Page 26 of First Surrender
“It’s more than that. I don’t want anything to happen to either of you.”
“Is this a part of your God complex? You have to protect everyone?” She accuses, but the insult falls flat.
“I would like to protect everyone, yeah. Is that so bad?”
She rolls her eyes as a response and sets her jaw. There she is. “What do we do?”
“Move in with me. You’ll be safer and I won’t have to keep a deputy in front of your hotel. My house is safe.”I’ll keep you safe.I want to add but I don’t. I’ve pushed her enough.
“Wouldn’t it be safer to keep a deputy then? For Dec.”
“I’ll be there and won’t need to pay anyone.”
“Not enough tax funds?” She scoffs, but the sadness in her tone softens it.
“Uh, yeah.” I move away from her again because it’s suffocating to be too close and I need to keep my distance.
“You are still keeping something from me.” Her perception of me is too knowing.
“I am not,” I say without looking at her.
“You are.”
“Really? Do you want to play this game?”
“No, I don’t want you to keep secrets from me.” She huffs.
“You don’t need to know this one.” I shrug. “Leave it alone.”
“When have I ever listened to you? Why would I start now?”
Yep, I led myself into that one.
“Fine.” I rub my hands across my face and over my head. This is a nightmare and we are long past the meeting time with the prosecutor. “Taxpayers aren’t funding the deputy’s overtime. I am.”
“Right, well… You are the sheriff.”
“No. Not as Sheriff, as me.”
Her jaw drops. “What? Why?”
“The county can’t afford overtime. We can’t afford much of anything. I’m trying to fix it but I haven’t yet. It will take time. I need to hire more people as it is and we have no money to spare.”
“The hotel?”
I don’t respond. I don’t need to. She’s smart enough to piece together what I’m saying. I couldn’t stand the thought of her and Dec having nowhere to go.
“You bastard.” Ouch. Okay, I should have expected that. “Is this some sick way of getting me to owe you? To have something against me.”
“What? No. Not at all. Why can’t you believe that I am a decent human being?”
“Most people aren’t.”
“I’m sorry that you feel that way.”
“I am going to pay you back every penny for the hotel. I refuse to be in debt. Give me some time and I’ll pick up more shifts.”
“No,” I say too quickly. I don’t even want to imagine what she’s doing for money in that red lacy bra that haunts me and all of the tiny smoke-covered clothes that I shoved into a trash bag at her apartment. She narrows her eyes again. “Don’t worry about paying me back, you have enough on your plate.”