Page 175 of Chaos

Funnily enough,Deputy Monroelikes to skip over that portion of the story.

At my attitude, his lips thin. “Guess.”

“I don’t know.”

“Five?” he presses, tight with irritation. “Ten? More than that?”

“I don’t know,” I repeat. “Five, I think.”

That noise again. Fucking hell.

Slipping his pen into the pocket of his khaki button-down, Mark tucks away the notebook he’s been scribbling a whole lot of nothing into. “I gotta say, Lottie.” He braces his hands on his hips, scanning the scene with a twisted expression—twisted in the sense that he looks a little too fucking pleased by the carnage. “This looks mighty suspicious.”

My eyes narrow. “How’s that?”

“The liquor store in town was robbed on New Year’s Eve.”

“What’s that got to do with me?”

He looks at me like I should knowexactlywhat it’s got to do with me.

“The day after Christmas, the McGees reported a break-in at their ranch,” he continues. “Know anything about that?”

“No.”

“No?” he repeats, and it’s clear as fucking day that he doesn’t believe me. “Heard you had some friends in town last month. Heard you were over in Ponderosa getting real cozy with them.”

My stomach twists and rolls. “I had a few drinks with some people I used to know, and then I came home.”

“Quite the coincidence, Charlotte.”

I laugh loud enough to draw the attention of the people lurking on the front porch. “Right. You caught me. I trashed myhouse and then I threw a brick through my own window.” Slow and sarcastic, I clap. “Outstandingdetective work,Marcus.”

Mark’s jaw clenches. Too fast for me to dodge, he locks a hand around my bicep and yanks me towards his squad car. “Let’s go,mouth.”

As a tiny tendril of anxiety blossoms in synchronicity with what’s sure to be a couple of fingertip bruises, I try to shake him off. “Let go of me, asshole.”

“Hey.” Descending the porch with a single, long-legged leap, Finn strides towards us. “What the hell are you doing?”

Trying to rip my fucking arm out of its socket, apparently.

“We’re gonna see if a ride down to the station makes her a little more co-operative.”

“I told you what happened!” I protest over the panic blocking my throat. Fuck, I can’t get arrested again,fuck. “Someone call my brother.”

There’s no need.

Literally the second I mention him, Jackson’s voice suddenly rings out, a furious yell that I swear the next ranch over can probably hear. “Get your hands off of her right fucking now, Monroe.”

Mark releases me so quickly, I’d laugh if I wasn’t so pissed. He doesn’t let go of me gently either, and I teeter a little until I’m steadied by a much gentler replacement grip.

A warm torso settles flush against my back, lips hovering near my ear. “Are you okay?”

I nod—in response to Finn, and to my brother and older sister who bark the same question. Only after my reassurement do the latter pair set their sights on Mark, and fucking hell. Even I shiver a little at the looks on their almost identical faces.

Mama and papa bear mode,activated.

“Relax,” Mark titters nervously, all his bravado gone in the blink of an eye, leaving a wimp in a wrinkled uniform behind. “I’m just bringing her in for questioning.”

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