She nudged her plate toward him, and he grabbed the second half of the sandwich. “Then eat so you stop talking.”
“Thanks.”
He took it and when the bill came, she said, “You’re paying; otherwise it’d be unethical for an attorney to buy lunch for the sheriff.”
“You’re a brat, Gale,” Ford said, pulling his credit card out. “You did that on purpose.”
This was gettingout of hand.
He couldn’t take another day of watching everything he’d built teeter on the edge of collapse. All he wanted was his life back and the quiet sounds of normalcy.
But what the hell was normal anymore?
Threats hadn’t worked. Warnings hadn’t worked. Even his little demonstrations that were enough to rattle anyone else hadn’t shaken Rory loose. Not even the danger hovering over Gale was enough to stop him.
Did the man have no conscience? No fear?
Something drastic. That was the only path left. He didn’t want it to come to this, but the choice was no longer his. Rory had forced his hand.
Still, he couldn’t let everything crumble. Too much time. Too much effort. Too many nights of careful planning. His future depended on keeping it all intact, and he wouldn’t watch it burn because some self-righteous fool bent on revenge came sniffing around.
Soon things would be the way they used to be. His clean, quiet, control that he’d mastered for years would regain its place in his life.
All he had to do was make sure Rory Connors never got the chance to dig any deeper.
37
TURN DOWN ANY CHANCE
If one more person moved further away from him when he walked downtown, as if he had some disease, he was going to shout at them all to stop being cowards.
It was bad enough people were moving away from him, but others were pressing mute when they saw him coming. If that wasn’t proof he was the topic of conversation, he didn’t know what was.
The people in this town had a serious fear of something or someone. Not all residents, but just enough to piss him off.
After hours of running around and phone calls, pictures and police reports submitted a second time to his insurance, Rory finally had a claim ready to be processed.
Since he couldn’t get home without a new car, he went to a few dealerships to look around and talk about getting it registered in Pennsylvania for him and what they could do.
The minute he was back at Gale’s he sat down and put her notes into his computer.
Was he happy she’d talked to Kane and then nudged Daniel? Fuck no.
But he wasn’t surprised either.
It was something he was positive he would have done at the same time.
He just hated that she was fighting his battles even if she didn’t see it that way.
Once he pounded his frustration onto the keyboard, he grabbed his phone and left the condo to walk to the beach with his laptop.
Maybe he needed to unplug for a few hours. Otherwise he was going to blow up when he saw Gale again after that stunt she’d pulled today.
One his sister would have done.
Why was it so hard to disconnect the two of them?
Or wasn’t he meant to? Could that be the pull?
