Page 10 of No First Kisses

Okay, I can’t lie to myself. I look back, and I find him watching me go. Doing the logical thing, I stick my tongue out at him and proceed to stomp away like the child I want to be in that moment.

And I leave him standing in front of the alley where our lives changed forever, hoping that he’ll pull his head out of his ass before it’s too late.

By the time I make it to my house a few blocks away, I barely have enough time to change into my work clothes before I need to head out again. When I see Kennedy walking out of her and Linc’s house across the street at the same time with a grimace on her face, I can’t help but smile.

“You know you like overnights with me.” I don’t have to shout because she is already halfway through the yard and crossing the street by the time I say anything.

“I hate overnights,” she counters with a grimace. “Remind me why I’m doing this again? No matter how much I love you, I don’t know why.”

“Because you’re pregnant and can’t sleep at night anyway?” I nod toward my car since we are riding together like we’ve been doing for the last week that she’s been dispatching overnights across the street at the Birch County Sheriff’s Office while I sit at Birch PD.

“I really, really, really wanna be able to sleep at night again.” She huffs and puts the massive bag of snacks she carries in her hands into the back seat. “I’m already hungry, and I literally just ate. Linc’s demon spawn has me hungry all the freakin’ time.”

“Wanna get food before we go?” I look down at the smart watch on my wrist. “Technically, we have a half hour before we have to be there.”

“Yes.” Kennedy starts nodding fervently. “I would kill for some tacos.”

“Tacos?” I sigh. “I don’t want tacos. Can’t we get pizza instead?”

She pokes her stomach instead of thinking about it herself and addresses the baby she is currently growing. “What do you want, huh? Aunt Poppy wants pizza.” She smiles when her stomach lurches and then gurgles so loud that I swear I can hear it from here. “I guess the heathen wants pizza too.” She winks at me. “I have tacos in the bag for later anyway.”

When I walk through the back door into the PD twenty minutes later, holding a stack of pizza boxes in my arms, I don’t expect to find the bullpen full of officers. Our schedules aren’t on the same timeline, which means that dispatch and officers aren’t switching over at the same time, but it feels like every single officer is in the room at the same time.

“Um,” I start, setting the boxes on the waist-high wall that separates the hall from the bullpen. “I didn’t bring enough for everyone. Just the guys on my shift tonight.”

At the hungry stares being shot in my direction, I almost feel bad. Almost. But honestly, they are grown-ass men and can feed themselves. I don’t have to bring food in for anyone but myself. I just do it to be nice.

When no one says anything, I look around and find Ian’s face in the crowd. “What’s going on?”

“No clue,” he says with a shrug.

Emma, one of the female officers and a friend of mine, grabs the top box and flips open the lid to see that I brought her favorite. “You’re the freakin’ best,” she mumbles around a mouthful of pepperoni. “Chief said that he had an important announcement, but he hasn’t come out of his office yet. Word spread, and I guess everyone had nothing to do and they’re all nosier than every girl I went to high school with so they’re here.” She stares around the room, pointedly letting her eyes land on her husband, Dominic Ortiz, one of the detectives. “Dom’s the one who sent the mass text,” she whispers back.

Before I can answer, the door to the office slams open and Chief Townsend walks into the bullpen before looking up. “What the hell are you all doing here?”

“Heard you had an announcement.” His son, Remy, another officer, crosses his arms over his chest. “Apparently it’s important enough to get us all here sitting around with nothing better to do.”

Chief Townsend slaps the papers in his hand against his thigh. “I mean, if you all need to know that I’m going on vacation for a week?” With his free hand, he scratches his forehead.

Like someone told a bad joke, a series of groans go up from the officers.

“Told ya.” Emma elbows Dom. “You owe me.”

“Whatever,” he grouses. “It’s not my fault.”

“You’re literally the person who sent the text.” Amy Lee, the only other female officer, loudly calls out Dom. “We thought he was retiring or some shit because you said he had an announcement.”

Without waiting to hear the rest of the drama, I grab my pizza and walk into dispatch just in time to relieve our new dispatcher, Nia Davidson, from her shift.

“Thanks, Nia,” I greet the blond woman with a smile. “Sorry I didn’t get here early like usual. You headed to the hospital?”

“No worries.” She grabs her bag and steps away from the computer console, and I take a seat. “And yeah. I’ve got another three months left of clinicals for school.”

“Have fun!” My chipper words turn into a laugh when I see the grimace on her face as she starts to walk out.

Nia pauses at the door. “You should come out with me sometime. A lot of hot doctors and nurses at the hospital, ya know?”

I open my mouth to tell her I’m not interested, but Logan appears at her shoulder, and the words die a terrible death in my mouth.

---