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It takes me hours to come up with something that will work for them while not looking alarming or neon on more modern devices. I finally find the right color family that stays with the companies normal schemes and doesn’t make a user think it’s one of our competitors by using any of theirs in it, and by then, it’s nearly seven at night. I vaguely recall the others heading out earlier, but I wanted to get this done and not having it lingering in my mind over the weekend.
It has me headed down to get to my car only to see the dreary day has given way to a cold night, with light hitting against what I’m hoping is only water on the parking lot. The thought of driving home in ice makes me cringe. It deepens when I see a group along the side of the lot, a sigh hitting because it’s the same skateboarders that were hanging around last year and instead of getting better, they’re now worse.
It doesn’t help that the only spot in town where a small skateboard park previously was, is now being used to create another generic apartment building. I heard the guys discussing it last year, that they didn’t want to even bid on it because they weren’t certain the area was truly capable of supporting a high-rise structure. As well as the fact that we didn’t really need some huge looming building taking up more of the town’s skyline.
Our parking lot not only has an incline, but also a curve, that’s drawn their attention. While I normally wouldn’t care if they were simply using it for skating and tricks, the fact that the trashcan had to get a new cemented housing, so they stopped knocking it over, leaving trash strewn all across the lot didn’t endear them to anyone. Let alone the way several of them catcall us women as we leave, following us to our cars, banging at our windows…which just might be the perfect reason to call Bryan. Especially since I’m the only one here and it’s late and dark and they’ve bothered me more than once on my way out while with others even.
I pause in the hallway, taking out my phone which has Bryan’s number programed in already, and I don’t stop to think or question it. I hit dial and take a deep breath as it rings. His drawl of hello makes my stomach tumble and a quick wave of panic hits causing me to say, “Bryan? Uh…sorry, it’s Jaime…Cartwright. I’m sorry, I should have called the main number instead of you…”
“No, Jaime, it’s fine,” he says stopping my panic from ending the call immediately. “Is everything okay?”
“This is going to sound stupid probably but…I was heading out of the office after finishing a project and there’s this group of kids, older teenagers, that have been…”
“Problematic?” he offers and I breath in with relief that it’s the truth and not something completely made up so if he asked anyone else they’d confirm it wasn’t just tonight that they were here.
“Yeah, they use the drive in the lot for skating, but they also harass you when you try to leave and I…”
“You’re there alone and they’re there?” he guesses.
“Yeah,” I say again wishing I could come up with something cute or flirty, but it all evades me hearing his deep baritone. “I don’t know if it’s just wet out or if there’s ice and I don’t want them near my car while I try to leave…”
“I was about to go past your office as it was, I’ll be there in two minutes. You’re still inside?” he adds as my heart flutters hearing that.
“I am, by the back door.”
“Stay there until I arrive. I’ll make sure they leave and then get you to your car safely,” he states, and I give him a soft thank you before we hang up. A giddiness flooding me and god, I hope this works.
Chapter 2
Bryan
I have to stifle a groan as I shift in my seat, my pants far too tight after simply hearing Jaime’s sweet voice. The slight panic and worry in it shouldn’t have me even thinking about her that way, but the hell if I can control it.
I’ve never felt like this for any woman before—not even Danielle, my high school girlfriend and ex-fiancée. I’m thankful that the engagement was broken while we were in college. Living in different states. Her in LA while I stayed here and went to State for a Criminal Justice degree.
I always wanted to be a cop, to help people, and there was no reason I had to leave town to do that. Not even to follow the girl I swore I loved.
It’s a good thing I didn’t seeing as how I found her in bed with someone else—well, two some ones else—one of the rare times I went to California to visit her. We’d been arguing for months about what she was going to do after graduating. I’d already been accepted to the police academy here and wasn’t about to move out to LA of all places. That wasn’t my scene, but she loved it.
She loved going out, partying, clubbing, didn’t want to come back to Oak Grove to live. So I’d taken a trip out there to remind her that our love for each other was stronger than her desire to live in LA. Except I learnt quickly she not only clearly didn’t love me, but she also didn’t want to sleep with me the way she had with several other men, and even more so, didn’t want a home or family for years—if ever.
It didn’t take me two seconds to turn around and come home after breaking off the engagement hearing that. I wanted something I didn’t have growing up—a loving home life.
My parents are still married but they clearly hate each other. Neither wants to give up the cushy life they have though because their house is paid off and they spend their money on whatever they want. They simply live under the same roof, but in separate bedrooms and lead separate lives—have for the last fifteen or so years.
They were never abusive towards me, mostly I was ignored while they lived their own life as a couple when I was younger. They were already growing apart when I was in my teens, but it wasn’t until I was out of the house and in college that they dropped any act of wanting anything to do with the other. Completely opposite of Jaime’s family I’ve easily learnt over the years.
I met the Cartwrights nearly four years ago when my chief sent me over to Adam Thompson’s house to help him with a woman stalking the niece that he was raising after her mother died. I didn’t have a clue I’d end up on the Cartwright’s outer sphere through it, not until I learnt the man was dating Jasmine Cartwright. This past summer, I went out to meet up with Jasmine’s twin brother Jamison to help his girlfriend with her stalker ex, who happened to be the son of one of our higher ups in the department.
Pisses me off when people abuse the badge. We’re there to serve and protect. It’s not meant to be a get out of jail free card as the former Lieutenant Commander Dennis now knows. I don’t have any qualms that his son is dead either, not when it means that Natalie and Jamison are alive—and happily married after barely knowing each other for two months.
Although I wouldn’t have argued having Jaime as mine in that same timeframe. It’d mean I’d have had someone to spend the holidays with instead of working them for whichever detective was out on leave.
There’s only been one thing holding me back, well, two maybe. The biggest thing is that she seems to also enjoy being out and about more than at home, which I just don’t know if I could handle. It would come down to how much I could trust her, and I’d only be able to figure that out after getting to know her.
Which I’ll admit to myself that I’m reluctant to do. I’m thirty-six years old and afraid to get my heart broken—really broken if she’s just looking for a little diversion and not something serious. Because the second I laid eyes on her she was the only thing I wanted, could see.
I don’t know how I never once saw her in the last nearly four years since I started to get to know the Cartwrights. True, I didn’t read the entertainment section of the newspaper which is where most of the articles and photos of the family, before meeting her in September. Although, I’ve now devoured every single one of that included a photo of Jaime in and have several photos from the paper and her sister’s social media accounts saved on my phone because I’m so obsessed with her sweet beauty.
