Page 29 of Love Me Fierce

“Do you have any idea who might have done this?”

“No.”

“No ex-boyfriend?”

I glare up at him. “No.”

“How about someone from work?”

Dr. Boone’s lingering gaze flashes into my mind. “No.”

“Okay,” Everett says, and flips his notebook shut. “We can stop there for now.”

For now?Ugh. I push off the car and head down to the creek and convince Mateo that the adventure we’re headed for is better than staying here to play with Sepp.

“Are you coming?” Mateo asks Sepp.

“I can. Would you like that?”

Matty grins, flashing that gap in his teeth. “Yes!”

Sepp ruffles the top of his head. “Count me in.”

“What about Deputy Everett?” Mateo slips his hand into mine and lets me lead him up the slope.

“It’s Deputy Rumsey,” I correct.

“I’ll be there too,” Everett says, grinning at Matty.

“Why don’t you follow me there?” he says while Sepp slides behind the wheel of his Subaru.

Though I haven’t formally accepted this offer, in this moment, I no longer have the energy to fight it.

“Just for tonight,” I say, but he’s already walking to his SUV.

Chapter Nine

EVERETT

While Vivian makes a U-turn,I check in via radio that I’m going off duty then pull away from the curb, conflicted as fuck and my stomach in knots.

I couldn’t let her go to Pinedale—the one place she should avoid at all costs. There’s a couple of thugs using their tattoo shop as a front for illegal shit I have yet to prove, plus it has the county’s rowdiest biker bar.

I tell myself Vivian wouldn’t be stupid enough to visit either place. But what if trouble visited her?

It wouldn’t take long for tongues to start wagging about a leggy brunette taking up residence in one of those rooms.

I’m sure she’d insist that she’s perfectly capable of handling herself, but until I can figure out what the hell is going on—first that near-miss outside Glory Holes, now a break-in?—I don’t want her staying alone, and for fuck’s sake, Pinedale is a big fat no.

If Sepp hadn’t offered the cabin, it’s exactly where I’d put her.

Though a part of me wants her under my roof.

Bad idea, Ev.

Not only because she’s the victim of a crime I’m in charge ofinvestigating, but she seems to have gotten under my skin, and I don’t know what to do about it.

Once we’re all under way, I call my mom.

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