Page 69 of After All

Derek’s eyes flickered with surprise for a moment, but then he gave her a slow nod. “In some ways.”

“But not in every way,” she said. She blew out a breath. “I mean, of course it’s not. Scott is…too big for Sapphire Falls, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean by too big?”

“I mean, I get that he loves it here and that this is the perfect place to come after seeing all of the horrible shit he’s seen. But, is he really going to be happy just breaking up beer parties and making sure people don’t speed down Main and doing crowd control during the festivals?”

Derek frowned. “I think he is very happy doing those things.” He took a breath. “I think that there’s nothing more important to Scott than keeping this town and the people here as far away from the bad shit he’s seen as possible. I think his goal is to maintain Sapphire Falls as the…haven that it is.”

Peyton thought about that. Yeah, that made sense. And damn, if she didn’t love Scott even more for keeping this town the way it was, the waysheneeded it to be.

“And you think that he can be fulfilled by that for good?” she asked.

Derek seemed to be debating about what he was going to say next. “Okay, honestly?” he asked. “I’ve wondered the same things you have. I think that the work he did was really important to him, and it fed a need in him to save people and right the wrongs and make the world better. But, I also think that when he saw how close some of the shit was—the sex trafficking, the drugs that go with it, the guns, the…everything—when he saw that up and down that interstate so close to home, I think that made him all the more determined to come back and become our own personal sentinel. Nothing’s getting in here as long as we have Scott.”

Derek’s words hit her directly in the chest. He was absolutely right on with all of it.

She wet her lips, wondering if she should ask the question that was on the tip of her tongue. But finally, she couldn’t help it. For all his laid-back, good-time ways, Derek Wright was someone she could trust. He probably kept more secrets than anyone in this town.

“And do you think that a lot of Scott’s attraction tomeis that I’m the girl in town most in need of saving?”

She really wanted to be more than that to Scott, but since he claimed to be interested in more than her boobs and healthy sexual appetite, she couldn’t help but wonder what he really saw in her.

The most obvious answer seemed to be that he saw her as someone who needed a protector and a warrior.

She risked looking up at Derek, afraid to see agreement, and maybe pity, in his eyes. But he was smiling at her.

“You really don’t know why he likes you?” Derek asked.

“Well, I look really great in tight jeans and short skirts,” she quipped. Then regretted it. She wanted an honest answer here.

Derek laughed. “That you do,” he agreed. “And yeah, okay, he likes being your hero too. But there’s more to it.”

Peyton felt her heart trip in her chest. Shereallywanted there to be more to it. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. You and this town are the epitome of everything he’s fighting for and wants to save.”

Peyton felt her eyes widen. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you make him happy, Peyton.”

“I do?”

“You laugh and you live big and you love hard and you have fun. You’re secure enough in yourself and in this town to say what you think and do what you want, and you aren’t afraid. That’s what he wants…hell, foreveryonein the entire world, I swear. He wants people to be happy and safe and unafraid.”

Peyton felt her chest tightening. “You don’t think he sees me as sad and pathetic and as a damsel in distress?”

Derek snorted at that. “Nobodysees you as a damsel in distress, Peyton. And no, sad and pathetic are definitely not words Scott, or anyone else, uses.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to that. She was so freakingrelieved.

“But,” Derek added, and Peyton felt her brows raise. “I do think you have a point.”

“I do?” she asked. “About what?”

“Scott. I do think that he should be doing more with the task force and special operations. I get that it’s hard, but damn. That kind of stuff is his shit.”

Peyton agreed. “And he’s got us. He’s got Sapphire Falls to come home to. I think that would make a difference this time if he went out and did more of that work.”

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