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He springs back like a startled Chihuahua, teeth bared and bloody.

“Bron!”

But Lachlan’s warning is ignored when Bron charges up to me. I think he’s going to throw a punch but his sneakers kick my boots as he goes toe to toe.

“You have no idea what you’ve started. You can’t always be here.”

I don’t bother with a response. I’m not going to play this game with him. He can try to piss me off but he doesn’t realize that it’s not about me. My job is to protect Everly. Period.

Lachlan pulls him back towards the truck door.

Behind me, the porch light flicks on. I hear the door creak open, the soft shuffle of bare feet on hardwood. I don’t need to look to know it’s her.

Everly.

Her presence alone sends a pulse through my chest like a second heartbeat. One that belongs entirely to her.

Bron’s eyes shift, trying to see past me. There is hope and desperation in his bloody expression that shouldn’t exist.

“Everly—”

I block him when he charges out of his dad’s grip.

“Go near her,” I whisper low and deadly, “and I’ll shatter your jaw so badly you’ll have to sip your dinner through an IV.”

He blinks. “You’re fucking crazy.” He cries, gaze pivoting to his father. “Aren’t you going to say something or are you going to stand there and let him—?”

“Get in your car and go home, Bron,” Lachlan cuts him off.

The prick’s bloody chin drops. “You can’t tell me to leave. She’s my girlfriend. I can—”

I’m ready to beat that word straight out of his mouth when sharp punches of light slice through the rain and pins us. The truck ambles up to a stop behind Lachlan’s and I recognize the beige cruiser before the door swings open.

Sheriff Brewer, a burly man with a thick handlebar mustache and a scowl that can curdle milk hops down. I don’t miss Bron’s low mutter of,“fuck sakes,”as the sheriff stalks towards us.

“Gentlemen,” he has to pitch his voice higher than the storm soaking through us, “Damn early for a gathering, isn’t it?” He nudges his wide brimmed hat back with a knuckle, sending a small waterfall down his back from the collected water. “Got a call about someone trying to break down Miss Cavanaugh’s door.”

“It’s a misunderstanding,” Lachlan begins.

But Sheriff Brewer isn’t looking at him. His shrewd brown eyes are fixed on Bron. “Have a tiff, son?”

There is a hatred in Bron’s eyes that is as sharp as glass against the stark, white landscape of his features. The thin, white line of his lips. He’s a man fighting all his demons to keep from unmasking himself to the world.

“She’s being dramatic,” he spits out. “She texted me that we needed to talk, then I got here and she wouldn’t open the door.”

Brewer’s eyes narrow even as a bushy brow lifts. “I don’t think she meant this early in the morning. I get maybe you got a little excited and zipped down here, but there is a respectful time for things here in Jefferson. You don’t take it upon yourself to show up at a lady’s home before dawn to kick down her door.Now, I was on the phone with Miss Cavanaugh and I could hear you clear as a whistle saying all manner of disrespectful and, well, if I were her father, I’d be having a different conversation with you. But...” he glances past us to where Everly’s still on the porch watching the cluster in her driveway. “As it were,” He tips his head back to fix Bron with his disgust, “I advise you get yourself home. Calm yourself down and really think about the kind of man you should be.”

“She texted me!” Bron snarls.

Brewer puts up a hand. “Be that as it may be. Telling someone you need to talk does not mean come over immediately unless they say so. Did she tell you to race over before the sun?”

Bron shifts, gaze drifting to the side. “No.”

The other man nods like he suspected as much. “There you have it. Now, I’m going to ask Miss Cavanaugh how she would like me to handle this situation. I expect that being an upstanding citizen, you will handle any damages you may have caused in a timely manner.”

“Unbelievable!” Bron snarls through his teeth. “I have done nothing wrong. She’s been a bitch for days now and—”

The sheriff’s eyes narrow. His mouth all but vanishes under the caterpillar across the upper half.