Page 6 of Warrant (The Berserker’s Rage MC: Wyoming Chapter #1)

Ainsley

I glared at the man sitting across from my desk as he rattled off impressive legal jargon that I didn’t give one shit about. “Your client goes in front of the judge in…” I paused as I looked down at the watch on my wrist, “an hour. Save it for court.”

His lips lifted in a sneer, but he shoved out of the chair and left my office. He was probably going to go sit with Mike Linstrom until it was time to leave.

That was fine by me. I hated lawyers. I knew they just had a job to do.

And most days I could appreciate the part they played in our legal system, but not today.

Not one day after his piece of shit client killed a kid walking his siblings to school.

A kid who, by all accounts, had a bright future ahead of him and was a joy to the community.

Shoving out of my chair, I grabbed the keys to my Tahoe and walked out.

I couldn’t just sit here. I’d already done everything I could on the reports and paperwork.

I’d checked it all three times. It was fucking air tight.

This weasel of a lawyer wasn’t going to be getting his client out on bail based off anything I, or my deputies, did wrong.

But I couldn’t just sit here. I glanced over at the main area of the station. “Be back after court,” I told Owen. “Hold down the fort till then?”

He nodded, silently watching as I stalked out into the filtered sunlight outside.

The weather couldn’t decide if it was ready to let spring settle fully yet or not.

Gray clouds kept the sun from warming the cool air, but I didn’t bother with a jacket.

I ran hot and rarely needed more than a light sweatshirt.

It only took me five minutes before I was parked in front of the municipal court and another five before I was knocking on a door.

“Come in.”

I opened the door and waited until the woman sitting behind the desk looked up.

I examined her as she studied the folder on the desk in front of her.

She looked like she belonged on the cover of one of those old romance novels.

You know, the one where a dark-haired pirate was clutching a woman close while her wild mahogany waves blew in the wind.

Seriously, her hair was gorgeous even though she had it smoothed back into a low ponytail at the nape of her neck.

Brown eyes lifted and her brows shot up in surprise. “Sheriff Zimmerman.”

“Judge Hurliman,” I replied. “Nice to meet you.”

“Melody, please,” she said with a wry smile and motioned for me to sit.

“Ainsley,” I replied as I took the chair across from her.

“We were supposed to meet yesterday,” she told me. When I lifted a brow, she grinned. “Harlow’s getting us all together for lunch.”

“Ah,” I said. “Yeah, she’s…”

“Persistent,” Melody said with a laugh. “But she’s wonderful.”

“She really is. Everyone has been so welcoming,” I said. I hesitated and Melody’s eyes sharpened on me. The woman was cunning. It was easy enough to read in her features.

“You’re here for the Rice case.”

“Yeah.” Then I winced. “No. Not to sway you in any way,” I added.

Her lips tilted up at that.

“I just wanted to introduce myself before we met in court,” I said with a shrug. “Haven’t been here long enough to meet many people.”

“I was just going through your reports,” she said, motioning down at the folder in front of her. “Very thorough.”

“Thanks.” Feeling stupid, I searched for what to say. Most of what I wanted to say needed to wait for the hearing in…forty-five minutes…so other than letting her see my face there was no reason for me to be here.

“The town appreciates the way you’re handling this,” she added.

I looked up at her in disbelief. “Seems no one thought Denison would have done justice in this case.”

She let out a less than delicate snort. “I shudder to think what would’ve happened if he’d still been here.”

It killed me that they’d had such a shitbag sheriff for so long. The town deserved someone who gave them his, or her, best.

“I’ll get out of your hair,” I told her, realizing I was just wasting her prep time. “Again, I just wanted to meet you before we met up later in court.”

“Okay. I don’t know when we’ll be doing that lunch, but Harlow isn’t about to let that go,” she warned with a smile.

I grinned at her. “Looking forward to it.” And strangely, I was starting to.

Leaving the courthouse, I paused when I saw Warrant standing at the bottom of the stairs. He thrust a coffee cup in my direction. He didn’t have one for himself. “What are you doing here?”

“Just riding by. Saw you coming out.”

I blinked at that. “You were riding by with a coffee.” I took a sip of it.

It was my favorite drink. “You drink peppermint mochas?” It was my one girly thing I really allowed myself.

Well, that and lacy thongs. Not that I wore those to work.

They rode up your ass far too much when you were arresting bad guys—ask me how I know.

But off work? Yup. Lace thongs and frilly bras.

Sometimes a woman just needed something to make her feel pretty.

I wasn’t about to admit that to Warrant. And there was no way in hell I was letting him find that out. My God, the trouble that would cause in my life. Nope. Not happening. Hopefully…

The way he was grinning at me though, had something deep inside telling me I was a liar. He was going to find out my girly secrets. I just hoped I could keep myself from jumping the handsome biker in a time frame that was less than hoeish.

But he’d brought me coffee. So, I wasn’t really sure if that was going to be possible. “Wait, did you ride your bike here, with a hot coffee?”

“Who me? That would be reckless. What time is court anyway?”

I glanced at my watch, fully aware that he’d ignored all of my questions. “Thirty minutes.”

“You heading somewhere?”

Opening my mouth, I considered where I could go. I couldn’t risk getting pulled into something and missing the bail hearing. “No.”

“Let’s go for a walk,” he suggested.

My brows rose. “A…walk.”

“You look like you need to blow off some steam.”

Did the man ever stop smiling? This one was wicked, so I knew he wasn’t being completely innocent with his choice of words. But he was right. I was ready to rip my own skin off if I didn’t move.

We started walking together, and even though more caffeine wasn’t what I needed, I drank my coffee. It was the perfect sweet treat on a cool spring day. Despite the fact that I was always too warm, I loved a hot coffee. “How’s everyone holding up?” I asked.

He blew out a breath. “It’s rough,” he admitted, surprising me. “The funeral is in two days. Most of the town will be there. Everyone loves the Rices.”

“Yeah, I’m picking up on that.” The interviews I’d done with people were glowing. They sounded like such a nice family. My heart absolutely broke for all of them.

“How you doing?”

I slowed as I looked over at him. It took me until then to realize he’d let me set the pace and we were walking pretty damn fast. I laughed in disbelief. “I’m fine. Not that it would matter either way.”

“It matters,” he said with a shrug. “The fact that you’re treating this as seriously as you are means you’re going to win over everyone here quickly.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand who wouldn’t treat this seriously? A boy lost his life.”

He nodded in understanding. “We feel the same, but some people can get…jaded…working in law enforcement for too long. Lose sight of the real picture.”

“That people matter?” I asked, incredulous.

“Yeah. That there are good people out there. That they are more affected by it than they realize when tragedy hits. Seen it a lot.”

“I guess you would’ve,” I said. I walked over and sat on a little bench in front of a children’s park. There were kids out playing, mothers watching their babies with hawk eyes. “How long were you an MP?”

I already knew, thanks to Denison’s meticulous notes on The Berserker’s Rage guys. But I wanted to see what he’d tell me.

“Eight years.”

“You’re either older than you look or you didn’t stay in very long,” I said, looking over at him.

He chuckled. “I’m thirty. My current boss found me, decided I’d be much more useful in my current position.”

“What position is that?” That was a real question. Denison didn’t have anything in those reports about what Sentry Securities was or what they did. It was strange. He’d dug up a lot of dirt on these guys, but it was like he’d been unable to touch the local security firm.

“You ready for this hearing?” He asked, arching a dark brow. It was a clear evasion, but I didn’t insist he tell me anything. Not yet.

“I am.” I glanced at my watch, shocked when I realized there was only ten minutes left. “I should get back. Thanks for the walk. And the coffee-”

When I looked back up at him warm lips met mine. He tucked a piece of my hair that had escaped my ponytail behind my ear as he kissed me. What the… Wow. That was nice. The man could kiss.

He wasn’t pawing at me. He wasn’t even taking the kiss deeper, he just settled his lips over mine more fully and…rubbed.

I jerked back, looking around, blushing when I realized the mothers were all now staring at us.

Great. Just great. I was supposed to be keeping this guy at arm’s length because he was too handsome.

Too charming, and everything I didn’t need right now.

And now we’d just had our first kiss in front of a good portion of the town.

There was no way this wasn’t going to spread like wildfire in Sentinel. This would make it to the courthouse before I did. Fantastic.