Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10) by Laylah Roberts (good book club books txt) 📗

“Umm, what?” Georgina asked.

“I want to learn how to flip someone over my shoulder.”

“Me too!” Isa said, dancing around excitedly.

“Hey, now, Ranger ran women’s self-defense classes last month and no one came to them,” Ed said.

“Yes, but Ranger is a man,” Kiesha explained. As though that was meant to mean something? “Georgie isn’t. She gets us. And she’s one of us, now.”

She was one of them? What was happening here?

“I’m not sure I’ll be here long enough. Sorry.”

Disappointment filled Kiesha’s face. Fuck. He narrowed his eyes at Georgina. She stared back at him wide-eyed.

“But we’ll see,” she added.

He ran his hand over his face tiredly. Enough. He needed to get things sorted and go home to bed. “Look, I need to talk to Georgina and all of you need to get home and into bed. Isa, sweetheart, did someone take your statement?”

“Yep. Grabby Gary disappeared though, so Jace said he’ll chase him down in the morning.”

“What an asshole,” Kiesha muttered. “How dare he touch you like that then not listen when you told him to let you go.”

“I’ll deal with him,” Ed rumbled, anger filling him.

“How is that any different than what Loki did to me?” Georgina pointed out.

Fuck.

He searched for an answer. But the truth was . . . she was right.

“You’re right. Would you rather press charges than have me give him a warning?”

Kiesha gasped and Isa’s mouth dropped open. Even Cleo stirred, opening her eyes. “You’re going to press charges against Loki?” she asked.

“He grabbed me. He wouldn’t let me go,” Georgina defended. “Do you really think that’s okay?”

“He scared her,” Ed told them.

“Hey, I didn’t say that,” Georgina countered. She straightened her shoulders and glared up at him. Why was she so angry? It was fine to admit that she’d been frightened.

Obviously, she didn’t see it that way.

“He scared you? Oh no, he’ll feel terrible about that,” Isa said. “I’ll go check on him tomorrow.”

Georgina looked over at her. “If he doesn’t want to feel terrible then maybe he shouldn’t manhandle women. Same as Gary.”

“You’ve got to understand,” Kiesha said, squeezing Georgina’s hands. “Loki, he was a marine. He came back a changed person. His last tour, he saw a lot of action, had a lot of friends die. When he returned, he was skinny, and he had PTSD. He was spiraling, out of control. We didn’t know what to do to help him.”

“That’s terrible,” Georgina said, her face softening.

“We tried getting him to talk to a therapist, we tried everything we could think of,” Kiesha told her. “In the end, his friends took him camping. They didn’t come back for three months. And when they did, he was a changed man. He does these crazy things, not because he is crazy. But it’s just his way of dealing with things. Him pretending you were a prize, it’s something he does every so often. We all know about his crazy antics. But you didn’t. I’m sorry you were scared. And he really will feel terrible. It’s almost like a joke gone bad, I guess.”

Georgina frowned.

“What if you were to talk to Loki when he’s not Loki,” Isa asked her gently.

“What? What do you mean?” Georgina asked.

“His name is really Lachlan,” Ed told her.

“I know you’ll think I’m just blowing smoke up your ass, but he really is a good guy,” Isa told her. “But he won’t deal well with the idea that he scared you.”

They all waited for her decision. “All right. I guess I could meet him. And I won’t press charges. A warning is fine. If it was just meant to be a joke . . . but he’s got to promise not to do that anymore. Not even to locals. It’s not something people will understand.”

Isa nodded. “He’ll stop. I promise.”

“Now that’s over, let’s get you all home,” Ed said.

“About time,” Cleo grumbled, standing up. “Ed, these chairs are ridiculously uncomfortable. You need to think about investing in a sofa or something.”

“Strange as it may sound, I don’t really want to encourage people to sleep in my office.” Although at the rate he was going, he’d soon be sleeping here.

Cleo shrugged. “Come on, all of you get in the car.”

“Yeah, there’s no way you’re driving,” Ed told her.

“Why not? I haven’t been drinking!” Cleo gave him an offended look.

“Not saying you have, but you’ve spent the last fifteen minutes snoring so there’s no way you’re driving when you’re that tired.”

“I do not snore! And I was just resting my eyes. I’m fine to drive.”

“Try to drive, and I’ll call O’Ryan.”

She gave an exaggerated gasp. “That’s a low blow. I have a photo of you when you had pimples. You best be nice to me.”

These women. He swore they’d be the death of him.

7

Fear.

He was watching her.

I’m coming for you, Daisy. Then we can be together forever.

She sat up with a silent scream. Her body was shaking, coated in sweat. Even the sheets were damp.

Oh God. Oh God.

She was going to throw up. She stumbled out of the bed and raced into the bathroom. She winced as her knees slammed onto the floor. Grabbing the side of the toilet to steady herself, and trying not to think about all the germs that might be present on a toilet in a motel, she vomited.

Her stomach quickly emptied. When the heaving stopped, she sat back on the floor. She was too weak to stand, to even get up and flush the toilet.

Why had she had that dream?

Why now?

She could’ve blamed it on last night. On Loki’s actions bringing up old fears and memories. Only, she’d had these nightmares for over a decade. It was just that they didn’t usually come every night like they had been lately. Since the incident. She sucked in a breath.

Poor, broken sleep. Too much stress. No social life. She knew she’d lost weight. She was having problems eating. Food made her feel nauseous. None of her clothes were fitting right. Her hair was