Ask Me If I Care

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  Toomey had a point.

  I hadn’t seen any kids besides the ones that I was worried about getting into any kind of trouble at all.

  Son of a bitch.

  I groaned into my hands, jolting slightly when I felt a hand on my knee squeeze.

  I looked over at Hayes to see him staring straight forward, as if he wasn’t giving me any comfort at all.

  “What do we do?” Luke asked. “What can we do from our end?”

  I glanced away from the side of Hayes’ face and looked at Luke.

  His eyes flicked to Hayes and then back to me, a question in the depths.

  I ignored the wordless question and answered his verbal one.

  “I think the school board needs to be let in on what’s been going on,” I said. “They have a meeting scheduled in a few weeks. And, unfortunately, I think that the multiple stand-ins for our real resource officer needs to be stopped. We need full-time. They need to be able to count on him. And working between three officers, sometimes four, isn’t what they need.”

  “I can’t come back,” Smitty sighed. “Not yet anyway.”

  He patted his chest, and that was answer enough.

  “I don’t want to work there full-time,” Toomey admitted. “I hate it there. And it shows.”

  It did.

  “At least you’re honest,” Lock said.

  “Do any of you others want full-time?”

  The other three officers that were there when Toomey wasn’t shook their heads.

  “So we need to find someone that wants to be there full-time,” Luke said. “And I have a few people that I think might work for that position. One’s a new mother. She’s been asking for different hours.”

  “Parsons?” my dad asked.

  “Yeah, her,” Luke confirmed. “She actually wanted a desk job until she stopped breastfeeding. I think that it might work out for her at least temporarily if she doesn’t want it full-time.”

  Dad nodded.

  “Okay,” Luke said. “I can have that full-time officer there hopefully in the next week or so. Toomey, you good finishing out the week?”

  Toomey nodded.

  “Then let’s dismiss.” Luke stood.

  The room emptied out fast after that, leaving only my brother, Luke, Hayes and me standing there.

  “Now tell me honestly,” Luke said, eyes on me. “What do you feel, gut instinct?”

  “I feel like something needs to be done now, or we’re going to regret it later,” I admitted. “I think a few visits, every day, for a couple of weeks from officers would be a good thing for the students to see. Especially the asshole seniors.”

  Luke made eye contact with me.

  “The SWAT team can make an appearance,” he said. “We can also do a school drill. One like we did last month at the elementary.”

  My belly tightened.

  Even the thought of having to ever reenact those kind of protocols made my gut boil.

  “I can talk to the men,” Hayes paused, looking as if that sounded like the worst thing in the world.

  I had a feeling that it wasn’t that he didn’t like his new SWAT team. I just didn’t think he liked talking. He liked being a part of the team, but not the focus of it.

  Luke laughed at his obvious discomfort.

  “I’ll talk to them tomorrow,” he said. “Or, more accurately, I’ll talk to Foster.”

  Hayes blew out a relieved breath. “Thanks.”

  Luke nodded his head, dismissing us with a sweep of his hand.

  I didn’t stay behind to talk more.

  I was exhausted. My feet really were starting to hurt.

  And I had a hot dog calling my name at the Weiner Express.

  “What’s your hurry?” Hayes asked as I practically sprinted out of the hall.

  Oh, only that I don’t know what to do with you, and you make me incredibly nervous while also setting my blood on fire.

  “I’m trying to get out of here before five o’clock so that I can hit up the Weiner Express for a foot-long chili cheese dog before everyone else does the same,” I said

  His eyes narrowed as he pushed open the door that led outside.

  “You’re not going to wait for your family?” he asked curiously.

  And have them ask me what the hell was going on with Hayes and me? I think not.

  “No.” I shrugged. “They’re busy doing work things.”

  His lips twitched, as if he knew that I was lying, but he thought it was cute.

  “Listen,” he said, catching my hand before I could get two steps out of the door. “I need to…”

  “Yo!”

  Hayes’ eyes narrowed and focused on something over my shoulder, causing me to blow out a ravaged breath.

  Shit.

  What had Hayes been going to say?

  And why did it feel like the end of the world that he didn’t get to say it?

  I looked over my shoulder and was unsurprised to find Ryan there.

  He always knew the best time to ruin a conversation.

  “Ryan,” Hayes said. “What are you doing here?”

  Ryan hitched up the boy in his arms. A boy that finally looked clean for once.

  He also had a riot of curls just like me.

  “I was hoping that I could get you to watch Raj for a couple of hours,” Ryan said, eyes bouncing between us. “I have a date with my fiancé that I planned a while ago.” He narrowed his eyes. “And you’re not answering the phone.”

  Hayes immediately shook his head no.

  “No can do,” he said. “My shift starts in an hour. One of my buddies on the SWAT team had to go home because of his kid being sick. I agreed to cover his shift.”

  Ryan cursed and turned his gaze onto me, looking thoughtful.

  “Sorry, buddy.” I shook my head. “Let me stop that thought right there.”

  Ryan sighed. “Shit.”

  He turned around and left without another word, leaving Hayes and me standing there watching him go.

  But he’d never let go of my hand, and I hadn’t stepped away from him to put distance between us.

  “Booth’s kid is sick?” I asked curiously once Ryan got into his truck.

  Hayes looked down at me, his intense blue eyes finding my own.

  “Yes,” he answered. “Something about the stomach flu.”

  I grimaced. “That’s going around the school, too. I saw about eight cases of it heading to the nurse’s office across the hall today. It’ll be a miracle if I don’t get it.”

  He looked as if he wanted to say something in response to that, but his radio that’d been almost silent the entire time we were in the station squawked.

  “All units be advised. We have a suspected homicide at the corner of Filly Road and Route 333.”

  I pulled my hand away.

  “Have fun at work, Hayes,” I said softly, taking a step backward.

  He watched me go until I was nearly at my car.

  And only when I opened my door and was about to drop into it did he say, “It’s not fake!”

  No, I was beginning to think that it wasn’t.

  Something that was fake didn’t cause feelings like the ones that were practically tearing through me.

  Chapter 7

  I wonder if tacos think about me, too.

  -T-shirt

  Hayes

  I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing, but I found myself doing it Monday morning despite having my mind tell me that this wasn’t a good idea.

  I hadn’t seen her all weekend.

  We’d texted, of course, but it hadn’t been enough.

  I’d wanted to see her.

  Badly.

  But with her being out of town for a work conference, all of my careful planning was out the fuckin’ window.

  I was going to stop by her house that Friday night. Get her to ask me inside. Then kiss her after spending a couple of hours with her
.

  Only, Thursday night she’d casually mentioned that she was driving to Oklahoma the next morning for a conference.

  And then hadn’t texted that much after that because she’d been busy.

  Which had sucked.

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure what it was about Ares Downy that had me so enthralled, but she definitely had me captivated.

  Which was why I found myself at the school with lunch Monday morning, hoping that she would have the time to talk to me.

  That, and like Luke had wanted, I was showing my presence.

  That it happened to be what I wanted was a bonus.

  Walking in through the front door, I smiled at the old office lady.

  Mrs. Teague.

  She saw me coming and immediately opened the glass doors that locked automatically to keep the students separated from the public.

  “Hello,” I said. “I’m going to see Ms. Downy.”

  Mrs. Teague nodded. “You remember how to get to her office?”

  Not really.

  Last time I’d been guided by the shouting.

  This time I had a vague guess of where I was going, but wasn’t altogether sure that my guess was correct.

  “I do,” I lied.

  She punched a button beside her desk and the glass door that led into the inner sanctum of the high school opened automatically.

  Walking out and in the direction of where I kind of remembered Ares’ office being, I stared down any student I saw.

  And there were a lot of them.

  Was it between periods or something?

  There weren’t this many last time I was there, and there’d been a fight that had entranced a whole crowd of them.

  One kid in particular looked at me with an unamused expression on his face.

  So I decided to approach him.

  “Hey, can you tell me where Ms. Downy’s office is?” I asked nicely.

  His eyes narrowed. “What do I get if I tell you?”

  You won’t get your jaw popped.

  Instead, I tilted my head and said, “The appreciation of a police officer that could probably kick your ass if he coughed on you.”

  Okay, so my inner thoughts and my outer thoughts weren’t that far from each other.

  But there was nothing more that I hated than a little smart-mouthed kid.

  The kids around the student started to laugh, and one broke off and walked out past his friends. “Her office is that way. First door on your right across from the nurse’s office.”

  I grinned and winked at the kid. Then, without thinking about it, I reached into my bag and pulled out a couple of tacos.

  “Thanks, kid,” I said, handing them over.

  He took it with a megawatt grin taking over his face.

  “Fuck yeah. Thanks!” he said as he immediately opened one up and started to eat it.

  The kid that refused to give me directions glared, and I could feel it all the way down the hall.

  Grinning, I started off down the hall toward where he’d said her office was, and poked my head into her office.

  It was empty.

  I glanced across the hall at the nurse’s office to see that it was empty, too.

  Shrugging, I walked into Ares’ office and glanced around, once again spotting my calendar photo on the wall.

  Grinning wickedly, I walked over to it and stared it down.

  Turning away from the photo, I placed the tacos on her desk and picked up a pink pen before walking back over to the calendar and putting a few notations on the calendar.

  That was when I realized that she’d cut the calendar, so that no matter what month it was, my photo would be the one to always show up.

  Really grinning now, I walked over to her desk and took a seat in her plush office chair.

  Kicking my feet up onto the chair beside her desk, I leaned back in the chair and waited.

  It took her perhaps another ten minutes before she finally came back.

  And even then, I heard her before I saw her.

  “Mr. Franks,” Ares’ crisp, authoritative voice said. “Don’t you have a class to be at?”

  There was a low murmur of a male’s voice. “And where did you get a taco? Why are you walking around eating it instead of in the cafeteria where you’re supposed to be?”

  There was another murmur of voices then Ares said, “I’m sorry, but what?”

  Grinning, I placed my hands behind my head and waited.

  It didn’t take long before she was warily poking her head around the door frame.

  “Took you long enough,” I said. “I only have another forty-five minutes before I have to be back on shift.”

  Ares blinked. “If you’d have called…”

  I gestured to her phone that was on her desk.

  “I’d have ended up in the exact same place that I am right now. So I see you have my month hanging up. Even though it’s not April,” I challenged, curious to see what she said.

  She opened her mouth, then closed it again, looking caught off guard.

  Then she blushed profusely and lied straight through her teeth.

  “I had to choose the one that was least likely to get me fired,” she hedged.

  I grinned, loving the hesitation in her voice.

  What I loved even more? That despite her lie, she truly believed that I would believe her.

  It was so cute.

  “Is that right?” I said, not bothering to call her on it anymore.

  Instead, I sat up in her chair, removing my shoes from the seat beside her desk, and patted it.

  “Come here and sit,” I ordered. “Let’s eat.”

  That’s when she finally made her way around her desk, and I once again saw the outfit she was wearing.

  Prim and proper, yet still sexy enough that I wanted to push that skirt up to her hips and cup her ass.

  My hands clenched as she hesitantly took a seat directly next to me.

  Her eyes were wary as she glanced from me to the food.

  “I’m not really a big fan of tacos,” she admitted, wincing slightly when she admitted that. “But don’t tell anyone. I have to maintain my street cred here and all.”

  I grinned and gestured to the bag before pulling out my tacos.

  “I got you something that your brother recommended.” I paused. “But then wondered if he was pulling my chain and also got you something else. Hopefully between the two you can find something you like.”

  Her face went soft.

  “What did my brother say I liked?” she asked curiously.

  “The quesarito,” he answered. “With everything on it.”

  She scrunched up her nose in distaste. “That’s his favorite. I’ll eat it, but I’m not fond of onions.”

  I pulled out the other thing, which was an almost exact replica of the quesarito, but with the queso on the side, and only meat and cheese.

  Her face lit up. “That’s perfect.”

  Feeling stupidly happy at being able to get her something she’d actually eat, I pulled the other burrito to me and started to eat, watching as Ares didn’t beat around the bush as she dug into her food.

  Honestly, it was a surprise and quite refreshing.

  I wasn’t even halfway through with mine before she sat back and patted her belly happily.

  The move caused her skirt to ride up and expose a few more inches of smooth, tanned thigh.

  I licked my lips and glanced up to her face to see if she had any clue what she was doing to me.

  Instead, she was staring at my hands.

  Clenching one of my hands into a fist, I placed it on my thigh and waited for her to look at me.

  Her eyes finally met mine, and her face flushed.

  Loving the way the heat crept up her neck, I said, “I came here to ask you if you wanted to go to dinner with me tonight.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “And I thought, since it was a
group thing, you’d be less likely to tell me no,” I continued.

  Her mouth opened and closed, as if she was unsure of how to answer.

  I took another bite of my food as I waited for her to come up with the right words.

  “I…” She crossed her legs, exposing even more skin. “Is this a date? Am I going as your date?”

  I finished off my burrito and reached for a taco, turning the chair so that my legs could bracket hers.

  Then gave her my eyes.

  “Is that okay?” I asked.

  She licked her lips, looking nervous.

  “Yes.”

  Something in the way that she did had me dropping my taco on the top of her desk and moving even closer to her.

  “You can say no,” I said, cupping her calf with one hand.

  Her breath caught in her throat, and I barely stopped myself from moving my hand even further up her leg.

  Her eyes dilated and her breathing started to get choppy. All from one small touch of my hand on her calf.

  My dick hardened in an instant, and it took everything that I had to stay seated and not lean forward and kiss her.

  “I don’t want to say no,” she admitted softly, nervously grabbing onto her skirt and fisting her hands.

  The material of her skirt slid up even further, and I couldn’t stop myself that time.

  I skimmed my hand up the outside of her thigh, stopping when my fingers dipped just underneath the material of her skirt.

  That’s when I felt the tops of her stockings, and the slim belt that ran down her thigh to hold them up.

  My dick that I thought was hard moments ago proved that it could go harder, and I wanted more than anything to see the garters and not just feel them.

  “Ares…” I said, starting to get inappropriate.

  But I was cut off when the principal rounded the corner and stuck his head in the door.

  “Ares, I need you in my office…” He stopped when he saw us, eyes narrowing.

  Luckily the desk hid most of what we were doing. And neither one of us looked guilty as we slowly separated.

  Ares looked over her shoulder at Principal Bailey.

  “I’m sorry. Just now finishing up lunch,” she said, sounding much calmer about things than I was. “Can you give me another ten minutes?”

  The principal looked like he’d rather do anything but.