A laugh escapes me, sounding more like a snort than an actual laugh.
“I think I might be missing something,” Devon says, looking back and forth between me, Xena, and the pass-through. “Is everything OK here?”
“It’s fine, Devon,” I tell him, even though things are not feeling fine at all. “I got the result of my latest appeal today, is all. For the excessive force thing? They turned it down again, so I’m off the force permanently. I’m not a cop anymore.”
“Oh… oh shit!” Devon grabs my shoulders, shaking me a little. I have to look up to see his face, which is unusual for me since at five foot ten inches, I’m considered a tall woman. But Devon is another level of tall altogether. He’s got to be at least six and a half feet tall. “I am so, so, sorry, Rhea. I didn’t know.” He pulls me into a too tight hug, somehow squeezing my face down between his pecs, and I’m tempted to motorboat him just to see what he does. Something tells me that Xena would lose her shit if I did that, though, and since she’s pretty much my sister, I decide to just pinch him instead.
“Ow! Rude.” Devon squeals.
“You were suffocating me with your man-boobs. I had no choice but to retaliate. It was feeling like life or death there for a second.” I grin up at him while he rubs the spot on his side where I pinched him. “Besides, you’ve got a wall of solid muscle there. I could barely pinch anything.”
“Right?! I am a pretty spectacular specimen.” He flexes his biceps, kissing each in turn.
“Oh my god, get over yourself, Tiny Dancer.” Xena rolls her eyes at him. He just winks back.
“Okay, well, as much fun as this has been, I’m going to go job hunting now. How much for the coffee?”
She scrunches her face at me. “Seriously? You’re unemployed and you’re practically my sister. Like I’m going to charge you for coffee.”
“Ugh, fine. I accept. But only because I don’t want to stand here and argue with you for another half an hour and then just end up accepting anyway, because you’re impossible to argue with.”
“That’s wise of you. At least getting fired hasn’t dulled your common sense. Yet.” Xena laughs, and waves me off with my travel carafe. “Call me later and let me know how the search is going. You can always come work for me until you find something.”
“Yeah, OK. I’ll talk to you later. See you, Devon.”
As I’m walking out, I hear Devon ask if he gets free coffee, too. Xena’s uncontrollable laughter is the only response I hear before I’m back outside. They have a strange friendship, those two. Kaden’s been concerned about it for a while now, but I don’t think he has anything to worry about. If Devon and Xena get together, they’re old enough to deal with any fallout on their own. But it’s hard for Kaden to imagine his sister and his best friend being interested in each other. He’s protective of both relationships.
He’s protective of his friendship with me too, but luckily he doesn’t have to worry about me starting a relationship with anyone. I have no interest in becoming involved with someone. Being involved with someone would require that I trust that person, and I have a hard time trusting anyone. Hell, it took me almost five years to trust Kaden and he’s the one who has my back when shit gets bad.
Shit.Hadmy back. I’m not a cop anymore.
I feel the weight of the last three months hit me all at once and I look around for a place to sit down. I’m too far from any benches, so I just stumble to the edge of the sidewalk and slide my back down against the side of a building until my butt hits the pavement. I pull my knees up and rest my elbows on them, allowing my head to hang down while I get control of my breathing.
What the hell am I going to do now?
I have some savings that will keep me going for a few more months, but it’s not a lot. I need to find a job quickly if I’m going to keep my apartment.
Crying has never been my thing. I learned when I was a kid that my mom was always too drunk to hear me when I cried, but right now a few tears drop to the carafe sitting on the sidewalk between my feet. I just got fired from the only job I’ve ever wanted in my life; I think I’m allowed to throw myself a small pity party. Probably shouldn’t do it here on the sidewalk, though. It would suck if one of my former coworkers had to arrest me for loitering.
“You alright?” A pair of beat up old Converse sneakers stops in front of me. I assume they’re attached to whoever just asked me if I’m alright.
“Yeah, I’m good, thanks,” I say without looking up. It’s bad enough that I’m crying. I don’t need anyone seeing me do it.
“Oh yeah, I can see that. I often see crying women sitting on a busy sidewalk in the middle of the day. It’s a totally normal thing that always happens in this neighbourhood,” the guy says with a hint of a laugh in his voice.
“Just got some bad news and needed a minute to wrap my mind around it. No big deal.”
He reaches his hand down into my line of sight. “Well, can I at least help you up? I’d feel bad if I just left you sitting here. It’s not exactly summer anymore, you know. Your ass might freeze to the sidewalk and then you’d have to chew it off to set yourself free. Then you’d be cryingandassless. I can’t have that on my conscience.”
I choke out a weak laugh. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. But sure, I guess you can help me up.” I take his hand a feel a tingle shoot up my arm as he pulls me up.
“Oh hey, it’s you,” the guy says as he stares at my face with shockingly green eyes. They’re light green but so vibrant they almost glow in the sunlight. He reaches up and cups my face, wiping a cheer from my cheek with his thumb. Instinctively, I lean into his hand and a shiver runs up my spine.
Ah, shit. As if this day couldn’t get any worse. It’s Man-bun. That guy who kept trying to ask me out a couple of months ago after Kaden and I arrested a suspect in the Peaceful Pines retirement community. This guy followed me out to the cruiser when we brought the suspect out, and he even had the audacity to show up at the precinct a few times after that, too.
I mean, it’s not that he isn’t attractive, with his cute little sloppy man-bun, and his low-slung jeans, and his t-shirt that’s so worn it’s practically see through, showing a good amount of muscle underneath.
Whoa, get it together, Rhea. Keep it in your pants. You’re definitely not interested in this guy. Even if he is a ‘spectacular specimen’, as Devon would say. But spectacular specimens can still be scary stalkers.
