He’d die and perhaps kill for them. I should know. I was almost at the receiving end of the latter. I went back to Hollow Brook the summer after that nasty breakup Lex and I had, and it was Marlin who shoved me through a plate glass window. I ran into Lex having dinner with her family and all but begged for a chance to speak with her. When I wouldn’t take the hint and leave her alone, it was Marlin who kindly showed me to the door—in reality, he made a whole new exit. The cops were called, and, well, according to Lex, that was the night he decided to look into becoming an officer of the law himself. “What the hell does this woman want with Lex?”
I start in on “Stumpy” and the insanity that led to Lex quickly becoming the pariah of every dog lover, including just about everyone at the institute for the deaf and hard of hearing without meaning to.
“Crap. I ran right through those protesters the day I came looking for Lex and found her in your bed. It never even occurred to me they were there for her.” He smacks his eye with his palm. “And you let this crap fly for three solid months?”
“No, I monitored it. What I didn’t let fly was our breakup. Lex and I are back together.”
Marlin groans as if I just struck him in the gut full force with a baseball bat. “You sure she’s on the same page? Lex might let you think you’re back together, but she’s probably plotting your demise.” A thin smile creeps up his face as if he might be doing the same.
“She’s in.” Marlin and I glare at one another as if this were a standoff that was about to end with a gunshot, and considering he’s the only one armed in this scenario, it very well might. “Look—we both care about Lex, and this woman right here is making her existence miserable. She’s even got The Pelican covered with protesters. Lex can’t catch a break. The last thing I need is for this to escalate further. Nobody hurts Lex on my watch, and I say this ends today.”
He clicks his tongue, shaking his head at Stumpy’s picture again. Lex even has me calling her that. You have to admit it’s catchy. “Give me a minute.”
In less than thirty seconds, Marlin discovers that sure enough good ol’ Stumpy has an arrest warrant for an entire slew of outstanding parking citations as long as my arm.
Marlin pulls out his phone. “I’ll call the boys over in Hollow Brook and give Lex an early Christmas present.” He growls over at me. “Don’t worry, lover boy. I plan on letting her know it was all your doing. Go on now. Get lost. You’ve done your good deed for the day. Just know if you break my sister’s heart again, I’ll have your body pumped full of bullets, and then I’ll make sure the guy who did it gets thrown away for a very long time.” He gives an obnoxious grin. “I’m all about justice.” He flicks his badge with his finger.
“Cute.” I rap my knuckles over the table two times fast. “This isn’t the only reason I called you down here. I’m planning on asking Lex to marry me, and seeing that your father is no longer with us—I was hoping you’d give me your blessing.”
He lets out a sharp howl of a laugh, and my stomach plummets. Everything in me sinks like lead right to the core of the earth. Deep down, I knew this wasn’t my brightest idea.
“You really want to marry Lex?” He ticks his head back with a strangled look of shock as if he couldn’t understand why anyone would. “You have met her, right?”
“Yes. And if you would spend a little time with her, you’ll see she’s changed. She’s softer, kinder, but at the core still very much herself. She’s had a tough past few months.”
“Only because you’ve been in ’em.”
I shake my head, not sure which way to go with it. He is right. “You’re full of it today, aren’t you?” I take a breath and stare at this masculine version of the woman I love. “So what’s it going to be? Do I have your blessing? Or do I go on without it? Because right now those are my only two choices.”
Marlin leans back, expanding his chest in that navy uniform, only to elicit a sigh from