She shot me a smug grin, then started to weave her way around us, but I stuck out my foot and sent her flying right into the sheriff’s body, shoving him back a step as he did his best to keep them both upright.
“Sorry, Maverick?—”
“Assault!” I cried out. “I saw it. She attacked you.”
Bailey’s eyes went wide and her jaw dropped in horror. “I did not?—”
“I saw it with my own eyes. She attacked you, Sheriff.”
“I did not!”
“Well, you did hit me rather hard,” Mav said, playing it up as he rubbed his arm.
“I didn’t even run into that side of your body,” she argued.
He quickly switched sides, rubbing the other arm. “Well, my body twisted in such a way that I…pulled an arm muscle.”
Bailey’s head whipped to meet my gaze. If I thought she hated me before, right now, she was plotting where to dump my body.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to take you both in,” Mav sighed, grabbing Bailey by the arm.
But she jerked out of his grasp and pulled back, launching her fist at his face before I could shout for her to stop. It was a direct hit. His head whipped to the side as she made contact, and I was pretty sure I saw spit go flying.
As for Bailey, she just smirked at him. “If you’re going to arrest me, at least have a good reason for it.”
Shaking out his jaw, Mav turned to me with a growl. “You know, you try to help a friend?—”
“Hey, I didn’t tell her to hit you.”
“Serves you right,” Bailey argued. “All I wanted was for him to leave me alone.”
“Allyouwanted was for me to throw him in jail because he likes you.”
“Loves her,” I corrected.
“It doesn’t matter if he likes me?—”
“Loves you.”
“He can’t just follow me wherever I go!”
“It’s a free country,” I reminded her.
Her eyes darted to mine, fury blazed in their depths. That fire was so much better than the sadness I had heard about for weeks.
“Now, I perfectly understand that you want him to leave you alone, but I can’t go around throwing people in jail because of a lover’s spat.”
“We’re not lovers,” she snarled.
“Oh, please, you two have been dancing around each other since the fourth grade!”
“Third,” we both said at the same time.
“See? You even think alike. Now, how about we remove the cuffs and we all go on our way?” Mav said, trying to calm down the situation.
I was quite pleased with the way this was going.
That is, until I looked at Bailey and saw the need for revenge glimmering in her eyes.
