Page 94 of A Very Merry Mistake

I hold her against me. “Has he always grabbed you that way?”

Claire doesn’t meet my eyes when she nods.

I pull away, go to my bedroom, and unlock my gun safe. I remove my shotgun from inside and stalk down the hallway, anger coursing through me.

“Jake,” Claire whispers as I swing open the front door. I take a few steps toward Dale and rack the shotgun. The sound echoes on my porch; it’s enough to make anyone’s hair stand on end.

“I’ve changed my mind. You’re gonna get the fuck off my property right now,” I growl, lowering the shotgun to point the barrel directly at him.

Claire stands in the doorway, watching the debacle, and I hear her shoo Tinsel away.

Dale gets up and stumbles off the porch, muttering something under his breath.

I let out a warning shot, and Claire gasps behind me. The loud crack echoes through the woods. “Remember what I said!” I yell.

Dale rushes to his car, and that’s when I notice he’s pissed himself. When he backs out of the driveway, he kicks up gravel.

I turn around. “He won’t be back, and he won’t be messin’ with you again.”

“Jake, you cannot point loaded weapons at people on my behalf,” she protests.

I wrap my free arm around her waist and slide my lips across hers. “I wouldn’t have hurt him.”

She snorts. “No? Just blacked his eye?”

“Him roughhousin’ you just ain’t okay.”

She looks perplexed.

“It means bein’ violent. I won’t allow him or anyone to touch you like that. Had to scare him a little so he understood I’m not playin’.”

“Added that one to my lexicon. Thank you. I think it worked. But—” Her phone rings, and she pulls it from her pocket. She sighs. “I’ve got to take this.”

“Sure thing.”

As Claire steps outside and answers her phone, she starts to pace. Her arm moves up and down as she gesticulates angrily, and I can tell she’s frustrated by how tight her lips are.

I put the shotgun away, then wash my hands. I don’t have regrets about doing what I did, and he won’t be back. Not after pissing himself from being so scared. Men should never treat women that way, but then again, he’s not a man.

When I move to the living room, Tinsel runs toward me, and I pick her up. She nuzzles against my chin and purrs. Then she yawns.

“Stop that. Those are contagious.” I hold her until she’s fidgety, then I set her on my lap, and surprisingly, she stays. Not long after, Claire returns, sliding the patio door closed. She sits next to me with a deep sigh.

“My father is pissed. Not at me, for once,” she adds. “At Dale for coming here.”

“Didn’t work out for him.”

“No.” She lets out a breath. “It didn’t.”

“The choices we make have consequences,” I tell her. “He found his.”

“He did. But thank you. I don’t know what I would have done had he found me on the street. Gone with him?” She looks visibly shaken up. “Hopefully, he’s not staying in Merryville.”

“He has nowhere to go unless he’s sleepin’ in a vehicle, and the town has a ‘no overnighters’ ordinance, so if he even tries it, they’ll run him off. We know the inn is booked until next year. No one will welcome him in with that attitude, regardless of the season or temperatures. You get what you give around here. Don’t think kindness is in his repertoire.”

“It’s not.”

I think I hear her stomach growl. “How ’bout I run to town real quick and get something to cook? I’d love a nice steak with brussels sprouts and a potato.”

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