Needing Her (From Ashes #1.5)(11)

“Stop acting like a child. You knew I was coming over this morning and you weren’t there. No note, nothing. I called you and you didn’t answer, I was worried about you.”

A short, humorless laugh bubbled out of my chest. “I can see you were really worried. It took you almost five hours to come check where I work from when you last cal—” I cut off quickly and internally cursed for giving myself away.

His blue eyes narrowed. “I drove over here at eight, I saw your car here so I knew you were okay. Now. Tell me why you weren’t there this morning, and why you weren’t answering my calls, since apparently you knew I was calling.”

“That’s really none of your business, and I don’t know why it’s such a big deal that I wasn’t there. All you needed to do was clean up the polish—that doesn’t require me being there, right?”

“It does, because I wanted to talk to you.”

Part of me was dying to know what he wanted to talk to me about. The other was remembering him calling me Mini, and balking at the idea of me thinking he liked my mouth. “Well I don’t want to talk to you. So if you could leave now, I’d appreciate it.”

Those intense blue eyes widened and he stared at me for a handful of seconds before shifting back and standing up. I scrambled awkwardly until I was vertical again, and fell into my chair. Trying not to show how much my head was still throbbing, I refused to grab my head again until he left.

“Why were you outside my door last night when Sadie came over?” he asked when he reached the door to leave. His back had been to me as he asked the question, but he turned to face me as he waited for my answer.

“I already told you la—”

“I’m not buying that.”

“I don’t care if you are or aren’t. I told you why I was there, and you’re just trying to make it out to be something different than it was.”

He took three large steps until he was on the other side of my desk, and bent down to rest his hands on the wood. “I saw the way you looked, you can’t keep tell—”

“Did you remember to pay Sweetheart before she left? Oh, wait, I forgot. You actually remembered this one’s name. Did you remember to pay Sadie?”

Connor’s head jerked back and his eyebrows slammed down. When he spoke, his voice was dark and sent chills through my body. “Come again?”

But he and I both knew there was no need to repeat the question. I glanced at his clothes, and noticed that he was in slacks and a button-down with a tie. His badge, gun, and handcuffs were all attached to his belt. Damn, I’ve always loved the way he looked in his detective getup. Forcing my eyes away from him, I woke up my computer and pretended to start a new game.

“Sorry you felt the need to come all the way over here to check on me, but you should probably go back to work, Detective Green.”

“Watch yourself, Maci,” he said in warning. “You’re starting to look jealous.”

I didn’t look back at him as he walked out of the office. As soon as the door shut, I let out the breath I’d been holding and dropped my head onto my desk.

“Don’t act like you’re asleep, Mini, I just heard you talking. Who was here?”

I glared up at Dylan and rubbed at the back of my tender head. “Connor.”

Dylan walked over and opened the door, looking out into the parking lot. “Well why’d he leave before talking to us, did he get a call?”

“He didn’t come to see you two,” I replied immediately, not realizing what I’d said until Dylan’s expression turned murderous. Trying to keep calm, I thought quickly and rolled my eyes. “Oh God, come on, Dylan. Not like that, he was apologizing for the sounds his skank was making last night. Our walls are really thin.”

It was beyond stupid that my heart was racing, and I was terrified of my brothers finding out about this unreciprocated crush I had on their best friend. But when they’d taken my phone, which had conversations between Bryce and me, I hadn’t flinched.

“Lucky bastard.” Dylan shook his head and smacked his hand on my desk, causing me to jump, before walking down the hall again.

“Yeah,” I mumbled softly and failed at ignoring the pain spreading in my chest. He views you like a sister, Maci. Nothing more. “Lucky bastard.”

Connor

“WHAT THE HELL, what the hell, what the hell?” I pulled my car into a strip-mall parking lot, threw it into park and groaned into my hands. “What. The. Hell?”

I didn’t know why I’d gone there. I didn’t know why I’d been worried about her in the first place. She spent nights away all the time, but she’d known I was coming over this morning. There was no way she hadn’t heard Sadie, because she’d been f*cking obnoxious before I’d finally kicked her out. And for some damn reason, I’d spent the rest of the night wondering why Maci had still been outside my door, why she looked like she was trying to keep herself together . . . and why the f*ck I’d had to picture her to get off.

This was Maci. Maci. I knew I couldn’t think about her like this; and I knew that to continuously entertain the thoughts that had been playing in my mind since the night before would be dangerous. But even in the office, the only thing that had kept my mind clear enough to stop me from covering her body with mine and claiming her mouth was the fact that her brothers and dad were all in the back.