“All right, sweetheart. Can’t wait to see you and meet Grayson.”
“You’ve met him a number of times.”
My father laughed. “Yeah well, that was before he was dating my daughter.”
Great. Just great.
“I’ve got to go, Dad, my appointment is here.”
“Bye, Meg. Love you.”
Glancing up at the clock, I knew my next appointment wasn’t until noon, but he didn’t have to know that. “Love you too, Dad.”
As I hung up the phone, I blew out a deep breath. “Jesus, help me get through this weekend and I swear I will do good things until I can’t do good any more.”
Melissa knocked on my door and pushed it all the way open.
“So, I picked the dishes.”
My headed pulled back as I gazed at her. “What are you talking about?”
“The challenge you have with your hotter-than-hot fiancé.”
My eyes rolled. “When are you going to stop calling Gray that? Plus that was forever ago, I forgot all about it.”
“First off, I’ll stop calling him that when he becomes ugly, and second, your hotter-than-hot fiancé was the one who called to remind me about it. Seems like he wants to win this pretty bad.”
Giggling, I shook my head. “You’re so bad and yes, I’m sure he does.”
Melissa lifted her eyebrow and said, “I will get it out of you what the winner gets.”
I leaned back in my chair and chewed on the end of my pen. “So, what’s the dish?”
An evil smile spread over her face. “Beef tenderloin with cognac butter, shaved broccoli apple salad with tarragon and bacon, and chocolate almond cheesecake bars.”
My mouth fell open as I dropped the pen. “What the hell? That’s an entire meal and I don’t even know what half that shit means.”
Melissa laughed. “Oh man, I just wanted to see your reaction. Okay seriously, it has to be a meal made with beef tenderloin.”
“What’s a beef tenderloin? A type of steak?”
Staring at me with a stunned expression, Melissa shook her head. “Jesus, I hope whatever you agreed to if Grayson wins it isn’t anything too crazy.”
My face blushed as Melissa’s eyes grew wider. Leaning toward me, she dropped her mouth open. “Oh. My. God. Meagan Atwood you have to tell me what it is.”
“Two words . . . hell no.”
With a pout, Melissa dropped back against the chair. “Okay this is not fair. You can’t ask me to be a part of this and not tell me what the stakes are.”
“Nope. It’s too personal.”
“It’s anal sex isn’t it?”
I sat there with a stunned expression on my face. “W-what? Why is that the first thing you think of?”
Melissa shot me a please look. “I may be older than you, but I’ve been out with you and I’ve seen you with guys.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said as I gave her a dirty look. “Are you calling me a whore?”
With a laugh and a brush of her hand, Melissa dapped at her eyes. “No! I’m just saying you’re . . . friendly . . . with the boys and I would have to guess you’ve had your fair share of sexual encounters, but I don’t take you for the kind of girl that would let any guy dive into the deep dark world of anal sex.”
Who was this person sitting across from me?
“Who are you? The deep dark world of anal sex? You make it sound forbidden.”
“Isn’t it?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t think it’s something you’d sit around the table and tell your mother about, but no, I don’t think it’s forbidden. I also don’t think it would be something I would attempt to do with just any guy.”
Leaning forward, Melissa gave me a wink. “And we both know, Grayson is not just any guy.”
My face flashed hot again. “No. He most certainly is not.”
My phone buzzed as Jennifer came over the line. “Meagan, Mitchell called and asked if he could come in earlier. Your schedule was clear, so I said yes.”
Hitting the button, I said, “Thanks, Jennifer. When will he be here?”
“Thirty minutes.”
Melissa stood and looked down at me. “How are things going with him?”
With a smile, I stood as well. “I think good. His girlfriend came to see me not too long ago. Said Mitchell was starting to get involved with some of the football guys who were pulling pranks and such. Looks like she was able to pull him away from it. He seems to be doing good.”
With a smile and nod, Melissa made her way to her door. “Pay close attention, Meagan. Sometimes these kids have a way of hiding things when they’re hurting the worst.”
My heart dropped to my stomach as I gave her a weak smile while she retreated out of my office.
I loved my job, but sometimes I felt so helpless. The only thing I could do is pray like hell that they listened to what I talked to them about. There was something about Mitchell though that I felt such a connection with.
Burying my face in my hands, I let out a moan. “I need something strong to drink.”
Grabbing my jacket and purse, I headed out of the office. Walking past Jennifer, I smiled and said, “I need a quick Starbucks run before Mitchell gets here. I’ll be right back.”
Jennifer lifted her hand and called out, “Get me my normal!”
The Starbucks was less than a minute walk from my office. I wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or a curse. I pulled out my phone and sent Grayson a text asking how his day was. I knew he was just as nervous as I was about my father’s visit.
My face blushed as I thought about last night and this morning. We had fucked like rabbits both times. The thought of not sleeping in the same bed with Grayson for four nights killed me as much as it did him.
“Must be something good you’re thinking about.”
Looking up, I saw the guy from the movies that Grayson had a funny feeling about.
“Excuse me?” I asked as I took a step back. Something about the way he was looking at me had me on edge.
“It’s Meagan, right?”
My phone went off in my hand while I attempted to smile politely. “Yes. I’m sorry I don’t remember your name.”
“Joshua. Joshua Black.”
With a quick nod, I said, “That’s right.”
“I was just commenting on your flushed cheeks. You must have been thinking about something good.”
My head jerked back. He did not just go there.
“Must just be the weather outside.”
With a smirk, Joshua nodded his head. “You meeting Detective Bennett?”
Glancing toward the door, I shook my head and turned back to the front. “Um, yes. I work around the corner so it’s an easy place to meet.”
“Really? I live right across the street in the new condos.”
This guy was really starting to bug me and I had no idea why. If he took one more step closer to me I was going to tell him to back the fuck off.
“I’ve heard they’re really nice. My boss was thinking of buying one.”
Joshua grinned. “Yeah well, they are nice and they are very expensive, but worth it. The amenities are amazing. Hey you ever want to take a look, I’m more than happy to show you mine.”
Uh-huh. I bet you are, you pervert.
Glancing at my phone, I couldn’t read Grayson’s reply. I simply typed in 77 and hit Send. It was Grayson’s code he came up with for when I needed him to call me as soon as possible if anything was ever wrong.
My phone rang almost immediately as I held up my finger and said, “So sorry, I’ve been waiting for this call.”
“Hello?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Hey, are you almost here?”
“Are you at the office?”
“No silly, Starbucks.”
I peeked over to see Joshua was texting someone on his phone. Turning away from him, I lowered my voice.
“I’m fine, just a little uneasy.”
&
nbsp; “Is someone bugging you?”
I cleared my throat and moved a bit closer to the front when the line moved up. Joshua was now talking to someone on the phone. “Oh, you know, the same reason you wanted to leave that movie.”
“Joshua Black is there?”
“Bingo.”
“I’m on my way.”
“No! Honestly, that’s not necessary.”
Grayson’s heavy sigh told me he was not happy. “Meg, you fucking text me your distress code and then tell me some asshole guy I have a bad feeling about is bothering you and you don’t want me to come there? Why text me then? Are you no longer feeling uneasy?”
His condescending tone pissed me off. “Sorry to have bothered you then. My mistake.”
I ended the call and tossed the phone into my purse. Joshua was still talking to someone on the phone as I stared straight ahead. When it was my turn to order, I placed my order and stood off to the side. Joshua made no attempt to come over and talk to me at all which allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief. Although my phone going off in my purse was seriously causing me to stress. I knew Grayson would be pissed I hung up on him and left him hanging.
I quickly grabbed the two coffees when they were called out and headed toward the door. Joshua appeared before me as he opened the door and smiled. “Have a good day, Meagan.”
My entire body stiffened as I forced a smile and nodded. “You too.”
Walking out of Starbucks I never looked back, although I was almost positive Joshua was watching my every move. As I rounded the corner I took a chance and glanced back. I let out the breath I was holding when I didn’t see Joshua anywhere.
The moment I stepped into the office, Jennifer jumped up. “Grayson called here looking for you. He said to call him the second you got back.”
Snarling my lip up, I handed Jennifer her coffee. “If he calls again, tell him I’m in meetings up until I have to pick up my father.”
Jennifer’s eyes widened. “Whoa, what happened? You get in a fight?”
I headed back to my office as I called over my shoulder, “Something like that.”
Slamming my door shut, I dropped my purse and set my coffee down. “Ugh! He gives me some stupid code and tells me to use it whenever I need him. Then he goes all caveman crazy on me when all I needed was to hear his voice.” My hands landed on my hips. “Well fuck that.”
My phone buzzed again in my purse. Chewing on my lip, I pulled it out and read Grayson’s text messages.
Gray: Meg, are you okay?
Gray: Meg, please answer your phone or at least text me!
Gray: Meagan. Fucking text me back!
Gray: Stop acting like a child.
My mouth dropped open. “A child? Oh, no he didn’t.”
The phone buzzed in my hand as I swiped it without looking at who was calling.
“How dare you treat me like a child! I’ve made it perfectly fine on my own without you trying to boss me around. I don’t care to talk to you at this moment, so if you’ll excuse me I—”
“Meagan? It’s your father.”
Fuck. My. Life.
Swallowing hard, I quickly sat down. “Oh hey, Dad. Did you land in Dallas?”
“Yep.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I cursed under my breath as I tried to calm my pounding heart down.
“Great. I’m sorry your layover is so long.”
“What did he do?”
Son-of-a-bitch. “He didn’t do anything.”
With a fake laugh, my father mumbled something away from the phone before saying, “He obviously bossed my daughter around and that doesn’t sit well with me. I’m glad to hear you had the sense to set him straight.”
Oh. My. God.
“I had the sense to set him straight? What in the hell is wrong with men? How dare you think I’d actually let a man boss me around! I’m not a child. I do know how a man should treat a woman. My own father!”
“Wait a minute here, Meagan. You answered the phone clearly pissed off at Grayson and now you’re taking it out on me.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong. He overreacted to a situation I had under control and I certainly don’t need you telling me how to live my life anymore, Dad. I followed that plan my whole life and have no desire to continue with that.”
Silence filled the phone as I realized what I had just said. “You think I tried to tell you how to live your life?”
I almost wanted to laugh at his statement. My phone beeped as I pulled it away and saw it was Grayson. “Dad, I have an appointment in a few minutes I need to get ready for. I’m sorry, I’m just angry and I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I really am looking forward to spending the weekend with you.”
“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
My heart hurt as I pictured my father upset. “I love you, Daddy.”
“Love you too, pumpkin.”
The line went dead as I pushed out the breath I had been holding in. “Damn it,” I whispered as I tossed my phone onto the desk.
Dropping my face into my hands, I took in one deep breath after another. Mitchell would be here in a few minutes and I needed to put my own problems on the back burner to focus on him.
Ten minutes passed and Mitchell arrived early. My phone was sitting in front of me as we got caught up on things going on at school. When the text popped up on my phone, I felt all the air leave my lungs.
Gray: Tried to call again. I won’t be at dinner tonight. Sorry.
Grayson
I HATE STAKEOUTS. It was probably the only thing about my job I hated.
“You’re mumbling over there, Bennett.”
I drew in a breath and released it before saying, “This is a waste of our time.”
Derrick nodded in agreement as he lifted the binoculars and looked at the building across the street. “Someone thinks it’s not.”
“Yeah well, I can’t imagine we’re going to find anything on this guy.”
“Want to talk about it?”
Looking away, I rubbed my hand along the back of my neck as I paced across the room. “Nothing to talk about.”
Derrick laughed as he dropped the binoculars and looked at me. “You called Meagan and ever since then you’ve been pissed at the world. If that doesn’t scream fight, I don’t know what does.”
My throat tightened as I thought about Meagan hanging up on me earlier and then ignoring my calls and texts.
Derrick went back to watching the house as I shook my head. “I gave Meagan a code that she could text whenever she was feeling uncomfortable or scared.”
“Okay,” he said as he continued to watch the house.
Letting out a breath, I tried not to let myself get upset again. “She used it today.”
He turned and looked at me as he lifted a brow.
“She ran into that Joshua Black and I guess he made her feel uncomfortable. I told her I was on my way and she told me no, that everything was fine so I asked her why she used the code then if everything was fine.”
“Oh hell,” he said as he made a face.
“What? Was that wrong of me?”
Derrick motioned for me to take the binoculars for a bit. “Here, you watch while I explain women to you.”
Grabbing the damn things from his hands, I let out a snort. “I know plenty about women, asshole.”
“Obviously, dude, you don’t. So you gave your girl a code to use when she needed you, whether needing you was maybe just needing to hear your voice or actually physically needing you. In this case, she wanted to hear your voice and was possibly using your call to get out of talking to the creep. You pulled the I am caveman and will protect you bit and she got pissed. Now, I don’t know Meagan all that well, but from what I can tell, she’s tough and not one to overreact to things. Maybe she thought you were treating her like she was weak.”
I turned to look at my partner as my mouth dropped open. “Weak? Meagan is the last person I would consider to be weak.”
&nb
sp; Derrick shrugged. “Gray, women want to be strong and independent, but at the same time, they want to know that you’ll be there for them if they need you. So maybe Meagan just needed to know you would have been there for her if she needed you to be.”
“Why are they so complicated? I’m so fucking confused. So I did something wrong?”
With his head thrown back, Derrick laughed his ass off. I couldn’t help but laugh along with him even though I had no clue what in the hell we were laughing at.
He finally got himself under control when he said, “Dude, we’re always in the wrong. The sooner you learn that the happier your life will be.”
My eyebrows drew together as I thought about my last text to her. “I think I fucked things up big time.”
Derrick dropped his head. “So. Much. To. Teach. You.” Shaking his head, he looked up at me. “What did you do?”
“Well, I um, I sent her a text when I found out about the stakeout and just told her I wouldn’t be making it tonight.”
“Was tonight important to her?”
With a shrug, I whispered, “Maybe, sort of.”
“Maybe sort of?”
“Her father was flying in tonight and we were supposed to have dinner.”
Derrick jumped up. “You blew her off with a text on the night her father was coming into town? You realize you need to make a good impression with him right?”
“Yes I know that, Winn! We got called out on this stupid ass stakeout. I tried calling her, but she refused to take my calls. What was I supposed to do?”
Derrick stood up and gave me a look of disappointment. “Dude, I didn’t take you for such an asshole.”
Even though I knew he was right, I balled my fists and walked to the other side of the empty room while I tried to calm myself down. I wasn’t angry with Derrick, I was angry with myself.
“Hey cap, this is Winn. Bennett isn’t feeing so great and heading home for the night. Nah, there are a few uniforms here. We can switch out . . . right . . . I’ll let him know.”
Hitting his phone, Derrick motioned with his head for me to take off. “It’s early and I bet you can still make dinner.”
With a smile, I walked over to him and held my hand out. “Thanks, Winn.”