New Beginnings (27 page)

With a nod, he shut her door while she
buckled in. He hopped in and drove to where he knew her jeep would
be. Simons had called it in, and Fallon had already called Hayden
to interrogate him about what happened to Amethyst. Thanks to
Simons and those damned cuffs, Amethyst hadn’t been able to answer
her phone.

Thinking of Amethyst being manhandled by
that big brute put Hayden on the breaking point. He wanted to track
Simons down so he could beat him into the next state. That wouldn’t
help anything, and he reminded himself of that fact for the twelfth
time in 20 minutes.

Her Jeep wasn’t far away. He pulled up in
front of it. Before he could say or do anything, she hopped out of
the truck and hurried to her vehicle.

Hayden followed, “To make Simons feel
better, can I please check your glove box?”

She nodded, but had her back to him as she
unlocked the doors and climbed inside. He opened the passenger
door, leaned in and looked. There was nothing there but the proper
documents and a few CDs. “Just what I thought. I’m sorry he was so
rough with you. I made him take a couple days off. His family
situation doesn’t excuse his actions.”

“It’s okay. Fallon told me about his wife.
I’m sorry.” She shrugged. “Thank you for the ride.”

“Follow me, please?” He wasn’t going to
argue with her, but he wanted to keep an eye on her. Wanted to
protect her, and he knew she probably wouldn’t appreciate it, but
there was something about her that drove those instincts. She
seemed innocent, but so incredibly sensual at the same time. Hayden
wanted to get to know her, in every sense of the word, but had a
feeling he was going to have to take it really slow and work at
it.

She nodded, but rolled her eyes. Her
attitude finally started to come out, and he hoped that was a good
sign. That maybe she was starting to trust him a little.

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I’m shooting for a late November release