Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
PIGGY
Finding the sci-fi section, I scroll through and settle in on a show called Vikings. I could use some good blood-and-guts fighting scenes. I press the play button, lift my beer to my lips, and take a pull.
I’m only about halfway through the first episode when my phone buzzes next to me on the couch cushion. Shifting my beer into my other hand, I reach for my phone and frown at the name flashing across the screen.
Garcia.
I don’t know why the fuck he would be calling me, especially at this time of night. He works days, so there shouldn’t be a reason for him to call me, not that there ever would be anyway. I almost ignore the call altogether, but my curiosity takes over, and I slide my thumb across the screen.
“Colter,” I grunt as my greeting.
There is a moment of silence, and I almost check to see if he’s ended the call. But then he begins to speak. I’m not sure what the fuck he thinks he’s going to accomplish by his threats, but I’m not scared of him, not in the fucking slightest.
“Are you ready to just quit and walk away?” he asks. “You know I have you by the balls.”
I could play with him, but I honestly don’t have the time or inclination for it right now. I just want him off my back and gone. More specifically, fucking gone. My lips press together in a thin line, and I inhale deeply through my nose, then let the exhale out of my mouth before I respond.
“I don’t know why you’re calling me, and I’m sure you think you have me by the balls, but you indeed do not.”
He lets out a short laugh, and before he can say anything else, I decide I’m going to pop the fuck off. “How’s your wife?” I ask.
Ivy’s report was very detailed, and I know that he somehow hid it from the department. I’m not sure how, and as much as I want to ask the chief what the fuck is going on, I’m going to ask this fucker first.
“What?” His voice comes out as a hissed whisper.
He’s shocked. I can tell he is. It takes him a few beats to gather his thoughts. Obviously, he didn’t expect me to have that kind of information on him. I’m not sure what he thinks happened to those reports. Even if nothing came of it, they still exist.
“Did you think that kind of shit just disappears?” I ask. “Even if it isn’t ever prosecuted, it never completely vanishes.”
What a dumb motherfucker.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grinds out through gritted teeth.
It’s hilarious, so hilarious in fact that I almost burst out laughing. I have to bite my tongue for a moment to keep from doing that. I’m going to save my laughter for when he’s fired. And then laugh again when he’s blackballed and can’t ever be a cop again.
That’s when I’ll belly laugh.
“Three years ago, when you beat the fuck out of your old lady. Ring any bells? I could send you copies of the pictures, if you’d like?”
There is a long moment of silence.
I can practically hear the wheels inside this asshole’s head turning over and over as he thinks about what I’ve just said to him. I wish he were sitting in front of me so I could see his face. I have no doubt he’s completely fucking dumbfounded.
“How the fuck?” he demands on a growl.
“How the fuck indeed,” I murmur. “You started whatever this is with me, and I have a feeling you’re not going to like the way it turns out.
For whatever fucking reason, you thought you had the upper hand when you didn’t.
I didn’t even know who you were a couple weeks ago, and now you’re going to wish you never fucking approached me. ”
Ending the call, I toss my phone beside me on the couch again, shifting my beer back to my right hand. I lift the remote control and press the play button. I want to get back to these Viking bastards. They seem interesting as fuck.
I’m not sure how long I've been watching the show, but when the sun threatens to blind me, I realize there’s no way I’ll be getting any sleep today. Oh well. Once Millie goes to work, I can come back here and catch a few hours of shut-eye in an attempt to catch up.
Turning the television off, I stand, stretching my sore muscles.
I am too fucking old to sit in that piss-poor position all night.
My entire body is stiff, and I’m majorly feeling it.
Picking up my beer bottles, I carry them to the kitchen and toss them in the trash just as I hear the bedroom door open.
I don’t know why, but I expect to see Heidi emerge from the bedroom, but instead, it’s Millie. She’s wearing sexy sleep shorts and a spaghetti-strap tank top, no bra. Her hair is messy, her face is bare, and she looks absolutely fucking stunning.
“Mornin’,” I murmur the moment I drop the bottles in the trash.
Her eyes widen as she lifts her gaze to meet mine from across the room. She forgot I was here, that much is clear. But fuck, she’s still goddamn pretty. I can’t keep my lips from twitching into a smirk at the surprised expression she’s wearing.
She doesn’t say anything in response to my greeting, but that’s okay. Her expression and getting to look at her sexy body are all I really need this morning. She shuffles toward me, scooting past me and toward the coffee maker.
I watch her, enjoying just being this close to her. I know she is still pissed at me, but she won’t be forever, and I’ll never get tired of being near her. I shouldn’t have left when I did, but I was afraid I was going to say something I couldn’t take back.
And also, she fucking pissed me off.
If I’m being honest, straight up pissed me off. My initial reaction was to just walk away and never look back. But after about five minutes down the road, I realized that was just my bruised pride doing the thinking for me.
Millie might have pissed me off, but she’s my woman, and nothing is fucking changing that.
Not even her.
MILLIE
I successfully ignore his sexy ass as I make my coffee, then pad back to my bedroom, closing the door behind me. Heidi is still asleep, but I know she won’t be for long. Like me, she’s used to late nights and semi-early mornings.
It’s eleven, and I know she’ll be waking up soon. I couldn’t stay in there with him, though. I couldn’t be that close to him. I know I won’t be able to stay pissed at him if I do. So I had to make my coffee and hurry away without looking like I was hurrying away.
“You are a mess,” Heidi whispers before she throws her arm over her eyes.
“I am a mess,” I confess.
Lifting my cup to my lips, I close my eyes and take a sip, allowing the hot liquid to slide down my throat. Heidi clears her throat, and I hear her shift around on the bed. Opening my eyes, I watch her as she leans against the headboard, her gaze focused and pointed directly at me.
“That man is totally fine, and I know you’re mad at him, but he cares for you.”
“He does,” I admit.
I know he does. But it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t piss me off. Because he does piss me off, a hell of a lot. I’m not sure he loves me. I think he wants to control me more than he loves me, and that’s where I’m having an issue.
“But he doesn’t love me. Not like he should.”
She snorts. “Honey, men don’t love like they should until they’re slapped with a good dose of reality.”
“Yeah? You speak from experience?”
There is a moment of silence where we stare at one another, and I can’t help but wonder how the fuck I don’t know this story. Heidi only ever talked about the men she was seeing while we were together. She never told me about her past, even if that’s all I could ever talk about.
“I do,” she whispers. “I was in love once, too. Believe it or not.”
My lips twitch into a smirk. “I believe it.”
“It was a long time ago,” she says. “He was a rough man, just like that one. But when the love was there, boy, was it electric.”
“And when it wasn’t?”
She shakes her head slowly. “I’m not going into detail about it because it’s done. But let’s just say he had his moment, he was slapped with a good dose of reality, and he didn’t choose me.”
I don’t like the way that sounds. It’s sad. “Is that when you started dancing… after?”
She hums, nodding a couple of times before she lets out a long sigh. “It’s when I started dancing.”
We stare at one another for a moment in silence, then she throws the covers off, shifts her legs over the side of the bed, and stands. I stay frozen, my cup in my hand. She moves toward me, though, stopping when she’s directly in front of me.
I feel her fingers grip my forearm, squeezing gently, her gaze never leaving mine. “The past is the past, honey. Except when it comes back. Then maybe you ought to give it a second glance.”
“The past can be a bitch, too.”
She snorts. “That’s the fucking truth of it, but I think maybe this is worth seeing if it’s legit.”
Heidi releases her grasp, then turns and heads toward the bathroom without another word.
I’m glad, because I have no idea what I would say.
I want to ask her a million questions about the person she once loved, but it’s clear she doesn’t want to talk about that with me, or more than likely, not at all.
It’s painful.
I can understand that, even if I want to know everything… every single thing.
Once the bathroom door is closed, I look at my bedroom door and decide that I need to face that man. Ignoring him isn’t going to work because he won’t let me do that. He’s going to be annoying until I break.
I’m not sure I want to give him the satisfaction of breaking me down anyway.