Chapter 16 #3
“Sam, no,” I start to say, but Derek chooses that moment to lunge at Luke from behind.
Sam doesn’t hesitate. He grabs Derek by the shirt and drives his fist into his face with enough force to snap Derek’s head back. Derek crumples again, this time staying down.
“Come on, get up,” Sam says cheerfully, flexing his knuckles. “Please. Give me a reason.”
Jessica finally finds her voice. “Stop! You’re going to kill him!”
“Don’t tempt us,” Luke mutters.
I watch Jessica hover over Derek, her white dress now stained with dirt and what might be blood, and I feel a deep satisfaction that probably makes me a terrible person. “You should probably get him to a hospital,” I tell her. “And then you should both go home.”
“You can’t just—” Derek starts to say, then thinks better of it when Sam takes a step toward him.
That’s when I hear the sirens. Someone must have called the sheriff. Within minutes, Sheriff Garrett arrives with Deputy Walsh, and the whole situation shifts into official territory.
Sheriff Garrett, a fifty year old veteran, steps out of his cruiser, takes one look at Derek sprawled on the ground sporting a bloody nose, split lip, and what’s going to be two spectacular black eyes, then surveys the rest of us.
Luke’s knuckles are scraped and bleeding, Sam’s got that telltale bruise from last night plus fresh scrapes, and Jessica’s white dress is now dirt-stained and torn.
“Well, hell,” he mutters, pulling out his notepad. “Got a call about a domestic disturbance—man threatening a woman, trying to force her into a car. That would be you, I’m guessing?” He looks pointedly at Derek.
Derek struggles to sit up, blood streaming from his nose. “They attacked me! Both of them! I want them arrested for assault!”
“That so?” The sheriff’s tone is neutral, but his eyes are sharp as he looks between Luke and Sam. “You boys want to tell me what happened?”
Luke and Sam exchange a look, their faces the picture of innocent concern.
“Strangest thing, Sheriff,” Luke says, shaking his head. “This guy showed up to talk to Hazel, but man, he just couldn’t stay on his feet.”
“Kept running around and falling over,” Sam adds with a perfectly straight face. “Face first into the pavement, mostly. We tried to help him up, but...”
Sheriff Garrett’s eyebrows climb toward his hairline. “Running and falling.”
“Over and over again,” Luke confirms solemnly. “Real clumsy.”
Derek’s face turns purple. “That’s bullshit! They’re lying! He punched me in the face!” He points accusingly at Luke.
“Now why would they do that?” Sheriff Garrett asks mildly.
“Because they’re psychopaths!” Derek sputters. “I came here to talk to my girlfriend—”
“Ex-girlfriend,” I interrupt firmly.
“—and they just attacked me for no reason! And that crazy bitch—” he gestures wildly at me, “—she’s completely unhinged! No wonder nobody can stand working with her!”
The temperature seems to drop ten degrees. Sheriff Garrett’s expression goes from mildly amused to ice cold in a heartbeat.
“Son,” the sheriff says, his voice now deadly quiet, “I’d real careful about the words you use to describe Miss Brennen. Real careful.”
Derek, oblivious to the danger, keeps ranting. “She’s a vindictive psycho who sabotaged our entire company! She can’t handle a real relationship with a successful man—”
Sheriff Garrett takes a step forward, his hand resting on his belt. “That’s enough.” His voice cuts through Derek’s tirade like a blade. “You just earned yourself an extra charge for harassment.”
“What? You can’t arrest me for telling the truth!”
“Watch me.” The sheriff’s eyes are like flint. “One more word about Miss Brennen and you’ll find out just how much I don’t like men who come to my town and disrespect our citizens.”
“I saw the whole thing, Sheriff!” Mrs. Patterson suddenly calls out from her fence next door, where she’s been watching the entire drama unfold with obvious fascination. “It was just so odd. That man just kept tripping over his own two feet! Bam! Right into the ground!”
Her husband Bob pops his head up beside her, nodding enthusiastically. “Happened at least three times that I saw. Maybe four. Never seen anything like it in my fifty years. Looked like he was possessed.”
“Some folks just can’t walk straight, I guess,” Mrs. Patterson adds helpfully.
Sheriff Garrett looks slowly from the neighbors to Luke and Sam, then down at Derek. His mustache twitches like he’s fighting a smile. “Sounds like you had a rough morning, son.”
Derek scrambles to his feet, swaying slightly. “This is insane! You can’t seriously believe—”
“Are you saying these upstanding citizens are lying?” Sheriff Garrett asks, gesturing to Luke and Sam.
“Yes! Obviously!”
Jessica finally finds her voice, climbing unsteadily to her feet with dirt smeared across her cheek. “He’s telling the truth! They beat him up! And she—” she points at me with a shaking finger, “—she attacked me! Grabbed my hair and threw me to the ground!”
“Now that,” Mrs. Patterson pipes up again, “I didn’t see. Must’ve happened when I went to get my binoculars.”
Bob nods seriously. “Missed that part too. But the falling down? Oh yeah, that was something else.”
Sheriff Garrett scritches something in his notepad, then looks up at Derek. “You want to file a complaint about your... coordination problems?”
Derek’s mouth opens and closes like a fish. “My coordination—? Are you kidding me right now?”
“Nope. Dead serious.” Sheriff Garrett’s expression doesn’t change. “Course, there’s also the matter of you showing up uninvited at someone’s home, making threats, and putting your hands on a lady who clearly didn’t want you here.”
“I didn’t threaten anyone!”
“Well now,” Mrs. Patterson pipes up again, “that’s not exactly true either. Bob and I heard you telling the young lady she was ‘coming with you’ whether she liked it or not.”
Bob nods vigorously. “Tried to grab her arm and drag her to the car. She had to pull away from him real hard.”
“Kept saying she had to get on some airplane,” Mrs. Patterson adds helpfully. “Didn’t sound like she wanted to go anywhere with him.”
Sheriff Garrett nods slowly, making notes. “So what I’m hearing is attempted kidnapping.” He looks up at Derek. “Sounds like you were trying to force Miss Brennen to leave with you against her will. That’s kidnapping where I come from.”
Derek’s face goes white. “That’s not—I wasn’t—”
“And assault,” Sheriff Garrett continues, flipping a page in his notepad. “Multiple witnesses saw you grab her and try to hit her. Before all that... falling down started happening.”
Jessica steps forward, her voice shrill. “This is ridiculous! You’re all covering for them!”
“Ma’am,” Sheriff Garrett says politely, “I’m just going by what I see and what folks are telling me.
And what I see is a man who apparently can’t stay upright and a woman who traveled across the country to help him harass someone.
” He closes his notepad with a snap. “Right. You two will have to come with me down to the station. I’m arresting you. ”
“On what charges?” Derek demands, as Deputy Walsh moves forward with handcuffs.
“Assault, trespassing, attempted kidnapping, and disturbing the peace,” Sheriff Garrett rattles off. “For starters.”
As Derek and Jessica are led away in handcuffs—Derek still protesting loudly and Jessica crying—Sam approaches the sheriff’s car.
“I’ll come with you to give my statement,” Sam says, then turns back to Luke and me with a grin.
Mrs. Patterson calls out one more time as the police car starts up. “Hope that fellow sees a doctor about his balance issues!” She catches my eye and gives me a deliberate wink.
I can’t help but smile back at her. “Thank you, Mrs. Patterson.”
Sheriff Garrett pauses at his cruiser, looking back at Luke with a knowing expression. “You take care now, Chief. And maybe... I don’t know... avoid any areas where clumsy people might be walking around.”
“Will do, Sheriff,” Luke says, managing to keep a straight face until both cars disappear around the corner.
Then it’s just the two of us standing in my parents’ driveway, surrounded by the aftermath of the morning’s chaos.
“Well,” I say, watching the sheriff’s car disappear down the street, “that was dramatic.”
Luke examines his scraped knuckles, before looking at me. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine.” I take his injured hand in both of mine, studying the damage. “Let me take care of this.”
We go inside where I clean his wounds with gentle efficiency while he sits at the kitchen table, watching me work.
His knuckles are scraped and already swelling, but nothing seems broken.
There’s something intimate about tending to his injuries that feels right in a way that makes my chest tight with emotion.
“You know,” I say, dabbing antiseptic on a particularly deep scrape, “you didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did.”
I look up at his face, noting the absolute certainty in his voice. “Luke—”
“He was going to hurt you, Hazel. Maybe not today, but eventually. Men like that—they don’t give up. They escalate.” His voice is quiet but steel-hard. “I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
I press a kiss to his injured knuckles, feeling his breath catch. A smile tugs at my lips as I continue cleaning the cuts.
“What are you smiling about?” Luke asks, his voice softer now.
I kiss his palm, then rest my cheek against it. “I liked you defending me. And I got a lot of satisfaction from dealing with Derek myself.” The smile widens. “It felt incredible to finally stand up to him.”
We sit in comfortable silence for a moment, the weight of everything that just happened settling around us. Through the kitchen window, I can see the afternoon light slanting golden across the yard.
Luke’s expression grows serious. “Why did you date him, Hazel? I’ve been trying to figure it out, and I just can’t see what you could have possibly seen in someone like that.”
I consider the question, trying to be honest with both of us.
“I was lonely. I missed home, missed my family.” I gesture around the familiar kitchen.
“I wanted to come home, but I thought if I found someone in LA, it would give me some kind of ties to the city. A reason to stay there instead of always feeling like I was just visiting my own life.”
I put the first aid kit back once I’m done with his hands, needing to do something.
“Derek and I were just colleagues at first. He was charming and fun, seemed genuinely interested in my work. I fell for him—or at least I thought I did.” I shake my head, remembering those early days.
“But after a while, I started noticing things. The way he took credit for other people’s ideas, how he treated people he thought were beneath him.
I knew he wasn’t what I thought, but I didn’t want to break up.
I’d invested so much in the idea of making it work. ”
I laugh, but there’s no humor in it. “Turns out he was just a rebound who ended up fucking me over. A three-year rebound from losing you.”
Luke is quiet for a long moment, processing this. When he speaks, his voice is rough with emotion. “I’m going to make sure you get everything back. The condo, your reputation, all of it.”
“I know you will,” I say softly, meeting his eyes. “I trust you.”
The words hang between us, weighted with everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve lost and found again. Luke leans forward and kisses me, gentle and sure, and I taste the promise in it.
When we break apart, I realize I’m still smiling. Really, truly smiling for the first time in months.
Luke glances at the clock on the kitchen wall and sighs. “I should head to the station. Make sure everything’s ready for tonight’s festival opening.”
“Go,” I tell him, squeezing his uninjured hand. “I’ll see you at six.”
He stands and pulls me up with him, his arms coming around me for one more kiss—deeper this time, full of promise and possibility.
“Save me a dance?” he murmurs against my lips.
“All of them,” I whisper back.
As we drive toward the festival grounds, the autumn light painting everything gold and beautiful, I finally understand what I’ve been running from all these years. Not Derek’s manipulation or city life or career pressure.
I was running from the possibility of having something real. Something worth fighting for.
But I’m done running now.