Page 9 of Starting Over

Tank snorted behind him, and King turned a glare on him, pointing a finger in his direction.

“Watch it, asshole, or you’ll be scrubbing toilets at the clubhouse.”

My brother sure as shit had an old lady, only he wouldn’t do anything about it. Why he kept her at arm’s length was still a mystery.

I slipped my cuffs into my back pocket and walked back to my car, leaving her standing on the side of the road, confused.

“What the hell just happened?” the woman whispered, and I realized then, I never got her name.

“Don’t worry, darlin’. The big bad sheriff ain’t as bad as he tries to be,” King answered, slinging his arm around her shoulders and walking her back to her car. “Come on, let’s get you settled.”

Shaking my head at my brother, I climbed into my patrol car.

Looking at the license plate, I wrote it down so I could look her up when I got to my office in the morning. We didn’t have computers in our cars here like we had in Arkansas. No budget for them. King offered to buy me one, but I told him no.

I actually enjoyed the slower way of doing things up here. And the crime rate didn’t warrant having all the bells and whistles like Little Rock did. The biggest thing that happened around here was Widow Kramer’s cows getting out.

Well, until the Silver Shadows started taking on old ladies. It all began with the daughter I never knew I had.

Earlier this year, I discovered I had a twenty-five-year-old daughter. When her mother found out she was pregnant, she told me she was having an abortion.

She lied.

When I found my daughter, I had never been happier to have a woman lie to me. I became a father the day I learned her mother was pregnant. Six months ago, I became a dad.

And in another six months, I would become a grandfather.

My life was good.

I had my daughter. Blade was an ok son-in-law, though they weren’t married yet. He loved Beck, and that was all that mattered to me. He was good to her. Let her get away with a little too much lip, but hey, we were Irish. It came with the territory.

That woman tonight was Irish, no doubt about it.

It not only accounted for the Gaelige she spoke, but also for the temper.

I shook my head as I pulled into my driveway. She wasn’t my problem until she caused a problem. If King wanted to get mixed up with a woman new in town, that had nothing to do with me.

Keep telling yourself that.

I was fooling myself. I knew that.

King had always been my problem. He always would be. I didn’t mind. He was my baby brother, and I would do what I had to do in order to protect him.

Even if it was to protect him from himself.

Chapter Three

Maureen

“Where can we take you?” King asked as he led me to the tow truck.

“Um, I have a room at the motel in town for a few days. I need to meet with the realtor in the morning to go see the house I bought.”

“You bought a house without seeing it?” Tank asked.

“Well, I saw pictures. I wanted to have something ready when I got out here. So I bought the house.”

“Where is it?” King asked.

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