He quickly put on his jacket, then grabbed her hand first this time as they walked out and down the block to the sandwich shop that made the best hoagies in town. They both ordered and took a seat near the window.
“I like this.”
Dee paused at taking a bite, grinning. “I’ll have to try that sandwich next time. I always get the ham and turkey. I’m not a huge fan of bean sprouts and whatever else that is.”
He knew he started to blush when he glanced down at his sandwich that had bean sprouts, cucumbers, onions, ham, and a few other things that just made his taste buds salivate with hunger. “That’s not what I meant.” He looked up. “I like that you came to visit me.”
For the first time he could remember, a small hint of red emerged on her cheeks. “I like it, too.” She cleared her throat. “Can I ask you something? It’s no big deal. You can totally say no.”
He reached for her hand that started to fidget with a napkin. He’d never seen her so nervous before. Warmth filled him up, knowing he wasn’t the only one who could get nervous. It also worried him. Why was she nervous? He had a feeling he wouldn’t like the question.
“Will you take dance lessons with me?”
His sandwich dropped from his hand, the question a total surprise. He never expected that in a million years. “Dance…lessons?”
His mind drifted back to Ben and Rina’s wedding, the perfect way she moved. The ease at which she danced. She obviously knew how to dance. She didn’t think he could dance. Just assumed because he was shy, he didn’t know the first thing about dancing.
“I know how to dance.”
“You do?”
The shock in her tone pissed him off. Almost the same feeling he got when she refused to leave the case alone. “Why do you sound so surprised?”
“Why are you getting upset with me?”
“Why do you think I can’t dance?”
Anger quickly replaced her shock. “I never said that.”
“Then why do you want to take dance lessons?”
Her anger slowly morphed into pain. “I’ve seen you upset at me, but I can honestly say, I never expected you to get so upset at me for something like this.” She stood up. “Go to hell, Sauer.”
She walked out.
♡
“Let’s go.”
Rina glanced away from Ben where they sat in the break room at the precinct. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m ready to go. I have tons of shit I have to get done. You ready?”
Rina looked at her unfinished food, shared a look with Ben, then back at her. “We just started eating. You left with Sauer less than ten minutes ago. What’s wrong?”
“I already told you, I have tons—”
“Stop lying to me.”
Dee didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t want them to know how Sauer got so upset. It had been like the flick of a switch. He went from happy to mad within seconds. She had no idea why the thought of dance lessons would do that to him.
“Sauer said no.”
Rina couldn’t hide her surprise as Ben nearly choked on his food he just swallowed. “He would never…”
“Think again. I refuse to be a fifth wheel. You guys have fun.” She suddenly had the strange urge to cry. “I want to leave, Rina. Can Ben bring you back when you’re done? I’ll drive back by myself.”
“Shit, Dee, I’m sorry.”
She turned her attention to Ben, who had cleared his throat and stopped coughing. “For what?”
He looked panicked. “That Sauer said no. Are you sure? Maybe I should talk to him. It’ll be fun.”
“Oh, I got the message loud and clear.”
“What’s that?”
Dee whipped around to see Sauer standing in the doorway.
“You shouldn’t walk off like that.”
Slamming her hands to her hips, she let the pain drift away and the anger sweep in. “Don’t worry about me, Sauer. It isn’t your job anymore.”
“Whoa, whoa. What’s going on?” Ben stood up, scooting his chair back. “A simple question of dance classes caused this? We’ll have fun.”
Confusion crossed over Sauer’s face. “We?”
“Me and Rina. Zeke and Zoe. You and Dee.” Ben glanced at Rina with a goofy smile. “There’s this ball these ladies want to go to and I don’t know how to ballroom dance.” He looked back at Sauer. “Do you?”
All sets of eyes looked at him. Dee watched as he got red in the face, a mixture of pain and rage. “I can.”
“Really?” She couldn’t stop the question, knowing as soon as it slipped out he’d hate it.
“Yeah. My mother said a man should know how to dance properly.” He deflated right before her eyes as he looked at Ben. “Make sure she gets to work safely.”
He walked out.
“I’ve never seen him so pissed.” Ben rubbed a hand over his jaw.
Dee shook her head as the tears threatened to flow. “He hates me. What did I do?”
Rina looked away as Ben turned red with embarrassment.
“Or should I be saying, what did you two do?”
Chapter 13
“Rina was in tears when I drove her back to work. Dee refused to ride with us, demanding Rina hand over her car keys. Honestly, I didn’t argue with her. I just followed her to work.”
“So you told her?”
“Dude, she didn’t give me a choice. I’m not going to be on the receiving end of Dee’s anger. And it made Rina cry.”
“Zoe’s not going to take it any better. This is bad.”
“This is your fault.”
Newman finally cleared his throat. He had enough of listening to Ben and Zeke whispering in the break room. “You ladies wanna tell me what’s going on. My partner is pissed. Which is strange because he came to work with a smile on his face.”
Eyes swiveled to him, the embarrassment reflected in their eyes. He tried to get Sauer to talk, to tell him what the hell happened, but he mumbled something he didn’t understand, then said he was heading to the crime lab to talk to Susan. He figured if Sauer wouldn’t tell him, these two would.
“Well?”
Ben sighed. “Guess you could call it playing matchmaker. We asked Rina and Zoe for some help and they thought dance lessons was a great idea. It wasn’t. Sauer’s pissed about it for some reason.”
“He can dance.”
“I don’t know why, but that surprises me.” Zeke rubbed his jaw. “We were just trying to help.”
“Well, quit it. You’re pissing off my partner, which pisses me off. I’m not used to him surly and upset. Let me tell you. I don’t like it.”
“We didn’t mean to make it worse. Why did it piss him off so much?”
Newman shrugged. He honestly didn’t have a clue. Sauer didn’t talk much about his childhood, but he let little things slip. He knew Sauer could dance, but never used it to his advantage when they went out looking for women. Or, more like, when he went out looking for women and Sauer tagged along. Newman doubted at times that he could dance, since he never actually went out on the dance floor.
Then one night, Sauer had one too many to drink. The alcohol masked his shyness enough to dance with a woman who could move. The energy they sparked on the dance floor was electric. Newman never saw someone with such amazing moves. Of course, when the music ended and the woman draped herself over his body with blatant sexual interest, Sauer snapped out of his stupor and back into his shyness. He never left the bar with the woman.
“Just…mind your own business.”
Zeke’s expression turned hard. “Don’t tell me what to do, Newman. We didn’t mean to upset him.”
“When you mess with my partner, you’re messing with me.”
“You messed with him yourself. And guess what?” Zeke took a step closer. “You’re messing with me when you do that.”
Newman didn’t like the scary glint in his eyes, but he wasn’t about to back down. Or admit how much of an ass he acted the night of the Super Bowl
party. He regretted it the minute he did it. There wasn’t a good enough excuse for his actions. Other than jealousy.
“Leave him alone.” He took a step.
“You leave him alone.” Zeke took a step.
Ben shoved his way between them, considering they were almost nose-to-nose. “Enough!” He was breathing heavy, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he stared at him. “You hit Zeke, then I gotta hit you, then I’ll go home looking like I got into a fight, which will make Rina cry some more. I hate seeing my wife cry.”
Newman backed away. “Look—”
“What’s going on?”
Newman turned around. Sauer stood there glancing from one person to another. “Just having a friendly chat.”
Zeke scoffed.
Either Sauer didn’t hear anything, or he chose to ignore it. “Mrs. Stenson’s car has been found.”
“That’s great news.” Zeke’s enthusiasm dimmed as Sauer continued to look at everyone with a frown. “I’m getting the feeling it’s not that great.”
“Walker from the fire department called me.” Sauer started to rub a hand back and forth over his head. “He torched the car. Covered his tracks and destroyed any evidence.”
“Shit.”
Newman concurred with that exclamation from Zeke. The case loved to go from one dead end to another. When would they catch a break?
“Sauer, you and I can go speak to Mrs. Stenson. Ben and Newman can check out the car.” Zeke glanced around the room. “Sound like a plan?”
Ben raised a brow, a questioning look on his face, then nodded. Sauer looked a little confused as well, but also nodded. Newman wanted to know why Zeke wanted to split up, but refused to ask. If Sauer came back even more pissed, he’d knock a fist into Zeke’s face and be damned the consequences.
His life had turned to complete shit lately. A fight sounded like a great plan. Unleash some of his anger and pain. He didn’t care Zeke would be on the receiving end. He deserved it after upsetting Sauer the way he did.
“Fine. Let’s go.” He gave Zeke a look that conveyed a message that he be on his best behavior. Zeke had the audacity to smirk at him and brush past him without one word.
♡
Sauer wasn’t an idiot. He knew they were talking about what happened with him and Dee. His anger had dissipated to regret the minute he saw her walk out of the precinct. She didn’t glance his way once. He knew he screwed up. His anger got the best of him. The past swamped his mind, bringing the rage straight to the top. He couldn’t have stopped it if he tried. Trying to explain it to Dee would be hard. No doubt she wouldn’t want any explanation from him. She didn’t want anything to do with him anymore.
He wasn’t dumb either about Zeke splitting them up. He had something to say. Sauer was still waiting for him to say it as he drove to Mrs. Stenson’s residence.
“About the dance lessons…”
It was about time he started talking. Sauer stayed silent, wanting to hear what Zeke had to say.
“It was our idea…Ben and I. We were just trying to help. You know, bring you and Dee closer or whatever. Although, Rina and Zoe came up with the idea to take dance lessons. There’s this ball coming up…I don’t have the first clue how to ballroom dance. The waltz, the foxtrot, the tango…I got two left feet for shit like that.” Zeke turned to him. “How long have you known how to dance?”
Now he felt worse than before. It hadn’t even been Dee’s idea. A ball. What kind of ball? Since Ben’s wedding, he’d been dying to dance with her. A ball was the perfect solution. But dancing…
“Sauer man, I’m—”
“I know you feel bad. No need to apologize.” Those words slipped so easily from peoples lips way too often. Two words and people thought it magically fixed everything. Oh, he knew Zeke and Ben meant everything in his best interest. Nothing was done maliciously. He reacted badly. He should be apologizing. But not with those two words. They didn’t mean anything. He’d say it another way. “It’s not your fault. I reacted badly.”
“We should’ve—”
“I’ve known how to dance since I was twelve.” He turned right, glancing at Zeke. “My mom thought every man should know how to dance. My dad still takes my mom dancing. She loves it.”
Zeke grinned. “Yeah, my dad’s taken my mom dancing a few times. Although, she never made me take lessons when I was younger.”
“I liked it. I had fun. When the first school dance, the Snow Ball, came around, I was so excited to dance.” He fell silent, unsure if he could finish. Thinking about it, let alone talking about it, was hard. Kids could be so cruel. “Let’s just say, the other kids didn’t appreciate my dance moves.”
“They teased you.”
Sauer heard the question in the statement. Zeke wanted to know more.
“You know I’m shy, kind of quiet. What can I say? I was an awkward kid.” Sauer shrugged. “Kids can be mean. Dancing wasn’t as fun after that.”
“Sauer, they were jealous.”
He pulled into Mrs. Stenson’s driveway, pondering that. Maybe they were. Although, he knew dancing the fancy dances at a school function probably wasn’t the smartest move on his part. Not many kids could dance like that. Just one of the many ways he stuck out like a sore thumb. He was always the oddball in school. He still felt like that sometimes as an adult.
“We conjured bad memories.” Zeke sighed. “I have to admit, I wasn’t thrilled about Zoe and Rina’s idea. Dancing…not my idea of fun. Of course, I get to hold my wife in my arms, but I have no coordination on the dance floor. Talk about embarrassing.” He met his stare. “I’m envious of you that you know how to dance. I hate to admit it, but I didn’t think you did.”
Sauer nodded, not surprised. Another reason he got so upset. As he thought about it, he shouldn’t be. Zeke didn’t know how to dance. If someone like Zeke, a ladies’ man before he met Zoe, didn’t know how to dance, why would he think Sauer knew how to as shy as he was with women.
“I reacted badly. I don’t normally do that. I was wrong.”
Zeke chuckled. “She’s got you tied up in knots. Love can make you act crazy. We’re good, man…right?”
A smile touched his face. “Yep.” Then it dimmed. “I guess I ruined the fun.”
A wide smile emerged, almost twinkling with delight. “Oh, no, you didn’t. Rina already booked the lessons, and the tickets to the ball. The King and Queen’s Ball. It’s all non-refundable. Don’t worry, it’s on me. Maybe you can teach me some suave moves to impress Zoe.”
Laughing, he winked. “I got some moves she’d love.” Looking away, he squeezed the steering wheel tightly. “Dee hates me now. She won’t go with me.”
“Na, you have a way with her. She’ll forgive you.” Zeke cleared his throat. “You ever talk to her about…the past?”
“No.”
“It might help. In more ways than you imagine.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Oh, I’m always right. Tell Ben that.”
Sauer laughed hard, remembering Ben’s words from the other day. “Yeah, he said he’s always right.”
“Only in his dreams.” Zeke tapped him on the shoulder. “Come on. Let’s break the news to Mrs. Stenson. I really hate to do this.”
They stepped out of the vehicle, walking slowly to the door, obviously trying to delay the inevitable.
“Can you keep our talk between us? It’s…embarrassing.”
Zeke lowered his hand after knocking on the door and nodded. “You got it, buddy. At least let Newman know we’re good. He wanted to punch me. Which means I’d have to punch him, then Ben would jump in…”
“Then I’d have to jump in...” Sauer chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll talk to him.”
Talking with Newman would be nothing compared to talking with Dee. Talking was not his forte. What could he possibly say so she’d forgive him?
For a guy who rarely argued with people, that’s all he’d been doing lately. He didn’t like it one bit.
♡
Dee looked up from her desk and groaned. She already felt bad enough Rina got so upset she cried. Apparently, she called Zoe, who felt compelled to come.
“Where’s Zabrina? If you’re gonna come here to ream me out, at least you could’ve brought her with.”
Zoe rolled her eyes. “I’m not here to ream you out. She’s with my parents.”
She fiddled with the keyboard. “I’m so—I didn’t mean to make you cry, Rina. You know I’m a bitch.”
A soft hand touched her shoulder. “I have no idea why I cried like that. It wasn’t anything you did. I just feel horrible we created such tension between you and Sauer. I never imagined…”
Dee squeezed her hand as she looked up. “Me either. I was shocked when he got so angry.”
“Talk to him. I’m sure if—”
“Talking’s overrated.”
Zoe gave her the look. Hand on her hips. Lips pierced in a thin line. Brow cocked. She wasn’t amused.
“I didn’t want to go to this dumb ball, anyway, or dance lessons.”
Rina’s lip started to tremble.
“Oh, shit, Rina, don’t start crying again.” Dee brushed her crazy hair back. “Fine. I’ll go. I don’t need Sauer to go with me.”
“That’s not okay.” Rina swiped a hand under her eye. “I’m not going to cry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Maybe you’re pregnant. Zoe was ridiculous with the waterworks when she was pregnant.” Dee shot up out of her chair. “Holy shit, are you pregnant?”
Rina’s eyes grew large, round as saucers. “No. I don’t…think so.” Small, silent tears started to leak out.
“What’s the matter?” Zoe touched her shoulder. “Those are tears of joy, I hope.”
“We said we wouldn’t say anything, but…I can’t.” Rina hiccupped in disgust. “Ben would get that look if he heard me say the word can’t.”
Dee snapped her fingers. “Focus, Rina. Start talking.”
A smirk formed as she wiped a tear away. “Talking’s overrated.”
That did it. Their laughter bounced off the walls. They couldn’t hold it in. A few other employees looked at them in surprise, but said nothing.
One Taste of Crazy (A One Taste Novel Book 3) Page 14
