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“Disrespect her again,Sheriff,” I warned, my voice lethal. “And you’ll be the next body burning.”
“Den—Denver,” he rasped.
I released him, and as he gasped for air, I felt eyes on us. I turned to find Beau and Lawson standing about three feet away, Beau glaring at Chase and Lawson chewing on chicken wing.
“Best do what he says,” Beau bit out.
Lawson chuckled. “Look, Sheriff, we protect our own here, you know that. The way I see it, Denver claimed her. That means she’s one of us. That means—”
“You fuck with her, you end up in pain,” Beau finished for him.
There was a feeling coming alive inside of me, a feeling I used to get when I looked at Mason. I shoved it away and looked back at Chase.
“Valerie made a deal with the devil to pay for her mom’s chemo. She never wanted to do this job, man. She was just a pawn. I refused to sell the ranch and Moonie fired her for it,” I explained.
“Moonie is in town,” he spat, his voice scratchy.
“We know,” all three of us answered him.
“Dad?”
The four of us turned to the sound of my boy’s voice.
Caleb poked his head around the corner of the building, his brown cowboy hat tilted too far back. “Is the pretty lady still here?”
My lips twitched. “Yeah, son.”
“Cool!” With that, he took off running, probably up to the house to see her. Jigs told me this morning that the boy spent half the evening talking about her. How kind she was. How pretty she was.
My gut twisted.
Caleb has never had a gentle woman in his life. His mother was…Cathy. That’s all I could say about that. His teachers were old ladies who, according to him just “wanted the kids to be quiet.”
He’d never really had a woman to talk to in his life, and that was partially on me.
Lawson leaned back and watched him go. “He’s out of earshot,” he said after a few seconds.
“You were saying?” I prompted, looking back at my old friend.
The one you just choked because he disrespected her.
“He’s snooping around town.”
“That’s what’s up your ass?” I raised an eyebrow in question
He looked at me. “What’s up my ass is that he’ s sinking his greedy claws into our town. He walked into the PD this morning and wanted to introduce himself to me.”
I bit out a harsh laugh. “The fucker is trying every angle he can.”
“He know about the development deal?” Lawson asked, throwing the chicken bone behind him.
“With Bart?”
We nodded once. Chase shook his head. “No, but he’s been at Tinkles bar every fucking night.”
My spine stiffened as my blood ran cold.
Chase caught it and it was his turn to nod.
