I’d loved him for lots of things, all the things I remembered fondly and didn’t want to forget.
“Done.” Liv came back in the room. “Jezza’s on his way to pick this up and he’ll do another check. They’ve also got this address on their patrol and have it listed so if you call, they’ll be straight here.” She sat back down on the sofa. “Text Cassian and let him know.”
“Let him know what? That you’re an overreactive police officer?”
A cushion was launched at my head. It was a good job she was a better police officer than cushion thrower.
“That someone’s been knocking about round your house. It gives you a reason to start a conversation with him, doesn’t it? Come on, Romy. This situation with Cara is not fun, at least try and have a little flirtatious excitement while it’s happening. All you’ll be doing is keeping him informed.” She shook her head at me, organising the pillows into a kind of nest again. “I’m going to have to get some sleep, so as soon as Jezza gets here, I’ll need to hunker down.”
“Fine with me. Not sure if I’m going to sleep easily though.” I really wasn’t, even though I was tired. I’d only partially slept the last three nights, listening in in case Mia woke and needed someone to be there. Now my head was buzzing with everything, some of those being hornets which I wasn’t going to stop thinking about in case they stung me.
“Message Cassian. Don’t you think he’s a bit lonely too? In that big house with no one there, in a town where he knows hardly anyone properly? I think he’d be glad of someone reaching out.”
“You should’ve gone into sales.”
“Similar to interviewing suspects and dealing with the super. Make of that what you will.” She shrugged again and I wondered if her shoulders got tired from the amount of shrugging she did.
“I don’t think Cassian wants me to feel sorry for him.”
“What do you think he wants you to feel for him then? Lust? Overwhelming desire? His dick?”
“Were you always this course or is this something that’s developed through working with too many alpha males?”
“A bit of both. Go to bed. I need to get the door when Jezza calls and then I’ll need to meditate after watching him simper after me.” She wrinkled her nose like she was smelling rubbish, or she was about to sneeze and turn into a rabbit.
“Poor Jezza.”
“Poor me.”
I paused at the doorway. “Thanks for being here, Liv.”
“You can thank me by asking that delicious teacher out and then describing exactly what’s in those trousers.”
I laughed and headed to bed.
I did text Cassian.
He was probably in the midst of messaging women on dating apps or maybe fans from some website that’d been made in his honour, but he responded straight away.
Cassian:Need me to come round? I’ve worked out it’s only five minutes if I survive running through a field full of bulls.
Me:It’s not the bulls you need to be worried about. The farmer’s wife owns a shotgun and has very bad eyesight. If she thinks you’re a fox, you’ll have had it.
Cassian:I’ll stick to the bushes. Don’t tell me there’s a local flasher who hides in them.
Me:How did you know?
Cassian:Really? Tone gets lost in texts so I’m not sure if you’re joking or not.
Me:Joking. There’s no flasher, at least I don’t think so. We had a couple of naturists last year. That was interesting, explaining it to Heidi.
Cassian:What did she make of it?
Me:A thousand things ranging from disgust about what was hanging between the man’s legs to concerning curiosity. I distracted her with sugar which was another disaster.
Cassian:Better though?
Me:Marginally. How’ve you spent the rest of your evening?
