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I’d come into the police station get my restraining order against the woman currently screaming. When Wade and I had walked in, it was to see all hell breaking loose in the bullpen.
Why you ask?
Because Debbie didn’t like being accused of something that “she didn’t do” according to her.
Except we’d seen her do it. Mostly.
Her van had been parked in full view of the cameras that Wade had trained on the driveway, and there was no mistaking the letters on the license plates or the stickers on the back glass declaring her a member of the Bear Bottom PTA.
“All right, you’re all set,” Castiel said, handing me the paperwork. “Since she’s here, we’ll go ahead and inform her of her limitations when it comes to you. But, just sayin’, she’ll likely stay pretty far away after she was caught doing this.”
Wade grunted. “I doubt it.”
“Well, she didn’t make bail because she spit on the judge,” Castiel said, eyes twinkling. “And you know how ol’ Judge Painter is. He doesn’t tolerate this kind of behavior on the best of days.”
I tuned them out.
I was tired.
I hadn’t slept in well over twenty-four hours, and honestly, I was ready to go fucking home.
I was so tired that I couldn’t even work up any rage over the fact that she was likely responsible for burning down mine and Wade’s house. I was just happy that she’d been caught pretty much red-handed doing the same to my business.
My phone vibrated again, but I didn’t pull it out of my pocket this time.
I knew that it was someone wanting their money back—money I didn’t have to give.
But hopefully once this was all settled, I’d be able to file a civil suit against her that would generate the funds to repay all of the people who had so graciously donated.
“Let’s go home, honey,” Wade said, giving me a slight jiggle.
I blinked, unaware that I’d gone so far into my head.
“Okay,” I said, bringing my eyes up only to find Castiel staring at me with confusion.
“What?”
He didn’t say anything, only looked at me.
Not in the mood for his shit, either, I turned on my heel and started walking as fast as my rapidly deteriorating body could muster.
Wade caught up with me just as I passed the desk that Debbie was currently chained and cuffed to.
She saw me, and her eyes narrowed. “You bitch!”
I stopped, unwilling to allow this moment to pass.
“What did you do to the dogs that you stole?” I hissed.
Debbie’s lips twitched. “Had them put to sleep. The humane thing to do.”
I narrowed my eyes. “The dogs—the ones that I fight for—aren’t on death’s door. They’re older and have at least a few more years of good times left in them. They are not ready to die.”
Debbie scoffed. “Whatever. You don’t need to be taking care of any dogs. You’re pretty shitty at watching things that are important.”
I didn’t miss the underlying accusation.
“I’m sorry,” I told her. “I’ve already told you I’m sorry a hundred times. But, Debbie? You not watching your daughter wasn’t my fault. It was yours. I’m not sure why you can’t see that.”
With that, I left before I said something that I’d regret.
Wade stayed silent as well until we got home—to his home that had absolutely nothing in it still. The moment we got inside, he didn’t let me get more than a foot in the direction of the bedroom before he stopped me with a hand on my wrist.
I turned and didn’t stop moving until my face was buried in his chest.
“I just want it all to go away.” I moaned.
He inched my shirt up and let his palms smooth over the skin of my lower back.
“We’ll figure it out, baby,” he promised. “And when you’re done freaking out over this, we need to start looking at houses. We got our check from the insurance adjuster for it.”
I blew out a breath. “They covered everything?”
“Yep,” he promised. “Now all you need to do is find somewhere. Though, I was thinking if you were open to it, we might purchase some land and use the check to build the house.”
That sounded…divine.
“I like that idea,” I said sleepily, not realizing what exactly I was agreeing to—IE building a house with Wade, which smacked of permanence.
Then suddenly I was up in his arms.
Wrapping my arm around his neck, I tried to ignore the fact that he was limping heavily and not as steady on his feet as he used to be.
It was only when I jolted hard that I said, “Maybe you should put me down.”
“Capo decided not to move out of the middle of the floor and I had to sidestep him and shifted you in my arms as I did,” he explained. “I wasn’t almost falling.”
I snorted. “You don’t know what I was thinking.”
