Page 57 of Hurt for Me

“Detective.”

“A detective is just a cop with a suit and a college degree, Rae-Rae.” Angel ran her big brown eyes up and down Rae’s body. “You do have a happily fucked glow about you. Guessing y’all didn’t use protection.”

“Kinda hard when you’re drugged out of your mind.”

“Girl, tell me you got Plan B.”

“Got it on my way here.” Rae had to stop traditional birth control years before due to the horrible side effects, and she needed to get a new IUD.

“So, do you like him?” Angel said, her expression thoughtful.

“I don’t know,” Rae lied. If anything, she was afraid of how much she did like Dayton. Liking him didn’t mean she trusted him after he’d lied to her. And besides, they didn’t know much about each other. “All I can think about right now is how tired I am.”

“At least you only have two clients today,” Angel said as if it was a consolation, although Rae knew the two sessions would be a struggle given her exhaustion. “Mr. Nipple Clamps is up first.”

Rae sighed. “I need more coffee than exists in the world.”

“You and me both, sis.”

Rae came home to find Lily and Klo chilling in the living room. She hadn’t seen Lily since the prior morning, and she hated that she hadn’t been home right after dumping her life story on her daughter three nights before. Seeing her laughing with Klo eased her concerns some.

“Y’all have fun last night?” Rae asked them.

“Yeah,” Lily said. “Klo’s parents were gone, so we had a wild party with cocaine and strippers. You know, Mom, just live, laugh, loving.”

Rae shot Lily a playful glare. “Well, I hope you didn’t stay up too late since it was a school night.”

“Lil crashed out at ten, Ms. Dixon,” Klo said, a sly smile on their face. “And my parents were home.”

“Want to stay for dinner, Klo?”

“Sure. Let me call my mom.”

She loved that kid. Rae only hoped Lily appreciated the friendship as much as she did.

She grabbed her phone from her purse in the entryway and saw a missed call from Dayton’s work phone. The stupid butterflies were back, like she was a teenager about to call her school crush.

“Do you have the footage ready?” she said as soon as he answered.

“Yeah, I’ve got it on a flash drive. Can we meet at your office?”

“I can’t. I’m making dinner for my daughter and her friend.” She paused. “But, if you’d like, you can come to my place, have some honey-soy salmon, get interrogated by some teens. Then we can go through the footage in my office here.” She added, “Unless you need to be home with your daughter.”

Dayton was quiet for a few beats. “Uh, yeah, I can do that. Carli’s at my mom’s house this week.”

Interesting. Rae figured he shared custody of his daughter, but he hadn’t talked about it.

“Okay. Dinner’s at six.”

She hung up, in disbelief she’d invited him for dinner. With her kid at home no less. Luckily, she had an additional salmon filet since she usually made extra for her lunch the next day.

An hour later, she was sitting next to Dayton at her dining table, Lily and Klo looking devious across from them. She didn’t think it could get any more awkward, but then the teens started whispering to each other as they stared at Dayton.

Lily grinned at her friend. “He does. Tell him.”

“You look like the Darkling,” Klo said to Dayton. “If he had a tan.”

“What is that?” Dayton said.

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