Claiming the Enemy: Dustin (Porter Brothers Trilogy 3)

“I don’t want to talk about what happened—”

Dustin held his hands up in surrender. “I just thought we could take a stroll through the woods and look at how pretty the leaves are.”

Jessie nodded as she stepped off the porch, him automatically following in step.

“I love this time of year. The humidity is gone, and the breeze feels good.”

“Yes, it does.” Jessie raised her head, feeling the cool breeze against her face. “Did Logan pick out his Halloween costume yet?”

“He’s going to be a nicecrow—a scarecrow with a smile.”

Jessie didn’t laugh, but a smile did lift her lips. “Logan is very empathic. He hates it when someone is hurt or scared.”

“Don’t I know it? I’ve had to go to the school several times for him defending the younger students.”

“Like who?”

“Like Darcy a couple of times and Anna.”

“Anna Pierce?”

“Yes.”

“Logan was in my daycare when they started. He used to play with the younger children when he was bored with what the ones his own age were doing. I used to let him be my helper—passing out drinks and snacks. It’s only natural that he’d be protective of them. I hope he didn’t get in too much trouble.” She had recognized that Logan was sensitive to other children’s emotions and had been worried about him when he left for school. The world could be a cruel place, and with Logan being more perceptive than most children his age, she worried that he would have difficulties adjusting.

“He’s doing better. He switched to another classroom with a different teacher. So far, I haven’t been called into another meeting.”

“I want him to like school. Logan is very smart.”

“Too smart for his own good.” Dustin raised a broken branch for her to duck under as they continued walking.

As she gave him a small smile of thanks, their eyes met. His laughing brown ones turned serious.

“He’s been wanting to see you. He’s going to be mad that I didn’t wait for him to get out of school before coming over.”

Jessie frowned. “I thought today was Sunday.”

“It’s Tuesday.”

“Oh.” Her frown deepened at her losing track of days. “Why aren’t you at work?”

“Greer was off, so we decided to spend the day hunting.”

“If you were spending the day with Greer, why are you here?”

“A little of Greer goes a long way,” he said wryly.

“Don’t I know it?”

Reaching the fence that had been built to separate the two properties, he held his hands out. “May I?”

Blushing, she let him help her over the fence. Once they were both over, they walked in silence for several minutes. Jessie mindlessly kicked clumps of leaves while Dustin strolled aimlessly next her.

She paused when she recognized where they were. The tree that Dustin had climbed to put the tiny bird back in its nest was standing taller and stronger than it had years before.

“Do you ever think about that?”

“I try not to,” he answered.

“My father wasn’t a nice person.”

“Mine wasn’t either.”

Jessie started to continue walking, but Dustin reached out to take her hand.

“I shouldn’t have been mean to you that day at the bus stop. It was my fault that Duke was on your property that night. He was chasing a fox down. If I shot it instead of letting it get away, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Jessie gaped at him, taking her hand out of his grasp. “It wasn’t your fault. It was mine. If I hadn’t been feeding him scraps to keep him from barking when I came onto your property, he wouldn’t have run toward me when I was standing on the porch. Pa thought he was trying to attack me. I tried to tell you that day, but you wouldn’t let me. It happened so fast. Pa shot Duke before I could stop him and tell him about why he jumped on me. Then you and your family showed up. I told him after you left when Pa wanted to press charges on your pa with the sheriff.”

“The sheriff didn’t come to our house that night.”

“My pa didn’t want to press charges after I told him. The feud’s been all my fault.”

“The feud had nothing to do with what we did or didn’t do. They were miserable sons of bitches.”

Jessie nodded in agreement. “Yes, they were.”

She walked around the front of the tree, running her hand over the initials that had been carved into the bark. Smiling sadly, she dropped her hand. “When you were going with Sam, I kept expecting to show up here one day to find yours and hers initials carved here.”

“You knew about Sam before it hit the papers?”

“I saw her sneaking into the movie theater with you. Holt told me he had seen you a couple of times together at the lookout.”

“Why would Holt tell you?”

“Because he knew I was in love you,” she said simply. “It almost broke my heart. I cried for a good two weeks.”