Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
The clock ticked off almost another hour before the door opened. The detective stood by while a huge man, dressed in a grey tee and faded jeans, stepped into the room. My breath hitched in my throat as his eyes slowly took me in. His expression was impassive as his gaze moved casually down my body.
He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. Who was he? Another detective? The ‘bad cop’? He turned and gave the sour-faced detective a look that clearly said, ‘fuck off,’ which had her slamming the door behind her.
Now it was only the two of us. He crossed his muscular arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, dropping his eyes to the black military watch on his wrist. His messy dark-blonde hair stuck out wildly beneath his baseball cap, his sculpted face and hard jawline gave him a rough edge, and his wide sexy mouth was currently tight with annoyance.
If I wasn’t in the middle of the biggest shit storm of my life, I might have appreciated that this guy was a solid ten on the scale of hotness, but right now I felt too freaked to care. I wanted to go home. The sooner, the better .
“Are you a cop?” I hated how stupid and hesitant I sounded.
“You don’t recognize me?”
My jaw dropped. I’d recognize that voice forty years from now. The emotionless robot—sans the godawful Duck Dynasty beard. This was Theo’s godfather?
“You look different.” Totally smoking hot kind of different.
“I’m not the only one.” His eyes traveled over my legs.
I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hide my discomfort. The dress Janet had insisted I wear was ridiculous. Skin tight, short, low cut and white. I looked like a street corner regular, and I knew it.
He walked across the room, pulled the chair out and sat down across from me. I rubbed at a headache that was starting to throb in my temples. The hangover had officially begun.
“Am I going to be arrested?”
“No.”
“How do you know that?”
“I talked to your lawyer. She suspects they don’t have a solid chain of custody on your purse. It was dropped, found by a cop, and then you claimed it?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “That’s why you won’t be arrested.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank fuck.”
He leaned back in his chair. Again, he crossed his arms over his muscular chest. “What happened tonight?”
I swallowed. “My friend, Janet, wanted to go to a club.”
My God, that stare. Just penetrating me.
I tried to look away from his eyes. “I don’t typically party like this.”
Those damn grey eyes gazed back, judging me.
I ground my teeth, feeling compelled to explain myself. “We started out in a normal club, but she wanted to try out a new club. It was a dive. I was in the washroom when all Hell broke loose. People were screaming and panicking, I lost my purse, and we got rounded up and searched. They carried out my purse and asked who it belonged to. Next thing I knew, I was in cuffs.”
“Are the drugs yours?”
I flushed. Hard. “No.” Again with that assessment. Embarrassment coursed through my veins. “I don’t do drugs.” I sounded terse and way too defensive.
“I didn’t say you did.”
“Your look did.”
“What look is that?”
Dammit. Those eyes.
“Why are you here anyway?” I asked in exasperation.
“Jackson called me.”
“Why?”
“To provide moral support.”
“Well, you’re stressing me out.”
He laughed. Like full on, looked at the ceiling and laughed. I had a feeling this was the Porter that Emily had been trying to set me up with. What was the word she had used? Breathtaking? I couldn’t even reconcile him with the bearded mute from a few months ago.
“You’re different,” I said slowly.
“I’m drunk.”
“Oh.” I blinked. “Is that why you’re talking?”
Another look.
“Don’t slip back into your selective mutism on my account.”
“Maybe I didn’t have anything to say to someone like you.”
“Like me?” I bristled. “I’m fucking fantastic, you know. You’d be lucky to get someone like me.”
He thought about that for a moment. “Yeah. Because bailing your ass out of jail for possession is on the top of my list for chicks I want to date.”
I huffed. “Oh, what important thing did I pull you away from tonight? Drinking by yourself in a bar while cruising for easy chicks?”
“Trust me, the easy chick I could have picked up tonight would be too prim to put on the dress you’re wearing. ”
I mentally had a flash of him pining some hot chick against the wall. For some reason, I didn’t like that image. “You were with a woman when Jackson called you?”
He shrugged. “It was nothing.”
How far had he gotten with his one-night stand? What exactly were they doing when Jackson called him? An image of him naked and kissing some chick in her bed came to my mind.
My face flushed. “How badly were you interrupted?”
“It didn’t get that far.”
“Does she have a name?”
Back to that look.
Slowly, it dawned on me that his one-night stand had honestly been that. For some reason, that shocked me. “I bet you don’t even know her name.”
“You’re judging me?”
“Just trying to get you off your self-righteous throne.”
“You should talk.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry Jackson called you tonight. He wasted your time.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It does because you got dragged down here for no reason. I don’t need you here.”
That was a tiny lie. It was actually kind of nice that he was here. More than nice, if I was honest with myself. Even if he was utterly infuriating.
“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for Jackson.”
That made me pause. “Well, I appreciate the effort, but once I get out of here, you can go back to whatever—or whomever—you were doing before you got this call.”
“I will.”
“That’s great.”
“It is.”
“I think I liked you better when you didn’t talk.”
He responded with a smile that was so sexy, it made my toes curl. I had to work to keep the smile off my face. It was official. I’d gone insane. I was in a police precinct, and former Duck Dynasty wannabe had me fighting a smile. Maybe I was still drunk.
The door opened, and the detective entered with my purse in her outstretched hand. She glared at me. “You’re free to go.”
Porter unfolded himself from the chair and stood up. I stood up beside him.
“I don’t know who the fuck you are,” the detective started.
“None of your business,” he interrupted. He held out his hand, and she reluctantly handed him my purse, which he handed off to me.
“I’m going to find out,” she promised. “I’m sick as shit of people like you walking free.”
“Back off,” he growled.
She glared at Porter as she held the door open. He walked out first, and the tightness of my skirt and the length of my stilettos made it challenging to keep up with his long strides, but I did my best. In the lobby, I skidded to a stop at the sight of Yates, standing at the front desk.
“Beth.” He scanned me up and down, his baby blue eyes wide.
“What are you doing here?” I refrained from pulling my skirt down.
“Janet called me. I came to get you out of jail.” He appeared as confused as I felt as he took in my outfit, Porter, and my wild hair.
“Well, I’m out of jail.”
“I’ll take you home.” His voiced reeked of the civil authority I’d learned to hate. “I have a car waiting.”
I shook my head and stepped a fraction closer to Porter. “No, thank you.”
Yates scrutinized Porter up. “Who the fuck are you?”
“This,” I wrapped my arm around Porter’s thick forearm, “is Porter.”
“Beth.” Yates’ sounded exasperated. “The party is over. Now, let’s go. ”
I hated how he reminded me of my parents. Blame the tequila, but I squished my body closer to Porter’s and said, “Porter’s my boyfriend.” I could feel Porter looking down at me, but I couldn’t force myself to look up into those knowing grey eyes.
I’d never seen Yates more stunned. “Since when are you dating anyone?”
I stroked Porter’s arm up and down like I would a large dog. “We’re very serious. The feelings we have for each other are very strong, aren’t they, sweetie?”
Porter cleared his throat. “The feelings I have for you, I shouldn’t say out loud.”
I gave his arm a biting squeeze. “Because you feel so strongly for me…right?”
“To the point of almost being violent.”
“Trust me, he means that,” I assured Yates. I was sure he would call me on this farce, but he seemed too flummoxed.
He glanced between Porter and me. “How did you two meet?”
I sighed. “We met at Emily’s baby christening. Our connection was instantaneous.” I glanced up at Porter.
He stared at Yates with a straight face. “She made me speechless.”
I sounded strangled. “The emotional support I get from Porter… it’s like nothing I’ve experienced before.”
Yates stood there, looking between us. “Janet never told me.”
I patted Porter’s arm. Repeatedly. “Some relationships you want to keep a secret for as long as possible.”
“Or forever,” Porter added, completely deadpan.
“Well, honey,” I hung onto Porter’s arm, “should we go?”
“Have a good night,” Porter said formally to Yates.
Without looking at Yates, I walked out of the station, holding onto Porter’s arm. To his credit, he didn’t say a word. He hailed a cab, held the door open for me like the gentleman I didn’t think he was and climbed in after me.
“Where to?” I tried my best to look innocent .
“You owe me for that. So, I’m crashing at your place.”
“The hell you are!”
“I’d be happily asleep right now in some chick’s bed if it wasn’t for you.”
“Right. The chick with no name. Fine. But you get the couch, and at the crack of dawn, you get out.”
The cab driver waited patiently. I gave him my address when Porter reached over and yanked me to his side.
“What the hell?” I was a second away from shoving his ass out of the cab.
“Your little boyfriend is watching,” he said, his lips against my forehead. “So play nice.”
I peered out the grimy window. Yates stood on the top steps of the police station, hands in his pockets, watching as our cab pulled away. Sucking in my pride, I leaned into Porter’s touch, too damn aware of the feel of his lips on my head.
This was a disaster.