“And that shit was textbook. There wasn’t anything new there, and you’ve got to have studied him so you know that’s the straight up truth. What you intend to do is not a service to the community, man. Be honest with yourself. And you fuck with people’s lives that they pieced together after that maniac ripped them apart, be honest with them that you’re doin’ this for cash in your pocket, book tours, and in hopes of seein’ your name on a film credit.”
That took Jones from annoyed and frustrated to pissed.
“Small-town cop who thinks he knows it all but doesn’t know dick. I’ll confirm you don’t know dick since you sure as fuck do not know me,” he clipped.
That didn’t sound very FBI-like.
Then again, what did I know? I’d only met a couple of them and, thankfully, our associations were brief.
“Small-town cop in the ’burg rocked by Dennis Lowe’s lunacy, and we’ve seen a lot of assholes like you,” Merry returned. “You’re standing outside the home of a woman Lowe fucked with that you underestimated, ’cause I’m tellin’ you now, you’re actually lucky you’re dealin’ with me. If I let her loose on you, she’d grind you to nothing. And that woman is my woman. So do not stand outside my woman’s home and tell me what I don’t know. I know you. I can see right through you. And all I see is ugliness and greed.”
“This conversation is over,” Jones murmured, beginning to move down the walk.
“It’s about fuckin’ time,” Merry decreed.
Jones kept walking, but he looked over his shoulder to hurl, “Small-town cop, small mind, and too stupid to know it doesn’t make him smart to have the last word.”
To my shock, at that biting retort, Merry busted out laughing.
Then I got it.
Jones didn’t leave the last word to Merry. He took it. Which meant he’d called his own damned self stupid.
I grinned.
Merry stopped laughing and stood, arms still on his chest, watching Jones walk to his rental car at the curb.
I stayed inside the door as Merry and I both watched Jones get in it, start it up, and drive away.
Merry turned his head to watch it go down the street.
I kept waiting.
Then he dropped his head and shifted to move up the steps of my stoop toward me.
I opened the door and opened my mouth to share with him how totally awesome he was, but I didn’t get a word out before he lifted his head, looked at me and I saw the ice still in his eyes.
I held the door, unable to move until he put his hand on it and kept moving toward me, which meant I had to move out of his way.
The storm whispered then banged and Merry locked it.
Then he slammed my front door, and locked that.
But he slammed it, the unexpected noise sounding loud in my silent living room, making me jump then slowly, step by step, retreat.
He again turned eyes of blue ice to me.
“That happen to you a lot?” he asked.
His conversational tone didn’t fool me, so I kept retreating.
“Stop moving,” he ordered.
I stopped moving.
“That happen to you a lot, Cher?” he pushed.
I opened my mouth, but my movement was again slowed by his vibe filling the air so full, it weighed on me.
Suddenly, he leaned forward and roared, “That happen to you a lot?”
“Not so much anymore, Merry,” I answered.
“Not so much anymore,” he repeated after me.
“Sometimes,” I shared carefully.
“Ethan open the door to that shit?” he asked.
“No,” I answered and thankfully did not lie.
“They call?” he kept at me.
Slowly, I nodded but added verbally, “Not so much anymore with that either.”
“Then, they don’t get what they want ’cause you shut them down, they come to the door?”
“Yeah, but not so much,” I reiterated. “Not anymore. Swear, Merry.”
“Think they’re targeting the weak,” he stated.
“Maybe it starts like that, but if they make it to my door, I handle it and educate them different.”
“You handle it,” Merry again repeated after me.
“Merry,” I whispered.
At the sound of his name, suddenly and without warning, he charged me. Automatically, I retreated and had to do it fast, so I tripped over my feet. Thankfully, that happened in a strategic place, so when I started to fall back, my shoulders slammed against the wall instead of me landing on my ass.
Hold On
Kristen Ashley's books
- Holding the Dream
- Dance Upon the Air
- High Noon
- Moon Island(Vampire Destiny Book 7)
- Illusion(The Vampire Destiny Book 2)
- Upon A Midnight Clear
- Son Of The Morning
- MacKenzie's mission(MacKenzie Family Saga #2)
- Loving Evangeline(Patterson-Cannon Family series #1)
- A Billionaire's Redemption
- A Convenient Proposal
- A Dishonorable Knight
- A Headstrong Woman
- A Passion for Pleasure
- Atonement
- Beyond a Doubt
- Beyond Control
- Cavanaugh on Duty
- Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)
- Conceal, Protect
- Conflict of Interest
- Confessing to the Cowboy
- Dreams Don't Wait
- Explosive Attraction
- Find Wonder in All Things
- Forbidden Fires (Bondage & Breakfast)
- Galveston Between Wind and Water
- Game On
- Gone with the Wolf
- Honor's Players
- Illusions of Love
- Intaglio Dragons All The Way Down
- Just One Song
- Living London
- Lone Wolf (Shifters Unbound)
- Love Resolution
- Lyon's Crew
- Mountain Moonlight
- Need A Want Companion Novel
- Of One Heart
- Once a Bad Girl
- Once a Thief
- Once Again a Bride
- Once and Again
- Once Touched, Never Forgotten
- Once Upon a Kiss
- Once Upon a Prince
- One Desert Night
- One More Kiss
- One More Sleepless Night
- One Night of Misbehavior
- One Night Standoff
- One Texas Night
- Only Love (The Atonement Series)
- Operation Endurance
- Primal Bonds
- Questions of Trust A Medical Romance
- Reflection Point
- Retribution
- Savage Redemption
- Second Chance
- Secure Location
- Someone I Used to Know
- Son of a Preacher Man
- Soul Bonded
- Sunset Seduction
- Sweet as Honey (The Seven Sisters)
- Sweet On You
- Tempting Cameron
- That Carrington Magic
- The Bridgertons Happily Ever After
- The Demon's Song
- The Dragon and the Pearl
- The Lone Rancher
- The Millionaire Cowboy's Secret
- Translation of Love
- Twisted Perfection
- Vision In White
- When Love's Gone Country
- The Lost Tycoon
- Down on Her Knees
- Love, Your Concierge
- A Demon Made Me Do It
- Campbell_Book One
- The Lady of Bolton Hill
- Born to Ride_A Clubhouse Collection
- A Question of Honor
- Blood on Copperhead Trail
- Passion and the Prince
- Top Secret Twenty-One
- Dungeon Royale
- Make Me Bad(Private Lessons)
- My Fair Billionaire
- Writing Our Song:A Billionaire Romance
- Kissed by Moonlight
- Redemption in Love
- The Masterful Mr. Montague
- Diamonds are Forever
- Every Second with You
- If You Only Knew