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I shake my head, catching sight of a police car coming to a stop a few feet away. “You need to stay here. They’re going to ask more questions than you want if you come up there with me.”
He opens his mouth to respond as the county sheriff places his hand on his shoulder.
“How are you gentlemen doing today?”
Hunter freezes, his eyes widening in shock. He didn’t plan on the other downfall of living in a small town: you can run in to anyone at the bank, even a law enforcement officer.
“How are you doing, Sheriff?” I smile before reaching out my hand and giving him a hard handshake. “I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you since you arrived in town. Living in the mountains has its downfalls sometimes.”
“Colt. I know this is a small town, but I doubt I’m going to meet everyone in a day.” He flashes me a bright smile before turning his attention back to Hunter. “And who’s your friend?”
“Hunter Crowley. He’s here to extort fifty thousand dollars from me so he can pay off his mob debts.”
“You fucking piece of shit!” Hunter yells as he lunges towards me, but Colt pulls him back, shoving him against the now-closed door. “We had a deal. Savannah for the fifty grand. You’re in this as deep as I am.”
“I wouldn’t count on that, Mr. Crowley. Your stepdaughter has been sharing a lot of information with my colleague at the station. We have a lot to talk about.” Colt places the handcuff on his wrist and leads him toward his car just as another cop car pulls behind it and Savannah comes flying out.
“You greedy little brat! All you had to do was give me the money to pay of my debt. Instead, you opened your legs for the first asshole who’d take you in. You really are a dirty slut.”
I storm toward him, ready to defend Savannah, but she pulls her arm back, punching him in the nose before spitting in his face. Hunter immediately crumbles, and Colt has to use all of his strength to stop him from going tumbling to the ground.
“Sorry, but he had it coming.” She shakes her hand out before turning toward Deputy Flores and holding her wrist out toward her. “I’m ready to go now. I just wanted to make sure Brooks was okay.”
“This is why I expect my officers to follow orders.” Colt narrows his eyes at Deputy Flores as he fights to open the back door to his cruiser. “This could all have been avoided if you had taken the suspect back to the station.”
“She isn’t a suspect,” she grumbles, stepping around Savannah and helping Colt shove Hunter into the back of his cruiser. “We already had enough evidence to show she wasn’t an accomplice to the crime and that she hasn’t committed a crime herself.”
“We’ll fucking talk about this later,” he growls before turning his attention toward me, a fake smile plastered on his face. “She’s going to have to come down to the station until we can get all of this figured out.”
“But, sir…”
“No buts, Flores. You created this mess; now I have to clean it up,” he says with finality before making his way around the cruiser and climbing in. “I expect you back at the station in five minutes.”
“Yes, sir.” She salutes just as he turns on the car and pulls away from the curb.
“I guess the chance of us going out for that drink is off the table,” I say, trying to lighten the mood, but do the exact opposite.
“That’s right. It would’ve been nice if you’d told me you were taken before I made an ass out of myself flirting with you.” She gives me a tight smile before turning her attention to Savannah. “I’ll give you two a few minutes, but you’re going to have to come with me. Boss’s orders.”
I stride toward her, stopping only a few inches away. Her eyes are filled with unshed tears as she looks up at me, not saying a word. I can’t say I blame her. Not only did I leave without a word, but I put myself in harm’s way. All for a good reason, but I doubt she’ll see it that way.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“Don’t apologize if you don’t mean it.” She sniffles, her hands opening and closing at her sides.
I would love nothing more than to wrap her in my arms and bury my nose in her neck while whispering reassuring words, but if I touch her now, I doubt the outcome will be what I want it to be. If I was her, I’d feel betrayed and even a little hurt for my actions. I need to make sure she understands I won’t do anything like this again.
“I mean it. I’m sorry that I worried you. I’m sorry that I left the house without telling you. I’m sorry for all of it.”
Savannah launches herself in my direction, wrapping her arms and legs tightly around me. I nuzzle my nose in the crook of her neck, breathing her in.
“Don’t ever do anything like that to me again,” she mumbles, pulling back from my body and leaning her head against mine. “When I saw his text message, I felt like my world was crashing down around me. If anything ever happened you, I don’t know what I would do.”
Tears flow down her face as I slip my hands under her ass, supporting her weight as a flood of emotions overtakes me. There are so many ways things could’ve turned out if Colt hadn’t arrived when he did.
“I’m sorry.” I give her a smile before looking over her shoulder toward Deputy Flores. “I’ll show you properly how sorry I am when I get you home, but for now we need to head to the station before Deputy Flores gets in trouble with her boss.”
“Okay.” Savannah pouts as she wiggles in my arms before unwrapping her legs from around my waist.
