Justified

by Jay Crownover

  “My dad let you beat on your wife and treat your kids like garbage. Your brother helped him cover it up. They both let far too many locals slide on things like that when they shouldn’t have. Holding you accountable for your shitty actions isn’t me taking out my failures or faults on you, it’s me enforcing the goddamn law.” Which wasn’t something I’d learned from my dad. “Like I said, if I find out you’re lying to me about messing around with Aspen Barlow, I’ll make sure you go down for it.” I would love nothing more than to put the smug bastard back behind bars for a long, long time.

  After calling me an asshole and spitting on the ground in my general direction, Jed stomped back into his rickety trailer, slamming the thin aluminum door behind him. The action rattled the entire trailer and made me roll my eyes. I made a note to track down Jethro Coleman and ask about the guns. That was going to be a highly uncomfortable conversation. The man rubbed me the wrong way long before I kicked him off my team.

  I pulled up short as I was walking back to my SUV.

  A tall man with a hat very similar to my black Stetson tugged low over his eyes was leaning casually against the front bumper. He had his arms crossed over his chest and one of his boots resting on the chrome bumper. It was a ballsy move, even for a man wearing a badge and a gun. The only reason this guy got away with it was because we’d practically grown up together and I hadn’t seen the cocky son of a bitch in far too long.

  “The Rangers send you up to investigate the shooting at the hospital?” I took up a position next to him at the front of my vehicle. I squinted against the sun, trying to piece together what my next move should be.

  “I requested the assignment. Don’t like the idea of someone shooting up my hometown. My boss was happy to hand it over. Apparently, you were pretty difficult the last time we tried to run a joint task force with your team.” He shot me a look out of the corner of his eye, and I couldn’t help but smirk.

  “Not a fan of your boss, Gamble. His guys tried to push mine out of the investigation, and then tried to take credit for the takedown when my little brother was the one who ended up with a knife sticking out of him.” Crew had a knack for finding trouble, and his last run-in with it had nearly cost him his life. “I would have much rather worked with you on that op.”

  The tall man next to me nodded. “I was sorry I couldn’t be there for Crew’s case. Had something go bad down by the border. Couldn’t get away from it. Ended up with a DEA agent in intensive care barely clinging to life. How is everyone up here doing?”

  “By everyone, you mean Kody, don’t you?” I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. “You could call her and ask her yourself, you know?”

  The man stiffened next to me and exhaled heavily through his nose. “I’ve called her a time or two. She doesn’t answer, and she never calls me back.”

  I grunted. “She’s stubborn, but you already know that.” I pushed off the SUV and put my hands on my hips. “How involved in my investigation are you going to be, Gamble?”

  Hill Gamble was a damn good cop. He was also an old friend who, at one point, had been really close to being family. Hill’s younger brother, Aaron, was engaged to my little sister for a far too short period of time. Kody was always a little wild and uncontrollable, but Aaron Gamble had calmed her down and given her the stability all of us Lawtons so desperately craved. When he passed away, it had been tragic and unexpected. Even though Aaron had been gone for going on five years, no one really believed Kody was over him. She was also twice as difficult and even more rebellious than she’d been before falling in love with the quiet and shy Gamble brother.

  “I’m going to be as involved as I need to be. I tried to track down the primary target, but no one seems to know where she is. I assume you have something to do with that.” He pushed his hat back and gave me a bland look. “Did you put her in protective custody and not bother telling your team the plan?”

  I grunted again. “I put her somewhere no one will look for her, but I’ll let her know you want to set something up.”

  “You have a lead on the shooter?” He also pushed off the SUV and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Folks in town are scared. They don’t like seeing Loveless on the national news.”

  I sighed. “That’s because a lot of them have secrets they want to keep hidden.” I squinted at him and muttered, “I don’t like the target’s husband. He’s got too much attitude and way too much money at his disposal. She’s been hounding him for a divorce, but he won’t sign the papers. I had my suspicions about him until the first bullet was fired. But no way he could have faked his panicked reaction when the gun went off. Other than him there’s a whole slew of people she’s pissed off in court, including me. It’s like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles.”

  “I’ll dig into the rich husband. See if we can find anything he might be trying to cover up. You need me to knock on any doors? My badge is better than yours.” His teeth flashed white in his tanned face, and his pale gray eyes glinted with humor.

  “I’ve got a couple names I can pass your way. I need to run down Jed’s alibi for the time of the shooting. He’s a dirtbag. He might be cleared as the shooter, but he’s pissed that his wife kicked him to the curb. He blames Aspen for her finally growing a backbone.” I sighed. “And I have history with his older brother. The guy used to work for my dad and I canned him as soon as I could. It didn’t go over well and he’s always carried a grudge against me.”

  Hill made a sound of agreement and pushed the brim of his hat back. “Aspen’s a small woman to be carrying around the entire town’s ire. It’s a miracle her back isn’t broken.” It was a pointed barb that hit home just the way he intended it to. I was very uneasy having been forced to face a lot of my own misguided perceptions of Aspen during this investigation. “Shoot me a text when I can meet with Mrs. Barlow. And let your sister know I’m in town for the foreseeable future. I don’t wanna catch her off guard if our paths happen to cross. I don’t want to guess which one of us that would be worse for.”

  We exchanged a brisk handshake, and I promised to give Kody a heads-up. I watched as Hill made his way to a nondescript sedan parked behind my SUV. I flicked a couple fingers away from the brim of my hat in a pseudo wave as he drove past. I’d asked both Kody and Hill what the deal was between them. Their relationship had been strained and practically nonexistent since Aaron’s death, which made no sense. I got vague replies and a stern warning that it was none of my business when I tried to pry. Hill had treated both my younger siblings like family when we were growing up, and all of us had been close. But it was like they couldn’t find any common ground to walk, now that Aaron was no longer around. I was a curious man. It wasn’t in my nature to let the weirdness between one of my best friends and my sister go, but first I needed to figure out who had it in for my reluctant houseguest.

  So far, living with Aspen was a test of both patience and restraint. My feelings toward her swung wildly from one extreme to the next every time I saw her. Daily I was torn between annoyance at how fully she’d invaded my life, and deep compassion for all that she was going through and over how much she had lost. Other than her breakdown the first day I brought her home, she seemed to be keeping it all together, and I felt slightly bad about it. The second she opened up, the minute she showed a hint of vulnerability, I ran. I wasn’t ready to deal with the way seeing her with her shields down, and so very human and fragile, made me feel. I didn’t want to be drawn to her, hated remembering how soft I felt toward her when we were young. If she wasn’t so battered and broken, I would’ve made it a point to avoid her altogether, but that wasn’t an option, so I was forced to face the fact I didn’t completely loathe her the way I wanted to. It’d been nice to hold her, to forget she had thorns that had made me bleed repeatedly.

  Aspen mostly stayed in the spare room and hardly made a sound. She asked to use my laptop so she could follow up with the insurance claim on her house and access her digital files from her law fir
m. I offered to feed her breakfast and dinner when I was around, but she waved me off and told me she could take care of herself. As far as I could tell she was living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

  Reluctantly, I headed in the direction of my house after sending Hill on his way. I wanted to check on Aspen, let her know the Texas Rangers were involved in the investigation now, and set a time for her to meet with Hill. I would track down Jed’s brother and his new girlfriend afterward. I also wanted to drive by my brother’s place and spend some time with Hayes. Like the trouper he was, my kid took the sudden uprooting of his life pretty easily. He liked my brother’s ranch. He got his own space, and he got to be around horses. I disliked not having him around, but I would die before endangering him in any way. And Hayes had proven to have an endearing soft spot for Aspen. When I explained why I needed him to leave for a few days, he’d seemed almost eager to be helping in some small way to keep the attorney safe.

  I parked in the garage and walked into a house that smelled delicious. I was used to coming home and having something homemade from Mrs. Clooney, but I’d spoken with my elderly neighbor and explained I would stop by her place to check on her for the next few weeks because Hayes was gone and I would be working longer hours. So the smell couldn’t be something from the elderly woman. In fact, it reminded me of my mother’s home cooking. She had been an amazing chef and took pride in her ability to put on a full spread each and every night. It sucked those memories were always followed by the ones of my dad getting angry if she didn’t have the table set and dinner ready by the time he got home from work.

  Following my nose, I ended up in the kitchen, where Aspen was propped up against one of the long countertops. She was dressed in more of Kody’s colorful clothes; this time her top was mint green, and her shorts were dark purple. She looked good in color. Not that she looked bad in her standard black, it was just nice to see her in something less somber and serious. I wanted to kick myself for noticing how she looked at all in the first place.

  I moved to the stove behind her and peeked into the heavy Dutch oven she had on one of the burners. It looked like chicken and dumplings, one of my favorites. I didn’t even know I had the stuff to make it in the house.

  “It smells good. Was this something Mrs. Clooney left behind in the freezer?” I put the lid back and turned to look at her, figuring she heard my boots on the hardwood. When she didn’t turn around or say anything, I frowned and moved forward to lightly tap her shoulder. “Aspen?”

  A sudden shriek echoed through the kitchen as she spun around. Belatedly, I noticed she had earbuds in her ears and was focused on the open laptop in front of her. Her injured ankle wasn’t up for the sudden movement as she whirled around to face me. I watched as she started to topple over, her good hand flailing around ineffectively in the air in front of her.

  I jerked forward, hands reaching instinctively so she wouldn’t hit the floor. “Whoa, there. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Her momentum pushed her against my chest, sending one of my hands sliding across her ribs and the other across her backside to keep her upright. My intentions were good, but my starved libido registered the way her curves felt pressed up against me. For a woman with such a slight build, my hands had no problem finding a handful of soft skin.

  Her nearly black eyes gazed up at me, wide with shock and a hint of fear. Her breath was warm against the base of my throat, and I could feel her fingers trembling against my biceps where she caught me for balance.

  Her lips parted on a breath, and my eyes zeroed in on how soft and pink they looked. When the tip of her tongue darted out and licked across the round curve of the lower lip, I may have groaned. I know my body tightened in reaction and I was pretty sure my mouth started to water with the desire to chase after the trace of moisture she left behind. I couldn’t recall ever wanting to put my mouth on anyone else’s more than I wanted to breathe, but I felt like I might die if I didn’t find out how she tasted, how she responded to me.

  I could feel her heart pounding against my chest, and when she curled her good hand around the back of my neck, I really couldn’t see her as the enemy any longer. No, now all I could see when I looked at her was an incredibly strong woman in the middle of a really unfortunate situation. She was handling everything thrown at her with grace, quiet dignity, and the bare minimum of fuss. Aspen was still the sweet, wide-eyed girl who caught my attention in high school, but now she had a backbone made of steel. When I really gave myself room to think about it, I couldn’t deny any longer that attraction and admiration were at the top of the list of all the things she made me feel recently.

  She made it hard to tell if I was coming or going anymore, but one thing was for sure: my cock liked the way she fit against me a whole lot. It thickened and pressed against the front of my jeans with a surprising intensity. I’d felt a lot of things in regards to the woman in my arms—but the desire, want, and need were all fairly new. I couldn’t deny all of those things were suddenly flooding my system and making my head spin. She was the last woman I should have my hands on, but she was the only one who could make me lose all sense of reality.

  I can’t say who moved first. Time paused, the moment suspended between us on fragile, gossamer strings. If felt as if any sudden movement would send us crashing back to a place where we could never exist like this. I would never be able to pinpoint if I kissed her or if she kissed me. Not that it mattered. One second, we were staring at each other as I held her like she was the most precious thing on the planet, the next my mouth was all over hers, and I was kissing her the way you kissed someone you loved and hated at the same time. A little sweet, a little mean, and with enough passion to make us both forget we had a long, twisted road paved with mistakes and memories running between us.

  Chapter 9

  Aspen

  If my other hand was working correctly, I would’ve used it to pinch myself. Because it was only in my secret, never-to-be-acknowledged dreams where I got the chance to kiss Case Lawton. In the dark when I was alone and lonely, I let myself wonder what it would feel like to have his often cruel, but always lush and alluring, mouth pressed against mine. I wondered if he would kiss with as much passion as he did everything else. I tried to picture the sounds he would make, and whether or not the blue of his eyes would change color when he was turned on. I envisioned the rough scrape of his stubble across the soft skin in intimate places far more often than I would ever admit to. In my head, kissing Case was a fairy tale. I romanticized it because it was something that would never happen.

  My senses were not prepared for all those dreams to come crashing into reality. All I could do was cling to the tall, strong man in front of me, and hope I didn’t melt into a puddle of surprise and desire at his booted feet. He was literally the only thing keeping me upright, since I was off-balance and had no shot at matching his impressive height. It was hard to keep up with the sensations overwhelming me, but I didn’t want to miss a single thing. I wanted to hold on to the memory of how much better kissing Case for real was than kissing him in my fantasies.

  He tasted like coffee and something sweet, which I found surprising. Nothing about Case ever came across as sweet.

  His lips were soft but moved with purpose as they slid across mine. The contrast between the supple brush of his lips and the harsh scratch of his stubble sent goose bumps shooting across my skin and had my breath lodging in my lungs. There was untapped passion behind the flick of his tongue across the seal of my lips. But there was also anger present in the way his hands tightened their hold on mine, almost as if he couldn’t decide if he wanted to pull me closer or shove me away. Before he could decide to do the latter, I opened my mouth and gave him the access the wet glide of his tongue requested.

  It was hard to remember he didn’t like me when the tip of his tongue flicked against mine. It was nearly impossible to stop myself from drowning in the flood of desire washing through my entire system. I wanted to let go and be swe
pt away, but there was a niggling voice in the back of my mind reminding me: this moment with him was the exception, not the rule. Any minute now Case was going to realize who he was holding in his arms. He was going to come to his senses, and if I let myself get carried away, I would be lost at sea with no way to get back to shore.

  I shivered when I felt the not-so-gentle bite of his teeth against my lower lip. I had to swallow a moan when he used the tip of his tongue to soothe the tiny sting he left behind. My fingers clutching at the back of his neck like a lifeline found their way into the short, dark hair at his nape. The silky strand slid easily through my grasp, and once again a bolt of shock shot through me. Soft wasn’t a word I would associate with Case either. The man was full of surprises.

  The hand he had resting on the curve of my backside moved just a fraction, getting a better hold on the rounded flesh underneath my colorful shorts and pulling me purposely closer to the unmistakable hardness that had been thickening and growing between us. Without a doubt, whatever Case was packing in his Levi’s was as impressive and intimidating as the rest of him. I wantonly leaned closer to the heat and hardness.

  Feeling his reaction to kissing me made me a little light-headed and had me a whole lot of turned on. I’d always wanted to get a rise out of Case that wasn’t tied to our tumultuous past with one another. I secretly longed for him to see me as something more than the weird girl from high school or the woman who came back to town only to pull apart his family.

  His tongue twisted and tangled around mine as he pressed me back against the counter. One of his hands skated up my side, thumb tracing the line of ribs until it reached the soft curve of my breast. I was already struggling to breathe and to not lose my head, but when I felt the barely there sweep of his finger along the soft swell of my breast my system short-circuited. My nipples tightened into hard, aching points, while my knees turned to water. I gasped because it felt like flames were licking along the surface of my skin. My body pulsed with a low, desperate thrum, and places I hadn’t given much thought to in far too long started to quiver and flutter with anticipation. There was something about the contrast between the aggressive, demanding nature of the kiss, and the almost reverent, appreciative caress that unraveled me. I was coming undone in his hands and had no idea how to stop it.