Page 31 of How to Trust a Hellhound
“I must have given you the impression that I’m incapable oftaking care of myself,” Josh said, and I could hear the fire behind his words.
Liam, Atlas, and Quinton all rushed to reassure him that wasn’t true, but he just put a hand up, and they all stopped talking. It was rather impressive, and to be honest, it was also a turn-on. My Mei Ume was feisty and ready to take charge.
“I understand why you might think that, but I can assure you, I am anadultwho can makelogicaldecisions.” The unstated part was that perhaps Liam and Atlas were not capable of making logical decisions. Q snorted in response, and Jude quietly slipped out the front door. I could hear a car in the distance, so my guess was that he was going to investigate. He also probably wanted to avoid getting yelled at since everyone looked a little shamed by Josh.
“Uh, yeah, of course we know you’re an adult, Josh,” Liam assured him, looking at me for help.
“Don’t look at me. None of this was discussed with me, after all,” I chastised. “I certainly wouldn’t have condoned it. If Josh wanted something done about his ex, all he had to do was ask, which I’m sure he knows, since he did ask Quinton for some assistance.”
“Yup. I did ask Q for assistance in changing my phone number, but I don’t recall asking anyone to track down Rick and threaten him. Not that I have any sympathy for the man, but don’t you think it’s my right, as the one who was wronged here, to have a say in what happens? But you took that away from me, didn’t you?” Josh was looking from Atlas to Liam and back again. “Worse than that, you stooped to his level of pettiness. I expected better from friends.”
They both looked guilty as hell at that. I almost laughed, but I managed to hold my grin in. Josh was going to be the perfect mate—he had successfully put both boys in their place, and he hadn’t even raised his voice to do it.
A moment later the sound of a car coming up the driveway became audible to the humans in the room, and we all heard Jude shout, “Walrus!”
Josh got up. “And this will be the sheriff dropping in, because I can assure you that Rick would be someone to call the cops on you. So now there’s something else for me to deal with, because you two didn’t think this through or ask my opinion.” Josh sighed before adding, “Let me handle this. I’ll make sure no one gets arrested.”
Josh walked toward the front door, and I sidled up next to him, putting my hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. I heard everyone else following behind us.
Of course, we walked outside to mayhem.
I sighed, Toby started mumbling to himself and writing in his notebook, and Quinton cursed under his breath.
Jude really needed to get a handle on dealing with his crush on the sheriff, because although he looked quite happy with himself, being handcuffed and pressed against a police car was probably not a good thing.
Chapter 13
Josh
Imay have laid it on a little thick with Atlas and Liam, but I wasmad. I was mad at Rick for being an asshole, and I was mad that the guys had stooped to his level of petty threats and bad behavior. Most of all, I was mad that they did it without talking to me. I wasn’t a child. Yes, staying with Rick had been bad, but I’d gotten out. I knew I should have left earlier, but Q was right—sometimes you couldn’t see the whole picture when you were in the middle of it.
So, yes, I’d made a bad decision. Maybe a string of bad decisions when it came to Rick, but overall I was level-headed and smart, and I thought things through. Which was why I would have told them not to go near Rick. The man was petty and entitled. I didn’t think he’d always been that way, or he’d at least hid it well for most of our relationship.
But I couldn’t really think about that, because Jude was handcuffed and leaning against the sheriff’s car, and he was…
“Jude, I swear to god, stop shaking your ass at the sheriff and wipe that smile off your face. I’m about to be mad at you, too,” I yelled, walking down the steps.
Both thesheriff and Jude looked slightly chastised at that.
“Sheriff Paul, I’m sure he deserved to be handcuffed”—all the guys hooted in laughter behind me, but I turned around and gave them a glare—“but please tell me we aren’t going to have to bail him out or anything,” I said.
The sheriff undid the handcuffs, muttering at Jude the whole time. Jude just blew him a kiss and whispered something that made the sheriff blush.
I wasn’t touching that with a ten-foot pole. I was pretty sure the two of them liked each other, although why they had to act like grade schoolers about it was beyond me.
“Josh, you’re okay,” the sheriff said, and he shot a look at Jude.
I walked over to the sheriff, and I heard everyone else following behind me. Jude walked past me towards the house to join them. It looked like I would have an audience for whatever Rick had done now.
“I’m fine. I’m sure Rick called the cops, and I’m sorry he dragged you into this, but I’mreallysorry if he somehow blamed the Smiths or dragged them into things. They’ve done nothing other than show me kindness and support,” I said.
Wilder put his hand on my shoulder, and it seemed like I could feel the heat of his body against my back.
“Boys, why don’t you go inside while we chat with the sheriff,” Wilder suggested, and I was thankful that he was giving us a little privacy. He seemed to know I was uncomfortable.
“Actually, I need Liam, Jude, and Atlas here as well,” the sheriff said.
No one seemed surprised by that, and Q ushered Aiden, Dexter, and Toby back toward the house, despite Toby’s mild protests about really wanting to see a police interrogation for research purposes. They didn’t go far—they sat up on the porch, but it was at least far enough to give me the semblance of privacy.
