“Nah, it’s all good. O’Neill recognized Pepper’s last name and called Dex. We saw an opportunity and took it. The night was pretty slow, so we have to get our shits and giggles from whatever’s available. They’ve been in there for about an hour and already made best friends with the prostitutes.”
“Jesus Christ,” I grumbled, running a hand down my face as I turned to look at the three of them in the drunk tank. Sure enough, they were huddled around a few hookers, one of them obviously a tall black man in drag. Fuck me. “I’m taking Navie with me. You getting the other two home?”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it. Let’s go get your girl before she starts taking makeup tips from LaWanda there,” he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Griff pulled a set of keys out of the pocket of his slacks and unlocked the metal door. “All right, you three. Let’s go.” Pepper shoved past first, shoulder-checking Griff as hard as she could before making her way to her brother and smacking him in the back of the head. Harlow trailed behind her in a fit of giggles, still clearly drunk. My little blonde spit-fire pulled up the rear.
Holy fuck. When the hell did I start thinking of Navie as mine?
I tried my hardest to push those thoughts and the accompanying anxiety to the back of my mind as she turned and called over her shoulder. “Bye, girls! Good luck with your surgery, LaWanda!” I so didn’t want to know what surgery she was talking about.
“Thanks, girl,” he/she answered in a scarily deep voice. “You take that luscious man home and treat him right, you hear?”
There was no fighting back the shiver that ran down my back. Even if the thought of Navie treating me right was appealing, hearing those words from a person who looked big enough to snap me like a twig, all while eyeing me like a juicy steak, was enough to deflate any man’s dick.
Wrapping my fingers around her elbow, I pulled her close to my side as I began guiding her from the room. “Let’s go.”
“Hell, no! I’m not goin’ anywhere with you!” she shouted, drawing the attention of practically everyone in a one mile radius.
Stepping closer, I lowered my voice so only she could hear. “You’re making a scene in the middle of a police station,” I hissed. “You have two choices. You either come with me, or Griff locks your ass back up. Take it or leave it.”
I could almost see the wheels turning in her head. Her drunken brain was trying it’s hardest to create a third option. “Griff can take me with Pepper and Harlow.”
“Sorry, babe. Not an option.”
“That’s bullshit!” she snapped.
“It is what it is. He’s my cousin. Who do you think he’ll side with? Me or you? He locked you up, for Christ’s sake.” Those deep blue eyes narrowed and I knew I’d won.
Harlow and Pepper yelled out their goodbyes as I tried to lead a stumbling, slurring Navie from the room. “Love y’all!” she yelled back, her usually soft southern accent coming out stronger than I’d ever heard it before. “Call ya tomorrow!”
The remainder of the walk to my car was unbearably quiet as she did her best to ignore my presence next to her. Neither of us spoke a word as I deposited her in the passenger seat. Almost as soon as I had the car started, I heard the faint sound of her breathing evening out as she leaned her head against the window with her eyes closed. I could have taken her home. I should have taken her home. But as Griffin had said earlier, I saw an opportunity and I took it. It might have made me an asshole, but I wanted Navie with me, in my home, for a reason that didn’t involve work. With that decision made, I turned the car in the direction of my apartment, my eyes bouncing between the road and the sleeping woman next to me the entire way.
I gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white, fighting against my twitching fingers and their desire to reach over and brush at those strands of hair that were blocking her face from my view. Being close to her was like taking a wrecking ball to the wall I’d built around myself. It terrified me, drove me mad, but my need to be in her presence was just too strong of a pull to deny.
Just as I turned into the parking garage, she stirred in her seat, never opening her eyes. “I don’t get you,” she mumbled, making it hard to understand her, but I concentrated hard as she continued to speak, somewhere between asleep and awake.
Yep, I was a real asshole, because I was going to try and get whatever I could out of her, drunken rambling be damned. I pulled into my spot and put the car in park before turning to face her. “What don’t you get, sweetheart?” I asked softly.
Her brows furrowed as she adjusted her position, trying to get more comfortable. “Don’t call me that. You call all your women that.”
Was that true? I never stopped to think about what I called the women who had come before. I felt like the biggest jackass right then realizing that Navie had seen me that way.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, trying not to pull her completely from her sleep. My need to touch her finally won and I reached across the console, running my fingertips across her cheek, relishing the soft feel of her skin. She gave a little shiver as one of those deep blue eyes slit open just slightly.
“I really wanna hate you,” she slurred as that eye fell closed once again, like it took too much strength to keep it open. “But you make it so hard. That pisses me off.” Her words trailed off, followed by a delicate snore, and I couldn’t stop the smile that stretched across my lips. She didn’t hate me. I made her mad as hell, but she didn’t hate me.
I could work with that.
I was dying.
There was no doubt about it.
If the marching band that had taken up residence in my skull was any indication, I was most certainly knocking on death’s door. And I was pretty sure a small animal—maybe a raccoon or possum—had died in my mouth, if the taste was anything to go on. I was sure it didn’t smell too pretty, either. I was miserable. My head had been cracked open, I had a dead rodent in my mouth, and it felt like I’d been sleeping with a million blankets on top of me, heavy and hot.
Somehow, I managed to pry my eyes open despite the crusty makeup that seemed to be holding my lashes together like glue. The moment my vision came into focus, I sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of the unfamiliar room. What in the ever-loving hell did I do last night?
Ignoring the throb in my head, I attempted to slide to the edge of the bed so I could figure out where the hell I was. Only, when I made my move, something wrapped around my waist impeded my escape. My fuzzy brain couldn’t compute what was going on, but the moment a deep, sleep-graveled voice spoke from behind me, I realized exactly why I felt like I was sleeping next to a furnace.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Turning my head on the pillow, I went wide-eyed at the sight of Rowan’s sleepy face next to mine. As in right next to mine. As in sharing the same damn pillow.
Panic, intense panic, took over, causing my lungs to beat against my ribcage with every shaky breath. That was, until the corners of Rowan’s eyes crinkled and he gave me the sexiest, most unguarded smile I’d ever seen him wear. With just that one smile, the panic that had seized my chest turned into a gooey, liquid heat that pooled low in my belly.
“Good morning,” he spoke, leaning in the remaining inch or two between us in order to nuzzle his face into the crook of my neck.
“Uh… good morning?” Choosing to ignore the butterflies that had taken flight in my stomach, I focused solely on my confusion. “Rowan?” I kept my hand over my mouth as I spoke, not wanting to kill him with my gorilla breath.