Fries Before Guys (SWAT Generation 2.0 2)

His eyes went to Derek.

“Then maybe you should let him take care of you for a little bit,” he suggested, his eyes once again moving back to me. “He’s gone to bat for you already today. I’m fairly sure that he’d do anything at this point. Even yell at his chief of police father in the middle of a crowded police station.”

With that parting comment, he left the room quietly.

His shoes didn’t even squeak on the tile underneath of him.

I watched him go, wondering what in the hell his spooky thing was all about, when Derek’s big body filled my vision.

“You’re not checking out an old man’s ass, are you?” he asked.

He actually sounded kind of pissed, too.

“Ummm,” I hesitated. “One, the man is hot. It doesn’t matter how old he is. B, I was watching his feet as he walked out. He didn’t even make a sound, Derek.” I paused for a breath. “Thirdly, what in the hell was he talking about you going to bat for me?”

Derek sat where Lynn had vacated, his body practically looming over mine.

Lynn was a big man, but not nearly as big as Derek.

His knees were almost touching my own.

Then again, there were things that Derek did to me that were just so much more intense just because he was Derek.

Like look at me.

Talk to me.

Breathe.

Things like that.

“A, you need to learn how to count. B, the man is wayyyyy older than you. C, I was fucking pissed after you kicked me out of your hospital room. I might or might not have lost my shit.” He looked at me so intently that my breath caught. “I’d had a really long day, and my dad hadn’t answered any of my phone calls. And he’s my dad, not the chief of police. No matter how professional I really should be acting in front of him.”

I agreed wholeheartedly with him.

My dad was a cop and all, but he wasn’t a cop when it came to me. Ever. He was my dad.

My mom was much the same, though we hadn’t had the type of relationship that my dad and I had.

I loved her dearly, but since I was a little girl, she just wasn’t my person. My dad was my person.

“First, I’m allowed to find older men attractive,” I told him, eyes narrowing. “B, I’m on drugs right now, so you can’t take what I’m about to say to heart.” I gave him an eyebrow raise, and he rolled his eyes. “Furthermore, I find you attractive. You’re older than me. Is that a crime?”

“I’m older than you, yes. But I was at least born in the same time frame as you. He was born in a different century,” he countered. “And was that what had you kicking me out of your room earlier? You kicked me out, and that kind of bothered me.”

“Kind of?” I asked teasingly. “Enough to yell at your dad in front of his police station?”

He shrugged. “It is what it is, to be honest. And yes, I was pissed. But it was a compound type thing. I’m fucking furious with Rachel. Furious even more that she thinks she did nothing wrong.”

My brows rose. “The cop chick who stopped by said that she wasn’t treating this like it was a big deal.”

He rolled his eyes.

“That’s Ashe. She’s my cousin.” He paused. “And Ashe is right. Rachel thinks that this’ll all go away, and it won’t. She’s going to be charged with attempted murder, and even if she gets off on the charges in a court of law, she’s still going to have a record. And that record’s gonna keep her from getting jobs. Plus, she’s eighteen, so it’s not even something that she can get away with as a minor.”

I smiled then, happy for that thought.

“She’s made my life a living hell,” I told him. “It all started in ninth grade when I showed her up during a math lecture of all things.” I shook my head. “I think the final tipping point was me saving her boyfriend from death—at least, my decision to donate my mother’s organs, which then in turn saved her boyfriend, anyway. And since she’s so popular, she can get the other kids to join in because they’d rather be popular than do the right thing.”

He handed me the bag of food with more fries and said, “Eat some more. You missed lunch.”

I pulled out some French fries and started snacking on them, stopping when I realized I didn’t have a drink.

“Can you go ask for more water?” I asked softly.

Derek didn’t miss a beat as he stood and walked to the door. “Just water? No juice? Coke? Sprite?”

I scrunched up my nose. “Unless you can magically produce sweet tea, then no. I’d rather drink water.”

He frowned. “I was going to get tea from the store, but I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I just skipped it.”