Page 87 of The Finding Series: Vol. 1

Luke was striding for the front door when Gray suddenly stepped in front of him. “Luke, take it easy. It’s probably nothing,” Gray said softly as his hand pressed against Luke’s chest. The touch did nothing to ease Luke’s tension and he quickly moved past Gray and glanced through the space between the curtains on a side window. The sight of a police car parked in front of Gray’s truck had his brain going into overdrive. He sensed Gray behind him and he spun around.

“Your room, now!” he bit out. “If this ends bad, tell them I was holding you hostage,” he added quickly as he reached over to the door and flipped the deadbolt. It wouldn’t buy him a lot of time but enough that he might be able to make it to the line of trees behind the cabin. That was assuming no one was covering the back door.

“Damn it, Luke, look at me!” Gray snapped. Luke was so distracted, he was caught off guard when Gray’s hands closed around his upper arms and shoved him against the wall.

A knock rattled the front door. “Gray, it’s Jax!” a voice called out.

“He’s a friend,” Gray quickly said but his eyes never left Luke’s. “Trust me,” he added. “Please.”

Luke fought every instinct to force Gray to release him. He finally managed a curt nod and eased his finger from the trigger of the gun.

“Stay in your room,” Gray said. “I’ll take care of this.”

Fuck, why didn’t the guy just ask him to stop breathing too?

“Luke,” Gray repeated softly. Just hearing the pleading in Gray’s voice was enough to get Luke moving. But he didn’t go to his room – he stopped in the hallway just beyond the kitchen where he’d be out of sight but he’d be able to hear every word spoken and he’d still have a chance to get away if Gray ended up turning on him just like all the others had.

* * *

“Ripley, quiet,” Gray ordered as he unlocked the door. Adrenaline was still surging through his system at the near miss. Luke had shifted so quickly from someone who’d been completely relaxed to someone fully prepared to defend himself that it had taken Gray several long seconds to catch up.

“Deputy Reid,” Gray said in greeting as he opened the door.

Jaxon Reid was the kind of guy you knew not to fuck with just by looking at him but that didn’t stop Gray from adding a drawl to his words that belied the tension running through his system. “If you wanted to take me up on my dinner invitation, you could have asked Dane to call me. He and I haven’t had a chance to chat much.”

Jax’s eyes narrowed and Gray had to bite back a smile. He’d gotten off on the wrong foot with Jax from day one when he’d met and struck up a conversation with Jax’s boyfriend in Dare’s only bookstore. Jax had made it clear that Gray wasn’t welcome when the kind-hearted country vet, Dane Winters, who’d also turned out to be a fan of Gray’s books, had invited him to dinner. Gray had been attracted to Dane from the get go but he hadn’t missed the way the two men had looked at each other. Not to mention that Gray hadn’t been in the market for a boyfriend or even a quick fuck so his attraction hadn’t been something he would have acted on anyway. He’d been all set to decline the dinner invitation when Jax had bulldozed his way into the conversation and uninvited Gray. It had been a challenge that Gray just couldn’t pass on. The dinner had been rife with tension and in the following weeks there’d been a point where some pretty serious shit had gone down between Jax and Dane but the pair had managed to work it out and Gray hadn’t been surprised to learn that the big man was back in town and that he’d signed on as a deputy in the Dare Police Department. He’d also shacked up with the good looking vet and his adorable baby girl.

“Gray,” Jax muttered in greeting. “I’m afraid this is official business,” he said quietly. “May I come in?”

Gray tensed and gently closed his hand over the scruff of Ripley’s neck to pull the dog back. Luckily the dog wasn’t acting aggressively anymore and when Jax put out his hand to let the dog sniff it, Ripley wagged her tail.

“What’s up, Deputy?” Gray said lightly.

“Do you know Otis Lister?”

“That old guy that runs the junkyard outside town?” Gray asked. He’d driven by the dilapidated property dozens of times on his way to the city, but hadn’t noticed much about it other than it was full of rusted out cars and farm equipment and there were piles of scrap metal all over the place. He’d never met or even seen the old man who owned the place but had heard enough stories from people in town that the guy was a mean son of a bitch who wasn’t above pointing his shotgun at anyone who accused him of giving them a raw deal. “Never met him,” Gray said.

“He came into the station a few days ago to report that someone assaulted him and stole his dog,” Jax said and Gray stiffened when Jax’s gaze slid to Ripley. “One of his neighbors mentioned seeing a dog fitting the description of Lister’s dog in your driveway while he was driving past on the way to his hunting spot.”

Fuck.

“I took the dog,” Gray quickly said. “I heard Lister beating the shit out of it as I was driving by his place.”

Jax’s face fell and Gray was surprised to see what looked like disappointment in his expression. Before he could say anything else, Gray saw Jax’s hand rest on the butt of his gun as his eyes looked beyond Gray’s shoulder to a spot behind him and his stomach dropped out when he turned to see Luke studying them both. Thankfully, the gun was nowhere to be seen but Gray suspected it wasn’t too far out of reach.

Gray could tell Luke was about to say something so he quickly turned his attention back to Jax. “Do you need me to come down to the station with you?”

“Gray…” Luke began.

“It’s okay, baby, I won’t be gone long,” Gray said as he cast a too bright smile over his shoulder at Luke. He hoped to God the man could see his unspoken warning to keep his mouth shut. He turned his attention back to Jax and quipped, “They get attached so quickly – even the one-nighters.” A flash of something went through Jax’s expression but Gray ignored it. Jax’s eyes shifted once more to Luke and then his hard gaze settled on Gray.

“I’m going to need to take the dog with me,” Jax said quietly.

“No,” Luke said, his tone lethal. Jax stiffened and Gray felt the situation spiraling out of control as Luke came up behind him. Gray kept his eyes on Jax as he reached behind him and settled his hand on what turned out to be Luke’s stomach. His hope was to both silence Luke and to convince Jax that Luke was simply an overexcited lover.

“Jax,” Gray said quietly in an effort to get the man’s attention back on him.

Jax’s eyes returned to him. “I need to take the dog so Dane can examine her, Gray. She’ll be safe with us tonight.”

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