Pierced: Pierced Trilogy Boxed Set (28 page)

“
Fuck it,”
I think to myself as I scoot my chair closer to her and place my hand on her back. “Sam?” I pull her gently to me and fold her into my arms. “It’s okay, baby,” I say softly as my hand finds its way into her hair and I kiss the top of her head.
So much for being professional and keeping Conner off our tracks.
I glance at him and he looks like he wants to sucker punch me right now, and I give him a look that tells him I’m well aware the magnitude of my fuck up here, but it’s too late to do anything about it now.

I hold her for several minutes, with Conner glaring at me the whole time, and I can feel Sam’s whole body begin to relax in my arms as her tears slowly subside. When she composes herself, she pulls away and sits up and I gently wipe her tears away with my thumb as I caress her face. “Better?” I ask her softly, looking into her gorgeous eyes. She glances nervously at Conner and then back at me. “You think you can talk to us now?” I ask her softly. “Tell us what happened.”

She nods silently and I pick up my pen with my right hand, ready to take notes, as I take hold of her hand with my left and she looks over at Conner anxiously. I look at Conner as I lightly rub the back of her hand with my thumb. “It’s all right, baby,” I say, looking her in the eye. “I’m afraid we can’t put the cat back into the bag.”

She looks at me apologetically. “I’m sorry,” she says tearfully.

“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her. “Conner won’t bite. Not you, anyway. He’d like to kick my ass right about now,” I add with a small smile, “but he’ll be very nice to you. I promise.” She looks over at him again and he attempts to give her a reassuring smile and a nod.

“Tell me what happened, Sam,” I say, lightly squeezing her hand to get her attention.

She takes a deep breath and shakes her head as if she can’t believe this is happening. Then she launches into her story about training for her new position by shadowing Miss Johnson while she gave a tour to a small group when she saw him. When she says that she could feel this creep watching her as she went about the tour, my skin begins to crawl and I know that we’re dealing with a real psycho here. And suddenly I’m afraid for Sam’s safety when I can’t be with her and I feel my jaw tighten at the thought.

“Did you get a good look at him this time?” I ask her intently, my eyes boring into hers. She licks her lips and seems to think hard for a moment and my hope sinks.

“I’m sorry, Josh,” she whispers.

“Damn it, Sam!” My voice is harsher than I mean for it to be and she cowers slightly, instantly making me feel like shit. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” I say softly, squeezing her hand again and looking into her eyes. “I’m just frustrated.”

“I know,” she says quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Did you see anything other than his tattoo, Sam?”

“I only saw him as he was turning to leave,” she says. “He had a shaved head. I could tell that much.”

“A shaved head,” I repeat. “Like completely bald? Bald like the man smoking in the beat up car outside the grocery store?” She nods and looks apologetic again. “Anything else? Did you follow him out to get a look at what he was driving?” She shakes her head slowly, and I can tell she feels bad that it didn’t occur to her to do that.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, tearing up again. “I was just so scared.”

“Hey,” I say softly, letting go of her hand and caressing her face. “It’s okay. You did good. I’m sorry I got upset, all right?” She nods and I look over at Conner, who is eyeing us speculatively. His eyes are narrowed and I can see the wheels spinning. I frown, wondering what’s going through his mind. “You want to go interview Miss Johnson?” I ask him, trying to get a moment alone with Sam. “Find out if she saw anything?”

“I’ll wait for you,” he says smugly and it’s my turn to narrow my eyes at him. Is he really going to be a dick about this? I roll my eyes at him and turn back to Sam.

“What time do you get off, baby?” I ask her, trying to ignore Conner.

“I get off at four,” she says softly, and I nod.

“You okay to stay here until then?” I ask her.

She nods her head. “Yes. I want to stay,” she says. “Keep busy.”

“Okay.” Ignoring Conner’s intrusive eyes, I lean in and kiss her forehead. Then I stand, looking down at Conner. “Shall we talk to Miss Johnson?” I ask him with an attitude.

He’s eyeing me questioningly as he stands and we proceed to go and talk to Nicole Johnson, who actually saw very little except for Samantha’s odd behavior. Although she did see the man in question as he was walking out of the building but, like Sam, she only saw him from the back.

We talk to the museum security about the possibility of any camera footage before we go but, there is nothing as their cameras have been malfunctioning for over a week. As we head out of the museum, we don’t even make it to the cruiser before Conner starts in on me.

“What the fuck are you thinking, Guy?” he practically yells at me. “You swore to me that you were not getting too close to this victim! You flat lying to my face now?”

“Back off, Conner,” I snarl at him. “I know how far over the line I’ve stepped here. I don’t need to hear it from you.”

“Well, you obviously need to hear it from someone,” he says angrily, getting in my face, refusing to back down, and I feel myself getting pissed off as my hands fist and my blood pressure spikes. I know the last thing either of us needs is for us to get into a physical altercation in a public parking lot over something I had no business doing but, I can’t back down. I made the decision to get involved with Samantha and I don’t regret it. I am prepared to make an ass out of myself over it if need be.

Conner is well aware of my temper and my reputation. I can’t believe he’s willing to unleash my fury over this. “Do you really want to embarrass the department by starting a fight with me in public, Conner?” My voice is just as angry as his and we are now nose to nose and eyeing each other bitterly. We’re momentarily distracted by a couple with a small child leaving the museum, and we each back away slightly as they move through the parking lot.

“I don’t want to fight you at all, Guy,” Conner says to me, his voice still strained with frustration. “I just want to know what the hell you’re doing.” I say nothing as I continue to glare at him. “How long have you been sleeping with this girl?”

“None of your fucking business,” I shoot back, and he rolls his eyes at me.

“I thought you said you were seeing someone,” he continues, his tone slightly accusatory. “You actually seemed excited.” Again, I say nothing and just give him a smirk and wait for him to catch up. It doesn’t take long until I see realization come to his eyes. “Oh, you gotta be shitting me,” he mumbles. “The mystery girl you were telling me about … the one who was cooking you dinner the other night? This is why you didn’t want to tell me her name or where you met her.” He looks at me shaking his head and rolls his eyes again. “You know that you need to take yourself off of this case, right?” he asks me.

“And you know that I’m not going to do that,” I respond and he lets out a heavy sigh.

“You told me that your mystery girl had you questioning your commitment to ‘one-night stands only.’ How serious is this thing, Guy?”

I don’t answer him and instead, toss him the keys to the unmarked cruiser. I move past him and slide into the passenger seat, waiting for him to follow. I don’t usually let Conner drive. I know he’s got to be shocked as hell right now. As he walks around the car and gets in, I think about the answer to his last question – how serious is this thing with Samantha?
I need her!
I push that whispered thought out of my head.

I don’t want to think about the answer to Conner’s question, but he gives me no choice. Getting in behind the wheel, he asks the question again. “How serious is this thing with Samantha Colby, Guy?”

I close my eyes and run a hand through my hair, and rest my arm on the door, still silent. He starts up the car and pulls out of the parking space. “Guy?”

“I don’t know, Dave!” My voice is louder than I mean for it to be. Almost a yell, and I feel like I am spinning out of control. “I don’t know.”

He looks at me, clearly surprised by my outburst, then turns back to the road. “Shit,” he mutters, shaking his head.

“What?” I ask gruffly. He glances over at me and he’s wearing a grimace on his face and he snickers at me.

“I knew it,” he says smugly, turning his eyes back to the road once more. “I could tell when you were talking about this mystery girl of yours. I recognized that shell shocked look on your face because I saw it in the mirror staring back at me when I met Lindy.”

“What are you yammering about?” I ask him, annoyed.

“You,” he says simply. “You got it bad, my friend. You are strung out on this girl and scared to death about it. You can’t think about anything else but her and you would do anything to be near her right now.”

I stare at him in disbelief, a frown slowly crossing my face. How does he know what I’m feeling? That I’m terrified? How does he know that Sam is on my mind 24/7 or that I am desperate to be with her right now? Fuck. Is he insinuating that I’m falling in love with this girl?
Well, aren’t you, Pierce? You need her!
Bullshit! This is not happening to me; I don’t fall in love … do I? Oh, how the hell should I know? I’ve never given myself the chance to try before.
Fuck!
I hate feeling so out of control. Anxiously, I run my hand through my hair again and look out the window at the passing scenery. Then I hear Conner’s voice, nagging me again.

“What? You’re not going to argue with me? Tell me that I’m full of shit?” I try to ignore him and say nothing but, he keeps it up. “That I don’t know what that hell I’m talking about?”

“Fuck off, Conner,” I say with a sigh. “Just leave it alone.”

“I would love to leave it alone, Guy,” he says, looking at me angrily. “But I can’t because it involves our job. You remember our job?”

“Yeah, I remember the job, Dave,” I answer him bitterly. “God, don’t you think I tried to just do my job and ignore what I was feeling?”

“And what are you feeling, Guy?” he pushes.

“I don’t know,” I shout angrily at him. Then I sigh, running both my hands through my hair. “Look Dave,” I say, trying to keep my voice as even as I can, “you know me. You know that I don’t do this shit. All I know is that I care about this girl, all right? Now leave me the
fuck
alone about it,” I yell. “Please!”

He’s silent for a long while. We pull into the back parking lot of the police department and he parks the car. Then he turns and fixes me with a serious expression. “Guy, when you told me that you had met someone, I was overjoyed for you, man. You know that I want you to find someone who makes you happy. If Samantha Colby does that for you, then I am all for it,” he shrugs, and his voice is sincere as he looks at me. “I just don’t want you to jeopardize your job over it. And I really don’t want it to jeopardize our work on this case.”

I silently nod at him and he continues. “Look, instead of you taking yourself off this case … why don’t we both just go to Lieutenant Marcos and explain the situation. We’ll get this case reassigned and then you and Samantha are free to do whatever you want.”

“I can’t do that, Conner,” I tell him with a tired sigh.

“Why not?”

“Why not!” My voice sounds incredulous. “Because at this point, I don’t want to trust this case to anyone else; it’s too important.
She’s
too important,” I hear myself say, and he just looks at me and sighs, shaking his head. “Please, Dave, just … just go with me on this. Look, I know that I’m putting you in an impossible situation here, and I’m sorry,” I tell him earnestly. “But I have to do this.”

He looks at me for a long minute, and I get the feeling he’s studying me, assessing my feelings for Sam, maybe. Finally, he sighs again. “All right, Guy. We’ll do this your way for now. Just be careful,” he says quietly. “‘Cause now it’s not just your ass in a sling. It’s mine too.”

I nod at him, and I know that he’s right. If I screw up now and the brass finds out that Conner knew about the relationship and did nothing, it’s both our asses. “Thanks, Conner.”

“Thank me when we catch this asshole and the case is over,” he mumbles as he gets out of the car and we head inside.

The rest of my day drags slowly by and I watch the clock almost obsessively. I wrestle with the idea of trying to cut out early but, I know that I shouldn’t. But at a quarter to four, I can’t stand it anymore. I have to make sure she gets home okay. I sigh, looking up from my desk and glance at Conner. “Hey,” I say, getting his attention. “I’m gonna slip out for about half an hour. I’ll be back.”

He doesn’t ask where I’m going and I get the feeling he already knows. He just looks at me for a beat and then says, “Yeah, okay,” as he turns back to the report on his desk.

His aloofness makes me uneasy and I frown and look nervously around the bull pen, then back at him. “Conner,” I say quietly and he looks up at me blankly. “Are we going to have a problem here?” I hate the fact that I have to ask but, I need to know what I’m up against.

He looks at me with a slight smile and I get the feeling he’s laughing at me. The thought irritates me and I feel myself scowl at him. “No, Guy,” he says condescendingly, “we don’t have a problem. But I’m gonna love watching you at the mercy of a woman.” I can hear the laughter in his voice. “Welcome to the real world, buddy.” He is eyeing me with barely contained glee, and even though I know he’s joking, it pisses me off.

“Fuck you, Conner,” I say getting up to head out to my truck, ignoring the sound of his laughter as I go. I climb into my truck and shake my head, thinking about Conner’s words. Me, at the mercy of a woman. The thought is sobering and as I drive over to the museum, I can’t shake it. He’s right. I am already at the mercy of this woman. She has me wrapped around her little finger already and there is nothing I can do about it. Hell, I don’t even think I want to do anything about it. Fact is, I think wrapped around Samantha’s little finger sounds like a damn fine place to be right now.