“This doesn’t involve the law,” Loki called out. “This is a matter of honor.”
“Loki, sit your ass down or I’ll arrest you and throw you in a cell,” Ed called back. Loki loved theatrics, but Ed wasn’t in the mood.
“Nobody locks Loki up!”
“All of you sit down!” Ed roared as everyone started to talk. Fuck, any second now someone was going to start off again. “Anyone standing will be arrested.”
There were lots of grumbling, but everyone sat. He half-turned towards Jace. “We need to get Gary’s goons and Loki’s guys separated, then start interviewing people. Did you call in Ranger?”
“Yep, he’s two minutes out, Sheriff.”
And that’s when Loki struck. Ed turned, just in time to see him reach the three women who were, sitting on the table. Reaching out, he grabbed Georgina, throwing her over his wide shoulder. She screeched, trying to fight free. Kiesha made a grab for her and nearly fell off the table.
“Loki, put her down right now!” he yelled. Fuck, what was he doing? Ed rushed towards him.
“Put me down!” Georgina smacked her palms against Loki’s back.
“Spoils of war!” he screamed before taking off towards the back of the bar.
Ed saw red.
Normally, he gave Loki some leeway. The huge man might be insane, but he also had a big heart. Logically, Ed knew that Loki would never harm Georgina. But this was Georgina. Nobody touched her but Ed.
Jesus.
“Put her down, now,” he demanded.
“She’s mine!”
Georgina was trying to free herself. He could have told her not to bother. Loki was an ex-Marine and her tiny hands wouldn’t be able to inflict damage against the muscular man.
“Stay still, wench!” Loki slapped his hand down on Georgina’s ass.
“Oh shit!” Kiesha cried. “Loki, put her down. She’s not a local. She doesn’t get it.”
Ed could feel a headache starting again in his temples. Why him? Why did he have to attempt to tame this crazy town filled with wild people?
“Put her down now!” Crap! He was going to have to arrest the bastard. Which wasn’t going to go down well.
“No!”
Loki disappeared out the back. Fuck! Ed turned and headed towards the front door. It would be quicker to go out that way and then head around to the back.
“O’Ryan, help keep the peace. Jace, Jimmy, start questioning people. I’ll be back.”
“We’ll help you, Ed!” Kiesha called out.
“You’ll stay right where you are,” he roared back, hoping that she listened to him for once.
Fuck. Who was he kidding?
Turning, he left the bar and raced around the side of the building. He was getting too old for this shit. He needed to consider retiring. Buying a small house by a lake, doing some fishing.
This wasn’t happening.
She was safe. This wasn’t the past.
Strong. Be strong, Georgina.
“You put me down right now!” Georgina demanded. Her voice came out a bit shaky. A whole bar full of people had seen him kidnap her. Ed was there. He’d come for her.
Even though he didn’t like her, he’d still do his job. Right?
She attempted to move, but the giant was as strong as he looked. Damn it. This was not an easy position to get out of. He had a tight hold of her thighs which meant she couldn’t kick him and when she tried to throw herself off his shoulder, he just tightened his hold.
That left only her hands free and he didn’t seem to feel her hits or scratches.
This was really humiliating. She should be able to free herself. But as well as the panicky feeling that was growing in her gut, she was also full of pink flamingos. And having his shoulder pressed into her gut wasn’t a great feeling.
“Let me go. Let me go!”
“Easy, girl, we are nearly there. Loki will take you home with him, set you up as his princess. You will want for nothing.”
Okay, so this guy was obviously drunk. He kept referring to himself in the third person and he seemed to think she was a spoil of war. But if anything, that made things worse because there didn’t seem to be any reasoning with him.
Crazy. He was crazy.
Help was coming. And she wasn’t helpless.
Where was he going with her? She wriggled around, trying to free herself.
Ed’s coming.
Unfortunately, all the logic in the world wasn’t helping her overcome her fear.
Stalked. Trapped.
No. Nope. She’d conquered those fears. She was strong. She was capable.
She wasn’t prey anymore.
Hurt. Afraid.
It took her a moment to realize that the big, crazy man had stopped moving. And then she heard a small whimper.
“Girl? You okay?”
No, of course, she wasn’t okay.
“Loki, put her down!” Another deep voice demanded. One she knew. Her panic started to recede. He’d come for her.
She gasped as Loki turned suddenly. Shoot! She really needed off his shoulder. She was about to vomit pink flamingo down his back. Although perhaps that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
“She’s mine!” Loki called out.
“She’s not yours. And you know she’s not a local. Rules are you can’t do this to anyone who is from out of town.”
So he was allowed to do this sort of thing with the locals? That was insane.
“Georgina, are you alright?” Ed asked calmly.
“Let me down. Let me down now!” Okay, even she could hear the hysteria in her voice.
“Fuck, Loki let her down. Now.”
To her shock, the big man actually put her down. Gently. She stepped back quickly, brushing her shaking hands over her arms and trying to act like she wasn’t just a few seconds from tipping over the crazy cliff and having a total meltdown.
What had she been thinking coming here? Tonight had been a huge mistake.
“What kind of place is this?” she asked, her breath coming in sharp pants. “What sort of sheriff lets some crazy man just abscond with people? This isn’t real!”
“Princess, you shouldn’t talk to the sheriff like that. He’s good people. And Loki isn’t crazy. Loki has been tested.”
By who? Because whoever had done that assessment had obviously gotten his degree from the back of a cereal box.
But she took several steps away from Loki until she was out of reach. She hated how cowardly it made her look, but she had no desire to end up over his sweaty shoulder again.
“Georgina, are you all right?” Ed eyed her with concern.
“Of course.”
Ed stepped towards her, but she didn’t want anyone near her. She stumbled back another step, her arms wrapped around her waist.
Show no weakness.
Screw that. This was the best she could do. She was barely hanging on to her sanity right now. Her shields were cracking and old fears were starting to slip through. The past and present were all becoming blurred.
Stay in the now, Georgina.
The alcohol wasn’t helping, she knew. It had sheared away at her control, widening those cracks even further.
“Hey, it’s okay. No one is going to hurt you,” Ed reassured her.
“Fuck. Sorry, Ed. I didn’t know she’d be scared.”
She glanced to Loki incredulously. What the hell? “You kidnapped me!”
“Yeah, but . . . I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She looked to Ed, expecting to find him as incredulous as she was, but he just kept staring at her, studying her. Shit, why did it have to be so well-lit back here? She felt like he was dissecting her, examining her insides, her secrets.
“I’m not scared. I’m mad.” That was better. Get angry. “I want him arrested.” She pointed at Loki, who stared back at her, wide-eyed.
Ed frowned at Loki. “Yeah, I don’t blame you. I said that if anyone moved, they were going to be arrested, Loki.”
“N
ow, sheriff. You know Loki doesn’t do well locked up. I have the PTSD.”
“You have PTSD?” she asked, something softening inside her.
“He does. But that’s no excuse for what he did.” Ed glared at Loki.
“Hey, now, what I did to Grabby Gary was justified, he touched me first,” Loki defended.
Ed sighed. “Jimmy and Jace are getting to the bottom of how the brawl started. Georgina, Loki really didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“She was with Isa and Kiesha, I didn’t know that she didn’t know!”
“Didn’t know what? That you’re fucking insane?” Getting angry was better than bursting into tears. And at the moment, those seemed to be the only two options her body was offering her.
“Told you, princess. Loki isn’t crazy. Loki was tested.”
She ground her teeth together. She was getting nowhere fast. “If you won’t take action, sheriff, I will.”
Ed’s eyebrows lowered and he stared at her. “I get that you just got a fright, Georgina, but I don’t take kindly to being given an ultimatum.”
“And I don’t take kindly being picked up, thrown over a sweaty shoulder, and carried away against my will. Do your job, sheriff.”
Ed took a step towards her and she held her ground. She didn’t know why she felt this magnetic pull towards him. She’d never have thought the well-built older man would be her type. But as he moved into her space, rather than feeling annoyed or fearful, she felt her body coming to life. Everything else around her faded. There was just Ed.
“Look, you might be an FBI agent, and think you’re above the rest of us in law enforcement, but this is my town. My jurisdiction. And I don’t take kindly to you telling me how to do my job.”
“Well, it’s hard not to when you’re doing such a terrible job of doing your job.”
Oh, that might have been a step too far. Ed moved forward and she could see her punishment in his gaze.
You didn’t poke at an alpha without expecting a reaction. And from the look on his face, it appeared he was contemplating something dire. They stared at each other, both of them breathing heavily.
“I don’t know whether to kiss you or spank you.”
She glowered at him. “I suggest you think of an option C because neither of those things are happening.”
“Oh yeah?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh yeah.” Her nipples were hard, her stomach alight with flickers of need. This wasn’t good. This had to be the alcohol’s fault. Because right now, she shouldn’t be contemplating throwing herself at the handsome sheriff and demanding that he kiss her. She should be mad at him . . . for some reason . . . that she couldn’t quite remember . . .
She braced herself. This was it . . . the moment they relived that epic kiss from a few months ago.
“Ed!” someone called out from the bar, breaking the spell.
She nearly groaned. If she could have eviscerated the deputy coming towards them with her gaze, she would have. His insides would be a bloody trail behind him. Couldn’t he see that he was ruining a moment?
“A moment?” Ed muttered, looking almost amused.
“I didn’t say that out loud.” There was no way. She never blurted out her thoughts. Her mother would be horrified.
“Really? Because it sure sounded like your voice.”
“This must be a side-effect of the alcohol.”
“Side-effect?” He raised an eyebrow. “Something tells me that you’re not used to drinking.”
“What? What makes you think that? I’ll have you know I love drinking. I do it all the time.”
“Good to know. How much have you had to drink?”
“That is none of your business, sheriff. Now, are you going to do your job and arrest . . .” she glanced around. “Hey! You let him get away.”
“It’s all right. I know where he lives.”
“He could leave town.”
Ed shook his head. “He won’t. I’ll track him down and arrest him.”
Well, shoot. Now that fear was no longer holding her prisoner and she could think clearly, she realized the other man hadn’t hurt her. And if he had PTSD and a problem with being locked up . . .
“No, that’s okay. Maybe a warning, though. He can’t go around just snatching people. Someone else might have been really scared.”
Ed gave her a look but didn’t point out how frightened she’d been.
The deputy caught up to them, he was staring down at her strangely. What was his problem?
“You’re blurting out your thoughts again,” Ed told her.
Damn it. She’d cover her mouth with her hand but she figured that would look unprofessional.
He kept his gaze on her. “You okay, Georgina?”
“Of course I am.”
Nope. She really, really wasn’t.
Ed’s face filled with concern.
Fudge, had she said that out loud?
“Jimmy? Everything settled down?” Ed asked.
“Yeah, we’ve pinpointed who started the brawl.”
“Probably that Loki guy. No wait, it was Grubby Gary,” she said.
“Grubby Gary?” the deputy asked, looking confused. “But he wasn’t even there. Oh, wait, you mean Grabby Gary. See, he’s called that because—”
“Deputy,” Ed interrupted. “You got an update for me? How did this start?”
“Umm, well, see, that’s what I came to tell you. We discovered who started everything.”
Who? Why was he pointing a finger at her? Then as Ed turned to stare at her questioningly, she realized why he was pointing at her.
He was blaming her!
6
“This is a clear case of police brutality! I demand justice!”
Ed would have banged his head against his desk if he thought he could have knocked himself out. He was exhausted. His head was killing him. And he knew that he was going to be doing paperwork until he was old and gray.
Wait . . . he was already old and going gray.
He glanced over as Kiesha rushed into his office. Behind her were the usual crew. A scowling Cleo, worried Isa and nervous Juliet.
“What are you guys doing in here?” he asked, frowning at them. “You should all be home in bed.”
“We’re here to help our friend. Where have you put her? Have you locked her up? Is she in the clink? Oh my God, what if someone shanks her? What if they try to make her their bitch? This is false arrest and I’m going to have your job, sheriff!” Kiesha pointed her finger at him.
Cleo yawned and slumped into a seat. “Tell me when this is finished and I can go home. By the time I drive you all home, O’Ryan will be in bed snoring. I just know it. And then I’ll have to wake him up if I want anything. He always takes ages to wake up. That means I’ll have to wait for morning. But, ick, morning sex.”
“What’s wrong with morning sex?” Isa asked.
Cleo held up her fingers and ticked them off. “Because you both have morning breath, you haven’t had a shower in hours, and you usually need to pee.”
“What are you all doing in here!” he demanded.
“We’ve come to tell you to release Georgina,” Kiesha told him. “Does she need a lawyer? We need to get her a lawyer. Juliet, call your brother.”
What? Fuck! He stood up, worried. “Now, wait just a moment. Juliet, you don’t need to call your brother.”
Juliet’s brother was the opposite of her. He was a complete and utter shark. Ruthless. Mean. Savage. He’d come into town on a wave of destruction and leave again, not bothering to pick up the pieces.
“I’m guessing Juliet’s brother speaks then?” a dry voice said from the doorway.
Kiesha and Isa turned to stare at Georgina. Cleo didn’t even stir. Great, she was sleeping. In his office. Which meant he would have to give all of these women a ride home. Unless he could get Jimmy to. He was still new. He didn’t understand how crazy they all were.
“Georgie!” Kiesha threw herself at Georgina.
He tensed. If she hurt Kiesha’s feelings . . . but to his shock, she didn’t freeze or push Kiesha away. Instead, she actually smiled at the other woman. Then she turned that smile on Isa.
Holy fuck.
What would he do if she smiled at him? His heart raced just watching her. What was it about this woman? Why did he want her?
He needed to stop feeling this way. She thought he was a backward, slack small-town sheriff. She was rude and cold and . . . she sure did have a nice smile.
“Juliet’s brother is a criminal lawyer. He works in Boston, but he can jump on a plane if you need him, right, Juliet?” Kiesha demanded.
Juliet nodded.
“He’s a total shark,” Isa shared with a shudder. “Scary and sexy.”
“He’d eat you up and spit you out,” Kiesha told her.
“I know,” Isa sighed. “Still, he’s nice to think about when I’m alone with my vibrator—”
“Jesus, I do not need to hear this.” He refrained from slamming his hands over his ears. But only because Georgina was here.
Thinking of Isa and her vibrator just made him nauseous. He’d known these women since they were children. They’d been friends with Kiesha a long time, and even if he wasn’t the sheriff, he’d still watch out for them all.
Georgina turned to smile at Juliet. “Thanks for the offer of your brother’s help, Juliet. But I’ll be all right. I’m not under arrest.”
“You’re not?” Kiesha asked, grabbing her hand. “Even though you started that brawl?”
Georgina frowned at him. Why was she frowning at him? He hadn’t accused her of starting the brawl.
“I didn’t start the brawl. It was Grubby Gary.”
“Grubby Gary? He wasn’t there tonight, was he?” Kiesha asked, looking confused.
“She means Grabby Gary,” Ed explained. He rubbed his hand over his face. He was starting to see why Georgina thought they were all nuts.
Because they were.
Completely and utterly insane.
“Oh, him. I hate him,” Isa said. “He thinks that he can just grab a woman and we’ll fall at his feet and suck his dick. He grabbed me tonight while Georgie and I were dancing. And he wouldn’t let go. And all his goons were dancing around us, cutting us off from the rest of the dance floor. Then Georgie flipped him over her shoulder. It was amazing!”
Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10) Page 5
