Arrogant Devil(85)

I’m in a daze as he hits the ground, knocked out cold.

Police officers rush over and put me in handcuffs.



Pete finds me in the holding cell, my hands between my knees, my gaze on the floor.

“Goddammit, I told you not to touch him,” he admonishes with an annoyed tone.

I peer up as he pulls a keychain from his belt buckle and unlocks the door.

“Coulda killed him, you idiot. Then you’d really be up shit creek.”

“Is he pressing charges?”

“Obviously—you heard what kinda guy he is. Luckily, most of the witnesses saw it as a little slap. Misdemeanor assault, $500 fine most likely.”

I nod. “I doubt that blonde with him will corroborate that version of the story. She saw what happened.”

“Oh, she left about an hour ago, sick of this guy’s bullshit, most likely. Officers overhead her shouting that she was going back to California without him. As far as I can tell, it’s your word against his.”

He slides the cell door open and I push to stand.

“Best $500 I ever spent.”

“Yeah, well, it’ll also go on your record, so don’t make this vigilante thing a habit.”

“I didn’t plan on hitting him. I just wanted to talk.”

He chuckles under his breath and pats my shoulder. “That punch sure looked like it was worth a thousand words.”

I don’t see Andrew again as I leave the station, and that’s a good thing. That one punch felt pretty good; a second one would probably feel even better.

I had time to cool off in that holding cell, but now I’m more anxious than ever to see Meredith. I want to know why Andrew came to town and what he said to her. I want to know if he threatened her in any way. I won’t allow it. I’ll get a restraining order, a fence, a fucking private army stationed at the front of Blue Stone if that’s what it’ll take for her to never have to see him again.

I’m relieved when I pull up at home and see a black-and-white parked out front. Officer Martinez is inside playing a game of Scrabble with Meredith and Edith. True to Pete’s word, there’s sweet tea and a plate of cookies spread out on the table. Martinez looks damn comfortable sitting there, but as soon as he sees me step inside, he shoots to his feet.

I tip my head in thanks. “Good to see you, Connor.”

“Things, uh, settle down at the station?”

His gaze shifts to my bloody knuckles and I wonder if he got word about the incident.

“Everything’s fine.”

I glance to where Meredith is sitting, eyes wide with worry. Without a word, she stands and rounds the table, walking toward me in a daze. There’s an emotion in her eyes I’ve never seen as she steps right up to me and wraps her arms around my waist. I’m still standing frozen as her forehead hits my chest and she squeezes me tight. A chain reaction happens so suddenly, emotions firing off one after another: anger replaced by relief, worry replaced by love. I bend down and press a kiss to the top of her head as her shoulders shake. I wonder what kind of day she’s had, if she was scared when Andrew showed up like that. I wish I’d been here with her and feel guilty that I wasn’t. I whisper that against her ear and she shakes her head, but there are no words.

Edith and Martinez excuse themselves and I wrap my hand around her neck so I can tilt her head back and look at her face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, gaze flitting back and forth between her eyes.

I finally realize she’s not crying…she’s laughing.

“You should have seen Edith with the shotgun.”

“Tell me what happened with Andrew. Why was he here?”

She huffs out a little exhale and smiles—smiles!

“He actually came to hand-deliver divorce papers.”

Hope explodes into my chest. “You’re kidding.”

She steps back to retrieve a stack of papers from the coffee table so she can hand them off to me.

“Nope. Apparently, he’s as eager to get rid of me as I am to get rid of him. He said he has a way to expedite the process once I get them signed.”

I start riffling through the papers quickly. I’ll need a little while to read them, and of course I’ll pass them along to my lawyer, but they’re real, honest-to-goodness divorce papers. She’s not kidding.

“Why’d Edith fire the shotgun then?”

A little chuckle escapes as she shakes her head at the memory.

“Oh, he was being an asshole. Edith had had enough and wanted to scare him a little.”

“By trying to kill him?”

She rolls her eyes. “Is that what he said happened? The shot wasn’t even close. She was aiming a couple yards off.”

I smile at Edith’s gumption. “Andrew was trying to get attempted murder charges drawn up. She could have spent the rest of her life in some dingy jail cell all because she couldn’t help herself.”

“Ain’t a jury in the land that would convict me!” Edith shouts from the kitchen. Apparently, she didn’t go too far when she left us alone. “That pansy boy hit the deck like he was in the middle of a war zone. Total wimp if you ask me—that’s why he had to pick on Meredith, made him feel better about himself!”

Meredith and I exchange a smile and then her expression turns thoughtful.