We stopped in front of a bare door to what I prayed was the ladies’ room. “Who’s Potty John?” I had to know.
Blue grinned. “One of the local drunks. He gets hauled in here all the time and the guys put him in one of the interrogation rooms to sleep it off.” He cleared his throat. “He has a tendency to, uh… piss himself.”
I laughed but quickly slapped a hand over my mouth. Nothing about this night was funny.
Blue got an angry look on his face and gestured to the door with his chin. “I’ll wait here.”
I nodded and rushed inside to quickly do my business. At the sink, I ran cold water from the tap and splashed it over my face after I washed my hands. Using a paper towel, I dried my skin and then wiped up the raccoon eyes my mascara had given me.
I felt bone tired. Not just bone tired, but weary. I knew it was the reason I felt so emotional, and damn, if looking at Blue wasn’t making it worse.
I wanted to go home, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen for a while.
After glancing at my less-than-stellar reflection in the mirror, I gave a sigh and trudged to the bathroom door. Before pulling the handle, I stood up and pulled my shoulders back. I might be exhausted and scared, but I wasn’t going to show all the men out there that.
Blue wasn’t in the doorway like I thought he would be. He was a few feet away. His back was turned and he was speaking to a few nearby men in uniforms. Judging from their expressions, he wasn’t saying very nice things.
One of the officers who arrested me looked up, noting my reappearance. Blue stilled, said something, and the officers walked away. They didn’t go far, though, stopping at the end of the hallway and watching me.
Like I was a criminal.
Something inside me snapped.
I glared at them. “Y’all are a bunch of idiots!” I spat. “You’ve done nothing but waste everyone’s time tonight.”
Blue was at my side instantly, wrapping a warm palm around my elbow. “Julie,” he murmured.
I glanced at him, anger bubbling up inside me like a soda that was shaken up too much. “Don’t.” I growled. “Don’t you dare tell me to shut up. That was nice compared to the things I’m thinking about them.”
I swear his lips twitched. “I wasn’t going to tell you to shut up. You can yell at them all you want.”
“Thank you.” I sniffed and resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at the men in the hall.
“Come on,” he said, tugging me gently and leading me down the hall and past the officer’s on my shit list.
“I am not going back in that room,” I said, dragging my feet.
“That’s not where we’re going,” he replied calmly. He led me into a private office with a desk and all the usual office furnishings. The most interesting thing in here was a half-dead plant. Once I cleared the threshold, Blue shut the door behind us.
“Are you going to interrogate me now?” I asked a little bitterly.
He didn’t say anything, but I felt his penetrating sapphire stare. He took a step forward. Then another. He came so close that I could feel the heat off his body and smell the scent that seemed to be his calling card. His chest rose and fell evenly with his relaxed breathing. He was wearing the same leather jacket he wore the other night, and the gray knit cap was on his head.
I was ready for the barrage of questions. I was ready for him to ask for my statement.
I was less prepared for his arms.
He wrapped them around me, pulling me tightly against his chest. Basically wrapped himself around me, making me feel small. In that moment, if I would fit, I would have let him put me in his pocket.
I buried my nose in the soft fabric of his red T-shirt, wrapping my arms around his middle, beneath the leather of his coat. His palm came up to stroke the back of my head, and I felt the brush of his lips on the top of my head.
“I’m sorry.” He murmured, rocking us both a little. The swaying motion was oddly comforting.
“What’re you sorry for?”
“That it took me so long to get here.”
“How’d you know I got arrested?”
“You asked for me, didn’t you?”
I snorted against his chest. “Yeah. But after I asked for you, they pretty much left me in that pee-ridden room to rot.”
He chuckled. “They knew they screwed up. Soon as they told Watson who they arrested, he contacted me.”
I glanced up. “But how would he know who I was?”
He kissed my forehead. “Because I told him.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “You matter.”
It was a simple two words. They carried so much weight. I felt tears well up behind my eyes.
“You matter too,” I whispered.