Ask Me If I Care (SWAT Generation 2.0 4)

Ryan cursed and turned his gaze onto me, looking thoughtful.

“Sorry, buddy.” I shook my head. “Let me stop that thought right there.”

Ryan sighed. “Shit.”

He turned around and left without another word, leaving Hayes and me standing there watching him go.

But he’d never let go of my hand, and I hadn’t stepped away from him to put distance between us.

“Booth’s kid is sick?” I asked curiously once Ryan got into his truck.

Hayes looked down at me, his intense blue eyes finding my own.

“Yes,” he answered. “Something about the stomach flu.”

I grimaced. “That’s going around the school, too. I saw about eight cases of it heading to the nurse’s office across the hall today. It’ll be a miracle if I don’t get it.”

He looked as if he wanted to say something in response to that, but his radio that’d been almost silent the entire time we were in the station squawked.

“All units be advised. We have a suspected homicide at the corner of Filly Road and Route 333.”

I pulled my hand away.

“Have fun at work, Hayes,” I said softly, taking a step backward.

He watched me go until I was nearly at my car.

And only when I opened my door and was about to drop into it did he say, “It’s not fake!”

No, I was beginning to think that it wasn’t.

Something that was fake didn’t cause feelings like the ones that were practically tearing through me.Chapter 7I wonder if tacos think about me, too.

-T-shirt

Hayes

I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing, but I found myself doing it Monday morning despite having my mind tell me that this wasn’t a good idea.

I hadn’t seen her all weekend.

We’d texted, of course, but it hadn’t been enough.

I’d wanted to see her.

Badly.

But with her being out of town for a work conference, all of my careful planning was out the fuckin’ window.

I was going to stop by her house that Friday night. Get her to ask me inside. Then kiss her after spending a couple of hours with her.

Only, Thursday night she’d casually mentioned that she was driving to Oklahoma the next morning for a conference.

And then hadn’t texted that much after that because she’d been busy.

Which had sucked.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what it was about Ares Downy that had me so enthralled, but she definitely had me captivated.

Which was why I found myself at the school with lunch Monday morning, hoping that she would have the time to talk to me.

That, and like Luke had wanted, I was showing my presence.

That it happened to be what I wanted was a bonus.

Walking in through the front door, I smiled at the old office lady.

Mrs. Teague.

She saw me coming and immediately opened the glass doors that locked automatically to keep the students separated from the public.

“Hello,” I said. “I’m going to see Ms. Downy.”

Mrs. Teague nodded. “You remember how to get to her office?”

Not really.

Last time I’d been guided by the shouting.

This time I had a vague guess of where I was going, but wasn’t altogether sure that my guess was correct.

“I do,” I lied.

She punched a button beside her desk and the glass door that led into the inner sanctum of the high school opened automatically.

Walking out and in the direction of where I kind of remembered Ares’ office being, I stared down any student I saw.

And there were a lot of them.

Was it between periods or something?

There weren’t this many last time I was there, and there’d been a fight that had entranced a whole crowd of them.

One kid in particular looked at me with an unamused expression on his face.

So I decided to approach him.

“Hey, can you tell me where Ms. Downy’s office is?” I asked nicely.

His eyes narrowed. “What do I get if I tell you?”

You won’t get your jaw popped.

Instead, I tilted my head and said, “The appreciation of a police officer that could probably kick your ass if he coughed on you.”

Okay, so my inner thoughts and my outer thoughts weren’t that far from each other.

But there was nothing more that I hated than a little smart-mouthed kid.

The kids around the student started to laugh, and one broke off and walked out past his friends. “Her office is that way. First door on your right across from the nurse’s office.”

I grinned and winked at the kid. Then, without thinking about it, I reached into my bag and pulled out a couple of tacos.

“Thanks, kid,” I said, handing them over.

He took it with a megawatt grin taking over his face.

“Fuck yeah. Thanks!” he said as he immediately opened one up and started to eat it.

The kid that refused to give me directions glared, and I could feel it all the way down the hall.

Grinning, I started off down the hall toward where he’d said her office was, and poked my head into her office.