Alpha's Castle - Ella Goode Page 0,24

don’t want to see him get hurt.” Tina adds.

That was sweet of them. I get it. Everyone in this town cares for each other. But what happens if Dane breaks my heart? He would have a whole town to comfort him. As for me, I’d just be alone again.

17

Dane

“The women just arrived at your house, Chief,” Bonnie informs me as I read over the shoe sales reports from the local retailers.

Women? My brow furrows at the plural version of the word woman. There should be only one of them there. There are only a handful of size ten wearing men in town who have bought shoes in the last six months and they’re all getting a visit from me today, but not before I puzzle this one out. “Did my mom drive out?”

A smile breaks across Bonnie’s face as wide as the ocean. “It is not your mom.”

“And you’re not going to tell me, are you?” I toss my pen down.

“It would ruin the surprise.” With that gleeful statement, Bonnie returns to her desk.

I glance at the clock. If I leave now, I can make a visit to all of these men and figure out who was peeping in Tina’s window before four. I pick up the phone, but my mom calls.

“Darling! I heard that Mae’s niece is out at your place. I’m going to get you groceries because I know you won’t have enough to eat. You eat like a bachelor.”

“I am a bachelor, Mom.”

“But you can’t act like one if you’re going to try to convince that sweet girl to marry you. You have to show off your good qualities!”

“I thought you always said I was the best catch in the county.”

“Of course, but this Khloe is from the big city. The men are different there.”

“Sounds fake to me.”

“Dane.”

“I’m kidding, Ma. I will buy groceries on my way home.”

“No. No. You won’t know what to buy for a woman. Leave it to me.” She hangs up before I can respond. I guess there’s nothing wrong with her buying groceries or trying to make me look good to Khloe.

I grab my list and start dialing again, only to be interrupted by Bonnie’s voice filtering through the intercom.

“Chief, there’s an out of towner here saying that his fiancée got kidnapped.”

I throw down my pen. At this rate, it’ll be midnight before I get home. In the front I find a country club boy standing impatiently at the receiving counter. He’s banging his finger impatiently on the countertop. “I need to make a report.”

“And here’s the form.” Bonnie pushes the paper in front of him. He brushes it aside, but before he can say another word, I take a step behind Bonnie and lean forward, shielding her with my body.

“What’s the problem?”

“The problem is this woman isn’t taking me seriously,” the blowhard snaps. “My fiancée has been kidnapped and the more that you sit on your donut ass, the farther away she gets.”

Bonnie tips her head toward me with a get a load of this guy look in her eyes.

“What’s her name and description?”

“Khloe Martins. She’s five foot six with blond hair, with not much of a rack and a fat ass. She could stand to lose a few pou—“

I punch him then. While the ex-boyfriend stumbles back and then collapses on his flat ass, Bonnie opens a report form on her computer.

“A request for maintenance?” I read on the top of the form.

“There’s obviously something wrong with the floor. That man tripped and fell. We can’t have hazards here in the police station,” she says innocently.

“Very true.” I give her shoulder a squeeze and then round the counter to go crouch by the still dazed ex. I dial up Khloe’s number. She answers right away.

“I’m at your house,” she says, panning the phone around my living room.

“I know. I put a tracker in your purse.”

“You what?” she screeches.

“Before we get into that, I wanted to ask if you know this guy?” I turn on the video and point the camera to the ex’s face.

“Oh my God, is that Derrick?”

“Is Derrick the ex?”

“Yes, but where are you and why is he on the floor and is that blood on his face?” She moves her head from side to side as if she can see more if she catches the right angle.

“He’s here at the station reporting a kidnapping of his fiancée.” I tap Derrick’s cheek and his eyelids flutter open. “He has blood on his face because I punched him.”

“The man