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I hissed in a breath. “What do we do?”

“She won’t go away unless I talk to her.” Shelby fisted her hands, anger pouring off her in waves.

Was now a bad time to say that she looked like the cutest version of Black ever?

“You’re not going out there and talking to her unless you want to,” I stated firmly.

She looked torn. “Well, what do you suggest to get her to leave?”

Fifteen minutes later, the deputies showed up.

I’d called the non-emergency line and asked to speak with Dempsey.

She’d answered with a harried hello.

When I’d told her what I needed, she’d said that she’d be over in a few.

I hadn’t expected her to bring back up in the form of Gentry.

I met them at the gate the moment they pulled up.

Marcia didn’t know where to aim her glare.

At me, a woman she didn’t know, or at the two deputies behind her.

She chose to back up and glare at all three of us equally.

“I’m here for my daughter!”

Dempsey’s brows rose. “How old is your daughter?”

The number that she gave made Dempsey and Gentry laugh.

“Hate to tell you this, ma’am, but that’s a full-grown adult. You can’t control them. I have sisters that went off the deep end the moment they came of age. I couldn’t help them. Could only sit back and watch. That’s their right in life. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.”

Marcia scowled. “She’s here, and I know that she doesn’t understand…”

I groaned when I saw another cruiser pulled up.

This one, however, was of the exact wrong person.

Black.

I watched through the window as he cataloged everything.

His face went thunderous when his gaze settled on Marcia.

“Oh, boy,” I mumbled.

Twenty-Eight

In case no one has told you today, you’re hot as fuck.

—Text from Jessamy to Black

Black

I wasn’t a dumbass.