Fireball (Cheap Thrills #1)(7)

“Yeah, she’s good. Pissed, really pissed, but good.”

Nodding, I looked back down at her file and tried to get back to what I was meant to be doing here. After hearing all of that, it pissed me off that I had to do what I was about to.

“Back to the house I found you in.”

Sitting up straight, a new expression took over her face, this one making my dick stand up. Shit!

“I didn’t break in and enter. I have a right to be inside there because I…”

“You do not,” I interrupted her firmly. “You broke the law by going in without their permission and…”

She was sucking in oxygen to most likely yell at me, when someone knocked on the door. Irritated, I got up and stalked over to it. Wrenching it open with more force than was necessary, I glared at Rory and Logan who were waiting on the other side.

“I’m busy.” My tone gave away how pissed off I was at the interruption, but neither of them took the hint and walked away.

Instead, Logan waved me out of the room and whispered, “You need to know something about Tabitha Newton.”

Shooting a look over my shoulder, I told her with my expression to stay where she was, and then walked out into the hallway, closing the door shut behind me. Leaning back against it, I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow. “This had better be good.”

Good as in – she isn’t a wanted criminal who’s on the run from the authorities in New Jersey. Good as in – she isn’t on any lists nationally or internationally. That’s the good I wanted to hear.

“I tried calling while you were at the Joseph’s property,” Rory informed me, taking a step closer than was necessary. If she was doing this to ask me out again, I’d lose my shit. “I got in touch with them like you asked to see if they knew of anyone staying at their house. Come to find out, the sale of it closed last week, and the new owner…”

“Tabitha Newton,” Logan blurted, interrupting Rory and getting a glare.

Fuck. My. Life.

Not to be deterred, she elbowed him in the ribs and continued, “Was due to move in last night.”

“But she didn’t because her sister’s ex is a fuckhead who got caught sticking his dick in a sluthead. Aforementioned sluthead attacked aforementioned sister, and she had to help her sister out,” Logan added, unnecessarily running through his case from last night again. “She must have moved in today.”

I was about to say something to him while I figured out how to fix the situation with the woman in the room behind me, when a fist started knocking loudly on the door accompanied by Tabitha yelling, “Told you I had a right to be there!”

Looking over my shoulder, I shouted back, “So why the hell did you run?”

“To get the paperwork from my damn car. How else was I mean to prove it?”

She had a fair point, but still. “You could have just told me you’d bought it, we didn’t know it wasn’t still up for sale.”

There was a brief silence, and then, “Not my fault you don’t know what’s going on in your own town, Sheriff.”

I was about to reply when Logan grabbed my arm and gave it a tug. “You’ll never get her to go out with you if you say anything else. Go in there and apologize and eat humble pie.”

Ignoring Rory’s gasp, I thought over what he was saying. No man was blind to the intentions of another when you worked as closely as we did here, so I wasn’t surprised he’d picked up on where my thoughts were headed with Tabitha. Members of the military and law enforcement needed to read each other in order to carry out tasks properly and with fewer injuries, so my men and I knew each other well. The only woman who worked with us was currently storming off back to her desk – and you didn’t need to have a brain or know her to guess why that was – so she didn’t count.

“I’m not going out with him!” Tabitha yelled through the door, shocking both of us.

Looking at me in surprise, Logan lowered his voice, “That’s impressive. Does she have her ear pressed flat against the door or something?”

Apparently no one could ever accuse him of not picking up on the obvious. “Ya think?”

“Why would I go out with a big fat headed behemoth who woke me up like a creeper, arrested me, and wouldn’t let me explain? He put cuffs on me ya know, cuffs, and he still hasn’t taken them off.”

“Probably a wise move,” Logan whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

“And I had to sit in the back of a cruiser that probably has more DNA in it than a porn set. Think again, buddy!” she yelled, punctuating it with the screech of a chair.

“I hope that’s her sitting back down again,” Logan muttered taking a step back, putting more distance between him and the door.

I did a mental inventory of what was in the room that could be used as a weapon. At the moment, the only things not bolted down in there were the trashcan and the chairs. The trashcan was between the table and the wall on my side, and the chairs wouldn’t be easy for her to lift into the air to throw, so we’d be ok.

Just as I relaxed, there was a thud on the door followed by a metallic clang, making me groan. Shit, she’d found the trashcan.

“What are you gonna do? Arrest me for abusing the trashcan now?” she hollered, sounding slightly out of breath.