Koa
18.
Things have gotten really quiet over the last few days. And I am just not a quiet guy. When things are too fucking quiet, it rubs me the wrong way. And it’s not just the quiet from Lacey that’s bugging me. I have stepped back a little, giving her some more freedom, and waiting for her to take a step further out of her shell. This time I’m taking at least some benefits selfishly from it, stealing kisses here and there. But ever since I did her on the roof of the fucking car, she’s been sleeping in Briana’s bed, leaving my arms empty. And I’m on the edge because I want more of everything with her.
But it’s not Lacey’s quietness that worries me, it’s the fact that Adrian is too quiet.
He came back to work a day after we knocked him out and has been avoiding all three of us since. He even veers in the other direction when any of us comes near him. And that is the thing that makes me feel off because Adrian isn’t a quiet guy either. He likes to rub shit in, mouth off, or even threaten other people, especially if someone embarrassed him this bad in front of his whole team. Some of his bastard friends stood on the side watching him get a beating last week and didn’t even interfere with us, knowing we would’ve knocked them out as well. Even his sleazy fucking partner, Bennet, who is known for his cruel ways, didn’t defend him. He’s probably sick of his bullshit too.
But it is just too quiet. I have this strong feeling in my gut that something is off and that Adrian is planning some shit. That this is just the chase and he will strike when we least expect it. So I have been super alert and jittery for the last couple of days, and it rubs off on Ledger. Who, by the way and much to her dismay, even follows Lacey to the toilet, not wanting her to be alone for even one tiny second. Nonetheless, shit is quiet and it’s making me itchy.
Lacey is standing on one of the desk chairs, trying to free an old, red cabinet from dust, and I’m hella thankful she is wearing jeans instead of a skirt for once. Although her ass looks even sexier in them than in the white, cherry dress that allows access to her boobs and the sweet spot between her legs. Ledger is ogling her perfect ass from his desk as well. Even though Lacey helps out with work, we are still behind on everything because when we aren’t watching over, we’re panting for her.
Ledger catches me catching him looking at her ass and flips me the bird before he turns back to his task. I grin, knowing he is not unaffected by her. But I still want to wait out their love story for a while and try my best to enjoy the one-on-one time I have with Lacey until I have to share her with Ledge for probably the rest of my life.
Yes that’s me, you’re probably wondering how I’ve ended up in this situation…A record scratch blares in my mind when I think back to the last month. How I woke up beside her beautiful form every fucking morning, how I’ve kissed her, smelled her sweet scent, got to know her and see her cry, breaking my heart like it was a damn twig. I’m so deeply into her it is fucking embarrassing, and Ledger has given me a hard time about it more than once. It makes me anxious to be the one standing on the sideline when he falls in fucking love with her, the stupid bastard.
Lacey wobbles as she gets down, and I’m right behind her in case she falls off the rolling office chair that barely holds a sitting person steady. But, of course, she had to be stubborn and climb up on this one even though I offered to get her another one at least twenty times. I take her hand so she can come down and smell her neck when she finally gets down. Goose bumps cover her flesh as she tucks a strand of hair behind her pierced ear, making me want to bite it.
“You make it impossible for me to work here, Koa,” she whispers, flattening a hand over my stomach.
Her hands wander over my body a little, making it impossible for me to fucking work here too.
“You don’t know how impossible you make it for me to not kiss you right now,” I warn her.
She lets go of my uniform a second later, knowing she shouldn’t fuck with me when I haven’t come inside her in almost a week. I chuckle knowing her too damn well as she rolls the chair back to Ledger. She starts working beside him on some files, knowing to stay away from me when I’m still hard for her.
I have a tiny, weird feeling and look up to see Adrian glare at me from the other side of the office. His nose is still wrapped in a cast, and both of his eyes are marked with violet and blue bruises. The corners of my mouth lift up, proud that his ugly face looks like this. Son of a bitch. His glare intensifies for a second, but then he abruptly turns around to his computer, typing away. See, too fucking quiet. The old Adrian would’ve at least flipped me off.
I go back to Lacey and touch her neck with my fingers to assure she is safe and she groans out loud.
“Koa…”
Ledger chuckles next to her, as I sit my ass back in my chair. We work for three hours, highly concentrated. I really try to get up to date with all the shit that has been piling up. I switched shifts with Officer Rayna so at least either me or Ledger can stay with Lacey around the clock, and now I have even more fucking work to do. Our part of the office has been pretty much quiet for the past hours, so we both turn around when Lacey stands up. She sees both of us looking and rolls her eyes.
“I need to use the bathroom,” she announces.
I stand up the same time Ledger does.
“It is just the bathroom.”
“I’ll go with her,” I tell Ledger, who looks like a kicked puppy.
“But I like to hear her pee.”
Lacey’s eyes go big and she whips around pointing her finger at him. “I knew it. You disgusting perv.”
“Wait until I watch you,” he tells her.
She turns a pretty pink before they both start to laugh, and I love that he can make her smile all the time. He makes her so fucking happy, and I know that if there won’t be coming a carbon copy of Lacey along in front of him that she will make him so fucking happy too. I take her to the bathroom and see Captain Campbell shaking his head when he sees me disappear down the corridor with Lacey. I don’t give a single fuck about what the hell he thinks about me or her. He has never been good at his job or else Adrian would be a dead man or one locked up in a cell.
Lacey does her business, and I almost freak out because I like the sound of her peeing as well, but that probably has more to do with liking everything she does, not that I’m a creep. She washes her hands and watches me watching her through the mirror. She wears her hair down today, and I love when it falls in curls around her face. Her lips are painted in a pinkish nude tone, and I’ve wanted to kiss the lipstick off of them since she came out of her bathroom this morning.
Another damn fact I like about her is that she doesn’t need one single scratch of makeup, I like to see her blood pump under her raw skin when I kiss her in the evenings or in the mornings when she’s not wearing anything on her. I like the way her eyes look without mascara, her dark lashes are long even without a black coat. She is just so fucking hot she doesn’t even know.
Since we hang around her 24/7 I see how many guys approach her around the clock, and she doesn’t even notice it. Even at beauty school, where we watch her like stalkers through the big windows that face the street, guys crowd around her. I’m sure at least half of them are gay but I make sure to always touch her when I pick her up at the door when she is finished.
“Koa, we’re at work,” she tells me.
I look sheepishly into her green eyes.
“What? I’m not doing anything.”
“You’re making me crazy,” she says, pulling her long hair up in a high ponytail.
I seize the opportunity to dive into her neck with my nose, her eyes fluttering when our bodies connect.
“I like you crazy.”
I give her delicate neck a sweet kiss, wrapping my arms around her from behind and I don’t know how Adrian ever had the idea to tell her beautiful soul that she is somehow fat. She looks so tiny in my arms that I would never even utter anything about her weight to her.
I let go of her and take a step back. Her face and chest flush with embarrassment as if I did something naughty with her in this bathroom. We both leave it at the same time, her obviously not caring about anyone else’s thoughts either. When we get out of the hallway we see Roxanna sitting on Adrian’s desk in a short dress, her legs opened up slightly so that he has a direct view to her panties, or the lack of, who the fuck knows. I feel Lacey tense up beside me and usher her back into our little office bubble. But it is too late, Roxanna’s brown eyes catch us and she walks over.
“Ah, just who I’ve been waiting to see.”
Now it is my turn to tense up, her creepy voice flowing over my body like poison. I try to just walk over to my desk but Lacey stays still when Roxanna calls her out.
“Ms. Monroe,” she says.
We both turn around. Ledger joins us a second later, and Roxanna snorts, muttering.
“How cute.” Her evil gaze lands back on Lacey. “I need to talk to you.”
“No.”
“No.”
“Alone.”
Three voices utter at the same time.
Pritchard’s deadly gaze comes up to me and Ledger.
“She has a voice of her own,” she says, looking from us to Lacey, implying she can’t speak up for herself, sneering when she sees it works.
“It’s OK,” Lacey tells us.
Ledger shakes his head. “Fuck no.”
“It is OK, Ledge,” she says, giving him a sympathetic look.
I speak up. “It is not OK. You’re not going anywhere with her. Especially not alone.”
“Chill out, Maverick, I didn’t say I want to take her out to dinner. I just want to talk to her.”
I glare even harder at Roxanna.
“I’m fine with talking to her, just go and wait for me in the back. I won’t leave without you,” Lacey assures me.
My heart still feels as if I have to pull it up from the bottom of the ocean but I nod my head. She is right, I know she is strong enough to handle Roxanna Pritchard. Who is currently smiling like the Cheshire Cat, knowing damn well I would do anything that this woman says. Even though I have a hard shell, she can read my mind. She is a lawyer, it’s her fucking job to read people. Ledger still doesn’t take a step back, threatening her.
“Don’t try anything stupid,” he warns her.
She just inspects her red nails, unimpressed. “Goodbye, Hyde.”
We take a step back as the women go into another corner of this god forsaken office and start to talk. Even as I sit my ass down, my eyes don’t leave Lacey for even the tiniest second. Roxanna does some talking. I can’t see Lacey’s face because her back is to me, but throughout the conversation, the evil bitch has a sinister smile on her face.
“Why the hell does she need to talk with her alone?” Ledger asks, his eyes glued to Lacey’s ponytail as well.
“Fuck if I know.”
It seems to go on for an hour, but after probably ten minutes, Lacey comes over to us, her face clearly whiter than before the conversation. Ledger is the first to stand up and move toward Roxanna, pushing the cuffs on his arm up. But Lacey blocks his way, holding his arm and he follows her back like my lovesick, loser twin.
“Please, Ledge, I’m fine,” she tells him.
He looks down into her face. “You’re not.”
She wriggles herself into his arms and nudges his chin with her nose, snuggling up to him. I see him close his eyes, his hold getting stronger on her before his head falls into her neck inhaling her. And, fuck, he loves this spot probably as much as I fucking do, and I can’t even blame him. I don’t know what it is, but Lacey smells fucking amazing. And from the way he is holding her she feels fucking amazing to him too.
I kiss and hold her all the time, but we’ve been further down that road from the beginning. He is still so deep in the friend zone that he barely holds her, but I see him enjoying these moments to the brink. And still I don’t feel any pain or jealousy. Every other guy’s arms would be broken by now, but with Ledger it is just different.
“I’m fine, I promise,” she tells him, but he still won’t let her go.
I see him swallow and clench his jaw, probably trying so hard not to kiss her right now, poor fucking guy. This, by the way, I like to fucking see, him getting tortured like this.
“What did she say?” I ask, making Lacey come out of his embrace.
He scowls at me like a teenage boy when she steps out of his hold and goes back to her work station. I try not to chuckle as I sit on the desk in front of her.
“She told me that you guys should stay back from Adrian. If you don’t, she will pull some strings so that you won’t be able to go to DC for work.”
“Fuck that bitch,” I say, wanting to go after her.
Lacey puts her hand on my leg to stop me, but it’s very close to the part of my body that likes her the most and I lose all reasonable thoughts. Fucking dick.
“Stop. Neither one of you will go after her. You hear me?” she asks, looking up from me to where Ledger is fuming, trying so hard not to take a step in the direction of the swinging door.
“I meant it when I said it. I’m fine. There is no problem. We will stay away from Adrian and if we are lucky he will continue to stay away from us. Everything will be fine and in a few months you guys will be able to leave this shit show of a place.”
Her gaze wanders to her hand on my thigh as she swallows. Fuck yes we will be gone then, but what about her? She has to stay back with a fucking terrorist, no fucking way.
“I won’t fucking leave here, Lacey, if this guy is still a free man.”
She looks up at me with a shitload of disappointment.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Koa. This is all you guys ever dreamed of, more so now that you had to see this shit show, watching from front row. America needs cops like you guys, needs investigators like you, you can’t seriously be thinking about letting your dream go just because I have an asshole of an ex-boyfriend. That is not fucking fair.” She huffs, tears in the corner of her eyes.
Ledger comes up from behind, massaging her neck. She closes her green eyes with a sigh, lulling her head back into his embrace.
“Then leave with us,” he says, as if he is just suggesting getting chicken nuggets instead of a Big Mac.
Lacey’s eyes widen instantly, looking into my face, shocked. “You can’t be serious right now, Ledger.”
He comes around and sits his ass on her other side, hitting the keyboard with his fat ass.
“Careful,” Lacey scolds, rescuing the keys from his 230 pounds.
“I’m dead serious, Lacey. I won’t let you stay behind. Either we stay here with you or your sweet ass comes to Washington.”
Her eyes almost pop out of their sockets. It is crazy and ridiculous, but Ledger is right, I could never go and let her stay behind. So she either has to come with us or she has to accept that we will let go of our dream for now.
“I don’t know what to say,” Lacey replies, taking the hand from my leg, fidgeting a small silver ring on her finger. “I have Briana here and then school and work…”
“You told me you hate this fucking place too, that you hate this city. And fuck, Bri is like a leaf in the wind, she will follow you if you go. You can go to school in DC and get a job there,” Ledger offers her.
She still looks unsure, her eyes still downcast on her hands and not to us.
“You don’t have to make a decision right now,” I tell her.
Her elf-green eyes finally meet mine.
“We still have plenty of time, and if by any chance this asshole gets locked up in a dark cell somewhere, then we won’t have to think about you moving at all,” I say, not looking at Lacey but watching the prick of her ex-boyfriend from across the room.
He glares back at me right in front of her, and I can’t help but touch her face to rile him up even more. He quickly looks away, and I sweep my gaze back to Lacey, who looks kind of sad. Ledger looks pissed.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” I ask, startled because they both look at me as if I did some shit.
Lacey is quick to shrug her shoulders, putting her hand back on my thigh, making me all but forget about anything else going on right now.
“No, everything is fine. How about lunch?” she asks.
Ledger’s eyes light back up. “Hell yes, woman.”
He pulls her out of the chair by her hand. She giggles when she almost stumbles into him. He leans down to whisper something in her ear that I don’t hear, and she lights up like a fire, her eyes getting heart shaped. What now Ledger?
“I want cookies for dessert!” he announces and we both have to hold back our laughter. This guy really eats like a pig.
“You can have cookies, Ledge,” she tells him as she walks out the door.
All eyes in this office following her, especially ours, watching every step she takes, wanting to keep her safe forever.