Page 11 of Shielding Serena

It struck Walker suddenly that maybe the sheriff’s general prickliness hadn’t been about the shootout at all. What if the sheriff and Serena were a couple and Walker was unaware of it? From what he’d seen, Garrett had been nothing but friendly and professional toward Serena, but they could simply be discreet. In a town that thrived on gossip as much as it did oxygen, it would make sense that they’d keep a relationship close to the vest.

Had Walker steamrolled into the middle of a relationship, being all overly familiar and protective with Serena, with no regard to the possibility there was one?

The concept of it depressed him in a way it shouldn’t, since he had no claim on Serena anymore, beyond that of friendship.

If he’d screwed up in that regard, he had a bunch of apologies to make, and pronto. He knew that the sheriff and their ranch manager Jesse had been married a long time ago, and that the divorce had been hard on both of them. He only knew that much because of comments Jesse had made here and there. But even if she wasn’t in a relationship now, it didn’t mean that Garrett wasn’t.

He stood, conscious of Kujo’s gaze on him as he did.

“Garrett,” he said conversationally. “I don’t really know how to ask this, so I’m just going to come right out. Did I step on your toes this morning with Serena?”

Garrett studied him for a long moment, then nodded.

Damn it. The man’s response stung in a way that had nothing to do with his pride, and everything to do with the fact that Garrett and Serena were together. It wasn’t as if Walker had much to offer anymore, or so his exes claimed, but apparently somewhere deep there had been a little spark of hope that was now extinguished.

“I’m sorry about that. You probably know that Serena and I go way back to when we were teenagers. But I swear, there’s nothing but friendship between us now. Regardless, I’ll keep my distance from her from now on.” The words positively stung as they fell from his lips.

Garrett stared at him, absolutely befuddled. “What are you talking about?”

“You and Serena,” Walker said. “You two are a couple.”

Garrett barked out a laugh. It wasn’t jovial or pleasant sounding. “Serena and I are not together. I’m still harboring some mad over how the media treated me and my deputies last fall, and today I’m pissy that someone had the audacity to hurt one of my friends.”

Kujo had wandered over, having tucked his phone away, obviously listening.

“So you’re not…” Walker said and then let the sentence hang. Because from the grin that had morphed onto Garrett’s face, he and Serena were not, indeed, a couple.

Then Garrett’s smile turned into a grimace, reminiscent of that painful bark of laughter. “The love of my life hates my guts,” he said, then changed the subject. “While we’re waiting to hear what the doc says, walk me through the scene, and then talk to me more about this whole Brotherhood Protector thing.”

Ignoring the wave of elation that surged through him at Garrett’s statement, Walker ran through the description of the man he’d seen fleeing The Menagerie and what he’d done in the minutes following the incident.

He wished he had more to add, but his glimpse of Serena’s attacker had been so fast there hadn’t been much for him to divulge but the basics. He was pretty sure he’d recognize the man again, simply based on his height and weight and the way he’d moved. In his estimation, the man’s training probably hadn’t been military, he hadn’t moved like the men Walker knew, but he’d been stealthy and light on his feet. Like a thief. Walker hoped he wasn’t morphing imagined qualities onto the assailant and tried to only state facts.

Garrett and Kujo listened intently, with the sheriff interjecting questions here and there, but nothing new really materialized, so Walker moved on to Last Light’s new incarnation while he kept one eye on the doors leading into the ER.

He reiterated what Kujo had said earlier about the Brotherhood Protectors, restating the fact they did not want to get in law enforcement’s way.

Garrett’s posture seemed to relax with each word, as did Kujo’s. When Garrett nodded in approval, Walker gave an internal sigh of relief. At the very least, he thought this part was going to turn out all right. So he turned his attention from the Brotherhood Protectors and Garrett Hanson and returned it to where it belonged. Serena.

Serena walked into the waiting room, more than ready to head home after having adamantly refused the wheelchair. She wasn’t surprised to see Walker, along with his friend and Garrett Hanson huddled in one corner, deep in conversation. Neither Walker nor Garrett were the type to leave her unattended. It was a weird feeling to be looked after, she realized, when she had been so used to being hyper independent, even in her relationships.

It was Garrett who stepped forward first, cowboy hat in hand. “We need to discuss what happened,” he said. “And I’m not talking about your assault, at least not completely. Until we figure out what’s going on, I don’t know that you’re safe at The Menagerie. I’m assuming Lila wants someone to keep an eye on you as well, at least for the short term.”

He delivered the words in a steady monologue that dared her to interrupt--or disagree. Everything inside her went tight. Not because he was wrong, but because he was putting everything Lila had said, and she had felt, into what felt like an order. He was telling her she had to leave her home. She didn’t like that one little bit, even if the push-back wasn’t totally rational.

Then Walker chimed in and made it even worse. “You can stay at the ranch. We’ve got extra rooms in the main house or you can stay in one of the cottages.” He turned to Garrett. “Quentin will come down and do some recon, then we’ll install a security system at The Menagerie. Right now he’s working on what it’ll take to integrate our systems with the Brotherhood Protectors’ if we’re given the green light, but that’s not as much of a priority as Serena’s safety.”

“Wait a damn second,” she said, holding up one had in a stop motion. All of the men focused their attention on her.

While she could appreciate and understood their concern, it didn’t mean they could steamroll over her without even asking her thoughts. She pointed a finger at Walker and pulled all her past experience at working with men who didn’t listen to the forefront.

“You don’t get to decide what I’m gonna do and not do. Old times be damned.” She turned to Garrett. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting? What if it was a simple burglary?”

Garrett seemed to weigh her words while Walker choked on a response. The fact she’d made them slow their roll was satisfying, until it wasn’t. Her safety was what was driving their actions, and now she felt a little petty.

“There are too many inconsistencies for my liking,” Garrett finally said in that slow, determined way he had. “For starters, he hit you. I’m not saying that as a man, or your friend, I’m saying that as a cop. He could have just as easily run past you or hidden in the parlor until you went to call 911 or done any manner of things. Hell, he could have broken a window and fled that way. We both know the windows in those old houses aren’t for shit. But he didn’t. He decided to come at you, decided to make it physical and lay hands on you. That kind of assault is more often personal than anything else. Then he stuck around for an hour, presumably looking for whatever he was there for in the first place while you were unconscious on the floor. That’s not the behavior of a burglar who got scared by the homeowner. When you put that together with the vandalism and the attempted entry at your back door…” he let the sentence hang ominously. “We’re going to need to talk about your exes or anyone who has a grudge, in addition to cataloging anything valuable you have on site. I’ll also need you to do a run through to see what he took,” he paused and looked her straight in the eye. “So yeah, I want you staying with someone for the near future.”

His speech was long and heartfelt and Serena absorbed every word of it.