Sweet Hill Homecoming (Sweet Hill 1)

“I’m right behind you, honey,” she said to Kyle.

He looked over his shoulder with the saddest expression she’d ever seen. Her baby brother was in cuffs being escorted by the man she stupidly fell in love with sometime this past month and watched as the future crumbled before her eyes. Kyle’s future. A future he was meant to have. A future he worked hard for and deserved.

She hustled around the school and back to where she left her car and got in. Hitting her palms against the steering wheel, she cried and screamed and cursed the world, cursed her own judgment, cursed the man she loved and very much hated in that moment. She cursed it all until her throat hurt.

And then she broke down and cried.

Chapter Thirteen

“Start talking right now, Kyle,” Tate said and sat him in his office, removing the cuffs. “You have about two minutes before everyone gets here and I can’t hold off booking you unless you tell me what happened. You take fault for this, and there’s going to be serious trouble.”

Kyle shook his head. So Tate pushed harder.

“You have any idea how hard your sister works?”

Kyle frowned up at him and Tate knew he hit a nerve. “Of course I do.”

“She does that for you. And you’re pissing away your future covering for this kid and if you get booked? If he presses charges? Not only do you get a record but there will be fines and penalties. You want your sister to take on another shift to pay for that?”

“No!” Kyle said. “I’m doing this to save her.”

Tate frowned. “What do you mean save her?”

“When this started, it was all about football.” Kyle palmed his head. “Jared was pissed because I took his starting spot. He was trying to get me off the team. I could deal with it, I just had to make it to this game. But then he threatened Mia.”

When Kyle looked at Tate, there were tears in his eyes.

“Jared said he’d hurt her if I didn’t quit. Said no one would know it was him and no one would believe us.” Kyle’s eyes got dark and he snarled. “Before they jumped me today, Jared said bad things about Mia. He said that even being the Deputy’s slut wouldn’t help her once he was through with her.”

That made Tate snarl too and slam his hand on his desk. The kid was a punk, but threats were serious. He looked at Kyle and the honesty of that moment sank in. The kid was willing to sacrifice everything for his sister in order to keep her safe. Including his own future. Just like Mia would do for him. They were better people than he could ever be. People he wanted to protect and stand by.

“We’re going to fix this,” Tate said and stood Kyle up. “You hear me?”

Kyle nodded.

“I want you to understand one thing,” Tate clasped the kid’s shoulders, “No one threatens what you love. Understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Kyle said firmly.

Tate nodded once. “Good.”

~

Mia showed up to the station same time Branch did. But what was interesting was both Tate and Kyle stood outside as if waiting for them.

“What’s going on here, son?” Branch said, getting out of his car and slamming the door. “That kid should be booked.”

“Actually, I’m going to take him back to school because he has a game to play tonight.”

“Like hell,” Branch spat and walked up to Tate. Tate just remained calm, but there was a sad look in his eyes.

“Sir,” Tate said lowly and put his hand on Branch’s shoulder. “This is what’s right. What you taught me to do. Kyle is innocent. He’s been tormented and was defending himself.”

Branch shook his head like he didn’t understand. “But, there’s a system. A protocol. And back when I dealt with the Rowly twins in ‘85—”

“Sir,” Tate said, cutting off the Sheriff’s rambling. Mia’s throat tingled because she realized right then what Tate had meant by Branch being “unwell.” He was mentally struggling. She heard it in the way he spoke. How he tried to make sense of things, but his words didn’t actually resonate. This whole time, Tate was trying to save face for Branch’s sake.

“I’m asking you to trust me. You taught me well, but in this case, things aren’t black and white. I’m asking for your faith and support, sir.”