Page 10 of Hard Knock Hero

We clinked. I tossed back half the whiskey in my glass, enjoying the burn as it slid down my throat. Sometimes, cheap whiskey was just right. Harsh could be better than smooth, depending on the circumstances.

Jessi had only sipped hers. “You know, I don’t even like whiskey.” She passed her glass over to me.

“Then why are you drinking it?”

Her only answer was another tired sigh. We sat there quietly for a while, which was the way I usually liked to sit. Yet I was the one who broke the silence first.

“Who’s Jeremy?”

Before she could answer, the door to the bar opened. I glanced back to see a man in a cowboy hat parting the curtains that blocked the cold air from the doorway. He had khaki pants that only a cop would wear. A sheriff’s department star on his fleece-lined coat.

His eyes landed on me and Jessi and narrowed.

Uh oh.

“I think Mitch went and tattled,” I murmured to her.

Jessi sucked in a breath.

The cop stormed over to us. The star said he was Sheriff Douglas. Surprising, considering the guy was around my age. Thirty-ish. Seemed young to be in charge of the whole county, but some people were overachievers.

“Jessi, Mitch just came down to the station saying you tried to have Chester killed. Insisted I arrest you and some friend of yours for attempted murder.” The sheriff squinted at me. “Let me guess. The friend was this guy.”

“Attempted murder is nowhere close to what happened,” I said.

Jessi muttered a curse and grabbed the glass of whiskey, downing the rest of it. Every eye in the bar was on us.

The sheriff rested a hand on his gun, adopting a defensive posture. “I want you to step outside, sir. Right now. With your hands up.”

I complied, and Jessi trailed along at my heels. She’d grabbed both of our coats.

Outside, the snowfall had reduced to a trickle. But the temps had plummeted. Jessi shrugged on her jacket, but didn’t offer me mine.

“Owen, it’s not the way Mitch made it sound.”

“Oh really? This guy didn’t slam Chester into a refrigerator and break his nose and probably give him a concussion?”

I nodded. “All that happened.”

“Not helping,” Jessi hissed at me.

“Give me one reason I shouldn’t take you into custody right damn now,” Sheriff Douglas barked at me.

“Happy to.” I kept my hands up as I explained. “I was having dinner at Jessi’s Diner. At approximately seven p.m., I observed three male individuals enter the establishment. Jessi asked them to leave. They refused. I observed one of the individuals, whom Jessi identified as Chester, threaten her verbally. Then he put his hands on her and pushed her up against the counter. After that, he put his hands on her again and pushed her into the kitchen. He threatened her a second time. Then Chester raised his hand, and I assessed that he imminently intended to cause her grievous bodily harm. So I acted in defense of her to stop him.”

I stopped to take a breath. I didn’t usually have so much to say, but I could put sentences together. When I felt like it.

The sheriff and Jessi both gaped at me.

“Well, that’s at least one reason,” the sheriff said. “Are you a cop?”

“I’m not. But I have friends who are.” A lot of them, in addition to my brother and sister.

“What about Mitch’s claim that you stabbed him?”

“He was running into the kitchen and making threats. I warned him to stay away from us. He didn’t. I scratched him with the knife so he would think better of his choices. Turned out, he did.”

“It’s all true,” Jessi confirmed. “That’s exactly what happened.”

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