Page 7

7

Raining Pigs

I hate myself for wearing this stupid fucking skirt. It’s short, skin-tight, and matches my black long-sleeve shirt, almost making it look like one piece. I am wearing stockings, even if they’re sheer and do shit to protect me from the damp cold blowing in on the ominous grey clouds. I tuck my hands into my armpits. It’s summer. It shouldn’t be fifty fucking degrees, but I guess that's what I get for living in Dayton, Washington, and not somewhere warm and tropical. Here I go again, talking about leaving this place.

I walk up the sleek concrete steps to the police station, doing my best not to slip from the mist forming around me. I’m always punctual, and I look at my watch to see it’s precisely six o'clock as I walk through the double glass doors. The office is empty, which is a bummer because I’d love to see Lucy at the front desk and catch up. Her chair isn’t empty, though; the back of it faces me as I walk in. Upon the door closing behind me, its occupant swivels around to face me. Brick’s grey-brown hair is neatly in place. He pulls off his circular glasses and puts them in the front pocket of his brown blazer. He’s ungodly tall, muscular to a point it almost looks painful. I’m surprised the chair doesn’t collapse under the sheer weight of him.

His eyes scan me intently, running from the top of my head to my boots. He sighs, shaking his head, already disappointed with me and I don’t have to guess why. He stands, and his eyes dart. “Shall we?” He motions down the hall to his office. I nod, following after him. I’m surprised he didn’t say anything about my skirt, even if his displeasure sat in the lines of his expression.

He opens his office door, taking a seat behind his large wooden desk. He folds his hands in front of him, and I don’t miss the veins bulging as if he were straining. His eyes motion to the chair before him, but I pretend to miss it. Instead, I walk around his office, examining the shelves lining the walls. I stop at one filled with books. “Have you read all of these?” I ask.

“Yes,” he replies plainly.

I bend over, reaching for a book on the lower shelf. I’m supposed to seduce him, after all.

He inhales. “Can you fucking sit down?”

I whip around, eyes wide. Yes, he’s always been an asshole to me, but this is a little much. It catches me off guard, and I walk to the seat across from him, plopping down and studying him. His eyes look anywhere but at mine. He appears different than he did moments ago, larger, as if his muscles are about to burst from him. Arm hair pokes out from his jacket sleeve and above his collar. It’s almost like he’s about to shift involuntarily. This just confirms his differentness. It wouldn’t shock me if he were part-werewolf and working for the Hunters. There have been rumors of part-Weres bred solely to take down the werewolf species. Seems counterintuitive to me. Why would they birth the very thing they’re set on destroying? I guess it was never really about eradicating werewolves. It’s about controlling us.

I don’t say anything, an odd gesture for me, just cross my legs, wanting to make him squirm. It’s working. He rubs at his arms as if he’s itchy. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

It shocks me. I don’t reply though, waiting for him to explain more. “It’s just been a long day, and I’m anxious to get home.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

He holds his hands out. “No, it’s fine. It’s fine. Just what did you want to talk about?”

Shit. I actually don’t have much to say. My mission was to seduce him, but I’d been so insistent on meeting him here, and now it seems he’s eager to get home. This isn’t working in my favor. “I wanted to apologize for showing up at the crime scene and for my behavior.”

He raises an eyebrow and looks me in the eye for the first time since I arrived. “That’s not very like you.”

Dick. I shove away my annoyance. I lean forward, resting my elbows on his desk. I mean it to be casual and sexy, but Brick pulls back as if being close to me repulses him. God, he must really fucking hate werewolves. Or maybe it’s just me. “With everything going on with the missing women, I just have been stressed, and I realize that taking it out on you isn’t the answer. We need to work together if we want to find the missing girls and bring justice to the ones that were slain.”

“Right.” He clears his throat. He doesn’t question me about the missing girls. Grimm said the police washed their hands of the disappearances, claiming they ran away. I wonder if Brick is one of the officers who agrees with this notion. He doesn’t deny that women are missing, as if he knows they are. If I weren’t already suspicious of him, my alarms would be blaring right now.

“Is that it?” he asks, squeezing the life out of his hands again. Maybe I should be nervous around Brick. Clearly, he’s about to jump out of his skin just from being near me. If he’s working with the Hunters, he could be a threat to me, especially with his otherness. We’re alone in his office with no one else in the building. He could kill me, but he’d be stupid to do that. It would be too messy.

“Um,” I try to think of something else to say. I don’t have a date lined up with him, and I seem to be doing a piss-poor job to get him to like me. I need more time.

He stands with a sigh. “Like I said over email, this could have been an email. You’re wasting my time.” He walks to the door as if to show me out. I can’t take it anymore. I pop to my feet. “Why do you have to be such a dick?” I yell.

He laughs. “There we are. It was starting to freak me out with how unlike yourself you were being.”

“I’m trying to be nice and turn a new leaf. Why do you have to make this so hard?”

He steps toward me. “Carmen, we do not get along. We are two different people. There’s no need to turn a new leaf. We can just avoid each other.”

My mind replays all our interactions in the past. Sure, I got on him about putting away the people who have killed Weres. I’ve been pushy and angry, but I still don’t understand why he hates me so much. Obviously, he must hate werewolves if he’s working with the Hunters, but I’ve seen how he interacts with the other Weres in our pack. He’s never as hostile to them. “Well, guess what. You’re not getting rid of me. I don’t understand why you hate me so much, but I will do whatever I can to make you like me.”

“What? Why would you do that? Carmen, you don’t like me either.”

I step toward him, even as he backs away. This is not my usual approach. I never have to corner a man to get him to like me, but it’s all I have left at this point. “Maybe I do like you, Brick. Maybe I want to spend more time with you.” Our chests touch. He looks down at me, his eyes heavy and confused. I don’t turn away from his gaze, getting lost in his smoky eyes. I’ve been this close to him before, but something feels different, familiar, and new at the same time. The moment stills, my heart beats quickly, waiting for what he’ll say next. He moves in, a fraction of an inch closer, but then something washes over his face, and he moves around me. “I don’t know if you have a personal vendetta to screw every single officer in the station, but I don’t want to be a part of whatever game you’re playing.”

His words chill me to my core. I knew he always had an issue with me sleeping around with Straw and Wood. Has he been jealous all this time? Or does he just think I’m a slut and doesn’t want to get tangled in my web? Suddenly, all of this seems so stupid. I don’t need to seduce Brick. This was a horrible idea, and for what? To be verbally assaulted? I don’t need him to save those girls. I’m done.

I walk toward the door, ready to slam it behind me, but the lights shut off, and a downpour of rain sounds around me.