“Am I wrong, though?”
“Just shut up and kiss me.”
“Ask politely.”
“Ma—”
His lips came down on mine, swallowing the word in a kiss that was both sweet and greedy, teeth clashing, tongues tangling, the kind that made the world outside us blur. I clutched his shirt like I could pull him inside my skin. The hard bench in the corner was looking really good.
A pointed throat-clearing cut through the moment. We both glanced over. Donald was back, one hand on his belt, the other waving vaguely between us. “If y’all are done turning my holding cell into the county chapel,” he muttered, “remember the part where I said ‘keep it PG’?”
“It’s all PG, Sheriff,” Matty said, not even pretending to be sorry. “Promise.”
Donald squinted at me. “You cooled down yet?”
I blew out a breath, holding Matty’s hand like a lifeline. “Yeah. I’m cooled. Does that mean I get to go?”
The sheriff huffed, pulled the jangling set of keys from his belt, and slid one into the lock. With a loudclick, the cell door swung open.
“Considering Grant just lit out of town like his tail was on fire, even leaving that no-good husband of his behind, I’d say he’s not likely to press charges. So yeah, you’re free to go.”
Heat surged in my chest again. “He’d better run. Coward.”
Matty squeezed my fingers. “Hud.”
I shut my mouth.
Donald’s gaze shifted to Matty. “You wanna take this little party elsewhere, boys, or do I start charging per hour?”
Matty held my eyes for a beat, then squared his shoulders and faced the sheriff. “Actually, yes. I want to file a criminal complaint for sexual assault of a minor against Grant. It was years ago, but I was fourteen. He was twenty-seven. I want my statement on record.”
The sheriff’s face went hard in a way I’d only seen twice—once during a wildfire, once when a kid went missing. “Jesus, kid. Of course. Not gonna have a son of a bitch like that in my town,” he said, low and lethal. “We’ll take your statement. Then I’ll get the DA on it. If he crossed county lines, I’ll loop in State.”
We went to the reception area, and I stayed with Matty, holding his hand while he provided his statement and answered the questions Donald asked. When he finished, Donald tore the top sheet free, stamped it, and handed it to Matty, a copy of his report with the case number scrawled at the top, as proof it had been filed.
“All right, Hudson,” he said to me. “Here’s what we’regonna do. You keep your head down, you go home, you kiss your kid, and you don’t go hunting. Let the law handle this. We clear?”
“We’re good now,” I said, finally at ease that something was being done about Grant. “Thanks, Sheriff. We’ll take our leave now.”
We walked out of the sheriff’s office, the late-afternoon sun bright after the dim interior. Gravel crunched under our boots as we crossed the lot in silence, Matty’s hand still wrapped tight around mine like he wasn’t ready to let go.
Halfway to his truck parked at the side of the road, I stopped and tugged him gently back. “What made you change your mind?” I asked. “About filing the complaint.”
Matty blinked at me, jaw tight, and for a second, I thought he might brush me off. “If I don’t do this, he could do it to another kid, or no telling if he did. And I’m a father now. I have to think if something like that were to happen to my daughter, I’d press charges.” His voice softened. “Also, because I don’t trust you or my dad not to go after him yourselves.”
“You told Gray?” I asked.
“I did. He’s…processing. Now I wish I’d told him earlier.”
“Look, it couldn’t have been easy. The only thing that matters is that it’s being dealt with now, and he’ll get what’s coming to him, but if you need to talk about it, I’m here. Let’s go home.”
“Shit.” Matty gripped my shoulder before I could open the door of the truck. “With all the craziness, I forgot to mention that Ivy had an accident.”
“What?” My heart skipped a beat. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’ll be fine.” He grimaced. “But she has a broken arm.”
My stomach flipped. “Oh my God. What happened?”
