Page 25 of Warrant (The Berserker’s Rage MC: Wyoming Chapter #1)

Ainsley

I looked down as small fingers wrapped themselves around mine. My heart may have melted a bit as the little girl stared up at me with wide innocent eyes.

“Mama says hold hands.”

“Okay.” I squeezed her hand and walked with her across the parking lot to the station.

It’d taken a couple slices of pizza, candy, ice cream, and watching the same cartoon about five times before she fell asleep on my couch last night.

Looking back on my actions I might have shot myself in the foot with giving her sugar before trying to get her to bed. Who knew that would be a problem?

“Uh… Where did you get her, Boss?”

Scowling at Owen, I pulled up a rolling chair and planted it right next to him, then helped Aella climb up into it. Owen looked decidedly uncomfortable with the little girl perched close to his elbow.

“I’ll give you three guesses.”

Owen’s brow furrowed. “Hmm…where did he steal a child from?” He looked over at the little girl who was now kicking her legs to get the chair to circle as fast as possible.

She was entertaining herself, but I had the image of pizza and candy being spewed across the office in a circular pattern, exorcist style.

Knowing what I fed her last night, and this morning, I needed to get out of here before she puked and I was stuck cleaning it up.

What was the point of being Sheriff if you couldn’t delegate some things to your deputies?

I pointed at Owen, letting him know his guess was correct. “There’s your consolation prize.”

“Wait. He really did steal a kid?” Owen asked as I started to walk away.

“That’s what I’m going to look into,” I told him, walking to the back of the bull pen and pouring myself a cup of coffee before shutting my office door on his stunned, confused expression.

Sighing, I went and sat down at my desk. Typing my password into my computer, I got to work.

“Uh oh,” I heard a little voice say, followed by the sound of a demon being exorcised from her belly.

“Can you get that Owen? Thank Warrant for the pleasure.”

Three hours later, I sat back with a growl of frustration. “Nothing. How can there be nothing?” I slammed my fist on my desktop, making everything jump.

“Mama tells Daddy use words not hit things.”

I blinked over to my right at the little girl standing there with her hands clasped in front of her. My head snapped to the door. Sure enough, it was open a couple inches. When had she even come in here? The girl was a ninja.

“Your mama sounds like a smart woman,” I told her.

She smiled at me. “That what Daddy says.”

“Sounds like your daddy is smart too,” I told her with a chuckle.

Motioning toward the seat on the other side of my desk, I watched in amusement as she went and climbed up. “Where is your mama?”

“Home. Having baby.”

Did I feel like crap questioning a child? Yes. Was I desperate? Also yes. “Where’s home?”

She just blinked at me, like she knew exactly what I was up to.

“Where we live.”

“Okay,” I said, raising my hands in defeat. Her smile said she could play this game all day, and that I would break before she would. She was probably right, and I wasn’t about to grill her.

“I’m hungry.”

I bet you are. Emptying your stomach across the office could work up an appetite. “Did you tell Owen?”

She crinkled her nose. “He gave me sandwich.”

“What was wrong with it?” I asked, amused.

“It only has cheese.”

“Nothing else?” I asked, wrinkling my own nose.

She shrugged. “Was gross. I threw away.”

“Totally understandable. How about we go get some decent sandwiches?”

She nodded and hopped off the chair as I stood. She again took my hand. Once again my heart melted, and my ovaries screamed for Warrant.

Dammit.

“Aunt Ainsy?”

How did something as simple as a sweet voice saying aunt before my name, or what passed as my name for a little kid, turn my insides to mush?

This kid was going to go home with pounds of candy and fireworks if that was what she wanted.

The good kind too, not cheap sparklers, but the kind that started barns on fire.

Having children wasn’t something I’d ever really thought about. But now I was. Which of course made my mind stray to Warrant, which just pissed me off because once again he’d popped into my life—dropped off this delightful surprise—then went no contact again. Jerk.

I was really going to have to figure myself out before he showed up again. Because who knew what he’d be towing along with him next time?

We walked down the street to a corner deli and ordered some sandwiches. I sat with Aella on the bench outside and we ate our lunch, watching as people walked by.

I looked down and smiled as I saw Aella had a smudge of mustard on her face—what kid liked mustard—as she munched happily.

Handing her a napkin, I tried to fight the feeling that was nudging at me.

Like this was something I could have if I wanted to.

That was a dangerous thought. A dangerous path.

And not something I needed right now, despite how cute this kid was.

Aella frowned at the napkin. “Mama licks her thumb then my face.”

My lip curled up. “Well, I’m not doing that.”

“Why not? She just licks it off.”

Gross.

“I hate mustard. Wipe your face yourself. You’re a big girl.”

She rolled her eyes, but snatched the napkin from me and swiped at her face. She only got about half of it off, but that was good enough for me. She eyed the plastic bag next to me. “What are those for?”

“My deputies.”

“Your deputies?”

“Yup. I’m in charge,” I told her with a grin.

She smiled back. “Jared say he in charge ‘cause he older.” She made a face at that.

“Who’s Jared?”

“My brother.” A look of sadness flitted over her expression.

“You miss him?”

“Yeah.”

Jeez, it looked like she was about to cry. Desperate to keep that from happening, I hopped up, and grabbed the bag. “Better get these back to the station. Want to help me hand them out?”

Her look brightened. “Yeah!”

Who said having kids was hard? My own inner voice scoffed at me.

Deep down I knew there was a huge difference between playing the fun aunt and actually parenting kids.

Didn’t mean the idea of having my own little girl wasn’t planted deep down somewhere inside me now.

And why did she have the same shade of blue eyes as Warrant?

I was screwed.

That damn biker was worming his way into my life. My mind. My heart—stupid organ—and I didn’t know how to keep him out.

It didn’t take long to get back to the station. Owen snagged a sandwich, then cornered me before I could disappear into my office again. “What did you find out?” he asked, taking a large bite of his lunch.

“Nothing,” I muttered. “Which means either nothing is going on-”

“Or nothing was reported,” he finished, pointing at me.

“Exactly.”

I eyed the sandwich he was waving around. It was one I’d bought, but I still had to let him know what I thought of his original choice. “Really, Owen?”

“What?” he asked, eyes wide.

“You eat just plain cheese sandwiches?”

He shrugged. “Cooking’s not my thing.”

“Throwing mayo, meat, and maybe some lettuce between two bread slices isn’t cooking,” I pointed out with a smirk.

He shrugged again. “Most times Cindy makes me lunches, but Warrant’s whole crew is out on a cattle drive right now.”

I shook my head. “Heard they did that here, didn’t really believe it though.”

He laughed. “You grew up in Wyoming. You’ve never been on a cattle drive?”

“Not a thing where I grew up,” I told him. “Not every town in Wyoming is the same.”

“Hmmm, not weird towns anyway.”

“ My town is the weird… You know what?” I shook my head. “Never mind.”

He grinned at me as he continued to eat his sandwich. “You want help with your search?”

“Sure,” I said, figuring both of us looking might turn up something. “Try looking in Texas for missing kids.”

He’d sat down at his computer, but now he was staring up at me again. “Texas?”

“Aella mentioned something about it while we were out,” I told him. “Worth a shot. I didn’t find anything in Cheyenne or Wyoming.”

He made a noise deep in his throat. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

“I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”

He waved the sandwich at me in acknowledgment.

I could see why he and Warrant were friends.

They were both good natured, most of the time, and they just seemed to…

fit. Owen was a good looking guy. Blond, blue-eyed, tall, and muscular.

I was sure the young women in Sentinel tried to catch his eye.

So why was I not at all moved when he shot that smile my way?

It had nothing to do with a dark-haired, blue-eyed devil. That was for sure. I had no problem lying to myself, and I was sticking with the fact that Owen was my subordinate, not that his friend had me in a strangle hold even though he was the worst thing for me.

That was my story and it wasn’t changing.

Smiling at my deputies as they thanked me for lunch, I made my way to my office. I fully planned on ignoring thoughts of the gorgeous biker and focusing on figuring out the mystery of Aella for the rest of the day.