Bryce A: Hey babe can I come over? Long day at work need to unwind
“He’s in the way of you finding anyone else,” she argued.
“I don’t want to find anyone else.”
Her eyes narrowed and she pointed at my cell. “I’m finding you someone else. Anyone would be better than him. I’m going to come over tomorrow with the first guy that shows up in the ER tonight just to prove my point.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Have fun at your shift.”
“We still on for getting our apartments all Christmas-ed out this weekend?”
“How is that even a question? Of course.”
“Just making sure! I’m going to have to warn Aaron my body won’t be available for an entire day.”
“That poor guy,” I said in a monotone voice. “How will he ever live?”
She laughed and blew me a kiss. “Later, sweetie!”
Looking back at my phone, I tapped out a response as I stood and headed to my car.
Sure. I’m on my way back, come over in 30?
Despite the complaints I’d just shared about him, I really liked Bryce. We’d been close like this for a while now, and good friends for years before. He could be sweet when he wanted to, and was protective almost to a fault when it came to me. I needed to stay “single” to protect guys from my four older brothers, but it still felt good to have a constant in my life, and to be wanted by someone.
Connor
“WAIT, YOU’RE LEAVING?”
My arms froze with the shirt partially over my head, and when they started moving again, my movements were careful as I finished pulling the shirt over my chest. With a deep breath in, I turned to look at the pissed-off girl. “That’s how this works, sweetheart.”
She pulled the sheet up on her chest as she used her other arm to sit up. “Then tell me what your definition of this is, because apparently it’s different from mine.”
Letting my hand slide to the back of my neck, I left it there as I shrugged. “I picked you up at a bar. I’d met you not even an hour before we left; I don’t know what else you could expect from that.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” she scoffed. Her face scrunched together in anger, but even in the dark room I could see the wetness gathering in her eyes. “What else would I expect from some prick who picks up women in a fucking bar?”
I focused on her eyes a moment longer, willing myself to feel something for making her cry. Regardless of not remembering her name, it should bother me to see a woman cry—especially if I’d been the reason behind those tears.
But there was nothing.
There’d been nothing since I’d returned from my trip to Texas six months ago. Just countless, nameless women who never filled a void that shouldn’t have even been there. Turning around, I slapped my hand over my phone and wallet resting on the chair, and walked toward the hall.
“For the record, douche, it’s called a one-night stand. One. Night! Not one hour,” her voice broke as she continued to scream insults as I left her apartment.
As soon as I was in my car, I pulled up the texts on my phone and tapped out the same message I did every night.
I need to know you’re okay Cassidy. Please call.
My thumb hovered over the SEND button for a few seconds before going up and hitting CANCEL instead. I dropped the phone into one of the cup holders and scrubbed my hands down my face before cranking the engine and starting home.
She’d briefly come back into my life more than six months ago, and was only there for a little more than a week. But that week had fucking wrecked me.
My partner and I had gotten the call six months ago about a house fire that looked suspicious—and later ended up revealing the bodies of Cassidy’s mom and stepdad—early that morning. And when Cassidy had shown up hours later, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I don’t know if it’d been the obvious black eye she had, or if somehow, even during all the craziness of interviewing neighbors, I’d known that I recognized her—but she was all I could see that day. Days later, when I remembered her from a family-disturbance call I’d gone on years before, the completely innocent girl started haunting my every thought.
She was on my mind constantly. Knowing I’d made the wrong decision in not following up on that call killed me more than I’d ever be able to explain. With my past, and what my father had done to my sister and me, I hated knowing I’d let her live through years of abuse. And then she walked into the coffee shop that morning, and everything changed.
I hadn’t been big on relationships before officially meeting Cassidy—for shit’s sake, I was only twenty-five years old and had been career focused most my life. I’d had girls, and claimed a few as mine for a while, but something about actually settling down had always scared the living hell out of me. Not with Cassidy, though. With her, I would have done anything to make her stay in California with me instead of going back to her boyfriend in Texas.
It wasn’t just that she had a past like mine . . . that she knew what it was like to grow up being physically abused by a parent. It wasn’t just that she would understand my fears of turning into my father. And it wasn’t just the fact that she was the strongest person I’d ever met, emotionally—and in a way, physically. It was all of that, added to something that was just Cassidy. Something that the small and deceivingly fragile-looking girl exuded from deep down that drew me to her. That within minutes had me ready to make her the center of my world.
When she’d left for Texas, I went out of my mind worrying about her with her boyfriend. He’d been the cause of her black eye, and no matter what she’d said about it being an accident as she tried to break up a fight, I couldn’t get the sight of her sporting it out of my head. I’d gone after her, intent on bringing her back with me, and positive I’d find her looking much like she had when she’d come to California the morning of the fire. What I hadn’t been ready for was her telling me to leave, or how she’d relaxed into him when he came near her, like he was a safe place for her.
But I hadn’t stopped worrying about her, and no matter how many girls there were, and how many nights I’d tried to wash away thoughts of her with drinks . . . she was always there. Her honey-colored eyes and soft smile still haunted me, and it was a daily battle to not contact her even though I was dying to know she was okay.
I pulled into my spot and slowly made my way up to my apartment. I’d been so lost in my thoughts of a girl over a thousand miles away, I didn’t notice the one right in front of me until her voice filled the otherwise silent hall.
“Hey there, super-mysterious neighbor. You’ve been gone a lot lately.”
“Maci,” I grunted by way of acknowledgment.
“Where’ve you been?”
“Is that your business?”
“Wait, wait! Don’t tell me.” She stopped trying to unlock her door, raised one dark eyebrow, and pointed at me. “I can smell you from here . . . was her name Sweetheart? Or maybe it was Sweetheart.”
“Hilarious,” I said without emotion.
“Well I thought it was.”
I rolled my eyes and walked past her to my door. “Good night, Maci.”
“Yeah, whatever. Good seeing you too, Connor,” she mumbled to herself as she went back to her door. “Don’t ask how I’ve been, it’s cool. Asshole.”
“Maci.”
“Yes, douchebag?”
My eyes narrowed and I watched as she fought her smile. “You think you can try keeping it down tonight?”
Her smile instantly fell and her head jerked back as confusion settled over her face.
“I’m tired of being kept awake from your headboard hitting the wall.” When her gray eyes flashed, I unlocked my door and glanced at her again. “And you really need to work at faking it. You sound pathetic even from my bed.”
“You are such an asshole, Connor Green!”
“So you’ve said.” I stepped into my apartment and locked the door behind me seconds before I heard her door slam.
Heading back to my bedroom, I stripped out of my clothes and went straight into the bathroom for a hot shower. The girl I’d gone home with tonight had taken a bath in her perfume, and I could feel it seeping into my skin, causing a headache to form that had nothing to do with what I’d drunk earlier. Pressing my hands against the wall, I dropped my head and let the water pour over me as the tightened muscles in my body started relaxing. As soon as I reached behind me for the shampoo, the water turned ice cold and I jumped away from the spray, slipping in the process and barely catching myself on the edge of the tub before hitting the bottom. I scrambled to get out of the shower and when I continued to slip, grabbed the handle and shut the water off instead.
On the other side of the thin wall, I heard the water running, and loudly cursed Maci when I heard the distinct sound of her laughter filling her bathroom.
I slapped my hand on the wall connecting our apartments and shouted, “You sure you want to play this game, sweetheart?”
More laughs came from her side before I heard, “Hope you didn’t bust your ass too hard!”
“Turn the damn water off, Maci!”
“Enjoy your night,” she said in a singsong voice and then there was nothing but the running water from her shower.
Payback is about to be one hell of a bitch, Maci Price.
Chapter Two
Maci
TURNING THE WATER on in my shower, I waited for a good five minutes before stepping in, afraid that Connor would give me the same treatment I’d given him the night before. When I didn’t hear movement from his bathroom, I jumped in and stayed tense as I washed my hair and body, ready to get out at a moment’s notice if his water kicked on. When nothing had happened by the time I started shaving my legs, my body relaxed and I wondered again what was going on with him.
The Connor I’d grown up with was completely different from the one who had been hiding out next door for the last half year. He’d never been a very outgoing guy, but he also wouldn’t have let that prank last night go. Amber nailed it when she called him quiet and intense yesterday. Connor exuded this intensity that was somehow demanding and still managed to make you feel safe near him, which was probably why he had been such a good police officer, and now detective. But Connor’s way of dealing with most things was silently. The most I’d ever heard him talk was when he was with my brothers, but even then he was still the quiet and mature one. Almost like he’d lived a dozen lifetimes before and was simply going through the motions of this one.