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“And since when do you give a shit about me, Co
I could feel Dakota and Dylan’s eyes on me, and had to force myself not to react to her question. Instead, I shrugged and sipped at the new beer that had been placed in front of me. “I’m a cop, Mini . . . it’s ingrained in me to make sure everyone is okay to drive.”
With a slow shake of her head, she stared me down for a few tense moments before walking backward, with Amber in tow. “I’m fine. The last thing I need is you looking after me. I already have four brothers, I don’t need another.”
I’d deserved that. I’d called her the name she hated the most coming from me, judging by her reaction yesterday in her office. But I couldn’t think of anything else to do without her brothers thinking something was up. When had I ever stopped her from leaving when it turned out we were all at the same bar together? Never. But, fuck, having her call me her brother hurt. Not nearly as bad as the way those gray eyes went from challenging to hurt in a split second, though.
What was happening between us? Had I been missing these small signs from Maci for months . . . years, even? Or was I just imagining things because for the first time in my life, I couldn’t get this frustrating girl out of my mind?
Dakota pounded on my back and I had to throw my arm out over the table when the beer in my hand sloshed over on me. “Scared me for a second there, bro. You’ve never offered to call a cab for Maci.”
Think, Co
“They’re fine. Mini knows not to drive drunk, but, shit, Amber gets hotter every time I see her.” Dylan said, and looked over his shoulder at the door. I didn’t need to look with him, I’d watched out of the corner of my eye until Maci had left.
Dakota held out a fist over the table and Dylan smacked his own on it. “Hell yeah she does, and she’s going to Mammoth with us this year. You’re still coming, right, Co
“Yeah, of course I am. When have I missed a winter with you guys up there?”
“Fifty says I get with Amber first,” Dylan said, challenging his brother.
Dakota snorted and chugged his beer. “You’re on.”
Fifty says I don’t last until Mammoth before I lose my fucking mind trying to stay away from their sister.
MY EYES FLASHED open and I automatically, and quietly, reached for my Springfield XDm on my nightstand. Slipping out of bed, I took slow and calculated steps, with my arms raised in front of me. More noises came from the front of my apartment, and I stopped just at the turning point in my hallway, trying to listen to figure out how many people were in my apartment. It sounded like one, and whoever it was wasn’t trying to be quiet. Just before I rounded the corner, I heard it. That damn raspy voice I’d been dreaming of the last two nights.
“Shit. Fuck. Sorry, lamp! Shh! Stay quiet,” Maci whisper-yelled in the front of my apartment.
I dropped my arms and let out a huff as I rounded the corner and found her fumbling with a lamp on the table at the end of my couch. I scratched at my forehead and dropped my hand to cover my mouth when I started to laugh as I waited for her to get it stable again.
“Good boy, lamp. Now, stay!”
“Maci.”
She whirled around so fast that her purse hit the lamp and knocked it off the table and onto the floor. “Fuck! I’m sorry! I told you to stay,” she hissed down at the lamp, and fell half onto the couch, half onto the floor, bending over to see where it had fallen.
“Damn it,” I mumbled, and ran over to put my gun on the bar countertop before going to Maci. “You okay there?” I asked as I pulled her fully onto the couch and brushed her wild hair back from her face.
“Co
“Hey, Mace. Little bit drunk tonight?”
“What? No, I just wanted to—hi.”
I couldn’t help it. I cracked a smile and had to drop my head when I started laughing. “Hi, Maci. Baby, do you know what apartment you’re in?”
“Where’d you come from?” she asked her massive purse as she took it off her shoulder, stared at it, and let it fall to the floor.
I just shook my head and repeated my question. “Maci, do you know what apartment you’re in?”
She looked back over at me, and her eyes widened when she saw me. “Co
“Maci, stop! Stop, undressing.” I grabbed her hands and kept them from going higher. “Maci. Do you know that you’re in my apartment?”
Maci looked around confused for a second, and then nodded slowly before leaning all the way to the right to whisper to a pillow. “Did you bring me here?”
“Did you drive home?”
“Ooo, I love him. He’s soft, and my face is in love with him.”
“Oh, Jesus Christ. Maci, it’s a pillow.” I sat her up and gripped her chin with my hand. “Did. You. Drive. Home. Tell me now.”
She started giggling until she was laughing loudly and leaning into my bare chest. “Of course not, Detective Green.”
“Thank God. Who drove you home? Was it Amber?”
Maci sat up so fast I was afraid she was about to throw up, but she just looked around and pointed at random things in my apartment. “No, Amber . . . where’d Amber . . . oh, Amber’s boyfriend came.”
“He drove you home?”
“No, no. This guy I met at the bar we went to, he was so sweet! I think his name was John, or Josh . . . or . . . where’d my pillow go?”
I had to let go of her so my hands wouldn’t hurt her as they clenched into fists. I wanted to yell at her for letting some random guy drive her home. I wanted to tell her about how many times I’d had calls where girl’s bodies Maci’s age and younger were found dumped on the side of the road. But she was so gone right now, it wouldn’t even matter. Then something else occurred to me.
“Maci, Maci wake up!” I pulled her up from the pillow and made her look at me again. “Did he walk you upstairs? Did you tell him which apartment was yours?”
“No, no . . . he just dropped me off.”
I let go of her and ran my hands over my face. Thank God Maci had some kind of sense when she was wasted. But I sure as shit wasn’t letting her go back to her apartment tonight. I still didn’t trust the guy who brought her home, or what she might have told him.
“I love you.”
My hands froze and I dropped them slowly as I turned to look at her, but she was cuddling the damn pillow again—oh dear God she just kissed it.
“All right, I think you’ve had enough time with this pillow. Come on, let’s get you to bed.” I pulled her up and she struggled against me as I tried to take the pillow away from her.
“No, he’s so soft! My face loves him!”
“I know, you’ve professed your love for my pillow a few times now, but I’m go
“No”—she whined—“pillow!”
I stood with her in my arms and laughed when she reached toward the couch. “I have softer pillows on my bed,” I whispered into her ear.
She froze for all of two seconds before throwing her arm out and pointing in the direction of my bedroom. “Pillows!”
“Christ, you are so fucking drunk,” I mumbled to myself. “How about this: you help me take care of you, and I’ll give you all the pillows you want. Deal?”
When she turned to look up at me, our faces were so close that everything in me halted for a few seconds as I fought with the dreams and fantasies I’d been having.
Maci’s face scrunched in concentration before nodding. “Deal.”