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Chapter One
Seven months later...
Hunt walked into Cooper’s bar. He’d spotted his brother’s truck in the parking lot. At ten thirty at night, Chase should be home with his beautiful fiancée and their little girl. He hoped Chase and Shelby were out on a date and his brother hadn’t fallen off the wagon. But then he spotted Shelby at a table with the last person he wanted to see.
Gorgeous, tempting, not-for-him Cyn.
He didn’t think the purple-haired party girl and his reserved soon-to-be sister-in-law had anything in common or that they even knew each other. But everyone in town knew Cyn. Every man wanted her. Many had the pleasure of her company and a wild tale to tell about it. Though Hunt suspected a lot of what was said about Cyn was wishful thinking and exaggeration on those guys’ parts.
Still, what the hell was she doing with Shelby?
In his police uniform, he attracted a lot of attention as he made his way through the crowd toward the two women who probably wouldn’t be happy to see him.
He’d been hard on Shelby this past year. He’d wanted her to make Chase better. He’d wanted her to somehowerase Chase’s PTSD and prescription drug addiction. It wasn’t fair to put that on her, but the anger, resentment and blame he’d put on Chase unfairly spilled over to her.
He’d apologized. He’d do so again if need be, because he liked Shelby. More than that, he liked who his brother was with her, sober and happy.
As for Cyn... she hated him, even though he’d arrested Rad and severed all ties with a guy he’d once considered his best friend. Rad did what Hunt had advised and pleaded the charges down, so he basically got a slap on the wrist. It was a first offense, and he had no priors because Angela, and any other woman Rad might have hurt, hadn’t filed charges against him.
Angela took Rad back the second he got out on bail.
Cyn blamed Hunt for that, too.
Yes, he knew her anger was warranted, but she’d aimed it at the wrong person. Much like he’d done with Shelby about Chase. And though he and his fellow officers had been called out to Rad’s place on numerous occasions by Cyn before the arrest she instigated, they hadn’t been called out since.
And, well, Cyn had cause to loathe him more because he’d written her a total of five speeding tickets over the past seven months alone. The last one she still hadn’t paid.
Not that he was keeping track, or anything.
He didn’t like the hold she seemed to have on him.
She liked speed, a good time and skirting the law and outright breaking it every chance she got. Though it had been quite a long time since one of his brethren had issued her a citation. Either she had tamed her wild ways, or more than likely she simply hadn’t gotten caught.
Folks in town and down at the station still talked about how she and some drunk cowboy got caught skinny-dipping in Mrs. Thompson’s pond. Mrs. Thompson discovered her teenage son watching the couple get it on in the shallow water.
He’d bet a month didn’t go by without one of the guys at the station talking about seeing her in her drenched clothes, looking like the winner of a wet T-shirt contest.
He understood why. He’d never seen a more beautiful woman.
Steps away from Shelby and Cyn’s table, he stopped short when Rad appeared out of nowhere, drunk and stumbling to a stop, hands planted on the wood surface, his face a foot from Cyn’s scowling one.
“Fuck off.” She glared, not giving a damn Rad had hit her in the past and her words and attitude could provoke him to do it again.
Hunt’s gut tightened and his fist clenched. One wrong move and Hunt would put Rad down on the ground again.
Rad grinned and his gaze roamed over Cyn’s face and dipped to her chest before he met her angry gaze again. “Why do you have to be such a bitch?”
“I wouldn’t be if you treated my sister with respect. Especially now.” Cyn rose and planted her hands right in front of Rad’s on the table and leaned in close to him. “She needs to be treated with care.”
Rad scoffed. “She won’t let me near her.”
Cyn’s lips curved into that smile that taunted. “Good.”
“She’s mine.”
“She has something more to live for now than spending every waking moment trying to make you happy.”
Shelby stood and put her hand on Cyn’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
