Justice for Boone: Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes, Book 6 (4 page)

H
ayden couldn’t help
but notice her heart was beating a bit faster than was normal as she pulled down the familiar driveway of Hatcher Farms. It’d been a week since she’d been out there to deal with the domestic incident, and when the call went out for a deputy to investigate an act of vandalism at the property, she didn’t hesitate to say she’d go and check it out.

For some reason, Hayden couldn’t get Boone out of her mind. She wasn’t sure why. She’d seen her share of good-looking cowboys over the years, so why this one was stuck in her brain was a mystery. Sure, he was easy on the eyes, but it was more than that.

Part of it was the mystery of why he’d put up with Dana doing the crap she’d done to him…but the other part was his absolute concentration on whatever he was doing at the moment he was doing it. She’d noticed it while she was there the week before. When he was talking to her, he was one hundred percent focused on her. When Jimmy or Troy was talking to him, he was focused on
them
. She could only imagine what he’d be like when he was helping his cows give birth, or cooking, or…

Nope, she wasn’t going there.

She pulled up in front of the farmhouse and immediately saw why Boone had called the sheriff’s department.

Every visible surface was defaced by ugly red paint.

The side of the barn nearest the house had words like “asshole” and “jerk.” There was a big black pickup truck that had both headlights smashed out and more filthy words splashed across the sides. And the house…

Hayden sighed. Whoever had done this had spent quite a bit of time making sure the house suffered from the same wrath as the other property.

“You’ll regret this,” “asswipe,” and “shitty fuck,” along with random splotches of paint, were sprawled over the siding of the house. The first was exactly what Dana had said in front of three law enforcement officers, but without proof that she was the one who’d sprayed the words on his house, Hayden’s hands were tied.

What looked like gallons of paint had been thrown on the porch floor as well. The swing, which Hayden had thought looked so comfortable and homey when she’d been there last week, was now covered in enough red paint that it actually dripped down between the slats of the seat onto the wooden boards beneath. The beautiful cushion had been torn to shreds and lay strewn around the porch, again drenched in the red paint.

Boone stood to the side of the stairs leading up to the front door, looking disheveled and disheartened. As Hayden walked up to him, he put a hand through his hair and looked up at her.

“Hey, Mr. Hatcher.”

“Deputy Yates.”

It seemed ridiculous to be on such formal terms with each other. “It’s Hayden.”

Boone smiled a small smile. “Boone.”

“So…I see why you called.”

Boone sighed. “Yeah. I was out of town last night purchasing a new bull. Got home this morning to this.”

“Did anyone see or hear anything?”

“No, at least not the hands I’ve been able to ask so far. There are a few I haven’t spoken to yet, they’re still asleep.”

“Okay, I’ll want to talk to everyone who was around, just to make sure.” Hayden paused. “Do you know who might have done this?” She thought she knew the answer, but she asked it anyway.

Boone simply nodded.

“Yeah.” She paused before asking, “Did you file that restraining order?”

“No.”

At the look on her face, he continued. “I know. I know. I hoped after last week it wouldn’t be necessary. That she’d see we were truly over and she’d move on. Guess I was wrong.”

“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I think you already know. She’s not going to move on. I’ve seen this before. Unfortunately, things will probably get worse before they get better.”

“Obviously.”

Hayden didn’t belabor the point. She figured it’d been made loud and clear. “Okay, let me get my camera and start documenting the damage. I’ll write up a report and you can give it to your insurance company. Other than the obvious, was there any other damage? Are your cows all right?”

Boone nodded. “So far, this seems to be the extent of it. None of the cattle were in the barn last night, they were all out in the fields.”

Hayden didn’t move toward her patrol car. She impulsively put her hand on Boone’s arm. “I’m sorry, Boone. Really. No one deserves this.”

Their eyes met and Hayden swore she felt something pass between them.

“Thanks.” The one word was low, and extremely heartfelt.

Hayden nodded and turned back to her car to get to work documenting the awful destruction of the beautiful property.

Boone watched as the deputy took pictures of Dana’s handiwork. He had no doubt it had been her who had done it, either. He sighed.

“That was a big sigh.”

Boone tried to smile, but knew it was lame at best. He’d been following alongside Hayden as she took pictures for her report. “It’s just that…I honestly don’t know what I did to make her think we were more than we were.”

“How’d you meet?”

Boone looked at the pretty woman next to him. She was even shorter than Dana, although Dana usually wore heels, which made her closer to his height. Today he could see that Hayden’s hair was auburn. It fit her perfectly and made sense with the freckles across her nose. He’d never thought about it much, but suddenly he was extremely attracted to redheads, at least on the deputy, it was much more attractive than Dana’s blonde hair ever was to him.

But with her size, Boone had no idea how Hayden was even able to do her job. He couldn’t imagine her overpowering anyone, much less a pissed-off drunk or someone bent on defying the law. He’d bet everything he had that she was a natural redhead, though, because of her pale skin and those adorable freckles across her cheeks and nose. Boone guessed her to be in her early to mid-thirties, although it was hard to tell.

He also still couldn’t really see the shape of her body because she was wearing her bulky utility belt and a bulletproof vest under her shirt. Her pants were typical uniform fare that didn’t show much of anything. But Boone bet she was muscular. Seeing the way she moved and how she easily maneuvered around anything in her path, made it more than obvious she was in shape.

Boone also noticed how cute her nose was—it seemed to tip up at the end—and how full her lips were, especially when she licked them, making them shine in the Texas sunlight…when she suddenly loudly cleared her throat and looked at him expectedly.

Shit. She’d asked him something. Boone knew he was blushing but tried to ignore it. God, to be caught gawking like a teenager. He rushed to answer, hoping she’d ignore his faux pas. “She’s the daughter of one of my buyers. He came to the house to examine a bull he was considering buying and Dana was with him. We chatted while her dad looked over the bull.”

When he didn’t continue, Hayden asked, “That’s it?”

Boone shrugged. “Yeah. She asked if I wanted to go to dinner, and I said yes.”

“
She
asked
you
to dinner?”

“Uh huh. Why?”

“You don’t seem the type.”

“The type to what?”

“To let the woman do the asking.”

Boone was impressed Hayden had him pegged after only meeting him once before. “I’m not. But she took me by surprise. And she asked in front of her father.”

“Ahhhhh.” Hayden’s response was knowing. “You didn’t want to lose the sale.”

Boone ran a hand over the back of his neck, embarrassed. “Something like that,” he mumbled miserably.

Surprisingly, Hayden laughed. “Don’t feel bad, Boone. Seriously. You couldn’t have known she’d turn out to be psycho.”

“Yeah, but even as I said yes, something told me I was making a mistake. I should’ve manned up and declined, or at least not carried it as far as it went.”

Hayden got serious. “This is not your fault. Do not take this on yourself. You didn’t ask for this, and you don’t deserve this. Sleeping with her doesn’t give her the right to hit you or to make your life miserable. No matter what you said, or didn’t say, this is not normal behavior. Okay?”

Boone looked into Hayden’s dark green eyes that held absolutely no hint of disgust. He nodded, more relieved than he could even admit to himself that she didn’t seem to look down on him for the situation he was in.

“Can I ask you something though?” Hayden asked the question even as she turned back to photographing more of the vile words on his truck.

“Anything.”

“Why are you allowing her to do this to you?”

“What do you mean?”

Hayden turned to him. Boone saw her bite her lip before taking a deep breath. Her words were quiet. “I’m not condoning anything here, you understand. But you’re a big guy. You’re one of the most masculine men I think I’ve ever met…but it’s obvious she’s hit you in the past. Last week you had a still-healing wound on your cheek. I even saw a gash on your arm, like you defended yourself against something. I’m not sure I understand why you didn’t strike back, or at least protect yourself from being hurt by her. You wouldn’t get in trouble for defending yourself.”

“Maybe not, but it’d be my word against hers, and I know how that usually turns out. Look at last week…if you weren’t there I have no doubt I would’ve been hauled off to jail. Besides, I don’t hit women.”

“I didn’t necessarily mean—”

Boone cut her off and repeated, “I don’t hit women.
Ever
. No matter what Dana does to me, I will not hit her. I won’t strike back at her, I won’t restrain her, I won’t push her, I won’t throw anything at her. There’s absolutely no way in hell I’d
ever
hit a woman.”

Boone knew Hayden understood something big was going on in his mind, but she was silent. Most women he knew would jump right in and reassure him or change the subject. Not Hayden. She kept her gaze on him and didn’t say a word. It made him want to elaborate.

“My father built this farm from the ground up. He worked his ass off for this place. He had a best friend who was with him every step of the way. They got up at the crack of dawn and worked all day long. Both he and Chris were gone on buying trips a lot, and all my dad wanted was for this place to be a success. He was a great husband and dad, but he had tunnel vision and was loyal to a fault.” Boone cleared his throat and then continued.

“Chris had a temper. I don’t know how often he did it, but he hit his wife. More than once. When I was twelve, I saw him hit her so hard, her eye swelled shut and she couldn’t see out of it for a week. Lizzy, as I called her, helped my mom at the house. I thought of her as my second mother. At one point, Lizzy thought she’d actually lose the sight in that eye. I swore then, seeing how much pain she was in and how she always made excuses for Chris, that I’d never hit a girl.”

“Boone…” His name was said with such sympathy and understanding, Boone had to continue or he’d do something crazy—like yank her into his arms and bury his head in her neck and bawl his eyes out, as un-manly as that was. He hurried on with his explanation.

“Chris was always sorry. So damn sorry. Lizzy loved him and she always forgave him. I know they loved each other, but I never understood it. My dad never did anything about the situation, either. I heard him talking to my mom about it and he said they’d work it out in their own way. I know back then things were different than they are now, but it seems to me, love means taking care of, protecting, and supporting someone, not hurting them. I know it’s not cool to let Dana hit me, but she will never egg me on so much that I’ll lose my temper and hit her. Ever. I learned my lesson firsthand growing up.”

“The world would be a better place if there were more men like you in it, Boone,” Hayden said in a quiet, but utterly sincere, voice.

He opened his mouth to say…something…he wasn’t sure what, but she continued before he could.

“With that being said, I’m sorry about Lizzy, but some women deserve to be hit. Shit, some women
need
to be hit. I’m not condoning smacking your wife or girlfriend around if you’re upset, but in my line of work, I’ve hit my fair share of women, men, and even a few kids. Well, teenagers who have needed a good attitude adjustment. There are some bad people out there, Boone, and while I admire your convictions, I can’t say the same thing.”

“It’s different for you.”

Hayden smiled sadly at him. “Maybe.”

“It is. Tell me about the last person you hit.”

“I’m not sure—”

“Tell me.”

Hayden sighed. How had she gotten into this conversation? If she wanted him to see her as a helpless female, the kind that men like him seemed to want, one who needed protecting, one who he might want to get to know better, this certainly wasn’t the way to go about it.

She mentally shrugged. Oh well. She didn’t think she had a chance to catch his eye anyway. After hearing his personal mantra, which was obviously set in stone, she’d known he was a good man. It was written all over him, from his head to his toes. She cleared her throat and straightened her shoulders. It wasn’t like he was coming on to her; they were just having a conversation.

“We were called to do a welfare check. A neighbor called it in. She hadn’t seen her neighbor’s kids in two days, which was unusual. We went over there and found the two children, ages two and three, locked in dog cages inside the apartment. We were busy with trying to calm down and restrain the husband when the mother figured out she was about to get in deep shit. She ran over to one of the cages, opened it, and snatched up the little boy inside. She got in his face and threatened him, ignoring our demands to put him down. When she started shaking him, shaking him so hard his little head was wobbling back and forth uncontrollably, I didn’t hesitate to coldcock her in the side of the head. I grabbed the little boy when she put her hand to her face and my partner threw her to the ground and held her there until I could assist him in putting the cuffs on her.”

“Good for you.”

Hayden didn’t like remembering the scene and what she’d done, but she knew if faced with the situation again, she’d do everything exactly the same way—well, except for letting the coked-out woman get her hands on her kid in the first place. “I won’t hesitate to hit, punch, or throw someone over my shoulder, or even shoot them if I have to.”