Bound to Her - Deborah Pin (books for 9th graders .TXT) 📗

was told to stay away from you.”

She didn’t have a clue what to say to that. “But—but that doesn’t make sense. You’ve been taken off the case. They can’t tell you to—”

“Of course they can and they have. I’m not allowed near you during

the course of the investigation or any ensuing case. Our relationship gives the appearance of impropriety and the force isn’t going to tolerate

that. I just didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you at my own choosing. I wouldn’t do that.”

“So wait. You’re saying you’re no longer on the case but now you can’t even talk to me or see me or…anything?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want this to happen.”

“I think this fucking sucks.” She was pissed. And the alcohol coursing through her system was making it very easy for her to voice that anger.

“I want you. I mean, I want you, want you. I don’t want to stay away from you and I sure as hell don’t want you to stay away from me.”

Apparently the alcohol was making her mouth divulge all sorts of things.

“This isn’t fair.”

“This is my fault, Katrina. I shouldn’t have let things—”

“What? Get personal? I want personal.”

“I do too but that can’t happen. Not anytime soon.” He was silent for

a long time and her drunken mouth had quieted with his last words too.

“I just wanted you to know I’m sorry. I didn’t intend for this happen and

I hate it.”

He didn’t really give her a chance to say anything more and he

disconnected quickly after that. Well that certainly explained a lot and she hated all of it just as much as he did.

When Imogen brought her the margarita she’d left on the counter, she

flopped down next to her. “He was told to stay away from me.”

“Shit. That explains the unreturned messages. What are you thinking,

love?”

“That I shouldn’t care as much as I do. That this shouldn’t matter to

me as much as it does. That I should want to protect his job and stay away from him. That I should understand that my own safety is more important.”

“But?”

“I hate it.”

“I’m sorry. Is he in trouble?”

“He didn’t say he was. Only that he was off the case and regardless of

even that he still has to stay away from me.”

“Well that’s that then.”

“I feel bad. I feel like this is my fault. Like I drove things in this direction. I was so stupid. I just—thought about myself and I risked his

job, risked my own safety for that matter.”

“Stop. You’re being too hard on yourself. You like the guy. You didn’t

do anything wrong.”

“I grabbed his penis.”

“Well okay, yeah. That was wrong.” She offered a weak smile. “But this isn’t about that. This is about how he feels about you. He wouldn’t

have put himself in this position if he didn’t care about you.”

“What difference does it make?”

“Sorry.” It didn’t make any difference and Imogen knew it as much as

Katrina did.

* * * * *

When Katrina woke the next morning Imogen had already left for the

airport. She had her night class that night and a couple more days of school and then she’d be forced to endure a week of sleepless nights alone in Imogen’s house.

She really wasn’t ready to face the reality of the fact that Dillon wasn’t

going to be a part of her life anymore. It was odd considering she wasn’t

even sure what part in her life he’d been filling up to that point but he was missing from it and all she felt was sadness for the loss.

Knowing she could pick up the phone and call him whenever she

needed, even if it was the middle of the night, had gotten her through a

number of sleepless nights. She may have only used that privilege a time

or two but just knowing he was there and she could gave her a feeling of

security. She couldn’t imagine ever picking up the phone to call

Detective Smith or Terrell and she suddenly felt very alone in this.

Chapter Seventeen

 

“Thought you were going to San Francisco to see your parents this Friday.”

“I decided to stay here.” Stephens was eyeing him. Molly had called

to see if she could take the boys out of school earlier than their normal dismissal time on Friday and naturally Stephens had overheard.

“And this wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain off-limits

teacher with a secret admirer who’s tormenting her, would it?”

He just looked at Stephens across the desk but said nothing. Did he really want to lie? It was completely about her. It was hard enough coping with the fact he wasn’t part of her case. It was just as hard knowing he couldn’t talk to her. But leaving for some reason was

impossible. He was terrified something was going to happen and even though he’d be sitting at home alone, he needed to be close.

He’d talked to Molly about it the night before and she didn’t want him along on the trip any more than he wanted to go. She understood why he needed to be here but the man sitting across from him glaring didn’t seem to understand any of it.

“Unless you want me to be honest, I suggest you not ask.” Stephens

tapped his pen on the desktop as he glared at Dillon. He was considering

just what he did or did not want to say on the matter and Dillon held his

gaze.

“You’re going to stay away from her, right?”

Dillon nodded. “Don’t have much choice now do I?”

“Then I guess I just don’t see the point.”

“You don’t need to understand.”

Dillon was having a hard time taking his eyes off Smith and Terrell across the room. It had been that way all week. He was torturing himself

with them. He hated it when they weren’t at the precinct because he wondered just where the hell they were. He hated it when they were there because the very sight of them was a slap in the face. It hadn’t gone

unnoticed by Stephens either, and every time Dillon’s eyes shifted to them, he shook his head in discouragement.

When Terrell’s phone rang and Dillon was forced to watch as the man

tensed and muttered some words to Smith as they both grabbed their jackets, Dillon’s anxiety skyrocketed. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

They took off, glancing quickly to Dillon and leaving Dillon’s eyes trailing after them.

He was tempted to follow but if he thought he was in hot water

before, he’d be boiling in it if he were so bold as to force his way into their investigation. But there was no hiding the panic and as he stood and started pacing around his desk, hating their absence, he started contemplating.

He had to get the hell out of there before he lost his mind. There was

no way he could sit there, knowing something was going on. He looked

at his cell phone and then he looked at the clock. It was six o’clock on Wednesday night. She should be at class. Fucking hell. What if

something happened with Josh Grant? What if she didn’t even make it to

class because something happened to her on her way? He started clicking

his pen in his hand as he walked back and forth over and over and over

again.

Stephens continued to watch him, silently glaring at his partner. He likely thought he’d lost his mind but Dillon didn’t really give a shit what

Stephens thought of him. Just when he’d decided he didn’t give a shit what the chief thought, said, did to him or otherwise, Stephens stood.

“You’re going to drive me crazy.”

“I can’t sit here.” He shook his head in resignation. He was going to

lose his fucking job over this but there was just no chance he could sit back not knowing what the hell was going on. Something was fucking going on!

“Chill. You stay put. I’ll go find out what’s up. But don’t you leave this damn desk or you’ll get us both in trouble.”

He sat and he stared at his cell phone as Stephens left. He couldn’t call her. He needed to call her. He had to call her. His fingers trembled when he reached for his phone and as he dialed he looked around to make sure Stephens wasn’t coming back yet. The man was being oddly

helpful but he didn’t want to get caught trying to reach her.

As the phone rang, his heart pounded. His heart pounded every time he knew he was going to hear her voice. The fact she wasn’t answering

and he couldn’t get the reassurance he needed from her left his heart pounding more by the second. It finally went to voicemail and he hung

up.

He stood and went back to pacing. Fuck! He felt like his body was pulling apart at the seams. He thought this must be what it felt like to go

crazy because at any minute he wasn’t going to be able to stifle the need

to scream at the top of his lungs to release the building tension in his chest. His throat was on fire as it constricted painfully and he was panting as if it was the only way he could keep himself from passing out.

When his fingers snatched up his jacket and he grabbed his phone it

was over. He’d decided he didn’t give a shit about any of it. He didn’t care if it meant his career was over. He didn’t care if he wasn’t supposed

to see her. He didn’t care Greenwood had explicitly told him to stay away from her. He simply didn’t care about anything except getting to her.

He turned to storm from the room, hoping to get out of the building

before Stephens returned and tried to stop him and that’s when he came

face to face with his terror. It was written on Stephens’ face.

Stephens didn’t show much but when he did it was warranted. He

just stood in front of Dillon, his eyes wide, his face concerned. He almost

looked afraid to speak and his hands rose slowly as if to slow the momentum in Dillon’s movements. But there was no reason to. Dillon was stunned and he stopped on a dime at seeing the serious expression

on Stephens’ face.

“What?” He could barely get the word out and it sounded choked.

“Something’s happened.” Stephens’ voice broke for a second as he

spoke and Dillon reached for the nearest desk to support his weight, which suddenly seemed to be getting away from him. His head was

buzzing and he wasn’t at all sure he could bear to hear the rest of what

Stephens had to say.

He gasped out the only question he needed an answer to and he

fought to stay standing. “Is she alive?”

* * * * *

She’d only been at Imogen’s for fifteen minutes and in that space of time, she’d managed to drop the coffeepot, shattering and spilling the caffeine that was supposed to get her through her night class that night.

She also spent thirty minutes trying to find Kitty, who was staging a kitty

sit-in in protest of being uprooted from her home. Thanks to Imogen’s ridiculously big house and an old cat who couldn’t hear Katrina calling

her, she’d nearly given up until she heard Kitty’s bizarre-sounding meow

coming from the pantry Katrina had apparently closed her in that

morning. Another ten minutes to mop the cat pee up and she was finally

ready to go—sadly, she was nearly forty minutes later than she wanted

to be.

She almost made it to Imogen’s gate to start the trek to the closest bus

stop when she stopped and stared at the ground for a minute. She was fighting common sense and arguing with Dillon in her mind and finally

telling both Dillon and common sense to fuck off, she turned back toward the house. She jumped in her Outback and took off, grumbling the whole time. Dillon would be livid—there was no doubt of that. But

he wasn’t her concern anymore and she was late as hell.

She sped, she cut people off and got herself flipped off twice, all before she zipped into the parking garage and steered her little car like a

race car around in circles until she found a spot. Pay dirt. Or—one floor

away from pay dirt. But were she taking public