Officially Over It - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,5

me to take my shit with me this time.

Based on where I lived, with the scum of Kilgore who paid much more attention to doing drugs than doing a job, I usually tried to follow my instincts.

Sadly, my instincts were screaming at me to go grab my computer and my jewelry box. So that was what I did.

Running back inside, I shoved my computer into my large tote bag that I used as a purse and grabbed my jewelry box and shoved it in there as well. I did pause to slip out the diamond ring and shoved it into my pocket, though.

Yes, my dress did have pockets.

It was the best thing about my dress.

I arrived back outside to see Sierra staring down at the man near my car, her eyes narrow.

“Don’t,” I murmured as I touched her hand. “It’s not worth it.”

“That guy just made a drug deal. Right in front of me.” She paused. “My brother’s a cop. My dad’s a cop. My uncles are cops. I can’t believe I just saw that.”

I could.

“Darius isn’t afraid of the cops,” I admitted. “The one and only time that I called the cops on him for what I saw, he only moved his operation more into the open so that I could see better what was happening. When the cops showed, he was long gone. But he made sure that I could see him every time from then on.”

She sighed and walked with me down to the car, studiously ignoring the man that didn’t bother to move from his too-close position.

“Now,” Sierra said as she got into her own car and waited for me to get into mine. Once we were both in with our windows rolled down, she said, “Take care tonight. Let me know if you need anything, and even if it’s just to talk, I’m okay with that.”

She knew what and who I was dealing with today.

My anxiety at having to be at a large event such as that one was already making my hands go clammy.

But it was also seeing Nathan that had me calming down just a little bit.

Despite my feelings on the man, and his feelings toward me, he wouldn’t let anything happen to me.

“Thank you so much for the help, Sierra,” I said, touching my now beautifully styled hair. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

***

Two hours into the event, I got my first glimpse of him.

He was wearing a three-piece suit.

And, he was wearing it very, very well.

I rolled my tongue back into my mouth and tried to disappear deeper into the side of the room.

When I next looked up, he was gone, but the imprint of himself he’d left in my brain was not gone.

In fact, it was going to be burned into my psyche for days and weeks to come.

I groaned and turned my eyes back in the direction of the door, my curiosity keeping my gaze firmly there.

I wanted to know if my uncle Michael would show up.

I hadn’t seen him for a few weeks after he’d gone on a cruise with my aunt, and I missed him.

But I never saw him, and sadly, I looked like a total loser just sitting there on the side of the room, so I forced myself to walk around as if I had a purpose instead of being lost and bored.

An hour after that, I got my first up close and personal view of Nathan.

“Nathan.” I nodded my head, trying to appear as aloof and unaffected as I usually did.

Nathan’s eyes scanned me from head to toe, and I had to beg my nipples not to show themselves off.

It worked, but only because Nathan’s lips curled up as if what he saw displeased him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, sounding just as unaffected as he appeared.

Not good to see you. Not wow, you look great. Not even a hello. Just a ‘what are you doing here?’

“I planned the event,” I said as I continued past him. “Have a good night.”

Nathan caught my arm before I could leave.

“Don’t be rude, Reg. Reg, this is one of my fellow SWAT team members, Saint.” Nathan dropped my arm as if it’d burned him.

I glared at Nathan, then did the polite thing by offering my hand to Saint.

He took it with a grin.

“Nice to meet you,” I said at the same time he did.

We both had a good chuckle at that, and I found myself scooting closer to him and away from the very unhappy man