Page 65 of Deputy Brand Gets Her Man
They all drank, and then Maria said, “The question on everyone’s mind is, what are we fixin’ to do about this?” Her green eyes flashed. She was living proof of the hot-tempered redhead.
And then Lily said, “We don’t know enough to do anything. We only heard a few linesof the journal. It’s unfair to judge someone based on such a narrow sliver of information.”
Drew nodded, “That’s what I’m sayin’,” though she hadn’t been saying anything. “We need to know more. We need get our hands on that phone, listen to the rest. And in the meantime?—”
“We can’t do that,” Lily said. “How would we react if he hacked into Willow’s phone?”
“Well, how else do you figure we find out what he’s up to?” Drew asked.
Willow held up one hand while drinking the beer with the other. She chugged the bottle, then smacked it onto the fireplace mantle. “I want to handle this myself. It’s not…a family thing, it’s a me and Jeremiah thing.”
The other three looked at each other, curious, wounded, and irritated.
“I know you’ll be there if I need you. You just have to step back until I do. Okay?”
“Yeah,” Lily said, nodding. “Of course.”
“I mean, I don’t like it, but…” Maria shrugged. “Okay, I’ll try to keep my nose out of it.”
“Me, too,” Drew said, but she didn’t mean it. Willow knew it right to her bones.
She nodded, though, and said, “Thanks. Now, I’m goin’ to be fine, and I really don’t want an overnight nurse, so…if you all are still safe to drive home…”
“I can get ‘em home,” Lily said.
“Thanks. Night, gals. And thanks for bein’ here. And uh…leaving that ice cream behind?”
They laughed. Maria said, “Go to bed, Will. We’ll clear out, and lock up behind us.”
So she did.
When she rose the next morning, her place was clean and empty, and the ice cream was still in her freezer. Excellent. She took a clean uniform out of her closet, and headed into the bathroom to get ready for work.
She hadn’t even got there yet when Jeremiah blasted by her in his Jeep and pulled over up ahead of her.
Sighing, she signaled and pulled off to the side. She pulled her aviator glasses on before she got out and walked up to his car, reminding herself to be cautious. Jeremiah wasn’t a good guy.
He leaned left and thrust both his open hands out the open window.
She rolled her eyes, and proceeded up beside it.
“May I get out?”
“No. What do you want?”
“I know you listened to my journal last night. Part of it. I’m kind of shocked, Willow. I trusted you, and you?—”
“You trusted me?” She felt her eyes widen and wondered if they could pop from their sockets like in a cartoon. “You used me. You lied to me. You’re lookin’ for a buried treasure and usin’ me to do it.”
“That’s all true,” he said, his hands on the steering wheel. He was looking at her, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. “Can I please get out of the car? C’mon, Will, I’m family. I’m Ethan’s brother, I’m not gonna hurt you. Couldn’t if I wanted to.”
She thumbed the loop off her holster, and the one off her taser too, and took a step back. “Okay. Get out. Since you’re family, I’ll give you a chance to explain yourself.”
“Good. Good.” He got out of the car and stood facing her, only a footstep away. “See, it’s true that I was using you, but that doesn’t mean everything else was fake. Will, what was between the two of us, it was real. It was fire.”
His gaze moved down her body, burning every spot it touched, then returned to her eyes again.
“Prove it,” she said. It felt like some force was making her lean closer.
