Page 84 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
“Don’t push me, kid. I’ll bury you. Think you can come to my house, trash it, then threaten my girl? If you ever so much as think about her or this place again, I’ll fucking end you.”
The kid lost his attitude and had the good sense to look terrified, knowing full well that Jess would make good on his promise. Without giving him a chance to respond, Jess grabbed him by the back of the head and forced him into the car.
My heart thundered and I stopped breathing, not starting again until the cruiser’s taillights had disappeared.
Standing on my lawn, stunned, I barely registered Jess pulling me tightly into his side. My arms were crossed on my stomach and I was cold. The temperature had dropped and even with his body heat to keep me warm, I was shivering.
It had started snowing while we were outside. Round, fat flakes floated down from the black sky above, resting lightly and peacefully where they landed. Any other night, I would have thought they were the loveliest snowflakes I’d ever seen.
But not tonight.
Not when I was surrounded by an ocean of broken pumpkins. Not when my daughter was locked inside my house to keep her safe. And not with that asshole kid’s threatening glare burned into my brain.
I shivered again. And it had nothing to do with the snow.
Halloween was tough. After a fitful night’s sleep, I had gotten up early to start picking up pumpkin rinds. Thankfully, it hadn’t snowed much and the broken bits hadn’t been frozen into the grass.
I dropped off an exhausted Roe at Quail Hollow and went to work, glad to have a distraction from the drama. I let the patients and their issues consume my morning. I let them distract me from the worries swirling in my head.
All I wanted was a peaceful and quiet life. Since moving to Prescott, I’d had more confrontation in a three-month period than I could have imagined possible.
That was saying something, considering how much Nate, his parents and their attorneys had put me through.
The seventh and eighth months of my pregnancy had been spent emailing lawyers and reading legal agreements. The Fletchers had been certain that I’d gotten pregnant on purpose to steal their fortune. Every night I had gone to bed stressed and anxious.
But at the worst of it, I had always known it would eventually pass. That things would settle down. And it had. Once the paternity test results had been delivered, the legal attacks had stopped and Nate had signed his way out of Rowen’s life.
But this was different.
I didn’t see an end.
Would our evening conversations always be spent discussing drug dealers? Would our lunch breaks be spent talking through an arson case?
I was the sheriff’s girlfriend and would always be a target. People like Wes and these punk kids would always come at me or Rowen to toy with Jess.
And he would always be a cop. It was who he was and I was proud to be by his side.
But until last night, I hadn’t realized exactly how that would affect my life and Rowen’s.
And I didn’t know if I was strong enough for it.
He needed a woman who could stand by his side and prop him up on the bad days. I’d been doing my best but I wasn’t sure if it was enough. If I was strong enough for him.
I couldn’t help but think that he could find someone better.
By the end of the day, my head was pounding and my heart was troubled. But, somehow, I mustered the strength to set my worries aside and let Jess give me an update on the vandalism.
The kids had vandalized six different homes, including the farmhouse. The worst one, a couple miles away from mine, had gotten the entire front of their house spray-painted with obscenities.
“That’s horrible,” I said. “I feel so bad for those poor people that have to repaint their entire house. What kind of trouble will the kids get into?”
“They’re all under eighteen so they’ll face misdemeanor charges as juveniles. Probably end up with a fine and some community service hours. Two of them confessed. Their parents will punish them far worse than the law ever could at that age. They’ll learn their lesson,” he said.
“What about the third kid, he didn’t confess?”
“Third was the little shit that threatened you. I don’t know him or his parents. They’re new in town. Built a monstrosity of a house up in the foothills. Haven’t seen them around town much. Usually when they’re here, they act like they’re too good for Prescott. The kid stayed quiet until his parents got to the station and demanded a lawyer. They just couldn’t believe their precious angel would do such a thing.”
My eyes widened and my mouth fell open. “Is he going to get away with it?”
