“You’re damn right. He’s just trying to use you to find out shit on us. What if he’s looking into your mother? She told you about Fontana against my wishes because she thought it would help you after what happened. She didn’t want you to be scared anymore, Lexa. Now, suddenly, the sheriff is sniffing around you, when I know for a fact that motherfucker has plenty of pussy all lined up for him.”
I couldn’t help flinching at that mental picture he was painting for me. Was he right? Could Ben just be after an in to find something on my family? Was he using me?
I wanted to say no, he would never do
something like that to me. But my head couldn’t help but wonder if it was true. It made sense. Why else would someone who looked like him want someone who looked like me?
“Everyone in this town knows how tight you and your mom are. All it would take is one whisper of a hint that she took out Fontana to save you, and they could link it to the MC and invoke RICO like the damn district attorney has wanted to do for decades. I don’t care about me, but do you really want to put her at risk? Especially right now?” He raked his hands through his hair, a sign of angry frustration I couldn’t remember him using while dealing with me, and I understood his reaction to this a little better.
He was more worried about Mom than he was letting on, and he was taking it out on me. His stress levels must have been off the charts with fear for her, and I was getting the brunt of it.
But it still stung.
“She has enough shit going on right now not to have to deal with you fucking around with the goddamn law, Lexa. This will only stress her out more.”
“I-I’m sorry. It won’t happen again,” I promised, blinking back tears.
His face only tightened even more, his eyes seeming to flash with lightning at me. “Keep him away, Lexa. Or I’ll take care of him myself. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, Dad,” I told him quietly. “I hear you.”
Chapter 5
Ben
Paperwork was the bane of my existence, it seemed. I had a mountain of it on my desk every morning when I walked into my office, and this morning was no different.
What was different was the district attorney sitting in front of said desk, strumming his fingers on the chair’s arms impatiently as I entered. Of all the things I disliked about being sheriff—and there really weren’t many—having to deal with this slimy sonofabitch was the one I hated the most.
Mayor Jenkins and I agreed on the DA wholeheartedly, but for some damn reason, the citizens continued to reelect Royce Campbell. He took half a term off to run for mayor from what I’d heard, but when Jenkins won the special election, Campbell had licked his wounds and run for DA once again, sweeping the rug out from under his appointed replacement at the time.
Something suspicious was going on with that, but I didn’t have cause to investigate it. And even if I did, I would have to bring in the state’s attorney general, and I just wasn’t ready to deal with that drama. Yet. If the bastard ever gave me a reason, though, I’d put his neck on a chopping block.
“Sheriff,” Campbell greeted as he stood, his hand already extended for me to shake.
Out of professional courtesy, I did, but I kept it brief before dropping my hand and walking around my desk to take my seat. “What brings you in, Campbell?”
“You, actually.” He retook his own seat without being invited to. Leaning forward eagerly, he grinned so broadly I felt dirty just being in the same room with him. I would put him close to sixty, but the world wouldn’t know that from his dyed hair and his smooth face from all the Botox Gran said the man got on the regular. “Word around town is you and Lexa Reid are becoming Creswell Springs’ favorite couple in their daily soap opera.”
Her name coming off his tongue made me want to put my fist through his face. Instead, I didn’t show an ounce of emotion, knowing that was exactly what he wanted. “And where did you hear that?”
“The more appropriate question is, where haven’t I heard it?” he said with a sly laugh. “If I’d known you were going to dick around with Reid’s daughter, of all people, I would have been in here a hell of a lot sooner. So, tell me your plan. How long are you planning to string this girl along until she spills a few MC secrets? Her mother is her best friend, so I know the girl has to be privy to a few juicy details that we can use to put those bastards behind bars where they really belong.”
I sat up straighter in my chair, my dislike only growing for this worthless man the longer he sat there gleefully waiting for me to answer.
“First, she’s a woman, not a girl. Second, my relationship with Lexa Reid is none of your fucking business. And third, I don’t have a plan now, nor will I ever use what she knows about her family against her or them.” I stood and pressed my palms flat on the desktop as I leaned forward to glare at him.
Right then, that desk was the only protection Campbell had against me, and if he knew any better, he would make a run for it. The rage I’d always struggled to contain was just below the surface, and if he kept running his mouth, I was going to destroy him and make him eat all the words he was spewing about Lexa.
“All we need is one felony, and we can charge them all. Bring the Feds in and invoke RICO. We can get rid of the entire lot of them and clean up this town once and for all,” Campbell continued. “You’ll be a hero to this town, Davis. Just what you need to get reelected come fall.”
A hero?
Bullshit. From what I’d seen of the citizens in and around Creswell Springs, they loved the MC. Respected them. Crime was low, and I wasn’t stupid enough to think it was because of me. Whatever the MC did when they were out of town, they never brought it back with them, and they kept the rougher crowd that lived within Trinity County in check, with the exception of the college assholes who didn’t know any better.
No one complained about the MC—at least, they hadn’t to me. Even my grandparents seemed to like them. My grandmother, who had an opinion on everyone, didn’t have a bad one of the motorcycle club as far as I knew.
I didn’t need to be a hero to get reelected. No one wanted the job, and so far, no one had voiced the possibility of running against me. That was, if I decided to run. I hadn’t made up my mind yet, but Sheriff Hogan, Mayor Jenkins, and both my grandparents were all pushing for it.