Page 27

Callum swirled the golden liquid around the pint glass, watching the bubbles lazily float to the surface. The Eagle’s Nest hummed with its usual chatter, the clink of silverware punctuating bursts of laughter. His eyes drifted across the bar, searching until they landed on Sloane.

She moved gracefully between the tables, her black ponytail swaying as she balanced a tray laden with plates. A smile lit up her face as she set the food in front of eager patrons. That smile, the way her eyes crinkled at the corners—it did something to him. He couldn’t pull his gaze away.

He’d spent more time in this pub over the last three nights than he had in the past month. All to keep an eye on her, make sure she was settling into the job all right. But she moved with such confidence, laughing easily with the regulars, that his worries were obviously unwarranted.

Sloane was doing fantastic.

She’d made enough her very first night to pay him back for what he’d gotten her at the general store last week. She’d placed the money in his palm with a determined glint in her eye.

“Some of what I owe you. Thank you for helping me.”

He’d wanted to tell her to keep it. But he saw how much it meant to her to stand on her own two feet. So, he’d nodded and tucked the money away, respecting her drive for independence.

Sloane didn’t need coddling. She needed someone to believe in her strength.

“This seat taken?”

Callum glanced up to see Bear hovering by the booth, two beers in hand. He waved his friend in.

“Be my guest. You’re a sight for sore eyes after the Spanish Inquisition I’ve endured the past two nights.”

Bear chuckled as he slid into the seat. “Noticed you’ve been mighty social lately. I feel like you’ve talked to more people socially this week than the past seven years combined.”

Callum grimaced. “Not by choice. Mrs. Fuller cornered me for a half hour yesterday, trying to wheedle out every possible detail she could about Sloane. Night before, it was Harriet Jones playing twenty questions. County needs to hire them as detectives, for fuck’s sake.”

“Ah, everybody’s curious.” Bear took a swig of beer, eyes twinkling. “That’s the hazard of having a new face in a small town. Especially one as pretty as Sloane.”

“Or they’re bored gossips in need of fresh meat,” Callum grumbled.

Bear shook his head, smiling. “I think it’s more that they’re protective of their sheriff. Want to see you happy for once. Can’t fault them for that.”

Callum stared down into his glass. Happy . It seemed a foreign concept after so many years spent simply surviving.

He’d been happier in the week since Sloane had been here than he had since Amelia died.

Bear’s voice cut through Callum’s thoughts. “I have to say, Sloane’s looking a lot better than last time I saw her in Moldova. I didn’t expect her to turn up here in Oak Creek. Didn’t think she’d want to be around people who might remind her of her kidnapping.”

Callum sighed, rubbing a hand over his stubbled jaw. “Evidently, her home situation is shit. She needed out.”

The words tasted bitter on his tongue. That haunted look in her eyes when she spoke of her family? The way she flinched at sudden movements, as if expecting a blow?

Her life there had definitely been shit.

Bear nodded slowly. “Honestly, I’m not surprised to hear that, given how the kidnapping situation went down. Not letting us know about Sloane? What kind of bullshit was that?”

“The kind of bullshit neither you nor I can understand.” Callum tightened his fingers around his glass, knuckles going white. “She hasn’t told me what happened with her family after she got home, but I know she had to get out of there in a hurry. She’ll tell me the details when she’s ready.”

His eyes landed on her as she emerged from the kitchen, arms laden with plates again. Joy was at her side, giggling over some shared joke. The easy smile on Sloane’s face was a far cry from the haunted look she sometimes still had.

Bear followed Callum’s gaze. “I’ve worked a couple shifts this week behind the bar, and those two have become thick as thieves.”

Callum raised an eyebrow. “Really? I mean, they’re about the same age, so I guess that’s not surprising. But Joy’s so…”

“Wild? Extroverted? Crazy pants?”

Callum chuckled. “I was going to say outgoing . Sloane’s a lot quieter.”

“Joy has taken Sloane under her wing. It’s good to see.”

As if on cue, both women grabbed drinks from the bar to deliver to customers. Sloane said something that made Joy throw her head back in laughter, the sound carrying across the busy pub. Sloane stopped at one table, effortlessly charming the group of locals.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Callum murmured, a smile tugging at his lips. It warmed something deep inside him to see Sloane settling in, making friends. “Hell if she isn’t dazzling everybody.”

Bear grinned. “Small-town life, my friend. Half the people in here tonight are just here to meet her.”

Callum nodded, a mix of pride and protectiveness swelling in his chest. “As long as they’re welcoming,” he said, his tone carrying a hint of warning.

“Oh, they are,” Bear assured him. “You know how folks are around here. Nosy as hell, but hearts of gold.”

Joy rushed back over to whisper something to Sloane, and the two of them headed back toward the kitchen. Callum’s eyes narrowed as he caught Bear’s gaze lingering on the women.

A sudden, irrational surge of jealousy coursed through him, his fingers tightening around his pint glass again. He swallowed hard, trying to quash the unwelcome feeling.

“See something you like?” Callum asked, his voice gruffer than he intended.

Bear turned, brow furrowed. “What?”

Callum shook his head, feeling foolish. “Nothing. Just… Never mind.”

He took a long pull from his beer, mind racing. Sloane was young, vibrant. She deserved someone like Bear: hardworking, honorable, closer to her age. The thought twisted in Callum’s gut, but he knew it was true. He had no right to feel possessive.

But then he noticed Bear’s gaze hadn’t left the women. More specifically, it hadn’t left Joy . There was a softness in Bear’s eyes that Callum recognized all too well.

He didn’t have anything to be jealous about after all. A smirk tugged at his lips. “So, you and Joy, huh?”

Bear’s head snapped around, a telltale flush creeping up his neck. “What? No, I don’t… We’re not…”

“Uh-huh,” Callum chuckled, relief mingling with amusement, but it died on his lips as his phone chimed. A text from Dustin.

“Son of a bitch.” Bastard had some nerve after what he’d pulled.

“What?” Bear asked. “Work?”

“No. Dustin Reynolds.”

“He’s texting you? What, does he have another mission to send us on where we don’t have all the info and almost get killed? Dude has a lot of fucking balls.”

“Tell me about it.”

Have you heard from Sloane Miller?

Callum was tempted to ignore the man but knew he would just keep trying to contact him. He’d already ignored one text from him a few days ago.

Why would I have heard from her?

Family doesn’t know where she is. They’re worried.

Callum looked over at Bear. “He wants to know if we know where Sloane is.”

The other man rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to tell him, right?”

“Fuck no.”

After how her family handled Moldova, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sloane doesn’t want to have anything to do with them.

Just answer the question, Webb. Do you know where she is?

No.

Callum slid his phone away. He wasn’t going to say anything else to the man. “I told him I don’t know where she is. Easiest lie I’ve ever told.”

“Good.” Bear took another sip of his beer, once again glancing over at Joy and Sloane. “Any word on the Kozaks?”

“Fuckers have gone to ground. Their kidnapping ring is in shambles, thanks to us getting Interpol involved, but they haven’t been able to find Jakob and Nikola to arrest them yet.”

“Shame.”

Callum studied his beer. He still would love to get his hands on Nikola for the marks the man had put on Sloane. But he’d have to settle for knowing he’d scarred Jakob and waiting for them both to be arrested and rot in a Moldovan prison. “Their time is coming. They can run, but they can’t hide for long.”

Bear held up his glass. “Cheers to that.”

Callum clinked his glass against it. “Hell yeah.”

They both took a long sip, glad to be here and not Moldova, before Bear spoke again. “Don’t you think it’s strange that Sloane came here, of all places?”

Callum sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Sloane and I got…close, during the escape from Moldova. I talked a lot about Oak Creek.”

“Yeah, well, I guess it’s a great town, so I don’t blame her for…” The younger man’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, how close ?”

“Very close.”

Understanding dawned in Bear’s eyes. “Oh. Oh, I see.”

Callum nodded, a mix of guilt and longing churning in his chest. “Yeah. So, I’m a bastard.”

Callum braced himself for Bear’s disapproval, expecting a lecture about taking advantage of a vulnerable young woman. Instead, Bear’s expression softened, his eyes filling with understanding rather than judgment.

“Callum, I may not know everything that went down in Moldova, but I know you,” Bear said, his voice low and sincere. “You’re not the kind of man who’d sleep with a woman just because she was there. And clearly, Sloane doesn’t think so either. She came all the way to Oak Creek, for Christ’s sake.”

Relief washed over Callum, though a knot of tension remained in his chest. He glanced across the bar, watching Sloane laugh with a customer as she refilled their drink. Her smile lit up her entire face, and Callum felt a familiar ache in his chest.

Bear leaned in, his voice dropping even lower. “So, what’s the plan here, Sheriff? You looking for something real with her?”

Callum’s throat tightened. He’d been avoiding this question, even in his own mind. With Amelia’s death, he’d thought his chance at any sort of serious relationship had passed. But watching Sloane now, seeing the life and warmth she brought to this small-town bar, he couldn’t deny the truth any longer.

“I want her,” Callum admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know what that means exactly, or how any of it can work out, but I want her. For as long as she’ll have me.”