Chapter 8
eight
. . .
LANE
“That’s not necessary, Lane,” Sutton protested, pulling her hand free from mine, the other remaining around her cat, some of her fire returning after the minor panic attack she’d just had. “I’ll call my brother and have him come get me.”
I snorted. Like Sean would drive down here in the middle of the night. “Absolutely not. You’re staying here, and that’s final.”
Sutton’s jaw set, her arms coming across her chest, eyes narrowing on me.
Damn, I loved that look. It made my dick hard. That determination, that fire—I’d recognized it in her long before she ever fully stepped into it. It was one of the many reasons I’d first fallen in love with her.
“Hate to break it to you, Chief, but you’re not the boss of me.”
Johns’ gaze ping-ponged between the two of us, but he ultimately raised his hands and said, “I’ll just, uh, leave you to it.”
“No!” Sutton said, jumping to her feet, Boots cradled against her chest. “I need a ride to town. I’ll hang out at the department until Sean gets here.”
Johns looked at me, and I shook my head.
Like hell was she leaving. Not when there wasn’t a single person in the world I trusted with her safety more than myself—even with a bum arm and still healing gunshot wound.
“Sorry Sutton. No can do.”
“What do you mean? You’re literally going right there.”
He shrugged, backing toward the door, ready to make his escape. “Boss’s orders.”
Then he was gone.
Sutton raced after him, but Johns was quick on his feet for such a big guy—though not as big as me. He peeled out of my driveway and down the lane, Sutton running and yelling futilely behind him.
When she spun toward the house again, she found me standing on the porch, watching her.
“You fucking prick.”
“A fucking prick I may be,” I agreed. “But I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“It’s not like I’m planning on staying at home and giving this fucker another shot at me!” she shouted. Then quieter: “I’m not that reckless.”
There was a lot to read between the lines of those four words, a callback to a different time, a different place. The last time her personal space had been violated, and she’d curled in on herself.
This version of Sutton was vastly different from her twenty-year-old self. I could see it in the set of her shoulders and the determination in her eyes.
She wouldn’t be backing down—not from me, not from anyone.
Fuck, she was beautiful.
“Come inside, sunny. Please. It’s late, and you’ve just been through an ordeal.”
The words were soft but firm. Demanding. I waited with bated breath to see if she obeyed.
Her head turned toward the woods, and though I couldn’t see her expression, I could guess she stared longingly at the path that brought her to me, debating the sensibility of braving it once again.
Eventually, when my bare feet were fucking solid chunks of ice attached to my legs, her shoulders slumped in surrender.
Atta girl.
“Just for tonight, right?” she said, wagging her finger in my direction.
“Right. Just for tonight.”
I’d let her believe that—for now.
When she nodded her assent, I headed back in, pain pricking my feet and hands when the warmth penetrated my skin. Once we were back inside and the door was closed behind us, Sutton shuffled her feet awkwardly, as though not sure what to do or where to go.
“Are you okay?” I asked, genuinely curious about the answer.
“I’m fine,” she snapped with a glare.
I’d been trying to extend an olive branch, but apparently Sutton wasn’t having it. In her eyes, at least for the moment, I was an asshole.
Goddamn right I was. There was no way in hell, not as long as I drew breath, I was letting Sutton out of my sight tonight. As long as she was safe, she could hate me all she wanted.
“Let me show you to the guest room.” I jerked my head toward the stairs, and she dutifully followed, though I noted she dragged her damn feet the entire way. Her fluffy grey cat remained curled in her arms like some sort of shield against me.
“If you need to shower or anything, there are already towels in the bathroom, which is right across the hall.”
“And where’s your room?”
I smirked. “Why, sunny? You wanna sleep with me tonight?”
“Actually just want to make sure I’m as far away from you as possible.”
Stop being mean to me, I silently begged. It’s making my dick hard.
“I’m on the ground floor on the other side of the house.”
“Good. Now leave.”
With anyone else, I would have pressed the issue. Would’ve shown them exactly how big of an asshole I could be. But I knew for Sutton, the animosity was merely a defense mechanism, so I let it slide.
We’d talk tomorrow, when she’d gotten some rest and had some time to collect herself.
Without another word, I backed out of the room and headed down to my own.
Once the door closed behind me, I sat at the foot of my bed, my head falling into my hands.
I pressed the heels of my palms deep into my eyelids, trying to rub out the image of Sutton in my driveway when she first arrived.
I hated myself for pointing my gun at her, for making what was a harrowing evening even worse.
She’d been so damn scared, her entire body trembling either from fear or cold. Likely both, if I had to guess. Her eyes had been wide, skin deathly pale, clutching that cat to her chest like he could protect her from the evils of this world.
He couldn’t, obviously. He was a fucking cat.
But I could, and I would.
I still couldn’t believe she’d braved the woods in the dark to come here. And now that she’d literally brought her troubles to my doorstep, I’d do everything I could to make them disappear.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
My phone buzzed with an incoming text, pulling me from my thoughts, and I reached for it.
TREY
All good?
He’d texted earlier when Sutton had first tripped the sensors, but I hadn’t responded, her appearance stealing all of my focus.
ME
Yep. False alarm.
TREY
Really? Because, unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, I’m pretty sure Sutton Rausch just showed up on your security footage.
ME
Better go get those eyes check, big brother. You’re going blind in your old age.
Trey didn’t respond, and I hoped it was because he was letting the subject drop.
I should’ve known better, though, because a few minutes later, my phone vibrated again with another message from him, though this one was sent in the brother group chat we rarely used because we all preferred phone calls—and we saw each other in person plenty anyway.
Lawless for Life
TREY
You guys will never believe who just showed up at Lane’s house.
CREW
I’m intrigued.
WEST
Bro??? It’s two o’clock in the morning??? So disrespectfully as possible, what the fuck?
FINN
Aww, was the little baby sleeping?
I snorted, unsurprised that all of them were awake, nor that Owen hadn’t replied. It was after four for him in Michigan, and he slept like the dead. My only hope was that the notifications didn’t wake his wife, Delia.
WEST
I need my beauty rest.
TREY
You NEED a swift kick in the ass.
CREW
Can we get to the point before I die?
TREY
Oh, right. So an alarm went off at Lane’s house half an hour or so ago, and I got up to check it. When I rewound the footage, I saw none other than Sutton Rausch showing up at Lane’s house
FINN
FUCKING FINALLY
ME
It’s not like that.
I didn’t know why I bothered responding; it wouldn’t do any good.
CREW
Suuuuuure, sheriff. What other reason could there be for her to show up at your house that late?
WEST
A booty call really is the only explanation.
I ground my teeth together in irritation. God, my brothers were fucking assholes.
ME
For your information, she had a break-in at her place tonight. She came here looking for help.
There, I thought smugly. That should satisfy them.
I was momentarily proven wrong.
FINN
So let me get this straight. Someone broke into her house three miles away, and instead of running to her neighbors to call for help…she came to you?
TREY
Walked there from the looks of it too. I didn’t see a car or headlights.
WEST
Has she left?
TREY
Nope
WEST
Playing house with a sexy little nursemaid, sheriff? Hot.
ME
Don’t talk about her like that.
WEST
I’ve got a competence kink and if “it’s not like that” maybe I’ll make a move like Trey did on Aspen
CREW
Shut your fucking mouth right now or I will MAKE you. That’s my WIFE, you asshole.
I chuckled. Over a year had passed since that particular incident, but it was Trey’s boneheaded move that had ultimately drawn Crew and Aspen together. Trey had apologized profusely, and everyone had moved on, though Aspen remained a bit standoffish with Trey.
West pressed on, undeterred.
WEST
Or maybe one of us should tell her you’ve got the hots for her so you’re finally forced to pull your head out of your ass.
ME
So help me, West, if you don’t shut the fuck up, I’ll tell Tyler about how you got wasted here last weekend and cried about how much you love her.
WEST
I DID NO SUCH THING!!!
I chuckled. Truthfully, he hadn’t. Yes, he’d gotten drunk, but he hadn’t cried about anything. We’d merely had a heart to heart about the state of our love lives. Trey had been here too, surprisingly forthcoming about his own issues.
But that wasn’t my story to tell. Suffice it to say each of us was suffering from our own form of unrequited love-shaped torture.
Thankfully, the comment about Tyler had the intended effect: it got them out of my hair and right into West’s. Trey went right along with it.
TREY
You totally did
FINN
why is this the first I’m hearing about it? You’re my TWIN, you know?????
I chuckled at Finn’s obvious petulance. The twins were thick as thieves, obviously. They’d always operated on a different plane than the rest of us. I was genuinely shocked Finn hadn’t used their freaky woo-woo twin shit to figure out how fucking down bad West was for Tyler already.
Or maybe he had and was being a good brother by not mentioning it.
Whatever, not my problem.
The conversation quickly shifted to my brothers giving West shit for his completely made-up show of emotion, and I reclined on my bed in the darkness, a shit-eating grin on my face.
Something West said had struck a chord with me, though, and now I couldn’t get it out of my head.
I did have the hots for a sexy paramedic, and if getting shot and nearly dying had taught me anything, it was that this life was fucking fleeting.
Maybe it was time I stopped dicking around and went after what I really wanted.