Page 28 of Homicide in Water Creek

“The city,” she agreed, fiddling with the strap on her brace. “We aren’t exactly cut out for the city.”

“I thought I could do it. I really did.”

Jacks gave him the raspberry lips and shook her head, her eyes rolling toward the ceiling. “I guess I knew you better than you knew yourself back then. You’re made for a town like Water Creek, not a city like Minneapolis.”

“As evidenced by the fact that I left the city.”

“The question is, where are you happier? There or here?”

“I was in the city for barely two years. The worst two years of my life. Everything is in constant motion there. I couldn’t shut my mind down at the end of the day because the city never slept.”

“Unlike here, where sidewalks roll up at six and the lights go out at nine,” Jacks teased.

“Not untrue, to a degree. We have our party haunts. We have our share of drugs, prostitution, and illegal gambling. We have ranch brawls to rival the best bar brawls in the city, but we also have community. We look out for each other. We aren’t afraid to get our hands dirty to help someone in need. I realized, during the first three months as sheriff, that this job was more important than any job I could have done in the big city.”

“Why?” she asked, her head resting against the back of the couch.

“Integrity. What does that mean? I guess it’s the idea that the people here hold me to a standard you don’t find in the city, unless you’re high-ranking, and even then.” King waved his hand at his neck. “Here, if I make a mistake, I’ll own up to it because there’s no one else to blame. Here, I'd better live like everyone else so they'll accept my help when they need it. I'd better not walk around these parts acting high and mighty or disrespecting my elders just because I’m the law. Does that make sense?”

She nodded as he grabbed her hand to keep her from messing with the brace. It distracted him from focusing on her.

“You’ve always had integrity, King. That’s what’s pissed me off for the last ten years. It’s hard to hate someone like you. I’d been told I had to, so I channeled all that anger and frustration into hating you. You didn’t deserve it, but when you moved back here, I didn’t have much choice.”

“I wish I’d never left.” King slid his hand up under her hair to rub her temple, but she tensed under his hand.

“You know, don’t you?”

It was now or never. Honesty would take him further than denial. Be honest, and maybe, just maybe, things would fall into place.

He nodded.

“The department?”

He shook his head, drawing a grimace from her lips.

“Keene. He probably wanted you to know how much of a bullet you just dodged.”

King gripped her hand tighter so she wouldn’t run away. “No, baby. He called me, scared you weren’t going to make it. I know we’re mad at him right now, but he loves you. He was angry, sad, and scared to death for you and Jackson.”

The look on her face told him everything. She had been afraid of the same thing. She was afraid she was going to die. She was afraid that asshole’s face would be the last one she ever saw. He ground his teeth to keep from cursing or crying. What the hell was wrong with some men that they thought they could take what they wanted instead of asking and respecting the answer?

“Is that why you came back?”

King turned and took her other hand, holding both to his chest. “No, I was working, but he promised he’d keep me posted. I hung up with him and went back out on duty. Maybe I shouldn’t have. Maybe hearing that news from him distracted me for that split second it took for the guy to pull a gun on me and shoot. I’ll never know the answer to that, but I do know I shot back, from where I lay sprawled on my back, and took out a woman’s attacker that night. When they got me to the ER, I’d broken two ribs and had a lung so bruised that the simple act of breathing was torture. I’d been shot not three months before that, but that time I jumped up and chased the guy. When I took those two to the chest that night, it put me out for a solid month. Once I could move again without wanting to die, I climbed into my truck and took a drive. I had to clear my head, and it wasn’t happening in the city.”

Jacks gazed into his eyes, hers the deepest blue he’d ever seen. Intense. Scared. Trusting. Wanton.

“You’re saying the bullets were fate’s intervention.”

He brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “I’m saying that if I hadn’t taken those bullets, I would have missed the chance to apply for the sheriff’s job. I would have missed the chance to watch you walk out of that hospital with your head held high and your middle finger up at the world that tried to hold you down.”

She swallowed and shook her head, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. “I never saw you. I didn’t even know you were in town.”

“Keene said you didn’t want to see me.”

“What? No. He never told me you were in town. I didn’t find out until later. I would have… I could have…”

“You would have what, baby?”