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I strode over to her and pulled her roughly into my arms. “It doesn’t matter. I will protect you. Brent will kill to protect you. We both will. I know what is running through your pretty head right now. Don’t do it.” I knew my voice was a plea. I wasn’t above begging her to stay.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the tracker. “I need you to keep this on you at all times. Put it somewhere it won’t be easily found.” I thought of the way she said he had stripped her naked and growled. “Maybe we can clip it into your hair.”
She just nodded, already looking defeated. “I should go. Just being here is putting you and everyone else I’ve come to love at risk.” She sobbed once, then drew in a breath, trying to steady herself. “I’m putting Grace at risk.”
Mom stomped over and yanked Casey by the arm, pulling her into a motherly hug. “Now you listen to me, darlin’. Nothing is going to happen to me. It’s not going to happen to you either, and you know why?” She palmed Casey’s cheeks and gave her a look of confidence and determination. “Because my son and his man—your men—will protect you. They won’t ever stop until you are safe.” She brushed her hand over Casey’s hair thoughtfully. “Now, let’s get that tracker into your hair so everyone can relax, okay?”
Casey nodded again, letting out another sob, then collapsed into my mom’s arms.
Thirty-Three
CASEY
I didn’t wantto be there. I didn’t want to be at the diner, but I especially didn’t want to be in this town, putting the people I’d come to love at risk. The itch to run, to jump on the first bus out of town, was barely contained. The thought of anyone getting hurt… because of me. Against all my instincts to get away, I was going to trust my men. Ineededto trust them. I just hoped I didn’t regret it. I honestly couldn’t see how they could protect me from a ghost.
There was now a uniformed officer sitting in the same booth I had taken on the first day I arrived in town. He was around my age and very polite, calling me ma’am like I was an old lady. He had a boyish type of appearance with light brown hair and soft brown eyes. I would bet he still went home every weekend to have dinner with his mom.
I closed my eyes briefly against the pang of pain that followed the thoughts of my mother. I needed to talk to her. I had to at least tell her I loved her and Dad. I wanted to tell her all about my men and how happy I have been. I wanted to introduce her to them and watched as the shock covered her face. It almost made me laugh to think about how my dad would react. I knew he would be shocked, maybe a little horrified, to know that his little girl was hooking up with two men at once, literally. But he loved me, and I knew that eventually, he would see how happy I was and what good men they were. He would come around and accept it because that’s the kind of man he was.
The door crashed open, startling me so badly that I dropped the empty glass on the floor and shattered it into a million pieces. Grace ran over immediately.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get this cleaned up. You go calm him down before he goes on a rampage that would make Godzilla look like a puppy.” I gave her a watery laugh and met Brent halfway as he stalked toward me, his eyes full of fiery rage. Before I could say a word, he crushed me to his chest, lifting me off my feet and kissing me deeply.
“Dollface.” His pained groan sent shivers down my spine as I petted his arms, trying to soothe him. “I got here as soon as I could.” I just nodded, knowing that there would be no arguing with him. Ethan had warned me that he would probably glue himself to me. He likely wouldn’t want to let up for quite some time. All I could do was accept it and be grateful that I had someone that cared about me so fiercely.
He set me back on my feet as everyone in the diner watched on, not realizing they were getting dinner and a show. A throat cleared behind my back, and we both turned to see the police officer standing there. He held out his hand towards Brent, who reluctantly took a hand from my waist and accepted. “I’m Officer Michaels, sir. Detective Hardgrove asked me to watch over Miss Rivers. I wanted to let you know that I take my duty seriously.”
Brent nodded, none of his rage dimming but accepting that another pair of eyes would be on me. “I’m grateful,” he allowed with a grunt.
The officer inclined his head and pointed with his thumb. “I’ll just be over there in case I’m needed.” Brent grunted again before turning back to me.
My eyes left the back of the officer as he retreated and returned to Brent’s. “Are you going to hang around?” I asked softly.
“Dollface, you couldn’t pry me out of here with a crowbar.” I led him to his favorite booth away from everyone else and waited until he reluctantly slid in.
“I’m going to go get you something to drink, okay? Is there anything else you want?”
“You already know what I want.”
I smiled sadly. “Me too.”
As I was getting a glass filled with ice, the door jingled, making me freeze and my heart skip a beat. I had been on the knife’s edge of a panic attack ever since I’d gotten the news, and every new person that walked through the door had my nerves on fire. When I realized it was the young mother from the other day, I smiled with relief. I reached down for two packs of crayons and children’s menus to take to them as soon as I dropped off Brent’s drink.
I gave him a small kiss to pacify him as I slid his glass in front of him. I could hear his grunt of annoyance as I walked away. A small smile faded from my lips before it could fully form. It was cute how deeply he cared, but it broke my heart because I knew he was too scared to let me be more than an arm’s reach away from him.
I slid the paper menus in front of the children and pulled the crayons out of my apron pocket. “Mrs. Banks, right? How nice to see you again. Can I get you something to drink?”
The mom smiled up at me. She looked better than she had the last time. Knowing that she was feeling the freedom of being away from her abusive husband, I understood. She was probably beginning to sleep better the longer he stayed missing. I wished there was some way to let her know that he was never coming back, but that would be opening up a can of worms that could never be closed again. It wasn’t worth putting Brent in danger.
“Can I have a Coke, please? The kids would love some juice, I think.” She glanced at them, and they both smiled, nodding their heads and bouncing in their seats.
“One Coke and two juices coming right up!” I smiled gratefully as Grace passed me, dropping a menu off at the table. They began talking softly, probably Grace being the sweetheart that she was and making sure the woman and her kids were doing okay.
I had just picked up the glass and two plastic kid’s cups when the front door crashed open again. Fortunately stopping myself from dropping everything, even though my heart had nearly jumped out of my throat. I squeezed my eyes closed and willed myself to calm down. When I opened them again, I groaned.
“Not again.”
The same older woman that had come in to harass the young mother the last time stormed in through the door, making a beeline for the table. Grace stepped in front of her, angry and determined to keep her away.
