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I bit my lip to keep from laughing, knowing she figured my dad and uncles would take care of Murphy themselves. I might have felt bad for the poor man if my body weren’t aching so badly from how roughly he’d handled me earlier.
“He’s going to be begging for his mommy when I get done with him,” Ben muttered as he walked out, the door slamming behind him.
With the sheriff now gone, Aunt Gracie walked into the cell with me. “Are you okay? You look like hell, honey.”
“I put up a little bit of a fight when Murphy arrested me. I don’t think there is a single part of me that doesn’t ache right now.” Rubbing at my sore wrists, I sat down on the bench, too tired to continue to stand around. Who knew how long it would take for my uncle to post my bail.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“I thought if you knew the truth, you couldn’t defend me?” I asked with a tiny smile.
“Let’s take a time-out from me being your law
yer and just let me be your aunt for a moment. I can turn off the professional side of my head and forget anything you happen to say to incriminate yourself while in family mode.” Sitting beside me, she crossed her legs as she half turned to face me. “Were you and Davis dating?”
“Nope. He was just playing a game with me.” I felt my face heat with embarrassment at having to admit that out loud. A lump filled my throat, and I had to swallow hard a few times before it would go away. “I saw him earlier today, and he convinced me to come over tonight to talk. After asking Mom if she was okay with it, I decided to go. But…” Tears burned my eyes, and I lowered my lashes so she couldn’t witness just how gullible I’d been. “But when I showed up, the door was already ajar, and he was… He…”
Soft hands pulled my head down to her chest, and I couldn’t hold back the sob a second longer. “Okay, okay. Shh, it’s all right. I get the picture.”
“H-he played me,” I said with a whimper. “I was so s-st-stupid.”
“Guys are douchebags, honey. Not your uncle, of course, but at least ninety-eight percent of the male population is.” She rubbed one hand down my back, trying to comfort me. “Don’t worry about the bastard sheriff. You can do so much better.”
“I just want to go home,” I whispered against her shirt.
“I don’t know if you want to do that just yet,” she murmured, looking down at me with a guilty tinge to her cheeks. “Hawk called your dad. He’s not all that happy right now.”
A snort left me, and even though the tears were still spilling, I found myself laughing. “I bet. But I don’t care if Dad is mad or not. I just want a shower and to go to bed.”
She started to say something, but her phone chimed with a text message just as the door leading to the station opened again. Ben walked back in, his face grim as he approached my cell.
Aunt Gracie stood. “Hawk is waiting for us out front. Come on, we’ll drop you off on our way.”
By the time we got to the cell door, Ben was standing there waiting. “Baby, let me drive you home,” he said imploringly. “We need to talk.”
Scrubbing my hands over my still damp cheeks, I shook my head. Keeping my gaze on the wall over his shoulder, I refused to meet his eyes, too embarrassed to let him see just how much pain I was in. “I have nothing left to say to you. And anything you want to say to me, I seriously don’t want to hear.”
Muttering a curse, he took two steps toward me. I took three steps back, knowing if he touched me, I was going to start crying all over again. He kept coming, and I kept backing up until I connected with the cell’s wall. “Campbell is ruining my life,” he muttered, so low I barely heard him even as close as he was. “Everything that is going on with Paige and me is because of him. Nothing else. I swear to you.”
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you,” I gritted out between clenched teeth, trying and failing to keep my emotions in check. “My father told me he wouldn’t stand in my way if I wanted to be with you. He also told me you needed to respect my decision if I decided you weren’t what I wanted. Well, I don’t want you, Ben. Now leave me the hell alone.”
Brushing past him, I took the hand Aunt Gracie offered and clung to it as we walked away, the first tears falling before we even made it to the door.
Chapter 13
Ben
As the door shut behind Lexa and her aunt, I couldn’t hold back the rage-filled bellow demanding to be set free. My fist connected with the cell wall, and I pounded out my frustration and anger until I couldn’t feel my hand anymore.
This shit was getting out of hand, and I was losing control not only of the situation, but I was losing Lexa too.
Blood dripped from my knuckles, red droplets sprinkling over the stark-white wall. The pain in my hand did nothing to calm the beast wanting to be unleashed on the world right then, though.
As badly as I’d wanted Lexa to come home from New York, part of me wished she’d stayed a little longer. Then none of this would have happened. Paige would have been gone by next week, the investigation would have been over, and Campbell would have been out of all our hair.
The week before, when Paige showed up out of the blue, telling me she was going to help with the investigation into Campbell, I’d been pissed. She did plenty of work for her father, but I didn’t want her sticking her nose in this. I thought the attorney general would have picked someone from Creswell Springs so as not to draw attention to a newcomer. This town was too small for a newbie not to stick out like a sore thumb.
As I suspected, the second Paige stepped into the municipal office, Campbell smelled blood. To divert his attention, we decided to let everyone think Paige moved to town because we were trying to get back together, but Campbell hadn’t bought that at first. I still wasn’t sure he had. And now that Lexa was back, I didn’t think I could keep up the pretense.
