“No, not because you can’t handle it.The look in your eyes right now tells me you know exactly how to handle this asshole, andthat’swhat I’m worried about.”
“Have I broken a law, Deputy?”
Concern settled into the lines around her eyes.“No.”
“Do you have reason to think I will?”
“Nothin’ concrete,” she said, “no.”
“Then do your job and write up your report or whatever you need to do.AJ will need that when I take her to file a restraining order tomorrow.”
To her credit, Roxi didn’t react.She nodded and patted my shoulder as she passed me and walked inside to talk to AJ, but I felt like a prick for speaking to her like that.I knew she hadn’t meant anything and she was worried about her husband’s brother, but it rankled because she was right.
I did know exactly how to handle this fucking guy, Cody Mahone, if he ever showed his face again.But thewayI wanted to handle him wouldn’t help me with my family and could land me in my sister’s jail cell.
So, what?Was I just supposed to stand around and let him harass AJ?She was terrified that he’d been watching us, that the pervert had the balls to stand outside her house and peer in through a tiny crack in the curtains while we were… making love.Or fucking.Or whatever the hell had just happened between us.
Whatever it was, I felt things I never imagined I could.Any memories I had of sex had been twisted and tainted by drugs and highs, but tonight had been like watching morning fog being burned away by the sun.
The way I had begun to feel about AJ was becoming clearer and clearer.
And I wanted more.
But the way Ineededher scared me to death.
When Abey arrived, she asked the same questions Roxi had: Should I really be involved in this?Maybe I should cool it with AJ while she gets her drama worked out.
But there was no fucking way I would leave her to deal with her ex by herself.
Abey and Roxi finally left, and so did AJ’s mama and Gran, and I snagged some old remnants of wood stacked up next to Gran’s garage to board up AJ’s window while she swept up the glass.The cuts on my feet were nothing.I didn’t even feel them, but clotted blood wet the bottom of my socks.
I banged the last nail into the wood with AJ’s pink-handled hammer and turned to look at her sitting on her couch with her arms wrapped around her knees, like she was freezing cold in the middle of August, but she’d already turned off the air; the huge, gaping chasm on her wall let the summer heat in too fast to keep up.
I said, “Tomorrow?—”
She sighed.“I will go to the station and find out exactly what I’ll need in order to file a restraining order.I promise.”
“Damn right you will,” I said, “and I’ll be right there with you.”
ChapterTwenty-Five
Avery Jane
Wisper’s courthousewasn’t even a mile from my cottage
It was more an honorary courthouse used for traffic and parking ticket disputes and occasional squabbles between farmers, so Deputy Roxi suggested that I should turn in my paperwork at the Teton County Circuit Courthouse in Jackson instead because it would ensure faster results.
Dixon insisted on driving me Tuesday morning after I’d had a chance to fill out the forms and get copies of the police reports, so I sat in his El Camino, gazing out my window and sipping the London Fog he picked up for me from Coffee Shot.I’d never told him my favorite drink, but somehow, he knew.
“I’m sorry about the car.I know it’s a hunk of junk.”
“It’s fine,” I said, trying not to fidget.The cuticle around my thumb had just stopped bleeding.“I know you’ll fix it up and make it nice again.”
“Yeah, although, I was thinkin’ eventually I might like to buy somethin’ that’s a little safer in winter, in case, y’know, I’m drivin’ Stu somewhere.”
“Good idea.”
“My boss offered me the use of one of the center’s trucks, but I wouldn’t feel right drivin’ it outside of work hours.”He looked at me.“Are you nervous?How do you feel about what we’re doin’ today?”
