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Something about seeing her there, amid the chaos and fighting, snapped Holt back into perspective. He didn’t need an arrest tonight. He needed an explanation.
“One more time.” Holt eased up on the grip around Grant’s neck.
“I can’t breathe.” He coughed, nearly doubling over.
Holt waited for Grant to stop with the theatrics.
“Again.” Never one for an overabundance of words, Holt stuck with that.
“When you’re new, the expectation is you’ll stay around the bunkhouse. You’ve been going out and I was asked to make sure you were okay.” The guy managed to shrug from his awkward position.
Holt wasn’t impressed. From the way Lindsey frowned it didn’t look as if she believed the line either.
“How did you know I was here?” Holt asked.
Grant smiled. “The leader sees all.”
Now was not the time for enlightenment nonsense. “Try again.”
“There are rumors about you and Ms. Pike.”
It all sounded rational except that it wasn’t. Holt didn’t see how there could be gossip about anything, since the whole fake boyfriend thing had only come up last night. “Why not tell me today when we were up at camp?”
Lindsey snorted. “And if your visit is fact-finding and innocent, why not come to my front door?”
Yeah, Holt liked her point even better. “Answer that one.”
He eased back so Grant could sit up. When he stopped there, Holt dragged the guy to his feet. He was younger and bigger but needed hours of training to be effective. Despite the time at the campground, from what Holt could see no one had taught Grant or anyone those skills. And Holt had no intention of doing it now.
Grant shrugged. “I didn’t know if the rumors were true. I was trying to double-check.”
Lindsey made a half-strangled noise. “By looking through windows?”
Holt had known she’d hate that, but the reality check could turn out to be a good thing. She needed to understand the danger and the players. Sometimes novices in matters like this caused the most trouble. He needed her protected and ready. Though the fury pounding off her suggested she could handle herself just fine.
“Maybe we should call in the sheriff,” Lindsey said, selling it as if she thought law enforcement might help when she clearly didn’t. “He’s looking into a break-in here.”
“That was not me.” Grant held up both hands. “Checking up on you, that’s all. I swear.”
As if that didn’t make it bad enough. Holt had no idea why this kid—and close-up, Holt could see he was just that, maybe in his midtwenties—thought that admission got him anywhere. At camp he was the gung-ho type. Tonight he cowered.
“Did someone tell you to come here?” Holt danced around the main question but wondered if he needed some work on the skills, since Lindsey flinched.
“No.” Grant didn’t break eye contact. Didn’t get fidgety. “It was my idea.”
Holt almost wondered if that was true. Anyone with true skills and experience would have come up with something better.
Backing away, Holt gave the guy a bit of breathing room. “I’m with Lindsey.”
She frowned at him. “With?”
Holt refused to believe she didn’t understand. “Dating.”
“You’re staying here?” Grant asked the question with a shake in his voice.
“The point is that you do not have her permission or mine to be around here.” Holt decided to shake the kid. Dropped his voice low and menacing and shot Grant an expression that promised pain. “If I find you here again I won’t need the sheriff. Do we understand each other?”
Grant didn’t say anything. Just stood there, wide-eyed and unmoving.
“To be clear.” Lindsey kept glaring at Grant. “I’ll shoot you.”
Holt had to smile at that. “Yes, she will.”
“Okay, I get it.” Grant swore under his breath. “Stay away.”
“Right.” Holt stepped back, leaving a slim trail for the guy to escape the shed. “Now go.”
Grant didn’t hesitate. He bolted around them, smacking into a ladder and running out before Holt could say anything else.
Quiet returned to the property as tension ramped up around them. Holt tried to find the right words to make her understand he was in charge, always and unquestionably.
She faced him. “That went well.”
With that the anger whooshed right out of him. Something about seeing her with the gun and knowing she could and would use it if necessary had him relaxing. This woman would not hide under a bed. If threatened she’d come out fighting.
She got hotter with each passing second.
