Trust Me .(25)

It’s going to be another long, sleepless night.



*****



It’s Wednesday morning, and I’m starting to get nervous for Friday night which pisses me off. I don’t get nervous - ever. I’ve always been comfortable around girls, even back in high school. I haven’t seen or talked to Avery since I left her house Saturday night. I don’t know if she has a sitter lined up for our date or not. Does she even want to still go out Friday night or did she just answer me in the heat of the moment without really thinking it through? While I wait for Jake to finish writing up a traffic ticket, I grab my phone from my pocket and shoot her a quick text.

How’s it going?

She replies back instantly.

Good. You?

I watch her brother out of the corner of my eye and fire back a reply.

Good. Still want to have dinner Friday night?

She doesn’t reply right away and I start to worry that maybe she has changed her mind. Not that it would be bad because honestly, it would probably be for the best. But hell if I don’t want to see her again.

Sure. I have Holly lined up to watch Brooklyn.

I smile at her reply. So, she’s got a sitter lined up. She does want to go out with me. I type a quick reply as I see Jake approaching the squad car.

Great. I’ll pick you up at 6pm. Dress casual.

I drop my phone back into my pocket as Jake slides into the passenger seat. “She was hot. Ended up with her number,” he says with a big wolfish grin.

As we pull away, Jake asks, “So, since we’re on this weekend, you wanna grab some take-out and watch the Bulls game on ESPN Friday night? It’s supposed to be a good game.”

Crap. He must sense my hesitation and comes back quickly with, “Dude, do you have a chick lined up for Friday night already?”

Another hesitation, and as I stare at the landscaping passing by the window as I drive, I finally say, “Yeah.” It’s all I’ve got for him. My mouth is as dry as the Sahara, and I feel like my lie by omission is surely written all over my face.

“Damn! You’re holdin’ out on me? She must be smoking hot if you didn’t even tell me you have the night lined up. Afraid she’s gonna take one look at me and wonder what the hell she’s doing with you?” he teases.

At this point in the conversation, sweat is starting to gather on my brow and it isn’t due to the heat of the day. He has no clue how smoking hot she is. And I obviously can’t tell him. I hate lying to him. I never lie to him, but I can’t tell him about this date. Not this time. So I change the subject back to safer territory, and we start talking about the hardware store break-in from this morning.

“You think that break-in was an inside job?”

“Could be. No sign of forced entry. Alarm turned off. No camera action. Sounds either like an inside job or the work of pros who did their research and knew exactly what they were doing,” he replies.

“Yeah, a quick break-in just doesn’t sit right with me either. Captain Edwards has a few guys working hard on this one. Peterson Hardware is his brother-in-law’s place. He’s gonna be on us hard to solve this one and fast.”

As we pass the BP gas station down on the corner of Adams & Main, Jake takes out his cell phone, pushes a few buttons and puts the phone to his ear.

“Hey, sis, whatcha doing?” Hearing those words come from his mouth has me pull the wheel slightly to the right. I overcorrect when I realize I’m heading towards the sidewalk causing us both to whip around in our seats.

“Shit, Maddox. Learn how to fucking drive,” he says to me with a glare. “Sorry, kid. Maddox just tried killing us in the squad.”

I can only hear his side of the conversation, of course, but I hear him tell her he’s “fine”.

“So, I’m on this weekend which means I won’t be at Sunday dinner. How about Friday night dinner with me? I can grab some take-out some place and come over and hang with you and Bean for awhile.”

My heart rate is beating double time as I wonder what she’s gonna tell him. I wait with bated breath for the blow that I’m sure is coming.

“Really,” he says in a flat tone. “You have a date? Who the hell with?” I can’t hear what she says, but obviously she didn’t tell him the truth because I haven’t felt his fist connect with my jaw.

“Do I know him?” Pause. “Well, I wanna fucking meet him, Avery!” Another pause. “Maddox has a damn date Friday night, too,” he says, not able to hide his irritation. And now I’m practically shitting in my pants. The car starts to feel like it’s closing in on me as more sweat breaks out on my upper lip. “Fine. I guess I’ll catch you on another night off. I want to meet this guy. Soon. I wanna make sure he understands what will happen if he messes with my baby sister.” He listens to her for a few more minutes and finally signs off.