The Closer You Come

She knew, because he smiled, blood all over his teeth.

Then Jase’s fists rained again. Stanton’s body jerked with each whack. People flooded into the stall, witnesses now.

Brook Lynn tried to stop Jase but someone grabbed her by the waist and held her back. “Please,” she shouted. “Please. You have to stop.”

He didn’t stop.

“Jase!”

He only hit the guy harder.

Around her, people gasped with horror.

“Jase,” West said. “Man, please. This isn’t the way.”

“Jase!” Beck’s voice now. He’d returned just in time for the finale. “Enough.”

Jessie Kay sidled up to Brook Lynn’s side, taking her from whoever gripped her. “Calm down, sis. Just calm down.”

“Jase. I mean it. Stop right now.” Brook Lynn broke free of her sister and raced forward, latching on to his wrist and tugging.

He flew back, moving away from Stan as if he’d been kicked, even though Stan hadn’t moved. He looked at Brook Lynn then at the crowd. There were crimson droplets splattered over his face and dripping from his knuckles.

He was panting, struggling to rein in his temper. Meanwhile, the crowd whispered among themselves.

He ignored them to grab fistfuls of Brook Lynn’s hair. “Are you okay?”

She’d wondered how she’d react if she saw him in that kind of a rage—if she’d be terrified of him. Well, she hadn’t been. She’d only been scared for him.

The lump in her throat prevented her from speaking. She managed a nod. She was okay, but he might not be. His parole...

I can’t lose him...just can’t.

Jase gathered her close. As she buried her face in the hollow of his neck, a sob escaped her. She clung to him, pouring out her fear of what could have gone wrong—and what was to come.

“He’s Pax’s brother,” she said. “He wanted you to hurt him and suffer for it. And if that didn’t satisfy him, he planned to kill you.”

His arms tightened around her. She would have liked to remain in his embrace forever, but all too soon he handed her off to...Jessie Kay. She tried to hang on to him, but he kissed her cheek and stepped away from her.

She soon discovered why. Sheriff Lintz had just stepped out of the crowd, his sights on Jase.

* * *

JASE WAS ESCORTED to Sheriff Lintz’s office while Stanton Gillis was taken to the hospital. Knowing the drill, Jase refused to speak with anyone without his lawyer present.

Sheriff Lintz promised to call the guy and left...and then just never came back. Hour after hour passed, Jase’s tension mounting. His lawyer never showed up, either.

Was this a Strawberry Valley interrogation technique? A form of torture?

Whatever. Already been tortured tonight, he thought. This was nothing.

Hearing Brook Lynn scream his name, pain and terror in her voice...and then seeing her with a bloody cut on her lip and a hard knot on her jaw... Yeah, he’d lost it. He’d been overcome by a rage far worse than the ones he’d once unleashed on Pax and inmates who’d attacked him.

Jase’s switch hadn’t just flipped. It had fried, the circuits blown. By some miracle, Brook Lynn’s pleas for him to stop beating Stanton had reached his ears, and he’d managed to pull back before he’d actually killed the guy. But honestly? He doubted the end result would matter. Assault and battery was assault and battery no matter how you sliced it, and it was a major violation of his parole. He’d be charged tonight, face a judge within the next few days, and then he would most likely be sent back to prison.

He waited for panic to come...but...no. There was only a cold sense of calm. He’d protected his woman, and he would never regret that. As long as Brook Lynn was safe, he was at peace.

Was Brook Lynn scared of him again? She’d wondered what would happen if his temper ever overtook him, and finally she’d gotten an answer. The worst possible scenario.

Hinges on the door creaked, and Sheriff Lintz finally ambled his way back inside the room.

“Lawyer” was all Jase said.

The sheriff pushed back his Stetson, revealing a receding salt-and-pepper hairline. “You’re free to go, son.”

Jase blinked at him. “Excuse me?” Was this a trick? The guy must know about his past by now. And he was just going to let him loose in the wild?

“No charges will be filed against you at this time. Or at all,” the sheriff added, striding deeper into the room, his boots thumping against the tile floor. He sat across from Jase, who hadn’t risen. “Me and my boys talked to all the party guests. We were told time and time again how Brook Lynn and West were attacked and you came to their rescue. How you defended them. Now Stanton Gillis, on the other hand, is being charged with assault and, considering the things we found in the trunk of his car, attempted murder. He’ll be locked away for a long time.”

Jase’s relief was palpable, and any resentment he held against Stanton Gillis evaporated like mist. A day hadn’t gone by that he hadn’t felt sorry for the pain he’d caused Pax’s family—and tonight he’d finally seen the extent of it. The guy had held on to his bitterness all this time, letting it drive his every thought and action, and nothing good had come of it.

“You know I’m an ex-con,” he said, still refusing to believe that he was being freed.

“That’s right, I surely do. I’ve known who and what you are since the moment you moved to town.”