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It took everything not to react to her question or tone because I could feel the twins’ stares on me. Forcing indifference, I lifted a shoulder and grabbed for the new beer that had been placed in front of me. “I’m a cop, Mini...it’s ingrained in me to make sure everyone is okay to drive.”
With a slow shake of her head, she started walking backward with Amber in tow, her pained stare remaining on me when she said, “The last thing I need is you looking after me tonight or any other night, Detective. And I’m not sure how you missed it, but I already have four brothers. I don’t need another.”
I deserved that after calling her Mini again.
But I’d never tried stopping Maci from leaving anywhere before, and the suspicion that had burst from her brothers had been instant and significant. I’d said the first thing that came to mind to end it.
Still, the way it’d clearly hurt her...the way it’d felt like a punch to my gut when I’d watched her pain overwhelm every other emotion.
Jesus, what was happening?
Had I missed these small signs from Maci for months...years, even?
Dakota roughly pounded on my back once the girls were gone, and I had to grasp the table to steady myself when I crashed into it, causing my beer to slosh over the lip of the glass and onto my hand. “Scared me for a second there, bro. You’ve never offered to help Maci.”
Fuck.
I used the spilled beer as a distraction as I floundered for a moment, trying to think of anything to say to make them permanently drop the encounter. Clearing my throat, I said, “Yeah, they’re just usually pretty trashed whenever they come back to Maci’s. Must’ve just been automatically thinking ahead for the night.”
“They’re fine,” Dylan said, thankfully already over the entire thing, given his tone. “Mini knows not to drive drunk. But, shit, Amber gets hotter every time I see her.”
Dakota held out a fist for Dylan to bump. “Hell yeah, she does, and she’s going to Mammoth with us this year. You still coming, Connor?”
I shrugged even as my thoughts drifted back to Maci. “When have I missed a winter with you guys up there?”
“Fifty says I get with Amber first,” Dylan said to Dakota because everything always had to be a challenge with them.
Dakota snorted and finished chugging his beer. “You’re on.”
Fifty says I wouldn’t last until Mammoth before I lost my fucking mind trying to stay away from their sister.
* * *
My eyelids snapped open that night, my mind and body already on high alert before I registered the sound of someone in my apartment. I quietly reached for where my off-duty handgun rested on my nightstand and slipped out of bed, taking slow, calculated steps out of my room as I listened.
Stopping just before the turning point in my hallway when more noises came from the front of my apartment, I kept my breathing steady and forced myself to listen to determine how many people had broken in and where exactly they were.
But whoever was in my living room wasn’t concerned with being stealthy, making me wonder for the briefest moment if I’d brought someone home. Except I was sure I hadn’t made it past that second beer when I’d been out with Dylan and Dakota, and after these bizarre-as-hell days, I’d have to be absolutely wasted to even consider anyone who wasn’t the girl next door.
And then I heard it...that raspy voice I’d been dreaming of the past two nights.
“Shit. Fuck. Sorry,” Maci whisper-yelled from the front of my apartment. “Shh. Stay quiet.”
I lowered my arms and rounded the corner to find her fumbling with an end table lamp. Swallowing the laugh working up my throat, I scratched at my forehead with my free hand as I watched her struggle to keep it steady, the corners of my mouth twitching with amusement when she spoke again.
“Good boy, lamp. Now, stay...” She put her hands out in front of her as if she expected the lamp to suddenly lurch to the side, then took an unsteady step away.
“Maci.”
She whirled around so quickly that her purse hit the lamp and knocked it off the table. “Fuck, I’m sorry,” she hissed as she bent to catch it, even though it was already on the floor, falling half onto the couch and half onto the floor in the process as her voice turned reprimanding. “I told you to stay.”
“Damn it,” I mumbled as she spoke to the lamp. Jogging toward the kitchen, I placed my gun on the countertop before going to Maci. “You okay there?” I asked as I pulled her fully onto the couch and brushed her wild hair away from her face.
“Connor! Hi.” God, she was so fucking wasted. She was still yelling in whispers and, from her expression, she hadn’t even known I was there.
“Hey, Mace. Little drunk tonight?”
“What? No,” she said, drawing out the word. “I just wanted to—hi.”
