Page 6 of Protect and Serve

“So good to see a familiar face,” Charlie said with a grin. “Even one as ugly as yours.”

“You’re one to talk,” Cade growled, but there was nothing menacing about it. “Look at that scar.” He waved at Charlie’s closely cropped scalp.

“Damn IEDs.”

“Don’t I know it.” Cade followed Charlie to his table, whipped a chair around and straddled it backwards. “Those were the worst.”

Yeah. The one that had clocked him had taken out half his platoon. He was lucky to be alive, but to this day, cursed himself for not taking point. Maybe he would have noticed the bomb before it was too late.

Dustin appeared with Charlie’s burger and glanced at Cade. “Can I get you anything?”

“A beer? Thanks.” They both watched as Dustin made his way back to the bar, then Cade said, “Why didn’t you tell me you were in town?”

“Just got in. Today’s my first day on duty.” He affected a solemn look. “Already caught one nefarious criminal.”

“Really?” Cade chuckled. There were no nefarious criminals in Snake Gully, if one wasn’t counting the Puceys, who owned the town. And they weren’t criminals so much as mean sons of bitches.

“Mmm hmm. Some hot-rod speeder. Wise-cracking blonde. Name of…Silver. Have you met her?”

Cade hooted. “No way. Are you serious?”

“Yup.”

“That must have ticked her off.”

“She wasn’t pleased to see me.” He forced a smile. Yeah. That still stuck in his craw.

“Serves her right. Claire’s always thought the normal rules don’t apply to her.”

“There’s a new sheriff in town.” Charlie waggled his brows.

“Well, welcome home. I’m damn glad to see you. Cody will be over the moon.”

“I miss our poker games.”

“Me too.”

“You should come over to the house. I’d love to introduce you to my fiancée.”

Charlie boggled. “Your what?”

Cade’s grin was huge. “Yup. I finally caught one.”

“Congratulations!” Damn. He was happy for his friend—Cade deserved to find love and, judging from his expression, he was in love. But it was a painful gut punch too, a reminder of a dream he’d had for a while, of a peaceful life, a doting wife, picket fences, fat babies and all that shit. “What’s her name?”

“Lisa Binder. You may remember her.”

“Oh yeah. Freckles.”

Cade blinked. “Freckles?”

“That’s what I used to call her in the third grade. She hated it.”

“I’ll have to remember that. But seriously. Come on by.”

“Yeah. About the ranch….” He shot Cade a curious look. “I drove by today and saw the sign had changed.”

“Right.” Cade blew out a breath. “When dad died, we almost lost the property. Cody had this harebrained idea—”