Free Dream Lover (Denim and Spurs Book 2) by Aliyah Burke

here. Just a whorish slut like your drug-addled mama.”
    Laciee harbored no illusions about Lola Dupree, and the words had long since ceased having any power to hurt her.
    “And yet…” Laciee trailed off, giving a small shrug. There was no reason to say the words, Laura would know what she meant. Biting the inside of her cheek, she strode past the two cold women and back out into the warm summer sun. Her chills remained despite the day’s heat.
    Lordy, she wanted to get out of town and flee to New York City where she regained the mantle of anonymity, where she was an EMT. No one there knew of Branchwater, Texas. And she intended to keep it that way.
    Legs trembling, she walked up the nearly deserted street to a low-rise brick wall where she sat, bags at her feet. A latent breeze ruffled her hair but did little in adding comfort.
    “Damn her,” she muttered, eyes flickering up and down the street. Laciee knew why there hadn’t been a confrontation at the wedding, Laura was all about image. But in the store with her friend Delores there and Jolene, there would be no gossip.
    “Damn me for letting that wh…bitch get to me. I’m better than that, and I should know better. I’m not a little girl anymore.”
    “That’s true.”
    The masculine voice startled her, and she jumped slightly before glancing up and squinting against the sun to see Sheriff Randall Bolton. She barely held her snort. Great, how much more did she have to take?
     
    Judd spied Laciee immediately as he turned the corner. Middle of the block seated upon a retaining wall, bags at her feet. What bothered him was the way she sat, stiff and uncomfortable. At her side, none other than Sheriff Bolton. Protectiveness rushed Judd and he gripped the steering wheel harder as a near-feral growl filled the cab. It took a few seconds for him to realize he’d emitted the noise.
    He parked and got out. Long strides took him to Laciee’s side. She continued to appear stiff and as he neared he heard Bolton talking.
    “We have nothing to go on,” the sheriff said.
    “Never thought you would,” came Laciee’s reply.
    “We’re a small force, small town. We just don’t have the resources.”
    Judd knew a line of shit when he heard one. He waited for Laciee to call the man on it. She didn’t.
    “Never asked you to investigate, Sheriff. Let it go.”
    “Bull!” Judd interjected. “It’s your job, Sheriff, to figure these things out.”
    Bolton jumped but Laciee barely moved at his statement. Randall got up and puffed out his chest.
    “Look, Travers. I don’t need anyone telling me my job.”
    “Appears to me you do, Bolton, or you wouldn’t be giving excuses. Like you said, small town. Can’t be that many suspects.”
    Randall scowled at him while Laciee kept her gaze on the ground.
    “Stay out of this, Travers.”
    Judd glared at the man he’d really never had an issue with until now. His ranch hands didn’t mess with the law and he rarely had to interact with what passed as the law around here, short of a brief hello in passing. Now, none of that mattered. The man had a job and didn’t seem all too keen on doing it. A fact that didn’t sit well with Judd. Especially not when it came to Laciee Dupree.
    “Do your job then, Bolton. You find this person or persons before I do.”
    Laciee lifted her head and stared at him with something akin to horror in her light brown eyes.
    “You making a threat, Travers?”
    Now he sounds cocky? “No threat, Sheriff.” He shrugged. “Beside, how could I threaten someone who according to you, you can’t figure out who it is?”
    “Don’t get in the way,” Bolton ground out, his face turning redder.
    “Keep this from her. Whoever it is better stay the hell away. She’s at my ranch, and I protect what’s mine. All my men will as well and out there, we shoot first when being threatened.” Every inch of him tensed as he longed to punch the arrogant man. The second he claimed her, he knew it was right.