Free A Chance at Love (A Ferry Creek Novel): (a billionaire romance novel) by Karolyn James

Tyler said and
patted him on the back.
    “ You
heading down to the creek again? ” Jack asked.
    “ Yup. ”
    “ You
know it ’ s just high school
bullshit, right? ”
    “ Sure, ” Tyler said. “ But I have a niece in the middle
of that bullshit. ”
    “ Yeah.
I have a few more years before my time comes. ”
    Jack tipped his hard hat and walked
away. Jack had been blessed with three daughters. He stopped having kids after
the third girl. His oldest would turn thirteen in six months and that ’ s when all the fun would start.
Tyler almost felt bad for Jack, but then again, Tyler didn ’ t know a true father-daughter
connection.
    He walked down the small embankment
with care. The ground was easy to maintain unless it was wet, because then the
small hills became icy hills. Down at the creek, Tyler stood and looked left to
right. The flow of the water had a soothing sound to it. The sight of the water
rushing by, cascading around the larger rock was a great view, but when Tyler ’ s saw the circle of rocks and
the charred ring on the ground from a fire, everything pristine seemed to
change. He walked to the ring of rocks and shook his head.
    It was a just a bunch of high
school kids messing around. Probably drank a beer or two, thought they were
drunk and loose, then enjoyed the fire. Tyler bent down and picked up one of
the rocks. He looked at the creek and wondered if he was really that cop. The one that busted up parties and destroyed everything that high school
kids thought were fun. Tyler dropped the rock and sighed. He thought about Jess
again.
    Eighteen. Pregnant. Alone.
    The first thing he couldn ’ t control. Emily would turn
eighteen. It was that middle part that made him worried. Taking apart the ring
of rocks would help, even a little, right? All he knew was that she would never
be alone. Tyler bent to pick up a rock again when his cell phone buzzed.
    He checked and saw it was Bobby.
    Tyler answered the call with, “ Bobby, is everything okay? ”
    “ Depends
on where you are and how fast you can drive. ”
    “ Why ’ s that? ”
    “ Darryl ’ s here, ” Bobby said. “ I
think you should get here, too. ”
    “ Is
Jess okay? ”
    “ She ’ s fine. But, uh, you know,
Officer... can you help? ”
    Tyler ended the call and turned and
ran.
    He always tried to give people the
benefit of the doubt. Even a guy like Darryl. Tyler knew Darryl had a rough
life because he had been right next to him when a lot of things went down in
Darryl ’ s life. But no one
messed with people Tyler cared about, and the top two people on that list at
that moment were Emily... and Jess.
     
    Bobby stood behind the counter
gripping the edges so hard he swore he was going to break the tile off. If that
happened, Bobby would personally grab Darryl by the back of his collar, drag
him out back, and perhaps he ’ d
have an accident with Bobby ’ s
fist.
    Jess had insisted Bobby stay cool
and let her handle Darryl. From the second Darryl came through the front door,
Bobby could tell he was either drunk or nursing a hangover and hadn ’ t slept in days. Still, that
gave Darryl no excuse to act the way he did. He sat in a booth and started
playing the drums with his hands, calling for Jess. He treated the diner like
it was his personal kitchen. Jess brought him coffee and asked what he wanted.
Darryl confessed he had no money and Jess said she ’ d take care of it.
    “ Just
get some food in your stomach, ” she told Darryl.
    “ Sit
with me, ” Darryl had said. “ Let ’ s have breakfast together. ”
    “ I ’ m working, ” Jess said.
    “ You ’ re always working. ”
    “ What
do you want to eat? ”
    “ Hey...
is Bob dead yet? ”
    The way Darryl spoke was loud,
blatant, and ignorant.
    That ’ s
when Jess looked to Bobby and shook her head. She pleaded with him without
words to keep everything calm. But Bobby wasn ’ t
going to take it anymore. He grabbed his cell phone and called Tyler. Bobby
kept his cell