Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“When the assistant ME shoots a man in the leg, news travels fast.”
“Gossip.”
“Official Chicago PD notifications,” he says, but his words are nothing more than mumbled syllables with no meaning behind them because he’s too busy staring at my mouth, and that’s mind-numbingly distracting.
“I’m gonna kiss you, Josie.”
“Don’t tell me. Just do it.”
“I’m not going to kiss you.” He grins.
I scoff. “Why would I think that?”
“Because you drag your teeth along your lower lip when you think I’m going to kiss you … when you want me to kiss you.”
“Seventeen years …” I turn and open my door, forcing him to take a step backward. “It’s been seventeen years. You know nothing about me. A lot has changed.” I slide into the driver’s seat.
Colten wedges himself between me and the door, resting his forearms on my car. “Sure … you’ve turned into a successful doctor. Maybe you’ve even mastered dating apps and finding random guys to hook up with, but that look…” he bites his lower lip, dragging his teeth along it to mimic me “…time will never change that look.”
“People often see what they want to see, not what’s really there.” I start my car.
“Take the day off tomorrow. You need to process what happened tonight.”
I laugh. “If you shot someone in the knee, would you take a day off to process it?”
“That’s different.”
“I’ll be at work tomorrow. If you need to take the day off, then do it. You’re clearly more bothered by the incident than I am.”
“I bet Alicia takes the day off,” he says.
I glance up at him. “She had a knife at her throat. I did not.”
“Had it been you with a knife at your throat, would you take the day off?”
“Bad people don’t scare me.” I reach for the door handle.
“Well they should.”
“Well they don’t.”
“That’s fucked-up, Josie.”
“It’s just me. See … you don’t remember me as well as you think you do.”
Colten steps back and lets me shut the door. I make the mistake of giving him one last glance. Of course, he knows me. And I know him. That’s what makes this seventeen-year reunion a recipe for disaster.
When I get home, I jump on my stationary bike for forty-five minutes before showering. As the hot water washes over me, I attempt to make a mental and emotional assessment of myself.
The conclusion? I feel fine.
Maybe I’ll have nightmares about the situation, but I doubt it.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Chief Watts asked me to take his daughter to the homecoming dance. Neither Josie nor I were dating anyone else. It was our sophomore year, and, honestly, I was fine not going to the dance. However, at the last minute, Ryan Wilkenson asked Josie to the dance.
A senior.
Josie said yes.
Chief Watts said, “Over my dead body.”
I agreed with her dad, but I didn’t tell her that. Ryan was a player in every sense. Not that I wasn’t a player in my own right, but I wasn’t in the business of collecting V-cards like Ryan.
“Dad! I hate this. You don’t trust me. He’s two years older, not ten. We’re just friends.”
I helped my mom bag yard waste while listening to Josie and her dad in their garage.
“Colten?” Josie yelled my name.
Shit.
“Tell my dad that Ryan Wilkenson and I are just friends.”
Since Josie broke her arm, I refused to be her official boyfriend. Yeah, I made a promise to her dad, and I valued my life, so I kept it as best as I could. She still unofficially decided when we were together and when we were not.
Did she kiss me just to torture me? Absolutely.
Did I want her to kiss me? Did I love the torture? Absolutely.
Did I date other girls just to piss her off? You betcha.
As a result, she used me to manipulate her dad. Fair? Probably.
“They’re just friends,” I mumbled.
“He can’t hear you!” She was … fiery. “Come here, please.”
Mom smirked at me.
Drawing in a long breath, I blew it out while crossing the street.
Josie sat perched on the step to the back door, her usual spot, while Chief Watts finished wiping down his Chevelle with a rag.
“Tell him,” she repeated.
I rolled my eyes. “They’re just friends.”
“Don’t care,” Chief Watts said in a tone that sounded as uninterested as my own. “My little girl isn’t going out with a senior.”
“I’m not your little girl.”
“Then whose are you?” He shot her a stern look over his shoulder.
Josie grumbled.
“You take her to the dance, Colten,” Chief Watts said. “Problem solved.”
“I …” I shook my head while Josie’s smile took over her face. “I’m not going to the dance.”
“Yeah, Dad … he’s not going,” Josie said behind her dad’s back while running her teeth along her lower lip, that thing she did when she wanted me to kiss her.
“Either Colten takes you, or you’re not going.”
“I already bought a dress.” She made an amusing attempt at batting her eyelashes at me.