Alpha Hero - Hope Ford Page 0,82

actually see myself with her.”

He jumps up. “Well, then you have to tell her. You have to let her know that nothing happened. Find a way to make her believe it.”

I just shake my head. “No, there’s no way. She’s not going to believe me.”

He pats me on the back. “If you like her as much as you say you do, then you don’t have a choice, Baker. You’ll have to figure this out or you’ll go crazy.”

Heather

I wake up to knocking on my door. I would ignore it, but I hear Jamie hollering for me. I don’t want to see her right now and I don’t want to hear more about her night, but I know I shouldn’t take it out on her. She didn’t know.

I unlock the door and open it for her to come in and I walk back to the kitchen to heat up some water. Tea. I need tea. It always calms me.

Jamie looks like she was up all night and I can’t help but wonder did Baker go back over to her house after I wouldn’t answer my door last night.

“I’m so sorry, Heather. If I’d known you liked him, I would never have hooked up with him.”

I cringe when she says ‘hooked up.’ I don’t respond for the longest time until she pleads with me again. “Really. I promise. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t hurt you like that.”

I nod my head at her. “Really, it’s no big deal. Let’s not talk about it, okay?”

I finally get her talking about something else. She talks about going out tonight, but I turn her down.

“Please, come on, Heather. You haven’t gone out with me for so long and we won’t go to the same bar where I met him last night,” she pleads with me.

I wonder why she’s not saying his name. Maybe because she’s worried that it will upset me even more. I almost turn her down again, but then I remember that I’m supposed to go out with Baker tonight. I don’t want to spend the night with him knocking on my door if he has the balls to show up. “Sure, let’s do it.”

Jamie looks taken aback, but jumps up and down, clapping her hands together. “Great, can you be designated driver?”

I agree. I never drink anyway. I might as well.

When I finally get her out the door, my thoughts go to Baker. I just don’t understand someone like him. He went to a lot of trouble to try and prove to me he wasn’t looking for just a one-night stand. I try to shake the thoughts out of my head. I don’t want to waste any more time worrying about him. I should be glad I found out now instead of later.

6

Heather

It’s been a week now and Baker hasn’t given up. He’s shown up at the precinct, out on some of my calls, and at my apartment.

I told myself not to, but every time he comes to the apartment and I don’t answer, I watch to see if he goes over to Jamie’s. He never does.

He’s even somehow got my partner Luke on his side. “I’m telling you, Heather. You know how Jamie can be, especially when she’s drinking. There’s something not adding up with her story.”

I just shake my head, pointing at the street where he needs to turn. “There’s the road. Why would she lie about it? She has no reason to lie.”

We’re pulling into a club downtown, about to go in and serve a warrant. It’s someone we’ve had dealings with before. He’s harmless, but it looks like he has some unpaid parking tickets.

“Heather, are you listening? Or not wanting to admit I could be right about Jamie?” he asks again.

I know what he’s saying. Jamie can be pretty out there at times, but I still don’t think she would lie to me like this. She saw how upset I was.

Instead of answering him, I try to change the subject. “How about Carly? I didn’t know you had it in you – dating a millionaire, huh?”

He just shakes his head. He’s tried to play it off, but I know he was getting pretty serious with her. He’s upset that she lied to him and I get it, but from what all I’ve heard about her, there’s something not right about it.

Shaking my head, I can’t help but think we’re a pair for sure. We both have love problems. Love? Where’d that come from? I definitely don’t love Baker.

Luke grabs the