Justice (16 page)

“Whore-y slut face,” she finished.

“Right. Whore-y slut face.” Dallas laughed. “She kind of still is.”

“What? How do you know?”

“I’m not sure I want to answer that.”

“You stayed in
touch
?” She tried to pull away, but he held firm.

“Okay, first, let me clarify what I meant by ‘hooked up.’ Brock, his date, me, and Brock’s date’s best friend, I don’t remember her name, all ended up sitting next to Whit and her crew. Whitney was super sweet, like she could be, and we took a few pictures together. She kissed me, I kissed her back…
once
… but that was it. I couldn’t get you out of my head at that point, so I begged off and went home.”

“You did not.”

“I did, babe.”

Macey bit her lip. “Well, that’s not what she told me and everyone else.”

“Well, it’s the truth.” He leaned forward and kissed her collarbone. “I wish I wasn’t such an idiot back then.”

“We were kids, Dallas. We tended to believe what people said. I doubt you would have guessed she was so manipulative. Guys typically didn’t.”

“Well, she’s on her third marriage in six years, so you might be right,” he said.

“About that. How is it you keep in touch?”

“We don’t ‘keep in touch,’ as much as she sends me emails and Facebook messages that I actively ignore.”

“Block her.”

He chuckled. “Yes ma’am.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You’d seriously do that for me?”

“If you want me to block her, baby, I will block her.”

“I love you.”

“Prove it,” he challenged.

She did.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

M
ACEY STOOD AT the nurse’s station and went through the charts she hadn’t had a chance to file on her previous shift. She was floating today and had been assigned to the E.R., which meant she got to work with Alec again. She had a fleeting notion that Dallas might have made that happen, but quickly shoved the thought aside when they got the call that a multiple car accident meant victims were on their way in.

“Macey and Vicki, you’re with me,” Alec said. “Kelly and Marci, you’re with Dr. Kellar.”

The rest of the day passed in a blur, dealing with six patients at once, all with varying levels of injury. By the time she sat down for her dinner break, she thought her feet might fall off. All in all, however, the day had been a great one, especially considering there were no fatalities.

Alec walked into the staff lounge and smiled. “Great job today.”

“Thanks.”

He handed her his cell phone.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“It’s Dallas.”

She rolled her eyes and put the phone to her ear. “Hi, honey.”

“Where the hell is your cell phone?” Dallas snapped.

“Probably in my locker.”

“I have been trying to get hold of you for two hours.”

“Dallas, I’m working. You know I don’t carry my cell phone with me on the floor. You could have called the nurse’s station.”

“I
did
, Macey. I left four messages. If Alec didn’t pick up, I was gonna come down there and fucking drag you out of there.”

“You were not.”

He didn’t respond.

“Dallas, are you being serious right now?” she ground out. “I have a job. You can’t go all caveman on me because I’m not at your beck and call twenty-four, seven.”

“Macey, there is someone stalking you. I need to know that you’re okay.”

She frowned when Alec stepped outside to obviously give her some privacy. “No one is stalking me at
work
, Dallas. Alec is close, and by the way, don’t think I don’t know you made that happen. I have been alone so far for all of six minutes in order to eat something, so I’m fine.”

“I’m not arguing about this with you, Macey. Get your phone and keep it on you.”

He hung up.

Hung up on her!

She let out a frustrated growl and rose to her feet. Pulling open the door, she handed the phone back to Alec with a huff. “Your brother is a pain in the ass.”

Alec chuckled. “He certainly can be.”

“Sorry you got stuck in the middle.”

“I facilitated a phone call, Mase. It’s not a problem.” He guided her back into the break room and poured himself a cup of coffee. “What’s this about a stalker?”

“Some jerk left a note on my car.” She sat back in her seat. “Not sure it
is
a stalker yet, or if it’s just someone messing with me. You know Dallas, he jumps to the worst case scenario.”

Alec wisely didn’t say anything as he sat across from her. He took a sip of his coffee and then pulled his phone out of his lab coat pocket and read the screen. “Dallas would like me to remind you to get your phone.”

Macey dropped her face into her hands with a groan. “Just ignore him.”

Alec chuckled as he fired off a text. “If only that were an option.”

“
Macey Gilbert, please call the fourth floor nurse’s desk
.”

“What now?” she complained as she picked up the phone in the break room.

“Fourth floor, this is Vicki.”

“Hey, Vicki, it’s Macey. Someone paged me.”

“Oh, yeah. There’s a Bruce Daniels here to see you. He’s down at reception. You also have a few messages from Dallas.”

“Thanks, Vick. I’ve talked to Dallas, so you can chuck those. I’ll call reception and find out what Bruce wants.”

“Okey dokey.”

Vicki hung up and Macey dialed reception. “Reception.”

“Hi, this is Macey Gilbert. I understand someone’s waiting for me.”

“Yes. Sheriff Daniels is here.”

“Could you tell him I’m on shift and can’t have visitors right now, please?”

“He says it’s urgent and it looks like he might be here on official business.”

Macey sighed. “Okay, I’ll be down in a bit.”

She hung up and faced Alec.

“What does your ex want?” he asked.

“How did you know he was my ex?” She held up her hand before he could answer. “No, don’t bother.”

“Dallas just wanted me to keep an eye on you.”

“Yeah, figured that out, Alec. And in answer to your question, I don’t know what he wants. Apparently, it’s urgent.” She grabbed her half-finished food and put it back in the refrigerator. “Why he didn’t just call me…"

“You don’t have your cell phone,” Alec pointed out.

“Smart ass,” she droned.

“It’s a Stone family trait.”

“Yeah, picking up on that,” she agreed with a smile. “If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, send out a search party.”

Macey arrived at reception and Bruce walked toward her, his smile slow and calculated. They hadn’t had much contact since the incident. He called more often than she liked, but she didn’t typically answer. She’d answered his last call, mostly to ask him to stop calling, and it had not gone well. He’d said he’d never give up on their love and she’d been so creeped out by him, she told him to lose her number and never bother her again. He didn’t listen.

“Macey, I’ve been calling you for weeks. Why aren’t you answering my calls?” he demanded.

She wondered how she ever thought she could love this man. She supposed it was because he was from such a different world than hers. Son of a prestigious judge, his life of privilege was fascinating to her. His appointment to sheriff probably bought, or so the rumors flew. He was tall and muscular, his blond hair long and styled professionally. She once thought he was gorgeous, but now he didn’t even rate. Especially not next to Dallas.

 “I told you after our last phone call to lose my number. And in my official, written email to quit harassing me. Now you’re coming to my place of business? Not cool.”

He grabbed her arm, pulling her off to the side for a modicum of privacy. “I have to talk to you.”

She pulled out of his grip. “I’m working, Bruce. Why does nobody seem to care that I have a job today?”

“If I need to make this official business, I will.”

“What’s this about?”

He glanced around nervously. “I can’t discuss it here.”

“Bruce, I’m not going anywhere with you unless you tell me what this is about.”

He settled his hand over his holstered gun. “I can add obstructing an officer to the charges, Macey.”

“Add them?” she asked, her heart racing. “Am I being charged with something?”

“Macey?” Alec said as he walked up to the couple. “I need you back on the floor.”

“She needs to come with me, Dr. Stone,” Bruce countered.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Alec said.

Bruce smiled smugly. “Nevertheless, I know who you are.”

“Apparently.” Alec crossed his arms. “Why does Macey need to come with you?”

“That’s confidential.”

Alec raised an eyebrow. “Is Macey under arrest?”

“Not yet.”

“What?” Macey squeaked. “What do you mean, ‘not yet’?”

“We can avoid all of this, if you’ll just come with me,” Bruce said.

“How about this?” Alec said, ignoring Macey. “Dallas will bring her down to the station when he gets here.”

“When he gets here?” Macey asked.

“She’ll come down to the station now,” Bruce said.

“Well, if you two are going to talk about me like I’m not here, I’m gonna head on back upstairs.”

Alec took her arm gently, still focused on Bruce. “Macey’s going to wait for Dallas.”

“Macey needs to come with me.”

“Macey’s going to make her own decisions,” she grumbled, attempting to pull away from Alec. He glanced at something over her head and she turned to see Dallas, Brock,
and
Jaxon stalking toward her. She threw her hands up in the air. “Well, this is just
great
.”

Dallas scowled at Bruce as he pulled Macey behind him. “Bruce.”

“Dallas,” he said.

“Something you need?”

Bruce nodded. “I need Macey to come down to the station.”

“Why?” Dallas asked.

“That’s above your pay grade,” Bruce said with a sneer.

“You fucking piece of—”

“Dallas,” Jaxon warned, and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“You do realize I’m FBI, right?” Dallas asked.

Bruce’s face got red and he focused on Macey again. “You need to come with me.”

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Dallas said. “You need to talk to her, you’ll do it with me in attendance.”

“You’re not a lawyer,” Bruce pointed out.

“I need a lawyer?” Macey squeaked.

“Then I’ll get her one.” Dallas gave her hand a squeeze. “But you will never… and hear me on this, Bruce…
never
be anywhere with her alone.”

“Call off your watchdog, Macey,” Bruce ordered.

She gasped, ready to rip him a new one, but before she could respond, Brock shook his head. Macey wrinkled her nose, not liking his silent censorship, but stayed quiet.

“I want you down at the precinct in two hours,” Bruce said. “If you’re not there, an all-points will be issued in your name. Hear me?”

Bruce squared his shoulders and stalked out through the hospital’s front doors.

“What’s going on?” Macey whispered as Dallas pulled her into one of the offices behind reception and wrapped his arms around her.

“I don’t know, but we’ll sort it out.”

“How? How exactly will you sort it out? He just went off on me in front of a crowded waiting room.”

“Macey, Bruce is messing with you. Everything he did just then was so far out of the scope of police procedure, it wasn’t even funny. I don’t know why he’s doing it, but I will find out. Word on the street is that there’s an investigation into his winning votes.”

“Really?” She stared up at him, trying to stamp down her fear.

“Really,” he said.

“He’s been sheriff for five minutes,” she said.

“And the powers that be are figuring out he may not have gotten the position legally. I have a feeling he’s not gonna have his job for much longer, babe, and even if he does, he can’t hurt you.” His expression gentled and he smiled. “I’ve got you.”