Page 42 of Cuffed (Everyday Heroes 1)
“Thank you,” I murmur as the waitress slides a fresh drink in front of me.
What exactly just happened? My head spins at the turn of events and my logic tells me I should be pissed off at him.
But I’m not.
Because as much as it pains me to admit, he was right. I am panicking. I am trying to figure out why everything seems so damn different when it comes to Grant. I don’t do different. I run the opposite way from different.
Yet here I sit. I haven’t run away. I didn’t even protest. I just let everything that happened happen, and I know damn well I’d do it again . . . because that kiss of his felt like none I’ve ever experienced before.
And I hate that I love it.
And I detest that I want more of them.
The bar buzzes on around me as I focus on being angry with him. It’s so much easier to be pissed off than to accept the fact that he scares me. And the good kind of scare.
So I look at the drink he left me in consolation. I fixate on that cocky smirk of his that makes me want to strangle him and kiss him at the same time. And I tell myself I need to stand my ground. I need to be the strong girl I’ve tried to be instead of allowing myself to fall prey to the way he makes me feel.
He’s crazy if he thinks I’m going to drink this. I won’t just out of pure spite.
No one handles me.
No one tells me what I can and can’t do.
And no one walks away from me unless it’s on my terms.
Lost in thought, I pick up the glass and take a sip. “Shit.” I just fell right into that one. I stare at the dark red liquid for a long moment before shaking my head and tilting the glass all the way up until it’s empty.
“You have a list of case files on your desk. There are a dozen highlighted and the remaining not. Do you need me to do anything with them?” Nate asks as I pull up in front of my house and sigh when I see Grayson’s car there.
I’m not in the mood to deal with my brothers. Not after my sleepless night complete with requisite cold shower after thinking about Emerson and her damn kiss.
“Earth to Grant?”
“Sorry. I just pulled up and the assholes are here.” Nate chuckles in my ear, knowing how much it annoys me when my little brothers show up unannounced and help themselves to my beer and food. “Um, the list of case files . . . do you have time to pull them up and request the rest for me? The non-highlighted ones. If not, I can do it tomorrow before shift.”
“Nah, I’m killing time. Today’s quiet as fuck. This will give me something to do. When’s the test?”
“Written is in a few weeks. The interview, I’m waiting on the chief to decide. Stetson is making noise, though, and bringing up that crap with my dad—”
“Old fucking news that should have never been news.”
“I hear ya.” I roll my shoulders as I prepare myself for the onslaught of my brothers. “Thanks for your help. See you tomorrow.”
I hang up the phone and push open my front door.
“Ah, look, asshole number one is here,” Grady says as he lifts up a beer in greeting.
“And he looks grumpy,” Grayson chimes in.
“What are you two pricks doing here?”
“It was a rough little league game,” Grayson says, shaking his head.
“Seriously? That’s what you two have to stress about? Get out.” I throw my thumb over my shoulder but then realize Luke is nowhere to be found. “Should I be concerned that Luke isn’t here?”
“Nah, he’s with Mom and Dad. We were given a warning to go cool our jets because we were showing him a perfect example of what poor sports look like.” Grady grins, and I can only imagine what happened to get that rebuke from our mom.
“So you decided to come here and crash my party?” I head to the refrigerator to grab a beer and grit my teeth over the stash they’ve already depleted.
