I fucking love my team.
That’s when I realize that I’m including Sarah Jo in that number. She and I, we make a good team. We have each other’s backs, and I respect the fuck out of her. And yeah, I love her, too. It’s not something I’ve tried before, loving my woman, but I’m eager to get started.
“I’m betting Hill here is responsible for our latest fire.”
“You think?” Hunter moves in casually. The hard look in his eyes bodes badly for Hill. Hunter gets cranky as shit when you blow up his fire camp. “Let’s play Twenty Questions.”
A subtle flick of Hunter’s wrist, and the rest of our team surrounds Hill.
Thad pants, clearly realizing that he’s outnumbered. Still, he manages to sneer, and my knuckles itch to be re-introduced to his face.
“You can’t do this,” Thad whines.
“Looks like I can.” Hunter steps in closer, conveniently blocking Sarah Jo’s view. Did I mention that I love this guy?
“You stole from an old lady,” I drawl. I’d make an awesome detective.
“Prove it.” Thad stares up at me defiantly. He’s gonna make this hard.
“Not sure I have to. When we all go back to Auburn and turn your sorry ass in for stalking and kidnapping, you don’t think the good folks there are going to ask why you went after Sarah Jo? They’re going to turn you inside out, Hill. Wherever you hid the shit you stole, they’ll find it.”
“Will not.” Hill’s eyes flicker. Gotcha.
“Let me give you a couple of tips about confessing,” Hunter offers, leaning down. He gets his mouth real near Hill’s ear and whispers something that makes the other man turn pale.
“You can’t do that.”
“Try me.” Hunter shrugs and then he smiles. A slow, cold smile that’s one hundred percent mean. I’m glad I’m not the one on my knees.
“That old lady didn’t need that stuff,” Hill protests like the dumbass he is. He tries to struggle up, but surrounded as he is by hotshots, he goes straight back down again.
“You did this just for the money?” Sarah Jo’s voice shakes, and then she gets it under control. That’s my girl. “That was her home, and you torched it.”
“That true, Hill?” I move in. “You add arson to your résumé?”
“It was just a house. And it wasn’t like she needed that stuff. I did.”
Deputy Douche sounds like he actually believes the crap he’s spouting off. I can only imagine how Sarah Jo feels hearing this. That’s her vindication, right here, but she cares for her client. You can’t miss the concern and affection in her voice, and I know how my own elderly aunties and mother would feel about having a houseful of memories burned down around their ears. Violated, pissed off, and ready to rip the offender a new one before starting over, making new memories in a new place.
“You hear that?” Hunter makes a point of looking around. I spot a couple of phones up, out, and recording as Deputy Douche spills his secrets.
“Uh-huh. That’s ten to twenty right there, for attempted kidnapping. And we’ve got ourselves an arson.”
That’s one problem sorted.
I turn to look for Sarah Jo. She’s making a break for it.
Again.
Chapter Sixteen
Pick
I’m not the kind of person who sits around and waits. I don’t need closure. I don’t need to rehash what’s happened or how I feel about it. Apparently, that’s something Sarah Jo and I have in common because she starts moving away from our showdown with the good deputy. She’s an amazing woman, and she’s got grit. Brains. Beauty. The whole package, if I’m being honest. But I really don’t want her to walk out on me now. I want her to talk to with me. To walk into my arms and let me wrap her up and love her. I hook a thumb in her zip-ties and gently swing her to a halt.
She stops since she has no choice and my heart falls. I’ve always thought that was some kind of expression, but I swear I feel the stupid, hopeful thing plummet from my ribs to my steel-toes. I have a moment of sheer panic as I consider the odds of her sticking out the summer.