Chapter 7
“You coming to the Christmas party on Saturday, Matthews?” Myles asked, causing Krista to jump out of her skin. She was raw and exhausted from her morning cry-fest on Brock’s shoulder. Not to mention embarrassed. So far, he’d seen her barf her guts out, but he hadn’t seen her cry.
She’d remained strong, tough, resilient.
But she couldn’t stop herself, couldn’t control the flood of emotions, good and bad, that had assailed her the moment he’d walked through the door.
And without even thinking, she collapsed against him and let every feeling from the last few days fall out onto his hard chest in the form of warm, salty tears.
Even though she’d slept through the night, not even having to get up to pee, she didn’t feel rested at all.
Her eyes hurt, her head felt full of cotton, and the realization that she was no longer going to be doing “real” cop stuff and saving the world from the bad guys hurt more than when she’d had pepper spray shot into her eyes during training at the academy.
She finished filling her water bottle at the sink in the staff kitchen before turning to face Myles.
His tone seemed much more civil than the last time they’d spoken.
Had he forgiven her for not coming to his rescue again with that drunk guy in the holding cell?
No matter what, Myles was a manipulative bastard. He had to be working some angle. Her gaze drifted to the open door behind him. “I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.”
“We should go together.”
She swallowed and tried to give him a small smile, but it was a struggle. The thought of dating this man, even going to a work function together, made her skin crawl. “No, thank you.”
“It’s going to happen, you and I,” he said smugly, trying to come across as flirty and playful, but instead he was just creepy and off-putting. “And what better time than the Christmas party? A dark corner, too much rum and eggnog, mistletoe … ”
Grinding her molars together until her jaw ached, she looked him square on.
“Myles,” she started, “I want to apologize for the other day. I’m really very sorry that I didn’t jump back in to help you.
The guy knocked the wind out of me. I thought he’d broken my nose.
There was so much blood.” She glanced down at her feet.
The man’s eyes were too disconcerting to maintain contact with.
Toeing at a scuff on the floor, she continued, “There’s no excuse, though.
I’m very sorry. I’m glad Marlise and Allie were able to get there in time.
I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt. I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself.
If you need to report me to Wicks, I completely understand.
But it will never happen between us. I’m not interested in you that way.
I don’t want to date anyone I work with, especially not a superior.
I’m flattered, but I’m sorry. I’m going to have to say no. ”
She motioned to push past him, but he stuck out an arm and stopped her, his grip on her forearm painful. Of course, she’d inherited her mother’s pale skin tone and bruised like a freaking peach.
“Let go of me.” She hardened her eyes, refusing to let him see her fear. He couldn’t know he scared her, because if he did, he’d use that power. She swallowed again and then finally lifted her head to catch his gaze. “Please.”
He released his grip, and the terror slowly began to drain from her, only to be replaced by even more when instead of leaving, he walked to the door, shut it and locked it, stalking back toward her, smirking triumphantly.
“I’m all for the chase, Matthews. But I’m getting sick and tired of this little cat-and-mouse game. You know you’re the only rookie that hasn’t given it up to me? I’d like to change that. Or would you prefer I tell Wicks about the other day?”
She lifted one shoulder. “I told you that you can. I deserve to be reported.” Fuck, she really didn’t want him to report her, but he had every right. She secretly hoped calling his bluff might have the reverse effect and he’d just let it go.
“I won’t … for a price.” His free hand came up, and his index finger grazed her collarbone.
Fury and disgust ran neck and neck inside her.
“You make me sick,” she spat out, trying to move away from him, but he grabbed her again, this time by the bicep.
“There are plenty of women here who want to sleep with you. Why do you have to go after the one who doesn’t?
We’re supposed to be the good guys. You can’t blackmail me, and I won’t sleep with you to keep you quiet.
Go ahead, tell whoever about what I did. I’ll take my punishment.”
He lifted one shoulder casually. “I want to break you. And I’ll do it.”
What the hell did that mean? He was in front of her and let the knuckles of his free hand graze slowly down her cheek and neck, landing on her chest. His finger circled the underside of her breast, and he grinned, his pupils dilating as he caught the scent of fear in the air.
She batted his hand away and grabbed his fingers, bending them backward until he yelped, his other hand releasing its death grip on her upper arm.
“I told you not to touch me,” she warned.
Thankfully, between the academy and her father, Krista was no slouch when it came to self-defense.
She’d taken down bigger men than him at the academy.
But what she lacked was experience. Myles was a senior officer.
He knew more tricks and wrist flicks than she did, and before she knew it, he had her spun around, her back to his chest and her stomach pressed hard—too hard—against the counter.
She winced from the sudden pain, her brain immediately flying to the little jellybean or avocado or whatever it was now inside her. She prayed it was okay.
“Like it rough, do you? Well, I can work with that.” He tore at the buttons on the front of her shirt and shoved his hand inside her now-open shirt and fondled her breasts.
Squeezing just a bit too hard. His warm breath on her neck smelled faintly of coffee and whatever he’d eaten earlier that day.
She struggled with all her might to get away, but instead he just pulled tighter.
“I could kill you or fuck you right now,” he said, a menacing chuckle in his tone. He flipped her back around to face him, pinning her arms behind her with his free hand.
Krista tilted her head up and met his gaze. Nothing but blackness stared back at her. “You make me sick,” she said with a sneer before rearing her head back and spitting in his face.
If eternal darkness could grow even darker, even bleaker and more desolate, it did so in Myles Slade’s eyes.
His lips curled up into a sinister smile.
“I’m going to enjoy breaking you, Matthews.
” Then his mouth crashed down on hers, and he rammed his tongue to the back of her throat as his hands on her wrists tightened until she fought not to cry out in pain.
But she wouldn’t go down without a fight. If he was going to take her right here in the work breakroom, she was going to make it as difficult for him as possible. She chomped down hard on his tongue until she tasted blood, making the man yip like a poodle and release her in the process.
“Fucking bitch!”
He lunged for her again, but Krista had managed to sprint to the door, one hand on the knob, the other on the taser firmly in her hip.
His eyes drifted down to her hand. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Just try something like that again, and we’ll see.
I’d rather get suspended for what I did in that jail cell or go to prison for tasing a cop’s dick than let that dick anywhere near me,” she whispered, using every last ounce of energy she had left to keep her voice from quavering.
She unlocked the door and opened it. “Stay. The. Fuck. Away. From. Me.” Then she turned around and headed to the locker room to go and fix her shirt.
Ignoring the fact that she was supposed to be out on patrol with Myles, after finding a new shirt in her locker and splashing some cool water on her face, Krista made her way to Staff Sergeant Wicks’ office.
Every muscle, every bone, every fiber of her being trembled as she brought her fist up and rapped on his door.
“Enter,” he barked, the shuffle of papers greeting her as she slowly opened the door.
Was his office abnormally hot and stuffy? Or were those just her nerves causing sweat to break out on the back of her neck and between her breasts? Stupid hormones.
“Matthews?” Wicks said, lifting his head. “Shouldn’t you and Slade be out on patrol?”
Krista licked her lips, tossed her shoulders back and stepped inside, closing the door softly behind her. “May I speak with you, please, sir?”
He nodded at the empty chair in front of his desk.
Holding on to the back of the chair, she slid into the seat, grateful to be off her feet for a moment.
“What can I do for you, rookie?”
Right! She was a rookie. Hadn’t even been on the force a year, and she was already requesting light duty and complaining about her partner.
She was going to be labeled as “that” person.
The whiner. The snitch. The rookie who couldn’t keep her legs shut and got knocked up in the first six months of her career.
Wicks lifted one bushy salt and pepper eyebrow. “Rookie?”
“Sir, I’m pregnant.”
The other eyebrow joined its twin. “Really?”
She nodded. “Yes, sir. I apologize, as I know this isn’t ideal.
It wasn’t planned. Just a … happy accident, if you will.
But I’m here to officially request light duty even though I know I should have sooner.
And I apologize. It is no longer in the best interest of me or my partner for me to continue working in the field.
” She exhaled. Her gaze moved from his light brown eyes to his stapler.
The stapler couldn’t possibly look at her with as much judgment as she was sure he was looking at her with at the moment.