Unless…I stop, turning back to her.Is she faking it?
I set my hands on her shoulders, lowering my head a bit to get eye level with her. “How much have you had to drink, Chloe?”
She gasps, her eyes going wide. “I haven’t heard you say my name since high school.”
Surprised by her response, I loosen my grip on her shoulders, standing straight again. “Answer the question.”
She shrugs lazily, her eyelids falling again.
“What’s going on?” I turn from Chloe to Stella who’s looking at me like she’s willing me to go up in flames for touching her best friend.
“I’m taking her home.”
“Like hell you are,” Stella spits. Stone arrives behind her in a flash, his protective demeanor on full display as he rises to his full height and glares at me.
“Mills?” Micah arrives to the group with a casual smile on his face, his eyes shaded behind sunglasses even though it’s nighttime and we’re all inside.
“What are you doing here?” I ask gruffly.
“Just partyin’,” he responds, lifting a cup into the air, his casual smile turning cheesy.
“Yeah, detective, we’re partyin’!” Chloe slurs behind me, lacking the energy I’m sure she intended to display.
The heat in the air cools a bit when Maeve appears next to Stella, even as Stella leans into her and whispers something in her ear. Whatever Maeve says back seems to relax her friend, and Maeve turns to me, trust and hesitancy both reflected in her green eyes.
“Get her home safe,” Maeve demands. I nod, a silent agreement passing between us. Stella storms away with Stone on her heels.
I grip Chloe’s arm again, holding her steady as I lean into Micah. “I think someone drugged her,” I tell him. “Will you make sure her friends get home okay?”
He looks completely unfazed by my suspicion, giving me a lazy salute and a promise that he will watch over Maeve and Stella, though Stone seems to have that covered.
Once I get Chloe situated in my passenger seat, which is more of a struggle than I expected it to be, Micah calls my name, jogging over to me with a small pouch in hand.
“There’s a blood kit in here,” he says, holding the pouch in my direction.
“What do I need a blood kit for?”
He pushes the bag at me, urging me to take it. “Get a sample from her. I’ll have Lindsey run it in the lab.”
I reach for the small black bag in his hand, not processing exactly what he’s saying.
“Get a sam—” I start, but he’s already moving away from me, disappearing back into the house.
I shake my head and circle the front of my truck, climbing inside and pulling onto the street in the direction of Chloe’s house.
When I pull into her cul-de-sac, I bypass Barry’s car at the curb and park in Chloe’s driveway, ignoring him as he calls to me from the edge of her property. He continues to be low on my priority list of worry, but I don’t miss the flash of his camera or the thought that passes through my head that this will be front page news tomorrow, and my captain will likely see it.
Chloe has gotten increasingly sloppy as the minutes have passed, and it’s only been about twenty since I pulled her from the backyard of the house party.
When we finally make it up the stairs, my hand wound around her waist and hers dangled over my shoulder, she stumbles away from me and flops herself into her cushy bed.
“Should you…change?” I ask, eyes trailing over her skintight dress. The question is entirely innocent, because, okay—maybe I’m willing to admit at this point that I do want to see Chloe Stark naked, despite the fact she’s at the top of my staged-accidental-murder suspect list, but I wouldn’t want to take advantage of her in her current state. No woman deserves that.
She smiles weakly, but never responds.
I cross her room slowly, eyeing the rise and fall of her chest. Lifting my thumb to her bottom lip, I pull it down, savoring the feel of her soft skin against my finger.
I wonder if kissing Chloe would be as enjoyable as I’ve imagined it to be.
