“I can say it’s resisting arrest at this stage, bud. But if you kill him, things could get sticky.”
Slowly the red film over his eyes receded, and he looked down at the man at his feet.
“Let me go, Tex. I won’t hit him again.”
Cubby dragged Jay to his feet and cuffed him, then glared at Newman, Buster, and Tex.
“One word about him knocking me down, and I’m throwing you all in a cell together.”
Raising his hands, Newman smiled for the first time in days.Hope is safe, and that, Newman thought,is a bloody wonderful thing.
Between them they marched Jay into the Lair. As luck would have it, Ms. Linear and her daddy were there, demanding to see Cubby.
“Jay!” Casey ran to his side. “Why is he in handcuffs? Release him at once!”
“He’s under arrest, Ms. Linear,” Cubby said calmly. “It was he who committed those crimes against you and your team.”
Newman walked through the reception and into the cells. He found Hope still locked behind bars, but this time it was her father only who sat on the cot beside her.
“Newman!” She ran to meet him. “Your face!”
“I’m okay. Give me the keys, sweetheart, it’s over.”
She retrieved them and handed them to him. He unlocked the door and hauled her close.
“It was Jay, baby. He did it all. Supposedly he was scared you were threatening legal action against Wildlife. Cubby and Katie dug into his past and found he’d done what he did to you before.”
The door opened and in came Cubby with Jay. Casey Rae Linear followed, devastation written all over her face.
“How could you, Jay?”
“Go away, Casey. The only good to come out of this arrest is that I don’t have to put up with your tantrums and bullshit anymore.”
As he walked by Hope, he smirked.
“John Finch should have been working with a pro like me. Not an amateur.”
Newman didn’t see her move, but she stuck out her foot, and Jay tripped into the cell, hitting the ground hard, as his hands were cuffed behind his back.
“Pretty boy like you, Jay, should do really well in prison,” she said, before walking out the door with Newman and her father on her heels.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
“Ihate this center of attention stuff,” Buster groused from beside Newman. “I asked Willow to elope, but she wasn’t having it.”
“Suck it up, baker boy, it’s her day. Dress, the whole deal, it’s what some women like.”
“Not your woman?”
“No, Hope’s different.” And he loved her for it.
“I saw her wearing a lemon dress, so not that different as it turns out.”
“We compromised.”
“I thought it was a bit understated for Hope.”
Newman just smiled, remembering the robust discussion they’d had. She’d gone for a compromise on her clothing for today. Dress and shitkickers. If he was being truthful, he liked her wacky style now. It suited her personality.
