831 Marriage Lane (Cherry Falls)

“That’s because you’re not a womanizer. You’re one of the good ones. You won’t cheat.” Didn’t the article say that she and her husband cheated on each other?

“You’re right. I would never cheat on my wife.” His left arm shifts, and I know he’s showing her his wedding ring.

“No!” she shouts. I press myself more into Kenton, needing to be close to him.

“Put the gun down, Stacy,” he orders her.

“No.” She whimpers again, none of the fight leaving her.

“Come here and give me the gun,” he orders her again. The quiet stretches for a long moment. I try to lean over so I can peek out.

“This is your fault,” I hear her say before the sound of the gun going off echoes through the building. I scream, pulling on Kenton, but he jerks from my hold. His shirt pulls from my fingers as he moves forward.

I finally get another look at Stacy. She’s on the floor struggling to get to the gun that is a foot in front of her. Glory is on top of her, holding her to the ground. Kenton kicks the gun, sending it sailing across the floor and out of Stacy’s reach.

Security rushes forward, finally getting the woman under control. I hear people calling the police. I rush over toward Kenton. He tries to grab me and pull me into his arms, but I fight, needing to check over every inch of him to make sure he’s not hurt.

“I heard the shot,” I sob.

“She jerked at the last second when Glory tackled her, causing the bullet to hit the wall,” he reassures me as he lifts me into his arms. I wrap around him and burst into tears. He’s okay. I hold him tighter.

“I could have lost you,” I say between sobs. “You’re never leaving my side ever again.”

“I don’t want to ever leave your side,” he says. “Now look at me, love.” I lift my head from out of his neck. “Say it again.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He smiles before pressing his mouth against mine. I almost forget where we are as I start to deepen the kiss.

“The fuck is going on?” Lennon booms.

“Yeah, what is going on?” Willow says, putting her hands on her hips. Her makeup is a bit smudged from her makeout session. She’s staring at Kenton and me, paying no attention to the woman sitting on the floor sobbing with her hands cuffed behind her back. Two guards loom over the top of her.

“I might be married to Kenton,” I admit, shrugging my shoulders.

“What!” all the girls shout at the same time.

“I’m losing my edge.” Glory shakes her head. “I blame my husband. He keeps me so distracted.”

“He’s not going to let you out of his sight after this.” Ames nods toward Stacy, who Glory tackled. I’m not even shocked. This isn't the first armed woman she’s taken on. She should be a cop, not a reporter.

“She’ll have to tell all of you the rest later. I need a moment with my wife before we deal with the police.”

“And then we have a wedding.” Lennon is quick to remind everyone of the reason we are here.

“Give us a minute.” Before anyone can tell Kenton no, he is already trying to pull us away.

“Hey!” Travis comes out of nowhere, running toward us. “You can’t fire me. That bank has been in my family for years.”

“One second, babe,” Kenton says, putting me on my feet before Travis gets to us.

“I don’t know who you think you are—” Kenton nails Travis square in the nose, stopping him mid-sentence. He goes tumbling back, falling onto his ass.

“Oh gosh, I can’t believe he ran into the wall like that!” Glory shouts loudly.

“That's why we tell everyone not to run inside,” one of the security guards adds.

“He hit me.” Travis holds his nose with one hand while pointing the other at Kenton. From the crunching sound I heard, I’m pretty sure his nose is broken. There’s also a lot of blood.

“Not what I saw.” Ames shrugs.

“You’re lucky that’s all I’ve done to you. I went digging. You have a habit of taking advantage of women that are in financial binds. Don’t you, Travis?” Travis goes completely still at Kenton’s words. “And I can do anything I want as far as your employment since it’s not your family's bank anymore. First Collins Bank is done in this town. Same as you are. The name has changed to Martinez Trust.”

“Wait, what?” I stand there in shock, not sure I’m hearing him right. Travis looks as shocked as I am. “You bought a bank?”

“He ruined the surprise.” Kenton starts to go for Travis, who crabwalks backwards trying to get away from him.

“Stop it.” I grab the back of his shirt, pulling him back toward me. He spins around, lifting me off my feet again and tosses me over his shoulder to leave again. No one tries to stop him this time.