by Allie York
He brings his hand up and knocks again, bringing me out of my ‘I need to get laid’ stupor, and I realize that I’ve been staring at him for far longer than socially acceptable. I hurry to the door and unlock it, still coming down from my adrenaline spike and scare. When I shove the door toward him to let him in, my klutz tendencies take over and I hit him square in the face with the door.
“Fuck.” His curse is muffled by his hands going to his face.
“Shit!” Reacting as any normal person would in my situation, I do the only thing I know to do, I grab his face in my hands and pull him close to my face. “Holy frack, are you okay?” I try to study the wound between his fingers, but I can’t get a good look at it. I’m waiting for blood to start pouring from it at any second. Another person runs over but I ignore them, focusing only on the injured man in front of me. “I am so sorry!” I realize then that my hands are still clutching his face and I let go. He shakes his head and blinks. A red line runs from his forehead to his chin over his eye. His light blue eye. He looks like I probably made him see stars. I stop staring to notice that the officer next to me has her hand on her gun, watching it all play out.
“Wow!” The hot cop in front of me shakes his head again then wipes his face.
“Please tell me you’re okay?” It comes out as more of a question than the plea I hoped for.
“Give me a second.” He stands to his full height and I realize he’s been doubled over in front of me. He’s every bit of six-three and even hotter up close. Light blue eyes, a nice golden tan, close-cut light brown hair, and full lips that make me lick mine. My friends are right, I need to get laid. “Okay. Ouch. Are you Clifton Reynolds? I’m assuming not.” He rubs his forehead where a knot is appearing.
“Could I be mistaken for Clifton?” For some reason, my mouth decides that being a smartass to a cop after assaulting him is a good idea. My stupidity knows no bounds.
His blue eyes start at my hair and rake all the way to my toes. I hold my breath while he slowly looks me over. “Not for a second.” His lips twitch into a smirk.
“Good.” I stare those lips for a moment. “So now that I’ve given you a concussion, how can I help you? I’m Cliff’s daughter. He’s in Florida.”
“I’m officer Collins, this is officer Morton. We really need to speak with the owner as well as anyone who was here last night.” He indicates the woman next to him and I finally look at her. She has a sharp nose and her hair is pulled back into a strict bun. Officer Morgan gives me a curt nod, eyes darting to her partner then back to me.
“I’m the owner, and I was upstairs with some friends last night.” He looks me over again, lingering on my Star Wars shirt for a second.
“Name?” He pulls a notepad from his pocket and poses the pen over a blank page, suddenly all business again after looking me over.
“Noralee Reynolds. What’s happening?” Cops don’t usually come question me at eight in the morning.
“There was a break-in last night at ten-thirty-two.” I must look pretty confused because he keeps talking. “At Waggin’ Tails.” The pet boutique next door.
“Ah.” It’s all I can come up with.
“We just need to know if you heard or saw anything. Do you have cameras here? Where are these friends?” He glances around in the dark.
“Only camera points at the register, and they are still upstairs getting ready,” I answer.
“No one really robs a place like this, so outside cameras seem silly.” I realize that no one should want to rob a pet shop either. “What did they take?” Officer Morgan raises an eyebrow at me.
“There are quite a few things missing. So, you didn’t hear anything?” Officer Collins steers us back in the direction of an inquiry and away from me being nosy.
I shake my head. “No, nothing. Wait…” the car from last night comes back to me. “Yes.” Officer Collins gives me a look telling me to hurry up. “I have no idea what time it was, but a car pulled in last night while I was down here making copies. It was in the lot maybe five minutes and left.”
“Are you sure it was a car? Make? Model?” Officer Morgan steps in, excited for a tip on the case.
“No idea. It was darker out there than in here and I only saw those blue headlights for a second. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.” Another police car pulls in and Officer Morgan indicates that she is going to leave and gives me another curt nod. I watch her retreat. Okay, so I pretend to watch her retreat and actually watch the sexy officer Collins from the corner of my eye. He’s a very nice-looking cop in my honest opinion.
“So, you own a comic shop? You don’t look old enough to own a business.” He takes in the cardboard cutouts and movie posters on the wall. Everything at Words for Nerds is nerd tested and nerd approved. By me mostly, but no one else has ever complained.
“Well, I am,” I assure him. How do you respond to the statement that you aren’t old enough to do your job?
“Obviously.” Officer Collins nods thoughtfully. “When I was a kid, my dad owned so many Incredible Hulk comics. I used to love reading those. That was more than twenty years ago.” He gives me a pointed look.
“Well, I read one last week that was pretty badass,” I deadpan. Nothing gets a comic enthusiast or gamer like a person implying that only kids have those hobbies.
“I guess I just outgrew it.” He shrugs and pulls a card out of his pocket. “Call me if you think of anything else, Miss Reynolds.”
I take his and reach to the desk for one of mine. “It’s Noralee. Call me if you decide you want to pick up the hobby again, Officer Collins.”
“Wyatt,” he corrects me. I nod and tuck his card in my back pocket.
“Well, Wyatt, the bookstore across the street has cameras outside. They probably aren’t great but may give you a car color.” I point through the glass door at Cover to Cover Books.
“Thanks.” Wyatt hovers awkwardly near me, looking out the door.
“I’m sorry I hit you with the door. You sort of threw me off. No one ever comes in until ten at the earliest. We nerds like our sleep in the mornings and our outings at night.” I make a lame attempt at a joke.
“It will hurt more in the morning I’m sure, but I guess I’m supposed to tell you I’m okay, to make you feel better.” At least he’s brutally honest.
“I don’t really feel better, but I appreciate the attempt. Can I at least offer you a painkiller?” I realize that I just offered drugs to a police officer. “The legal kind, of course.” I amend my former offer.
“As long as it’s the legal kind, I don’t see the harm.” I leave officer Wyatt Collins near the door and go behind the front desk for my big bottle of legal painkillers. I dump two in my hand and turn back to see him with a copy of the newest volume of Saga in his hands, flipping through it delicately. It’s one of our bestselling graphic novels. He sets it down gently when I return with his pills. I drop them into his offered hand.
“Into sci-fi? That whole story line is amazing. Forbidden love and badass characters.” I step down to volume one and pick it up.
“Like Romeo and Juliet?” He puts the offered pills in his pocket and takes the copy of Saga from me. Sometimes my face betrays me, and this is one of those times. “Not like Romeo and Juliet then?”
“Did you read Romeo and Juliet? They are thirteen and fifteen, their relationship lasted three days and they both died because they overreacted.” I watch realization dawn on his face.
“That sounds way better than the love story I avoided in high school.” He smirks and hands back the graphic novel.
“It’s really not.” I shake my head, placing the book back on the shelf.
“Well thanks for that little lesson. I learned nothing about the break-in, but a lot about comics and Shakespeare.” Officer Collins gives me a smile that makes my stomach flutter.
“Glad I could help with something.” Our eyes meet for a few seconds too long and I have to look away. “Seriously, check out the bookstore, tell the manager
that I sent you and he’ll take a little more kindly to being questioned.” Leo isn’t kind about anything, but maybe if he knows I sent Officer Collins, he’ll be a little nicer. Maybe.
“We’ll check by there later, and don’t forget to call if you remember anything else. Were any of your friends down here with you?” He suddenly remembers that I wasn’t alone for the break-in and that he’s supposed to be focused on work.
I shake my head. “And they couldn’t have heard anything up there. Sorry.” I am genuinely sorry that I can’t help. I’ll go offer the neighbors my condolences later.
“Thanks for what you did tell us, and for the legal drugs.” Officer Collins gives me that sexy little smirk again and adds a conspiratorial wink to it. I nearly giggle like a schoolgirl but manage to hold it together. “Have a good day, Miss Reynolds.”
“Noralee,” I correct.
“Noralee.” He echoes, heading for the door. His deep, authoritative voice saying my name makes me swoon hard, but I only smile and wave him off. As soon as the door closes, I hear footsteps behind me and know I need to snap out of my lust fast before my friends see it. The door closes behind him and I quickly discover that watching Officer Wyatt Collins walk away is as incredible as watching him walk toward you. His ass in those black uniform pants is divine. It’s sculpture worthy; it’s the kind of ass that makes women who are otherwise intelligent and articulate go completely stupid.
“Why are there cops outside?” It’s Greer’s voice that makes me stop staring at the delicious ass that just walked away from me.
“Waggin’ Tails was burgled last night.” Instead of me answering, it’s Rae. I glance over to see her brush some hair out of her face, staring at her phone. Of course she knows. I swear the girl has a chip in her brain that feeds her information as she plays games. If any breaking news—or even lame news—comes across the news desk, Rae knows it before anyone.
“What she said.” I shake out of my lust haze and realize that while I may have found him to be a stunning specimen of a man, there are three problems. One: he’s a cop and while cops and nerds don’t have a strained relationship necessarily, the two aren’t often seen as a pair. They are more about rules and we are more about vigilante justice. Two: I’m wearing a Star Wars shirt and have my hair tied up in a matching scrunchy. So, I may not be on the radar of the cop investigating a break-in. Three: I hit him with the freaking door. I think about the red bruise running down his handsome face and cringe. Only I could manage to hurt the first attractive man I’ve seen in ages.
“They questioned you?” Greer goes to turn on our open sign and the track lighting for the displays.
“Procedure, right?” Tuesday looks a little upset by the fact that I’d been questioned so I go through the entire story from last night to this morning, assuring them that it is, in fact, procedure to come and ask questions in these cases. Before I can finish my story, a guy comes in to pick up his weekly comics and Greer runs to help him.
“So, I’m running fliers to the rest of the strip and the bookstore.” I watch Tuesday blush. “Want to come with?”
“That cop was hot.” Rae still hasn’t looked up from her phone, but somehow knows that Officer Collins is hot. She’s not wrong.
I watch Rae lean the phone on the counter, still pressing the screen with one hand and taking a sip of coffee from a Zelda mug with the other. “How do you know?” Tuesday asks, waving a hand in Rae’s peripheral vision.
“Because I saw him just like I see you waving. If you go see my brother, tell him I said hello and he owes me one-twenty for the power bill.” With that, Rae picks up her phone with one hand, her coffee with the other, and heads to the back of the shop. Rae rents out the storage closet for gaming. It’s soundproof, set up for three gamers at once with every system on the planet and some from Vulcan or some shit. We have a video game tournament room as well, but the closet is hers alone. I don’t even have a key. The money a good gamer can make on streaming channels is mind blowing and she pays me for her privacy.
“Was he hot?” Tuesday stands on her toes to make herself even taller to see out the window.
“Very.” I say it without thinking and Tuesday gives me a look. “I’m not against hot men.” I roll my eyes, feeling the red creep up my neck.
“You wish you were against that hot man!” Rae calls before closing her door. Again, she’s not wrong.
“Right.” Tuesday makes her way across the store to her little cafe set up. Second Breakfast is a custom mini coffee shop and serves a few bakery items. It does pretty well. Especially on game nights when D & D runs late, and everyone needs a caffeine boost. She picks up her brown apron embroidered with little gold rings and slips it over her head.
“So, you don’t want to go see Leo with me?” I call out, knowing damn well that she does not want to go see Leo because I’ll make fun of her. Except she really does want to go stare at the love of her life. If only he knew how much she loves him.
“Nope!” Tuesday starts the coffee just as the man Greer was helping comes over to order, comics in hand.
“I’ll hold down the fort; you go distribute fliers.” Greer suddenly appears next to me and I realize that she’s wearing my blue Alice in Wonderland cardigan and matching headband. It looks super cute on her, but she’s like the clothing-stealing-sister that I never wanted.
“Nice sweater.” I tug a little red rose button and give her a pointed glare. She only shrugs and hands me the fliers. I snatch them and spin on my heels, yelling that I’ll be back soon. The bell tinkles over my head on my way out of Words for Nerds Comics.
3
Noralee
Cover to Cover Books is one of those huge box warehouses stuffed full of used books. The only thing they don’t carry is comics and graphic novels and that is only because Rae threatened to murder her older brother in his sleep if he did. Instead they send shoppers our way. We obviously return the favor. Walking in, I get that nose full of old-book aroma and have to stop for a second to take it in. It’s a distinct smell that gives me a hardy dose of nostalgia. My mom and I used to walk across the street for me to get kids books when I was little. That was well before Leo took over as manager. I’m pretty sure it’s owned by the same old lady who owned it twenty years ago, but no one ever sees her, not even Leo. For all of my twenty-six years, Cover to Cover Books has been a staple in my life. Now the brother of one of my best friends is the manager and he loves to hate me. I’m in the doors all of three seconds before Leo finds me. He strides toward me looking hardly anything like his sister at all. He’s very business casual where Rae looks like every stereotypical gamer on the planet. She also looks sixteen. Rae is the shortest of the four of us at only five-two with a cute heart-shaped face and blonde hair. Leo is a tall guy. Not Chewbacca tall, but probably about six-two. He has the same blond hair as his sister and same light eyes, but he has those classic good looks that are always described in romance novels. Unfortunately, those looks come with a shitty attitude.
“What do you want, Noralee?” The three employees at the register send me a pitying look, but I just keep walking to the public board by the exit door.
“I want to not talk to you.” I brush past him. I grew up handling Leo’s stellar personality, so him being an ass now doesn’t faze me.
“You brought the cops? What did you do now? Hijack the Millennium Falcon?” Leo crosses his arms and I glance at the police car pulling in the lot before I realize what he said.
“Did… Did you just make a Star Wars joke? You—who called me a loser every three seconds since I was five—just made a Star Wars joke.” I laugh and use one of the free thumbtacks to hang the flier on the board just under the D & D flier we keep posted.
“Star Wars is pop culture, not nerdy.” Leo comes behind me and fixes the crooked poster next to my flier. “It’s my job to know pop culture.”
“Tell my entire graduating class that.” I was one of those kids who was nerdy before it was cool and my parents owning a comic s
hop meant that I was extra loser-ish back in school. I related to Luna Lovegood on a spiritual level and sometimes dressed like her. I still do.
“It’s different now.” Leo turns as the door opens and none other than my favorite sexy cop comes in with his partner right behind him.
“No, now you just get paid by people like me. It’s a galaxy far, far away from walking by and knocking books out of our hands in the halls isn’t it?” I discreetly reach over and askew the poster again and laugh to myself when he doesn’t notice because he is too busy panicking about cops in his bookstore. He squares his shoulders and walks over to where Officers Collins and Morton are waiting. I stand back and watch Leo shake hands with them and can almost hear the conversation. Officer Collins will say there was a break-in, and Leo will relax, but then ask if his store is in danger. Where a normal person will ask if everyone is okay, he only thinks of his self-interests. Leo is just charming like that. I tip all the fliers and posters on the wall-sized cork board so they are crooked and move over to where he’s talking to the cops.
