My Tye (34 page)

Mac kept pace with him as he silently charged out into the knee-high grass of the pasture. Tye ignored the pulsing ache in his calf as they closed in on where the fight with Harlan had taken place. The tall grass was bent and broken in some areas and laid out flat in others. He stood in the center of a flat patch, trying to get his bearings.

“It couldn’t have gone far,” he said, talking more to himself than to Mac. His edginess was running rampant, which was making his patience wear dangerously thin. He didn’t have time for this. He shouldn’t be out here, away from Laine.

He never should’ve left her alone.

“She’s not alone,” Mac said.

Tye glared at Mac until he realized he’d said that last thought out loud. Sighing, he went back to searching through the grass and weeds. “Yeah, I know.” Not that knowing went very far in easing the itch that kept racing up and down his spine over leaving her.

Ten minutes, and he couldn’t stand it anymore. “This is crazy. Who knows where the damn thing landed. I’m going back—”

The unmistakable crack of gunfire echoed through the still, humid air. For an instant, he and Mac froze in place and just stared at each other.

“The house,” Tye shouted. “Damn it!”

The two men took off at a dead run, but Tye was faster. His heart raced and a trail of fire burned from his calf up through his knee as he bolted through the pasture. He cornered the back door of the stables in record time, nearly slipping on a patch of hay strewn haphazardly just inside the doorway. Rocky and Flash stomped backward and blustered out whinnies of surprise as he shot past them.

As he tore through the front entrance, a ball of cold, merciless steel hardened deep in his gut. To his horror, he looked up to find the door to the house had been kicked in.

His muscles moved like he was running through quicksand, as if the heavy weight of the steel in his stomach and the dread in his heart were dragging him down. He took the four steps leading up to the porch in one leap, stopping at the door with both hands gripping the jambs and a foul curse falling from his lips.

Tom was lying on the floor not ten feet inside the house, clutching at his abdomen. Red coated the side of his beige deputy uniform and seeped through his fingers. “Bedroom. He forced them into the bedroom. Go,” he groaned.

That was all Tye needed to hear. He sidestepped around Tom with Mac hot on his heels. Fury exploded through his veins when he reached his bedroom.

Haven sat wide-eyed and trembling on the ottoman by the window. Behind her stood Earl, gripping a terrified Laine in a chokehold. He held a long, slotted screwdriver in the hand at her neck, with the yellow handle clasped in his beefy fist and the metal shaft resting along the back of his forearm. In his other hand, he held a gun. He aimed it at the back of Haven’s head.

Mother. Fucker.

Searching his soul for the strength to hold onto his control, Tye raised his hands in an unthreatening gesture and moved slowly into the room. His stare bounced to each of them in turn before he drilled it hard and fast into the evil man in front of him.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Earl said, shifting his stance slightly. “Nice of you to join the party, but you can stay right over there. Don’t come any closer.”

“Mr. Harlan?” Tye asked, even though he knew full well what his name was. “Why don’t you drop your weapons so we can talk about this?”

Earl snorted. “Don’t you mean
your
weapon?” He shifted his hold on the grip of the gun, his finger perilously close to the trigger. “Look familiar?”

No wonder they hadn’t been able to find the damn thing. Harlan had had it.

Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.

Tye kept his hands in the air, breathing slowly and evenly while continuing to press further into the room. “Come on. You don’t want to do this. I’m sure we can work something out.”

“Cut the shit, Carter. And don’t talk down to me like I’m a two-year-old.” He raised the gun higher and pointed it at Tye. “I said, stay where you are.”

Tye much preferred having the gun aimed at him, but it didn’t make him want to stop. He
couldn’t
stop. Mac used the distraction of Tye’s steady advancement to circle to the right. Out of his periphery, Tye saw his old friend palm the gun in his shoulder holster. Thank God at least one of them had a weapon.

“What is it that you want?” Tye asked.

“What do I want?” Earl barked out another derisive laugh. “Like you give a shit. All you’re interested in is fucking your woman just like she fucked me over. Cold and deliberate. Don’t bother pretending it’s not true. I know about you. And him,” he said, swinging his gun around toward Mac. “You’re just a couple of kinky fucks who think you can hide behind a badge.”

“Then your issue is with us. Let the women go,” Mac said.

“You’re not fooling anyone,” Earl went on as if Mac hadn’t said a word. “If I was able to find out that you work at Club Euphoria, how long do you think it’ll take before the voting public gets wind of it as well?”

Haven’s eyes widened even further at Earl’s telling statement. Damn it to hell.

Earl shifted the gun back in Tye’s direction. “You think she’s being submissive?
Your
submissive? You’re a fool, Carter. An idiot. She’s using you. That’s what women do. They barge in, use you and fuck up your life.”

When he tightened his hold around Laine’s throat, she clutched at his arm, gasping for breath. She was right there, right at the screwdriver. She could use it again, just as she had the night she got away. She had the strength. Lord knew she possessed the tenacity. She could do this.

Tye looked from her eyes to the screwdriver and back again. His nod to her was subtle, as subtle as hers was in return saying that she understood.

Fuck, she
had
to have understood.

“So you figure this is a better way to go? To hurt them? To attempt to kill them?” Tye asked, chiding Earl, stringing him along.

Earl shifted from foot to foot, his crazed expression growing more impatient and irritated as the seconds ticked by.

Tye was getting closer. Mac was, too. They were almost within striking distance.

“Ain’t payback a bitch?” Earl responded. Spittle flew from his mouth as he seethed. “I’ll be damned if I let some woman get the better of me. Any woman.
This
woman.”

He squeezed his arm again, lifting Laine off the ground by her neck.

“No!” she screamed, clawing at Earl’s arm with both hands, throwing him off balance. She yanked the screwdriver out of his grip. She flipped it in her palm and brought it around in a high arc, driving it deep into his thigh just as Haven twisted on the ottoman and elbowed him hard in the nuts.

Earl doubled over as the women scrambled out of the way. He still held the gun, but he couldn’t use it. He couldn’t so much as breathe. He dropped to his knees as Tye dove in and wrenched his arm behind his back.

Mac was there in an instant, thrusting his gun hard against Earl’s temple. “Drop it.”

There was still a little fight in him. Still a little
fuck you
left over to get in the way. Tye wrenched his arm higher and dug his knee into the middle of his back harder.

“Don’t make me tell you again,” Mac bit out, shoving at this temple again.

At that, Earl Harlan slumped forward, groaned and opened his hand. Mac unsnapped the leather case on his belt and handed Tye a pair of handcuffs.

Two metallic zips and clicks of the cuffs later, and Laine’s nightmare was officially over.

Three days later

The sun shone brightly as Tye got in behind the wheel of Laine’s Audi after visiting Tom in the hospital. The deputy was still in ICU, but his prognosis was good, a fact which relieved Tye to no end.

Tom’s condition had teetered on that fine touch-and-go line the first day after taking the bullet. Every time he’d drift back into consciousness, he’d ask about Laine and Haven, along with apologizing over and over for letting them—and Tye—down.

But Tye was having none of that. They’d
all
underestimated Earl Harlan. If anyone was to blame, it was Tye. If things had gone down any differently, he didn’t know how he’d be able to live with himself. He’d sent up dozens of thanks over the past few days to the powers that be that the woman he loved was amazingly tough, resilient and brave beyond reason.

Because, more than anyone else, Laine was the one who in the end had saved them all.

He made a pit stop at the local market for his called-in order and a few last-minute goodies on his way through town to pick her up. Since his truck was sitting in pieces in the body shop after the accident, she’d insisted he use her car. The bonus was he got to spend that much more time with her as he drove her to and from work. She’d gone back to the office the day after Harlan had been taken into custody, but was still spending her nights with him at the ranch. It was a living arrangement he was dying to make permanent, and tonight he was going to tell her so.

Being careful to not break the bottle of wine he’d picked out especially for tonight, he set the bags in the trunk and hopped back into the car. Ten minutes later, he was steering through the county courthouse’s parking lot. He stopped in front of the stairs leading to the entrance, shoved the gearshift into park and impatiently waited for her to come out.

He didn’t have to wait long.

She smiled as soon as she emerged from the revolving door. It was a smile that lit up her entire face and made his cock stand up and take notice. She wore her hair down today, and he couldn’t help but envision wrapping the silky strands around his hand as he took her fast and furious from behind. She’d be pliable under his touch, submitting to his every whim as he gave her pleasure beyond what they both could imagine.

She quickly bounded down the stairs toward him. But just as he reached across the seat to open the passenger door for her, someone called out her name.

Haven Sims. Damn it.

Laine stopped on the sidewalk next to her car as the other woman hurried up to her. Tye got out and rounded the front bumper, coming up beside her at the same time. He put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

“Sheriff. Ms. Morgan,” Haven said, a little breathless.

Tye simply sighed. They’d not seen nor heard from Haven since that morning at the ranch. To his surprise, the snippets she’d reported on the news the last two nights had been clear and concise, giving only the whos and wheres of what happened and leaving out all of the why. Tye didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he also couldn’t help but wonder why she didn’t reveal more, or what she might be up to now.

Laine rubbed a hand over his stomach, a gesture that told him to calm down. “Haven. How are you?”

Haven twisted her fingers together nervously, which struck him as odd. In all his dealings with her over the last couple of years, he’d never once seen her fidget or appear uncomfortable.

She lowered her gaze to her entwined hands for a moment. “I’m good. Fine, really. I wanted to talk to you. To the both of you, if it’s all right. It’s personal,” she quickly added when Tye stiffened and held Laine closer.

“Sure,” Laine said, continuing the rubdown.

Haven dropped her hands to her sides and blew out a breath. “Look, I know I’ve been a pain in the ass to the both of you. And I’ve been that way on more than one occasion. As a reporter, that’s my job. To insert myself and see what I can dig up.”

“And?” Laine prodded when Haven hesitated.

“What happened with Earl Harlan has the potential to be a huge news story. For a reporter to find herself in that kind of a situation, to be in the thick of it, so to speak…” She folded her arms under her breasts and looked past them, as though she were coming to terms with what she wanted to say in her own mind. “Telling your story would be a huge boost to my career.”

Tye wanted to lunge for her, but Laine held him back with a firm hand at his waist and a soft tone to her voice.

“But?”

The edge of Haven’s lip quirked. “But I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to keep the rest of it to myself. I won’t corner you for more interviews. I won’t report anything more than the facts as they come out. Learning what I did that morning about your lifestyles, about Jack McKay’s, and then afterward, seeing the way you two held on to each other for dear life… Something in all of that spoke to me. I hadn’t been out to report the news. I was out for blood. Your blood. I was lurking around in dark alleys acting like nothing more than a tabloid journalist. And that’s
not
the kind of reporter I want to be. It’s not what I want to do.”

Well, that sure as hell wasn’t what he expected Haven to say.

“Yes, there’s going to be all sorts of stories on Harlan,” she went on. “There’ll be coverage of the trial and a lot more digging into the private lives of everyone involved, but it won’t be me doing it. This isn’t over for you both, you know that, right?”

Tye stroked his hand up and down Laine’s arm. “We can handle it.” Together, he and Laine could handle anything.

Haven laughed. “Knowing what I know now, I have no doubt that you can. Listen, I just wanted to say I’m sorry, and…”