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“Sit,” he rumbles, and I have no clue why he feels the need to add the order when he simply pushes me into a chair when we’re in his office.
Rude.
He slams the door of his office shut and rounds his desk before he places two hands on it to lean forward while he barks, “Why are you there at every damn turn, Cassia? Always getting under my skin and pushing when I clearly told you to stay the hell away from me.”
I narrow my eyes, not knowing what the man is talking about. “Need I remind you I was living in this town before you and your kid moved here. You only became the sheriff mere months ago while I was damn well born here. So, excuse me when I–”
“Never fucking mind,” he suddenly snaps and lets himself drop into his chair and fires up his computer. “I’m going to arrest you. Maybe than the message will be loud and clear to enter your thick skull that you need to avoid running into me.”
“Charming,” I growl back. “Isn’t the sheriff supposed to make you feel safe instead of doing shit to make me hate you?”
He gives me a deadly glare in return and right now I’m so far gone, I don’t even care if he books me, fines me, or throws my ass in jail for a week.
“You know what? Read me my rights and make my fucking day more perfect. Let me help you along. My full name is Cassandra Viviane Madeline Peters. Day of birth,” I rattle off today’s date along with the year I was born and I can see his eyes widen with surprise.
Yeah, eat shit, sheriff while I blow out a few candles.
“It’s your fucking birthday?” he snaps.
“You really should stop spraying the word fuck around like confetti. You’re no longer part of a motorcycle club but a sheriff so you might want to stop with the biker attitude. Now me.” I glance down at my leather cut with the patches of Valorous Sally MC proudly displayed. “I can say whatever the fuck I want.”
“Answer my damn question,” he says as if he’s ten seconds away from losing his temper and I know he is because the vein on the side of his head is about to burst.
“I told you it’s my day.” I shrug. “Besides, didn’t you get the hint when I offered you a piece of pie too? Look, can we maybe not do this and get to the arresting part? I’m kinda done with looking at your face, it’s not as cheerful as I once thought it was.”
I hear another fuck tumble from the man’s lips. This one is muted, though. But our conversation is cut short when the intercom on his desk starts to buzz.
He reaches out and presses a button, a man’s voice fills the room. “You’re needed at the hardware store and your son’s school called. They can’t get a hold of you. Your kid is sick and needs to be picked up.”
Calvin grunts and removes his hand off the button, roaring three more “fucks” in a row. My heart tugs at the thought of Kai being sick and his father clearly needs to work. I can chip in like I did the first time I met them. It’s no bother, it’s not like I had anything planed today. Well, other than getting pie for everyone.
“Why don’t we strike a deal?” I offer. “Get these cuffs off me and put them on me later today or when you’ve handled everything and let me pick up Kai to put him to bed. I swear this isn’t about me playing mommy. It was never my intention to push myself into the kid’s life when I had to watch him the first time you had an emergency. We just got along and you made it clear you didn’t like–”
“Christ. I didn’t mean the shit I said that night at the barbecue, okay? I only meant to hurt you so you’d stay away. I don’t need you tempting me at every turn so I made an ugly remark about you trying to play mommy and how Kai didn’t need a substitute. You’re great with him and he fucking misses you. So, I guess it bit me in the ass because now I feel shittier than I did while I was trying to keep you at a distance.”
Wow.
“That’s a pretty dick move,” I state. “Even for you.”
Calvin rubs a hand over his face. Stepping away from the desk, he rounds it and leans in to remove the cuffs.
“I would really appreciate it if you could pick up my boy from school and take him home,” he roughly asks. “I would do it myself if I could and send a deputy to the hardware store but you know how old man Duke is, he doesn’t trust anyone but the sheriff himself to handle shit he reports.”
He’s right, Duke is almost eighty but still runs the hardware store himself and can be really fussy. I should let Calvin soak in his shit–and I really want to because instead of finding him sexy he’s now slipped fully into the asshole department–but I happen to like his kid.
I hold out my hand. “Give me the keys to your house. I’ll pick him up and get him to your home so he can lie down in his own bed. No one wants to be somewhere else when they’re sick, especially as a kid so I’d better take him home instead of taking him with me.”
He doesn’t say anything but drops a key ring into my hand. I shove the thing into my jeans pocket and spin around.
Opening the door, I’m about to walk out when I hear him say, “Thanks, Cassia. I owe you one.”
I glance over my shoulder and say in all sincerity, “Go shove a broomstick up your ass, Calvin. I ain’t doing it for you,” and slam the door shut behind me.
Jogging out of the station I head for my bike and quickly put on my helmet before hitting the throttle. The ranch is on the way to Kai’s school so I make a quick stop to exchange my bike for my truck.
Hudsyn, my president, is leaning against the fence of a pasture where a herd of Longhorns are grazing. I quickly fill her in and I know the sisters have something planned but she assures me it’s fine and to call if I do manage to get back in time. Yeah, a surprise birthday party is rarely a surprise in our MC.
For now, I’m heading to Kai’s school and when I’ve finally picked the little man up–without a hitch since Calvin called ahead to let them know he was sending me–I can tell the boy feels terrible. According to the school nurse Kai puked his guts out and he’s white as a sheet. I sigh in relief when I’ve parked the truck in front of Calvin’s modern farmhouse.
