The Rookie

by A J Kent

  “After you, Princess,” Ryan says, holding his hand out to the dancefloor.

  I shrug and make my way to the centre of the dance floor. I’ve don’t have anyone to make jealous, so I might as well let my hair down and have a good time.

  Especially considering Theodore and Henley have no intention of dancing.

  Ryan put his hands on my waist, his fingers tighten as he grips my ribs. He moves my body to the music, edging closer and closer to my chest with every movement. He dips his head forward and looks at me with hooded and sultry eyes. Oh hell, he definitely wants to score tonight. Ryan loosens his grip on my hips before he drops them lower on my body, his hands roaming the curves of my hips. He briefly closes his eyes and a groan escapes his lips as he squeezes my curves with his hands.

  “Did I tell you how sexy you looked tonight, princess?” Ryan says his mouth nearly nibbling at my ear.

  I smile and move my head away, “Thank you, that’s very kind of you,” I say trying to put some distance between us. Don’t get me wrong he’s definitely attractive with his blonde hair and light eyes but he just doesn’t get my motor running like a certain someone. I’m happy to dance with him and have a good evening but that’s all he’s going to get. This girl will not be putting out for anyone tonight.

  Unless the man has chestnut hair and emerald green eyes.

  Ryan continues dancing with me his hands roaming my body despite me trying to put some space between us. He’s starting to get a bit handsy as he downs his drink, the third he’s had since we’ve been dancing. I want him to stop but I don’t want to make a scene. That would make things awkward especially since we still need to work together on a case.

  “How about we get out of here?” he asks his eyes hooded with lust and sex.

  I shake my head and remove my hands from his shoulders “No thanks, I’m going to go get some water. I’m parched.”

  I turn on my heels and make my way towards the bar when a strong hand is gripping my arm and pulling my back into a hard chest, a chest I don’t want to be anywhere near. “Come on Holmes, you know you want to. I see the way you look at me.” What the actual hell. This man is delusional.

  I pull my hand from his grip and his eyes widen in shock. “I have no idea what you’re on about Ryan.”

  He laughs as he steps closer to me, “Stop lying princess, you want me just as much as I want you and we are going to make it happen. You are going to let me fuck that lit—.”

  Bang. Thump.

  A fist is flying past my face and smashing into Ryan’s jaw.

  Shit. Officer Ryan is on the floor.

  I turn around to look at the owner of the fist and to my delight I am met with a pair of emerald green eyes, primal and ready to kill. Theodore grabs my hand, gently, before pulling me outside.

  “Www-ait. Lottie.”

  He shakes his head, “She’s fine. She’s with Henley.”

  I exhale a sigh of relief and continue walking outside with Theodore. He ushers me towards a bench before telling me to sit down.

  “What just happened?” I ask, plopping my ass on the bench outside the club.

  He clicks his knuckles before turning to face me, “I punched Officer Meadon in the fucking face,” he says calmly.

  I laugh, “Yes Theodore, I saw that. My question, however, is why you punched Officer Meadon in the fucking face?” He raises his eyebrows and smiles at my curse words.

  He shakes his head and growls, “The fucker had his hands all over you.”

  “We were dancing.” I shrug, choosing not to disclose the fact that Ryan was trying to get into my pants.

  “That,” he pauses, “Was not dancing. I could see from the other side of the dancefloor that you were uncomfortable with his hands all over you. Why didn’t you do anything?” he questions.

  This man is too observant for his own good.

  “I tried but he was having none of it. He was hoping to get—.” I stop, nearly forgetting myself. Theodore does not need to hear that.

  Theodore scowls and prompts me to continue speaking.

  “He was hoping to get laid tonight,” I say. There’s no point hiding it, or he would have just kept trying to pry for the rest of the evening. Theodore is relentless when he wants to find something out. It’s hot don’t get me wrong but relentless none the less.

  “That’s disgusting,” he spits out.

  Ouch. Well that freaking hurt. I know I’m not the best-looking woman but that’s a bit harsh. Especially coming from someone who is supposed to be my friend.

  “Christ, Theo. There’s no need to be mean,” I bite.

  Theodore’s eyes quadruple in size before he slams down onto the bench and grabs my hand, “No, Rory, I wasn’t calling you disgusting for Christ’s sake,” he pauses, “The thought of Meadon trying to get you into bed is what I’m not happy with.”

  Why would he have a problem with men trying to sleep with me. It’s not like he’s in love with me anymore so I don’t see the problem here.

  “Why does that not make you happy Theodore?” I question edging myself closer to him.

  He sucks in a breath when he notices my leg touch his.

  He sweeps his tongue out onto his bottom lip, my eyes glued to every movement he makes. I wonder what it would be like to taste him. For him to devour my mouth.

  “I just don’t like the thought of you sleeping with other men, Rory, okay.”

  I put my hand on his thigh and an involuntary groan escapes his lips. Bingo, just like the one from this afternoon.

  “Why does the thought of me fucking other men bother you, Theodore?” my voice is low and breathy.

  He bites his lips, closing his eyes voluntarily before looking down at my hand stroking his thigh. I don’t even remember when I stared moving my hand on his thigh, but the vodka is running through my veins, providing me with a supply of confidence and much needed liquid courage.

  “Rory” he groans, “What are you doing?”

  I lean my body closer to his, my body shaking to its core as I exhale his scent. His hot, sexy, masculine scent. He smells like a forest and clean laundry.

  “What are you doing, Theodore?” I say motioning to his hand now gripping my thigh.

  He looks down, his face overcome with shock as he realises that he put his hand on my skin without even thinking about it.

  “Rory, what is happening?” Theodore asks again as his hand moves up and down my thigh.

  I smile and wink, “I’m just enjoying spending time with you.”

  He closes his eyes and sighs before moving his closer to mine. My body responds immediately, my face moving closer to his. I am so close to him that I can see the yellow speck in his eye and the scotch glistening on his lips.

  Would it be bad of me to have a taste? Just one taste. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt right?

  Theodore removes his hand from my thigh before using them both to cup my face. My cheeks heat up at the touch of his soft fingers on my skin. His touch is so delicate, so gentle but so mind-numbingly incredible.

  Our chests both start to rise in unison, our breathing getting louder and louder as our faces get even closer to each other. I move my hand to grip his hair and pull his head closer to mine. I am going for it. I can’t hold back anymore. I need to kiss him. I need to taste him. I need to feel him against my lips. He wasn’t my first kiss, but I wouldn’t mind him being my last kiss.

  He closes his eyes as I grab his hair and I go to do the same until a familiar voice is pulling us out of our trance. His eyes shoot open before he drops his hands and moves his body to the other side of the bench.

  “Busted,” Henley says as Lottie laughs next to him.

  I roll my eyes and Theodore clears his throat, “Your timing is fucking shit,” Theodore says as he stands up and heads towards Henley, punching him in the gut as he walks past him.

  He doubles over but laughs at the same time, “What can I say, you taught be to always be punctual.” he fires back.

  Th
eodore tells him to fuck off before heading back into the club.

  Henley follows him close on his heels.

  Lottie walks over to me and flops down next to me on the bench.

  “So, are you going to tell me what just happened?”

  I laugh, “Nothing happened, you and Henley freaking ruined it.”

  She holds her hands up and apologises before shaking her head, “Do you think that would have been a good idea though?” she questions.

  My whole body is screaming no. But my heart is screaming yes, yes, yes. I know it wouldn’t have been a good idea to kiss Theodore. We have just started to become friends again and I can see he’s starting to trust me again. That kiss would have messed things up and made things awkward between us, but my heart is saying the opposite.

  My heart wants more, so much more. Sure, Theodore may have said he doesn’t have feelings for me anymore but that doesn’t mean that he’s not attracted to me, hell he was just about to share a kiss with me. What harm would it be if we shared a kiss now and then. Who knows it could have led to something more. Something real.

  She stands up and pulls me up along with her, “All I am saying is be careful okay. You know what you’re like. You’ve been in love with that man forever. Do you really want to risk having him in your life again if something goes wrong?”

  I sigh and blow out a breath. I hate to admit it, but Lottie is right. Sure, I might be in love with him but he’s definitely not in love with me. He told me so himself. If something did go wrong, I could potentially lose him from my life again and I really don’t want that.

  I am finally starting to feel like myself again.

  I am finally starting to feel at home.

  One wrong move with Theodore and that could be the end of us.

  I am not ready to lose my best friend.

  Even if it means I need to move one. Even if it means I need to stop loving him.

  11

  Theodore

  How did I nearly kiss Rory? How did Rory nearly kiss me? How did I allow us to get into that position? I nearly took things too far. I cannot go there. I will not go there. I promised myself that I would never allow myself to get my heart broken by a woman again. Despite how much I wanted to taste those lips, to nibble on that tongue, it just cannot happen. As much I hated Henley and Charlotte walking out and interrupting us, I can’t be angry at them as they stopped me from making a mistake.

  The mistake would not have been kissing her. Kissing her would have been mesmerising. Earth shattering. Exquisite. The mistake would have been me allowing her to consume me again. To take over my heart. The mistake would have been me allowing her to fight her way back into my heart. I’ve only just started to glue myself back together. It’s hard enough being around her every day. It’s hard enough pretending to myself and those around me that she doesn’t have an effect on me.

  Rory Holmes is my own brand of kryptonite.

  All consuming.

  I take a sip of my fourth coffee of the morning and continue reading the case file. We’ve got a new lead on the case, a possible witness who saw our latest victim being put into a van by two people. The witness is a nineteen-year-old student who was walking home from the library when she saw the altercation happening. According to the report, by the time she pulled her phone out to take a picture of the plates and to call 911 the van had already gone. Luckily for us she still called it in. I continue reading through the information as Henley and Officer fuck face walk through the door, each with a coffee in hand.

  “What happened to you. Looks like you’ve been in the ring with Deontay Wilder?” I ask Meadon, knowing perfectly well that he has no idea that I was the one that smashed his teeth in.

  He groans as he sinks into the seat opposite me across the table, “Some asshole punched me in the face last night. Knocked me to the floor and everything. The guy must have been a machine. One blow to the face and I was on the floor crying like a fucking little girl.”

  Henley laughs and takes a big sip of his coffee before he looks over the folder I was just reading from.

  “Good. You’re taking it like a man.” I laugh.

  “The fucking jackass stopped me nailing a hot piece of ass.”

  My jaw clenches and my hand grips the table. Henley’s eyes shoot up from the folder and he looks at me, knowing exactly who Ryan is talking about and where this is going to go. It looks like round two is about to happen.

  I stand up slowly, my eyes burning into Ryan’s face. I walk to the other side of the table and look down at him.

  “Say that aga—.”

  “Wow is that the time,” Henley interrupts. “We better go talk to this witness, Theo,” he grips my shoulder before pushing me out of the door, not removing my skin from his grip until we get to the SUV.

  “What the fuck man, you need to keep your cool. You can’t go fucking up people’s faces, especially when we are working with them. You need to get your anger in check,” Henley chastises me as he jumps into the driver’s seat.

  I hop into the passenger seat and pull the seatbelt across my chest, “That asshole was talking about Rory. What did you expect? I think anger would be the normal reaction for anyone,” I bite back, annoyed that he doesn’t see the errors of Ryan’s ways.

  He groans before pulling off towards the witness’s home, “Man, I know exactly where you’re coming from but you can’t fuck someone up every time they look at Rory or talk about sleeping with her. The woman is hot, men are going to be attracted to her. You either need to claim her as yours or move the fuck on.”

  I close my eyes and recline the chair. I know he’s right. I have no intention of claiming Rory as mine. I may want to taste her lips and feel her body explode into ecstasy under me but that’s as far as the attraction goes. Theodore Riley does not do relationships. Especially with women who have already sent their heart to hell and back.

  Henley and I spend the remainder of the journey talking about the case and discussing how we are going to approach the witness to ensure that we get all the information we need to help us further progress the case. There are too many loopholes in this case and there is something we are definitely missing. Hopefully this witness will be able to piece together some of the facts and provide us with a better lead. No more than fifteen minutes later, Henley is parking the black SUV outside a white and blue bungalow. There’s a blue wrap-around porch with an array of different flowers scattered around the garden.

  “Nice house,” Henley says as we walk towards the front door.

  I knock the door and a few moments later a short girl with pink and purple hair answers the door, “Can I help you?” she asks, her voice low and sweet.

  We both pull our badges out, “Good morning Miss, my name is Agent Riley, and this here is Agent Jefferson. We are from the FBI. Are you Emilia by any chance?” the colourful haired girl scrunches her eyes as she leans closer to read the badges.

  She steps back and nods, “Yes, I’m Emilia, you better come in.”

  Emilia holds the door open further and moves to one side allowing Henley and I room to get in. She closes the door behind us before ushering us towards the sitting room. She takes a seat on an armchair and Henley and I sink down into a bright yellow coach with white and green pillows. This family definitely likes colourful things. It’s like a fucking unicorn threw up in here. It is making my head spin.

  “I guess you’re here about what I saw?” she asks.

  Henley nods, “I know you’ve told the local police department everything, but it would really help us if you could tell us again. If you could start from the beginning that would be great,” he says as he pulls a black notebook and pen from his back pocket.

  She sighs before crossing her legs. She pulls a fluffy pillow from behind her and rests it on her lap.

  “I was heading home from the library, it was late, maybe eleven. I was the only one around. I was down by Main Street and I quickly stopped for a coffee at one of those all-night food stands. By this
time, it was probably eleven thirty. I started to head home when I heard some muffled voices. So, I walked a bit quicker, some dodgy things happen at night around here, so I didn’t want to stick around. I practically ran around the corner and that is where I noticed a grey van with a red stripe on the side parked on the other side of the road. The back doors were open and there was a woman standing there.”

  “How old was the woman if you had to take a guess?” I interrupt.

  She pulls her lips into a weird shape before looking into space, ‘Maybe around thirty, from what I could see, she was attractive. She was wearing fitted jeans and a plain blue sweater, she had light blonde hair and it was tied up. Anyway, I thought nothing of it and kept walking when I heard a woman shout. I turned back around thinking it was the woman I just walked pass, so I wanted to make sure that she was okay. Us girls need to stick together you know. As I turned around, I saw a man, a much older man, with grey hair holding a young brunette in his arms. She was flapping around but her mouth was covered. He quickly pushed her into the van before the other woman closed the door. I quickly fumbled for my phone; it was at the bottom of my backpack, so I didn’t get there quick enough. By the time I finally had the phone the van was whizzing past me. I tried to get the plates, but it went too fast. I know it had a seven and the letter R in the plates, but other than that, nothing. I still called the police and told them all of this and they just said they would be in touch and well here you are.”

  The girl took a huge breath before leaning forward to grab a glass of water from the coffee table.

  Henley quickly scribbles information into the book, making sure he notes down every single detail.

  “Thanks for that,” I say. “I know it’s a lot and hard to witness but you’ve given us some good information. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?”

  Even though she thinks she’s given us every piece of information, there’s a high chance that she has forgotten quite a few details. When someone witnesses something like that, their body and mind goes into shock and their head almost always suppresses important information.