Page 10 of Combust
For some reason, that annoyed her. “But I didn’t need your help!”
“You did.” Cade thought he was pointing out the obvious, but it only seemed to upset her more.
“You arrogant jerk!” she began. “I had things under—”
“That’s enough,” Officer Jacobsen interrupted. He shifted his attention to the other two women standing nearby. “Malia, Kymber, either of you two see how this started?”
A pretty young woman with long, straight light-brown hair cascading down under a straw cowboy hat shook her head. She was studying him with a mixture of amazement and distrust. He caught a whiff of bear shifter, and the oddity of the situation struck Cade anew. He wondered whether this was Malia or Kymber.
“Nope,” said her companion, crossing her arms. “I’m just glad these two fools didn’t decide to thrown downinsidemy place and wreck it.”
The bar’s owner was a striking-looking blonde looked to be her late twenties or early thirties. A Hair of the Dog logo ball cap perched over neatly-braided hair. A thick plait hung over one shoulder and nearly reached her waist. She wore a dark red, long-sleeved T-shirt with another Hair of the Dog logo plastered over her generous bosom.
Cade thought that the dog in question looked more like a wolf, with a bushy tail curled up around the word “dog.” Like the cop, the blonde smelled of wolf shifter.
Jacobsen heaved a sigh. “It’s cold out here and I’ve heard enough for now. Time for the two of you to get dressed.”
As Cade looked around for his truck keys, Jacobsen went around to the back of his SUV and opened the hatch. A moment later, he tossed something in Cade’s direction.
Cade reflexively caught it, and realized it was a bundle of clean clothes, sweats by the feel of it.
Jacobsen tossed a second bundle in Andrew’s direction.
“Am I free to go?” Andrew asked, his mouth twisting in distaste as he examined the bundle.
“Nope.” Jacobsen looked him up and down. “In fact, you’re both under arrest. But we all know that cuffing you guys is useless, so I’m going to read you your rights and then I’m giving you a ride into town.” He glanced at the brunette. “Maggie, I’ll need a statement from you. Wanna follow me to the station?”
Maggie. Despite the current mess he was in, Cade couldn’t help a small grin. The brunette bear goddess’s name was Maggie Swanson.
She nodded. “Sure.”
“Hey, I’m not drunk or anything,” Andrew declared, making no move to get dressed. “Let me go get my overnight bag, then I can drive myself over to the station.”
“Nope,” Jacobsen countered calmly. “That’s not how being arrested works.”
Relieved that the cop didn’t intend to cuff him, Cade scrambled to pull on the soft sweatpants and hoodie while Andrew continued to argue with the cop.
Arrested. Fan-fucking-tastic.By sticking his nose into Maggie Swanson’s business, he’d probably just screwed himself.
In a small burg like this, Cade’s new boss, who he hadn’t even met yet, was bound to hear all about how his newest employee had gotten himself arrested outside a bar. He figured the charges were going to be drunk and disorderly, with possibly a side of assault, depending on how Maggie Swanson spun the story.
And that would be that.Guess I’d better say goodbye to that nice new job of mine.
Dammit. I thought a shifter town might be my chance to settle down and find a real home at last.
* * *
After following Kenny back to the police station, which was located just off Main Street, Maggie gave him what she hoped was an accurate account of the evening’s events.
It had all happened so quickly. Andrew’s instant metamorphosis from polite date to grasping predator had knocked her for a real loop. And she couldn’t decide if she was grateful for Cade Hunter’s intervention, or horrified and deeply embarrassed that she’d been the cause of that undignified free-for-all in the parking lot.
I can’t believe that those two jerks actually shifted in public. And at the Hair of the Dog, too, with half of Bearpaw Ridge and a bunch of outsiders there!
Kymberlie’s club wastheplace to hang out on Friday and Saturday nights. There wasn’t anywhere else close to town with a decent Happy Hour and live music.
“I’m gonna keep those two hotheads in the pokey overnight to cool off,” Kenny told her as she signed her witness statement. “Even if they aren’t drunk, they’re for sure stupid, and I don’t want more trouble tonight.”
Maggie nodded. Andrew had still been complaining when Kenny had taken them downstairs to the basement, where the holding cells were.
