by Jenn Hype
Not that it mattered to me. I could care less. All I had to do was wait it out. Eventually Joe would get bored with her and I could go back to my normal life where I didn’t obsess over women I didn’t even know and didn’t want to know.
By the time Thursday came along, at the end of our shift, Stacy was waiting for Joe inside the precinct when we got back. She was leaning casually against the counter, chatting up a few of the other officers. They were all cracking up and hanging on her every word. It was pathetic watching them stare at her like she was the only piece of ass that remained and it was their last day on earth. What the hell was it about this girl that got every guy she met wrapped around her finger?
Well she didn’t affect me in the least, so there was at least one man left on the planet that wasn’t caught under her spell. So what if there was a twisting feeling in my gut just from the sight of her with the other guys, it wasn’t jealousy, it was just annoyance. Like when she stood on her toes to kiss Joe on the cheek when he walked up to her, for instance. The anger rising to my chest was only irritation at how much she distracted the guys from their work, and was most definitely not jealousy.
So when she turned in my direction and her lips turned up into the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen, I knew it was only because she loved to piss me off, and couldn’t possibly be because she was actually happy to see me. Then when she walked up to me and stood so close that I could hear her breathing accelerate and watch the deep, piercing blue of her irises darken, I felt nothing at all. Nope, not a damn thing.
I didn’t even feel the urge to run my fingers through her short blonde hair, or press my lips up against the soft and smooth skin of her neck where her rapid pulse was beating. The thought of running my hand up the back of her thigh and gripping her tight ass that was being showcased beautifully in her sinfully tight jeans didn’t do a thing for me.
Yep, nothing about her appealed to me. Nothing at all.
“Officer,” she said sweetly, pulling me out of my trance. She was holding out her hand for me to shake, and it felt like a trap, so all I could do was stand there and stare at her hand extended in the air like it was a snake about to sink its deadly little fangs in it’s next unsuspecting victim.
Only the way she was looking at me looked more like she would yank on my arm and pull me to her as she pressed her lips to mine as soon as I put her hand in mine. Or maybe that’s just what I wished would happen, but either way, engaging with her in any way would be a mistake. So instead of taking her hand, I forced my legs to move and walked past her and into the locker room to change.
Joe ran in after me and I did my best to ignore him. “Chad, man, what’s your problem? She was trying to be nice. Olive branch and all that shit.”
“She’s crazy, Joe. I figured it was a trap or something.”
“You thought her shaking your hand was a trap? What the hell is wrong with you, man?” I pretended not to notice Joe looking at me like I’d lost my damn mind and hoped he would get bored and just walk away, but a quick glance in his direction told me he wasn’t going anywhere without an explanation. When I still didn’t say anything, he started in with a lecture. “Look, she’s my friend and she’s going to be around so you need to find a way to get over whatever hang up it is you have with her. You can’t keep treating her like shit for no reason. I’m not saying you guys have to be best friends or even like each other, but you have to find a way to at least tolerate her and not act like a total asshole every time she’s around.”
“You know what? Screw you, Joe. You can be friends with whoever you want, but that doesn’t mean they have to be a part of my life. It’s not like you and I are great friends anyway, we’re colleagues. So as long as she doesn’t start tagging along while we’re on the clock, then there shouldn’t be any issues. Just go ahead and tell her to stay away from me, and I promise there won’t be any issues.”
I stormed off towards the showers, and this time Joe didn’t follow. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he punched me in the face the next time I saw him. What I’d said was really shitty and not at all true. I didn’t mean to lash out at him, but I couldn’t do what he was asking of me, and what was worse was not being able to explain why. Until I could figure out how someone who was still a complete stranger could so effortlessly pierce through walls I had thought impenetrable just by merely existing, then I at least needed some distance.
Chapter 3
Stacy
“What the hell, Joe?” I asked as he emerged from the locker room, out of his uniform and now in jeans and a t-shirt. He held up his hand as if telling me to stop talking, then slipped his arms into a button down shirt and started to button it up as he spoke.
“I know, Stace. I don’t know what his problem is. Just give it some time,” Joe explained with an edge of irritation and exhaustion in his voice. He grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side so that we weren’t blocking the doorway.
“Time? What does that mean? Time for what? He acts like he hates me, or in the very least, looks at me and treats me like I’m the host of every communicable disease known to man. If anything, I should be the one who hates him after he fucking arrested me for no reason,” I hissed, yanking out of Joe’s grip.
“Just don’t worry about it too much. It takes time for him to come around,” Joe tried to assure me. “Let’s just head out and get your mind off of it.”
Right as we turned to leave Chad came out of the locker room, hair dripping wet and his shirt clinging to his entire torso, like he hadn’t bothered to even attempt to dry off. He was still several feet away when he came to a halt, but I caught a whiff of his scent, and he smelled like soap with a hint of cologne. My stomach knotted, and I had to physically restrain myself from throwing my body at him and shoving my nose into his chest, just so I could breathe him in deeper.
I let my gaze drift down from his strong neck, all the way down to his jean clad thighs. There wasn’t anything on God’s green earth that could have stopped me from taking a long, slow perusal of his delicious body. Judging by how tightly his plain white t-shirt clung to every hard plane of his chest and abdomen, it looked to be a few sizes too small, and damn was I grateful. It was cruel, really, being able to see just enough of his taut body to make my legs weak, only to remember I’d probably never get to feel it up against mine.
When I finally let my eyes make their way back up to his face, his lips were pursed and his jaw was stiff, but his eyes...his eyes told an entirely different story. Everything about him, from the way his entire body tensed, to the tight, angry expression he wore, would have been intimidating if it weren’t for his traitorous eyes. If I hadn’t been looking closely, I might have missed how they widened just a fraction when he allowed himself the quickest glance at my perky chest that was being beautifully offered up to him beneath a very revealing halter top. And when his pupils dilated, I almost missed the flare of lust that was so fleeting I almost swore I’d imagined it.
I finally gained my composure, but when I opened my mouth to speak, he shoved past me and uttered a goodbye in Joe’s direction as he stormed out the door. As irritated as I was with how incredibly rude Chad was every time we were near each other, I at least had to credit him for his consistency.
Chad’s ability to so quickly judge and then disregard me, even despite his obvious attraction to me, had me doubting my read on the situation. I couldn’t help but begin to wonder if the fervent intensity that resonated through the air when we were near each other was out of lust, or strictly from the pure and unabashed hatred growing between us.
Joe and I went back to his place and proceeded to get completely shit faced. He’d been a good sport, patiently listening as I ranted and raved like a lunatic about how much I hated Chad all night. He was my sounding board for all the ideas I’d been tossing out on how I could get back at him for being such a douche, even throwing in a few of his own from time to time. Of course, the drunker we got, the more ridiculous our plotting became.
; I’d only seen Chad a handful of times, and we hadn’t really spent any amount of time actually talking or getting to know each other. Yeah, he seemed like a giant dick, but truthfully I knew nothing about him. I recognized that his opinion of me was understandably skewed after the first night we’d met, but I found it hard to believe that a man who had undeniably witnessed some very crazy shit in his line of work wouldn’t be able to look past a minor indiscretion. Surely he’d seen drunk people before, and it’s not like he walked in on me having a gang bang with the Lollipop Guild.
The more I tried to figure him out, the more confused I became. It would have been easy to assume he was just sticking to a snap judgment, but my gut told me there was more to it than that. The fact of the matter was that his reasons were irrelevant. Not only did he automatically dislike me on a personal level, but he also found it a little too easy to ignore his attraction to me. And of the two, it was the latter that fueled my fire.
Joe seemed to find the thought of me trying to get back at Chad hysterical, but the joke was lost on me. He was also unrelenting, and a little too adamant that I would never be able to get a rise out of Chad, which piqued my curiosity. But when I couldn’t get any real information out of him it only made me more determined, so somewhere around tequila bottle number two we decided to make a wager.
“So what do I get if I win?” Joe asked as he picked a card off the top of the pile laying strewn all over his kitchen floor where we currently had taken up residence. Yep, we were three sheets to the wind and playing Go Fish. And we sucked at it. I wasn’t even sure if we were playing it correctly.
“Do you have a knight?” I slurred and then hiccupped.
“I don’t think there are any knights in a deck of cards, Stace,” Joe slurred right back. His cards were facing outward and I squinted, trying to see what he was holding.
“Sit still, Joe, your cards are all blurry. I can’t cheat if you keep spinning the room around in circles.” Joe looked confused and glanced around the room, then slapped a hand down flat on the kitchen floor, like he was trying to hold the room still for me. “What about…you got a duchess?” I hiccupped again.
“Dammit, Stacy! You didn’t tell me we were playing British Go Fish! I don’t know how to play this version!” Joe yelled as he threw his cards down on the floor and fell back a little too fast, causing him to hit his head hard on the hardwood floor. “Dammit!” he yelled while I fell down next to him, giggling.
“So what do I win when you finally realize you’re never going to get the upper hand with Chad?” Joe asked, locking his fingers behind his head and turning to look at me.
“I’ll set you up with one of my hot friends.”
Joe scoffed and turned back to stare at the ceiling. “I don’t need you to help me get laid, I can do that on my own. What else you got.”
“Ummmm… I’ll give you a blow job.”
“Hmmmm… tempting. Can’t you just give me one now and think of something else for the bet?”
I punched his arm. Well, I tried to anyway, but I was too drunk to be even the least bit coordinated. “Dream on.”
His head rolled to the side again and we grinned at each other.
“You think maybe we should try making out or something?” I asked Joe, following up my question with another hiccup.
“Why would we do that?” He had entirely too much incredulity in his voice and it irritated me. He made it sound like it was the dumbest idea I’d ever had, and I tried to punch him again when he smirked at me but completely missed that time.
“First of all, don’t say it like the thought of sex with me would be punishment. I’m a great lay. And second of all…” I trailed off, trying to remember what we were talking about. “Oh yeah, second of all, I just figured since we get along so well, we’re both really hot, and we spend so much time together, maybe we could have a friends with benefits kind of arrangement,” I shrugged, wondering why it had taken me getting completely sloshed to even consider the idea of sleeping with Joe.
Oh yeah, I’d been entirely too distracted by Officer Ass Hat.
“Stacy, if you needed an orgasm you should have just asked. You didn’t have to concoct this whole plan of pretending to hate Chad so you could get me drunk and seduce me.”
“Get over yourself.”
“Okay, sure. Let’s give it a shot,” Joe said with a nonchalant shrug.
“Calm your pants there, buddy. Don’t sound so excited,” I said sarcastically. Joe chuckled and angled his body a little towards mine.
“Want me to kiss you on the mouth? Or were you hoping to test out our chemistry with me kissing you somewhere a little lower…”
“Ugh, I can’t kiss you if you say douchey things like that. How do you get laid so often with game like that?”
“I’m not gonna waste my best stuff on someone who is practically throwing themselves at me. I reserve that stuff for girls who aren’t a sure thing.”
“That’s not at all what’s happening here. And you must have a really large bed.” Joe raised a confused eyebrow at me. “I just don’t see how you could possibly fit anyone else on it, what with how much room your ego takes up.”
“Har har, just come here so we can get this over with.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t give him shit for his less than enthusiastic attitude considering I pretty much felt exactly the same. I briefly wondered if my drunken suggestion was a mistake since it was obvious we both felt like kissing each other was a chore rather than an enjoyable activity, but seeing as I was already halfway down the damn rabbit hole, I figured I may as well see it through.
I turned onto my side and lifted myself just enough to slightly hover over him. He threaded his fingers through my hair and pulled my face towards his, gently pressing his lips to mine.
It started off slow and soft, then a few seconds in I felt his warm, wet tongue on my lips eliciting an automatic response as I parted my mouth slightly, allowing him access. The instant his tongue touched mine I jerked my head back, breaking the kiss and pulling away from his body a little too quickly, because at that same time Joe was pushing me off of him, and our combined force threw me backwards. I rolled off of him and my head hit the floor with a hard thud.
“Ugh!” Joe yelled, scrambling to his feet, and falling over himself as he ran to the kitchen faucet. He was sticking his face under the streaming water while I started vigorously wiping my tongue with the back of my shirt sleeve.
“Do you have any bleach? I need to sanitize my mouth,” I said between gags.
“It felt like I was kissing my sister!” He was taking in mouthfuls of water, gargling and spitting, over and over again.
“You don’t have a sister,” I said with my shirt still in my mouth as he slammed the handle
“Well even if I did, kissing her still wouldn’t be as bad as that!” I would have been offended, but I was too busy crawling to the table by the couch to take a swig of beer and swishing it around in my mouth.
“That was the most awkward and least sexy kiss I have ever had. It even tops my first kiss in fourth grade when Billy cut my lip with his braces and accidentally drooled on my shirt. Seriously, seriously gross.”
He tried to say something else but I was already up and running to the sink because it was closer than the toilet and I was not in the mood to clean up my own vomit off the floor.
“Seriously, Stacy? You’re being a little dramatic. It wasn’t that bad,” Joe whined, handing me a wet rag when I finished retching.
“Shut up, it’s just the tequila. Quit making everything about you. Now go away so I can throw up in peace.”
“Okay, but can you at least move it to the bathroom? It’s beyond disgusting that you are vomiting in my kitchen sink. I may never eat in here again.”
I spent the next hour with my head in the toilet and going through my well rehearsed break up speech with Mr. Cuervo in between bouts of vomiting. It was a speech I’d given often, and every damn time Jose just lured me back in, f
illing many, many nights with regret. I didn’t regret the kiss though. As awful as it was, and it was seriously awful, it proved once and for all that Joe and I were just friends and that’s all we would ever be. A tension I didn’t even know was there lifted with my sudden revelation. Then with my stomach finally empty and my body achingly overcome with exhaustion, my head finally hit the floor and I was down for the count.
The following morning, I woke up on the bathroom floor with a towel folded under my head, and a glass of water sitting next to a bottle of aspirin on the bathroom sink. Without even counting them I tossed a hand full of pills into my mouth. I started to go thank Joe for being so thoughtful, until I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
After cleaning myself up as best I could, I made my way into the kitchen where Joe was making breakfast. A few random people had joined us at some point during the night, two of them out in the pool and one passed out on the couch. It was really strange at first spending time at Joe’s. There were always people in his house, most of which I almost never recognized, and they came and went like they lived there.
Every time I asked Joe about it he would just shrug and either change the subject or give some sort of vague answer. If it were anyone else I would have been a little too uncomfortable spending so much time at a house that had strangers constantly roaming around, but I felt safe with Joe and knew he wouldn’t let dangerous people into the house with me there.
“Thanks for taking care of me last night,” I said to Joe as I hopped up on a bar stool, grabbing a grape out of the bowl sitting on the counter and popping it into my mouth. Joe stopped stirring whatever was in the bowl in front of him and turned to look at me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. After you went to the bathroom to puke your brains out, I managed to crawl to my bed and pass out. I went to check on you this morning and you were curled up in a ball on the floor and I didn’t want to wake you.”