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“Baby, don’t you ever apologize for what you want. You don’t owe that to me or anyone.”
“Man,” I let out a breath, a smile slowly wreathing my face. “You’re freaking amazing. Anyone ever tell you that?”
He let out a low, belly-quivering chuckle as he pulled his hand away and sat back, the picture of relaxation. “Your car should be about done. I’ll settle up and we can head back over.”
“Thanks.” I hooked the strap of my purse over my shoulder and started inching my way out of the booth. “I’m going to run to the restroom really quick.”
“Take your time, Iris.”
Not wanting to make him wait (he’d been so incredible to me), I hustled to do my business and wash my hands. I was fishing around in my purse for a mint as I pulled the bathroom door open and stepped out into the hall. Right into the solid mass of a very large, very warm body. I knew who I’d crashed into without even having to look as his familiar scent wrapped around me.
“Sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to bump into you like that.”
I forced my head up as I took a step back to break the hold he still had on my biceps from when he’d grabbed on to keep me from falling. But instead of releasing me, his fingers tightened, keeping me in place as his dark brows slammed together between his eyes. “Little Flower,” he said on a whisper, like he didn’t understand the meaning behind them.
I didn’t have the same problem, and there was no confusion for me. Just pain. “What?”
He shook his head, clearly not understanding why that nickname was familiar. And damn if that didn’t hurt even worse. “Little Flower.” He said it with more surety the second time, not that it mattered. I already felt like I’d been cut right open. “I called you that, didn’t I? That night . . . I called you Little Flower.”
I am not doing this.
“I have to go.” I tried to step around him, but he cut into my path, releasing my arms to hold his hands up in a placating gesture.
“Please. Iris, just—”
“North.” I infused so much strength into my voice that one word slammed down between us like a steel wall. “Remembering that night when you have no memory of it is humiliating enough. I’m not going to play oracle for you so you can try and piece things together.”
He frowned, and for a moment I thought I saw his eyes flash with regret, but I looked away before I could inspect them any further.
“See you around, Chief.”
With that, I pushed past him and joined Rake, who was waiting for me outside the diner. I didn’t know what the hell that was back there, but I was determined to forget about it. Because I meant it when I said it was time to move on.
FOURTEEN
NORTH
It was shortly after 9:00 at night. The streets were quiet, making the late-night speed trap I was sitting at not only unnecessary, but boring as hell. Though, to be fair, that could be said of all my shift assignments thanks to Brady’s contempt for me. If I wasn’t sitting in my cruiser, waiting to pull over a clueless teenager or old person who was holding their license by the skin of their teeth, I was stuck doing everyone else’s paperwork.
Usually I didn’t mind. After all, I was biding my time until the election. Well that, and now the party that Iris had managed to throw together yesterday without breaking a sweat. But tonight was too quiet. It gave me too much time to think, something I’d been avoiding lately, especially after what went down at the diner the other day.
It felt like every fucking time I closed my eyes, I got another flash of Iris, just enough to tease without giving me anything definitive. The more it happened, the more I wanted, until I felt like an addict feigning for another hit. Only, I had no fucking clue what I was craving!
Though, that wasn’t exactly true. Not anymore. When I’d grabbed hold of Iris yesterday to keep her from falling over, it was as if that touch had unlocked a door that some parts of that night were hidden behind. Now, not only was I seeing things, but I could recall some of the noises she made as well. I also caught the occasional whiff of what her skin had smelled like. Lavender and sage mixed with sweat and sex. The smell hit me like it was traveling on a breeze, faint and only there for a second.
It was a special form of torture slowly starting to drive me out of my mind.
But nothing was worse than walking into the diner and seeing her sitting with another man. My feet had become frozen to the spot the moment our eyes met. Then that son of a bitch reached across the table and touched her. Actually fucking touched her, right in front of me, like he had every goddamn right. That had me seeing red in a way I’d never experienced before. Jealousy was a foreign emotion. I’d never been close enough to a woman before to feel jealousy. But even the thought of another man getting to be with Iris had me unhinged. Actually seeing it? Well, it was a wonder I hadn’t ripped the fucking guy’s head off.
Then she’d gone on and blushed for him. For him! I nearly lost it at the sight of those sweet pink cheeks. Before I knew what was happening, I was standing in front of their table, trying my goddamn best not to rip his head clean off with my bare hands.
My thoughts were pulled from all things Iris when my phone pinged from its place in the center console cupholder. Lifting it up, I swiped at the screen and felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach at the message that came through.
Mom
I know you don’t want to talk to us, and I’m trying to be understanding. But please, honey. At least let us know you’re safe and we’ll leave you be. We just need to know, baby. Your father and I love you very much.
Christ, every message was another knife to the chest. And that one packed such a strong punch it might as well have snapped the blade clean off in my heart.
