Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 47521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 158(@300wpm)
This time it's not me that interrupts her, it’s Elias that puts his hands on Chloe’s shoulders and pulls her to him. “You should have come and got me.”
They start talking, but I tune them out and do what I’ve been wanting to do since I got here. I put both hands on Cassie’s shoulders. “What can I do for you?”
She doesn’t tense up. If anything, she leans into me. “I’m okay.”
I pull up a stool and sit down, putting her legs between mine. “Do you think you can get up?”
She nods her head, and then as if she remembered my request from earlier, she says, “Yeah, I really am fine.”
“Your pupils look okay. Any pain or nausea? Did you lose consciousness?”
She smiles and shakes her head. “I promise I’m okay. I’m more embarrassed than anything.”
I’m about to shake her off and tell her that she shouldn’t be embarrassed, but she giggles. “And what? Besides being a cop are you a doctor too?”
I scoot closer. I love that she feels she can joke with me. “No, I’m not a doctor, but I would love to get you checked out by one. Just to make sure you’re okay.”
She firmly shakes her head side to side. “No, I don’t need a doctor. It’s a bruise and no big deal.”
I’m about to insist when she starts to shake her head. “Look, I’d really just like to go home.”
Chloe reappears and sits down next to Cassie. She’s watching me, no doubt trying to figure out why I’m sitting so close to her friend. She puts an arm around Cassie. “I’ll take you home.”
Cassie is quick to decline. “No, you stay and have some fun. I can call my sister to come get me. She won’t mind.”
“No.” I practically yell at her and then shake my head at myself. Real smooth, Baker. “I mean, it’s fine. I can take you home. I’d like to talk to you a little more about the incident anyway.”
She gathers her hair at the nape of her neck and then wraps it around her hand, baring her neck to me. Already I can imagine pressing my lips to her soft skin. She releases her hair with a soft huff. “There was no incident. The one pushed the other and I guess he grabbed me when he started to fall.”
Chloe’s head is rolling back and forth between us, and she must figure it out on her own. She nods her head. “Right. You should let the uh, the officer, take you home.”
I blink at her because she knows me, she knows my name… and she knows who I am in relationship to Cassie. Somehow I’m going to have to break it to Cassie, but I want to let this play out as long as I can.
“You going to let me take you home?”
She gestures to me. “You’re working. You don’t need to take me home. I can get a ride.”
She tries to get up, but with me crowding her, she can’t. I put my hands on her knees. I’m not only breaking every rule right now but I’m doing it and not giving a fuck. Which should scare the hell out of me. I’m a by the books person, and I always follow the rules. But I guess if it comes to touching Cassie, I’m going to break each and every one of them. “I would like to take you home.”
She’s watching me with curiosity, and I smile at her. She has to be able to see how badly I want to spend time with her. “Go with me. I won’t sleep tonight unless I know you’ve made it home, safe and sound.”
“But…” she starts just as Chloe starts to talk.
“I know you haven’t been back home long, but I can vouch for him. Ba—uh, the officer is a good guy. You know I wouldn’t let someone take you home unless I knew you’d be safe.”
When she still hesitates, Elias jumps in. “And I’ll make sure Chloe gets home, so don’t worry about her.”
Finally, I let out a breath as Cassie nods her head. “Okay, sure. Thank you. I really am ready to get out of here. Plus I have school tomorrow.”
That’s when I try to recall everything I’ve ever heard about Cassie. She’s a teacher over at the middle school. She is twenty-two years old, ten years my junior. She doesn’t have the best relationship with her mom, at least to hear her mom say it. She’s really close with Brook, her sister. But even knowing all that, it’s not enough. I want to know everything about her. I stand up. “Do you want me to carry you out?”
She bolts to her feet. “Carry me? No way. I’m already going to be the talk of the town, I definitely don’t need people saying that a cop had to carry me out of the bar.”