by Morgan Blaze
Gage Dawson sat alone at a bare table, elbows propped on the surface and hands laced behind his head. His eye looked worse than it had last night, and his expression was pure misery and resignation. She couldn’t help thinking of the opinion everyone in this town seemed to have about him. That and his ongoing feud with Dean Wesley painted a grim picture—one she didn’t like at all. One that suggested this wasn’t the first time he’d been dragged in here for something Dean started.
Suddenly, she was a lot more angry than nervous.
She stopped short and folded her arms. “What is he doing here?”
Nick turned slowly. “Who?”
“Him.” She pointed to the closed door. “Gage. He didn’t do anything.”
“Um. Well, he…” Nick sighed and took a step toward her. “Look, you’ll have to talk to the sheriff,” he said. “He can straighten everything out, all right?”
“Fine.”
She tried to calm down as they started moving again. Angry as she was, this was still a police station, and there wasn’t much she could do if this sheriff decided not to listen to her. She had to come across as sane and believable, instead of an emotional wreck.
Nick stopped at a door that read Bradford Tanner, Sheriff, and knocked once, but didn’t bother waiting for a response before he opened it. “Hey, Sheriff,” he said. “Found our mystery woman.”
“Well, bring her on in.”
The voice belonged to a man who was almost taller than her when he was seated. He had a stern face, but his eyes seemed kind—and highly alert. They didn’t leave her as she walked slowly into the office and tried to look less afraid than she felt.
“You’re a hard person to find.” The sheriff glanced past her and nodded, and Nick left the room, closing the door behind him. “Have a seat, please.”
Kyla took the chair across from the desk. “Sheriff, I—”
“Hold on, young lady. Let’s make sure we’re on the same page before we get started.” He flipped open a small notebook on the desk in front of him. “Is your name Kyla, and were you at The Klinker last night when there was a fight in the parking lot?”
She sighed. “Yes.”
“Okay. Now we’re getting somewhere.” He turned to a blank page and picked up a pen. “First, I’m going to need a little more information about you. Last name?”
“Fin—I mean, Harding.”
The sheriff raised an eyebrow. “Do you know your own last name?”
“Yes. It’s just…I’m not used to it. My divorce just went through.”
“You look a little young to be divorced,” he said.
“It’s a long story.” She clasped her hands together, in case they decided to start shaking. “Anyway, it was Finley. Now it’s Harding.”
“Finley?” With a slight frown, the sheriff opened a desk drawer and started shuffling through it. “That name sounds familiar. Think I’ve got something…yup, here it is.” He extracted an off-white folder, dropped it on the desk and opened it. “Some lawyer contacted me about a year ago, asking us to keep an eye out for a Michael Finley. Said there was a pretty serious restraining order on the guy and he wasn’t to be allowed in town.”
“Ralph.” She couldn’t help smiling. “He called you?”
“Twice, actually. I only remembered now because the second time was yesterday. That when your divorce went through?”
“Yes, it was.” The uneasy feeling she’d had about her husband suddenly deciding to sign the papers for no reason came back, stronger than ever. “Did Ralph think that Mike would try to come here now?”
“Didn’t seem that way. He said he just wanted to make sure we still had the information on file.”
“All right.” She managed to relax a little, but something just didn’t feel right about this.
The sheriff stared at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Finally, he pushed the folder aside and grabbed the pen again. “Let’s get this statement out of the way,” he said. “Address?”
She gave it to him, and answered a few more minor questions. The sheriff jotted in the notebook as she spoke. Then he put the pen down and folded his hands on the desk. “Okay. Now in your own words, tell me what happened last night.”
Nodding, she closed her eyes briefly and let out a breath before she began. She confessed to having a few drinks, and described what she’d seen in the parking lot that made her decide to do something—how it was four against one, and they looked serious. How she’d rushed out and told them to stop, but one of them didn’t.
She faltered a bit when she came to the part about spraying Dean with Mace.
When she was finished, Sheriff Tanner gave a slow blink and sat up straighter. “So you’re what, about five-two and a hundred pounds soaking wet?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Means you have a bucket of guts, young lady.” He actually smiled. “It’s a compliment.”
“Not really,” she said. “I just don’t like seeing people get pushed around.”
“I think I can guess why.” He tapped the folder with the report from Ralph. “All right. This seems like a clear case of justifiable defense, so you’re free to go. Thanks for coming down and cooperating.”
“Wait.” Her heart shifted into rapid gear, and she tried to sound calm as she said, “What about Gage?”
The sheriff frowned. “What about him?”
“You have to let him go. He didn’t do anything.”
“Funny. That’s exactly what he said about you.” Sheriff Tanner stood, and she felt dizzy just looking up at him. “I am letting him go, this time. Despite my better judgment.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
The sheriff shook his head. “I told him if he gave me the truth, he could go. He lied anyway—and Gage Dawson is a terrible liar. But now I know why he did it. He was trying to protect you.”
For a moment she couldn’t breathe. He’d lied to protect her, even knowing they’d lock him up for it. Who would do that for someone they just met?
Maybe the same kind of person who’d Mace a stranger to save someone she’d only talked to once.
“Are you letting him go right now?” she said.
“Yes.” He smiled again, with a touch of exasperation. “If you don’t mind waiting out front, I’ll bring him out to you. I get the feeling he’ll be happy to see you.”
“I will. Thank you, Sheriff.”
She followed him out of the office, and decided she’d definitely take Gage up on his offer. Tonight, if he was okay with that. She suspected the best pie in Covendale would be even better with his company.
* * * *
Gage didn’t bother looking up when he heard the door open. This was the part where Sheriff Tanner took him to a cell, lecturing him the whole way. He’d get to spend the weekend ignoring Dean, who’d try to piss him off enough to react so the sheriff would hold him longer. And maybe his brothers would come in to give him more hell for good measure.
“All right, Dawson. You’re free to go.”
That wasn’t right. It was Sheriff Tanner’s voice, but the words couldn’t have been what he heard. He stared at the man, and said, “Come again, Sheriff?”
“You heard me. Now move, before I change my mind.”
Gage got up slowly. There was only one way the sheriff would let him go, and he didn’t like it. “Kyla,” he said. “If you’re holding her—”
“Relax, son.” Sheriff Tanner almost looked amused. “She told me the truth, so now you both get to leave. See how easy that is? You should try it sometime.”
“Where is she?”
“Out front, waiting for you.”
The coiled tension in him relaxed slightly. “Thanks,” he said. “I guess.”
Shaking his head, the sheriff stepped back and gestured for him to come out of the room. “Nothing personal, Mr. Dawson, but I’d rather not see you again for a while. Understand?”
“Yeah. The feeling is mutual.” He st
epped into the hallway and leveled a look at the sheriff. “Maybe if you told your deputy to back off, we’d both get our wish.”
Tanner sighed. “Just…try to stay out of trouble.”
“I always do.”
Without waiting for a response, Gage turned and headed away. He knew his way around the station well enough. At the end of this hall, a left went around the offices and the bullpen to end in the front lobby, and a right led past the records to the holding cells. There were four of them—and he’d been locked up in every one.
But he wouldn’t be this time. And once again, he had Kyla to thank for it.
He reached the lobby, and found it deserted. The receptionist was usually out here, at least. She must’ve gone to the bathroom or something. And maybe by “out front,” the sheriff meant that Kyla was waiting outside.
Then he realized there was someone else missing. Jenny wouldn’t have left just because Tanner told her to stay out of it. She’d want to get her revenge. And she would be pissed if she found out Kyla was free to go.
With a sinking heart, Gage rushed out the front entrance—and spotted Kyla halfway down the walk, backing away from a furious Jenny.
Chapter 7
It hadn’t even been a full day, and Kyla was already considering using her Mace again. She was going to become a regular vigilante if things kept going like this.
“I don’t know what you want me to do,” she said as calmly as she could, taking another step back. She’d been waiting out here maybe five minutes when the woman from last night, Jenny, came charging out of the police station screaming about how she should be locked up. “I’ve already apologized. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but—”
“Well, you did. You could’ve crippled him,” Jenny said with a sneer. “This is why nobody around here likes the Dawsons. They’re all trash…and so’s anybody who hangs out with them.”
“I’d love to hear you say that to my face.”
The cold voice came from behind Jenny. A moment later, Gage stepped around and pinned the woman with a furious stare. “Well?” he said. “Go ahead. Call my family trash again.”
Jenny blanched. “You are,” she said. “You, and your psycho brothers, and your lying little slut sister.”
“Stop it!” Kyla rushed up beside Gage, her stomach churning with shock and horror. “What’s wrong with you? You’re such a…rude person!”
The woman gave a mocking smile. “Too nice to call me a bitch?” she said. “Well, let me show you how it’s done. Stay away from me and my man, bitch.” She planted a hand on her hip and glared at Gage. “I’m going to talk to the sheriff. One way or another, you’re going down. Both of you.” With that, she spun and stalked back into the police station.
When she was gone, Kyla let out a hard breath. “Thank you,” she said. “If you hadn’t come out when you did, I…” She trailed off when she realized Gage hadn’t moved an inch and was still staring furiously at the spot Jenny had stood. “Gage?” she half-whispered, placing a hand on his arm.
He was shaking.
“Gage,” she said a little louder. “Are you all right?”
He blinked and turned toward her. For an instant he looked right through her, but then he shook his head and sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“For Jenny. For getting you into this.” His jaw clenched briefly, and he stared at the ground. “You never should’ve helped me. She’s crazy as a rat, but she’s right about one thing—now you’re guilty by association.”
“Hey.” She waited until he looked at her. “She’s wrong about you. And your family.”
He smirked. “Thanks. But you don’t really know me.”
“I know you lied to protect me.”
“What?”
“The sheriff told me,” she said. “He wasn’t going to let you go unless you told the truth, and you didn’t. But when I explained what happened, he said he understood why you lied…because of me.”
“Sheriff Tanner said that?” He glanced back at the station, like he expected the man to come out and drag him back inside. “Well, I guess we’d better get out of here before he really does change his mind,” he said. “They didn’t let me drive here, though. You?”
“No,” she said. “But my truck’s not far from here. I, um, just got a new job this morning.”
He smiled. “Hey, that’s great. Where?”
“Magic Mags.”
“Really? I know someone who works…oh,” he said. “I take it you’ve met Luka.”
“Your sister.”
“Terrific,” he grumbled. “All right, what did she say about me? Whatever it was, she’s lying.”
Kyla couldn’t help laughing. “Actually, she didn’t say anything. I kind of didn’t get the chance to tell her I’d met you.”
“Good, then there’s still hope.” His smile slid into curiosity, and he added, “So how’d you know she’s my sister?”
“Her last name, for one. But mostly her eyes.”
He grinned. “Oh, right. Dawson green.”
“Yes,” she said faintly—because speaking of Dawson green, there was a pair of them staring at her intently and doing things to her insides that she hadn’t felt in years. She had to look away before she melted. “So, I guess we’ll walk there?”
“Good idea,” he said. “I can talk Luka into letting me borrow her car.”
She let Gage lead the way, at once excited and afraid of the feelings he’d stirred in her. This was not in the plan. She’d only meant to rejoin the world one step at a time, but Gage might end up being a giant leap toward a place she’d intended to avoid.
And she wasn’t sure she could take that leap.
* * * *
Luka was behind the front counter when they walked into Magic Mags. At first she smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but then her eyes moved from Kyla to Gage and her expression froze.
“Wow,” Gage said with a laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you speechless before.”
“What the hell happened to you?” She came around the counter, looking furious and worried at once. “Hey, Kyla. I’m glad you’re okay, but what are you doing with Gage? Was he…oh my God. Did you get arrested again? I swear, the next time I see Dean Wesley, he’s walking away a soprano.”
“Whoa. Slow down there, killer.” Gage glanced at Kyla to see how she was taking the again comment. If she’d noticed, it didn’t seem to upset her. “It’s a long story, and—”
“I wanted to tell you earlier,” Kyla said in a rush. “I tried, but people kept coming in, and then the officer—I mean, the deputy showed up. It’s about last night. I met Gage, and he’s your brother, so I thought I should tell you before you heard it somewhere else.”
Gage cleared his throat loudly. “Ladies, please,” he said. “Can’t a guy get a word in here? I’m the one who owes an explanation.”
Luka folded her arms. “Yes, you do.”
“All right, here goes,” he said. “I took Jenny Steele out last night—”
“You did what?”
“Just let me finish, Luka.”
“Fine.”
“She told me she broke up with Dean, and I believed her. Because I’m an idiot. Okay?” He stared at his sister until she relented. “Anyway, Kyla was at the bar for whatever reason, and we talked for a few minutes.”
“I was having two drinks,” Kyla said.
Gage smiled and raised an eyebrow. “That’s…oddly specific,” he said. “So Jenny and I had a disagreement, and I was going to take her home. But Dean was waiting for me in the parking lot. With some friends.”
“That son of a bitch,” Luka seethed. “I knew this was all him. He did that to your eye, didn’t he?”
“Yes, but that’s as far as it went,” he said. “Because then Kyla gave him a face full of pepper spray.”
“She did not.” Luka turned an awed expression on her. “Did you really?”
Kyla nodded. “I don’t like bull
ies.”
“Seriously, I love you so much right now.” Luka grinned and put an arm around the girl, squeezing briefly. “You’re my hero. See, I knew it was the right thing to hire you.”
“So you’re…not mad?”
“Are you kidding? Dean’s the biggest pile of shit in Covendale, and he wears a badge so nobody ever stands up to him. Except Gage. But that only gets him in trouble.”
“Yeah. Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Gage said. “So I guess that’s the end of the story. They ran off, and I got to take Kyla home instead of Jenny. That was much better than what I had planned.”
“Gage.”
He frowned. Luka was giving him The Look. “What?”
“We have to talk.” She turned to Kyla, and said, “Would you excuse us for a minute? If anyone comes in, just ask them to have a seat.”
“Sure. Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine. I just need to have a word with my brother. Come on, Gage.”
Gage held back an angry response and followed Luka to the back of the salon, toward the supply room. He suspected he knew what she was going to say—and it wasn’t something he wanted to argue about in front of Kyla. Otherwise he would’ve refused to go with her.
He walked inside, and she closed the door behind them. Before his sister could start in, he said without looking at her, “No, I didn’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“I know what you think.” He turned slowly, surprised to find he was more hurt than angry. “You’re assuming I took advantage of her. That I banged her, since I couldn’t get my hands on Jenny. Because that’s what I do, right? Sleep with everything that moves.”
“Gage, I—”
“Don’t bother pretending that’s not what you were going to say. It’s bad enough I get this shit from Mark.” He drew a deep breath and stared at the ceiling for a moment, willing his emotions back. For the first time he was facing up to the fact that he’d earned his reputation—and if he wanted to change it, there’d be hell to pay. “I drove her to her place,” he said as evenly as possible. “We said goodnight. She got out, and I went home. The end.”
