Page 4 of The Chaos She Brings

Uh. “No?”

He rolls his eyes, strides in, and shuts the door with a quiet thud behind him.

I trail after him like a nervous puppy unsure of what to do next, while he takes in my apartment like it’s a piece of abstract art he’s trying to decode.

“So… Carina says you’ve handled this kind of thing before?” I ask, sounding like I’m trying to convince myself more than him.

“You could say that.”

He starts pulling out various bottles from a bag like he’s about to pour them all into a cauldron and magic the body away.That would be pretty cool to see actually.

“You going to just stand there and look pretty or help me?” he asks, not even looking at me as he starts wrapping the body in some thick tarp.

“You think I’m pretty?” I can’t stop the blush heating my cheeks.

His head whips up and his gaze slowly drags down the whole length of me. My stomach tightens at the intensity as his eyes blaze with a heat for a moment before it’s gone and his head drops back down to focus on Jake’s corpse.

“You’re beautiful. But that’s not exactly the priority here.”

He thinks I’m pretty!

I mentally roll my eyes.You have a dead body to deal with Tess—your boy…ex-boyfriend's body to be precise. Do not lust after this man.

“Right. Yep. Okay. How can I help, Sergeant?” I stand up straight and give a little salute.Nice one.Thank God his head was down so no one witnessed that little embarrassment.

“We’re going to have to rip up your carpet. There’s no salvaging that. But this,” he hands me a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, “should get the stains out of your sofa. Spray it on, then leave it for twenty minutes before wiping it off.”

I start spraying each splotch of blood, praying to any god that will listen that he’s right. After the twenty minutes are done, he hands me some paper towel to dab it with, then a microfibercloth to wipe away the excess. Low and behold, my cream sofa actually looks exactly as it did before.

A knock sounds through the flat.

We both freeze, looking at each other with wide eyes. I’m almost at the point of panicking when Carina’s voice calls through the door, “It’s just us.”

I run to it, throwing the door open and colliding into Carina as I wrap my arms around her.

“You came!”

“Duh. Did you think I would just send Kai? It took longer than expected because we had to find someone to look after Cupcake.”

“Cupcake?” I ask, pulling back to raise an eyebrow at her.

She waves a hand at me. “We got a dog. It’s not important right now. How are you doing?”

Nate steps inside and does one of those half man hugs with Kai then holds his fist up to me, which I obviously bump.

“I’m okay. I’m feeling pretty calm about it,” I tell Carina, turning back to her.

She studies me, tilting her head, brow furrowed. “You really are okay.” She grins wickedly. “We’re more alike than I realised.”

I stare at her open mouthed. “Whoareyou?”

She waves me off once again, surveying the scene. “Alright, how can we help?”

Kai starts barking out instructions which Nate and Carina follow without complaint. Scrubbing surfaces, scooping up bits of brain.

They’re like a well-oiled machine.

It’s both impressive and terrifying.