Detached

by Elicia Hyder

  “This is extortion.”

  “Bet your ass it is, sweet cheeks,” Jewelry Lady said, sucking the olive off her toothpick.

  Clint’s worried eyes flashed over my shoulder again. “All right, all right. I don’t have that much on me, but I’ll bring the rest when she comes in to work tomorrow night.”

  “I was supposed to work tonight,” she said.

  “Fine. Tonight.”

  Bess snatched the cash from his hand. “Deal.”

  Everyone at the bar clapped and cheered.

  “Officer Nyx!” a voice boomed behind me.

  With a smile, I stood and turned around. Harlan’s arms opened, and I stepped into the bear hug, breaking out of my personal-space bubble on a matter of principle. “Mr. Drexler, good to see you again.”

  “Please, call me Harlan.” Harlan smelled of cigars and scotch. “My pit boss recognized you from the news and let me know you were here. I’ve raved to everyone about how you and your partners handled everything with our tragedy the other night.”

  “I was only doing my job, sir.”

  He gripped both my shoulders and looked at my head. “I heard about your ordeal. Did you get my note?”

  “Did you send it to the office?”

  “Yes. I’ll bet you haven’t been in.”

  “No. I’m off work for a while.”

  “Well, there’s a silver lining to every cloud, isn’t there?” He snapped his finger over my shoulder. “Clint, please get Ms. Nyx a drink on the house.”

  It was hard not to smile.

  “What brings you by today? Are you here with official news?” He looked so hopeful, I almost hated to disappoint him.

  “Actually, no.” I looked back at Bess. “I’m here with one of your employees. Harlan, this is Bess Lincoln.”

  Bess’s face turned every color of pink and red in the rainbow as she extended her hand. “Hello, Mr. Drexler.”

  “Hello, dear. What part of the company do you work in?”

  “Here, sir. I’m a bartender.”

  “Excellent.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Well, any friend of our brave officer’s is a friend of mine. You should pop into my office and say hello the next time you’re on the schedule. I’d love to hear about your aspirations in this company.”

  “That would be great. Thank you, sir.” She was beaming.

  Harlan turned his smile toward me. “Since you’re off anyway, I could set you up in one of our best rooms tonight if you’d like to stay.”

  “Definitely won’t be necessary, but thanks anyway.”

  He seemed disappointed, but it quickly faded. He looked past me again. “Seriously, Mitchell, anything these two girls want for as long as they want to stay.”

  Clint gave a begrudging nod.

  “I’ll see you again soon?” Harlan asked, squeezing my shoulder.

  “I hope so.”

  When he was gone, Bess dug her nails into my arm and squealed. “Oh my god! You didn’t tell me you know Harlan Drexler!”

  “Gotta learn to keep your cards close, kid.” I pried her fingers off me. “You want to drink, or do you want to get out of here?”

  “Let’s get out of here. Clint, I’ll see you this evening,” Bess said as she slid off her seat.

  Grumbling something I couldn’t hear, he ignored her.

  “I’m starving,” Bess said.

  “Me too.” I glanced at the bills she was stuffing into her pocket. “You’re buying.”

  She laughed as we started toward the door. “Happily. I just wish you’d let Harlan get us a room. At least then I’d have somewhere to sleep tonight.”

  “You can stay with me,” I said, not even believing the words as they came out of my mouth.

  She stopped walking. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes.” I turned to face her. “But only until you get your shit straightened out. This isn’t going to be a permanent arrangement.”

  “Cross my heart and hope to die.” She drew an X over her chest with her finger.

  “No need for dying.”

  “Thank you, Nyx!”

  “You’re welcome. But I sleep during the day, and I keep my house tidy. That shitstorm you’ve made of your car isn’t going to fly at my place. Understood?”

  “I promise.”

  I started walking again. “You’ve got a month to save up for a place of your own. And you should take Harlan up on his offer. Sounds like he’ll help you move up at the resort.”

  “I will. I swear I won’t blow it.”

  “Don’t make me regret this.”

  Too late. I was regretting it already.

  Back at my condo, Bess spent the next hour and a half unloading her car. When the last of the million boxes was inside, I carried a spare key to her new temporary bedroom. She met me in the hallway with her purse slung over her shoulder.

  I looked at my watch. “Work time already?”

  “Yeah. Thanks to you, I have a job to go to.”

  “Well, you’d better not be late.” With a smile, I handed her the key.

  She held it up. “Where was this the other night when you were wrestling with your key ring?”

  “Oh.” I hadn’t even thought about it. I pointed to my head. “Blame the concussion.”

  We both laughed.

  “Don’t worry if I’m not here when you get back. I try to stay busy at night to keep myself awake. I sleep in the mornings, usually from eight until two in the afternoon. Please don’t wake me up.”

  She put a finger over her lips. “You won’t even know I’m here.”

  I doubted that.

  Above our heads, the hallway light flickered again. She pointed up. “I can call your super about that on Monday while you’re asleep, if you want.”

  My brow rose with surprise. One of the hardest things about working nights was not being around to get shit done during normal business hours. Having a roommate might have some perks after all. “That would be helpful.”

  “Sure thing. Just leave me the number. I’ll set it up.”

  “Thanks.”

  “It’s the least I can do. I really do appreciate your help, Nyx.”

  “I know.”

  When she was gone, I walked to the kitchen for a glass of water. Through the window, I saw Bess smiling as she got in her car. I smiled too. “Nyx, you can officially check off all your good deeds for the year,” I said aloud.

  A burst of cold stung my skin as something unseen cinched my throat. The whole world swirled to black.

  When my spirit woke up inside the Boundary, the brightest blue eyes I’d ever seen stared down at me, inches above my face. The man’s hand was still clasped around my throat, and I was pinned to my kitchen floor, with him straddling my hips.

  My right hand reached across to grab his wrist as my left hand clamped onto his tricep. I pulled in my knees, trapping his leg between my feet. With a swift thrust of my hips, I toppled him over and rolled up onto my knees, then I drove my fist straight down into his groin.

  He yowled and curled into the fetal position against the refrigerator. I reached for my gun at my waist, but of course, it was on the floor, still attached to my real body.

  My attacker pushed up onto his knees, and with a pained roar, he punched the refrigerator door. Crunch!

  Before he could recover, I dove across the floor, grabbed my forehead, and disappeared back into my body. I bolted upright, alone—so it seemed—in my kitchen.

  The front of my refrigerator was dented in.

  “Holy shit.” I panted. “What the fuck was that?”

  Chapter Ten

  I was tough, but I wasn’t stupid.

  After the attack, I abandoned my condo. I walked the lake trail until sundown, had a late dinner with lots of caffeine at Night Watch, and nursed a beer on the patio at Delaney’s. I finally returned home when I knew Bess would be back.

  Not that I thought she could protect me, but after hours of replaying the events leading up to my assault, I realized h
er presence was key in it not happening sooner. The chills I’d felt, the flushing toilet, the flickering lights—those were all signs someone was already there, just across the Boundary, waiting for me to be alone.

  Bess was asleep when I crept inside, and I finally lost my battle against sleep at sunrise. It was a shallow and dreamless slumber, thankfully not quite deep enough for my spirit to detach. Sometime later, I awoke to singing.

  With a groan, I rolled over and pulled the pillow over my head. Big mistake. The edge of the pillowcase snagged on a staple and pulled. Tears sprang to my eyes, and I sat up, gingerly touching my scalp.

  Nothing was bleeding except my ears.

  Somewhere in the condo, an off-key rendition of “Since You’ve Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson was peeling the paint off the walls. I covered my eyes with my forearm. “Kill me now.”

  Something crashed outside my bedroom.

  I threw the covers back and got up, opening my door with so much force it bounced off the hinges. I tore down the hallway to the office-slash-guest-room. The door was open, and the rolling office chair was lying on its back.

  Bess plucked an earbud from her ear. “Hey! You’re up!”

  “Yes, and I don’t want to be.”

  “I knocked over the chair.” She grimaced. “Did it wake you?”

  “Oh, it wasn’t the chair. The caterwauling drowned it out.”

  Her head pulled back with surprise. “Was I singing?”

  “Yeah.”

  She clamped a hand over her mouth. “My bad. Sometimes I get carried away.”

  Yeah, me too. Like with this offer of giving you a place to stay.

  The twin bed I’d kept for Milly’s visits was now covered with an oversized lime-green comforter and matching floral-print sheets and pillows.

  Fine. Whatever.

  But the closet behind her . . . oh my god. It was stuffed floor-to-ceiling with boxes, and my desk was piled with clothes and computer parts.

  Perhaps she saw the smoke rising from my ears because her hands shot up in defense. “I promise I’ll clean everything up. I’m just trying to sort through what I need and what I can leave in boxes.”

  Good. Don’t get too comfortable.

  Miraculously, I kept my mouth shut.

  “Do you mind if I set up my computer on the desk?”

  I gestured toward the computer parts. “It actually works?”

  “When it’s assembled.”

  “Sure.” I picked up my laptop, remembering I needed to file an insurance claim to get my personal phone replaced.

  “If you go back to sleep, I’ll be as quiet as a church mouse.”

  I doubted that.

  I looked at the clock on the small nightstand. It was almost noon, which meant Ransom should arrive any minute. “If you don’t mind making yourself scarce, my brother is coming by today. He and I need to handle some family business.”

  Family business that I really hadn’t thought through before inviting her to live with me.

  “Of course. I was thinking of popping over to Delaney’s for a bite to eat. Can I bring you anything back?”

  “No, thanks. I’ll probably go out with my brother while he’s here.” If he didn’t storm out of my condo first.

  “Great. You won’t even know I’m here.”

  I doubted that too.

  Shaking my head, I carried my laptop back to my room and closed the door. After brushing my teeth and changing into a pair of yoga pants and a long-sleeve tee, I grabbed my work phone and flopped diagonally across the mattress. There was a missed call and a text message from Essex. He didn’t leave a voicemail, but his message said, In the neighborhood. You up?

  I tapped his phone number in my call history. No answer.

  A second later, the doorbell rang.

  “I’ll get it!” Bess called as I walked out of my bedroom. She was already at the door.

  When she pulled it open, I expected to see my brother. It was Essex, in jeans and a blue T-shirt that said, “It’s Taco’clock somewhere.”

  Bess leaned against the door. “Well, hello.”

  His head fell to the side with confusion. “Hi. Bess, right?”

  “Yes, sir. Essex?”

  “You can call me Tyler.”

  “OK, Tyler.”

  He looked from her to me then back to her. “What are you doing here?”

  “I live here now.”

  “Really?” Surprised, he looked at me again.

  “Only until she can get her own place.” I walked to the door. “I just tried calling you.”

  “I was walking up the steps. Hope you don’t mind my dropping by.”

  “Of course not. Come on in.”

  With a smile and a wave, Bess walked back to the guest room.

  Essex followed me to the kitchen. “You have a roommate now?”

  “It’s a long story. Want some coffee?” I dumped the grounds from the day before in the trash.

  “No. I’m going to try to sleep for a few hours before tonight.”

  “You didn’t sleep this morning?”

  “Nah. I worked till midnight with Bravo shift—”

  “Crawling back into the womb already?” I asked with a grin. Bravo was the team he’d just left.

  “Ha, ha,” he said, unamused. “Chief is offering as much overtime as anyone wants, so I picked up some hours last night. Made the mistake of crashing when I got home.”

  I put a new filter in the basket. “Where have you been this morning? Wait, let me guess; a meeting?” I scooped fresh coffee grounds from the can.

  He chuckled. “Yes. A meeting you would have found very interesting.”

  I looked back. “Was it about my job?”

  “No.”

  With a sigh, I went back to scooping coffee grounds.

  “Because of all the media hype, narcotics put a rush on the lab tests for the Seven Kings’ gold heroin we found with Ryder Stone. Nyx, it was laced with melatryptophine.”

  I spun around, spilling coffee grounds all over the floor. “Hypnox?”

  “Looks like it.” He handed me the report.

  My chest tightened as I read it.

  “The department will want to question you about this.”

  “I don’t know anything about it.”

  “I know, but your parents were responsible the last time hypnox was found in Nevada, so I’m sure they’ll want to talk to your whole family. I know they’re talking to your mother soon.”

  I slumped over the counter, bracing my right elbow against it as I cradled my head. I swore under my breath.

  “But don’t worry too much. Gregg is personally questioning Mal, and she’s got your back. That should contain the gossip a bit.”

  That eased my nerves some. “Any other bombshells I should know about?”

  “That’s it. I assume you’ll be on light duty for a while and riding with me.”

  I straightened. “I will?”

  “You wanna ride with someone else?”

  “No.” Which was true, but damn. Was this a good idea?

  He leaned toward me. “I know what you’re thinking . . .”

  You do?

  “You’re afraid you’ll be accused of preferential treatment.”

  Sooo not what I was thinking. My brain was fixed on the recent skyrocket of the sexual tension between us. We could barely survive an afternoon alone together. How would being confined to a patrol car shift after shift go?

  His mouth was still moving, but his words were going in one ear and out the other. I realized I was staring through him when he waved a hand in front of my face. “Earth to Nyx.”

  “Sorry, just dreading all the shit that comes with Mal,” I lied.

  “You really hate her, don’t you?”

  “Her name literally translates to bad in English.”

  He smiled as he got up from the bar. “Well, you might want to give your grandfather and brother a heads-up that they’ll probably be questioned too.”

  �
�I will. They should both be here any minute.” I finished filling the coffee filter with grounds. I was seriously going to need all the caffeine I could get. When I finished, I pressed start on the coffee maker and turned back around to face him. “I really appreciate you not making me find out about all this at work.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Sure you don’t want coffee?”

  “Positive. Thanks.” He came around the counter to stand in front of me. “Try not to let this all get to you too much.”

  “Too late. It’s going to sink my chances at a promotion.”

  He closed the space between us. “No, it’s not. And it especially won’t if you’re the one to bring this shit to a stop.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying, if you’re cleared to return to work this week, you and I will be hunting some Kings. You up to it?”

  “You know it.”

  With a smile, he looked at his watch. “I’d better get going.”

  We walked to the door together, and he opened it. He paused in the doorway. “Don’t worry, Nyx.”

  “I won’t,” I lied again.

  “Talk to you later.”

  “Bye.” I watched him jog down the steps before finally closing the door.

  “He’s hot,” Bess said behind me, causing my heart to leap into my throat.

  “Geez, don’t do that.”

  “Are you dating him?”

  “What? No.”

  “Why the hell not? He’s gorgeous, and he literally has”—she lowered her voice—“sex in his name.”

  I laughed and returned to the kitchen. “He’s my sergeant. I couldn’t date him if I wanted to.”

  “Is it against the rules?”

  “Yes. And I already have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously because I’m a woman. That would be shot all to hell if I started sleeping with my boss.” I pulled the bottle of ibuprofen out of the cabinet.

  “I guess that makes sense. It sucks though.” She slid onto a barstool. “What made you want to be a cop?”

  At the filtered spout on the fridge, I filled a glass with water. “To help people,” I answered without looking up.

  She snorted. “OK.”

  I turned toward her. “Excuse me?”

  “I mean, I believe you, but you answered like a parakeet. Are all cops programmed to say that?”