25. Felicity
FELICITY
Iwas still smiling when we walked downstairs.
Which honestly felt insane considering cartel assassins were circling Eagle River,
Corrupt federal officials wanted me dead, and there was currently a screaming, a dirty marshal tied to a chair in the tavern below.
But Hersh had kissed me like sixteen years never happened.
And somewhere between the yellow kitchen and the hidden ring…
my heart started believing in impossible things again.
The second we stepped into the tavern, every eye turned toward us.
Trigger looked entirely too smug.
Wolf took one glance at my face and muttered:
“Oh yeah. They’re definitely back together.”
Heat rushed into my cheeks instantly.
Hersh didn’t even deny it.
Traitor.
Tate looked mildly exhausted by all of us.
Ava just blinked once before muttering:
“Well. Emotional trauma bonding works fast around here.”
Isabel looked between Hersh and me with the tiniest smile I’d seen from her yet.
And somehow that alone made the entire room feel lighter.
Then Vaughn ruined it.
“You stupid bitch.”
Every ounce of warmth vanished from the tavern instantly.
Hersh stopped moving beside me.
Dead still.
The kind of stillness that came before something terrible.
Vaughn laughed weakly through swollen lips.
“You think this ends with some cowboy love story?” Blood streaked down his chin as he sneered at me. “They’ll carve that Ranger apart in front of you.”
Wrong thing to say.
Very wrong thing.
Trigger physically winced.
“Oh, buddy…”
Wolf actually stepped back from Vaughn’s chair.
Not helping him.
Giving Hersh room.
“Hersh,” I whispered quickly.
Too late.
He crossed the tavern in three calm terrifying strides.
No yelling.
No threats.
That somehow made it worse.
Vaughn saw it too.
Because his confidence started slipping immediately.
Hersh crouched slowly in front of him.
“You know,” he said quietly, “I’ve been trying real hard to behave tonight.”
The only sound was the rain hitting the roof.
Vaughn swallowed.
Good.
Fear looked better on him.
“But then you keep talking to her,” Hersh continued softly, “like she belongs to people who hurt her.”
Emotion climbed hard into my throat.
Because nobody had ever defended me like this.
Nobody.
Vaughn tried to recover some of his smugness.
“You have no idea who you’re fighting.”
Hersh smiled slightly.
Cold.
Terrifying.
“Neither do you.”
And for the first time since arriving?—
Eric Vaughn looked genuinely scared.
Tate finally stepped forward before the homicide actually happened.
“Alright,” the sheriff said firmly. “Everybody breathe.”
Trigger looked disappointed.
Wolf looked more disappointed.
Ava dragged one hand down her face tiredly.
“We need information,” she said. “Not a body.”
“Debatable,” Trigger muttered.
Hersh ignored all of them.
His eyes stayed locked on Vaughn.
“Who sent the sedan?”
Vaughn stayed quiet.
Hersh nodded once slowly like he expected that.
Then casually reached down?—
—and yanked the chair leg sideways hard enough to slam Vaughn face-first into the floor.
The crack echoed through the tavern.
I gasped softly.
Isabel looked horrified.
Trigger looked impressed again.
“Blaze,” Ava snapped.
“What?” he asked calmly. “He slipped.”
Wolf turned away immediately because he was absolutely hiding laughter.
Tate rubbed both hands over his face.
“I’m losing control of this entire town.”
“You never had control,” Trigger pointed out helpfully.
Vaughn groaned against the floor.
Blood smeared across the wood beneath him now.
Hersh crouched beside him again.
Still calm.
Still horrifying.
“Try again.”
Vaughn spit blood toward the floor.
“You think protecting her matters?” he rasped. “You’re already too late.”
Fear stabbed through me instantly.
Hersh noticed immediately.
Always immediately.
His head turned slightly toward me.
Just enough.
Just one glance.
But it softened him instantly.
God.
How could the same man look at me like that while threatening someone at the same time?
Then Vaughn laughed again.
Weak.
Ugly.
“You should ask her what she really saw in that garage.”
The room stilled.
My pulse stopped cold.
No.
Vaughn looked straight at Hersh.
“She never told you the worst part, did she?”