Playing Dirty(26)

When he finally pulled away, I was shaking with desire. I wanted him right then and there, no matter what the consequence.

“Can I have your number?” Jay asked, looking up at me with a wink. “Please?”

“Of course,” I said. I typed it into his phone and handed it back to him. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Jay texted me while we were still sitting in the car. “So now you have mine in case you need it,” he said. “I had a great time, Kate.”

I blushed a deep pink. “I had fun too,” I said. As I climbed out of the car, Jay pulled me back by the wrist and crushed my body to his again, and his lips pressed urgently, his tongue searching my mouth. I felt myself barely able to cling on to reality, and as I broke the kiss, I was aware of myself panting. Pull yourself together, Kate, I thought. You can’t act like a freakin’ schoolgirl around him!

As I climbed the stairs to Lizzy’s apartment a moment later, I felt dazed. Earlier, Lizzy had said she was going to be out studying with uni friends of hers till quite late tonight, which was good—I wanted to be alone for a while so I could take a nice, long bath. But when I opened the door, I saw the apartment was in complete disarray.

“What the hell?” I mumbled under my breath as I gazed around. Someone had definitely been inside, and someone had been rifling through my stuff. Panic clenched my heart in a vise grip and made it difficult to breathe. What the hell was going on here? Who would break in, and why would they want to go through my belongings?

“Hello, operator?” I said into the phone a moment later, my voice quavering slightly. “I need the police.”

As I told the operator the address, I texted Lizzy about what had happened, and then I texted Jay. ‘Someone broke into Lizzy’s apartment. Can you come back? If it’s not too much trouble.’

I knew he wasn’t my boyfriend, and I had no right to expect him to do anything for me. And really, I didn’t expect him to do anything at all—I just thought it was worth asking, because he was the only person I could think of who might make me feel safe in this moment. That was crazy, right? We barely knew each other. But deep down, I could feel it; a warmth inside whenever I pictured him by my side, a warmth that told me I’d be safe.

My phone buzzed a second later, and I breathed a grateful sigh of relief as I scanned Jay’s reply text.

Of course. I’ll be there.





Chapter Nine

Jay



As soon as Kate texted, I turned my car around and raced back to her apartment. The idea that someone had broken in was crazy, yet I didn’t doubt her. She didn’t seem like the type of girl to invent a crisis just for attention. I knew she had to be feeling on edge from Hannah’s article, and I hated that I’d left her alone. Stupid prick, you should have walked her inside, I told myself angrily. But no, you just had to drive off.

I shook my head. I wasn’t used to being a total gentleman, and that was definitely something I was going to have to work on for Kate’s sake.

The police arrived at the same time I got back, and we climbed the stairs together. One of the younger lieutenants kept looking up at me and then wildly gazing around whenever I caught his stare.

“Is it really you?” He stepped closer and looked at my face. “Jay Walsh?”

I grinned. “The one and only,” I said. I reached out my hand for a shake and he eagerly accepted. “I take it you’re a fan?”

“The way you kicked those Liverpool scumbags out of the park was amazing,” he said with a grin. “Way to go, mate.”

I felt a trace of self-consciousness wash over me, and Lizzy opened the door at that exact second. When she saw me again, she gaped.

“You came back fast,” she said admirably. “And thanks for coming,” she added for the cops. “My sister is inside. She’s pretty scared. I have no idea who would have done this!”

Kate was sitting on the couch. She was wrapped up in a blanket but I could tell that she was trembling even from a few feet away, and as the cops started to question her in a brusque tone, her voice broke and she buried her face in the blanket.

“Hey, leave her alone,” I said harshly. “It isn’t her fault. She doesn’t know who could have broken in.”

“This is standard policy, Jay,” the younger cop replied, but I noticed he was nicer to Kate after that.

“Ma’am, can you tell us what happened?”

Kate looked at Lizzy and me for encouragement. I nodded, and she swallowed, then began to speak. “Well, I just got home a little while ago,” she said softly. “And I noticed the door was unlocked when I got back. I figured Lizzy had left it undone on purpose.”