Chapter 11
SHAW
“Thanks.” I took the beer bottle from Presley.
“You’re welcome.” She sat in the chaise lounge by my side, the hinges squeaking as she kicked her feet up.
“This is a nice yard.” I tipped the top of my bottle toward her lawn, then took a swig.
The grass was green and lush, a carpet as nice as some fairways I’d played at golf resorts.
It was almost out of place here in this little neighborhood.
Or would have been if her other neighbor’s yard weren’t exactly the same.
There was no fence back here, and the grass flowed in a green wave across property lines.
Except the green of my lawn wasn’t nearly as brilliant.
“My neighbor on the other side owns a small landscaping company,” she said. “We trade. I do his bookkeeping and he takes care of my yard.”
“Ah.” Tomorrow I’d call Juno and have her hire the guy.
We drank our beers, listening to the subtle noises around the block. A kid laughed. A lawn mower rumbled. Birds chirped. Our two chairs were the only thing Presley had on the square deck that jutted out from the sliding glass door off her dining room.
The evening was warm, and though she’d positioned the chairs in a patch of shade, I was grateful for my white linen shirt and pair of cargo shorts.
Presley was wearing a pair of shorts that, for once, didn’t need a belt to keep them on her frame.
They were black and fit tight to the curves of her hips, exposing those mouthwatering, trim legs and golden skin.
When I’d spotted her beside her Jeep earlier, my eyes had zeroed in on her legs, stirring my dick to life.
Her shirt was baggy over the shorts, more like a man’s T-shirt than the normally tight tops she wore.
If it hadn’t had a vintage pink and orange flower on the front, I would have worried the shirt was her ex’s.
She’d tied it in a knot at her side, showing the smallest triangle of skin above the waistband of those shorts.
I was drooling into my beer, feeling like a lucky son of a bitch that I’d come home at just the right moment to catch her. I still wasn’t sure how I’d scored a pizza invitation, but I was taking it.
“It’s your birthday.”
Presley nodded. “Yep.”
“No big plans or a party with your friends?”
“I don’t celebrate my birthday.” Her tone was crisp and cool, that subject closed.
She’d told me it was her birthday but she didn’t want to talk about it. Interesting. I’d play along.
At this point, I wasn’t going to push anything that might make her kick me off her deck. After she’d run out of Stockyard’s last night, I’d figured she was done with me for good.
Dacia’s stunt had been typical, something I should have expected. She’d seen the desire I had for Presley and, since she’d been having a rough day, decided to torment someone else.
As I’d eaten my burger and she’d twirled a french fry in a dollop of ketchup, never actually eating the damn thing, I’d told her that if she ever put her mouth on me again, I’d blacklist her from my social circles and do everything in my power to get her fired from Dark Paradise.
That had shut her up.
Dacia might be a snake, but she wasn’t dumb. She knew I had a broad network of connections in this industry and I was not fucking around.
“Sorry about last night,” I said.
Presley shrugged. “For what?”
“For Dacia.”
“It’s fine.” She took a drink.
I shifted so I could look at her square on. “There’s nothing between Dacia and me. She saw the way I looked at you and decided to play a game.”
“Okay.” Presley kept her eyes forward, but the corner of her mouth lifted.
One of these days, I’d do something to make her smile and laugh. She’d be gorgeous, smiling with no walls in place. “So what was the deal with Leo?”
She sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got nothing to do tonight.”
Presley stayed quiet, something I was learning didn’t necessarily mean she was shutting me out. She was simply careful with her words and cautious with her trust. I respected that. I didn’t trust many with the details of my past either.
“I was engaged,” she said, letting the words hang in the summer air. “Jeremiah decided to break it off with me on our wedding day by forgetting to show up at the ceremony.”
I winced. Leo had told me as much yesterday, but it hurt to hear the pain and humiliation in her own voice.
And it still made no sense. Who would leave Presley?
What kind of an asshole would break up with someone on their wedding day?
What kind of prick didn’t turn up for her?
“And Leo settled the score with his fists.”
She nodded. “It’s a little more complicated than that, but yeah.”
“Is there, um . . . something with you and Leo?”
“No. Definitely not.” She barked a laugh. “He’s the annoying older brother I never had.”
The air rushed from my lungs. Thank fuck. That hug had been bothering me since yesterday morning. It had seemed intimate, but now that I replayed it again, maybe I’d read too much into it. Maybe it had been a tight hug between friends. Maybe it looked like that when I hugged my sisters too.
“Can I admit that I was jealous yesterday?”
The color rose in her cheeks. “Can I admit I was jealous too?”
My gaze dropped to her pink lips. My tongue wagged behind my teeth, desperately wanting to be set free, but I swallowed hard and tore my eyes away.
This woman was testing the limits of my restraint.
This woman might push me over the edge.
“How was your beer with Chief Rosen?” Presley asked.
“Fun.” I grinned. “He’s a good guy, and I appreciate him humoring me. He told me some interesting stories about Clifton Forge and being a cop here. It was kind of like old times. Turns out, some idiots are just as stupid in Montana as they are in California.”
“Do you ever miss being a cop?”
“Some days,” I admitted. “It was a stressful job, but rewarding. I miss feeling like I do a little bit of good every day.”
I tried to make up for my lack of civil service through donations. Every year I gave money to different inner-city charities, especially those that helped kids.
“What was the best day you had as a cop?” Presley asked.
“The best day? Easy. The day of the school bus.”
“Really?” She sat up straighter and shifted so her knees were aimed my way. “I would have thought it was the hardest.”
“It was also the worst day. I’ll never forget all those crying faces. Seeing that guy with the gun. Those kids . . .” That day, I’d learned what true fear looked like. It had nearly sent me to my knees.
Her eyebrows came together. “Then how was it the best?”
“They lived.”
Understanding dawned on her face and she reached over, placing her hand on my forearm for the briefest touch.
Those kids might have been traumatized, but they were alive. Seventeen lights shining in the world.
“I hear from them sometimes. Or their parents. I have a secret Instagram account under a fake name, and I follow most of them.” Once I’d made my first million, I’d also set aside money to fund their educations. If there was a way I could help them succeed in life, I’d do what I could.
“What happened that day? Can you talk about it? It’s fine if you don’t want to. I can’t imagine it’s easy to relive.”
“It’s okay.” I hadn’t spoken of that day in years, but I had this overwhelming urge to confide in Presley, maybe because I trusted her with my secrets.
I trusted so few people, and it didn’t come naturally.
Presley was . . . different. Special. I looked at her and saw a safe harbor. A vault. She guarded the people at the garage so fiercely that I wanted a sliver of that loyalty too. And she was asking because she wanted to hear it from me, from my perspective.
Most people assumed they knew the whole story from the news. They made assumptions about how it had gone down. So rarely did anyone ask for my point of view.
The last time I’d spoken of it had been with one of my sisters. Becca had wanted to know the details about six months after I’d resigned from the force. Just like Matine and Astrid, she thought it was why I’d quit.
Only Mom, Dad and I knew the truth.
The day I’d quit was also the last day I’d spoken to my father. Something else my sisters were sure had to do with the bus.
“It was just a normal day,” I said. “Started my shift early, right as the sun was coming up. I was on patrol that day and had a new partner, Margaret. It was her second year and she’d just transferred to my precinct. I was the senior officer but we were both young. Want to hear something stupid?”
“Sure.”
“Promise not to judge me too harshly?”
“Oh my God,” Presley groaned. “Did you sleep with your partner?”
“No.” I laughed. “I most definitely did not sleep with Margaret. She was—is—beautiful, but we were definitely not attracted to each other.”
“Okay, so what am I going to judge you for?”
“I was glad to be paired with a female officer because I thought I’d get to show her the ropes. That I was already superior because I was a guy.”
“Yeah.” Presley frowned. “I’m judging you.”
“As you should.” I lifted a hand. “In my defense, I was a closed-minded idiot. But I was an idiot who learned. Margaret taught me a lot that morning, and after the school bus, I started to see things differently. I saw my sisters differently. My mom too. I opened my ears and listened to their opinions, not assuming mine were already right.”
Because Margaret was strong and sure. Because Margaret was brave and balanced. Because Margaret had saved those kids. And because I admired her.
“Still judging me?” I asked.
“A little.” Presley smirked. Some of those qualities I saw in Margaret were staring back at me with vivid blue eyes.