She would have protested more if Niella hadn’t backed him up. She’d pointed out that they still didn’t know what was going on with the people who were after her, and that it’d be plain stupidity to go out by herself.
Which left her to be chauffeured around. It was probably for the best that she didn’t drive anyway. She had no time to focus on the road. She was too busy thinking of what she was going to tell the police. It’d been a good long while since she’d had to deal with governmental authority. And she wanted to keep it that way. She’d spent the last few years keeping her record as spotless as possible, but she doubted seven years would look as good to the authorities as it did to her.
She shifted in her seat.
The last thing she wanted to deal with was punishment for being pegged as an accomplice. Could they even do that to her? She’d fled for her own safety — surely they’d see that.
Not if Jared and Garnet already convinced them otherwise.
She wrung her hands together.
Beside her Felix chuckled. “What are you so nervous about?”
“A lot, actually.”
“Like what?”
She stayed silent.
They came to a red light. Felix nudged her with his hand. “Come on, hit me with it.”
She eyed him for a moment. “Fine.” She punched him in the arm.
His eyebrows rose in challenge. “So you wanna go there?” He feinted for her knee and she jumped, a small laugh escaping her.
“Green.” She pointed toward the street light.
Felix was forced to focus back on the road.
She scooted closer to the passenger door in a vain attempt to escape his long reach. Why did he have to be so damn playful? “You asked for it, you know,” she pointed out.
“So you’re saying I started it?”
“Absolutely.”
He pretended to contemplate that. “Well, then, I should warn you I always finish what I start.”
The look he sent her had heat rushing straight between her legs.
“So are you going to tell me what’s got you so jacked up?”
She pulled her mind from the gutter.
What the hell, she thought. She’d already told him some of the story. The worst it could do was cause him to run from her. And wasn’t that what she wanted anyway?
“I tend to try and avoid the police. I got enough of them when I was in high school. I earned myself a little record that I’m worried is going to creep up and bite me in the ass.”
“It is a nice ass,” he commented.
She wanted to punch him again but his humor helped ease the nervousness inside her.
They drove a few miles in silence before he broke it. “What happened in high school?”
“Two things happened, actually. Isaac Gregory and Tyson Miller.”
Felix’s jaw tensed. “I’m not going to like this story. I can already tell.”
Cali smiled. “That makes two of us. Isaac wasn’t so bad, it was Tyson who really screwed me.” She stopped as old emotions welled up within her. “The short version is that Isaac and Tyson were both druggies. With Isaac I got caught with possession of marijuana and got fined for it. No big deal. I dumped him the next day. Tyson … Tyson was like a cancer. The trouble with him just kept growing. I was young and stupid, he was eighteen to my seventeen, and I thought he was the coolest thing on the planet. A couple months after we started dating he took me to a party. There was drinking, weed, you name it, they had it. I was pretty drunk and high by the time Tyson slipped some kind of benzodiazepine into my drink.”
Felix’s knuckles had gone white around the steering wheel.
“When I finally woke up I was in the hospital. I was really messed up but luckily the cops had been on their way when I was given the drug so Tyson didn’t have time to do anything to me. But he sure as hell did enough. There was still marijuana in my jeans. I’m pretty sure he put it there, but it doesn’t matter now. I was fined, had my license suspended for a year, was sent to a detention facility, and had to do community service.”
They were back at a red light.
“If I ever cross that guy, Tyson, I’ll kill him.” The serious protectiveness on Felix’s face was as misplaced as his harsh words. It should have scared her. It didn’t. In fact, it did the exact opposite. It made her feel worthwhile.
“Well, you can see why I have a problem with the police. My family never really believed that I’d quit drinking or smoking, so I can only imagine what the police must think.”
“Fuck what they think. You’re not that person anymore. You never were from what I’ve heard.”
They pulled into the station parking lot.
Foreign emotions swirled inside her. Emotions she didn’t know how to deal with. “Thanks.” She reached for the door handle once they’d parked.
“I can go in with you if you want.”
The offer caught her completely off guard. She’d never had such support. She suddenly wondered what it would be like to have a guy like Felix in her life. To always be there for her.
Don’t even go there.
She got out of the Hummer. “I’ll be fine.”
As soon as she stepped into the police station she was anything but fine, which probably had a lot to do with the fact that she nearly ran face first into Collette.
Chapter 9
Cali’s first instinct was to duck and cover.
Had it really only been less than twenty-four hours since Cali had seen her?
For her part, Collette looked like shit. It gave Cali a brief satisfaction to see the bags under her eyes.
But any satisfaction at seeing Collette’s haggled appearance was wiped clean when Collette fixed Cali with a murderous expression.
For the tensest minute of her life, Cali did nothing but stare down her enemy. This was the woman who’d been sent to take her, the woman responsible for her being at the police station in the first place. But why did Collette want to take her? Who did she answer to? What did they want with her?
“Can we help you, miss?”
The voice broke the tension between them, and Cali stepped from around Collette to face down an officer sitting behind the front desk. She tried to walk over to the officer but was stopped when Collette grabbed her wrist painfully.
“I know what you are,” she whispered. “I know what you mean to him, and I don’t care what my orders are. I’m going to make him hurt like he hurt me.”
Cali ripped her arm from Collette’s grasp. She was taller than Collette by a couple of inches but what Collette lacked in height she made up for in presence. Still, Cali stared her down. “Don’t ever touch me.”
Collette grinned. “See you around.”
The officer behind the desk watched everything with a careful eye, one hand held ready to go for his belt. “Is everything okay, miss?” he asked once Collette was gone.
“I’m here to give a statement. My name is Cali Crazar.”
She waited patiently as the officer typed her name into whatever database they had. A few seconds later something flashed across his face. It was too quick for her to make any sense of it, but she had a good idea when he looked up and his expression was closed off.
So much for not pegging me based on my record.
“This way Miss Crazar.” His tone lost all warmth, as if he were addressing a criminal.
Cali ground her teeth, but followed after him like a good little citizen.
The room she was to give her statement in looked a lot like an interrogation booth. Her escort dropped her off, instructing her to take a seat. The officers would be with her shortly.
Was being left alone supposed to intimidate her? Were they trying to wait her out and jumble her nerves so that she’d plead guilty?
The bastards could rot in hell for all she cared. Let them watch and analyze her all they wanted. She wasn’t going to give them as much as a nervous tic.
After seven minutes of staring at the wall ahead of her, the door
finally opened, admitting two officers.
“Miss Crazar?” the one on the left asked. He was short and stocky with blond hair and hard eyes. His partner looked a few years his junior with a short military cut and blue eyes.
“Yes.” She kept her face devoid of any emotion. These assholes had lost all right to polite respect from her when they started treating her like a felon.
They each sat across the table from her. “I’m Officer Collins and this is my partner Officer Jacobs. Before we take your statement, there are a few questions we’d like to ask you.”
“Of course.” She pasted on a pleasant expression. “Anything I can do to clear up this mess.” Her mind wandered to Collette. How the hell had she been released? She was found at the scene. Cali wanted to demand answers of her own, but she didn’t want to make them think she was involved more than she really was.
“We’re happy to hear that.” Collins’ voice could have been discussing the weather for all the emotion it held. “Are you familiar with a woman by the name of Collette Lizeroux?”
The opportunity to broach the subject was too much to pass up. “Was that the woman I ran into in the lobby? Shouldn’t she be behind bars? She attacked me.”
The two officers exchanged glances but didn’t answer her question. “So you don’t know her or why she was in your parents’ home yesterday afternoon?”
Cali went for dumb innocence. “No, I have no idea why she came after me.” Unfortunately, that statement was true. All she knew was that Collette had orders to collect her, and not even Felix and his super friends had any leads as to why.
Or maybe they did and just hadn’t told her.
She stiffened her spine.
Officer Collins looked through some of his paperwork. “And you’ve had no problems … socially since this little incident in high school?” He turned the folder around so she could see her record. She wished for all the world that she’d bitten the bullet and paid the money to have it sealed. He gave the papers a quick tap. “No dealings with those that might hold something against you for not paying on time?”
Cali’s temper spiked. “Do I look like a druggie to you?”
Collins leaned back in his chair and exchanged another look with the still silent Jacobs. “Why don’t you tell us, Miss Crazar?”
Underneath the table, her hands balled into tight fists. “I’m not a druggie.” She enunciated slowly through clenched teeth.
“So what were you doing at your parents’ house yesterday?” Jacobs spoke up for the first time. His voice was a startling contrast to his appearance. It was a deep rumble that rolled through the whole room. “Looking for some quick money?”
Cali bit the inside of her cheek to keep from snarling at him. The truth was she had gone there for money. Dammit. But it wasn’t what they were thinking. She’d needed the money for her rent. “I’d never steal from my parents.”
“Of course not, Miss Crazar,” Collins soothed. His patronizing tone grated on her. “But we’re curious as to why you would be at your parents’ when they were conveniently on vacation.”
The hairs on the back of her neck started to prickle. “I didn’t know they were on vacation.” Asshole, she added silently.
Jacobs opened his mouth to speak, and Cali already knew she wasn’t going to like what came out of it. “You know what I think, Miss Crazar?”
Don’t give a shit.
“I think you’re still a little lost, that you haven’t quite got your feet under you yet. I think you panicked and sought out the only safety you knew.”
She’d had enough. The whole back of her neck was tingling, her anger raging inside her. “I’m not a druggie. I’m not a dealer, or a user. I don’t care what misconceptions my siblings might have given you, but I’m clean. Have been ever since … ” She tapped the folder perhaps a little too forcefully for emphasis. But screw them. If they thought she would just go along silently with their accusations then they could go fuck themselves.
The silence in the room was deafening, a deep, rhythmic lub-dub, the only sound to be heard.
Cali’s whole body turned to ice. Oh, no.
She tried to reel in her emotions. It didn’t work. In fact, the sudden anxiety made it worse. The thumping grew louder.
Collins’ and Jacobs’ eyes both grew wide.
Jacobs put both hands on the table as if to shoot up from his seat. “What the hell is that?”
The lub-dub increased as Collins and Jacobs began to lose their cool. At this point it sounded like a cacophony of drums.
Collins was trying to keep his resolve. “Easy, Andy.” He put a hand on his partner’s shoulders. “I’m sure it’s jus — iss — azar’s — ell — one.”
Cali sat in stunned horror as his words went in and out.
Holy shit, holy shit. Calm the fuck down, Cali!
She shut her eyes and exhaled. She desperately drew on what Felix had told her to do the other day. Damn, how she wished Felix were here with her.
Jacobs shot to his feet, the chair smashing to the floor behind him as he started to yell. Half his sentence was not even audible as his voice went in and out like Collins’. His sudden outburst did little to help Cali relax, but she pushed through it.
Stay focused.
Collins was now on his feet, attempting to calm the young cadet.
Come on, Cali. Think serene forests, calm beaches …
It didn’t work.
Felix’s arms around you …
The prickling receded.
The pounding of the officers’ hearts faded. Cali sagged in relief, but it was short-lived.
She needed to get out of there.
She got to her feet. Collins and Jacobs both took a step back from her, their faces pale. “I wanted to give my statement and here it is: I went to visit my parents. I had no idea they were on vacation. While I was there, I was attacked, I believe the people were robbers, I fled for my own safety. Now, if there is no sufficient evidence to detain me, I’m leaving.”
Collins looked like he wanted to say something but he stopped. “Very well,” he said finally. “Good day.”
Cali nodded and got the hell out of there.
Chapter 10
Felix could tell Cali was upset. Hurt, angry, and underneath it all, sad. She tried to hide it. Did a pretty good job of it. But he knew better.
He was supposed to be taking her back to the clinic or even her own place if she asked him. But she’d said nothing since she had stomped out of the station with her chin high and her eyes haunted. He wanted to ask what had happened. He wanted to chase away the fears he saw in her eyes but she wouldn’t let him, dammit.
So instead he decided to take matters into his own hands and help her deal with her anger another way. He maneuvered the Hummer in the opposite direction of the clinic, and it wasn’t until they were almost to their new destination that Cali even noticed the change in scenery.
“Where are we going?”
“My place.”
That knocked her straight out of whatever slump she’d been in. “Why?”
He pulled into his driveway. “For some anger management.”
“I don’t need anger management.”
“Fine, for stress relief.”
“I don’t need stress relief.”
He turned in his seat to face her. “Is that so? So you always clutch your hands like that until they’re white and shaky?”
She instantly unclasped her hands.
“Look, you obviously don’t want to share with me what happened in there, but I’m still going to try and help you. It’s not good to keep all that locked inside. Now come on.”
He led her into his house and left her in the main living room to go retrieve his gloves and mitts from the guest room. The place was more like a storage unit. A really unorganized storage unit. How did Sydney stand sleeping in here, he wondered as he shoved an old pile of clothes out of his way to get to the closet.
“Boxing gloves?” Cali asked once he wa
s back in the living room with her. He threw his pair of mitts onto the couch.
“Best therapy there is,” he told her. “Now give me your hand.”
She held her arm out to him.
Her arms were long and smooth. Her hands slim and elegant. He imagined she could deliver the most teasing of caresses with those babies if she wanted to. He wanted those hands on him again. Though they looked gentle, he knew firsthand the power behind them. Like when they’d gripped his hips that time he had her pushed up against the cement pillar, his lips on hers. He remembered all too clearly the taste of those lips. Instantly he was hard for her.
Shit.
He swallowed as he guided her hand into the glove and strapped it on. “Next.” His voice was gruff, and he hoped she didn’t notice the bulge in his pants.
She held her other arm out to him, and he strapped her in. He quickly turned his back on her to readjust his jeans and slide his hands into the punching mitts he’d brought out for himself.
“Okay.” He turned around to face her. He held up his hands, palms out so she could aim for the little white circles in the center. “Hit me.”
She looked skeptical. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
He grinned. “Trust me, you can’t hurt me.”
Instead of putting her at ease, the words put her on the defensive. “Oh, yeah? How’s that shin treating you?”
He winced as he remembered the killer bruise he’d woken up with that morning. She definitely wasn’t a fragile little thing. But he had a feeling the strong, independent front she presented to everyone took its toll on her.
You can’t keep your shields up forever.
Yet he had the feeling Cali never let anyone close to her. Her distrust bordered on paranoia. He couldn’t imagine living like that. Everyone needed someone to trust, to accept them for who they were.
“Come on,” he goaded her, wiggling his hands for emphasis. “Punch me.”
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