Deliver Me from Temptation (19 page)

“Damon, I thought you would have left by now.”

“I had a few things to wrap up before my night off.” His lip skewed up at the side. “Well, hopefully my night off. We’ll see if I make it through the next forty-eight without a call in.”

Jessica nodded, not knowing what else to say in response. Damon went on.

“It’s good to see you, Jess. Mike filled me in. Said you had some trouble.” His gaze landed on her cheek. She’d almost forgotten about the abrasion. “Looks like he was right.”

“Yeah, it’s noth—”

“Nothing,” Mike spoke over her, shaking his head. “I can’t tell you how sick of that I am.”

She lifted her chin. Maybe she couldn’t fix everything she fucked up over the last few days, but she could own up to that. “You’re right. It’s not nothing. I shouldn’t have gone out alone. I was tired and distracted and paid the price when a couple of thugs jumped me.”

Mike folded his arms. “So, just to confirm…not evening commuters?”

She grimaced, making busy by putting the tape back in the bag for Mike. The silence stretched, but when she finally turned back around she saw that the men weren’t looking at her but each other. Measuring each other up? Or passing secret messages?

Reluctant allies seemed the best way to describe the two. Brothers in blue, but far from friends in any other setting. If they were having silent conversations now, then Mike must have been seriously worried about her.

Woo
hoo! Way to go, Jess. Best partner. Ever.
She wished there was a brick wall nearby…so she could smack her head against it.

A moment later they broke eye contact. Mike cleared his throat as he turned back to her. “Did you get the impression they might’ve been waiting for you, or perhaps even following you?”

“I’m not sure. Why?”

“Tom’s Mustang was gone.” She opened her mouth to tell him she’d seen it but he held up his hand. “It was there, I don’t doubt you on that. Numerous tenants saw it in that garage and there was fresh oil on the ground.”

“You think they followed me from Tom’s car, then took the opportunity to attack when I was alone?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

She drummed her fingers against her thigh, remembering how she’d been paranoid that she was being followed. She’d convinced herself that it was Logan she sensed, but was it?

Damon stepped closer, his dark eyes hooded with worry. “Did you notice anything unusual about them, babe? Any distinctive features? Something that we can tell the rest of the guys to look for?”

She looked from Damon to Mike. She felt positively stupid for saying this, especially with Damon here, but… “Their teeth. I think they may have undergone some of that cosmetic dentistry that Melissa was talking about.”

“You’re shitting me,” Mike said.

“Cosmetic dentistry?” Damon asked over him.

Mike made a motion with his hand. Two fingers extended like fangs.

Damon folded his arms, lips pulled tight.

“Melissa says there is a subculture of Goth types who like to play at vampirism,” Jessica explained.

“And they attacked you? Two of them?”

She started to shrug it off, but Mike pointed his finger at her, waving it. “Don’t you dare say it was nothing.”

She closed her mouth.

Another significant look passed between the men.

“What?” she snapped.

Mike jerked back around, his face almost apologetic as he spoke. “That time-off thing might not be a bad idea.”

She wanted to say she wasn’t some fragile wallflower. That she could handle a couple of assholes in a garage. But she couldn’t exactly say that truthfully now could she? And besides, wasn’t the entire point of this visit to drop off the evidence and
remove
herself
from
the
case
?

She cleared her throat, pointedly not looking at Damon. God, what must he be thinking?
That
you’re insane? That you’re chicken? Ding, ding, right on both accounts
. Though not for the reasons he must think.

“I think you’re right.” She glanced at the clock. “Either of you know if Sergeant Banks is in?”

“In a meeting with the captain,” Damon offered.

She grumbled. Of course. “Guess I’ll tag him later then.”

“I’ll give him the heads up,” Mike said. “Tell him you’ll be calling.”

She nodded, started to step toward the door, but Damon shifted into her way.

“Can I see you home?”

Her first instinct was to refuse. She had so much to think about and didn’t want to have to deal with the problem of Damon, but Mike was watching her, even gave her a slight nod of his head in encouragement. Damn, if she didn’t, then Mike was going to insist on doing so. Hmm, the partner she’d fucked over or the guy she hadn’t fucked but had cheated on?

Might
as
well
get
the
dumping
over
with.

With a quick nod for Damon, she slipped from the room. Then, after stopping by her desk to collect a couple things, she let Damon escort her out of the building.

“Don’t leave the lot. I have to get my car from the back,” he said when they’d reached her beat-up Chevy.

She mumbled an okay, then sat tapping the steering wheel impatiently as he jogged off to get his car. She really, really wasn’t looking forward to the upcoming conversation, but it was the right thing to do. Well, the right thing barring traveling back in time and breaking up with him correctly three mornings ago.

A minute later Damon drove up, stopping just down the row from her. She backed out of the spot and turned out of the lot. They drove slowly through the city, killing another forty-five minutes, the morning traffic having gone from snail pace to clogged-toilet speed. Damon followed her patiently. Never close enough to take off paint but never far enough to let the eager cabby between her and his Viper. It was black, of course. Everything about Damon was black, from his almost ebony eyes to his leather coat to his car. She even had an image of his apartment though she’d never actually been in it. It would be a loft studio filled with black, modern furniture and minimal decorations. Idly she found herself wondering whether he came from some sort of money because that car was definitely not purchased on a cop’s salary. All of a sudden, Jess realized that she really knew nothing about the man she’d been dating. Far less than he knew of her, at least. Hell, she even told him about Julia. She never told her coworkers about Julia. Not even Mike.

She bit her lip. Definitely odd. She was not a bare your heart kind of girl, but as she thought back and analyzed their interactions, she began to realize just how unusually chatty she’d been.

Not anymore. Moment they got to her apartment she was going to thank him, break up with him, then send him on his way. Cold-hearted? Maybe. But safer—given that she didn’t want to talk about what had happened over the last couple days—and frankly all she could manage at this point in time.

They reached her apartment. Damon followed her into the lot that conveniently butted up to the back of her building and stole the first spot available. She barely had time to retrieve the tube from under the seat before he opened her door for her.

“You don’t have to see me up. Besides, probably better to not keep your car there long, seeing how you don’t have a permit,” she added as she stepped out, secretly glad for the excuse to get the whole dumping thing over with quickly.

“I’d feel better seeing you to the door,” he replied, his eyes scanning the dim parking lot. Mildly alarmed, she followed his example and saw…nothing.

Paranoid.

“Nothing’s going to happen to me.”

“Humor me,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. She was about to anyway when he turned his gaze back on her, the power of all that intense focus like a stiff wind snuffing her will to fight.

“Fine. Yeah, that would be nice,” she said, and as they walked together toward the building, she realized it was true. The night was so dark, no moon and half the safety lights were out. Damon was strong and competent and she couldn’t help but feel safe around him. It wasn’t until they were inside the straining elevator, the flickering florescent light threatening to send her into an unprecedented fit of epilepsy, that the sense of ill-ease wore off. What was she doing? Letting him come up to her place was only going to confuse things. What was it her mother said: “If you don’t want to see him again, then break the date at the door. Don’t let him inside the building.”

“Bit late, Mom,” she muttered under her breath.

“What’s that?” he asked just as the elevator jerked to a stop.

“Nothing.” She led him down the hall in awkward silence, the only break the sounds of their own footfalls. She may have wanted to end it outside, but she didn’t need to share her personal life with her neighbors.

She entered her apartment, setting the tube on the console table while Damon stepped in and closed the door. And since he was already inside, she also took the time to remove her jacket and holster too. It wasn’t until she hung them both in the closet that she turned to Damon, a half-assed apology/letdown on her tongue, only he beat her to it.

“So, who’s the lucky guy?”

Her head snapped back, a weird mix of horror and embarrassment rushing through her veins. How did he know? Was it written all over her or something? “Excuse me?”

He smiled, kind of sad like, reminding her of the last time he stood in her apartment foyer. “The guy you’re ditching me for.”

She looked down at the tube on her console, remembering, again, Logan’s insistence that she keep it with her. That he needed to know she was safe. It would have been a good memory but for the bowl that sat next to the tube. The one her keys had been in, even though she’d never put them there.
Don’t think about that.

“There is no guy. Not anymore,” she said, her voice sounding horse and hollow, as if the life were being sucked right out of her.

“No?” Damon’s fingers brushed her cheek, pushing her hair behind her ear. “But you want there to be, don’t you?”

When she didn’t bother to deny it, he let his hand drop, a short, self-deprecating chuckle rumbling in his chest. “I guess we have that in common at least.”

She raised her head, gave him a questioning look.

“You know,” the side of his mouth quirked up, “wanting someone who doesn’t want us back.”

“Damon…” She trailed off, because really, what could she say? I do want you? Untrue. And to tell him that wanting Logan and Logan wanting her in return was not the problem would almost be cruel. Unless of course she went on to explain the whole sordid tale. In which case he’d probably pity her for being positively nuts for a guy who was either a criminal or so far off his rocker he might as well be in a straightjacket.

She didn’t want pity.

“Jessica?”

She took a deep breath, carefully hanging her keys on the hook rather than the bowl. “Let’s just say there are a million reasons why it didn’t work out.”

“You want to talk about it?”

No, she really didn’t, only the longer he stared at her, the more she found she actually wanted to. Alarm spiked, but just as quickly faded. She weaved on her feet, her muscles going lax. The only thing holding her up was Damon’s steady black gaze. Damn, he had the most gorgeous, kind eyes. And he listened so well. What would it hurt? She was so tired. So sick of holding it all in, going through life alone.

“Don’t you want to talk about it, Jess?” he asked again, his voice hardly more than a soft whisper. She found herself nodding. Yeah, she did. She really did.

“You remember the day you first asked me to coffee?” she asked. He’d come to her desk and told her that people had to stop stealing his cases. The case he referred to was the Thomas Rhodes case, and the day was when they got a positive ID on a John Doe, removing it from organized crime, and tying it to Mike’s attempted rape case. She inherited the case
and
Mike, but not Damon. Despite his joking, his position on a new prostitution ring task force kept him busy enough.

“Will never forget it,” he said, his voice low, silken.

The heat in his tone was enough to make her suck in a breath, but nothing more. In fact, what it did was drive home everything that had been missing in their relationship and everything she found last night with Logan. Craziness aside, the moment Logan and she came together, their eyes locking as their bodies shuddered from the exquisite pleasure of taking and being taken, she’d felt something for the first time. She felt perfect, right, complete.

And
then
I
woke
up.

“Jessica?”

She blinked, looking back at Damon. His brow furrowed, his eyes filled with concern. She found herself desperately wanting to ease his worries.

She took a deep breath, blowing it out. “Sorry. I just feel so stupid about this whole thing.” And so tired. She could hardly stand on her feet, let alone concentrate. Damon was looking at her expectantly though, so they must have been talking about something important. “What were we talking about?”

“You were about to tell me how our first date had anything to do with some other guy. Which, I must say, is already a real ego buster so please go gentle here, okay?”

She chuckled, grateful for his teasing. What guy would joke at their own expense to make a girl feel better? “Someday you’re going to make some woman a great boyfriend.”

“But not you?”

She shook her head, somewhat sadly. It was so weird. Damon was nice. And yeah, hot. She should want him. But there was something about him, something she was thinking of in the car coming over here…something to do with Julia and—

“All right then. Let’s get back to the asshole currently breaking your heart. I’ll make him see reason if you want.” He winked, punching the palm of his own hand with the other. The action snapped her out of her thoughts and she straightened, shaking her head.

Logan, they were talking about Logan.

“Actually I’m the one breaking it off.”