Page 49 of Sheriff's City Girl

Right in my face.

My fists clenched and I forced myself to take a deep breath before I headed inside, trying not to lose my shit even more. Why were teenagers so damn hard to understand? I had been one once, and I couldn’t remember ever having such big problems with my parents…

But I wasn’t being raised by a single dad who worked long hours, either.

Guilt slammed into me, and suddenly, I felt the need to apologize to Jess and try to make things right between us. However, just as I stepped inside, I heard her door slam, rattling the walls of the house.

Ugh.

My footsteps were slow and steady as I made my way to her room, gently knocking on the door. “Jess, we need to talk about this. Where were you going to go? And with who?”

“Just go away,” she shouted, and I startled as I heard something hit the door with a thud. “I don’t wanna talk to you.”

“Okay, but we need to talk about this,” I jiggled the knob, my shoulders slumping as I realized it was locked. I waited for her to respond, but she didn’t. “Come on, Jess. We can’t just let this go.”

“I’m going to bed,” she shot back at me, her voice starting to sound more emotional.

“Where were you going?” I demanded through the door. “I just wanna keep you safe, you know. I can’t do that if I don’t know where you are.”

“I have a phone.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t keep you out of harm’s way.”

“You just say that because you’re a cop, and you think everyone is out to get me. I just wanna go to bed now,” she added, her voice breaking.

“Fine, but we’re talking in the morning. Deal?” I heard a heavy sigh on the other side of the door.

“Deal.”

“Goodnight, I love you, Jess,” I said, defeat and worry rolling over me when I was met with nothing but silence.

I turned to go, telling myself we would just talk about it in the morning, when she finally called out. “Love you, Dad.”

I smiled softly to myself, but it didn’t alleviate all of the worry. She still hadn’t told me where the hell she was heading, and I didn’t like that. She had always been such an outgoing, sweet girl, confiding in me about everything. Now, she was hardheaded, and I knew she was keeping secrets from me.

And don’t get me wrong, every kid keeps secrets to some degree from their parents, but something about Jess was making me feel uneasy. Maybe it was just everything else going on, and the fact that I was no closer to catching the cattle rustlers than I had been before…

And speaking of, I still needed to work on the proposal.

I headed to my office, and settled down at the desk, glancing over the case file for the cattle along with the history of the ranch. Honestly, I knew there was a slim chance that we would get enough money to fix all of Lucas’s problems… But it would at least maybe ward off the bank—which would then ward off developers.

And the thought of Graham losing his case to buy the ranch made me feel better. He was greedy, and determined to buy up all the land he could… And he gave me a bad feeling…

But there was no way to know why.

Could he be involved with the cattle rustlers?

I shook my head at the thought. It was rare for white collar guys like Graham to get in bed with cattle rustlers. It wasn’t entirely off, but cattle going missing had been a phenomenon in the area back when Lucas’s Dad ran the ranch…

And it was the reason he had gotten into debt long before Graham was even a developer.

I leaned my head against my elbow, the fatigue washing over me. I shut my eyes for a long moment and when I finally opened them…

It was fifteen past midnight.

Shit.

I rolled my stiff shoulders and tried to work out the kink in my neck as I stood to my feet. It was time to get to bed…

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