Page 85 of Wild Bliss

Gemma winced. “Uhm, Elisa wants the death penalty. I don’tthink that’s an outcome we can ask for in a Class One misdemeanor case. Youknow we should talk this out over the beer you owe me because I was right aboutyour matchmaking skills.”

“We’ll handle things from here,” Cam promised, sittingbehind his desk. “You should know one of the things we’re going to talk aboutat the meeting this evening is watching out for you three.”

“Watching out for us?” Wyatt asked.

“Yeah. I know it’s supposed to be about school, but we don’thave a town hall coming up any time soon, so we’ll do it there. There’s a partof the town halls where we discuss potential threats. Mostly it’s Mel talkingabout coming alien invasions or what to do if you cross paths with a Sasquatchduring mating season.” Cam shuddered. “He had surprisingly detailed slides.Cassidy is an artist of sorts. But the point is we also talk about humanthreats. After tonight, everyone will know to watch out for you and Sawyer andSabrina.”

“I appreciate it. Sawyer thinks he’s an outsider. It mightbe a surprise to him,” Wyatt said, checking his watch. It was almost lunchtime.He might not be hungry, but Sabrina would be. He could grab her lunch atStella’s and walk to school before her break started.

“Oh, he’s learning right now,” Cam replied with a grin. “Youshould know there’s a Meeting of Men occurring.”

Wyatt gasped. It was a legendary thing around these parts.“He’s being brought before the Men’s Council? Why?”

“They want to make sure he doesn’t fuck things up withSabrina,” Cam replied. “They’re not worried about you.” Cam’s eyes narrowed.“Should they be?”

He suddenly didn’t want to get called before the council.“Nope. I’m good. I guess I’ll hit the Trading Post as well since it seemsSawyer’s got a full schedule all of the sudden.”

“See you tonight,” Cam said, giving him a wave.

Gemma was still arguing with Elisa over the headset as hewalked out of the station house, but the whole way he could feel MarshallLethe’s eyes on him.

The deputy was going to be trouble.

But then he seemed to have a lot of that these days.

* * * *

“Can it be a formal Meeting of Men if there’s a woman here?”Sawyer was looking for any way out. She wasn’t a woman, exactly. She was asleeping toddler, but there were rules. Right?

He knew all about the Council of Men. His grandfather hadhelped form it. Of course back then it was mostly his grandad, River’s dad,Mel, Fred Glen, and Brian Bennett meeting out at the Circle G to drink beer andwatch football. It was exactly like Stef Talbot to take something simple andturn it into…well, this.

Henry patted the back of the toddler sleeping on his chest.“Don’t mind Poppy. She has no interest in the workings of the male mind. She’sonly here because her mom has lunch duty.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Max Harper frowned Henry’s way. “I’mpretty sure he’s teaching his baby spy techniques. Nell’s been extra nosylately, and I’m pretty sure it’s because Poppy’s bringing back intel fromplaydates.”

“Sure, she’s getting a ton of intel from her tea partieswith the McNamara-O’Malley girls,” Henry snarked. “My baby girl will get intointelligence ops over my dead body.”

Max huffed and pointed Henry’s way as though he’d made hispoint. “And that’s exactly what you would say if you were a spy.”

“Little Poppy is welcome,” Mel intoned. “She won’t cause anytrouble at all, but we do need to talk to you, son.”

If anyone but Mel had called him son, he would havechallenged them. But Mel had been the one to take him hunting when hisgrandfather’s grief had gotten to be too much and he needed to be alone. Melhad taken Sawyer and his brothers camping and fishing. He’d sat up and listenedto them talk about Mom.

Mel got all of his respect. Which meant he needed to takethis whole thing with some seriousness. “All right. If you’re going to warn meoff Sabrina, you should know I already tried. I explained how I am and why itwon’t work. I didn’t like try to be charming to fool her. She got a full doseof me, and she’s still here. She’s…tenacious.”

“We’re not here to warn you off her.” Mel sat down,adjusting his ever-present ballcap. Sawyer could only see the smallest piece offoil poking out. Cassidy had gotten good at tucking it in for him. “We’re hereto make sure you don’t screw this up.”

Well, he hadn’t expected those words to come out of Mel’smouth. Did they understand?

“My wife will torch the town if she loses Sabrina,” Rye saidwith a shake of his head. “I’m not joking. Sending Paige to school has made itso much easier to handle the boys. All of that sweet sanity flies out thewindow if Sabrina runs back to civilization because some asshole breaks herheart. She views Sabrina as a saint and one she will defend bodily if she hasto.”

“I don’t think she would leave town if we broke up.” Sawyerwas pretty sure she would stun him and explain the town was hers now and heshould be the one to leave.

Max leaned over. “Hey, you should warn Wyatt about small,unnamed children who might be out to kick him in the shins. I fear the dayPaige gets big enough to kick a man in the…you know…”

Why was Paige going to take out Wyatt’s shins? Before he hada chance to ask, Talbot was taking his seat next to the mayor, Rafael Kincaid.

“Sawyer, we felt after what happened last night, we shouldtalk. I know what happened was violent, and you might think Sabrina seeing youforced to attack those men might frighten her. You’re probably thinking abouttaking a step back,” Stef began in an oddly soothing tone.

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