breath when she directed warm water over the torn-up skin, washing away most of the dirt.
“ Breathe, princess.”
She let out a noisy exhale. “That has to hurt. I’m sorry.”
“ I’ve had worse.”
She used paper towels to gently pat dry his skin. Head bent to her task, she used tweezers to carefully remove bits of grit from the wound. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you.” The words were a murmured chant under her breath. It was fucking adorable.
Once she’d gotten the dirt out, she used a cotton swab to apply a thin layer of antibiotic ointment over the abrasion before taping a piece of gauze to cover it. She lifted her face to his. “I think that should do it.”
“ What, no lollipop?”
“ I’m all out of lollipops.” She raised up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “That will have to do. Now let’s take a look at your knee.”
“ Knee’s fine.” His voice sounded like he was grinding rocks together. Why the hell had he made the stupid lollipop comment? It almost sounded like flirting, and he didn’t fucking flirt .
Then she’d kissed him. A simple peck on the cheek and his brain had gone into system meltdown.
“ Owen—”
“ I said it’s fine.” He sounded like an ungrateful bastard, but there was no way in hell he could risk letting her put her hands on him again. He didn’t trust himself not to lose all sense of decency and toss her over his shoulder and carry her off to his bed if she so much as breathed on him again.
The sharp rapping at his door was a welcome distraction. “Let Sawyer in. I need to grab a shirt and shoes.”
When he returned wearing a hoodie and fleece-lined boots, Keeley was sitting at the table opposite Sawyer and sipping tea while she gave her statement.
Owen gave his, then got his laptop and pulled up video from the security cameras. Which made him furious all over again when he saw Keeley’s frightened reaction to the little shit threatening her with a knife.
But she’d kept her wits about her and tossed her purse. Then the footage showed Owen as a blur of movement launching himself at the kid.
While he made a copy of the video, Keeley poked around in his kitchen and soon the aroma of brewing coffee filled the air.
Sawyer gave a grateful thank you when she brought him a cup. She looked at Owen, lifting an eyebrow in question. Yeah, because he was too scary to talk to. At his nod, she filled a mug for him too.
Owen leveled his gaze at Sawyer. “Any thoughts why a kid who knew Keeley would try to mug her for her purse?”
“ Fernando’s not talking so we’ve got nothing yet. He’s a minor. We’ll have to notify Child Protective Services and get him a public defender. He’ll be held in juvenile detention while things get sorted out.” Sawyer turned to Keeley. “Anything you remember about him? ”
Keeley covered a yawn, shaking her head. “He was squirrelly like most eighth-grade boys. I think he got in trouble for something at the end of the year, but I don’t remember the details.”
It was nearly one a.m. and Owen didn’t like her looking exhausted with dark circles under her eyes. “I think we’re done for the night. Keeley needs to get home.”
Sawyer gave him a knowing grin. Owen didn’t even bother telling him to fuck off.
They trooped outside and down the stairs. Sawyer gave a brief nod before heading across the parking lot to his cruiser.