I grind my teeth, since that’s probably a pretty important conversation that he needs to hear, especially if it does mean he can arrest King Sr. over the murder of his son and the attempted murder of John Troy.
“You have some serious nerve,” I snap, shutting my engine off and grabbing my phone from where I threw it on the passenger seat.
“I’ll make some calls on the way. I’m sure one of River’s friend’s parents can take over—”
“It’s basically dinnertime. You want to disrupt one of their dinners?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
“What are you saying?”
“How long are you going to be?”
Relief rushes over his features. “I don’t know. Probably a few hours if he can remember what happened and finger the person who took a shot at him.”
“Have you spoken to Love today?”
“I’ve done nothing but look for River the past few hours.”
I sigh, since this is definitely going to be a long night for him. Ah hell, probably me, too.
“You should give her a call on your way to the hospital.”
“Why?” He sounds suspicious.
“Just do it. And don’t worry; I’ll look after River for a few hours. How hard can it be?”
When Rocky looks at me as though I might have grown a second head, I decide maybe that isn’t the best vote of confidence in myself.
“Make sure she does her homework,” I begin, tapping a finger with each suggestion I make, “which means making a phone call to find out what her homework even is. Don’t feed her something that is full of sugar for dinner. Does she have allergies?”
Rocky shakes his head.
“Right. No scary movies before bed. Make sure she’s in bed before …”
“Nine,” he says with a small smile. “And you have to watch her brush her teeth; otherwise, she won’t do it.”
“Got it.”
“Are you sure?” he asks, glancing down at his phone when it beeps again in his hand.
“Yes. Just go. I’ll call you if I have any problems. Hopefully, you’ll bother to answer this time,” I grumble.
“Conner, I’m sorry I—”
“Just forget it. You got somewhere you gotta be, right?”
He bites his lip for a moment before he turns away from me and moves onto the porch where he crouches down beside his daughter.
“You and I are going to have a talk later about just what the hell you thought you were doing today. And we’re also going to talk about your punishment.”
“I love you, Daddy. I’m sorry,” she whispers, her lips wobbling in a way that could make anyone proud.
She really took my advice to heart.
Rocky clears his throat, his anger already looking like it’s softening. “Why do you keep telling me you love me?”
“Conner told me to.”
I roll my eyes.
And … she just diminished the impact of that one.
“He did, did he?” he asks, shifting his head to look back at me before his attention is snagged by his daughter again.
“He asked me if I loved you, and I said of course I love my daddy, and so he said I should tell you how much I love you. Because I do love you.”
I cough to hide my laugh, because … holy cow, how many times did she just manage to declare her love for him? Rocky is dealing with a professional.
Even Rocky struggles to cover his smile. “Well, okay then. I love you, too. But I’m still going to have that talk with you.”
“Okay. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart.” He gives her a kiss on the forehead then hugs her tightly to his chest.
It almost feels too personal for me to witness. I’m not anything to these two; clearly less than nothing to Rocky.
“Go inside and wash up. Then I want you on the phone with one of your classmates. You get every bit of homework you missed today, and then you get started on it.”
“Yes, Daddy,” she mumbles quietly.
“Good girl.”
She gives him another quick hug and whispers something in his ear. If I had to guess, I would say it was another declaration of love, given Rocky’s actual laugh, before she runs inside and leaves us alone.
I begin to follow her in, but Rocky steps forward and cups the back of my neck, holding me firmly as he stares down over me.
“I am sorry, Conner. I know you would never do something so horrific. I was in a state of panic, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I’ve seen a lot of shit in my line of work, so my mind went to the worst places immediately, which is where I was when I got that message about you having River. But I also have good instincts when it comes to people. I know you’re a good person. I wouldn’t leave you right now with her if I didn’t believe that.” He waits until I nod, giving in to his commanding tone, even if part of me is just mesmerized by how fucking hot his tone is right now. I still appreciate the apology.
“Okay, I get it. I’ll try and drop it,” I say, not entirely sure it’ll be that easy.
“Good. Thank you for helping me tonight. Maybe tomorrow I can take you out for lunch or something?” he offers.
My own smile dims at his offer. When you’re in a relationship, a lunch is a nice way to connect during the day. It sort of says you can’t wait until that night to see each other, so you’re going to fit each other in during the daytime. But, when you’re not dating, when you’re not in a relationship, a lunch is the worst kind of brush off. Generally, it has a time limit, since lunch breaks don’t go longer than an hour for a working man, which Rocky is. It also eliminates any chance of falling into any sort of passion. A dinner can lead to other things. A lunch leads to nothing.
“Sure.”
I can already picture this lunch being awkward and pointless.
Rocky is trying to be friendly. Hell, maybe he wants to be friends. However, I don’t think I can settle for that. Not without getting hurt in the process.
Rocky shifts forward and, for a split-second, I forget about my inner lunch tirade and prepare for him to kiss me. His eyes even travel to my lips, but he stops himself before he gets close enough to touch me, letting go of my neck and stepping back.
“If River tries to weasel any information out of you on whether or not you know about what her punishment will be, tell her she is most definitely grounded until she’s thirty.”
I chuckle at this, but Rocky looks like he’s being serious. I wonder how easily he’ll crumble after all her declarations of loving him. I bet it will only take a couple more before he gives in and buys her something instead.
Rocky is a lot like his namesake—hard and unyielding. But, for his daughter, I think he might just be the biggest softie around.
***
Just as I’m serving dinner, I receive a phone call from Love. I’m almost tempted not to answer, still annoyed that she wouldn’t even let me get a word out when I called about River earlier, but I can’t bring myself to ignore it.
“I’ll just be a second,” I tell River, who is digging into her dinner while she sits with a book at her side. I’m not sure if reading at the dinner table is allowed, but since I wasn’t told otherwise and it seems harmless enough, I don’t comment on it.
She acknowledges me with a barely-there nod before I can tell her focus is back off me.
“Hey,” I say as I pick up the call. “What’s—”
“You shouldn’t be here, Love.” Rocky’s voice is on the other end, but it sounds like it’s coming from farther away.
“I know, but I just wanted to see him arrested.”
“I know we’re just a small town, but you’re still technically a reporter, so I’m going to need you to get back into your—”
“What the hell is the meaning of this?” a new voice calls out.
I listen to a small gasp, which I think is from Love, as well as some obvious scattering of shoes.
“Now, Mr. Alder, I’m going to need you to put that shotgun down,” Rocky bellows in his
stern voice while my heart rate jumps to an alarming rate. My eyes unconsciously drift to a clueless River as I listen to whatever the fuck is going on.
“Love?” I whisper, but she doesn’t answer me.
“I don’t need to do nothing! What is the meaning of this?”
“I’m here to place you under arrest for the murder of your son and for the attempted murder of John Troy. I suspect I’ll be adding charges for reckless driving and vehicular manslaughter for the death of Alexa Porter, as well.”
The air dissipates from my lungs over Rocky’s words. He’s saying all of that while King Alder is holding a freaking shotgun on him? Is he insane?
“You … I … I didn’t do nothing wrong.” Alder sounds like he is choking on his words.
“You killed your boy over money. Not sure how much more wrong you can get.”
“That boy was worthless! He couldn’t even marry a damn woman to save our family farm. He didn’t deserve the air he was breathing!”
“So you shot him in the chest and dumped his body in the mountains?” Rocky sounds incredulous.
“I just needed time to think! I wasn’t going to leave him there! No one goes on those paths. I would have got to him before any animal did.”
I cringe, wondering if Alder even knows how crazy he sounds.
“Then those damn fairy kids had to go and stumble on him. You’re infecting us all, you know. And you’re the worse of the lot, Green. You make a mockery of that badge. Your daddy would be rolling over in his grave knowing you’re sleeping with a man.”
“Not sure I give much of a fuck what my father would have cared about. What I do care about right now is upholding the law and putting a murderer behind bars.”
“You think you have friends here? You don’t! Just wait until the next election. No one is going to elect a fairy sheriff. You fooled us into thinking you were normal. That cat is out of the bag now.”
Love speaks up then, sounding stronger than I would be in her situation. “You’re about to be arrested for murdering your son, and this is what you’re choosing to do? Spewing hatred when you’re about to spend the rest of your miserable life in prison?”
“Love!” Rocky growls in warning.
“I’ll sleep well knowing there is one less of you breathing, and that your day is coming, too, Green. Mark my words, you’re more alone in this town than you could ever imagine.”
“Right.” Rocky sounds bored. “If that’s all, then you can either put your gun down of your own volition, or I shoot. My deputy has her aim on you, too, so it might be a guess as to which bullet hits you first.”
“My aim’s on his dick,” Deputy Abby Neil yells out, sounding clear, her voice unwavering.
“What the fuck?” Alder cries, and then I hear something cluttering to the ground, and then quick movement. Then there is yelling—I think it’s Rocky telling Alder to get down. Their voices are drifting away.
“Conner? You there?” Love sounds breathless.
“What the fuck?” I demand quietly, my eyes back on River to make sure she isn’t paying attention to me or my outburst.
“Sorry, I didn’t expect that to get so heated. I just thought you might like to hear Alder being arrested, since you were wrongly considered a suspect. I didn’t know it was going to go down like that.”
“That was intense!”
“Yeah, it was. Shit, I think I’ve sweated through my entire shirt.”
I hear a door open then close, and then Love’s voice sounds louder with less background interference.
“I’m sorry about before. I should have let you talk before I hung up on you.”
“That’s okay. Your reaction was mild compared to Rocky’s.”
“I heard. That asshole Deputy Dickhead told Rocky you kidnapped River. He had this gross smirk on his lips when he was telling Rocky. He called him, so he wasn’t even trying to pretend he wasn’t being an ass. It was disgusting. As soon as I heard and saw him, I knew that wasn’t true.”
“Yeah, well, Rocky believed him.”
“That’s because he’s a dad. He was scared out of his brains today. I mean, that asshole Alder just held a shotgun on him, and he didn’t even break a sweat. He was calm the whole time. It takes a fucking lot to rattle him, and today, thinking his girl was lost, he was fucking rattled.”
I frown, already knowing this, but part of me likes that I’m still peeved about it. It helps with making sure I’m not going to do something stupid, like fall anymore into like with the man than I already am. I’m not even willing to consider the other L-word. No way.
“Can we not talk about this anymore? I have to go anyway. I’m ignoring River.”
“I also heard you’re looking after her tonight. You know, Rocky hasn’t let anyone look after River unless he basically knew them since birth. His neighbors are all ones he’s known since he was a kid. And, even then, he was hesitant to do it. Bell and Tyson Carter, Mia’s parents, look after River all the time, and again, that is only because he’s known them since he was a kid. River had a couple of people ask her over for sleepovers, and Rocky turned them down because they’ve only lived in the area for five years.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“It’s a big deal that he’s trusting you with her.”
“And I’m ignoring her, so put your matchmaking garble to bed. I’ll talk to you later when I’m home.”
Love snorts. “Like you’re not staying right where you are tonight.”
I’m ready to insist that I won’t be staying here, but Love has already hung up.
“Damn annoying,” I mutter, putting my phone away and moving back over to the dinner table.
Unfortunately, I can already feel what little anger I still carried has all but been snuffed out.
Chapter Sixteen
“You want to be a sheriff when you’re older? Follow in your dad’s footsteps?” I ask River as we finish up the last of the dishes and move to the living room.
I’m not sure how chores go around here, but River and I just did everything together. She seemed excited to help me cook dinner and not too resistant to help me clean up afterward.
Since she finished her homework before dinner, I told her we could watch one show before getting ready for bed. She asked for The Bachelorette. I don’t think that is age appropriate, so I countered with SpongeBob SquarePants, since I’ve heard of that and it was up on the streaming device Rocky has. Given the massive eye roll I got in response, I assume that was uncool of me. Therefore, we finally settle on reruns of some show called Austin & Ally.
River shakes her head. “Nope. I want to be a judge. I like judging people. Dad said a judge is the law, and you have to listen to them. So, I want to be a judge.”
I chuckle, wondering if that logic is completely sound.
“You don’t feel pressured to do what your dad does and grandfather did?”
“No. Daddy told me that he would be proud of me no matter what career I decided on. He said I should follow my heart.”
“And you looked in your heart and decided you loved judging people?” I laugh again, realizing that I’ve done that a lot tonight with River. Not sure I even could have imagined that I’d have fun looking after a kid.
“Yep. Besides, I don’t want to be an only child. So, my brothers or sisters can become sheriff one day.”
I almost choke on my own saliva. “What? You think your dad is gonna have more kids?”
“Sure. I want it, so I’ll be able to talk him around.” She says this so confidently.
“What, like ask him for Christmas or something?”
“Yeah. Why not? Daddy always gives in to me.”
“I’d pay money to be there when you ask him for that.”
Her eyes widen. “Really?”
“Hell-o, yes!” I stutter.
“You can say hell in front of me. Just not fuck, shit, or—”
I cover her mouth up. “Your father is going to be home any minute, and he’ll skin m
e alive if he hears you saying those words!”
Not showing any concern for me, she just laughs like she thinks I’m funny.
“How much will you pay me?”
“Pay you?”
“Yeah, for asking Daddy for brothers and sisters in front of you?”
“Oh, um …” I consider what cash I have on me. “Ten bucks.”
Her eyes widen. She looks amazed. I did say ten dollars and not ten thousand, right?
“Deal!” she gasps quickly.
I shake my head, looking forward to watching Rocky’s face closely when she brings this up. Hopefully, I’ll have enough notice that I can film it.
We settle on the couch where I’m almost put to sleep by the mind-numbing TV. I’m clearly not cut out for tween shows. I do not envy the near future for Rocky.
Two episodes later, and I cannot take it anymore.
“You shower in the morning or before bed?” I ask, switching the TV off and ignoring the pout I get in response.
“Morning.”
“Okay, go get into your pajamas, and then I’ll read you a story before bed,” I suggest, encouraging her to get off the couch and move up the stairs to the bathroom.
“I’m too old to be read stories!” she whines, reluctantly retreating upstairs.
She closes her bedroom door while she changes, and I lean against the doorframe.
“You’re never too old to be read a book,” I inform her. In fact, I’d pay money for Rocky to read a story to me. Any story. The man has such a sexy voice that I’m positive him reading the phonebook would be a turn on.
River exits her room in cute yellow pajamas with unicorns covering her.
“Sure you can be too old. You read to babies. I’m not a baby.” She grudgingly moves past me and into the bathroom.
I follow her in and smile at the frown she gives me when I hand over her toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste.
“Really? You’re not a baby?” I jokingly ask, inwardly smiling when she looks at me like I’m forcing some sort of torture technique on her when she shoves the toothbrush into her mouth.
“I’m ten years old, one month, and …” she says around the brush, spit and toothpaste dripping down her mouth, “eight days!” she finishes, spitting more toothpaste over the mirror.
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