Page 32 of A Matter of Time

“Goddamnit, wait!” he yelled, suddenly in front of me again, barring my path.

I stopped. “Whaddya want?”

“I want you to not sound like you’re bored out of your mind.”

“Sorry,” I said automatically.

“No, you’re not.” He forced a laugh. “I don’t remember you being such an asshole.”

“Okay.”

He let out a sharp breath, raking his fingers through his hair. “Paul told me you eat at this deli a lot, so I’ve been sort of hanging out here and… I got your number from him, but you never pick up and you don’t return your messages and… I just want to know what’s up.”

I squinted at him. “What’s up is that I don’t return calls to numbers I don’t know, and the idea that you’re stalking me is creepy as hell.”

“What? No… I don’t need to stalk anyone, I⁠—”

“Fine. Then I’ll see ya.”

But when I tried to walk by, he grabbed a fistful of my sweat jacket.

“Jory, I want to see you.”

Was he kidding? “Are you kidding?”

He slowly released me. “That night was amazing. You—I’d like to⁠—”

“I gotta go.”

But again he stepped in front of me, making sure I couldn’t leave.

“What the hell?” I groaned, hungry, annoyed, and tired. It was a bad combination.

“Why did you leave? Why didn’t you stay?”

Since I couldn’t place him, I went with what seemed logical. “We were done.” It seemed self-explanatory to me.

“Jory, you⁠—”

“Listen, man, I need to go, so⁠—”

“Just wait.” He held his hands up to keep me from walking away.

“What are you doing?”

The sound of the voice and the level of irritation in it were unmistakable. I couldn’t help the smile as I turned and found Detective Kage. “Hi.” I was fairly certain I was probably, suddenly, glowing. I couldn’t have stopped my reaction to the man if I’d tried.

He was scowling at me, which was the norm for him whenever he saw me.

“How are you?”

“I asked you a question.”

“Excuse me, I was⁠—”

“Fuck off,” the detective told Brad before he grabbed my bicep and dragged me after him.

I didn’t fight or argue or anything. I let him manhandle me because, for whatever reason, it felt good to be taken care of. He made me feel protected, and at that moment, I craved his attention like air.