Just Kidding Read online

  Macy stood up to clap, her eyes lit with excitement.

  “I’ll go get…”

  “No, I can go get it.” Shondra stood up, looking considerate. “I have to run out to the car for my wallet anyway.”

  Macy easily handed over her keys, and fifteen minutes later, I was the new owner of shampoo and conditioner that cost me fifty-seven bucks per bottle. A bottle that was so small in size that I was curious if it’d even last me past ten washes.

  Because Jesus, I had a shit ton of hair, and the bottles sure were small.

  “Thanks,” I said, eyeing the bottles. “I appreciate it.”

  The rest of the night went a little like the first half.

  Shondra rolled her eyes a lot and monopolized Theo’s time. Theo kept glancing at me consideringly.

  The rest of the office ladies talked back and forth with each other.

  And I texted back and forth with my sister until it was time to leave.

  I would’ve snuck out completely, too, had Theo not walked out at some point behind me without me knowing it.

  I was almost to my car, keys in my hand, when Theo’s dark voice stopped me.

  “You’re not going to say goodbye?”

  I swallowed hard and tried not to get pissed.

  Instead, I waved my phone in the air and said, “Sorry, gotta return a call from my sister. Have a good one.”

  With that, I bleeped the car unlocked, got in, and tried to slam the door.

  Only Theo’s hand on the door’s metal frame stopped me.

  I gritted my teeth and placed the call to Katy.

  “You’re never going to guess where I have my hand right now!” Katy cried out excitedly.

  Thank God I had her on speakerphone so she could hear my side.

  “Have a good one, Theo,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “Hello, Katy,” Theo said.

  “Oh, who’s that?” Katy said. “Hey, did you guess where I had my hand yet, Row?”

  I loved my sister. I loved her to death.

  “Theo,” I answered.

  I wasn’t sure if I was saying ‘Theo’ to Katy or to Theo, but either way, it worked on both accounts.

  Theo let go of my door and stepped back, a look of surprise on his face at my anger.

  I finally closed and locked it, then started it before Katy said, “Are you ever going to guess?”

  “In a dead person’s rectum,” I guessed.

  Katy snorted. “No, silly. Down her throat!”

  I rolled my eyes heavenward.

  “Damn, Katy,” I said. “That’s morbid.”

  Katy was a medical examiner. She’d graduated from school and had decided that dead people were her jam and hadn’t looked back ever since.

  “It’s not morbid,” she said. “There was a note down the woman’s throat. I had to see if I could get it without causing much damage. I did. Thank God I have long fingers.”

  “Was she killed?” I asked curiously.

  “No,” she said. “Well, not that I’m aware of. She killed herself. She swallowed her suicide note accidentally when she hung herself.”

  That was sad.

  Really, really sad.

  “Damn,” I said. “That’s sucky.”

  “Yeah.” Katy sounded distracted. “What the hell was Theo doing there?”

  I gave her an instant replay of my night, ending with how he’d followed me outside.

  In fact, as I turned to survey the parking lot, I saw him leaning against his department-issued vehicle just staring at me.

  I put the car into drive and drove off, happy when he was no longer in my line of sight.

  “I’m done, Katy-did,” I said softly. “I’m not going to swim in that particular pool anymore.”

  Katy snorted. “Theo’s a good guy, but I’ve been telling you for a while that he’s a bit of a dick. I never realized it before, but holy shit. Logan’s really shown me what it’s like to love someone unconditionally. I didn’t even feel a single bit of that when Theo and I went on our first couple of dates.” She paused. “When Logan took me out, I had these butterflies. They just filled my stomach so completely whenever he looked at me or was near.”

  “Do you still get butterflies?” I wondered as I made my way through the still-busy streets of San Antonio.

  “Yes,” she said. “Sometimes I just find myself looking at him, or thinking about him…” She sighed.

  “You’re kind of disgusting,” I admitted.

  She snickered.

  “How many more days do you have?” she asked then.

  I looked at my watch.

  “One, officially,” I admitted. “I was going to give them the cursory two weeks’ notice but… I don’t think I want to stay here anymore.”

  My sister’s swift inhale had me smiling.

  “Can we come up this weekend and help you move home? Please say yes,” she practically begged.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Yes,” I said. “I’m on a month-to-month lease at this point anyway. There’s nothing keeping me here anymore.”

  With Theo out of the picture, things were definitely much simpler when it came to staying in San Antonio.

  “Congrats on the Bar,” she whispered. “I’m so proud of you, Row.”

  I felt my heart leap at her words.

  My mom and dad had called earlier in the day to congratulate me, but having it come from my smart as hell sister? That meant the world to me.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  We continued to talk while she gave me a play-by-play of what she was doing my entire drive home.

  It was only as I was pulling into my apartment complex that I said goodbye.

  “I going to have to go. I’m here at the apartment,” I said. “My hair needs washed in the worst way.”

  Grabbing everything in the seat and shoving it into my large purse, I made my way up to my apartment and barreled inside, still juggling the phone as I listened to Katy about when to expect her.

  “Bye,” Katy said. “I love you. Give Boz a kiss for me. See you this weekend.”

  After replying with much the same words, I tossed the phone onto the couch and headed for the shower.

  I stripped in the laundry room before eyeing all the things I would have to pack up before my sister arrived this weekend.

  Honestly, I didn’t have much stuff.

  I’d been living out of boxes as it was, not wanting to unpack for some reason.

  It was as if my sixth sense somehow knew that I wasn’t going to be staying here that long.

  Whatever the reason, I only needed to pack up my closet, some dishes, and blankets.

  Other than that, the apartment had come furnished, and none of it was mine.

  Other than some household items and everyday shit, I could possibly get by with only four to five boxes from Lowe’s.

  Grinning and excited, I headed to the bathroom and turned on the shower.

  I frowned at the empty shampoo bottle.

  Shit. I’d forgotten to go get more.

  I’d meant to stop by on my way home, but Theo’s actions had left me a bit frazzled and confused.

  I looked at the small bottles that I’d gotten from Macy that were spilling out of my purse that I’d brought with me from my car, then at my empty shampoo bottle, then decided… fuck it.

  I brought it into the shower with me and then cranked the knobs up as high as they would go.

  Sadly, it wasn’t much.

  I couldn’t afford the nicest of apartments with my internship at my current lawyer’s office, but thank God that my internship was coming to an end.

  I literally only had one more day to go until I was finished.

  Until I could find an actual job that would pay me actual money instead of a joke of a salary while I tried to get experience for a job that required ‘on the job experience.’

  And, seeing as I couldn’t get that
kind of experience without actually being a goddamn lawyer and practicing, I’d had to revert to interning to get the experience that the one law firm I wanted to work at required.

  The shampoo smelled off, but I put it out of my mind as I considered what I was going to do next.

  Should I apply to the lawyer’s office in Kilgore? I knew that there were a few in Longview, which was a twenty-minute drive from Kilgore. Then there was always Bear Bottom where my sister lived, which was in the opposite direction.

  I could make it work.

  I knew I could.

  Feeling much better about my options, I rinsed my hair free of the shampoo, then lathered the conditioner into my hair.

  Sadly, I ended up using about half the damn bottle on one shampoo.

  Worst purchase ever.

  Leaving the conditioner in to soak, I shaved my legs, armpits, and bikini area.

  It was when I was finishing up with my ankles that the sensation of burning started to penetrate my head.

  I gasped and touched my head, feeling the odd burn, and leaned my head back into the water to see about rinsing it off.

  Was my skin having a reaction to the conditioner?

  While I was rinsing my hair, I opened the bottle up and frowned.

  There looked to be two different kinds of conditioner in the bottle. One a bright orange while the other was a lilac blue.

  What the hell?

  I frowned and ran my fingers through my hair, thankful that the burn was now disappearing.

  Only, when I brought my hand to my face, I saw large clumps of my hair clinging to my fingers.

  But it wasn’t enough that I was too freaked out.

  Instead, I decided to take some Benadryl, never use the conditioner again, and go to bed. Hopefully by tomorrow, it wouldn’t feel bad any longer.

  ***

  The next morning, I woke up and knew something was seriously wrong.

  My head wasn’t just burning today.

  It was on fire.

  Also, as I picked my head up off the pillow, I felt a clump of my hair fall into my face.

  At first, I was thinking it was just a lock of hair that’d escaped the bun that I usually slept with it in.

  But then I realized that not only was it a lock of hair, it was a lock of hair that was attached to my ponytail… that was not attached to my head.

  Meaning that I had my entire ponytail of hair… in my hand.

  That’s right around the time that I screamed.

  Chapter 1

  Fuck.

  -Things you shouldn’t think when you wake up in the morning

  Dax

  It was the crying that made me pay attention.

  “Baby, you need to slow down,” my boss and father’s good friend, Luke Roberts, said.

  The woman’s sobs were heartbreaking.

  Even worse, I could see the torture on Luke’s face.

  “Tell me again what happened,” Luke ordered, sounding authoritative just like he always did.

  The girl sat up from Luke’s chest and wiped her eyes.

  “Theo’s new girlfriend decided to switch my conditioner with Nair.” The woman sniffled.

  I felt my stomach drop.

  “I don’t know what Nair is,” Luke said, sounding confused and sympathetic.

  I did.

  Mostly because my sister thought it’d be funny to give it to me to use as lotion one day. Only, instead of it moisturizing my legs, it straight up stripped my hair completely from them.

  “It’s a hair removal cream,” the woman cried.

  God, her tears were breaking my heart.

  “Okay,” Luke said, sounding worried now. “What happen… oh, my God.”

  She yanked her baseball cap off of her head—thank God it was cold and she actually had a reason to wear one—and stared at Luke.

  I was flabbergasted as well.

  The woman was straight up bald.

  Like a baby’s ass, bald.

  Luke stared at her head with his mouth hanging half open, unsure what to say.

  Luke’s entire body stiffened then, and his mouth closed. His jaw tight, he stared at her head.

  Then, as if he wasn’t angry at all, he pulled the woman’s bald head into his body and kissed it.

  “Rowen,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

  Rowen.

  That was Rowen?

  Holy shit.

  She’d grown up since the last time that I’d seen her.

  Granted, the last time I’d seen her she’d had much more hair, and a whole lot fewer curves.

  I tried to pinpoint when, exactly, was the last time I’d seen her, and all I could come up with was my high school graduation party.

  She’d come with her family—Luke, her sister Katy, her mom Reese, and her brother Derek.

  Derek who also happened to be on the SWAT team with me.

  Fuck, but his sister was hot.

  When had that happened?

  The last time that I’d seen her she’d been a gangly teenager that had yet to grow into her feet.

  Now, though?

  “On top of everything, I got a random email from my boss saying I broke client confidentiality, oh, and I was held at gunpoint in a convenience store on the way here.”

  Luke’s eyes widened.

  “You were held at gunpoint?” he asked, jaw tense.

  “It wasn’t a big deal. It was a fake gun.” She paused. “But I made some decisions while I was thinking it was real and…”

  I moved, causing Luke to look up, and his eyes trained hard on me.

  “I have the paperwork that you were asking for,” I said to him. “Also, your wife is out front looking for you.”

  The woman—no, Rowen—gasped and turned to see me standing there.

  She wasn’t upset about her head being uncovered, though.

  Instead, it had everything to do with her mother.

  “My mother?” Rowen gaped. “What… how?”

  Luke cursed and stood up.

  “I’ll go talk to her…”

  “Too late,” I said as I saw the familiar woman heading down the hall. “She’s already making her way down here.”

  Luke cursed again.

  “She’s going to absolutely lose her shit.” Luke groaned. “This needs to be done somewhere that’s not in the middle of my police station.”

  I gave Luke a chin up.

  “Send her the back way,” I suggested. “I’ll hold her off.”

  Then I was gone before either one of them could say another word.

  I heard them both moving as if their life depended on it, though.

  Scrambling to catch up.

  I made my way down the long length of the hallway and smiled at the woman when her eyes caught on me.

  “Why hello, Dax.” Reese smiled. “Look at you looking all official and shi… stuff.”

  My lips tipped up at one corner, showing off my signature smirk.

  I say signature seeing as apparently I do it a lot and I’m not aware of it.

  I just don’t see a reason to smile full out all the time. Maybe I’m lazy, I don’t know. But being happy and jovial and smiling is exhausting.

  I’d much rather be who I am than who people want me to be.

  I looked down at my ‘uniform’ which consisted of black tactical pants, black tactical boots, and a black t-shirt that denoted me as ‘KPD SWAT.’ The ensemble was finished up with a black gun belt with my service weapon and some extra ammo.

  “Official?” I asked. “I was thinking I looked like a douche… ummm,” I hesitated. “Dork.”

  She snorted. “You look fine.”

  “I look like I’m about to step right out of a B movie,” I corrected her. “I wish they’d let me wear jeans.”

  “You don’t like wearing the pants?” she asked.

  I shrugged.

  “I like wearing the pants.” I heard
a shuffle behind me.

  I turned so that I was leaning against the wall and she turned, following so she could continue to face me.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rowen sneaking out the back door with Luke following her out.

  “But…” Reese pushed.

  I groaned and scrubbed my hands over my face.

  “Today we’re taking part in a charity calendar photoshoot,” I explained. “And I really, really don’t want to do it.”

  Reese’s smile was soft.

  “Isn’t it for that girl that lost her dad last year?” Reese asked, face and body softening.

  “Yeah, the girl graduates this month,” I answered. “We’re hoping it’ll help with her college fund. Every participant gets to choose which charity that they’re donating to. A few of us chose her.”

  ‘Her’ being Avery Flynn. Avery’s father, Rader Flynn, had been a twenty-five-year veteran of the Longview Police Department. Six months ago, during an inter-departmental SWAT raid between three departments, he’d suffered a fatal injury.

  The man that was getting arrested had decided he would rather go down swinging than face jail time.

  He’d taken out Rader in a last-ditch effort to get himself free.

  It hadn’t worked.

  But he had killed the veteran, leaving behind his nineteen-year-old daughter.

  Sadly, that wasn’t the first time that Avery had suffered a blow like that.

  Her mom, who also happened to be on the Longview Police Department, had been hit by a drunk driver while going home from work in her police-issued vehicle. Avery had been sixteen at the time.

  Needless to say, if anyone deserved help, it was her.

  For both of her parents dying while on duty? That was a blow. A big one.

  “That’s sweet.” She paused. “Why do you have such a fear of cameras, anyway?”

  I winced. “I don’t necessarily have a fear of cameras as much as a worry that my pictures are going to get used for something that they were never intended to be used for.”

  When I was in high school, there’d been an unfortunate event that had occurred with me and my girlfriend at the time. After we’d broken up, she’d sent all of the pictures of me that she’d taken, and some that I’d sent her, and had blasted them far and wide for everyone to see.

  Meaning, there were some rather revealing pictures of my nineteen-year-old body floating around in cyberspace that always came back to bite me in the ass at the most inopportune of times.