Free A Fresh Start for Two by Keira Montclair Page B

Just talking to my fiancée.” He took a second glance at Jake, then said, “You again?”
    “That’s right. We’re the same officers who watched you belittle and berate your fiancée not too long ago. You don’t know how to treat a woman, do you?” Jake got right into his face, not able to stop himself from doing at least that.
    “She’s my woman, and she’ll tell you I treat her just fine. Isn’t that right, Julia?” Vincent never took his eyes off of Jake.
    When Julia didn’t answer, Vincent turned to face her. “Julia! Answer the man. Explain we’re fine.”
    “Actually,” she stepped around Vincent and glanced at Lucia. “Unless you need me for anything, officers, I was just leaving.”
    “Julia, don’t do this.” Vincent’s voice shook with fury.
    “Vincent, we’re done. Please stay away from me.” She grabbed Lucia’s hand and started to leave.
    Bill stopped her, “Miss, do you wish to press charges? Did he hurt you?”
    “No, not this time.” She gave Vincent a pointed look, then spun on her heel and left, her hand clutched tightly in Lucia’s.
    “Julia! This is not over!” he yelled after her.
    Jake shoved him back against the wall and said, “Looks to me like it is. We both heard the lady ask you to stay away from her.”
    Vincent’s face turned beet-red. “Can I go now?”
    Both officers stood in front of him to prevent him from leaving until Julia had disappeared into the distance. Jake knew the guy would follow her. But, hell, he couldn’t help but smile. Julia was no longer engaged to her bully of a fiancé. Now they would actually have a chance together.
    When he released him, Jake said, “If I find you following her, I’ll arrest you for harassment.”
    “What is she to you?” Vincent growled. “That’s what I want to know. She’s been acting strange lately.” He straightened his shirt, still glaring at Jake.
    “Got nothing to do with me. My guess is it might have something to do with the bruised eye and wrist. You like to beat your women to feel like a big man?”
    “Can I leave now?”
    The two officers stepped back. “You’re free to go, but stay away from the lady,” Bill said. “You don’t know what you’re taking on.”
    Bill and Jake watched him leave, and Jake took down the guy’s license plate number before they returned to their police car.
    Once inside, Jake asked, “What the hell did that mean, you don’t know what you’re taking on?”
    “It means I’ve seen you go off on someone who beat his wife before. I’ve noticed the way you look at her, too. You want her, plain and simple, and I’m afraid you’ll lose perspective. I meant what I said, and I hope you’re a little smarter than you were that first time. You’re an officer of the law, not a vigilante.”
    “I was new, Bill, and fresh from the army. I’d seen enough over there. I didn’t need to see it here, too.”
    “You don’t need to explain to me,” Bill said as he started the car. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. Any piece of shit who beats a woman deserves what you did, but if you want to keep this job, you can’t do it. And I don’t want to have to pull you off anyone again either. You fight like hell, Ramsay. I don’t want to find myself in front of your fist. I hope she has smartened up. Sounds like she broke it off, but…”
    “I know what you’re thinking. He could go after her.”
    “Exactly. He looks like the type. I hope she realizes that.”
    Jake pulled a toothpick out of his pocket and chomped down on it, unable to shake the rage burning inside him. His partner was right; this situation with Julia was making him feel as out of control as he’d felt that first year on the job.
    Jake had only been with Bill a couple of months when a domestic call came in from three different people reporting that a husband was beating the crap out of his wife. They had arrived on the scene and immediately called for an ambulance. The man was having a cigarette