His to Love (Carmel Springs Book 6)

Chapter 3

Clayton~

"What the fuck, Clay?" Jax hissed. "I mean, you might not be the nicest guy in town, but I've never seen you be this rude."

At this afternoon's shift pass down, more and more of the guys had introduced themselves to Stevie, welcoming her to Carmel Springs or whatever, but like yesterday, I had remained on my side of the room, ignoring her.

After the pass down, Ridge Dennison had wanted to talk to me about a car that he'd seen yesterday near the veterinarian clinic. Now, while no one outside the family knew of Winter's ex-husband, the possessiveness that my brothers displayed towards their fiancés wasn't a secret to anyone in this town. If anyone saw anything weird near the clinic, bakery, hardware store, gym, or diner, they were quick to let one of us know. Ridge's concern was that it'd been creeping along, but as soon as the driver noticed Ridge was eyeing him, he had taken off before Ridge could get a good look at the license plate, though he had been able to give me the color, make, and model of the vehicle.

As soon as Ridge had relayed the information, I had wasted no time in calling Trayce. After that, I had pull Jax and Brett aside to let them know what was going on, and while it could be absolutely nothing, none of us were going to take the chance where Winter was concerned. However, once we'd gotten that settled, Jax had immediately lit into me.

"I seriously doubt that my lack of enthusiasm is keeping her up at night, Jax," I drawled out.

"That's not the point," Brett said, picking up where Jax left off. "Usually, you have a good reason for being rude, but not this time, Clayton. Right now, you're being rude just to be a dick."

"I'm sure she'll make plenty of friends while she's here, boys," I told them. "She doesn't need me for anything."

Jax's eyes narrowed. "Until you're pulling another double and she needs you for backup."

"If she even calls you," Brett huffed. "If you can't even bother to introduce yourself, why would she feel comfortable calling you for backup?"

"Because there won't be three to four other cops that she can call in case she needs backup?" I challenged. "Besides, this is Carmel Springs, how much backup is she going to need? And if she needs it that much, then maybe she shouldn't be a cop."

"Wow," Jax said, his eyes wide.

"That's a shitty thing to say, even for you," Brett retorted.

I let out a deep breath because I knew that I was close to crossing a line. I had feelings for a girl that I didn't even know, and it was fucking me up a bit. Usually, I was the level-headed one, but I'd been struggling with logic ever since yesterday.

"She's thirty, hardly a child," Jax said. "She's got a degree in criminology, and she has five years of police work under her belt-"

"Police work in a city far more dangerous than Carmel Springs," Brett added, still pissy.

"Not to mention that Chief Sergio is a good judge of character," Jax continued. "So, by all accounts, she's smart, dedicated, experienced, and nice." He slapped his hands on his hips. "So, what the hell is your problem?"

"You guys are making it sound like I'm freezing her out, and I'm not," I hissed back. "Who gives a fuck if I sprinkle out the rose pedals for her or not? What's the big damn deal?"

"Well-"

"In fact, if I'm such an asshole, she's better off not knowing me, don't you think?" I posed, stopping Brett from saying whatever he'd been about to yap my way. "Why would you guys want to subject her to my shitty personality?"