Chapter Eight
Nicole yawned for about the millionth time. Too many nights of fitful sleep were starting to catch up with her. That probably didn’t help with the residual sensation from the nightmare. The hollow feeling from early that morning had stayed with her through most of the day. She just couldn’t seem to shake the fear that it had sent through her.
It had been so long since she’d had issues with that kind of nightmare. She remembered the sound of her own heartbeat as it echoed in the endless dead space. Cold. Dead.
Just thinking about it now made her ache inside. It was like being lost in nothingness with something close behind, something that wanted her for something terrible. The very thought of it made her shiver as she tried to push the idea from her head.
Nicole shook her head. It wouldn’t be much longer, and she could get out of the station.
She wasn’t staying late for once. It was clear she needed some rest with the nightmare making an appearance again, and that was exactly how she was planning on spending her days off, not thinking about the unsolved animal cases or anything of that nature. Just sleeping and relaxing. Something she nearly never did. She could only hope that the nightmares would go away like they had before. Nightmares were often reflections of stress, so she just needed to get rid of hers.
Maybe she’d even have another dream about Joran like before they had been interrupted. Nicole frowned slightly. Was it wrong for her to be thinking about him that way now that she knew he was an actual man and not just a figment of her imagination?
Lord help her, what a man he was, though. Even after sleeping in their stinky jail all night, he had still been a sight for sore eyes.
Nicole still couldn’t figure him out. She doubted he had just been out for a leisurely jog last night, especially right in the area where some strange animal attacked her. But then he didn’t strike her as the sort of man that was up to no good. It’s like every part of her wanted to trust him except her suspicious cop instincts that told her he was hiding something.
She sighed. Even if she couldn’t say what had tried to get her in the woods, it was clear that he’d saved her. Despite being arrested, he’d also saved her in the station.
The deputy couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was just something about him that drew her to him, something other than his amazing body. There was an ease and gentleness from Joran that she hadn’t expected. It was like the man in her dreams and the man from last night really were one in the same. They didn’t just look the same; they acted the same.
Nicole chuckled to herself. Now she really was sounding like a crazy person, or maybe she was projecting her fantasy into the real world and trying to see something in Joran that wasn’t there.
She stretched and grabbed her bag from the drawer in her desk. It was still a bit before five, but she knew Frank wouldn’t care if she cut out early. He was off getting his yearly checkup, after being prodded by his daughter, and it had been a slow day on the whole, even by the standards of Eagle Ridge.
Like she did at the end of every shift, Nicole moved all the files to one side and shut down her computer.
“Oh, you leaving early?” asked a male voice.
Nicole glanced up from her desk, one hand still on her bag.
Ted had been a thorn in her side since she’d been recruited. He was already well into his forties, he was more than a little salty at someone younger coming in and stealing his thunder. Although Nicole doubted there was ever much thunder to even steal. He wasn’t exactly the finest deputy to ever walk the land.
Didn’t help that she was a woman, especially a woman who had turned down the chance to sleep with such a fine specimen. The man thought an office affair was perfectly fine, as long as his wife and two kids didn’t find out. In other words, he was a cheating scumbag.
Just looking at Ted made Nicole’s stomach churn. She wasn’t looking for a man, but if she were, he would be the exact opposite of that piece of shit.
“It’s been a long week,” she said carefully.
“Must be nice,” he said, staring down at her. “Wish I could head out for a relaxing weekend, but some of us have a job to do. Although if it were the two of us…”
Nicole stopped herself from rolling her eyes like she wanted. What a load of bull. The big loaf cut out early every night, but of course the night she wanted to leave, he had a problem with that.
Not having Frank around meant that Ted thought he was in charge. It was about as far from the truth as you could get, but there was always one person like that in every office. Unfortunately, at the Sheriff’s Department, this one person always seem to take a personal interest in everything she was doing.
“There is no us,” Nicole said. “Was there a point to this, Ted?”
Her patience was wearing thin, and if he didn’t get to the point quickly, she might just really tell him off, but a confrontation would lead to more stress, and that would defeat the whole point of leaving early.
Ted frowned down at her. “Read over your report about last night. You didn’t find the ‘animal’ that hit your car?”
Nicole frowned at his use of air quotes with the word animal. “Are you calling me a liar?”
Ted shrugged, and for a split second, she wondered just what Frank would say if she “accidently” discharged her weapon like Ed. He’d be pissed, but it might still be worth it. She’d just hold on to that thought for a bit longer.
A slight smirk appeared on the other deputy’s face “That guy you brought in, he one of those freaks from near the mountain?”
Although Nicole might have thought that herself just days before, hearing it from Ted made her blood boil. “His name is Joran Smith, and he lives with his brothers out there.”
Ted snorted. “Brothers? Is that what they’re calling it these days?”
Nicole rolled her eyes. Not only was he a sexist douche, but he was also homophobic to top it off. What a piece of work.
She shrugged. “From what I understand, they have a number of women living there as well.”
Ted snorted, his face contorting in a sort of anger she hadn’t seen from the other man before. “Those freaks are probably holding those women hostage there like that one piece of shit that had those two women living in his home and no one ever knew. You don’t have to go to the big city to find messed-up people.”
Nicole frowned. Somehow the conversation had taken a very sharp turn in a direction she wasn’t so sure she liked.
Ted smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Maybe I should go up there and pay those freaks a visit.”
This was going about as far off the path as it could go. It was time to bring a firm end to it.
Nicole cleared her throat loudly. “Frank said we’re to leave them alone. They have the mayor living out there now, and I don’t think it would look very good on a promotion record.”
Ted stared down at her, and for a moment, she thought she might have actually gotten through before the corner of his mouth twitched upward. “Well, Frank don’t have to find out now, does he?”
With that, Ted turned, and she glared at his retreating back. Never before had she seen him like that and wondered just what the hell Ted got up to in his free time. The next time she got the chance, she was going to have to talk to Frank before the other deputy killed an innocent person.
Nicole grabbed her bag and shut the drawer with a little more force than intended. The contents on her desk shook. Anger pounded in her veins, and she knew that she couldn’t just ignore this. Ted wasn’t the sort of guy to just let things go, and the last thing she wanted was for that idiot to cause trouble, especially since the only reason he was even thinking about targeting Joran’s group was because she’d arrested the man.
Despite herself, she couldn’t stop the pounding of her heart at the thought of seeing Joran again. Every part of her wanted to be near him.
Hell, her body wanted a lot more than to just be near him, but it was a good thing she did most of her thinking with her head.
Plus, she wanted answers. The man knew more than he was letting on. If anything, his knowing about her nightmare said it all.
Nicole liked to pride herself in being the sort that wasn’t so easy to read. No way he’d been able to pull the fact she’d had a nightmare out of thin air. Still, it wasn’t like the man could actually jump into her dreams.
The thought floated around a bit more inside her head. It was absurd, but somehow, it just didn’t seem all that crazy.
That was ridiculous. Maybe there was something in the water that could cause hallucinations, and the man knew about it.
Nicole shook her head hard. She needed to stop going off on weird mental tangents. She worked with facts, and right now, she needed a few more before she could tell just what the hell was going on. Right now, the only thing that was certain was that Ted would follow through with his threat eventually, and if she was going to do her duty, she’d best let them know.