Protector: Doms of Mountain Bend Book 1 by BJ Wane (good books to read for 12 year olds .txt) 📕

smashing the side of his face against the peeling paint with another upward wrench of his arm behind him.

“This time” – Shawn yanked Chester’s arm up another notch – “you’ve really done it. You’re getting locked up, and staying locked up if I have to lose the key to keep you there.”

“This is between me and my old lady. Fuckin’ cops got no business buttin’ in a man’s affairs with his wife, I’m gonna….aaagh!” Chester wailed as Shawn’s next twist upward on his arm popped the shoulder joint. “I’ll…s…sue!” he gasped.

Shawn looked at Kevin, who stood next to them and said, “I didn’t see anything.”

“Me either,” Clayton called out as he went to the door to wave the paramedics inside, his expression a mask of stone.

Shawn released his bruising hold and clamped restraints on Chester’s wrists, suspecting Clayton hadn’t gotten a lot of cooperation from Louise. After learning the drunk driver who had killed his parents in a hit-and-run car accident not only possessed a long record of arrests for DUIs but had once again been let go on a technicality, he’d made it his life’s work to put criminals away and to keep them there.

Signaling the third paramedic to enter the house, Shawn jerked a thumb at Chester. “Check his shoulder before we transport him, will you, Michael?” he asked, recognizing the young man whose brother worked for them on the ranch.

“Sure thing, Deputy Sheriff. It looks like you’ve taken a nasty fall, Mr. Campbell.”

Leaving Kevin in charge, Shawn followed the gurney holding Louise out to the ambulance with Clayton, feeling better. “No luck?”

“Some but not enough. That’s why I plan to get my car and make a pest of myself until she understands this time and agrees to file charges without dropping them.”

“All we can do is keep trying.”

Shawn returned to the office, unable to keep from picturing Lisa suffering at the hands of a bully and coward, like Louise. Unlike the battered woman he’d just left, Lisa had been willing to take drastic steps to protect herself. He could admire her for that while, at the same time, it still rankled she had held back from him until she found herself in jeopardy again. This time around, he would leave Louisa’s case in Clayton’s hands so he could expend all his energy protecting Lisa and stopping a stalker.

****

Friday afternoon, Shawn pulled up in front of Dale’s Western Wear to pick Lisa up, his frown telling her he was still chafing from her insistence on shopping before they drove back to the ranch. She’d hitched a ride from Kim and Debra as they were leaving school, the two teachers she’d come to know the best since the night she’d taken in a movie and dinner with them. As much as she loved staying with him, and spending every night in his bed, his insistence on driving her in every morning instead of following her, and the waiting around at school for him to pick her up when she could get a ride with someone else was starting to grate.

Between the tension of waiting for her stalker to strike again and Shawn’s rigid rules causing questions from her co-workers she didn’t want to answer, she was just as on edge with his help as she’d been when coping alone. With luck, whatever scene he put her through tonight at Spurs would help.

Shawn pushed open the passenger door, eyeing her large bags with a raised brow. “Did you buy out the store?”

“No, but two items are good-sized,” she answered, leaning over the seat to toss them in the back. “And, no, you can’t see them until we leave for the club tonight.”

Pulling away from the curb, he dropped a bombshell on her. “We’re not going this weekend. It’s best to lie low until I get a lead on this guy. I’ve hit dead ends with the report I got from foster care and researching your mother’s background.”

Lisa went rigid with anger and disappointment. “I would be as safe at the club as I am at your place, probably safer with so many people around. He’d have to be crazy to try anything there.”

“Most stalkers are crazy,” he shot back. “And unpredictable. I’ve already mentioned it to Dakota and Clayton, and they have no problem running things without me. Ben and Simon will help.”

“Oh, well, as long as they agree, then far be it from me to argue over what I want.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you,” he said, giving her a disapproving glare.

“Neither does sitting around all night.”

She fumed in silence the rest of the way, and he let her until he parked and turned to her with a Dom’s scowl. “I can always give you what you’re pining for here at home.”

Suppressing the wave of heat his comment ignited, she flung open the door, reached behind the seat for her purchases, and lied. “I’m not in the mood anymore.”

He didn’t respond as he followed her inside, didn’t say a word about it as they greeted the dogs. While they made spaghetti together he told her about the Campbells’ history of domestic violence and his hope this time would end differently for Chester. When he went out with the dogs after they did the dishes without mentioning her disgruntled remark, she suspected he was planning a retaliation.

Like always, Lisa’s body betrayed her, reacting to all the possibilities running through her head with soft pulses between her legs and tingling nipples. “I said I’m not in the mood,” she mumbled under her breath, glancing out the window above the sink and watching him throw a ball for Mo and Curly, her chest tightening when his deep laugh filtered through the open window. He was as diligent in caring for the neglected dogs as he was with her safety, and she couldn’t fault him for that. She also