Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 72561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
He opened his arms for me, and I curled into his embrace, sinking into his warmth.
“I need to talk to you,” he said quietly.
My head turned, and I watched him with concerned eyes. “What is it?”
“I never meant for this to happen,” he said roughly.
I froze before I pushed on his chest to get away from him.
He tightened his arms on me.
“Shhh,” he said. “Sit still for a minute, please.”
I calmed, but only barely.
“I told you last night that I was in the middle of an investigation. But I wanted to let you know that, starting in the morning, I won’t be able to be seen with you.”
His words froze the air in my lungs, and tears pricked my eyes.
“If you didn’t want me, then why did you fuck me last night?” I snarled, pushing against his chest again.
“Stop it,” he snapped back, freezing my protests.
I stopped, and looked up into his eyes.
They were filled with worry and despair.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I have to give my testimony at Varian Strong’s trial. And until I do that, I want you to understand why I’m staying away from you,” he said softly, pulling me closer into his chest.
I laid my head down against the cool leather of his vest and waited for him to continue explaining.
He didn’t disappoint.
“He has some powerful friends. Friends that I don’t want you mixed up with. If he thinks he can stop me from testifying, he’ll use everything and anything in his power to do it,” he said jaggedly.
“Okay,” I agreed. “For how long?”
Did I sound needy?
Before last night, I hadn’t believed in love, but over the past few months, I’d certainly fallen off that wagon.
I was hopelessly in love with this man.
He’d mowed my lawn, saved me from an asthma attack, and I had a sneaking suspicion he’d been the one to replace the exhaust in my car, but I hadn’t been able to prove it.
He’d talked with me, watched me, allowed me to watch him, and had been a very charming man.
I hadn’t realized it at the time, but all it took was the threat of losing him to make me realize what was being taken from me.
“I’ll still live next door. Still visit you in the night when I can. But any other time, I’m going to act like I don’t know you. It’s only for two months,” he said.
He sounded like he was trying to convince himself, as well as me, and he wasn’t doing a good job with either.
“Okay,” I said brokenly.
“I promise, I’ll come back,” he said gruffly.
“Okay,” was all I could think to say.
“Don’t give up on me,” he demanded as he took a hold of my face.
I blinked slowly, and then nodded. “I’ll try.”
“You will.”
“I will,” I lied.
Sadly, after that night, I didn’t see much more of Loki other than the random night here and there. Which only goes to show that I shouldn’t trust a cop...right?
Chapter 6
Beards. Good for more than just decoration.
-T-shirt
Channing
Present time
“Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look so good.” Brittany asked me.
I shrugged, unwilling to admit that I’d been fighting a losing battle for the past three months. Especially not to her since she was so goddamned worried about me.
In fact, it’d gotten so bad that I rarely got more than three hours of sleep at night.
I don’t know what the big deal was. I didn’t even know Loki all that well.
Officer Bryce “Loki” Rector wasn’t even a part of my life before he was back out of it again. However, I couldn’t seem to let go. I couldn’t think about anything else. I couldn’t sleep because of my worsening nightmares, and I could barely afford my rent payment.
All of those things were starting to compound, and I really just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
And I really didn’t want to talk about it.
I knew she was worried about me, but I had to watch out for myself first, and breaking down in public wasn’t a good thing. At least not from my perspective. She wouldn’t wait much longer, either. She’d been more and more persistent lately, and I knew it was a matter of time before she finally got me drunk enough to talk.
“It was him, wasn’t it?” She asked softly. “He’s the one that made you like this. Did he hurt you, Chan? Did he do something...bad to you?”
My back straightened and I stared at her wide-eyed. “What are you talking about? The man never laid a finger on me! What would make you think that?”
“Oh, thank God. I’ve been working up the courage to ask you that for weeks now.” She sighed. “What are you getting for lunch?”
I shook my head and looked at the menu.
We were eating lunch at Applebee’s to celebrate Brittany’s twelfth 40th birthday. Amazing how she’s managed to stay 40 for all these years.
“I think I’ll have the...” she stopped when her phone started vibrating on the table in front of us. Reaching forward, she answered it and put it to her ear while I continued to peruse my menu.
I decided on honey-grilled chicken when the alarm in Brittany’s voice made me look up and study her face.
The lines around her face had hardened into a thin line, and she was scowling at the tabletop like it’d done her a horrible injustice.
“No, honey. I’ll be there in a couple of hours. Try to calm down. I know baby.” She sighed. “Daddy won’t care that you wrecked your car. All he’ll care about is that you’re alive to bitch about it. Yes, baby. I’ll meet you at the college. I love you.”
When she hung up, I stared at her in expectation. “What happened?”
She sighed and started gathering her things. “JJ got in an accident. It wasn’t her fault, but her car’s totaled and my husband’s in a meeting with the commissioner all afternoon. I have to go. Thank you for offering to buy me lunch. I’ll have to take a rain check.”
“Of course, Brit. I’ll treat you to lunch next week, okay?” I offered.