Cade Creek 11 - Race Against Time by Stormy Glenn Page B

proof that Terrence Flannery was the man who attacked you, I doubt we have a case.”
    “But he—” Race snapped his mouth closed when the sheriff held up a hand.
    “While we may not have a solid case without evidence, and your word alone won’t cut it, that self-important jackass doesn’t know that.” The sheriff sounded about as disgusted with Terrence as Race was. “Once we take all of our reports, pictures of those injuries you got there, and present them to Flannery and his attorney, I imagine the man will take a plea.”
    “I have pictures,” Race said. “Every time he beat me up, my friend Aldrin took pictures.”
    “We’ll need those pictures.”
    “I can call Aldrin and have him e-mail those pictures to you.”
    The sheriff pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it over. “Tell him to e-mail them to the e-mail address on that card. Have him put your name in the subject line so I know to look for them.”
    Race breathed deep as he stared down at the card. “I will.” Maybe it was finally going to be over and he could start to build a life without fear. “I want this to be over with. I’m tired of being scared all of the time.”
    “It’s over, baby,” Ari said. “The sheriff has Terrence in custody. Once all of the evidence gets to him, he can build a case against Terrence and put him away for a very long time. You don’t have to be scared of him anymore.”
    “Come on, let’s get you out of here,” Vinnie said. “I think we’ve about worn out our welcome with Harvey.”
    Race glanced over to see the massive bar owner standing near the bar, his tattooed arms crossed over his chest. Race would have been worried about the deep frown on Harvey’s face if he didn’t know the guy pretty much always looked that way.
    “How mad do you think he is?” Race asked as they headed for the front door. He was glad Vinnie kept an arm around him because his eyes were on Harvey, wondering if he would ever be allowed to visit The Rust Nail again. It wasn’t looking promising.
    “Harvey doesn’t like shit started in his bar,” Vinnie said. “He likes it to be a place where people can come and relax, let their hair down, so to speak. He hates people making trouble.”
    “Oh man,” Race groaned, “he’s never going to let us in here again.”
    They had pretty much done nothing but make trouble since they walked into the place two hours ago.
    “It’ll be fine, Race.” Vinnie chuckled. “Harvey hates bullies even more than people making trouble.”
    “Yeah, but…” Race grimaced as he raised his eyes to meet Vinnie’s. “We made a lot of trouble.”
    “Honey,” Ari said, “we weren’t doing anything wrong. Terrence Flannery caused the trouble. Not us. We were just enjoying our dinner together.”
    Race didn’t think it was that simple, but what did he know? His instincts were screaming at him to run, and yet he walked calmly out to the truck with Vinnie and Ari. The idea of leaving Vinnie and Ari felt worse than staying to deal with Terrence, and Race didn’t understand that. Any logical person would be running for the hills.
    Obviously, he had lost his mind.
    “Do you want us to take you back to Dorian and Artie’s place?” Vinnie asked when they reached the truck. “Or do you feel up to coming home with us?”
    Was that even a legitimate question?
    “We’ll make sure you are safe, Race,” Vinnie added when Race hesitated.
    Ari stroked the back of his hand down the side of Race’s face. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Race. We’ll protect you no matter what.”
    Race swallowed hard. “And if I wanted to do something?”
    Because really, he had been thinking of not much else since they day he met the two men. He would be stupid to turn down this opportunity now that it had been presented to him. He didn’t know what his future held, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be pretty. Just once, before it went totally to shit, he wanted