Page 37 of Best Friends
“Wait. You bailed on your date?” Cheyenne frowns. “I thought you stayed up really lately partying with Malcolm.”
My face warms. “Uh…”
“Nope. He left early.” Amanda squints at me. “We were all having a great time, but then after dinner, Carrick went home because he wasn’t feeling well.”
“Really?” Cheyenne gives me a puzzled look.
“I… I really wasn’t feeling g… good,” I stammer. “But when I woke up I… I felt much better.”
“Hmmm.” Amanda taps her foot. “Seems fishy.”
“It’s not fishy. I’m serious.”
Her angry expression slips a little and hurt shimmers in her eyes. “You know, if… if you just weren’t interested in me, you could have just said that.”
The pain in her eyes makes me feel like an asshole, and before I even realize what I’m doing, I blurt, “Gosh, no. That wasn’t it at all. In fact… I… I planned on calling you today to see if maybe you’d want to go out again some time.”
“Really?” She sounds happy and her cheeks tint pink. “You were going to call me?”
“Of course. I felt awful bailing on the date.” While that’s a hundred percent true, I have absolutely no desire to go on another date with Amanda. I’m only making things worse by lying to her, but she looked so upset, I panicked. I feel Cheyenne’s gaze but I sure as hell don’t look at her. She now knows I lied about staying out late last night.
“I feel so much better.” Amanda laughs. “I didn’t know what to think when you just left like that. I mean, Malcolm was great and all, but the night definitely didn’t turn out how Cecilia and I had hoped.”
“No, I’m sure it didn’t.” I feel a pang of annoyance, remembering how Malcolm had admitted Cecila and Amanda tried to lure him into a threesome. If I’d remembered that sooner, maybe I wouldn’t have felt so guilty about Amanda.
Too late now.
Amanda shifts her curious gaze to Cheyenne. Around us people are still hugging and congratulating each other on finishing the race. Someone is making announcements over the loudspeaker.
I clear my throat. “Sorry, I forgot to introduce you two. This is my friend, Cheyenne. Cheyenne, this is Amanda.”
Cheyenne smiles politely. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Amanda murmurs, but she looks uncertain.
I shift uneasily. “Cheyenne and I are partners.”
“Oh?” Amanda frowns.
Cheyenne laughs. “Workpartners.”
“Right. Sorry.” I grimace and meet Amanda’s relieved gaze.
Amanda brightens. “Oh, so you two are both cops? How exciting.”
“Yep, we’ve been partnered three years now,” Cheyenne says.
As Cheyenne and Amanda chat, I study Amanda. She really is very pretty. Her red hair is pulled up in a ponytail, and she’s wearing a form-fitting pink tank top that cups her full breasts. White shorts mold to her perky ass, and her legs are long and tanned. She’s definitely sexy. Yet as I run my gaze over her body, I feel absolutely no stir of desire for her. All I want to do is escape and seek out Malcolm.
“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” A big voice boom to the side of us.
Glancing over, I find Harlan Smith and Jeremy Brooks, two of my least favorite co-workers from our precinct. Harlan gives Amanda a leering look, and he elbows Jeremy muttering something under his breath. Even if I’m not interested in dating Amanda, I bristle at the way they’re looking at her like a piece of meat. She’s a nice girl and I happen to know they’re both jerks to the women they date.
I notice both men have numbers pinned to their T-shirts. “You guys ran in the marathon?” I ask, hoping to distract them from ogling Amanda.
Harlan snorts a laugh. “No, we just like walking around with big numbers plastered on our chest.” He shakes his head. “Of course we ran. We did really well too. We were in the top ten.”
“Wow,” Amanda says.
