Page 18 of Best Friends
Both of the women squeak excitedly.
“When?” Amanda asks.
“Why?” Cecilia follows next.
“It was a robbery suspect.” Malcolm mimes pointing a gun up at the sky. “He pulled a piece on me and I was forced to discharge my weapon.”
“Oh, wow.” Cecilia covers her mouth. “How scary.”
Amanda leans forward. “Was it weird to shoot someone?”
“I didn’t enjoy it, but I did what I had to do,” Malcolm says nonchalantly.
“Gosh, did the bad guy die?” Amanda asks, but then she blanches. “There I go again sounding like a blood thirsty lunatic.”
Malcolm smiles. “You’re curious. Lots of people are. No, he didn’t die.”
“Whew.” Amanda laughs.
Shrugging, Malcolm says, “Well, he shouldn’t have pulled a gun on a cop.
He’s acting cavalier about the incident for the benefit of the women, but he’d been upset at the time. Even though the perp lived, Malcolm had second-guessed his reactions over and over. Nobody official questioned the shooting, but Malcolm was super rattled. Whether we know it’s part of our job or not, shooting another human being is a disturbing thing.
“You’re so brave, Malcolm.” Cecilia rests her head on his shoulder, and my stomach clenches. She takes every opportunity possible to touch him. It’s her right, I guess, seeing as she’s his date, but it still eats at me.
I turn my attention back to Amanda, hoping to distract myself. She’s a very pretty alpha, with jade green eyes and long hair the color of autumn leaves. She’s just the kind of girl I’d usually be into. But I struggle to feel physically attracted to her. It’s not her, it’s all me. I like her a lot as a person. She seems sweet and intelligent, but I just don’t feel anything sexual for her yet. Hopefully, as the evening progresses, I’ll get in the mood.
“What do you do for work?” I ask her.
“I teach English.” She watches me like she’s waiting for a reaction.
I grimace. “Uh-oh. Have I been dangling participles all evening?”
Laughing, she says, “No, not at all. And even if you were, I promise I wouldn’t judge you. Everybody always freaks out the second they find out what I teach.”
“Oh God, right?” Cecilia jumps in. “I’m a psychologist and everyone assumes I’m psychoanalyzing them anytime they open their mouth. The truth is, I just want to have fun and not think about anyone’s mental health. I’m not looking to seek out the crazy person in the room. I’m just looking for a good time.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Malcolm grins, clinking his glass with hers.
He’s definitely getting into the spirit of things much easier than me. He’s effortlessly flirting and touching her. Meanwhile, I feel irritable and drained watching him dote on her. Something is definitely wrong with me. I seem to have lost the ability to be normal around Malcolm.
“You probably get that too, though,” Amanda guesses, watching me with her cheerful green gaze. “People immediately get nervous around cops. I know I do. I assume that you’ll magically know if I ran a stop sign ten years ago.”
I smile. “People do get weird sometimes. But unless you run a stop sign right in front of me, you’re safe.”
Amanda gives a flirty smile. “Well, I wouldn’t mind you pulling me over and frisking me, officer.”
I’m taking a sip of my beer when she says that, and I choke on my drink. Malcolm gives me a concerned look, but he changes the subject.
“The other thing people ask us is if we use the police computer database to look up the personal information of attractive women we pull over.” He grins. “We don’t.”
“You’ve never done that?” Cecilia asks.
“Nope.” Malcolm shakes his head. “Definitely not allowed.”
I’ve finally stopped choking on my beer, so I weigh in. “It would be unethical to look up your information for personal reasons.” My voice is so stilted, I sound like I’m at a job interview, not on a date.
Amanda leans closer, twisting a strand of her red hair around her finger. “I wouldn’t mind if you looked up my personal information, Carrick.”
