32. Harlan
Chapter 32
Harlan
R age, fear, and anger turn my vision red at the piece of shit sitting across from me. The metal handcuff jangles from where he fidgets against the chair.
Sean Carlisle. Disgraced cop. Abuser. Piece of shit.
After reading him his rights and cuffing him, I made sure that Maisie and Audra were okay before leaving her with my brothers to deal with this piece of shit.
Cassie sits down at the table next to me with a notepad and pen. “Mr. Carlisle, I’m just going to ask you some questions.”
“I’m not saying shit. I want a lawyer.”
He glares at me before his eyes flick away. I shouldn’t even be in this room with him. Not with my relationship with Maisie. Not if I want him to go behind bars for a very long time.
“You don’t have to say anything.” I snarl. “We’ve got more than enough to ship your ass back to Oklahoma and that bench warrant means you won’t see outside of a jail cell for a long time. ”
“Fuck you.” He spits.
“No thanks. And after the charges Maisie brings up against you with all her evidence, I don’t think you’ll see the outside of a cage for even longer.”
Maisie’s name on my lips makes his features tighten in anger. “She doesn’t have shit. You don’t have shit.”
I shake my head at the pathetic piece of garbage in front of me. “She does have shit. Pictures, notes, timestamps of every time you put your fucking hands on her. You’re done.”
The color draining out of his face gives me a primal sort of satisfaction. The fear dancing in his eyes makes me want to feed more of it to him.
“I just have one question. How’d you find her?”
Sean starts to laugh. “You want to know how I found that cunt after searching for her for more than a fucking year? Some fucking fancy douchebag found me on social media, and started asking questions about her, something about him running for sheriff and needing ammo against his opponent.” He sneers at me. “Against you. I put two and two together after that.”
My hands ball into fists under the table, and I shove down the rage that wants to beat this asshole’s face in and then find Cormac and beat his face in too.
I nod to Cassie and stand.
“Mr. Carlisle. You’ll be detained here until we can arrange for you to be moved back to Oklahoma in accordance with the warrant for your arrest.”
Sean starts screaming and yanking on his restraints. I don’t bother to listen to any more of it as I make my way out of the conference room. Sending in deputies to help Cassie move the waste of space to a cell, I start the process of contacting the authorities back in Tulsa and filing the paperwork to get that shit stain out of my county, my state.
A quick call to the mayor informs me that Cormac is staying at his family’s house.
Time to end this shit once and for all.
I knock on the door to the farm-style ranch house. My fists clench and my molars grind while I wait for the door to open.
Cormac opens the door and my temper snaps. All the fear and rage I felt after finding Maisie scared at the hands of her ex. I reach forward and grab him by the collar of his shirt to yank him out of the house. Shoving him against the door, I get in his face and snarl, “You piece of shit.”
“Hey!” Phillip Lewis calls.
I release Cormac with a shove.
“Harlan, what is the meaning of this?” The bite of his father’s voice tears my attention away from Cormac.
“Mr. Lewis. I apologize. I shouldn’t have put my hands on your son.” I turn back to Cormac. “Sean Carlisle found Maisie and attacked her today.” I watch as his eyes cut away.
“What? What does Cormac have to do with that? What is going on?”
“What? Nothing to say, Cormac? Don’t want to explain to Daddy about how you looking for dirt on me lead my woman’s abuser to find her and assault her today?” I snap out, the anger in my chest not abating an iota.
“Someone better start telling me what’s going on,” Phillip says while looking at his son. I break down the situation as best as I can, without going into too much detail about Maisie’s ex. About the abuse all the way through today, and Sean trying to take my woman from the fucking grocery store.
“I’m sorry for her. Is she okay now?” he asks after cutting a glance at his son.
“A little shaken up, but fine.” The need to get through this so I can go home to her pulses through me. My brothers are with her now at my house. And they’ve texted me a few times, but I need to put eyes on her. I need to touch her and pull her into my arms to make sure she’s okay.
“And your insinuating that my son had something to do with this man showing up in Everette today?”
“Yes, sir. During questioning of Mr. Carlisle, it was discovered that Cormac had a hand in helping him find Maisie Williams.”
Phillip’s eyes widen for a flicker of a minute with irritation and then he locks down his expression. “Is that so?” he asks, his tone deceptively calm.
Cormac says nothing. Sulking against the wall.
“Yes, sir. And I have to be honest, I don’t doubt that it happened exactly the way Mr. Carlisle is claiming.”
“You believe the word of a criminal over my son?” His eyebrow cocks and the same haughty disdain that his son throws around covers his face.
I snort.
“In this case, sir, yes I do. Maisie’s been living under the radar for more than a year, and it’s not a coincidence that the second she comes to town her abusive ex finds her.”
His jaw tenses at the implication, and I go in for the kill.
“And as Ms. Williams elected to file charges against Mr. Carlisle, there was an ongoing investigation at the time Cormac shared Ms. Williams whereabouts with Mr. Carlisle. Which could be argued as interfering with an investigation, not to mention putting her safety at risk.”
He takes a breath before saying, “And I presume you want something from me, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”
“Yes sir.” I point a finger at Cormac. “I want him to stop. It’s one thing to run for sheriff of Everette, it’s another thing to put one of it’s residents in danger, and that’s what his actions did. In exchange for not charging Cormac with his interference, I’d like his and your promise that he won’t be a problem anymore.”
The offer churns in my gut. But even I know the limits of the law. Slapping Cormac’s wrists for interfering with an investigation will go nowhere quick. Not with the influence his father has in this county. And it would just wave a red flag in front of Cormac’s face and potentially make things worse. As much as the offer sticks in my craw, this is the best I can do for hitting Cormac where it hurts.
Right in the purse strings that his daddy controls.
“Dad,” Cormac says, but Phillip stops him with a slash of his hand.
“Not a word. Go inside,” he orders, his tone glacial.
Philip’s jaw clenches and his eyes narrow. Once the door shuts behind Cormac, he says, “That won’t be a problem. I’ll have a word with my son, and I assure you he won’t be a problem any longer.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Just one question.”
“Yeah?”
“I can assume that his pulling out of the sheriff’s election was a result of… this?”
“You’d have to ask him or the mayor the particulars behind that.” I dodge the thorny topic before holding out my hand. “Thank you for your time. I hope we won’t have any cause to do this in the future?”
He shakes my hand. “We won’t.” He assures me.
I turn and walk down the porch steps before climbing back into my SUV.
My phone has multiple text messages. Seeing the group chat notifications, I toggle through the messages from my deputies keeping me updated on Sean’s booking process. He won’t be in Everette for long with how fast we’re pushing this through, and that’s the best I can hope for in this situation.
I glance at the messages from my brothers as I climb into my department SUV and make my way home.
The smell of meat sizzling on the grill wafts through the air as I climb the steps to my front door. Laughter sounds beyond the door, and I step inside, hanging my hat and utility belt on the peg by the door before unholstering my weapon and locking it in the lockbox on the table.
My brothers are crowded around the counter and table in my kitchen trying to sneak food off a platter that Maisie’s prepping. Dad’s standing at the grill on the back deck. Boone’s got Audra in his arms as Jem opens a bottle of wine.
Maisie laughs at something Boone says. Her head tips back, exposing the delicate line of her throat, and I want to taste her there. Taste the joy that she finds in every moment.
Her eyes meet mine, and the love shining through her gaze to me warms every part of my heart.
“Har.” Her voice rings through the room, a warm smile dancing on her lips. Her, here in my kitchen, surrounded by our family.
This is my forever.
Loading the last of the dishes into the dishwasher, I set it to start and turn. Maisie’s wiping down the counter when I tug her into my arms.
“Not too bad for our first family barbecue,” she says, her head tipping back to smile at me.
There was the obligatory discussion on what’s happening with Sean, when it came out that Sean was Maisie’s ex and he was abusive, my brothers looked ready to commit murder. I would have been right behind them if I didn’t trust the justice system to take care of the problem. The evidence that Maisie has and the warrant for his arrest are more than enough to kick him to the curb and keep him out of our life. After commandeering the leftovers, Dad and the rest of the gang took off. Jem and Boone loaded Audra up in their rig for a sleepover, and now I have Maisie all to myself for the night.
I shake my head. “Hate to break it to you Sunshine, but that was just the first in a long line of my brothers bugging us for dinner now that they know how well you cook.”
She giggles. The horror of the day nowhere to be found in her happiness. In the unguarded relief shining through her to be finally done with the nightmare of her past. “I like cooking, I especially like cooking for your family.”
“They’re yours too.”
She cocks her head to the side before a small smile curls her lips again. “Yeah, they kind of are, aren’t they?”
“Everything I have is yours. If that’s what you want.” I drop my mouth to hers in a kiss to curb the nerves that started plaguing me when I realized with Sean behind bars, she can leave and still be safe .
She doesn’t have to stay in Everette anymore. She doesn’t need me to keep her safe. Though I want her to.
I want to be her shield from the world. To hold her close and love her and Audra hard. To build our own family, to make our own path.
The fear is mostly unfounded. She and I have been on the same page, in step with each other over the last few weeks. I don’t get the feeling that she’s going to leave, but with the certainty that he can never get to her again, what if that changes things?
I’m holding my breath as she leans back, but instead of doubt, there’s nothing but warm love in her gaze.
“I want that. I want yours to be mine and mine to be yours,” she murmurs.
“Yeah? Now that it’s finally over, you could go back to Oklahoma and reconnect with friends, with your old life.”
She’s shaking her head before I can complete the thought, but what kind of man would I be if I were to selfishly try to keep her here with me?
Not much of a man at all.
And I want to be a man, specifically her man.
“Harlan Calhoun, are you trying to get rid of me?” she asks with a saucy smirk.
I shake my head hard. “No, ma’am. If I had it my way you’d be tied to my bed for the rest of your life where I can keep you in a happy pleasure drunken daze.”
Heat ignites in her eyes at the comment, and she threads her arms around my waist, tipping her head back to keep her eyes locked on mine.
“I don’t know why you’re saying that like it’s a bad thing.” The throaty purr sets my nerves on fire with want.
“Stay with me Maisie. Be my family. Let me be your family. Let me share my crazy family with you until it, until everything is ours .”
Her arms come up to rest around my neck, tugging me down into the heaven that is her mouth.
Whispering against my lips, she says, “Yes.”