Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“Mr. Kent, those windows are bulletproof,” Tate advised. “I assure you no matter how hardheaded you are, you’re not going to break them. They are also compliant with safety protocols set forth by the Earth Council Against Hostile Aliens. ECAHA knows how to make unbreakable glass. That sucker will hold a damn Noxil spawn, and those fuckers can emit acid when they feel like they’re in danger.”
Rye groaned, and his head fell back. “You’re Cassidy’s nephew. I forgot. I don’t know whether to praise Nate for being smart or call him intensely crazy.”
“Why not both?” Tate replied. “And protocol is what separates us from chaos. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you, Old Sheriff. I haven’t been on the job long, and I’m living out at my aunt’s place for now. I’m going to be honest. I’m surprised at you. I was told you were a good sheriff. I didn’t expect you to be in a… I can’t call it a bar fight. Diner fight? Is that a thing here?”
She wouldn’t look at him. She stood beside Trev until the Walk sign changed and then followed him.
“Everything is a thing here, Deputy, and it wasn’t a fight. Not really. It was setting boundaries,” Rye explained.
Had she been happy to be with that asshole? Had he interrupted something she wanted? It hadn’t looked like it at the time. She’d pushed at him, but maybe she’d done that because she was trying to keep their relationship on the down low.
His heart ached at the thought.
Had she been using them all along?
“All right. So you saw red and couldn’t stop because you thought he was hurting Brooke,” Rye said.
“Well, that’s the truth,” Bay replied, watching Brooke walk away with Trev. She was going to get to the Sheriff’s Department before they did.
Shane was there, apparently, and so was Max, according to the call the deputy made after shoving them both in the squad car. He’d been kind of shocked at the time, but now he wondered why the hell his brother was at the sheriff’s.
Would she walk right into Shane’s arms or ignore them both? Had he fucked this up for all of them?
At least she was going and not calling a Fuber and heading home to clean out her stuff.
“Of course it is, but you have to finesse things,” Rye encouraged. “You have to make sure to put the emphasis on her safety and not on your caveman-like possessiveness, even though that is hard wired into you, brother. Women do not understand. If you want my sister to take your balls, you mention the words he had his hands on my woman.”
“But she is my woman. I’m literally supposed to protect her.” Bay didn’t see the problem.
“I think I’m with Old Sheriff on this one. Women don’t like to be thought of as possessions. Unless they come from other planes. You see, there’s this fairy plane and the women there…” Tate began.
Bay turned to Rye. “Can we get him fired? Like can’t the town vote?”
“Hey, I just got hired,” Tate protested, and the light finally turned green.
“We’re stuck with him for now,” Rye replied with a sigh. “But the good news is at some point he’ll get the shit kicked out of him by either the mafia or an MC club or… We haven’t had a serial killer in a while. We’re due for one of those. The point is the young, shiny deputy is always the one who ends up getting his ass tortured. It’s practically a rite of passage.”
“What?” Tate asked, seemingly alarmed. “My auntie told me it would be a cushy job.”
Rye grinned fiercely. “Your auntie lied, son.”
Tate turned his attention back to the road and slowly started making his way to the sheriff’s.
“Do you know who that was?” Bay asked. “I’ve never seen him around here.”
Rye sat back. “I think that was her boss. I’ve never met him because we’ve never gone to New York.” Rye glanced out the window. “We’ve always made excuses, and they usually are about the kids. Damn it. I’ve let my sister have a whole life in a city thousands of miles away and I never visited her even though Logan has invited us to stay with them. Why?”
He kind of thought he knew the reason. “Is it because you’re worried your wife is going to get to a big city and remember everything she loved about it and wonder why she’s stuck here with two whiny-ass men and all their babies?”
Rye went pale. “Holy shit. I think that’s it.”
“Rachel loves Bliss. She doesn’t want to leave it, but I would bet she would enjoy traveling a bit and showing the world to her kiddos. I grew up never going anywhere. I didn’t get out of New Mexico until Shane and I started rodeoing, and once we hit the road, it was hard to stop. We became nomadic, and I think it’s because as children our world was so small. It felt good to bust out of it.”