Page 78 of Bound in Ashes

The sheriff turned to me. “Why don’t you take a walk with my deputies? Let me and Asia here catch up.”

TWELVE

Asia

Jesus was probably sick of me but that didn’t stop me from praying harder than I ever had before.

Because as I watched Jack tense, seeing the way his hands flinched into fists. Saw him visibly fight for control, this moment was it. The beginning of everything—or the end.

Because it was one thing to run from zombies.

Another thing all together to imagine Hayes shooting Jack down like a rabid dog.

Because he would.

He wanted to.

He was just waiting for Jack to give him a reason.

“I don’t know, Sheriff. This place seems dangerous. She gonna be okay without me?”

The sheriff’s jaw ticked, but then he smiled. “Of course she will! You can trust me.”

I braced myself for the lightning that should have struck Hayes down.

It didn’t come, but Jack locked eyes with mine.

He nodded.

He wasn’t going to act. At least not right now.

I let out a breath.

Tried not to stare as he walked away.

“Probably been a while since you’ve been in a police station. Or maybe not,” the sheriff said with a shrug as he started to walk, his confident stride telling me was sure I would follow.

I smiled, determined not to let Hayes and his bullshit get to me.

“Actually, I spent quite a bit of my time in jail.”

At this, the sheriff laughed. “Only visiting, I hope,” he said.

“I do, too.”

“Well, you know, good to know that some things can change,” the sheriff said, his gaze sweeping over me.

I knew what he saw now just like I’d known what he’d seen then.

But I wasn’t the delinquent dropped off in a transport van pissed off at the world and too hurt and afraid to admit it.

I followed the sheriff into the office and met his gaze, determined not to flinch. “Just like it’s good to know that some things never do.”

“Anyway, good to see all that it looks like all the effort Levi and Kathleen put in paid off.” The sheriff smiled, but the expression dropped quickly. “I’d offer you some coffee, but…”

“Never took to the stuff,” I said. Aunt Kathleen would be disappointed that I could tell a lie that big with a straight face, but anything to get Hayes’s goat.

The door opened and Jack walked in and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. He was flanked by four of Hayes’s men. I needed to know what they’d done to him.