Calling the Play (13 page)

The door behind the detective opened, smacking him in the back, and he shuffled forward a few steps to avoid it. Randi poked her head around the door. “Hey, Johnny, let’s go. I’m hungry.” She looked over, clearly wondering who was keeping her brother. When she saw Brian, she just stood there gaping at him for a second or two. “What are you doing here?” she blurted out. She furtively looked over her shoulder and hurried out, firmly closing the door behind her.

“I’ve been looking for you all week,” Brian said. “I finally decided that coming to the station was my best chance of finding out how to reach you.” She looked so good he had to remind himself to breathe. She was wearing a simple white button-down and navy slacks, and it might as well have been lingerie, the way it affected him. Her hair was a wild mess of curls, barely tamed, and it looked as if she hadn’t done more than swipe on lip gloss that morning.

She looked at her brother and then over at the desk, where it seemed all work had ceased, while everyone watched their exchange. With a sigh, she crossed her arms and tried to look bored. “Something wrong? You need a cop?”

“I need you,” Brian said simply, and the words hung in the sudden quiet of the room. He inwardly cursed at his word choice.
Freudian slip, anyone
?

“Wait a minute,” Johnny said, catching on. “What about Oakes?” He was glaring at Randi. “You’re already seeing someone else?”

“No,” Brian said, rushing to cover his slip. “I’m a friend of Ty’s. I just need to talk to her.”

Randi didn’t answer her brother. She just started walking toward the exit. “Hey,” her brother called after her. “What about lunch?”

“You snooze, you lose,” she said, waving at him. “Brian is taking me to lunch. Right?”

“Right,” he said. Lunch was more than he’d hoped for when he’d shown up here. It was certainly no sacrifice to spend as much time with her as he could. After today he’d be relegated to the role of friend, maybe even demoted to mere acquaintance, so he was going to savor his time with her for however long he could.

Randi fiddled with her silverware, looking out the restaurant window. She could feel Brian’s eyes on her and she took a deep breath, determined to get through this lunch if it killed her. When she’d seen him at the station, all she’d wanted to do was walk into his arms and let him hold her, so she could forget Tater Sullivan and his nasty hands and his nasty comments. She knew it was stupid to need him, to need anyone like that. She couldn’t show that kind of weakness, especially at work. But it was even more stupid to want him, of all people, because he was in love with someone else. She’d been biting her tongue for the past half hour, refusing to ask him about Ty. She’d burned that bridge. Too late for regrets now. Depression over walking away from the two of them had kept her moping around the house all week, watching reruns of
NCIS
and sleeping half the day away. Eventually she’d get over it. If she could convince them to stop calling her and coming around, that is.

She turned and gave him a smile. God damn it, why did he have to look so good? He was just wearing a Rebels golf shirt and fucking shorts. Half the guys in the restaurant had on golf shirts and shorts. It was a Southern uniform. And yet on him it was sexy as hell and made her want to rip his clothes off to get to the body she knew he was hiding under there. A waitress walked by and smiled flirtatiously at him. Randi had to admit he wasn’t actually hiding his gorgeous body very well, and if that bitch did it again she was going to rip her eyeballs out.

“Okay, you went from smiling to glaring at the waitress,” Brian said. “Are you bipolar?”

“What?” she asked, pulled out of her head by his off-the-wall question. “Are you even supposed to ask someone that? That’s like, ‘Hey, are you heavily medicated?’ ”

“Are you?” he asked tentatively. “Heavily medicated?”

“I am going to heavily medicate your ass,” she snapped.

“I don’t even know what that means,” Brian said, sitting back in the chair opposite her with a huff of annoyance. “You’ve barely spoken two words to me since you invited yourself out to lunch on my dime.” He winced. “I didn’t mean that.”

“You came looking for me,” she told him fiercely. “You can pay for my time.” She realized what it sounded like after she said it, but she damn well wasn’t going to take it back.

“I’m not going to touch that one,” he said. He sighed and leaned his elbows on the table. “Look, we need to talk about what’s going on with you and Ty.”

“No, we don’t,” she said, picking up her napkin and laying it in her lap. “Are you getting the salad bar? I love the salad bar here.” She put the napkin back on the table. “Actually, I’m going now. To the salad bar.”

“Coward,” he said.

“Is that supposed to make me all pissed off so that I sit down and let you talk at me? Not even.” She scoffed and stalked off to the salad bar. He followed close behind her. She should have known he wasn’t going to follow salad bar protocol and steer clear of personal subjects while they were building their salads.

“Why are you avoiding Ty?” he asked. “Don’t get the tomatoes. They look bad.” She piled tomatoes on her plate even though she hated them. He audibly sighed. “He misses you.”

“Yeah?” she said, spinning around to face him, one hand on her hip. Two tomatoes went flying to the floor. “Could have fooled me. Because I could tell you two had clearly been fucking when I called.” A woman behind them gasped, and the guy in line behind Brian glared at her. She glared back and made a face. “Buzz off,” she told him. “Private conversation.”

“Then don’t have it in the salad bar line,” the guy said.

“Exactly,” Randi said, giving Brian a wide-eyed, I-told-you-so look. “Salad bar protocol, dude.”

“I didn’t start talking about fucking,” Brian said calmly. “You did.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t be counted on to keep my mouth shut, so you should have known better than to start the conversation.”
Oh, yeah
, she thought,
that’s telling him
. He just laughed at her.

“Touché,” he said. “Don’t get any egg. You don’t need the protein.” She piled egg on her plate, which she actually liked on her salad, so it was in no way a reaction to his high-handed attitude. But when she reached for the ham, he grabbed her hand. “Processed,” he said with a shake of his head. “Try garbanzo beans instead.”

“Are you trying to tell me I’m fat?” she snapped. He looked genuinely shocked at the question.

“Are you kidding?” he asked. “I love the way you look. I love every soft, silky curve on your body, and just talking about it has me about to embarrass myself and get us thrown out of here.”

“All right, then,” she said, slightly mollified. “I won’t get the ham.” He wisely didn’t say anything when she poured extra ranch dressing on her salad.

When they sat back down, she started eating right away, but Brian pushed his plate away and just watched her.

“You’re sort of freaking me out,” she grumbled between bites. “Eat or something.”

“Ty and I did fuck,” he said apologetically. “And then you know what happened? You called and he couldn’t get away from me and answer the phone fast enough.”

She set her fork down and sat there blinking at him. That was…
whoa
. Sex etiquette said you did not answer another lover’s call when you were still in bed with someone else. Everyone knew that. “I saw you two together,” she said helplessly. “He loves you. And you love him. Don’t deny it.”

“I won’t,” Brian said. He picked up his fork. “But whatever he felt for me I killed, I think. He’s crazy about you, Randi. Please don’t run away from him.” He put his fork back down. “He told me all he’s ever been to anyone is just a body, a fuck, easily left and easily forgotten.”

“That’s bullshit,” she said. “You never forgot him.”

“Have you?” he asked bluntly.

The salad she’d eaten was a lump in her stomach. “No,” she mumbled. “But I’m not going to be his safety net. I’m not going to be the person he runs to so that he can avoid the risk of caring for you again.”

“What?” Brian asked. “That’s crazy. That’s not what you are to him at all.”

“Aren’t I?” she asked. She folded her napkin, pressing the creases carefully, not meeting Brian’s gaze. “I know what I am, Brian.”

His hand slid across the table and covered hers, stilling it. “What are you?” he asked gently.

“I’m the one easily forgotten,” she told him. “I’m the girl who leaves. I’ve always been that girl, and I’m good with that. That’s the way I want it. I’m sure I’m damaged, as my brother told me just this morning. But that’s the truth. It’s just better that way. I don’t do relationships. I’m pretty toxic.”

“You’re not,” he argued. “You forget that we were together, Randi. I saw you, the real you. You’re not that girl at all.”

“No?” she asked. “Then tell me, would a nice girl who’s ready for a relationship be sitting here desperate to fuck you while we talk about how much another guy wants her? Another guy she’s fucked, by the way, and would do again if he were here, too.”
Ugh, too much information
, she thought. She started to get up and Brian reached over and grabbed her upper arm. She couldn’t stop the wince as she jerked it away from him. He’d grabbed her in the same spot she’d gotten shot, and where Tater had grabbed her that morning. She was pretty sure there was a bruise on top of her bruise now. Brian let go immediately.

“I’m sorry. I forgot,” he quickly apologized. “Did the stitches get infected? I thought it would be better by now.”

“No, the stitches were fine. They’re already gone. I had a run-in this morning with the asshole who shot me.” She reached for her purse, then stopped, staring at her hand in shock. It was shaking. What the hell?

“Randi?” Brian asked quietly. “What is it?” She didn’t answer, just folded her hands together tightly.

“Let’s go,” Brian said. He tossed some bills down on the table and stood up. This time he held out his hand for her to take. She took it.

Brian closed Randi’s front door softly as he watched her walk into her house and throw her purse on a side table in her living room. She hadn’t said much on the drive other than to give him directions when needed. He couldn’t gauge her mood, but it was clear there was something wrong. She’d been all over the place at the restaurant, defensive one minute and acting like a lost little girl the next. He wasn’t even sure she knew she was giving off such conflicting messages.

“I like your house,” he said, and he did. It was cute, like her. A frilly little cottage with big pillows and bright colors and happy pictures. The kind of place he’d pictured her in. She’d deny it, of course. He knew her well enough to know that she would never describe herself as frilly, or anything girly at all. But she was, in all the best ways. Brian didn’t equate girly with weakness. He wondered why Randi did.

“Thanks,” she said, wandering around the room. “It was my grandmother’s. She left it to me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, sensing how much she’d loved her grandmother from the way she said it.

“Why?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “She had a great life and lived it to the fullest. Nothing to be sad about in that.”

“I guess not,” he said. “But I wasn’t sad for her. I was sad for you because I can tell you miss her.”

“Aw, fuck,” she said. “Why do you have to say shit like that that makes me like you even more? That’s not fair.”

He chuckled and moved a big, red pillow out of the way to sit down on her couch. “Sorry. I’ll try to be a dickhead more often.”

“Good.” She dropped down on the opposite end of the couch.

“Why can’t you like me more?” he asked, curious what direction her mind was going in.

“Because the ultimate goal is to get you and Ty back together, right?” she asked. “I’m the one who’s in the way.”

“You’re not in the way of anything,” Brian assured her. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

She looked at her watch and frowned. “Hey, shouldn’t you be at work?”

“You’re only thinking of that now?” he asked with a laugh. “I took a long lunch. I did just move here. I told them I had some things to handle.”

“Handle? Is that what you’re doing? Handling me?” she teased with a little grin. “That’s what you do, isn’t it? You arrange all your little ducks in a row and make them quack to your tune.”

“I’ve never heard the duck analogy before, but, yes,” he said unapologetically. “That’s what I do. That’s what people expect me to do. It’s my job.”

“I’m your job?” she asked.

“Ty’s head isn’t on straight,” he told her. “He’s lonely, he’s brokenhearted. That doesn’t play well. If I’m going to turn his game around, I’ve got to fix his head.”

“So you think getting me back for him will fix him, is that it?” she asked, picking up a pillow and fluffing it. She sort of slammed it back down on the couch. “Huh? Is that it?”

“Yes,” he said. “I think it will fix you, too.”

“My head isn’t on right, either? Do tell,” she said sarcastically. “That has got to be the oldest news in town.”

“Randi,” he begged, reaching her along the back of the couch. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know!” she yelled, burying her face in the pillow on her lap. She screamed into the pillow, and then came up for a gulp of air. “I don’t know,” she said more quietly. “Everything’s just off.” She shook her head. “I’m sure it’s just having my routine messed up with this suspension and stuff. I’m used to going to work every day. Too much time on my hands.”

“There’s more to it than that,” Brian said. “Tell me.”

“I can’t stop thinking about that asshole’s hands all over me,” she said with a shiver. “Isn’t that stupid? I was undercover. I was playing a part, and in the end I got the bad guy. Game over, right?”

Brian slid closer to her. “What happened when you were undercover? Tell me. I don’t really know. Just tell me the basics.”

“Ty didn’t tell you?” she asked, looking at him curiously.

“Ty hasn’t said much to me at all for the last few days,” he confessed. “I think he’s cutting his losses.”

“He hasn’t called me since Monday,” she told him sadly. “Consider this loss cut.”

“He hasn’t called because you told him not to,” Brian said. “And you’re changing the subject. What did this guy do to you?”

“What do you think?” she asked sarcastically. “I was playing a prostitute. He used me like a prostitute.”

Brian grabbed her hand, a band tightening around his chest, already thinking of places to take her, people she should talk to. “Jesus Christ, Randi. Did he rape you? Did you have to let him do that? They can’t make you do that, can they?”

She shook her head. “No, he didn’t. Just some grabbing and pinching and shit. Groping my tits, shoving his nasty finger in my pussy, to show his friends he owned me. Shit like that.”

Shit like that was too damn close to rape for Brian’s peace of mind. “Did you tell anyone about it? Talk to someone? Isn’t there someone at the department?”

“No fucking way.” She was looking at him as if he were crazy. “I don’t want that shit in my record.”

“Don’t you have to talk to someone, anyway?” he asked, treading lightly on unfamiliar ground. “Isn’t that part of the undercover process?” He actually had no idea, but it seemed like a good idea.

“Yeah,” she grudgingly admitted. “I will. Forget it.”

“No, I’m not going to forget it,” he told her. “I’m worried about you. What about your mom? A sister?”

She smiled at him, but it was a little shaky. “That’s sweet, you fucker. I thought you weren’t going to be sweet anymore.” He just gave her a look that said he wasn’t going to drop the subject. “Ty didn’t tell you anything about me, did he?” she asked curiously. Wary of what he’d missed, he shook his head. “My mom and I don’t really do the girl-talk thing,” she said. “She lives down in Muscle Shoals. I was raised by my grandmother and my dad, and when they died, my brothers.”

“No sisters?” he asked, getting a pretty good picture of why Randi played it so tough all the time. She’d been on the wrong side of leaving too many times.

“Nope,” she said. “I have a few girlfriends, but we’re not that close.” She made a face. “I may have a problem with intimacy. But I’ll deny I said that if it comes back up in conversation.” Ty had been right, then. She’d run from her emotions and not Brian. Relief washed through him.

“Talk to me about it, then,” he said. “I’m here. I’m listening. What did he do?”

“Get off on that, do you?” she asked, trying to pull her hand away. “I know some free porn sites and 1-800 numbers.”

“Funny,” Brian said, meaning the exact opposite. “Tell me.” He tugged on her hand and scooted over so that she ended up leaning back against his chest while he wrapped his arm around her. She didn’t protest. Instead she gripped his hand harder. “Go on,” he said softly into her hair, kissing the top of her head. “I’ve got you.”

“Fine,” she said, her exasperated tone at odds with the way she snuggled in to him. “I could deal with him grabbing my tits. Hell, guys have been doing that for years.” She peeked at him over her shoulder. “Early bloomer.” She faced forward again. “Anyway. The part that keeps giving me the creeps was when he dragged me back into that stinking hallway by the bathrooms and shoved his hand up my skirt. He stuck his fingers into me without any warning, like he was testing the merchandise. And I couldn’t say anything. I had a wire on and I sure as shit wasn’t going to let the guys on the other end know what he was doing.”

“Why not?” Brian asked, trying to keep his voice even, when all he wanted to do was find this fucker and break every finger that had touched her. He wasn’t a Neanderthal, but, Christ. Guys like that should be shot.

“Are you kidding me? First of all, Johnny was on the other end of the wire. Can you imagine if my brother heard that? God. And I didn’t want to jeopardize the operation over a little thing like that. I mean, I was supposed to be a prostitute. Squealing about a little finger fuck would have seemed suspicious.” She was playing with Brian’s fingers, holding his palm to hers and then running her fingers along his, outlining them. “And I can’t appear weak to the guys. It’s hard enough to be a woman in law enforcement. If you start crying over every little insult, no one will want to work with you.”

“I don’t think that was ‘a little insult,’ ” he said. “That was a big red flag on the play. And I’m sure Johnny and the other guys would have thought so, too.”

“That’s just it,” she said, dropping their linked hands down to her lap. “They already get all overprotective of me and shit. I’ve known some of them for half my life.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want them to come charging in there like macho men and ruining it all like I was some little virgin sacrifice who couldn’t protect herself.”

Brian was at a loss. “I don’t know what to say or do for you,” he admitted, hugging her tightly. “I want to make it all better. Does that make me a macho man, too? Because I want to protect you?”

“Yes,” she said with a little laugh. “But when you do it, it just makes me hot.”

“That’s not why I came,” he said softly, resting his cheek against her hair. “You know that.”

“Because of Ty?” she asked.

“Yes,” Brian admitted. “I told you, he misses you like crazy. He’s got it bad for you.”

“He’s got it bad for you, too,” she told him. Brian wished that were true, but it was pretty clear from the cold shoulder he’d been getting from Ty that it just wasn’t so.

“I’m not what he needs,” he said. “You are.”

“Says you.” She turned slightly so her back was against the couch and she could look into his face. Their hands were still linked in her lap. “But, Brian, you’re the one who came to find me. Not Ty.”

“I came for Ty, too,” he said, and then realized he’d placed the two of them in the same category. But what he felt for Randi couldn’t equal what he felt for Ty. Could it? He’d been in love with Ty for years. But the Ty he’d found was a new Ty, older and wiser and sexier than ever. And it was the new Ty that he’d fucked. The new Ty that he thought about at night. Not once in the last couple of weeks had he wished for the impulsive, emotional, immature Ty he’d first fallen for. Maybe they’d both changed. Maybe what he thought they’d have wasn’t what they were going to have at all. His heart was hammering in his chest and all his thoughts tumbled around in his suddenly confused head.

When he’d sought out Randi today, he’d been single-minded in his purpose: to get Ty and Randi back together and then ease out of their lives. But was that what they wanted? He was afraid Ty had made his feelings pretty clear. But so had Randi. She still wanted Brian. And she wanted Ty. “Why won’t you give Ty a chance?” he asked.

“He’s out of my league,” she said candidly. “I know it and so does everyone else. Look, he’s gorgeous, right? Talented, famous. He could have any woman he wants, or any man, for that matter. Why would he pick me? That’s insane. Crazy talk. I’m an average-looking, undereducated cop from the wrong side of the tracks who also happens to be a major slut.” She held up her hand when Brian started to protest. “I’m not disparaging myself. I know who I am and I’m okay with it. I like sex. I like guys. I like to have sex with guys. It’s a formula that works for me. But can you imagine if Ty and I hooked up? My past is no secret. The press, the tabloids, they’d have a field day with us. I’d be on every Worst Celebrity Girlfriends Ever list. Ty would be crazy to put himself in that position.”

“You’re doing it, too,” he said, amazed that he’d never seen in himself what he saw so clearly in Randi. “He’s right. We’re making his decisions for him. We’re treating him like he’s incapable of running his own life.”

“No, I’m just making the decision easier for him,” she argued.

“Randi,” Brian said, taking both her hands in his. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to either one of us.” With sudden clarity, he knew it to be true. Every interaction they’d had since Brian had come to Birmingham had involved Randi, and it had brought them together. She didn’t even know how special she was. Nothing was hidden with her. She kept putting Ty first, and Brian, too, trying to get them back together because she thought that was what they both wanted. And it was. But the truth kept coming at him. He wanted more. He wanted a woman with Ty. That’s what they’d been trying to find all those years ago. It wasn’t sharing Ty that had upset Brian. It was sharing Ty with someone who didn’t care for him the way Brian did. Now they had a chance at the real deal. Randi. She was real, and genuine, and scared. Scared just like Brian had been all those years ago.

“Right,” she said sarcastically. “I’m the best you’ve ever had. Heard it.”

“You are,” he told her. “You and Ty.” The weight on Brian’s chest lifted. He’d been dragging it around all week, the fear that he’d blown it. That Ty was gone and Randi was gone and his future was bleak. Each night, when he’d gone home to an empty bed, his apartment had felt colder and emptier than ever before, and he’d assumed that was the way it would always be. But now he knew. Now he had a purpose and a plan, and he was more determined than ever to make it happen.

“About Ty,” she said, biting her lip, her gaze curious. “How was it? You know.
It
.”

“Great,” he said. “Fantastic. Everything I knew it would be. But too short.”

She busted out laughing. “I know for a fact that neither one of you is short.”

“I’m short,” he said.

“Not where it counts,” she told him, winking. “Tell me about it.”

“Tell you about my long dick?” he teased.

“Tell me what your long dick did to Ty,” she clarified. “In detail.”

“I’d rather show you,” he said. She balked.

“I’m not actually into butt sex. Sorry.” His surprise must have shown. “I know, I know. But I think it’s embarrassing and uncomfortable.”

“Okay,” he said cautiously. “I actually meant I’d rather show you on Ty. As in, put on a show for you with Ty.”

“You want to fuck Ty for me?” she said eagerly. “Oh my God, that would be so hot.” Then her face fell. “But we broke up. Not that we were ever together. Not really. But now we’re not. And he probably never wants to see my face again.”