Page 17 of Best Friends

Startled, I almost choke on the bite of banana I’m swallowing.

Amanda gives Cheyenne a curious look as she stops in front of us. “I thought you were sick, Carrick?” Her tone is vaguely accusing.

I gape at her wordlessly for a few moments, then stumble clumsily to my feet. “Oh, hey, Amanda,” I say lamely.

“So, how is it you had to bail on our date last night because you were sick, but you’re fine running in a marathon the next morning?” Amanda crosses her arms and I can just picture her at the front of her class, chastising students.

“Wait. You bailed on your date?” Cheyenne frowns. “I thought you stayed up really lately partying with Malcolm.”

My face warms. “Uh…”

“Nope. He left early.” Amanda squints at me. “We were all having a great time, but then after dinner, Carrick went home because he wasn’t feeling well.”

“Really?” Cheyenne gives me a puzzled look.

“I… I really wasn’t feeling g… good,” I stammer. “But when I woke up I… I felt much better.”

“Hmmm.” Amanda taps her foot. “Seems fishy.”

“It’s not fishy. I’m serious.”

Her angry expression slips a little and hurt shimmers in her eyes. “You know, if… if you just weren’t interested in me, you could have just said that.”

The pain in her eyes makes me feel like an asshole, and before I even realize what I’m doing, I blurt, “Gosh, no. That wasn’t it at all. In fact… I… I planned on calling you today to see if maybe you’d want to go out again some time.”

“Really?” She sounds happy and her cheeks tint pink. “You were going to call me?”

“Of course. I felt awful bailing on the date.” While that’s a hundred percent true, I have absolutely no desire to go on another date with Amanda.

I’m only making things worse by lying to her, but she looked so upset, I panicked.

I feel Cheyenne’s gaze but I sure as hell don’t look at her.

She now knows I lied about staying out late last night.

“I feel so much better.” Amanda laughs. “I didn’t know what to think when you just left like that. I mean, Malcolm was great and all, but the night definitely didn’t turn out how Cecilia and I had hoped.”

“No, I’m sure it didn’t.” I feel a pang of annoyance, remembering how Malcolm had admitted Cecila and Amanda tried to lure him into a threesome. If I’d remembered that sooner, maybe I wouldn’t have felt so guilty about Amanda.

Too late now.

Amanda shifts her curious gaze to Cheyenne. Around us people are still hugging and congratulating each other on finishing the race. Someone is making announcements over the loudspeaker.

I clear my throat. “Sorry, I forgot to introduce you two. This is my friend, Cheyenne. Cheyenne, this is Amanda.”

Cheyenne smiles politely. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Amanda murmurs, but she looks uncertain.

I shift uneasily. “Cheyenne and I are partners.”

“Oh?” Amanda frowns.

Cheyenne laughs. “ Work partners.”

“Right. Sorry.” I grimace and meet Amanda’s relieved gaze.

Amanda brightens. “Oh, so you two are both cops? How exciting.”

“Yep, we’ve been partnered three years now,” Cheyenne says.

As Cheyenne and Amanda chat, I study Amanda.

She really is very pretty. Her red hair is pulled up in a ponytail, and she’s wearing a form-fitting pink tank top that cups her full breasts.

White shorts mold to her perky ass, and her legs are long and tanned.

She’s definitely sexy. Yet as I run my gaze over her body, I feel absolutely no stir of desire for her.

All I want to do is escape and seek out Malcolm.

“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” A big voice boom to the side of us.

Glancing over, I find Harlan Smith and Jeremy Brooks, two of my least favorite co-workers from our precinct.

Harlan gives Amanda a leering look, and he elbows Jeremy muttering something under his breath.

Even if I’m not interested in dating Amanda, I bristle at the way they’re looking at her like a piece of meat.

She’s a nice girl and I happen to know they’re both jerks to the women they date.

I notice both men have numbers pinned to their T-shirts. “You guys ran in the marathon?” I ask, hoping to distract them from ogling Amanda.

Harlan snorts a laugh. “No, we just like walking around with big numbers plastered on our chest.” He shakes his head. “Of course we ran. We did really well too. We were in the top ten.”

“Wow,” Amanda says.

“Nice job.” I don’t bother sharing that I barely made it over the finish line. These goons would love ragging me about that.

Cheyenne meets my gaze and I know exactly what she’s thinking. She dislikes Harlan and Jeremy as much, if not more, than me. They’re misogynist assholes who don’t think women should be cops. They also don’t mind letting every female cop know that.

“I’m surprised you two lazy bums got off your asses to run for charity,” Cheyenne says.

Harlan glances at her. “Why? I like dogs.”

“Sure you do,” murmurs Cheyenne. “From what I’ve heard you are a dog.”

“Oof.” Jeremy guffaws. “She got you there, dude.”

Harlan’s cheeks flush and his eyes glitter with irritation. “You’re always so nice to me, Cheyenne.”

She shrugs. “You reap what you sow, dude.”

Amanda seems oblivious to the tension. “So, you guys are cops too?”

“Yep.” Jeremy puffs out his chest. “Protect and serve, that’s what we do.”

I can’t help laughing and that earns me a scowl from Harlan.

“Hey, I think I saw you out with Malcolm last night.” Harlan glances between me and Amanda. “You were both there with some other chick.”

“Yeah, we had dinner.” I force a smile.

Amanda sighs, smiling at me. “We were on a double date. Unfortunately, Carrick had to go home early. He didn’t feel good.”

“You bailed on your date?” Jeremy bugs his eyes.

Harlan cackles. “No way. That’s lame as fuck.”

My face warms but I don’t bother responding. No matter what I say they’ll mock me. Might as well not give them ammunition.

“It’s okay. If he didn’t feel good I understand why he had to leave,” Amanda says, linking her arm with mine. “Carrick’s going to take me out again sometime to make up for it. It’s all good.”

Harlan eyes Amanda’s breasts. “Well, if he doesn’t come through, I’ll take you out, sweetheart.”

Amanda laughs nervously. “Oh, thanks.”

“In fact, what are you doing tonight?” Harlan asks, giving her a salacious look. “You like to dance? We could hit that new club The Lemon Drop.”

Amanda moves closer to me, and I don’t blame her. Harlan is literally undressing her with his eyes. Also, the way he just asked her out in front of me feels pretty disrespectful.

“What do you say?” Harlan pushes. “Want to go out tonight, babe?”

“I can’t,” Amanda mumbles, looking flustered.

“No? Why not?” Harlan lifts one dark brow.

Amanda gives another nervous laugh. “I… I just… have plans, that’s all.”

Harlan leans toward her. “Oh, come on now. Let me take you out. We’ll have a blast, I promise.”

Angry at how pushy he’s being, I say, “She said no, Harlan. Read the room.”

He gives me a dirty look. “Why don’t you butt out, Carrick?”

“No, you butt out.” Feeling protective of Amanda, I add, “And she can’t go out with you tonight because she’s going out with me.

” The minute the words leave my lips, I regret them.

They were purely designed to make Harlan back off, but Amanda doesn’t know that.

She’s going to expect me to take her out now.

Obviously.

Amanda brightens immediately and she smiles up at me. “Yeah, that’s right.” Her fingers grip my arm. “I’m going out with Carrick tonight.”

Harlan’s eyes darken but he just laughs. “Don’t know what you see in him, but okay, sweetheart. Maybe some other time.” He elbows Jeremy. “Let’s bounce. I need to take a shower.”

They walk off and Cheyenne glares after them.

“God, those two are a menace.” She rolls her eyes. “They truly think they’re God’s gift to all females.”

“They really are dicks,” I mutter.

“Good thing I have plans with you, Carrick. That guy didn’t want to take no for an answer.” Amanda laughs. Her fingers are warm on my arm and her sweet perfume fills my nose. She doesn’t seem to mind or even notice how sweaty I am, or that I could definitely use a shower.

“Careful,” I joke because I’m uncomfortable about her touching me. “You shouldn’t get too close. I smell like a camel.”

She smiles. “Oh, I like a manly smelling man.”

My face warms and I laugh. “Then you’re in luck because I reek.”

“So,” she says softly. “Where should we go tonight?” She flutters her lashes. “I’m game for anything.”

“Tonight?” I repeat, trying to think of how the hell to get out of this mess I’ve created. All I want is to spend the evening with Malcolm. But now I’ve got myself in a bind just because I felt protective of Amanda.

As our eyes meet, her happy expression falters. “Unless—” She pulls her hand away. “Did I misunderstand? Are we not going out tonight?”

I’m sure I look like a deer in the headlights as she stares at me.

I have no desire to go on a date with Amanda.

All I want to do is go home and spend the remainder of my day off with Malcolm.

But when I look closer at Amanda, I see a shimmer of vulnerability in her eyes.

I know instantly that she expects me to reject her.

Seeing that makes me feel horrible. I stupidly got her hopes up. I can’t just bail on her again .

“No, we can go to dinner,” I say, forcing a smile.

It’s my fault I’m in this mess, not hers.

I completely led her on. It doesn’t matter that my intentions were good, I’m playing with her emotions.

I need to figure out a way to let her down gently.

I’ll keep the dinner very casual and then I’ll make up some excuse about being hung up on my ex.

That excuse works pretty well usually. It’s not as personal as an outright rejection.

Amanda’s smile returns. “Whew, you scared me there for a minute. I’ll give you my number.” She rattles off her phone number and I do my best to memorize it.