Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Snickers were the only thing that could be heard through the crowd.
Shiloh stepped back from Pierson, but as she did, her foot hit an uneven spot in the ground, and she pitched forward into the detective. He took that opening as an attack on his person, and moved.
Shiloh went down hard onto the pavement. Her face smashed into the wet grass that lined the side of the parking lot. Her face narrowly missed hitting the curb by mere millimeters. The pink cast that encased her arm didn’t. It smashed into the unforgiving concrete with a thud, and she cried out in agony.
“Get off her!” I snarled.
I knew better than to touch him, but it took everything I possessed to stop me.
“You are under arrest, anything you say or do...” Pierson snarled, pushing Shiloh into the grass even harder, yanking her hands behind her back so hard and tight that her back bowed with the effort to keep her shoulders from pulling out of the socket.
I was mere milliseconds from going for Pierson’s beady little eyes when a black wall of muscle plowed into Pierson, having him face first in the asphalt of the diner’s parking lot in the next heartbeat.
Ignoring Sam’s attempt to rein in his temper and not beat the ever-loving shit out of Pierson for daring to lay his hands on his baby sister, I went to Shiloh and helped her sit up. Her hand went to her casted one and she cradled it close to her chest, but her face was set in grim determination.
“You okay, Shiloh?” I said, dropping to my knees and pulling her into the wall of my chest.
“Pissed, but okay.” She said.
“Get off me!” Pierson screeched.
My eyes followed the screeching sounds, and I very nearly laughed. Sam had Pierson detained with a knee in the small of Pierson’s back, and one hand keeping his hands behind his back, much the same way he’d done to Shiloh.
“Oh, does this not feel good, you prick? Do you not like it when you get treated the same way you just treated an innocent woman? I don’t give a goddamn if you’re the fucking queen of England. You will never touch my fucking sister again, do you hear me?” He shouted in Pierson’s ear.
Pierson cowered away from him, his head turning, pleading practically for help from his fellow officers. None of it came.
“Do you see what is being done to me, you imbecile?” He sneered at the closest officer.
The man, one I’d seen from time to time around town, was a good man. He had a wife and new kid at home, and loved to show off pictures of his little boy. That same man who loved his kid so much turned his back on a fellow officer and walked further away from the scene.
Pierson tried it three more times with three other officers, all ranging from rookies to the most seasoned officers, all walked away and left him on his own.
“Now, I’m gonna let you go, but I better not find you even thinking about my sister again. James is off limits, too. You have an airtight story from him and eight other witnesses. Stop being a little prick and do your job.” He hissed as he shoved off him and stood.
We’d had our first run-in with Detective Pierson last year when Winter shot an intruder in her bedroom. Ever since then, we’d had the displeasure to be on his ‘list.’ He made it a habit to make sure we were on the up and up. Every once in a while he’d drop by on the pretense of having a ‘talk’ while subtly taking stock of everything that we said or did for the half hour he managed to weasel out of us.
“She attacked me!” He whined nasally.
Luke, a good friend and police officer, chose that moment to finally make his presence known. “Peterson, you’re fucking nuts if you thought she was attacking you. She’s about half your size and you easily have a hundred pounds on her. Knock it the fuck off before they try to charge you with something you can’t weasel or bribe your way out of.”
Shiloh started to rise. I helped her stand, and wrapped my arm around her waist for support. Luke turned and studied Shiloh before sighing and turning to Sam.
“Since this is a crime scene, she’s going to need to find a place to stay. I can’t let her up to her apartment until tomorrow evening at the earliest.” Luke sighed as he turned and surveyed the area.
“She’s right here. You don’t have to talk to her brother. It’s not the seventeenth century, douchebag.” Shiloh scolded.
I smiled despite my horrible mood, and then outright laughed when I saw the surprise overtake Luke’s face. “Ahh, Luke. You should know better.”
“She’s going to come home with me.” Sam growled.
“Like fuck.” Shiloh laughed.
Sam’s scowl turned ferocious as he pinned Shiloh with it. “What?”
“Just because you decided to be a brother for once in your miserable existence doesn’t mean I’m going to fall head over heels in love with the idea that you actually want something to do with me now. It’s going to take a lot more than that. Plus, I might annoy you in the middle of the night. I think I’ll take my chances with the hookers over there.” She pointed at the fleabag motel across the street.
Sam winced. “Look, Shiloh...”
“Don’t ‘look Shiloh’ me. I don’t care. I. Don’t. Care. You’re a shithead, and I’m not ready to talk to you yet. I’m still nursing my snit. Maybe after a few times of you proving that you can be more than a giant douchebag, I’ll actually spend some time with you.”
Sam seemed to deflate at her words. Guilt and disappointment flashed in his eyes before he covered them with a blank expression. He nodded once, and then turned to Luke to speak about what had happened.
“You’ll stay with me.” I told her.
“Okay.” She agreed.
Knowing that was too easy, I turned to her with raised brows.