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“Which reminds me,” Memphis said. “Do you think you could open that day?”
Saylor was already nodding at my mother’s question.
“Perfect,” she sighed. “I need another glass of wine.”
“You’ll win,” Aspen said confidently. “Especially if this guy has a rap sheet already and all that jazz.”
Dad left to get my mom a refill on her glass of wine, and I hauled Saylor in close.
“What’s this guy’s name, anyway?” Drew asked. “Maybe I know him.”
“Kris,” Dad said. “Kristoff something or other.”
Saylor shivered. “I used to know a Kristoff. He was freaky.”
“Maybe it’s just the name,” Ares suggested. “I know a Kristoff, too. And he left me stranded on our date because I wouldn’t give him the D in his car.”
Dad growled under his breath, as did I.
“Was that the weasel that Lock beat the shit out of at school and got suspended for?” Jonah asked.
“You were suspended?” Piper laughed. “He deserved it, didn’t he?”
I snorted. “Deserved it is too mild of a word. But yes, I beat the absolute dog piss out of him. He used to go to one of those alternative schools. Only showed up at ours when he wanted to pick up chicks that would do him. All the girls at his school likely knew what kind of a douchebag he was.”
Saylor looked up at me with a small smile on her face. “You’re all cute when you’re growly.”
I bared my teeth at her.
“It was kind of nice,” Ares said. “But unnecessary. He got suspended for fighting for like two weeks. Missed his football game and they lost. Everybody was so mad at him after that. I was shunned at the school because that was the game that would lead us to state.”
“Fucking Kristoff,” Saylor bit out.
I snorted and turned to her, my mouth only inches from her face. “You’re a lively one.”
She touched my nose with her tongue.
“I…”
There was a loud bang, and all of us were on our feet and heading to the front door.
“Well, fuck,” Dad said after opening the door. “Fucking motherfucker.”
I made it outside just as my dad stepped over Mocha, who still hadn’t moved from her spot.
“That’s not good,” I muttered darkly.
“No,” Dad agreed. “It sure the fuck isn’t. Gonna have to call this in.”
We all stared at his cruiser that had a shotgun blast to the front windshield.
“Not good at all,” Saylor murmured.
“At least you didn’t arrive on your motorcycle,” Ares said. “Then we would’ve had two vandalized police-issued vehicles.”
Ares words were surprisingly valid.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Really good thing.”
Later that night, as I crawled into bed beside Saylor, she turned to me and blinked open her sleepy eyes.
I reached for the light above the bed and flipped it off with a flick of my fingers and stared into Saylor’s concerned face once my eyes adjusted to the darkness.
“What?” I asked.
She bit her lip. “Is this what I’m going to have to look forward to since I’m dating a cop? I’m not used to this. My dad was always loved and cared for. Firefighters are the coolest people ever.”
I hauled her in close and dropped a punishing kiss onto her mouth. “Take that back. Firefighters aren’t the coolest. Police officers are.”
She grinned against my lips. “Okay. But don’t tell my daddy.”
I laughed against her mouth, dropped one more kiss to her kissable lips, then allowed her to go back to her side of the bed.
“To answer your question,” I said. “I don’t know. Stuff like what happened today at my dad’s place has never happened before. I don’t know what to expect. The world also isn’t what it used to be. I think that, in time, it might get better. But that time is definitely not now.”
My words rang with the harsh truth of reality.
Sadly, cops weren’t looked upon the same as they once were.
She reached across the small distance that separated us and placed her hand into mine.
I squeezed it.
“I’m scared for you,” she said. “But I’m also going to tell you the truth. I’m scared shitless.”
I squeezed her hand, bringing the soft skin up to my lips before pressing a single kiss on it.
“Love can get you through it?” I teased.
She scoffed. “Who said anything about love?”
Her shriek of laughter was cut off when I pressed my lips to hers after yanking her across the bed.
“Why don’t you like to cuddle?” I asked, finally voicing the words that I’d been meaning to ask since she started sleeping in my bed.
She ran her fingers along my scruffy jaw and said, “Because you don’t like to cuddle. I could take it or leave it…but since you’re okay with not touching while we sleep, so am I.”
I pressed a kiss to her mouth, another hard one.
“What makes you think I don’t like to cuddle?” I challenged her.
She practically rolled her eyes.
“Because when we get in bed, you go to your side, I go to mine, and you don’t try to pull me to you. Plus, throughout the night, we don’t even gravitate to each other. If you wanted to cuddle, I don’t think there is anything in this world that I could do to keep you away from me,” she explained.
