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“It’s not up to Holly, anyway. When a crime is committed with a weapon, the state makes the charges, not the victim.” Jasmine spoke up angrily. She did not like what Gerald was asking, and neither did Holly. Pete was a violent man and should not be running free. Was his family blind?
“Who are you, her lawyer?” he asked with an attitude.
“Yes, I am.” Jasmine answered coldly. “So I must ask you to leave my client alone. You should be directing all this to the sheriff.”
“I have,” he stated with anger. His brown eyes narrowed as he looked at Jasmine’s red shorts and black tank top. He looked back at Holly and her similar outfit. The look in his eyes gave her the creeps. The jerk was checking them out. Suddenly, she felt cold and threatened. “I got nowhere with the sheriff, so I came to see if you had more sense than that oaf.”
“It’s out of my hands, Mr. Ferguson. From what I have been told your brother has a long record,” Holly responded calmly. “Maybe he should have gotten some help long ago.”
“We had no idea it was that bad.” His voice got louder. “I can see what a stuck-up bitch you are. I told my mama it would do know good to plead our case with you.”
He turned and walked away. Holly watched him hop on a bike and ride away. “That was a great start to the day.”
Jasmine stood up, looking furious. “The nerve of that guy to even ask you, to act like Pete did nothing.”
Holly stood up, feeling a little unsettled by Gerald Ferguson’s visit. How did he know who she was, or that she was jogging at the park?
She had to shower and change for work. She dismissed her troubled thoughts. “I know. Let’s get out of here.”
As they walked to their cars, Holly had a feeling she had not seen the last of Pete’s brother.
* * * *
Matt was
fuming mad when he heard from Drake what happened at the park. They were getting ready to start their patrol and had just left the station. Matt knew Gerald Ferguson. He was a carbon copy of his brother Pete. Noah had been wanting to arrest him for selling meth, but Gerald was smart and never got caught with the goods on him. Matt was sure the mother knew, but since both her grown sons lived with her and paid her bills, she did nothing. Matt was sure she approved of their activities, since it allowed her not to work herself. Now, when it was too late, she wanted to help the younger son.
“I know. That punk is lucky I wasn’t there,” Drake complained. “I told Jazz the next time she sees him, she needs to call me. I have a few things to say to him.”
“I would love to have a chat with him myself. Holly is much too nice and was probably polite. She should’ve told him to fuck off.” Matt growled, hating the thought she had been scared by Gerald. He wanted to find her and check on her, but the last time had not gone so good. She’d sounded so bitter, and he knew her pain went deep. He hadn’t been able to sleep since.
Drake laughed. “Not her style, or Jasmine’s, either. I told Adam about it, though, and Liam is walking Holly out to her car tonight.”
Matt wanted to protest that Holly belonged to him. He should be the one taking care of her. All his protective instincts rose one hundred percent. He had been such a dumbass to give her up. Now she wouldn’t give him the time of day, and he had no one to blame but himself. It was a depressing thought.
“Let’s go drive by the empty fields. If we have any luck, Gerald and his buddies will be hanging out by that abandoned barn,” Matt suggested, cheering up. “I feel like chatting with him.”
Drake chuckled and agreed. He turned the corner and headed out toward the outskirts of town.
Chapter 5
Holly was on the phone with her sister later that night. “I swear it wasn’t that big of a deal, Faith. Gerald is a jerk, but he did not break any laws by approaching me, and he left right away. I am glad Jasmine was with me. She was the one to run him off.”
Faith was worried when she heard what happened. She was also upset because she found out from Adam, who had been told by Drake. “I wasn’t going to upset you now when you are in a delicate condition.”
“Delicate condition? Bull. I am not a fragile flower,” she protested. “I already had this talk with my husband. Don’t make me come over there and have it with you, too.”
Holly laughed. She could imagine Adam wanting to treat her sister like a piece of glass, but Faith was the strongest person she knew. She would never settle for that. “No ma’am, you don’t. Liam walked me to my car, and Matt came by to make sure I was okay, too.”
“Oh, really? And did you let him check under your bed, too?” Faith teased. Holly suspected she did not do a good job of hiding how she felt about the sexy deputy.
Holly snorted and rolled her eyes. “No way. He checked the yard and all my windows, but I would not let him in my house. I told him it was no big deal. Gerald was angry, but he left after calling me a stuck-up bitch. Not like that is the first time I’ve heard that word.”
“You should have let Matt in. Noah thinks he still cares about you. He was just scared because his feelings for you went deep. Men are not as strong as us women,” Faith remarked. Holly heard Adam say something in the background, and Faith chuckled.
“I meant emotionally, babe,” she said to her husband.
Holly felt her cheeks warm up at the thought that Matt had feelings for her. Her head ruled it out right away, but her heart wanted to believe. “Maybe he feels lust, but he doesn’t care for me. I have seen him on several dates over the last months. I saw him with Linda Sanchez a few weeks ago.” Linda was a spoiled, selfish woman who looked down on the people of Red Hook even though she lived among them, too. What could Matt see in her?
