“We need you to come with us to the station,” the one on the right explained. “There’s been an incident in your motel room, and the detectives would like to speak with you about it.”
“This is the first I’m hearing about it,” I explained. “I was at a fiesta for half the night. The rest of the time I’ve been here with my mates. The, um, police chief was sitting at the table with me. We had a whole conversation.”
“Yes, we’re aware; she’s the one who sent us to bring you to the station for your protection.”
Well shit, that was unexpected.
“Wait, so they’re not being arrested?” Lani asked.
“No, sir,” the officer replied. “But with the level of destruction done to the motel room and its contents, as well as threats that were overheard regarding the harm the perpetrator wished to do to them, the chief feels that they’ll be safer at the precinct until this gets sorted out. I’ve also been instructed to tell you that no, you cannot bring them in your jeep. We’ll just be outside while you get dressed.”
“Now that’s just rude,” Nyx muttered as we were faced with our next dilemma.
The fact that the only clothes I had were filthy and lying on the bathroom floor.
It only took Nyx a moment to realize it too before he hurried over to the long dresser that dominated half the length of the far wall, yanked open a drawer, and started rummaging through it.
“These will probably be a bit baggy on you, but if you cinch the drawstring right, it should hold.”
“And if not, one of you better be standing behind me to cover my naked ass,” I said as I stepped into them.
Even Lani, who looked worried as hell, cracked a small smile as we scrambled to get dressed. Fortunately, the drawstring did cinch enough to allow me to tie it off in a way that would keep those sweatpants up, though it needed to be fucking snug with the way the cloth billowed around my thighs.
“We’ll be right behind you in my jeep,” Nyx said.
Well, I could almost find some irony in the moment, considering our first meeting had come just after I’d nearly gotten myself arrested. Given my new mate-in-law was the police chief, and I could swear at least one of the officers had been at the fiesta the night before, I was going to have to get used to being surrounded by authority figures and might even need to curtail my need to let my desire to prove myself override common sense.
My tentacles had been tingling when Nuno had approached me in the bar. I should have listened to what they were trying to tell me. I should have insisted on a flat, firmnobeing enough and kept my ass planted on that barstool. The energy he’d been giving off had reeked of toxic masculinity. Now who the hell knew what had happened to my possessions. At least there had been nothing of value in the room. The one thing I carried of sentimental value was always carefully tucked away in the bottom of my backpack.
Why had I allowed myself to get sucked into another round of bullshit with a jackass? I was going to have to do better, now that I was mated, or at least establish a new bail fund, since I hadn’t since arriving here.
And maybe own up to the fact that I had a bit of a temper and had occasionally used my more venomous qualities to extract retribution a time or two.
On the ride to the station, I had plenty of time to think about whether or not I’d have gone into that game hoping for the opportunity to provoke him. He’d just been such an annoying pain in the ass that night that I’d been unable to resist the urge to knock him down a peg or two. Then I remembered his eyes, after he grabbed me, furious and spoiling for a fight when I’d said no to the rematch with him.
No, if I were really being honest, he was gearing up for a confrontation when he approached me. It had been there in hiseyes when he approached me at the bar, right up until they’d roved over me and taken in the skinny jeans and tank top I’d had on. Far more revealing than anything I’d ever worn at the jobsite. And I knew why he’d been upset with me too. Guess I hadn’t been as subtle as I thought when I’d headed straight for my foreman after Nuno had given me an absolutely ridiculous instruction, or as honest with my mates when they’d asked me what I’d gotten fired for.
At the station, I was escorted into a room with a wide table at the center, only instead of being foreboding, like some of the interview rooms I’d found myself sitting in over the years, this one had tall, potted plants in the corners and artwork on the walls.
Guess I really wasn’t in trouble then. That or their tactic was to lull people into a false sense of security before raking them over the coals. At least I had witnesses to prove I hadn’t done anything to provoke him to go through so much trouble to get back at me because this whole thing was rapidly spiraling into more of an issue than I ever would have imagined when I went out to get food that night.
And found my mates.
Which was the one plus in this whole fucked-up situation. Seriously, come on, universe, work with me here. I know you love a good trade-off, but this was getting to be a bit much.
Just when I thought I was going to be stuck in there alone, tormenting myself by trying to imagine just how fucked up my stuff had gotten and how I was going to replace probably everything, Lani and Nyx were escorted in and sat down across from me.
“So, this is awkward,” I muttered, glancing up at them.
“Or we could call it our third date; those are usually pretty awkward, aren’t they?” Lani offered. “It’s like, you’ve hit theweird, awkward stage where you’re struggling to decide if it’s too soon or not soon enough for the first kiss.”
“Yeah, that ship sailed the moment you ran your tongue up and down my body,” I declared, beginning to relax and even crack a hint of a smile. “We’re beyond first kisses.”
“Yeah, but you know what I was going for,” Lani said. “That we’ve already packed a bunch of fun stuff into a few short days only to suddenly realize we don’t know what to do next.”
“Or that the other person picks their nose,” Nyx offered.
“Oh eww, what even made you go there?” I asked.
