“Rinda, what did you say to Carly while I was on the phone?” Derek confronted her as soon as Carly dashed out on him.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t say anything. She was crying over Nick, that was all.”
“And why would she be crying over Nick? What did you say to her?”
“God, Derek, why do you need to know? Are you still in love with her or something?” She sighed, exasperated.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. I’m sorry if I hurt you by saying that, but what we’ve been doing these past few weeks has just been sex. It’s been fun, but that’s all it was.”
“No, you can’t be serious!” She protested.
“Rinda, I need to know what you said to her!” Her grabbed her arms and posed a look of pure intimidation. He was a cop; he was very good at knowing how to get information out of someone, especially when they didn’t want to give it.
“Alright, alright!” She said, pulling her arms free. “God, if you must know, I just told her that Nick called me this morning and told me he was sleeping with her but he wanted me back and I told him no.”
“But that wasn’t true!”
“I know. I lied to her. I was so mad at her for stealing Nick away from me.”
“She didn’t steal him away—he broke up with you because you became too clingy and I know the feeling so I’m breaking up with you, too!”
“How can you do this to me?” She whined.
“How can I do this to you? How can you do this to Carly—your supposed best friend! Look, Rinda, it’s been fun but I was trying to find a way to break up with you before this happened and now you just made it easier for me.” Derek was fully dressed now and was walking towards the door.
“Wait! I love you!” Rinda was pulling at his arm, sobbing, desperate to keep him.
“Love? You don’t know the meaning of the word! Now, let go!” Derek pulled free, walked towards the door and then stopped and turned around. “How did you know about Nick and Carly anyway?”
“Rhonda from your work told me…” she whimpered, crying.
Derek didn’t say another word; he just walked to the door, opened it and slammed it shut behind him.
Rinda crumpled to the floor in a mass of tears, feeling sorry for herself. She lost him. Damn, why did she have to tell him everything? Because he pulled it out of you, you twit! She had no one but herself to blame for her current situation, but she wasn’t ready to admit that yet…
“Hey, Carly!” Nick sounded so cheerful.
“Hey. Where are you?” Came Carly’s not so cheerful reply.
“I’m at Brian and Leighanne’s house. They invited us for dinner, can you come?”
“Tell them thank you, but I will have to decline.” Her tone, however, was less than cordial.
“Carly, are you okay? You sound… upset.”
She chose not to answer him. “I’m at my house in La Verne right now and I’m supposed to be at work at 2:00. Is there any way you can drive out here and meet me at this restaurant called Rochambeau’s in a few hours? It’s a nice French restaurant I like and I thought maybe we could have dessert there and well, talk.” There was a definite accent on the word “talk” and Nick wondered what that was about. Had he said or done something wrong? Not that he knew of. He had thought he had done things right with her so far or at least lately. Last night and this morning had been wonderful and he had been hopeful she would be ending her relationship with Derek to commit herself to him. He had to admit he was falling in love with her. He would never have thought it was possible before, but now it was a definite possibility and he hoped she returned the same feelings. Maybe the break up didn’t go well or didn’t happen at all. Maybe she decided to stay with Derek. All kinds of thoughts ran through Nick’s mind as he tried to appear calm and not let on that he was falling apart.
“No problem. Just tell me what time.”
“Um, is 10 o’clock too late? I know it’s a long drive from Hollywood, but since I have to work I can’t drive out there…”
“Carly, I said it was no problem. I’ll Mapquest the restaurant and meet you in the lobby, okay? Sweetheart, I hope everything is okay. I’m really looking forward to seeing you tonight.”
Her heart was breaking. She suspected that Rinda had been lying to her and that Nick had not made the call and said those things, but not only did she have to find out about that, but she had to sort out her feelings for Nick and Derek. She knew what she wanted now; she wanted to get married and have a baby, within a year, year and a half anyway and was Nick the man to do that with? She didn’t know, but she intended to find out.
During Carly’s drive to work, she thought about Rinda and her actions today just as she had on her drive home from Nick’s house. She still didn’t know what to think. She and Rinda had been friends since high school—for 11 years now and although they sometimes fought like any friends would, she had never seen the deception and meanness her friend had displayed at her house today. She was downright nasty to Carly, spitting out accusations and spouting lies; she had to be lying—Carly was almost sure Nick hadn’t made that call and that it wasn’t “just sex” with them. It was pure and utter jealously on her friend’s part, which was so uncalled for. She didn’t need to be jealous of Carly—a so-called good girl from a small town who didn’t measure up to her in the looks, job or social department. Oh, wait, maybe it was spite for sleeping with Nick behind her back. And she had no right to be pissed about it since she was sleeping with Derek almost nightly! She and Nick had only done it three or four times in the span of a month; she was sure she and Derek had quadrupled that. What a bitch! And the more Carly thought about it, she became more furious at her friend’s actions. Suddenly, she didn’t consider herself having a best friend anymore. Well, yes, actually she did. She smiled. Nick was her best friend; at least she hoped he would be that and more.
She pulled into her spot in the La Verne Police Department parking lot. As Carly walked through the double doors of the station, passed through security and walked into the Records department where she worked, she found herself face to face with Derek. He looked like he had just gotten on duty since he was grabbing his clipboard from the watch commander.
“Hi.” He smiled at her.
“Hi.” She said back. They were both dressed in their uniforms. Of course, Derek was required to wear one for his job, but she was as well. All the office and dispatch staff had to wear the same type of button-down blue shirts and either slacks or skirt with a belt and a nametag. Carly was dressed in her shirt and skirt tonight. Derek had always told her he loved when she wore the skirt because it showed off her long, sexy legs. Carly blushed now as she thought about that. They walked by each other and continued on their business. Damn, she hadn’t thought to look at the schedule to see if Derek was working tonight. Lately, they hadn’t worked together; they had opposite shifts, but he must have either been filling in for someone, asked for the shift or switched to nights. She wondered what which of the three it was.
An hour before Carly was due to get off work, she finished typing another report and walked down the hallway to send some paperwork down the chute to the jailer. Just as she was turning to walk back to her desk, she felt a hand move down the small of her back, landing on her waist and tugging at her belt. She smiled. It could only be Derek. He was the only one who would ever try something like that in the hallway; other cops would have liked to, but they didn’t dare.
“What are you doing?” She turned, smiling at him.
“Come here.” He took her hand and pulled her down the hallway and outside. Carly knew where he was taking her; they had been there a few times before; it was the storage room just outside of the jail. It was usually unoccupied and was the perfect place for a rendezvous. Carly remembered the first time he had taken her there. It was two years ago; she had only been working at the PD two weeks, but there was already an attraction forming between them. Flirting, fun banter, glances, laughter, interesting conversation. Derek finally got the nerve to sneak her into the storage room to make out with her. Carly ditched her usual prim and proper attitude for him; allowing herself to be swept away by her intense attraction and growing feelings of love for Derek.
Derek pulled her into the storage room and closed and locked the door. He moved towards her and kissed her. Carly knew she shouldn’t let him; this was wrong; but they were after all technically still a couple… she allowed his lips to press passionately against hers, reveling in the feel of the kiss, but when his tongue snaked into her mouth, she pulled away; reality dawning.
“Derek! No!” She stepped backward, putting a hand over her mouth.
He looked down momentarily. “Carly, I’m sorry. What can I say? I’m still in love with you. Rinda and I are over. I broke up with her today. If it takes me the rest of my life to make it up to you, I will. Baby, will you marry me?”
Damn him, he was proposing again! She stood there speechless.
“Wait. Don’t say anything until you see this.” He pulled a ring box out of his pocket and handed it to her.
This was so surreal. What frickin’ bad timing though. She had wanted for so long for him to do this very thing and now he waited until she was in love with someone else to do it. Suddenly, it was as if the ring box was burning a hole in her hand.
“No! I can’t! Here, take it back!” She pushed it back into his hand.
“Don’t you want to at least look at it?”
Carly turned her back to him. “No, no, I don’t. Damn you, Derek!” Tears were welling up her eyes. This was supposed to be happening; not like this.
Derek was grabbing her arms and spinning her around to face him.
“Baby, I love you. I want us to be together as man and wife. I thought this was what you wanted.”
“It is! I mean, it was! How dare you propose to me now when I’m with someone else?! Why couldn’t you have done this weeks ago?”
Derek looked down at the velvet box in his hand, rubbing a finger over its soft exterior and then shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess, I… I didn’t know how good I had it. Car, I took you for granted and I’m so sorry. I promise I will never do it again.” He pleaded.
“Derek, you don’t understand. I was going to break up with today. I’m falling in love with Nick so I can’t marry you.” She was proud of herself for being strong because this was so hard. She still cared about him; probably still loved him.
Derek put the box back in his pocket and said, “Oh.” His heart sank.
“I’m sorry, I really am.” Carly squeezed his arm as she walked past him, ran out the door and outside. John Carlyle was walking towards the jail and saw her upset state.
“Hey, Carly, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks.” She ran back inside the station. That was just what she needed; John to walk by at that precise moment. John was eight years older than her and two years ago right after she and Derek stated dating, she developed a crush on him. He was a detective and she admired him. It was short-lived since she soon fell in love with Derek, but he was still in her thoughts sometimes and she wondered what it would have been like to date him.
Carly walked into her boss’ office. Robert Murray was the Police Sergeant and he was also the man who had hired her. They had a very good working relationship and she looked up to him and admired him greatly.
“Robert, do you mind if I scoot out early tonight?”
Sgt. Murray looked up at her and nodded. It was a slow night anyway.
“Sure. Is there anything you want to talk about?” She looked like she had been crying.
“No. I’m good. Thanks a lot. See you later.”
Carly grabbed her purse and ran out of the station frantically, completely forgetting she had left her “street” clothes in the locker back at the station. It wasn’t until she was getting out of her car in the restaurant parking lot that she realized her faux pas. Oh, shit! she thought. Well, it’s too late now. She had wanted to so badly to get the hell out of the station before Derek approached her again and tried to change her mind. She had been strong then, but she didn’t know how long she could remain that way.
As she made her way towards the restaurant’s front entrance, Carly heard a bunch of women giggling, chattering and screaming. What the…? Suddenly she spotted Nick standing near the entrance signing autographs for a few very excitable women.
“Oh, Nick, thanks so much! I just love your music!”
“Oh my God, I’ll never wash this again!”
The women gushed. Oh – puleasseee!!! Carly thought, shaking her head. God, someone shoot her if she ever acted like that. But suddenly she laughed out loud when she realized she was exactly like those women or at least she used to be; not just when she was younger, but as recent as four weeks ago when she had first met Nick.
Nick and the women turned to look at the cause of the laughter. Carly clamped a hand over her mouth, red with embarrassment. Oops, she didn’t mean to be that loud or that obvious.
Nick’s face lit up a huge smile. “Oh, sorry, ladies, but I have to go. It was nice meeting all of you.”
Audible groans could be heard coming from the women as they walked towards their cars. Whispering and giggling could be heard until car doors slammed and car ignitions started. No doubt they were wondering who the “mystery laughing woman” was.
Nick and Carly walked towards each other very slowly as if savoring the moment when they would be together plus the fact that they were both hoping the witnesses would leave soon.
“Well, good evening, Officer. Do you want to arrest me?” Nick said once they were finally standing right in front of each other. He was trying to keep a straight face, but looked like he was about to crack up at any moment.
“Yeah, as a matter a fact I do. You’ve been a very bad boy.” She said, smiling, deciding to play along.
“I’m sure I deserve any punishment you feel you need to give me.” He said, holding his wrists out for her to cuff him.
Carly grabbed his wrists, pulled him to her and then reached around and playfully spanked his ass with both hands then squeezing his luscious bottom.
Nick laughed. “Ooh, nice. I like it.” He bent to kiss her passionately, grabbing her derriere as well.
Carly broke away, laughing. “Easy there, stallion. We still need to go inside.”
“But you said we could have dessert.” He said innocently.
“Wrong kind. Maybe later. Let’s go.”
“You are all business, aren’t you?” He smiled. Actually, she was. At least for now. She had some serious things to talk to him about.
“After you.” Nick said, opening the door for her. “What’s with the uniform?”
“Oh!” She laughed. “I was in such a hurry to come meet you that I forgot to change.”
“But you’re early.” Nick frowned. Something was up with her.
The hostess greeted them and was able to seat them right away. She smiled at Nick and Carly thought, oh no, not another autograph request. She wasn’t in the mood. But she just seated them, handed them menus and told them their server would be with them shortly.
“Do you mind if we sit at that table over there instead?” Carly asked, pointing to a table way in the back in a private corner by itself. Nick raised an eyebrow, but Carly ignored him and was glad when the hostess agreed to her request and reseated them.
Menus laid face down on the table as Nick reached over to her, took her hand and said,
“Am I going to like what you’re going to talk to me about?” Carly looked at him and wondered how to begin…
Chapter 9
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