Hot as Heller by Lucy Lennox

7

Declan

After literally arguing my way out of sharing anything personal with this man, he accidentally called Tessa on the phone.

“Of course,” I gritted out to Tess. “Anything else?”

“Yeah. Ham.”

“H-ham?”

“And bacon. But something fancy like… like applewood smoked. Is there such a thing as boutique bacon? If so, get that. I stayed in a hotel once in San Diego that had the best—”

“Tess, honey, I can’t talk right now.”

“Okay. But don’t forget the ice pops, too.”

As soon as the call ended, the silence fell around us like wet sandbags.

“Sorry I pressed your buttons,” Finn mumbled before turning to look out the window.

I bit back a laugh at the pun. For some reason I didn’t think Finn would appreciate me laughing at him right now. We continued driving in silence before I finally joined him in the apology-making.

“I’m sorry for being an asshole,” I said. “You were right. I don’t know you, and I certainly don’t know your mother. I apologize. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Or the night before, thanks to you.

After a little while, Finn cleared his throat. “Is that your wife?”

“No.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

More silence.

I hated how awkward things were between us, especially because I knew it was completely my fault. My attraction to him was inappropriate (and had scared the piss out of me), and I’d been determined to keep him at arm’s length. Apparently, I thought keeping someone at arm’s length was the same thing as shitting all over them.

Just as I was gathering up my courage to apologize again and maybe even tell him about my move from LA to Aster Valley, the radio squawked. Penny’s voice sounded tense as she reported a 10-51 at a familiar address.

“You’d better get there quick, Sheriff. Deputy Graham is headed there now, but he doesn’t know the history.”

I responded before flipping on both lights and sirens and picking up the pace. I tried getting Shawn on the radio, but there was no response.

“What’s going on?” Finn asked quietly.

“I’m dropping you off at the lodge on the way.”

“I want to come with you,” he said defiantly.

“I can’t have you at a scene that could potentially turn violent.”

The radio squawked again. “Deputy Graham called in a code eight. Possible firearm involved.”

“Shit.” I sped up. “Okay, but you have to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?”

“What’s the situation?” Finn asked again.

“The suspect’s two sons were recently incarcerated on assault charges, and his brother, Erland—the man who was sheriff of Aster Valley before me—was arrested for financial crimes. To say this guy’s not taking it well is an understatement. We’ve had a few instances this summer of him getting drunk and belligerent. His threats seem to be escalating, but his wife refuses to provide a witness statement to help us charge him.”

“Can you blame her? It’s her husband,” Finn said, gripping the dash as I took the mountain turns quickly.

“No, I don’t blame her. She’s already had to see her boys and her brother-in-law go to jail. I’m sure she doesn’t want Gene there, too. Both boys are married and had recently started a family. Kimber is trying to take care of everyone by the skin of her teeth.”

We sped up the mountain to the Stanners’ property and pulled down the drive in time to see Gene waving a gun around while he had one of his daughters-in-law in front of him with an arm locked around her throat.

She was pregnant.

I thought of Tessa and quickly packed away the image to focus on the challenge at hand.

“Get down,” I hissed. “I don’t want him to know you’re in here. Stay in the vehicle and do not move, do you understand? Lie down and stay down.”

“Maybe I can help.”

“No. Dammit, no,” I snapped. “You aren’t armed. You’re not trained. You are an actor. Jesus. Let the professionals handle this. If I have to worry about—”

Finn held up his hands. “Sorry. Of course. Go.”

“Stay here,” I said again.

He met my eyes. “I promise.”

I let out a breath and stepped out of the vehicle. Gene and the young lady were on the front porch with my SUV between us. Shawn was approaching the pair slowly from behind a pickup truck in the driveway. Gene’s eyes were trying to take it all in, and the minute he saw me, he swung his weapon to point at the woman’s head.

“Easy, easy,” I called. “Gene, that’s your grandchild in there. Your family. I know you don’t want to hurt them.”

“I don’t, but I don’t want you fuckers out here neither! Get away. Leave us be. We were fine before all you showed up.”

Kimber stood behind him, shaking her head and wringing her hands. “Gene, this isn’t fine. Let her go. This isn’t you. You don’t want to do this.”

Gene swung the weapon toward his wife. Shawn took the opportunity to move to the side of the house and edged a little closer. The movement caught Gene’s eye, and he swung the gun back around toward Shawn and then me. I unholstered my weapon and moved away from my vehicle to get Finn’s location out of the line of fire.

“Let’s talk about this,” I urged. “Put the gun down and we can talk.”

“Like hell! You took everything from us. You and those other bastards,” Gene slurred. “I want my boys back. I want my brother back.” His voice cracked on the words. “And you can’t do that. I want my baby boys back home. They did what they did because of me.”

The arm holding the weapon waved around wildly as he spoke. The one around his daughter-in-law’s throat tightened until she was standing on her toes to keep from choking. Her face was pink and blotchy, and tears streaked down her cheeks. I pressed the call button on the radio and calmly requested an ambulance to the address.

“Gene, I’m going to have the EMTs take a look at your daughter-in-law.” If only I could have remembered her name. “Just to make sure the baby’s okay, alright? When the ambulance gets here, we’ll have them check her out.”

He looked confused by my words, as if he couldn’t figure out how they were going to do that while he still had a hold of her.

“I don’t think so, Deputy Stone,” he said when he finally decided it was a trick. “You took my boys away. You stole Erland’s job. You stole everything.”

He swung the weapon back to me, but his vision was most likely impaired by drink. I decided to take the chance. I met Shawn’s eyes and said very calmly while pointing to my chest with my free hand, “10-53.” Person down.

The rest happened in a blink.

As soon as Shawn nodded, I dropped to the ground, and Shawn rushed the pair of them, shoving the woman back into the house and grabbing for Gene’s weapon. The gun discharged, and I heard the pop of a bullet striking the passenger-side door of my SUV.

Finn.

Shawn shouted, “Clear! Suspect in custody,” as I radioed for Penny to give me an update on the bus.

My heart jackhammered in my chest as I scrambled to my vehicle. I’d told Finn not to move from the passenger seat, and then the bullet had gone right into it. Fuck, fuck, what if he’d been hit?

I wrenched open the door and saw an empty seat.

“Over here,” a small voice said from the other side of the vehicle. I raced around to see Finn crouched on the ground outside my driver’s door. His arms were over his head, and his eyes were wide enough to see the whites all around.

“Fuck,” I croaked, grabbing him and searching his body for any sign of injury. “Fuck.” It was all I could say. My brain was completely logjammed with fear.

His voice shook. “I’m okay. I’m sorry.”

I stopped manhandling him and stared. “You’re sorry? Why the hell are you sorry?”

“You told me not to move. I didn’t listen. When I heard how mad he was, I got as far away from that gun as I could.”

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard. “N-no, you did good. So good. You did the exact right thing. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

I wanted to say more, to kiss his face off and hug him until my heart stopped thundering, but I couldn’t. The shrill peal of the ambulance siren cut through the clearing as the bus came storming down the driveway.

“You’re okay?” I asked, just to make sure. He nodded. “Okay. Stay here.” I took one more good look at his face and gently brushed the messy hank of hair out of his face before forcing myself to walk away to help Shawn and make sure everyone else was okay.

After the EMTs checked the young woman and declared her shaken but unharmed, they left. Shawn took Gene to be processed into custody while I began gathering evidence at the scene and taking down witness statements. Finn refused to let me arrange him a ride home, stating he wanted to watch the process. I thought it was more likely he didn’t want to be alone. The poor guy looked scared and somber, a look that made me want to comfort him the same way I’d comforted Tessa the night before. Well, maybe not the exact same way.

I let him stay close to me as I explained what I was doing. Taking photos of the bullet hole in the door, measuring the distance from where Gene had stood, and emptying and bagging the firearm. One of my other deputies showed up to take the evidence into custody and type up the witness statements for me, and Shawn returned to offer me a ride since department policy stated my vehicle would have to be towed in.

When he pulled up outside of Finn’s chalet, I murmured for Shawn to wait a minute while I walked Finn to the door.

Finn had been quiet all night since the shooting, and I was starting to get worried.

“Do you want to call your friend to come stay with you?” I asked quietly.

He reached the door to the small cabin and turned around to face me. “Kix? No. It’s okay. I think I’d… I’d rather be alone than have to tell him what happened and have him ask a million questions.”

I wanted to touch him, reach out and caress his lightly freckled cheek before skimming my thumb across his full lower lip, but I kept my hands fisted in my pockets instead.

“Call… shit, hang on.” I pulled out a business card from my wallet and handed it to him. “My cell is on there. Call me if you need anything. If you can’t get me, call the department and tell them to raise me on the radio. Tell them it’s a 10-36.”

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but I knew I’d piqued his curiosity enough to distract him from my leaving.

“Good night, Finn.”

“G’night, Sheriff.”

I turned and didn’t look back. Once I was in the car, I asked Shawn to stop off at the 24-hour supermarket before dropping me home. They didn’t have “boutique bacon,” but I got the best they had of everything Tessa had asked for. When I got back in Shawn’s patrol vehicle, he raised an eyebrow at me. “You hungry? I could have found a drive-thru.”

I noticed a bleeding scratch on the side of his face. “Not for me. You catch a fingernail or something when you took Gene down?”

He glanced in the rearview mirror before backing out of the parking space. “He had on a ring that got me. Big stone one like the kind some Freemasons wear.”

“I’ve got some stuff at the house we can clean it with,” I said, pointing him in the direction of my house. When he pulled back up the same mountain road that led to Rockley Lodge and the Stanner place, Shawn shot me a look.

“You made me drive you all the way into town when you live near the suspect and the place Finn Heller is staying?” he asked with a laugh.

I shrugged. “You don’t show up empty-handed to a pregnant lady, Shawn.” His jaw dropped, and I almost laughed. “Come in the house and let me fix you up. Stay for a beer.”

He followed me to the house and came up short as soon as he saw Tessa uncurl from the shadows of the rocking chair on the front porch.

As soon as her big belly came into view, the image of Gene Stanner threatening his pregnant daughter-in-law flashed into my memory. I grabbed Tess in a fierce hug and held her for a long minute. “So glad you’re okay,” I whispered into the side of her hair.

She held me just as tightly. She’d been with Nick long enough to know something bad had probably happened on the job, so she simply let me hold her until the moment passed.

I pulled back and held up the shopping bag with a forced smile. “Truckload of pork products and sugar syrup, just for you,” I said proudly.

She clapped her hand over her mouth and bolted for the house.

“Are you crazy?” Shawn hissed at me. “You don’t use the phrase ‘pork products’ around a pregnant lady. For god’s sake, Sheriff. Don’t you know anything by now? She looks at least seven months along. Where you been for the last seven months?”

I led him into the house and to the kitchen where I had him take a seat at the table. “I’ve only had her in my house since Tuesday night. She was in LA until then. So, no. I’m not all that familiar with cravings and sickness yet.”

After putting the groceries away, I opened a beer and set it in front of him before getting one for myself. He took a sip while I went down the hall to my bedroom to find the first aid kit. When I got back, Tessa was sitting on a seat next to him with a tall glass of ice water in front of her, and Shawn was fussing around her like a granny.

“You cold? Want me to fetch that quilt? When my sister Madison is pregnant, she can never get warm enough,” Shawn babbled. I noticed his cheeks were a little pinker than normal.

I cleared my throat, and he jumped. “Sorry, Sheriff. I was only trying to make Mrs. Stone comfortable.”

Tess made a choking sound, and I snorted out a laugh. “This is not Mrs. Stone. And what happened to you calling me Declan at least outside of work? Tessa, this is Deputy Shawn Graham. Shawn, this is my friend Tessa.”

She reached out her hand to shake Shawn’s. “Nice to meet you. Sorry for the less than ideal welcome.”

Shawn blushed some more. “It’s understandable. He shouldn’t have… said what he did.” He blinked at me and realized he’d called me out in my own home. “Sorry, Sher… Declan.”

I nodded.

Tessa said, “I’m just here visiting for a little while. I used to be with Dec’s former partner on the force back in LA before… some stuff happened. Now I’m single, and I wanted to get out of LA for a while.” She rubbed her belly absently.

“You’re staying,” I said gruffly before taking a gulp of the beer. “I think you should stay.”

Shawn nodded. “Aster Valley’s a nice place, ma’am. Much better place to raise that little one than LA if you don’t mind a nosy opinion.”

She gave him a small smile. “It’s beautiful here. Are you from Colorado?”

The two of them made small talk while I thought back through the events of the evening. I couldn’t get over the look of fear on Finn’s face. I would have expected to feel smug, to think I told you so because police work was dangerous and unpredictable like I’d tried to tell him, but then I remembered his eager questions earlier in the day when he’d tried his hardest to get to know me, to make a personal connection. And I’d shut him down.

After a while I realized Shawn and Tessa had been talking for a while. I looked over and saw Tessa taping a clean bandage on Shawn’s eyebrow. Debris from her little first aid session littered the place mat in front of them.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “My mind was wandering. She get you sorted out?”

“Yes, and I’m grateful. But it’s late, and Tessa here probably needs to get some sleep. I didn’t mean to keep you up like this.”

She grinned at him. “It’s no bother. Now I at least know someone else besides Declan here in Aster Valley, so it was worth staying up.”

Shawn fingered the uniform hat in his hands. “If you want… I mean…” His eyes flicked at me and back at Tessa. “I could show you around. I have the afternoon free tomorrow. Not that I know my way around all that well either since I just moved here myself. But there’s a beautiful park in town. And we could kinda find our way around together?” He blushed furiously.

Tess stood up a little taller, her slender hand going automatically to her belly. “I’d like that. I mean… if you don’t mind?”

He looked to me again as if for permission. Even though it was none of my business, I gave him the barest of nods. He smiled and nodded at Tess. “Pick you up at two?”

Once he was gone, Tess did a little barefoot twirl on the hardwood floor. “Eight months pregnant and I still got it!”

I grabbed her up in another hug and kissed her cheek. “Darlin’, you could be eighty years old and you’d still have it.”

She laughed. “Not like I need a date or anything, but he seemed nice.”

“He’s very nice. Seems like a good man. Family man, from what I can tell.” Her face registered surprised disappointment, so I quickly amended my statement. “He’s single. At least, as far as I know. I only mean he’s close to his parents and siblings, who live over in Meeker. It’s about an hour, hour and a half northwest of here.”

She blew out a relieved chuckle that lifted her dark brown bangs. The rest of her hair was up in a messy ponytail that made her look younger than she was. “Not that it matters. I’m hardly looking for a relationship,” she repeated, like maybe she was trying to convince herself.

Her words were familiar. Casual denial.

A little bit like the same brush-off I gave myself fifteen minutes later when I stroked myself to thoughts of Finn Heller’s fit climber’s body under mine as I sank deep inside of him.

It didn’t matter. I was hardly looking for a relationship.