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"Hey, asshole!" Mitch bellowed at the irlfriend"

A me? Get out of here, Mitch"

Eyes completely soulless, Mitch merely smiled "Make me"

Chapter 14

"They say ood-bye, sucker’"

Chloe Traeger

Earlier that iven so in bed He was tired, and already knew his desk was nothing but afor him He hated paperith the sa for hi his dad’s lahich re every few days

For all the good it did hi the food he brought Nolan Tho it out soon as Sawyer left, then ordering hiht about it all day, and fivehimself that loaded thick crust, the call came in--overly rowdy custo what the odds were that he’d get pizza tonight after all

Not good, he realized in the first two seconds of walking through the diner’s front door

"Who the fk called the pigs!" Mitch bellowed at the sight of Sawyer Swinging out, Mitch punched his fist through the bakery display

Glass shattered to the floor in a slow, , blood blooed a surprised Aainst hi her a shake "You?"

"No," Chloe said, rising fro up fallen dishes "I did it I called the police Don’t hurt her"

"Chloe" Without taking his eyes off Mitch, Sawyer gestured for her to sit back down "Mitch, let her go"

Mitch shook his head and tightened his grip on A to you," Chloe said to Mitch, not sitting down

"Chloe, godda at Chloe, clearly wishing he had enough arrab her, too

Lucille stood up next to Chloe "Mitchell Tyson, if you hurt that girl, I’ll tell your ers itched for his gun, but he couldn’t pull it The place was too crowded, each person being an unpredictable variable in this shitty situation

And Chloe knew that, dammit Anyone with any common sense would have just let hih bad spots to know that co a time of panic

And people were panicked, he could practically smell it The most panicked of all was Mitch Saatched the blood run down Mitch’s arm and wrist to drip on the floor With any luck, he’d pass out froain

"No way, uy like me"

Saould have liked to evacuate the diner quickly and quietly, but no one in Lucky Harbor did anything quickly or quietly "Nothing’s going to happen to you if you let her go" He took a few steps forward, stopping only when Mitch tightened his grip on A off her air supply

Amy clawed desperately at Mitch’s bloody ar her Stop it!"

Mitch eyed the front door, but Saas blocking it "Let her go," Sawyer told him "And I’ll let you walk free and clear" He spoke the lie s an eye

"Fine" Mitch shoved Amy hard at Sawyer, but before he could make his escape, Chloe whirled and executed a badass roundhouse kick to Mitch’s fao down He reached for Chloe, but Saas already lunging forward He vaulted the table between the Mitch in the middle of the back They crashed into the center of Chloe’s table The For them to the floor hard

Sawyer pulled Mitch’s hands behind his back and cuffed him just as the front door opened

Everyone craned their necks to see what now

Matt Boalked in Though he earing his forest ranger unifor loose and relaxed, sipping on a Starbucks coffee He took in the roo "Aw," he said to Sawyer, taking a slow sip of his coffee "You get all the fun"

Chloe, Maddie, and Tara helped Amy and Jan clean up the diner Chloe did so with an ear half bent toward the action outside, where Sawyer had hauled Mitch

The parking lot was cop central Chloe could see Sawyer in profile, looking particularly badass in his uniform and various weaponry, his face the usual impassive blank as he directed Mitch toward the back of an ambulance Odd how one man could evoke so many ee to smack him upside the back of his head? Yep, that was often there, too Affection? She’d have said no He didn’t need her affection, everyone admired and loved Sawyer, as just about the most composed, self-assured, capablesuspiciously close to affection filling her nohich had her shaking her head at herself

Todd, Jamie, and their other pal were out there, seated on the curb being questioned Inside the diner, things were nearly back to noret anyti Mitch Her stoic sheriff had been steady and cal to put his life on the line

It’d been that willingness that had really brought ho a thrill, the way she did when she went rock cli

His job was real And potentially lethal

There’d been that one horrible htened over Amy’s throat and Amy had made that little involuntary squeak as she’d used up the last of her air Terror More than anyone, Chloe knehat that terror was like, and she’d never felt so helpless in her life, so she’d interfered She’d just been so afraid that Sawyer’s help would come too late

She’d made it worse, but Sawyer had handled it He’d had an entire diner full of scared custoe

Ao hoently

Clearly made of sterner stuff, Amy shook her head "I’d rather be here and keep busy Besides, the police said I’ll need to answer some questions for their report in a few ot custo in now Lucille must have put it up on Facebook already"

The cook’s bell dinged froht smile at Chloe, A, she knehen her sisters closed in and flanked her A year and a half ago, they’d been coers to each other Now she could sense their presence without a single glance, just as she also knew that Tara was frowning in concern and Maddie aiting for the rightKissing Throwing the love around

Chloe could appreciate that the three of them were very different, that they each had their oay of expressing their feelings, but she herself was of the show-don’t-tell school She showed her feelings through actions, which she thought she’d done over and over again for her sisters by laying down roots here It certainly hadn’t been for herself At least not at first "Close call," she murmured

"You’ve had a few of those in as many days now," Tara said

"I’m fine"

"You always say that"

"It’s true"