Seeking the Sheriff (Masterson County Book 1)

by Calle J. Brookes

  Perci held up a hand. “It’s been one hell of a day, Pan. I’ll tell you all about it. Later.”

  Pan held herself together. “I think I’ll take you up on that. Where’re Phoebe and Pip.”

  “We’re going to take showers. That’s all I’m saying now.”

  “I think that’ll be a good idea.” Pan just stared. “Hey, Perci?”

  “Yeah?”

  “We love you, you know? No matter what crazy stunts you pull. Or any of the others. Heck, even what stunts I pull. We’re Tylers. It’s kind of what we do.”

  Perci smiled. “I know. We’re Tylers. Crazy stunts are in our genes. Love you guys, too.”

  Nate waved her on her way.

  They were Tylers. For the first time, he was getting a true inkling of what that meant.

  Chapter 43

  All Nate had been able to tell her was that Joel had been taken back to surgery to fix the damage to his collarbone, which had taken a hit from a bullet. He’d insisted his brother was going to damned well be fine, no matter what. Nate’s attitude reassured Phoebe. Some. She wouldn’t breathe again until she saw him for herself.

  She wasn’t about to let him see her looking like a grubbling. A mud-coated grubbling at that.

  The nurses, all friends of Perci’s, pulled together and found her and her sisters some clean clothes to wear. A shower had never felt so good.

  She was clean now. And all she had to do was wait.

  Until Nate got a close look at her.

  He lifted her into his strong arms right in front of everyone and carried her from the surgical waiting room back to the ER department, even though she fought to stay near Joel. He put her in a wheelchair and admonished her to sit still, or else. He was going to take her to Radiology himself.

  He muttered under his breath about damned foolish, stubborn Tylers, but his hands were gentle. Worried. Because he cared. What he'd said to her was that he’d promised Joel he’d take care of her.

  He wheeled her past the information desk just as her father rushed in. “Phoebe Kate! What happened? Where are your sisters?”

  “They’re taking showers, Daddy. We’re ok. We’re all ok.”

  “No one will tell me what in the hell’s going on around here. I got a call in Texas saying half my kids were at the hospital. Where’s that damned sheriff?”

  “Oh, Daddy!” Phoebe lost the battle with tears. There were going to be so many questions, with answers she wasn’t certain that she had.

  How was she supposed to hold herself together?

  Her father lifted her from the wheelchair and rocked her while she cried.

  Chapter 44

  His brother’s girl had a broken arm, five cracked ribs, abrasions and contusions too numerous to count, and a mild concussion. The river—not to mention Rutherford’s damned fists—had done a real number on her.

  It amazed Nate that she was still standing.

  Until he realized what she was doing. If she let on how badly she was hurting, she’d be rushed upstairs and treated with pain management drugs. Kept away from the damned surgical department, that was for certain. Kept away from Joel.

  Matt stood silently at the door to the smaller private waiting room, doing his best to keep the gawkers out. The word that the sheriff had been injured taking down a major drug operation, as well as what had happened to the Tyler sisters, was starting to get around.

  People wanted to look, just to say they had.

  Damned despicable how people acted when a disaster of some sort struck their neighbors. At least in Nate’s estimation.

  The four sisters stuck to the small couch, wrapped in blankets and close to one another. Nate contacted the maintenance technician on duty and had the room’s thermostat adjusted behind the security tag. The three eldest needed to be kept warm.

  He wasn’t used to Perci so quiet or appearing so frail. She was sitting there next to Phoebe and looking half asleep. And shivering.

  He’d given orders to the ER staff that she and her twin be thoroughly examined to make sure they hadn’t done internal damage. They’d both passed with flying colors on the internal damage but would be extremely sore for several days. They had to be hurting. Perci’s hands were abraded from the rope, her abdomen was bruised from the constant tightening of the rope. Pip had a few cracked ribs from the pressure of the water fighting against the rope that had slipped up under her breasts. One of her arms was raw from being hit by a piece of debris. She had an abrasion over her right eyebrow. She’d no doubt scar, to match her twin once again.

  Phoebe looked like a little survivor of war.

  All three had stubbornly refused anything stronger than ibuprofen.

  Why? Why were Tylers so damned obstinate?

  Nate stood. He’d get an update about his brother again. Maybe that would be enough to spur them into taking care of themselves while they waited.

  Chapter 45

  Light from the window told Joel it was probably pretty early. From the monitors attached to him and the lovely piece of wardrobe covering him, he knew exactly where he was.

  What he didn’t know was where she was. He reached for the call button that he knew would be somewhere nearby.

  Nate came in almost immediately. “Damn. Way to cause a scene, big brother. Nice, dramatic finish and everything.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Next door. Resting, I think. She’s mighty stubborn and keeps trying to sneak in here with you. Now that you’re awake, and the hospital can get your permission, I’ll happily lock her in here with you. She’s as difficult as any other Tyler, that’s for sure.”

  Joel grinned. “Always knew you had my back. Seriously? The damage?”

  “You took a—”

  “To her.” He could feel the damage done to himself. That wasn’t what concerned him at all.

  “Like that, is it? Thought as much. She’ll be ok, Joel. Her arm is broken, and she has some cracked ribs and a concussion. She’s exhausted. She still hasn’t slept fully, yet. I’m thinking of drugging her into submission. I thought Persephone was the most difficult Tyler on the planet, but your girl might just have her beat.”

  “Nate, quit talking. I want my girl. Be a good little brother and go fetch her for me.”

  Chapter 46

  Phoebe looked up when the big man that so greatly resembled Joel walked into the room she was currently being held hostage in. He smiled, just as handsome as his brother.

  “Joel?”

  “He’s awake and demanding I fetch you.”

  Phoebe climbed off the bed quickly, ignoring the aches and pains that she suspected were going to be her companions for a week or so. “Let’s go.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I live to serve.”

  “Ha ha. No one likes sarcasm. Have you ever heard that before?” She snarked at him, but he’d earned her loyalty over the last several hours. Just seeing how much he’d worried about his brother had done that. And the kind way he’d dealt with her, not to mention with Perci and Pip. He and Perci might not get along very well, but Phoebe had finally gotten his measure.

  Nate Masterson was an old softie where the wounded were concerned.

  And then she wasn’t thinking of his brother at all.

  Joel was awake. And reaching for her.

  Phoebe just stood there and stared. She didn’t even notice when Nate stepped out of the room.

  “Honey?” Joel said, almost too softly for her to hear.

  She stepped closer until she could touch him. “I thought they were going to kill the both of us. You. And I was angry. Because just like with my mother, I didn’t get the chance to say the things I wanted to.”

  “I know. Hell of a beginning, isn’t this?”

  “Yes.”

  “Come closer. I’d like to hold you, but they have me on a bunch of damned leashes. I won’t tell you where that one goes.” He indicated one suspicious tube that went under the blanket.

  “Is there room?”

  “Honey, you’re
not all that big. I’ll make room.” He shifted carefully, creating a small free spot near his feet. “Come here.”

  Phoebe climbed. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “I can deal. I think they have me on some pretty nice meds here.” He shifted again, then grimaced. “Wish they had extra-large beds here at this hotel.”

  The hand not trapped by the IV reached for her. He kept guiding her until he was partially on his uninjured side, and she was on hers facing him. “There. That’s better.”

  It was. They’d have to be careful—the hospital bed was narrow, and they were both injured—but now they could be there, together.

  Exactly where she wanted to be.

  “Joel?” She said his name as she snuggled there and just breathed him in.

  “Yes, honey?”

  “I think I’ve decided what I want to do about you.” Her eyes started to drift closed as the fear running through her went away. He was going to be ok. They both were. They all were.

  “And what is that?”

  “Can I just stay right here next to you forever?”

  “I think that will be a damned fine idea, honey.” He wrapped his free hand around hers where they rested between them. He held her until they drifted off, together.

  Epilogue

  Nate checked on his brother an hour after he’d let Phoebe out of her own bed. What he found didn’t surprise him in the least. Although he would never have thought it possible to get two people in the same hospital bed, they had.

  He studied the two for the longest time, thinking that they looked damned good together. Like they belonged exactly where they were.

  Someone came in the room behind him, and he turned, not surprised to see dark auburn hair and the biggest thorn in his side.

  “I couldn’t find her,” Perci said. She came around from Nate’s back and got closer to the bed. She looked up at him. “She looks at peace. I can’t remember the last time I saw my sister without her looking worried about something. Even in her sleep.”

  Nate didn’t know what to say after that, so he didn’t say anything at all. The way his brother was holding that girl…

  Nate couldn’t help feel a bit of envy. “They’re good for each other.”

  “I guess. I’m just glad they’re both here to be good for each other. It was so close…”

  Nate looked at her quickly. “Don’t start crying. Demons don’t get to cry.”

  “I’m not the devil, Masterson.” She glared at him out of those blue eyes of hers. But this time, there didn’t seem to be much heat. “You are. But…I have to admit. You came in handy yesterday. You saved my sister’s life. Possibly Pip’s, too. I’m never going to forget that. So…thank you.”

  Nate nodded. “Let’s get out of here. Let them have some peace. I think they’ve both earned it.”

  Nate quietly closed the door behind them. It was time to go on.

  Coming Winter 2017/2018

  A New PAVAD: FBI & Finley Creek Spin-off Series:

  Small Town Sheriffs

  A good man knows right from wrong, and he uses that knowledge to protect the small town he calls home. But when that special woman comes to town, what’s a brave man to do but meet the challenge head on!

  Small Town Sheriffs Book 1

  Holding the Truth

  She’d been a victim of a horrible crime that left her spirit broken and her body hurting, but TSP Deputy Bailey Moore would somehow find the strength to heal. To forget that one of the very people who’d hurt he was the one who should have kept her safe. Her father’s betrayal had scarred her very soul.

  Bailey found solace with the family of another victim when the Albert and Jake Dillon opened their home—and hearts—to her. Everyone just assumed she and Jake would one day…

  But it wasn’t surrogate big brother Jake Bailey could not get out of her head…It was the man who’d carried her to safety when she had been far too close to death.

  Sheriff Clay Addy was haunted by the women he’d failed to protect. His lone female deputy was one of them. She was better off staying with the Dillons and he was better off just doing his job protecting Value, Texas. Until Bailey’s return to the TSP reminded Clay of just how much she had suffered.

  Bailey was back and Clay would just have to forget how achingly vulnerable the younger woman was…

  As they settle into a routine, circling around each other warily, someone else from the past returns. Someone ready to hurt Clay and take Bailey for his own sickly twisted games.

  Clay will have to protect her when it is his past that threatens Bailey’s future.

  She had no one. Just him. Sheriff Clay Addy sat by the hospital bed for hours, just watching her sleep. Counting her breaths. Listening to the beeps and hums of the machines that told him the woman—girl, really—still lived.

  She’d died once on the surgeon’s table. They’d brought her back. Thank God they’d managed to bring Bailey back. Her eyes opened, so blue they looked unreal, but they were clouded and unfocused. A small cry escaped her. Clay leaned over her so she knew she wasn’t alone. “Bailey, it’s ok. You’re safe now.”

  “Sheriff…you got them?” Her words were strained, but he still heard. “Is…Kyra safe?”

  “Yes, she’s safe now. With Agent Lake.”

  “She loves him. Could tell. Did you get the men?” Blue eyes closed and her small hand twitched on the blanket. Her small, cut, bruised, and broken hand. Clay brushed her fingers lightly, just above the plaster cast. He just needed to touch for a moment.

  “Don’t worry about that now.” Oh, he’d get them. Even if it took the rest of his life, he’d get the men who’d hurt Bailey. Including her own father. “You just rest.”

  “Don’t have to stay. Know you don’t want to.” Her eyes remained closed, her breathing deepened. Clay let out the breath he’d been holding. “Know you don’t like me very much.”

  “Of course I like you, Bailey.” But she was already out. He stood, staring down at her for a long moment. Bailey was two weeks shy of her twenty-fifth birthday, but she barely looked old enough to vote. He’d known of her since she was nine and he was twice that. Her hair was completely straight and pale blonde. It was long, almost to her waist, he thought. Someone had washed her hair and braided it into two braids. When she’d been brought in, she’d been soaking wet and covered with mud and sludge of some sort. And blood.

  Clay would never forget Bailey’s blood.

  Bailey made such a small lump under the thin blanket. Small and vulnerable and having barely survived hell.

  Not like her? Hell, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

  Bailey Moore had fast become the center of his world—and she would never know that. Bailey kept him centered, grounded. Reminded him of sunshine and hope. Without her, he’d simply sink into oblivion in his personal life and drown in his duty as the sheriff.

  He wasn’t stupid; he knew how he felt about her bordered on obsession. He’d wanted nothing more than for some young rancher to come and carry her off. Carry her somewhere where she couldn’t haunt him with just a simple smile.

  Someone had carried her off, and it had been her own bravery that led to her rescue. Hers and another woman Clay had always loved.

  He had almost lost them both. Clay wouldn’t ever forget that. Or the guilt that failure brought. He had almost lost her…