Page 52 of Spiritwarrior

“Then I guess I’ll be keeping my date with Sherree.”

The laughter died on Joel’s face. “Stay away from my sister,” he warned.

“I will if you stay away from Sophie. I give something up, you give something up. Sounds fair to me.”

“You don’t want to make an enemy out of me, Jody Coleman. Anytime I catch you in town, I’ll arrest your ass.”

Jody gave him a careless shrug. “That’ll only make Sherree like me more. Hell, I might be your brother-in-law by the end of summer.”

Joel lowered his eyelids to half-mast. “I’ll kill you first.”

“You, a police officer, threating me?” Jody raised his voice as if he was surprised.

“Son of a bitch, you win. I’ll cancel. But If I catch you sniffing around my sister, I’ll put a bullet in you dick.”

“See, I knew we could come to an agreement. You have a nice day.”

“Fuck off.”

“Same.”

Jody rolled his window back up and drove out of the park as he whistled along to a tune on the radio. That encounter had gone much easier than he had expected. Thankfully, he didn’t have to resort to harsher tactics. Sophie might have thought her date was a done deal, but the only way he would let another man near her was over his cold, dead body. He made a turn onto a side street, then cut his wheels to turn into a parking lot.

Getting out of his truck, he walked sedately into an apartment building that he was getting fucking sick of coming to.

He pressed the elevator button and went inside when it opened, got off on the floor he needed, and walked down the quiet hallway. After tapping on the door, he waited patiently for it to open.

“What are you doing here?” Sophie asked, opening the door wider for him to come inside.

Jody went inside and took the apartment in. “I see you decided not to hire a cleaning company.”

Red filled her cheeks. “I didn’t want anyone to have to deal with this mess.”

“Okay.” Jody rolled the sleeves of his long-sleeved Henley up. “Where are the trash bags?”

Sophie gave what sounded like a frustrated sigh. “Thank you, but I’ve got this.”

“Me leaving is not an option,” he stated firmly. “If we work together, we can get two rooms tackled before you have to open the restaurant.”

When she stomped off into the kitchen to get a box of trash bags, he felt safe enough to mutter. “Have you seen anything like this before?”

“Who are you talking to?” she asked, looking a bit concerned when she came back.

“Uh, no one. Just myself,” he clarified before clearing his throat and changing the subject. “So, do you want me to work in here with you, or should I tackle another room?”

Seeing the indecision on her face, Jody offered a suggestion. “I can do the bathroom.”

“No! I’ll do the bathroom.”

“Sophie, there isn’t anything in there that will shock me or gross me out. I’ve already seen it. Is there anything in there you want to keep?”

“No,” she mumbled.

“Then at least let me take that off your chest.”

“I can’t ask you to clean—”

“You didn’t ask; I offered. I feel bad Baylin took her anger out on you. This will make me feel better.”

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