“You got it.”
On the way to the station, Eastern kept his gaze on both the rearview mirror and the street in front of him. Even though he’d left his position as a SEAL almost a year ago, a part of him still expected danger to hover around every corner. Live on the edge of death long enough and it was hard to escape.
He tried to hide that part of himself. Fuck, he had to, being a single father.
His fingers tightened around the wheel at the thought of Avery’s mother, Jamie. At the way she’d just left town one weekend when he’d had Avery and didn’t come back. At the things Avery had started sharing after her mother left…about Jamie’s drinking, and Avery being sent to school in dirty clothes and without lunch.
Jesus, he wanted to kick his own ass for not knowing. For not coming home sooner and looking after his little girl. She was his world, and if he’d known, he would have been here in a heartbeat.
The only thing that helped him sleep was the fact that, two weeks ago, he’d been granted full custody of Avery. It hadn’t been hard when her mother hadn’t even bothered to show at the hearing to plead her case. The woman acted like her daughter was insignificant. Like she was the easiest thing to walk away from and they weren’t the luckiest two people to be her parents.
Well, because of that, she’d lost her—and one day, she might just realize exactlywhatshe’d lost.
He hadn’t planned to have a child with Jamie. Nine years ago, she’d been new in Misty Peak and he’d been home on leave. They’d met at the bar, Meridian, and spent the night together.
The second he’d found out she was pregnant, he’d offered to move her closer to him. Being a SEAL, he couldn’t choose where he lived. His naval base had been in Virginia, so that’s where he’d needed to be.
She’d said no. Hell, she hadn’t even considered it. That meant he’d only seen his daughter when he’d taken leave and vacations in Misty Peak.
Fuck, he’d hated that. Exactly why she was his focus now. She needed him and he was going to give her everything he could.
He pulled into the station parking lot, trying like hell to calm down. Thoughts of Jamie always did that to him, but he couldn’t take it into work with him. He needed to be solid for this town.
He climbed out of his car and walked toward the building.
Daisy looked up from behind the front desk and beamed at him. She was a middle-aged woman and easy to like. “Hey, Sheriff. Good lunch break?”
“I’ve told you, just Eastern, and yeah, wasn’t too bad. Anything happen while I was gone?”
“Depends on what you mean by ‘anything.’ Denny, our favorite British local, called because he wanted us to get over to his house. Said someone was trying to break in.”
Eastern shook his head. Denny had a drinking problem. He called every day, sometimes twice a day. They always sent a deputy over just to make sure he was okay, and that deputy usually found him passed out somewhere in or around his house.
“Who went down there?”
“Paxley. She said he was fine.”
“Good. Hopefully, we’ll have a slow day.”
“Don’t jinx it, boss.”
“Eastern.” He smiled at her before stepping away. Instead of going to his office, which was right beyond the front desk, he went down the hall to the kitchen.
“I don’t care what the fuck he says. I’ve been here longer than him.”
Eastern’s muscles tensed at the sound of Jarrad’s voice. He liked all the deputies in the office—except Jarrad. And rightnow, the asshole was on thin fucking ice. Not long ago, Eastern had suspended him for mistreatment of Tilly, Kayden’s woman, when she’d been questioned at the station.
“But he’s our sheriff,” Charles, another deputy, said.
“Who the fuck cares?”
“A lot of people care,” Eastern said, voice hard as he stepped into the kitchen.
Charles’s eyes widened, while Jarrad appeared unfazed.
“You don’t care what I say about what?” Eastern asked as he lifted the pot of coffee.
The stuff was instant and tasted like shit. He needed to move his ass and get Daisy to order a coffee machine already.
