Page 13 of Silver Sanctuary (The Silver Springs #3)

Eight

“ S eems like if you didn’t want folks reacting like this, you’d have stayed away.”

“Excuse me?” Nash stepped in front of Lacy.

She’d been answering questions for at least twenty minutes since the deputies first arrived, and he didn’t like the accusation in that particular deputy’s voice one fucking bit.

“Are we going to have a problem here? Lacy is the victim of a crime—several fucking crimes, in fact. You’re here to protect her, isn’t that right? ”

“Nash, it’s fine.” Her hand pressed against his back.

Except, that it wasn’t. And if no one else was going to stand up for her, including herself, Nash certainly would. “Colt?”

“Deputy Shannon, I need you to step outside.” Colt’s command left no room for argument.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Deputy Shannon rolled his eyes as his hands rested on his belt.

“Outside,” Colt growled, his jaw muscles ticking. “I outrank you, and that’s an order. If you choose to defy me, I will write you up and bring it before the sheriff. ”

“Fucking hell.” Deputy Shannon ran his tongue along his teeth as he looked Lacy up and down with a sneer. “She ain’t worth all this. She ain’t worth a damn thing.”

The small gasp that left Lacy’s body had Nash wishing he could scoop her up and take her home with him.

“Are we going to have a problem here?” Nash asked.

Colt, Dolly’s eldest son who also happened to be one of the Clarence County Sheriff’s Deputies assigned to Silver Springs, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Ms. Graves, I’d like to apologize for my partner’s behavior.

Between us, he’s a new deputy with a big chip on his shoulder toward everyone, not just you.

I’ll be making a note of the way he acted in my write-up.

I hope you know you can trust me to look into this and pursue it with due diligence.

It’s my duty to keep every citizen in Silver Springs, and Clarence County, safe, and I take that very seriously. ”

“You can call me Lacy. I remember what you did for me on that school field trip, just because a couple kids in Beau’s class were picking on me. I never forgot the kindness you showed me.”

The deputy smiled. Holy shit. Nash racked his brain to think of any other time he’d seen Colt smile at someone.

The man could win a grump-off competition even if Gunner competed.

“People around here are stubborn. Doesn’t mean they have any right to destroy your property or make you feel unsafe.

I’ll make sure we have extra patrols in front of the shop over the next few days.

And if you ever feel unsafe, or need to report anything else, you can contact me directly. ”

Colt reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a card, holding it out for Lacy to take.

“If you can think of anything else that I need to know about today, or if anything else happens, I want you to call me directly. ”

Nash plucked the card from Lacy’s hand. “Thanks, Colt. We will.”

Colt nodded, slipping his notebook back into his uniform’s chest pocket all while Nash felt Lacy staring at the side of his head. After the deputy stepped out of the shop, Nash turned to her.

“Don’t you think I should hold on to that card?” she asked, her arms folded across her chest.

“Nope. You don’t need it. Because the first person you’re going to call if something like this ever happens again, is me. And I’ll handle everything else after that.”

“You don’t need?—”

Nash held out his hand and waited for her to lock her fingers with his. “You’re wrong; I do need to. Not because you’re a burden, not because you aren’t capable of handling everything on your own, but because I care about you. Because I want to lighten the load. Because I want to know you’re safe.”

They stayed there, eyes locked on each other, for several heartbeats. He was sure she was going to fight back—try and make herself small. Try to take care of everything on her own.

But much to his surprise, she didn’t fight him on it.

“Thank you for being here for me after all this… and for wanting to stay by my side.” Lacy slipped her hand out of his hold. “I have to go get Embrie now.”

“I can go with you.”

“No. I appreciate the offer, but I just need to make sure I’m put back together before she sees me. She hates when I cry, and it was already a tough morning for her…”

“I get it. You go. The guys and I will finish getting the window boarded up, and I’ll call Sebastian to let him know I’m finding someone to fix the glass.”

“I don’t know if I can afford?—”

“He’ll want to cover the bill, Lacy. Don’t worry about it.”

“Let me get you the extra key.”

“Gage has the master. I’m sure he’s headed back into Silver Springs with Hawk. I’ll ask him to drop it here when he can.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s not a problem. Go get Embrie.”

“Mom, I don’t want to go back to the flower shop.”

“I know, ladybug, I don’t really want to either.

I just have a few orders to finish up and a couple of arrangements to make for the display case, and then we can go back home.

” Lacy sighed, catching a glimpse of Embrie folding her arms in the back seat.

“Oh, I don’t want you to be worried when we get there.

There was an accident at the shop, and the front window is broken. No one was hurt though.”

“So, there’s just a giant hole in the front of the shop? Won’t people come and take the flowers?”

“No.” She smiled. “Nash and his friends stayed back and put up plywood for us over the broken window.”

“Why can he fix something at the shop, but not at our house?”

“Embrie. It’s just… I don’t want to take advantage of him.”

“Mom! We don’t have hot water!”

“I’m working on it. I’m going to be working extra at Davney’s and Dolly’s. We’ll have the money to hire someone to fix it in no time. And Dolly even said you might be able to come into the diner with me on the weekends. I know you don’t really like Ms. Sandra?—”

“You’re making me stay with Ms. Sandra while you work? Mom!”

Lacy flipped the blinker on, turning into the small parking lot behind the shop. The front window was sealed up, just like Nash had promised, but the front door was still wide open, and all the lights were on inside.

“I know it’s not a perfect plan, Embrie, but I’m doing my best. Once the front window and the hot water heater are fixed, I’ll just go back to running the flower shop. We’ll have more time together in two, maybe three weeks, tops.”

Embrie undid her seat belt, running from the car before Lacy could get hers undone. “Ladybug! Wait!”

She watched Embrie storm up to the shop, only to turn and look at her with a bright smile on her face. What in the world was going on?

“Uh, hi, everyone.” Lacy’s voice interrupted the laughter as she stepped in the shop. Nash, Stone, and Gunner were all still there, but Gage and Hawk had joined. And Lily, Sloane, and Mae were dancing around a very happy looking Sage. “What’s… what’s all this?”

“A pizza party!” Mae laughed.

“I love pizza!” Embrie walked over to the pizza boxes and reached for a slice.

“Of course you do, your name is literally cheese.” Nash laughed, swiping his hand over the top of Embrie’s head a few times until her hair was standing up in every direction, before turning to Lacy. “Hey, beautiful.” He kissed Lacy’s cheek. “How are you feeling? Are your cuts okay?”

“I’m fine. What did… I thought you were closing up for me?”

“Eh. Don’t be mad, but after we finished with the plywood, I got looking up glass vendors, and then I realized you never ate lunch and mentioned to the guys how you had orders to get ready tonight. We just figured we’d order some pizzas, get everyone together, and help you out.”

Shit. Oh double, triple, shit, shit, shit. Her eyes were burning. She followed Nash over to the pizza and slid a slice onto her plate. They must have just been delivered, because her hand warmed even with the plate between her skin and the drool-worthy slice.

“Lacy, do you even know how smart your kid is?” Hawk laughed a few minutes later. “How the hell does she know so much about molecular structures and periodic table symbols? She’s just a pipsqueak!”

“I am not! And I love science. I’m going to be a scientist when I grow up, so I have to start studying now.”

“Kiddo, I think nine is a little young to be worried about studying. Besides, Nash told me you have a killer instep kick. Maybe you’ll decide to train for the Olympics,” Hawk said.

Lacy watched in wonder as Hawk took another giant bite of his pizza. That man was built like a Viking, and she was in awe of Embrie, not backing down one inch from arguing with him. Of course, it was all incredibly sweet and endearing from Hawk’s side, but impressive of her daughter, nonetheless.

“Nah. I like soccer and all, but science has my heart.”

“Good,” Gunner said. “Teach that to Sage when she’s a little older. It’ll stop her from having a boy take her heart.”

“Gunner! Our daughter can fall in love if she wants. Good lord.” Lily scoffed.

“I’m not saying she can’t, Lily Kate. I’m saying she can fall in love after she’s accomplished all her other dreams.”

Lily rolled her eyes while dropping her voice so only the women around her could hear.

“You hear how he pulled out the middle name there? He knows he’s walking into dangerous territory and he’s trying to be cute and distract me from my divine feminine rage.

Jokes on him, though, because I plan on raising a strong, independent daughter who can decide what her own path looks like. ”

“I love that. She’s so lucky to have a mom like you.” Lacy meant every word of that compliment.

“Do you have a tough relationship with your mother?” Mae asked .

“I’m sure you all have heard about her.” Lacy hated the silence that fell over the group.

Sloane tensed, and both Lily and Mae looked at their friend.

“I’m sorry. I just… I need Gage.”

They watched as Sloane retreated across the shop, slipping her hand into Gage’s before they both walked out of Petals.