“I didn’t either.”
“What if it had gone wrong? He could have lost a finger.”
The thing was, itcouldhave gone wrong. It never had before, but I’d never tried it like that before either. My dad taught me how to throw knives when I was younger. We also played darts. I had a good hand on me and even better hand-eye coordination, and I didn’t have to think about it.
“I’m glad it didn’t. Aaron, we’re free, man,” I pointed out.
That whole incident, funny and off key as it was, made us free. It wrapped up everything. There were still some questions and I supposed the offenses would most likely extend to the feds because there was some jurisdiction shit involved, but as far as we were concerned, it was case closed for the Wilmington Police Department.
The only thing left to do was clean up the streets and get the drugs off it and away from the gangs. It would be difficult and possibly a long time coming, but it was a much easier task than trying to catch the kingpin who was supplying said drugs.
A lot of lives had been lost because of Patterson, young lives. His concoction of black magic, as it was called, had taken off in a big way and made its way to our town, becoming popular with the high school and college kids—kids my Aria’s age.
“We’re free. Why do I already feel bored?”
“Because you’re crazy, that’s why. This investigation was nearly the death of me.”
“Come on, you know you enjoyed it as much as me. Catching the bad guys and making the world safer—that’s us.”
That was us. However, I couldn’t agree that I’d enjoyed the investigation as much as him, not when I was worried about Aria 24/7.
“Well that’s one bad son of a bitch off the street.”
“Yes indeed. And you…damn, there’s something different about you today. Sure, you’ve been bad cop before, but not like that.” Aaron laughed.
“He deserved my wrath.”
“Absolutely, and even I hoped for the knife to slip and cut off a finger for all the asshole’s done, but that’s not what I mean. You also looked it when you came in this morning.”
God, when I’d come in this morning, I’d been thinking about Brooke. I had been thinking of what she tasted like when Aaron caught me smiling to myself like an idiot. I was probably nothing better than an idiot hyped up on testosterone and lust.
I didn’t know what the woman had done to me, but she’d worked some kind of charm on me that made me…it just drew me to her. It reeled me in past the attraction to her overwhelming beauty, and it reeled me in past attraction itself.
I would admit that she carried herself with a certain level of class and sophistication that stood out by a mile, but there was something more than that about her. Maybe…maybe it was because her interests had lain with Aria well before me. Most women who were interested in me only tried to make nice with Aria so they could make nice with me.
Brooke was nothing of the sort. I wasn’t actually sure what she was, because I was pretty certain she’d leaned more toward hating my ass only a handful of days ago.
“Hmmm, interesting.” Aaron laughed, interrupting my thoughts.
I focused back on him and blinked. “What’s interesting?”
“You, my friend. Okay, since I know how you work, I’m going to go out on a limb and say your mind is consumed by a woman, and since my eyes have never deceived me, I’m going to guess the woman is your new neighbor.”
“What in the world gave you that idea?” I hadn’t mentioned Brooke to him at all.
“Well, there was the perfectly obvious way you took charge Monday night at the bar when you rescued her from Jackson. Then I watched you take hold of her hand while you led her out and took her home. What I don’t know is what happened once you got there.” He wiggled his brows in that stupid way he had since we were back in high school.
“She needed help and I took her home.” I tried to dance around the truth.
“That bullshit won’t work with me—you should know that. Also, the only person who knows you better than you know yourself is moi.” He pointed to himself and grinned with pride. “So, best friend, brother in arms, tell me what happened between you and your drop-dead gorgeous next-door neighbor.”
I chuckled and decided I’d come clean. “We kissed, that’s all.”
He gasped then started laughing. “Oh my God, what the hell Ryan? How and why did you keep that quiet? Also, I was pretty certain you thought she was on drugs.”
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t think she was hot.”
“’Course not—clearly. What else happened?”
