“Do not,” he said sharply.
Juliet jolted as though he’d hit her. Fuck, he hadn’t meant to scare her. He took a step forward, ready to apologize, but the other woman growled up at him.
Like, actually growled. As though she was a dog protecting her owner.
“Stay back, asshat,” the woman said.
He glared down at her. “I’m not going to hurt her.”
“Newsflash, you already did. I’d give you a one out of ten for job performance. You’re in the negatives for personality.”
The sheriff’s vehicle pulled up and an ambulance soon parked behind it. A big man climbed out of the vehicle and scowled as he looked from him then over to the two girls.
“What the fuck happened here? Kiesha? Juliet? Are you all right? Who are you?” He turned to Brick, who’d stepped closer to Juliet. “Gonna ask you nicely to step away from the two women and over towards your truck. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
Brick didn’t move, but held his hands out to his side. “I’m not hurting them. I’m Brick Sampson. I’m Juliet’s bodyguard. We were driving to her work when this woman roller-skated out in front of my truck. I slammed on the brakes. I didn’t hit her but she looks to have fallen over.”
“That what happened, Kiesha?”
Great, so the sheriff and Kiesha obviously knew each other well. And the sheriff seemed like he would take the dirty-mouthed woman’s word over his. He guessed that was to be expected.
A car drifted slowly past them and the sheriff waved them on. There wasn’t much traffic out this way.
“He appeared out of nowhere!” Kiesha said in her defense. “I was in a rush because I was running late, and he just turned the corner all of a sudden.”
“All of a sudden?” Brick thundered. “It’s a damn road. Of course, I was driving along it. And I wasn’t even going that fast. You jumped out in front of me, lady. You’re lucky we didn’t crash. If Juliet had been hurt . . .”
“Juliet, you hurt?” the sheriff asked.
Juliet was pale and wide-eyed as she shook her head. The medic was with Kiesha by now, checking her over and taking off her skates.
“I’m fine, Ryan,” the crazy lunatic said. “Just a bit bruised with some skinned knees.”
“Take her to the hospital, Ryan,” the sheriff barked. “I want her checked over.”
“I didn’t get hit, Ed. It’s no different than any other time I’ve fallen over. Juliet, can you get my shoes out of my backpack?”
Juliet jumped to grab them. Brick’s eyebrows rose as he saw her pull out two completely different shoes. She held them up and Kiesha nodded.
“I know they’re different shoes. It’s a new trend I’m starting, it’s going to be big.”
Why would that be big? But everyone just nodded at the strange woman’s declaration.
Juliet hadn’t been hurt, but she looked to be having a hard time processing everything. The need to take her into his arms and comfort her was almost overwhelming.
The medic put his arm around Kiesha’s waist, leading her over to the back of his rig. The sheriff turned to him. “Going to need to see some identification and registration. Juliet, honey, come here.”
Honey? Was he kidding him? Anger and jealousy raged inside him. Especially as Juliet walked over to the sheriff.
“You grab hold of my shirt if you need to, honey,” the sheriff said in a soft voice. He was far gentler with her than he had been with the other woman, who was complaining loudly about the way the medic was bandaging her up.
Brick’s jaw became so tight as she wrapped her hand up in the sheriff’s shirt that he thought he might crack a tooth. He could definitely feel a headache pounding in his temples.
“Juliet, why don’t we sit you down in my truck,” the sheriff said in that easy voice of his, but his gaze was wary as he stared at Brick. “You’re looking a bit pale.”
Brick shook his head, his hands curling into fists to hold himself back from grabbing her and slinging her over his shoulder. “Can’t let her do that. Juliet, come here.”
The sheriff raised his eyebrows. “You’re going to have to come back to the station to make a statement. Juliet can ride with me.”