Chapter 18

Don’t embarrass a guy by telling him his fly is open in public. Do the right thing and zip it up yourself.

-Janie to Reagan

Reagan

“You can take pictures of whatever you can see while I’m fully clothed,” I said. “But you can’t take the pictures of anything underneath my clothes. I might be mad at Tyler, but I’m not stupid.”

Rome chuckled, then started to snap pictures of my injuries with his cell phone.

“There was this chick that filed a report on a teammate,” he started, snapping a photo of the bruise on my cheek. “She was scared to death, had zero money to her name, but she did it anyway.” Rome paused. “She was offered a payoff to let it go, but she wouldn’t take it. She just kept doggedly pursuing it because she knew she was in the right and she didn’t want anybody else in the world to have to go through what she went through. It took her two years, but she finally won.”

I shrugged. “If I file a report on him, he’s just going to go to his daddy and use his ‘get out of jail free’ card. The case will be dropped, or he’ll make me look so bad that I’ll drop it myself. I know how Dusty and Judge Rhymes work. Trust me when I say that I don’t want to get into it.”

Rome sighed. “Nobody is infallible.”

I knew that.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “But, I also have to worry about Tyler…and my father. They’re police officers. This shit will be spread far and wide.”

“That’s not going to be something that upsets Tyler, honey,” Rome pointed out. “In fact, when he left, he looked like he was ready to tear the whole goddamn sheriff’s office apart. Trust me when I say, if there is justice to be had, he’s going to make sure you have it. He’s not going to stop until this is fixed.”

I didn’t want to hear that.

I’d tried fighting Dusty before.

He played dirty.

I may not mind getting my fingernails dirty for my work, but I didn’t want to get into the filth that Dusty was capable of hurling my way.

Anything else in the world, I could handle. But the way Dusty played? No. I didn’t want to think about it.

“It’ll be fine,” I told him.

Rome gave me a sardonic smile. “Maybe you don’t know Tyler as well as I thought you did.”

I bared my teeth at him.

Then looked around his sparsely furnished place.

“Why do you live here?” I asked. “And if you’re going to live in such a nice place, why don’t you have furniture? I’m fairly positive that you can afford it.”

Rome snorted. “I can, but I also don’t want to deal with the shit that comes with furnishing it when I plan to sell it.”

“Why do you plan to sell it?” I asked, admiring the view.

Rome cleared his throat. “I bought it for my son…but Tara refuses to allow me to have him and with him being so sick, he hasn’t set one foot in the place even on my days with him.”

I knew what he was thinking.

That his son might not live long enough to ever enjoy the house, so why bother keeping it?

“Tyler’s here.”

I frowned. “How do you know?”

He gestured to something over his shoulder and I felt my stomach tense.

Cameras were set up on the driveway showing Tyler as he pulled up in his police cruiser, coming to a stop right underneath the garage view for the security system. This angle was giving me an unencumbered view of the inside cab of Tyler’s vehicle.

He wasn’t in the jeans and t-shirt that I last saw him in. Instead, he was decked out in his full uniform—navy button up uniform shirt, navy pants, a hat on his head that said Hostel PD and from the bulk of his chest, I could see that he had his Kevlar vest on.

All the other bells and whistles were there, too. His utility belt, the mic at his shoulder and the blazing gold badge on his chest that declared him a police officer.

I admired him, temporarily forgetting everything that had happened that day and studied every single feature that I could make out.

I couldn’t see his face, though. With the way the night darkened the interior of his vehicle and the light above where he was parked casting shadows along with the hat he had pulled low over his head, I couldn’t make out the expression on his face.

I watched in silence as he leaned over and pressed his head against the steering wheel, resting it there for a few long seconds.

Then he pulled back and then seemed to snap.

His fist came down hard on the steering wheel five times in quick concession and the movement of his body caused his hat to come askew.

The moment that I could make out his face, I realized that Tyler was blaming himself.

“Still think he didn’t regret what he said?” came Rome’s careful reply.

I didn’t look at him.

Instead, I got up from where I’d been wrapped in a blanket on Rome’s couch and hurried to the front door.

Once I was outside, I raced down the steps toward Tyler, who was still in his cruiser, pounding away at the steering wheel.

I reached for the door but stopped when he leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and looking so defeated that I wanted nothing more than to hold him.

Pressing my hand against the window, I whispered to him. “Tyler.”

There was no possible way that he could’ve heard me.

None.

But his eyes opened and he turned to see me standing there, hand pressed against the glass.

He closed his eyes again, then moved so that his forehead was pressed to the glass where my fingertips were.

It didn’t feel like a quarter inch of glass was separating us. It felt like his forehead was resting directly on my palm.

I clenched my other hand, waiting for him to come to whatever decision he seemed to be weighing.

Five long minutes later, I backed up as he pushed his door open.

Then I was caught up in his arms and he was pressing his face into the crook of my neck.

“You did something to my heart,” he said. “I can’t fuckin’ think because you’re all in my head, making me do and say things that I never would’ve done before you.”

I tightened my arms around his neck and turned my face slightly so I could press a kiss to his ear.

“I love you, Tyler.”

I hadn’t meant to tell him that.

I didn’t want to scare him away with my feelings, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

I needed him to know what he meant to me, just in case something happened and things didn’t work out the way I hoped.

His entire body shivered. “My life would be easier if I didn’t love you back.”

I felt myself smiling.

“I’m sorry for what I said.” He paused. “Well, I’m not necessarily sorry, but I would’ve waited until I knew you were okay first before I lit into you.”

I chuckled, which turned kind of watery halfway through.

And then, not two seconds later, I was crying my eyes out and Tyler was the one holding me now instead of the other way around.

“I love you,” he told me long minutes later, tears still in my eyes. “And your dad and I had a talk today…we also found we have stuff in common.”

That sobered me enough to lift my head from his neck and give him a curious glance.

“Seems we both want to kill Dusty but can’t.”

My mouth fell open at his words. “Y’all can’t get into trouble…”

He tightened his hands on my hips. “We won’t, honey. We’re old enough to realize the consequences of such actions but, just sayin’, I better not catch him anywhere fuckin’ near you. And we will be pressing charges on his ass.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he stopped me by placing his hand over my mouth.

“You may think that by not doing so you’re helping us, or hell, even that Dusty will just get out, but that’s not quite the truth,” he murmured, eyes serious. “This time, we may not get any further than where your father got last time when y’all tried to file a restraining order. But, let me tell you something, if it’s not recorded, it didn’t happen. One day soon, Dusty’s going to fuck up. And when he does, I’ll be there, ready to charge him. But I want to make sure that I can charge him with every goddamn crime I possibly can and to do that, I need to have all his past offenses on record.”

I sighed, feeling something inside my chest tighten into resolve.

If he wanted me to do it, then I would.

“Get ready, because the moment that I press charges, shit’s going to hit the fan,” I told him softly.

Tyler raised one hand and tucked my hair back behind my ear with gentle fingers. “And when it does, I’ll have a couple of heavy-duty, shit repelling umbrellas ready.”

I couldn’t help it.

I laughed.

“Now let’s go home and see what that beast of a dog did to my house after Johnny dropped him off today.”

“Groot,” I whispered against his throat. “His name is Groot.”