Page 12 of Creed

I snort and nod, even if she can’t see it. I can handle five minutes. While I wait for her to call back, I chug down the rest of the soda,waiting for it to hit my gut so I can force myself to piss on the cheap plastic that’s going to determine my fate.

Since I saw him on his bike, my mind has been going a million miles a minute.

Creed. Not that I’ve seen him in all his glory.

God, the name suits him. Cocky bastard. Cocky, gloriously handsome bastard with a large dick he knows how to use.

I sigh, rubbing my hands down my face. I take off my uniform, piling everything on the counter and feeling lighter by the second.

As soon as his eyes dragged over my body, pausing on my badge, I felt suffocated under the vest. Creed didn’t look at me with judgment, but I’m sure that comes from expertise at lying to cops, a practiced poker face. I know the longer I ignored him, the more he got annoyed.

“Okay. I’m here. What’s going on?”

I laugh, loud and helpless. “Remember that hot biker?”

“The one that had you limping out of the bar bathroom with a rat’s nest for hair? Uh, yeah.”

If I wasn’t so freaked out, I would laugh at her description because I’m sure I looked exactly like that. I squeeze my thighs together at the reminder. He really was that good. Fuck.

“Yup,” I tell her, resigned. “That one. His club is here. In Bluport Cliffs.”

Quinn gasps. “No! Oh my god. What are the chances?”

I groan. “With my luck? I should have expected it. Oh, and the fact I can’t remember the last time I had my period.”

My best friend is silent. “You should have had it last weekend, unless the stress of the move affected it. We’ve always been in sync, and I got my period last Saturday. Ended on Wednesday, which means…” She trails off, and I know what she’s saying. It’s Thursday. I’m nearly a week late.

I swallow, glancing over at the bag again. “I grabbed some tests on the way home.”

“Bitch. You better take one right now.”

Biting down on my lip, I grab a box and hold it in my hand. “I’m scared, Quinn.”

“I know, honey. But whatever happens, we will figure it out, okay? You’re not stuck, nothing is impossible, and life is what you make it.”

A nervous cry bubbles in my throat and I push it down. “Okay. Don’t hang up.”

“Never,” she confirms, and she doesn’t. Her silent presence is the pillar I need as I go to the bathroom. I don’t even mute the call as I pee on the stick and set it on the counter.

“It’s done?” she asks.

I nod. “Yeah, says it will take a few minutes. Maybe I should have taken two.”

“Take another tomorrow morning. So, how was it?”

I frown, confused. “How was what?”

“How was it seeing him again? Where was it? Oh my god. Tell me you didn’t arrest him.”

A laugh sputters out of me. “Almost. Warner wanted to, but I took another call before he could escalate the way he wanted.”

I could practically hear the way Quinn wrinkles her nose. “Warner is a dick. I don’t like him.”

“You’ve never met him,” I say halfheartedly, because the truth is I don’t like him much either.

My welcome into town wasn’t exactly friendly. I didn’t have many expectations, but I’d moved to be closer to my dad as he grew near retirement after his recent heart attack.

Yet the first day I walked into the station, he looked at me like a burden. The belittlement in his eyes was observable to anyone around, including my new partner. Warner hasn’t said anything about it, but I’m sure he’s curious about our relationship.