Page 24 of The Bodyguard
“Look, I didn’t mean anything by what I said back there.”
On the front seat of my car were sunglasses. I reached down and put them on, taking comfort in the fact that they covered half my face.
“I understand. I really do have to go.”
“Okay, but if you need something let me know. Seriously. Anything.”
That was a joke. “What I need is for you to believe me. But I think we both know that’s never going to happen. See you around, Garrett.”
* * *
GARRETT
Pine’s Ranch
What I need is for you to believe me. But I think we both know that’s never going to happen.
I was lying in bed that night and her words kept rolling around in my head. What the fuck had that meant?
Brin damn well knew she had a history of lying to me. A history of phonyeventsshe had staged to get my attention.
Okay, she hadn’t been lying about Betty. Or Caroline. But that was it. The two truths in a sea of lies.
Because she’d had a crush on me.
Which she was obviously over. As if a sheriff from a small town in Texas was any match for the Cowboy fucking Princess.
Besides, it wasn’t like I had ever thought about her like that. Sure, yes, I had acknowledged that she’d grown up to be a beautiful woman. And, yes, maybe there had been that moment when I first saw her again in the principal’s office, all grown up, and she’d made me catch my breath. But the reality was that the girl I knew was the kid with the big brown eyes always looking up at me longingly.
Certainly not the ridiculously smoking-hot woman in the bar today.
With long dark hair and legs that went on forever. And lips that had been freshly glossed and made for kissing. She was the most intimidating-looking woman I had ever seen in my life.
And when she put those sunglasses on to cover her eyes, it had made me irrationally angry.
Angry that I couldn’t look at her anymore. Angry that she was putting up this wall between us.
What I need is for you to believe me…
Why? Why did she need me to believe her? Why had she asked Jack to give her a heads-up if there were any strangers in town looking for her? Of course I had gone back to ask him what they had talked about.
There was absolutely no point in suggesting she had someone stalking her in Dusty Creek. There was no buzz to be had here. Just mud, oil, and cattle, and she knew that.
And I wasn’t enough of an egomaniac to think she still had a crush on me and was trying to get my attention again. She hadn’t gone to the sheriff with her concerns. She’d gone to the local bartender.
Was it possible her story was legit? If so, that meant I was calling her a liar for the third time when she was telling the truth.
Ifshe was telling the truth.
Shit. She hadn’t really said anything. Just TV and weirdos. But the look on her face…
I turned over and looked at the clock on my nightstand. It was after one in the morning and I knew it was doubtful I was going to get any sleep. Instead, I was going to think about Brin and what had made her put on those glasses when she was talking to me.
Because I had almost taken them off her face and broken them.
Which was a bizarre thought to have, but it’s not like I could stop it.
I was also going to think about how I was going to approach her again. Because for damn certain I was going to learn what Sabrina King was afraid of.
