Mine to Keep

Evernight Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2012 Sam Crescent

ISBN: 978-1-77130-121-3

MINE TO KEEP

Cape Falls, 3

Sam Crescent

Copyright © 2012

Gabriel Anderson stopped the woman from falling over the loose banana skin in the middle of the road. She carried a screaming child in her arms with another wrapped around her leg. No one offered to help her even as the bag of groceries toppled out of her other hand.

The child had stopped screaming in her arms, and Gabriel stared into the most expressive brown eyes he’d ever seen. The woman in his arms was young, and she looked scared.

“Mummy,” the boy said.

“I’m okay, Billy. I’m so sorry,” she said. Gabriel watched as she quickly put the girl in the car followed by Billy.

“Don’t worry about it.” Gabriel picked up her tumbling groceries. She bent down to help. He saw the red burn marks on her arm where her shirt rolled up. Before he could respond he caught her arm in his hand and watched as she recoiled from him. The terror in her eyes couldn’t be mistaken.

“I’m sorry. You have burn marks.”

She pulled her arm away from him. “They were an accident during cooking.” She pushed her shirt down.

“I don’t mean to pry. I’m Gabriel Anderson. I’m the new sheriff.” He put his hand out to her. She stared at his hand before shaking it. Her fingers were weak and cold.

“Welcome to CapeFalls,” she said.

“Do I get your name?” he asked. The electricity from his touch couldn’t be mistaken. The connection flowed between them. Her eyes widened.

“I-I-I’m Amy Grant.”

“Well, Amy Grant. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“What the fuck are you doing touching my wife?” a man shouted, storming towards them. Amy pulled out of his touch. Gabriel watched her withdraw into herself. The guy came over, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to his side.

“I’m the new sheriff,” Gabriel said.

“Oh. Well, I’m Steven, and this is my wife, Amy. Talk to me from now on. She isn’t with it upstairs, if you know what I mean.” Steven yanked his wife into the front passenger seat of the car.

“Nice to meet you, Amy.” Gabriel watched as she looked back and nodded. Her door closed, and the car drove off. For the rest of the day, Gabriel did everything he could to find out about Amy Grant. By the end of the day when he went home, he knew he’d do everything in his power to protect her.

****

Six months later

Gabriel heard the call come in. The sound of Billy Grant’s scared little voice would stay with him for ten lifetimes. He’d been watching Amy’s husband for a while. For the past few months he’d been showing signs of flying off the deep end, and Gabriel knew it would only be a matter of time until he struck. He’d hoped to have Amy out of the house with her two children safe.

He broke the speed limit getting to their house. The lights were on. He got out of the car and heard the screams from the pavement. The ambulance had been called, along with several other members of the police.

Billy let him in, and Gabriel told him to go and get in his truck, to lock the doors and not open them until he saw him approaching with his mummy. Mia followed her brother outside.

Gabriel walked into the kitchen and saw red. Amy lay on the floor, howling in pain while Steven punched, kicked, and hurled abuse at her. Gabriel reacted by taking Steven down and bloodying the bastard up within seconds. When there was no chance of the other man getting up and he heard the sirens of the ambulance and police, he walked over to Amy.

Her face was a mess, and he saw she was shaking.

“It’s me, Amy. Gabriel. I’m here to take you away.”

“Are Mia and Billy okay?” she asked.

“They’re fine. Don’t worry about them. Worry about getting better. I’m going to pick you up. This may hurt a little.” He lifted her in his arms. She whimpered before wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Don’t drop me,” she croaked.

“Not on your life.”

He carried her to his truck. Billy opened the door, and he settled her down. Gabriel looked into her face and knew he would die a thousand deaths before he let any more pain come to her.

“Is she going to be all right?” Billy asked. The boy was far too scared for a boy his age. He should be playing with toy cars or watching come cartoons, not seated in the back of a truck wondering about the safety of his mum.

“We’re going to take care of her, all right? I need you two to help me out, and I promise you, nothing bad will happen to her.”

Mia and Bill did everything he asked while Gabriel took care of his woman. Over the months he’d come to view the small woman as his. She had a kind smile and caring nature. She was everything he didn’t deserve and yet craved. The dominant man inside him was appalled at the treatment she’d had at the hands of her husband.

He would spend the rest of his life caring for her. Even if he could never have her to himself.

“She’s the one I was telling you about. The woman who blamed her husband and sent him to prison. I can’t believe a woman would lie like that about her own husband,” the middle-aged woman whispered to her friend.

Amy Grant kept her back to them as she stacked the shelves with the used books that had been donated that morning. She was used to the cruel words, even if they did hurt. CapeFalls was her home, and yet people felt more comfortable treating her like an outsider than a local.

Biting her lip to contain her tears, Amy continued to stack the shelf in front of her.

“What is this town coming to? First there was Laura and Dean Riley. That scandal had my mommy rolling in her grave. Then those two Steer brothers sharing sweet Anna Myers. What is this town coming to?”

Their voices had risen, and they were no longer whispering. Amy felt like laughing. Anna was a happy woman married to two men who adored her, while Laura and Dean were expecting their second child. She didn’t see what the problem with was with CapeFalls. Where most towns and cities were moving into the twenty-first century, the townsfolk seemed to be content to go backwards.

“She’s probably sleeping with that Sheriff. You know, the new one who moved here a few years back. I heard he was the one who put Steven away.”

The gossip went on and on. She hated it when they mentioned Gabriel Anderson. The new Sheriff had been nothing but nice to her since he moved here. He was forty-five and one of the kindest men she knew. At the time, during Steven’s arrest, he’d been the only man who’d stood by her. She was now friends with Dean Riley and the two Steer brothers. The women placed some pictures on the counter along with a few items of clothing but refused to look her in the face.

The bell on the door rang letting her know someone had entered. She looked up, and her smile froze on her face. Gabriel stood in the doorway, looking her way. He always stopped by to see her. After the way these women had been talking she wished he hadn’t.

One of the women sniggered as Amy rang up their purchases. Her hand was shaking, and she heard him walking closer to the counter.

“He’s the one she’s having an affair with,” one of them whispered. Amy felt the heat fill her cheeks at their rudeness.

“Ladies, I know I’m not considered a proper member of CapeFalls, so I don’t see a need to be polite. Talking about someone while they’re standing right in front of you is fucking rude.”

Amy gasped at his cursing. None of the men talked down to these women in the community. They were respected members.

“How dare you?”

“I dare because, the way I see it, two respected women condone domestic violence, and I’ve seen one too many cases where the woman has been beaten to death because of her husband. It’s so nice to see two women like yourselves who believe a man should raise his fist.”

The women paled, and Amy wanted to curl up in a ball. She hated people talking about what happened with Steven. Her life with him had ended a year and a half ago. No one had a right to question her. She handed them their bags.

“Get the fuck out,” Gabriel said.

Amy watched them disappear with their heads held high.

“You know you’re going to be the main subject of afternoon lunch. They’ll be talking about that awful new Sheriff who doesn’t know how to control his language.” She picked up a cardboard box filled with clean clothes and moved to one of the stands.

“I couldn’t help it. Women like that piss me off and have done for a long time.”

“Then why did you move to capeFalls? Everyone here is like that,” she said. Gabriel was a contradiction to her. In one moment he made her feel safe, and in the next he made her feel a little uncomfortable. He was over six feet tall and made of muscles. There was not an ounce of fat on his profile. His arms were as thick as one of her legs. She knew he was strong as she remembered him carrying her out to his truck on the night that Steven almost killed her.

Her hand trembled as she placed it on a hook and then on the stand. His blond hair fell down in waves to his neck. She never thought she’d like a man with long hair, but on Gabriel it looked right. His blue eyes were always filled with kindness for her. She’d seen the hatred he held for the other women.

“The city is not a place to settle down.”

“And you think here is?” She looked over her shoulder and gave a startled cry at how close he was.

“If you hate it so much why do you stay?” he asked.

“I’ve nowhere else to go.”

He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. The act was so touching she felt like she was going to cry.

“You should never feel you have nowhere to go.” He cupped her cheek, and the spark inside her body scared her. She’d never experienced anything like it when Steven touched her. “Where are your kids today?” he asked.

She needed to focus, which was hard to do when he was touching her.

“They’re at playschool. My parents won’t have anything to do with me, and Steven’s won’t talk to me. I’m picking the kids up at five.”

He ran his thumb along her lip, and she could do nothing but stare into his eyes.

“I’ll pick you up at four-thirty from here, and we’ll go together to get some pizza,” he said.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know. I want to spend some time with you, Amy. I think your children like me, and I know they love pizza.”

Amy smiled thinking about her two children. They were twins, and they liked Gabriel more than they liked their own father.

“Okay. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Gabriel pulled away leaving behind the heat of his touch.

Amy watched his walk out of the shop. Her hear pounded inside her chest. She should not be having feelings for an older man. Her life was already messed up. One failed marriage and two kids were more than enough for her. She wasn’t twenty-four yet, and her life had gone from shit to worse since she’d started dating Steven.

****

Gabriel walked out of the shop. There was a chill in the air, and he pulled the collar of his jacket up as he walked down the street. Amy always bought out the protective instincts inside him. She was so fragile, and he knew she would break if left alone. If it hadn’t been for the few people who were now outcasts in the town befriending her then she would have folded months ago.

On his walk back to the station, he gained a few cold hard stares, which he didn’t care about. The city may have given him the anonymity that he craved, but CapeFalls gave him the peace and quiet he wanted. He disliked the fact people knew who he was, but at least he got to live a quiet life. In his forty-five years, he’d seen too much death and destruction for his liking. He didn’t want to think about the number of women he’d seen on cold hard slabs in the morgue. If it hadn’t been for her little boy calling the Sheriff’s department and his answering the call when he did, Amy would have become another statistic.

What sickened him the most was the number of people who thought Amy had been lying. He’d carried her out to his truck with her little kids following after she’d been beaten to a bloody pulp.

She’d weighed nothing in his arms, her body nothing but skin and bones. When he’d gone back to the house, he’d discovered the locks on the doors and fridge where the food was stored. Gabriel had asked Steven about the locks. The other guy had smirked and said he didn’t want to fuck a fatty. Her husband had been under the impression he was going home. The fucker had been in for a surprise when Gabriel bought charges against him and locked his ass up. The guy was serving five years in prison.

From the moment he met her, Gabriel had felt something for the younger woman. Over the last year he’d seen her bloom and open up to him. She needed someone in this world who wanted to care about her. Gabriel wanted to love her. He knew she wasn’t ready for the way he felt. The fact that she let him touch her was an improvement. In the early days of them knowing each other, she spent most of her time trying to put distance between them.

He got into the station and ignored the stares of his employees. They had no idea who he was and what he was capable of. In the city he’d turned into a violent man in order to protect the people in his area. If the need arose, he would kill someone.