Herd That (The Valentine Boys 1)

He snorted too and threw his arm around me, pulling me even closer. “You sound like you’ve had experience with that.”

I shrugged my shoulders and tried not to pay attention to how good it felt to be in the man’s arms.

God, did I mention that he smelled good?

It was like walking down the men’s aisle at Walmart, or the men’s section in Dillard’s department store. He smelled that good.

“There was one time that somebody was spray painting the school. When they couldn’t figure out who it was, they put up cameras. The cameras caught the graffitist, but unfortunately, they couldn’t see his or her face. Since it fit my height and weight as well as general description, about eight of my classmates banded together and blamed it on me. That was the camel that broke the straw, so to speak.”

“You mean the straw that broke the camel’s back?” he asked, sounding unamused, even though that’d been what I was trying to accomplish. “And how does that work? They just reported you and the principal agreed with their assessment?”

I nodded. “That, and they planted some paint cans in my car. They weren’t even the right colors.”

Ace’s eyes were hard when he said, “Why’d you come back again?”

I shrugged. “There are times I ask myself that same question. I mean, Granddad is doing really good. Actually, if I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t think he’d been sick at all.”

Ace tugged on a lock of my hair. “I’m glad that you stayed. Even if it’s for me.”

My brows rose, and I looked at him with an incredulous look on my face. “What makes you think that you’re part of the reason I’m staying?”

He grinned and pulled me closer into the curve of his arm. “I don’t know… maybe that’s just me hoping at this point.”

I shook my head and stood, pushing up using his very hard, muscular thigh. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom before the festivities get started.”

He waved me on. “I’ll be here, saving our spot.”

I eyed all the people that were surrounding us and realized that was likely a good idea. The place had gone from just a few people to wall to wall people in about five minutes.

“Okay,” I said softly, offering him a playful wink. “Come find me if I’m longer than five minutes. That means someone kidnapped me.”

He grinned. “Will do, ma’am.”

With that grinning look aimed at me, I walked away, knowing he was staring at my ass as I moved.

Unfortunately, all earlier playfulness wiped completely off my face the moment that I arrived in the bathroom to find Marie standing there taking selfies in the bathroom mirror.

The beauty of the bathroom paled in comparison to how awful I knew this was about to get.

Son of a bitch.

Trying to ignore her, I walked into the first stall that I found and did my business. The moment I got out, I wasn’t surprised to find her leaning against the counter waiting for me to exit.

I walked up to the sink that was farthest away from her and hoped she wouldn’t say anything.

Sadly, my luck didn’t hold out.

“Why don’t you just go back to Dallas?” she hissed. “Nobody wants you here.”

I stiffened.

“And don’t think I didn’t get your application.” She snorted. “It was on the chief’s desk, but I helped him out and filed it under ‘no way.’”

With that, she left, and I was left staring at her as she went.

No wonder I hadn’t gotten a call back!

What the fuck?

What do I do?

Do I say something?

Do I confront her?

Do I go talk to the chief of police and ask him for his consideration?

I honestly had no clue what I should do.

Meaning as I walked out of the bathroom, I had a very annoyed look on my face, which was much different than the one that’d been on it as I’d entered.

When I arrived at Ace’s side, my playfulness, as well as my excitement at being there, was gone. In its place was an anger so deep and old that I feared that it would rub off on Ace.

So, like the annoyance that it was, I put it at the back of my mind and tried to have a good time.

And I did. Mostly.

Other than the few looks at Marie, who hadn’t stopped glaring at me since I’d arrived back from the bathroom, I’d managed to put her at the back of my mind.

I also really enjoyed the food.

“This was really good.” I paused. “But it wasn’t enough. I’m still hungry.”

Ace agreed wholeheartedly. “I agree. I’m starving still. I could eat about twenty more strips of bacon and about four more helpings of that casserole.”

I snickered.

“Want to get out of here?” he asked. “I can take you to breakfast.”

I thought about it for a few long seconds and then nodded once.