Ethan shook his head. “It’s too late for her. She’s already in way too deep.”
Chapter 10
It wasn’t until April was sitting in the patrol car that she realized she still had specks of blood on her shirt.Ethan’s blood.The thought made her sick to her stomach. She had to get out of her clothes as soon as possible.
The minute she stepped into her apartment, April sent Tanner a quick text letting him know she was home, then tossed her phone and purse aside, stripped out of her clothes, and jumped in the shower.
The hot water did wonders to relax her. Pushing aside thoughts of Ethan, her mind slowly drifted back to Tanner and that incredible kiss they’d shared in the garden. After everything that happened, it was almost too easy to get her skin tingling with need, and her body craving sweet release. It was either that or curl up in a ball, and bawl her eyes out.
Her hand slid between her legs and she strummed her clit, losing herself in the pleasure as she worked to alleviate the growing pressure building up inside her. Just thinking about Tanner, that mouthwatering kiss, and those washboard abs he’d put on display for everyone to see when he’d taken his shirt off, was enough to bring her to orgasm. Her breaths grew quick and shallow as her fingers moved faster. She turned her face into the hot water, and let out a silent sigh as her body gently trembled with release.
After finishing her shower, April got dressed, choosing a pair of yoga pants and a cute graphic tee. She needed to do laundry and get some groceries. She’d meant to stop on her way back from the soup kitchen but had completely forgotten. Just as she was about to put her shoes on to head out again, her phone buzzed, and April smiled seeing Zara’s face fill the screen.
“Hey,” she answered, accepting the FaceTime call. Zara looked radiant with her black curls pulled up in a messy bun on top of her head and her almond toned skin glowing, probably due to a combination of good genes and her best friend treating her skin care regimen like a religious experience. “You look beautiful,” April gushed. “Date night?”
Zara shrugged. “Nope. This is just for me. Alright, I’m dying to know what happened at the soup kitchen? Tell me everything. How did it go?”
April sighed and carried the phone into the bedroom where she sank onto the bed. “I don’t even know where to start.” She told her about Margot, and the kids, and the garden. “And then this other cop, who also volunteers there, got stabbed.”
“Wait, what?! What do you mean stabbed?” Zara sat up straighter, concern written all over her face.
“He was taking out the trash and someone attacked him from behind and stabbed him. There was so much blood.” April shuddered, remembering it all, and how there were still specks of blood she needed to wash out of her shirt.
“Oh my gosh, what did you do? Did he make it?”
“Honestly, I kind of froze at first.”
“Of course, you did. Anyone would. The guy wasstabbed,” Zara emphasized, as if the reality of what April had witnessed hadn’t sunk in yet.
“Tanner was amazing,” April continued. “He pulled off his shirt to stop the bleeding, and when Ethan stopped breathing, he did CPR while I applied pressure to the wound.”
Zara’s mouth hung open. Her eyes wide in awe. “Dang, sounds like you two make an incredible team. But hold on a second, did you say Tanner took off his shirt?”
April felt her cheeks burning. “Yep.”
“And?! Don’t leave out the juicy details. Come on. Spill.”
April laughed. “He is a very well built, gorgeous specimen of a man. Not that I had much of a chance to look since there was a guy bleeding out in front of us.”
“Oh, of course not,” Zara mocked. “Priorities, and all that.”
“But we also kind of…” April hedged, not sure if she was ready to tell her best friend what else happened.
Zara moved in closer. “I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m literally sitting at the edge of my seat here.”
April smiled. “I kissed him.”
Zara’s jaw dropped. Literally dropped. “You. Kissed. Him?”
“Well, he kissed me back of course, but yeah. We were talking, and he said some things, and I don’t know what came over me. One second, we were sitting on this bench in the garden, and the next, I was kissing him, and then his tongue was in my mouth and-”
“Holy shit, April. You didn’t justkiss. You made out!” The squeal that came out of Zara was so unnatural that April actually winced.
“Yeah,” she admitted sheepishly. “It wasn’t planned. I mean, I was honestly thinking that we needed to cool things down. I have to focus on Violet, and I still haven’t figured out how to tell him about her, but that guy who was stabbed - he works for Ned.”
“What?! Does Tanner know that?”
April sighed. “He does now. I told him.”
