NATE
I’d beenin the middle of interviewing an eighty-four-year-old octogenarian for the position of executive assistant when I got a call that made my heart fall right out of my chest. I hadn’t gotten all the details from my mother on the phone, but the mention of Evan, vandalism, and sheriff’s department was more than enough to set me off. I quickly ended the interview with Ms. Dempsey, a former high school English teacher who wasn’t enjoying retirement as much as she’d thought she would. I hadn’t been sure, but I could have sworn Ms. Dempsey taught at the high school back when I’d attended years ago, and if I’d been right, the woman had been old as dirt even back then.
By the time I pulled up in front of my parents’ store, parking beside the sheriff-department-issued cruiser, a haze of rage covered my vision so vividly, the whole world was covered in an eerie red glow.
I pushed through the door, setting off the pleasant chime of the bell that didn’t fit the current situation at all. My gaze darted around the space furiously as I looked for my daughter. “Where is she?” I asked through gritted teeth, my jaw ticking manically.
“In the back office,” my father answered. “We figured it best that we discuss how to handle this situation without her present.”
“Agreed. So tell me what happened.” My gaze passed to my mother. “You said she defaced private property? What did she do, spray paint something?”
Luna, who’d been standing off to the side, let out a derisive snort and shook her head. “Nothing so amateurish. I’ll tell you, when your girl decides to do something, she goes big.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” I blurted before I could stop myself.
“Nathanial Desmond Warren,” my mother scolded instantly. “That is not how you talk to someone ever, but especially when they’re the wronged party.”
Ah, Christ. This isn’t going to be good, I told myself, and not only because the sight of Luna Copeland caused the blood in my veins rush so damn fast it made my skin heat. Even with the killing look she currently had pinned to her face, she was gorgeous. And not the typical kind of gorgeous either, but the kind that drew in artists, painters and sculptors, people who’d give their left foot for the chance to immortalize a face like hers.
Her skin, that creamy pale white, the kind that burned beneath the sun if she wasn’t careful, turned pink with emotion. Her full rose-hued lips were pursed, and her delicate nose, slightly upturned at the very tip, was scrunched in displeasure. Even though it certainly wasn’t an expression that should make a man hard, there I was, trying to fight back an erection like a goddamn teenager as I recalled our one and only night together.
I arched my brows and asked, “The wronged party?”
“She... keyed a defamatory word into the side of Luna’s car.”
Fuck. Fucking me. Fuck, fuck, fuck!“What word?”
My mother blushed, my father glanced to his shoes, color leaching from his face. When it became obvious no one else was going to chime in, Luna spoke again. “It reads slut in big capital letters from the front panel to the back door.”
I choked on my own goddamn spit, nearly hacking up a lung. “I’m sorry, she wrote what?” I croaked once I was able to breathe again.
“Slut,” Luna repeated. “She called me a slut; a woman she doesn’t know from Adam, a complete and total stranger, all because I slept with her father.” She held a finger in the air, her smile a bit manic as she added, “News that she also found okay to share with whoever was near when she got caught. And she didn’t just key it. Oh no. She really gouged that sucker in deep.”
I was going to kill her. That was all there was to it. My daughter was a dead girl walking.
“Luna... shit. I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry she did that.”
“Not you who should be apologizing, son,” my father grunted.
The man in the very official looking uniform spoke then, drawing my attention to him. “Glad to see you’re back, Nate. Just hate the first time we’re running into each other is under these circumstances.”
I furrowed my brow, trying to place his face before it hit me. “Holy shit. Cade? Kincade Michaels?”
“One and the same.” The corner of his mouth curled up in a small facsimile of a grin as he held his hand out. I took it, the shake hearty and friendly before he pulled me in for a quick slap on the back.
I let out a small, bewildered laugh as I took in the uniform one more time. “Damn, man. You work for the sheriff’s department? I can’t believe someone actually gave you a gun.”
He chuckled lazily, lifting his hand to rub the back of his neck. “Don’t just work there, bud. Was actually voted in as sheriff in the last election.”
“No joke?” I smiled big, going in for another back pat. “Congratulations, man. That’s awesome.”
“Um, excuse me,” a very feminine and extremely pissed off voice cut in. “If you guys want to bro down, I’m totally fine with that, as long as you do it on your time. But we have a situation here that needs to be dealt with.”
Shame crept up from my chest, heating my skin as it traveled higher and higher. I’d never felt like a bigger failure in my entire life. I’d failed as a father. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get through to my own daughter. I couldn’t get her to talk to me, to open up, so everything she was feeling stayed locked inside, festering and festering until it exploded in a toxic and extreme way.
“Of course. Luna... Christ. I’m sorry. And please know that I’ll pay to have your car repaired immediately.” Reaching up, I dragged my fingers through my hair in frustration, at a loss as to what to do. “And I understand if you feel that’s not good enough. The choice is yours if you want to take legal action.” At those words, I could actually feel bile creeping up my throat, threatening to choke me. Did Evan have any idea how serious what she’d just done was? “I won’t try to talk you out of it—”
She cut me off, something flitting across her features that sent a shiver down my spine. “I’ve given it some thought while you were on your way over here, and I think I’ve figured out a way to handle this without bringing the law into play and potentially screwing up a young kid’s life.”