We made our way inside to find everyone taking seats at the massive dining table. Walker gave my back a slap. “Good luck, man.”
As he headed for an empty seat next to Taylor, I saw that the only other vacant chair was next to Jensen. I grinned and headed for it.
Jensen scowled as I lowered myself onto the seat. “One wrong move, and I’ll stab you with my fork.”
My grin widened. “Why, Jensen, are you doubting my table manners?”
She let out a snort. “You’re a caveman.”
Dinner passed in its usual fare of five different conversations happening all at once until Noah commanded our attention with a story he desperately needed to tell everyone. As things began to wind down, Sarah turned her attention to me. “How are your mom and dad, Tuck? I haven’t seen them around much lately.”
I stiffened. Of course, she hadn’t seen them around much. “They’re good. Just busy.”
Sarah took a sip of her wine. “Walker said your dad was helping a friend of your mom’s in town with a plumbing issue. That’s so kind of him.”
My jaw clenched so hard it was a miracle I didn’t crack a molar. I couldn’t seem to utter a word of agreement. The man wasn’t kind. He was cruel. I forced my head into a jerky nod and turned my attention to my beer. A hand reached under the table and gripped mine, giving a quick succession of squeezes.
“Mom, I’m going to head over to Rock Springs in a couple days to check out some of the mustangs Lee told me about. Want to come with me?”
I let the conversation fade out to background noise as Sarah answered Jensen. I never looked Jensen’s way, but her fingers stayed linked with mine, holding tightly. Jensen had always seen more of me than anyone else. Knew the secrets I held deep inside. Every single thing I hid away from the view of the world. Every single thing…save one. And that was one secret she’d never know.
5
Tuck
I tooka sip of coffee as I strode up the path to the Forest Service station and wondered if it would be possible to get an IV so I could mainline the stuff. I scowled down at my travel mug when I rememberedwhyI was so damn tired this morning.
Jensen.
I’d woken up at four a.m. with a racing heart and a pulsing dick after the most vivid dream of my life. I could’ve sworn that I tasted her on my tongue. I gripped my mug tighter. It was getting harder and harder to resist her.
And last night had been my own damn fault. Letting those luscious curves press up against me, of course, I’d dreamt about her. The more significant problem had been shaking myself out of the stupor it’d caused. Returning to sleep had been impossible. So, here I was, running on four hours of shuteye and having to face a meeting with one of my least favorite people.
I pulled open the door to the station and found a way-too-chipper officer manning the front desk. “Morning, Carl.”
“Hey, Tuck. How are you? How was SWAT training yesterday? I bet it was awesome.”
I fought the grimace that wanted to surface. Carl was simply enthusiastic about his job. This morning it was just a little more than I could handle. “It was good, man. Is David in yet?”
Carl’s gaze darted to the right. “He’s in his office. He told me to send you in whenever you got here.”
Great. David would probably bitch and moan about me being late when I was actually fifteen minutes early. Nothing I did or didn’t do would ever make the man happy. I gave Carl a chin jerk and headed for David’s office, opting to bypass my desk. I gave the door two quick raps.
“Come in.”
I pushed open the door to find David hunched over papers at his desk, a donut in one hand, and a coffee mug in the other. Talk about a law enforcement cliché. “Good morning, sir.”
“It’s about time you got here.” He placed the donut on the plate and wiped his hand on his uniform-clad paunch.
I didn’t even bother pointing out that I was, in fact, early. It would only piss him off. Instead, I took a seat in one of the chairs opposite David’s desk. “What’s on the docket this week?”
I headed up a team of four officers. Three men and one woman. Each team leader had a weekly meeting with the boss to discuss the cases they’d be focusing on and what areas of the forest they’d be patrolling.
“There’re a few things I want you to check out. First, I want you guys to go by the campground on the north end of Creekside trail. We’ve had a few calls about kids partying up there.”
I pulled out my phone and started taking notes. “Got it.”
“Then, we’ve had some poaching on leased grazing land I want you to talk to Rich Clintock about. Someone stole two of his sheep from right under his nose. We can’t have that.”
