Chapter 1 #2
“I’m not carousing,” I promised. “Just having dinner with some friends.”
One of her bushy white eyebrows hiked high on her wrinkled forehead. “At a bar?”
“At their house.”
“And these friends . . . are they the criminal types?”
“One owns a flower shop and the other is a cop.”
That seemed to finally placate her. “Well . . . all right then.” That finger came back into my line of sight.
“But if someone offers you a funny-looking cigarette, you say no. Understand? It could be the weed. And you make sure you watch them pour your drinks. I saw a show where a woman was on vacation and someone slipped something in her drink, and she woke up in a bathtub full of ice missing her liver.”
Sweet Jesus.
I began backing away slowly toward the elevators, reminding myself to have a talk with my little old neighbor about all those crime shows she watched when I had the time. “You got it, Ms. W. Tell you what, I’ll pour all my own drinks. How’s that sound?”
“They could still have put something in the bottle, but I guess that’ll just have to do. I’ll keep a lookout. If you don’t come home by morning, I’ll call the police to start a manhunt.”
“Sounds good. See you later, Ms. Weatherby.”
After a quick stop at the store—because I had indeed forgotten the wine—I pulled up in front of Hayden and Micah’s house. I made my way through the jungle of plants and flowers that made up their front yard and knocked on the front door.
It flew open a second later, and I nearly went deaf from the frequency of the high-pitched shriek.
Hayden’s daughter from her first marriage, Ivy, began to jump up and down in her little glittery pink biker boots.
Her long curly red hair was a wild mess of tangles down her back and shoulders, and her neon pink tutu and skull leggings were covered in dirt, probably from playing in the garden in the backyard.
“Charlie! You’re here!”
“Hey there, munchkin. How’s it going?”
“It was good,” she stated crestfallenly, “but then Mommy told me I couldn’t have five dollars to get ice cream at school tomorrow.” Her cheerful demeanor fell in an instant. Her eyes went big and began to water while her chin began to quiver. “Do you think you could give me five dollars?”
I gave my head a shake and tried my hardest not to laugh. “Uh-uh, girly. I know what you’re playing at, and it’s not gonna work.”
Hayden’s voice sounded from inside the house just seconds before she appeared in the entryway. “Ivy Young. What have I told you about using The Look.”
Ivy dropped her head back and huffed dramatically. “I can only do it to Mike, ’cause he’s a sucker.”
Hayden beamed, proud as hell of her little girl’s capability to manipulate her soon-to-be stepfather. “That’s right. Now go wash up. We’ll be eating soon.” Ivy went skipping off, the five dollars all but forgotten.
“Look at you, raising your girl right.”
“Thanks. I think so.” She pulled me into a quick hug before taking the bottle of wine and waving me inside.
“That Charlie?” Micah called from the kitchen. “I heard the door. Is she here?”
We turned the corner into the kitchen and I spotted him with his hip propped casually against the counter, an open beer in his hand. He gave me a blank look.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Well, would you look at that? She is alive,” he stated sarcastically. “I was starting to wonder since I haven’t heard from you in forever.”
When it came to me, Micah had a tendency to be a bit overprotective. And by a bit I meant it was so over the top it bordered on downright intrusive at times.
It had started when I was working with him and Leo to take down Officer Cormack and only got worse after I was hurt.
No matter how many times I told him it wasn’t his fault, he still blamed himself for the fact I’d been tortured and shot.
As time progressed and I healed, our relationship morphed into one where he began to look at me not as a responsibility but almost as a little sister.
It was kind of sweet . . . when he wasn’t being a royal pain in my ass.
“I just saw you three days ago,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.”
“I’m not being dramatic,” he grumbled. “All I’m saying is you could maybe call once in a while. For all I knew, you could’ve been lyin’ dead in a ditch somewhere.”
I felt my lips pull up in a smile, something I hadn’t done a whole lot of in my life until recently. “That’s the very definition of being dramatic, Micah.”
“Whatever,” he continued to pout.
I moved to him and lifted up on my toes, placing a kiss against his cheek.
“I’ll call more often. Promise.” He was being totally ridiculous, I knew that, but if a little more effort on my part was all it took to put him at ease, I’d do it.
I owed him more than I could ever say. He’d saved me in more ways than one.
He proved there actually were people in this world who were trustworthy, he’d given me a family and a place where I felt like I belonged, and I’d forever be in his debt for that.
“That’s all I ask.” His arm came around my shoulders, and he gave me a slight squeeze before putting me in a playful headlock. “Now let’s eat. All that worrying really worked up an appetite.”