Page 25 of Silver Sanctuary
“Nash, it’s fine.” Her hand pressed against his back.
Except, that it wasn’t. And if no one else was going to stand up for her, including herself, Nash certainly would. “Colt?”
“Deputy Shannon, I need you to step outside.” Colt’s command left no room for argument.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Deputy Shannon rolled his eyes as his hands rested on his belt.
“Outside,” Colt growled, his jaw muscles ticking. “I outrank you, and that’s an order. If you choose to defy me, I will write you up and bring it before the sheriff.”
“Fucking hell.” Deputy Shannon ran his tongue along his teeth as he looked Lacy up and down with a sneer. “She ain’t worth all this. She ain’t worth a damn thing.”
The small gasp that left Lacy’s body had Nash wishing he could scoop her up and take her home with him.
“Are we going to have a problem here?” Nash asked.
Colt, Dolly’s eldest son who also happened to be one of the Clarence County Sheriff’s Deputies assigned to Silver Springs, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ms. Graves, I’d like to apologize for my partner’s behavior. Between us, he’s a new deputy with a big chip on his shoulder toward everyone, not just you. I’ll be making a note of the way he acted in my write-up. I hope you know you can trust me to look into this and pursue it with due diligence. It’s my duty to keep every citizen in Silver Springs, and Clarence County, safe, and I take that very seriously.”
“You can call me Lacy. I remember what you did for me on that school field trip, just because a couple kids in Beau’s class were picking on me. I never forgot the kindness you showed me.”
The deputy smiled.Holy shit.Nash racked his brain to think of any other time he’d seen Colt smile at someone. The man could win a grump-off competition even if Gunner competed. “People around here are stubborn. Doesn’t mean they have any right to destroy your property or make you feel unsafe. I’ll make sure we have extra patrols in front of the shop over the next few days. And if you ever feel unsafe, or need to report anything else, you can contact me directly.”
Colt reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a card, holding it out for Lacy to take.
“If you can think of anything else that I need to know about today, or if anything else happens, I want you to call me directly.”
Nash plucked the card from Lacy’s hand. “Thanks, Colt. We will.”
Colt nodded, slipping his notebook back into his uniform’s chest pocket all while Nash felt Lacy staring at the side of his head. After the deputy stepped out of the shop, Nash turned to her.
“Don’t you think I should hold on to that card?” she asked, her arms folded across her chest.
“Nope. You don’t need it. Because the first person you’re going to call if something like this ever happens again, is me. And I’ll handle everything else after that.”
“You don’t need?—”
Nash held out his hand and waited for her to lock her fingers with his. “You’re wrong; I do need to. Not because you’re a burden, not because you aren’t capable of handling everything on your own, but because I care about you. Because I want to lighten the load. Because I want to know you’re safe.”
They stayed there, eyes locked on each other, for several heartbeats. He was sure she was going to fight back—try and make herself small. Try to take care of everything on her own.
But much to his surprise, she didn’t fight him on it.
“Thank you for being here for me after all this… and for wanting to stay by my side.” Lacy slipped her hand out of his hold. “I have to go get Embrie now.”
“I can go with you.”
“No. I appreciate the offer, but I just need to make sure I’m put back together before she sees me. She hates when I cry, and it was already a tough morning for her…”
“I get it. You go. The guys and I will finish getting the window boarded up, and I’ll call Sebastian to let him know I’m finding someone to fix the glass.”
“I don’t know if I can afford?—”
“He’ll want to cover the bill, Lacy. Don’t worry aboutit.”
“Let me get you the extra key.”
“Gage has the master. I’m sure he’s headed back into Silver Springs with Hawk. I’ll ask him to drop it here when he can.”
“Are you sure?”
