Chapter Six

 

 

Jake

“My last babysitter gave me chocolate all the time,” Darren said. “I did everything she said because of that.”

I looked over at Chloe, who was standing nervously in the living room, holding her purse close to her chest. She smiled down at Darren despite her nerves.

“You’re in luck,” she said. “I love chocolate too.”

“Not too much chocolate,” I said, too tired to even argue with Darren. All morning I had tossed and turned, trying to get Chloe out of my thoughts. I caught Chloe’s eye. “Don’t let him bully you into giving him more sugar. We had a discussion about this before you came over.”

Darren stuck out his tongue at me. He immediately bounced back over to the couch to grab the book we had been reading together before the doorbell had rung.

“Chloe,” he said, grabbing a hold of her hand, “let’s read this book together. My dad doesn’t like it.”

“Sure,” Chloe said. “Just give me a minute with your dad, okay?”

He pouted. “All right.”

I grabbed a hold of Darren’s shirt before he could shoot up the stairs. He squirmed underneath me when I hugged him tightly, my heart lifting at the sound of his laughter. He had been devastated when I’d told him Hayley wouldn’t be able to watch him anymore.

“Good night, buddy,” I said, pressing my lips to his hair. The smell of his fruity shampoo filled my nose. “Bedtime in ten minutes. I mean it.”

“Fine,” Darren sighed out dramatically.

He slipped out of my arms to run up the stairs. I listened to the patter of his feet across the hardwood floors before turning to look at Chloe. She smiled timidly.

“If you need anything,” I said, holding out a piece of paper with my cell and office numbers, “call these numbers. I always answer at least one of them.”

“Right,” Chloe said. She glanced at my bulletproof vest curiously. “Are you a cop, or—”

“I work for the police department, but I’m not a police officer,” I said.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I pulled out my wallet to take out a one-hundred-dollar bill. Chloe waved it away when I offered it.

“Pay me tomorrow,” she said. “What is it that you do exactly?”

The last thing I wanted to do was discuss what I had to watch every night. The Internet was an abyss of horrible and dark and twisted things that normal people didn’t think about on when they logged onto their social media accounts on a daily basis.

“I work for the cyber-crime unit here,” I said carefully. “I work on the Internet all night to catch criminals.”

Chloe’s eyebrows shot up in understanding. “Oh. That makes perfect sense then why you are gone at night all the time.”

“You noticed I was gone every night?”

“Well, sort of.” She flushed brightly before turning to look at the bookshelf. “Do you mind if I read a book once Darren is in bed? I lost all of mine.”

“Go for it,” I said, and I didn’t push the conversation further. I took in her tanned and long legs that were noticeable because of the shorts she wore. How would it feel to have those wrapped around me? I stirred in arousal at the thought. “Okay, have a good night. I have to get going.”

I didn’t give her a chance to reply. I gathered my keys from the hallway end table. The hot summer air didn’t help the fact that my skin already felt hot and flushed from imagining Chloe wrapped around me. I wiped away the sweat gathering at the nape of my neck. I needed to do something to release this tension brewing inside me. It was only for a few days until I found a permanent babysitter.

The phone didn’t ring once. Five o’clock rolled around without a word from Chloe. I pulled up into the driveway ten minutes after, wary of what I would find. The smell of freshly brewed coffee caught me by surprise when I walked through the front door. Shutting it quietly so as to not stir Darren, I walked through the dark hallway to where the kitchen light was spilling out.

“Morning,” Chloe said. She stood behind the kitchen island, nursing a cup of coffee while scrolling absently through her phone. “I didn’t expect you to be back before six.”

“I try to get back early to get a shower in before taking Darren to school,” I said. “Do you mind if—”

I pointed to the coffee pot behind her.

“Oh,” Chloe said. “Here. Let me pour you a cup.”

While she poured a cup of coffee, I undid my bulletproof vest with a sigh of relief. I draped it on the back of a dining chair. Chloe held out the cup for me to take. Her fingers brushed against mine briefly. The softness of her skin sent a tingling sensation up my arm. Her blond curls were damp. Gone were her tight shorts (thankfully), and instead she wore a pair of loose sweatpants that hung low on her narrow hips. Her tank top left little to the imagination, though, from her perky breasts to her flat stomach.

“Thanks,” I said, retreating to put space between us. “How did Darren do throughout the night?”

Chloe smiled warmly. “He’s a gentleman. I didn’t hear a peep out of him at all once I told him it was time to go to bed.”

“Good,” I replied, nodding. I took a long sip of coffee to fight of the exhaustion that clouded my brain. A hot shower with Chloe in mind sounded good, but I fought it off. The last thing I needed to do was release myself with thoughts of Chloe. I cleared my throat. “Thank you again for taking care of him while I find a babysitter.”

“No problem.” She tapped a finger against the rim of her mug anxiously. “I’m still looking for a job right now, so if you need me longer than a week, I’m free.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.

Silence stretched between us. My body ached everywhere. I downed the rest of my coffee before setting it on the kitchen island between us. I pulled out my wallet to hand over a one-hundred-dollar bill.

“Thanks,” Chloe said, tucking it into the pocket of her sweats. “I actually had a favor to ask of you since you’re obviously well trained in self-defense and everything else…”

She trailed off a bit uncertainly. That piqued my interest long enough to put off having a hot shower.

“What are you getting at?” I asked.

“There is a person in my life who isn’t necessarily a good person,” she said a bit timidly. “I was wondering if you possibly teach me some self-defense tactics or how to use a gun.”

A sharp coldness settled in my chest.

“If you’re in danger—” I started, but Chloe cut me off smoothly.

“I was in danger,” she said. “I just want to be able to protect myself in case something comes up again.”

“I’m not buying it,” I said shortly. “What is going on for you to want a gun?”

Chloe’s eyes flashed defiantly. “Does it matter to you?”

“It certainly does. Owning a gun is a huge responsibility, one that I suggest you think long and hard about. It can end someone’s life.”

“Never mind,” Chloe said. She set her coffee cup down on the kitchen island. “I’ll be over tonight to watch Darren if you still need me. If not, you know where I live.”

I didn’t call her back. The front door shut quietly a moment later. I walked to the kitchen window to watch Chloe cross the front lawn before disappearing behind a few shrubs. That coldness in my chest melted away. Was he that dangerous? Years of working behind detectives and my fellow officers told me that he was dangerous, whoever Chloe had in mind. She’d done the right thing by moving away, but I didn’t want to see her end up with the emotional scars I carried close to my heart. Watching the life flicker away from someone’s eyes took a toll in a lot of ways. I’d seen it a few times, and I never wanted to see it again. Sidney had never understood why I had chosen to fight from behind a computer screen. “You shot people in the head before,” she had said. “Why fight it this way?”

The morning light spilled in through the curtains. I headed upstairs for a long hot shower before I started the process of getting Darren up for the day. The floorboards groaned beneath my feet as I treaded as quietly as possible to the privacy of my room.

The window was open still. I hesitated in closing the curtains as I always did. Instead, I hunched down to see Chloe collapsing in her own bed. She reached out to wrap her arms around a pillow, holding it tightly to her. It didn’t take a genius to see that she was crying.

I stood up with a sigh. Closing the curtains, I headed straight to the shower. I couldn’t help her as much as I wanted to.