Page 7 of Watch Me

It was my turn to balk. Ethan had shocked me with his question because I’d never thought about the dead bodies. It had been years since I thought I’d go down the crime scene investigating path, and sure, I knew there would be dead bodies, but I hadn’t considered the fact that in the near future I was going toseedead people.

I shrugged. “I guess so.”

Ethan pulled a jug of apple juice out of the fridge and then turned to a cabinet for glasses. He chuckled. “You better know so.”

“What is it like?” I asked, moving to a barstool at the kitchenisland.

He paused with his hand on the cap of the bottle. “I think it depends on the person. For some, it’s gross. For others—like me—it is what it is. But the smell is disgusting. It’s the foulest thing in the world. I can’t even describe it.”

“Oh.”

“Each one gets easier to deal with, but killing someone and watching them take their last breath is the real deal.”

“That happened to you? You’ve killed someone?” Again, I was playing dumb. There was no way I was going to tell him that I’d looked him up because a part of me had always longed for him. My heart still ached as I thought about how we’dended.

Ethan sighed and then opened the juice before pouring us each a glass. “Actually, it happened right behind you.”

Time stood still as I processed his words. I blinked. “What?”

He slid a glass to me and then leaned forward, resting his elbows on the gray granite. “My sister was almost kidnapped. I happened to come over just in time to see the guy pointing a gun at her boyfriend. Before he could shoot, I did.”

“Wow,” I breathed, still processing the fact that the man he’d killed had died not ten feet from where I sat. I knew he had killed a person; I just hadn’t realized I was in the room where it hadhappened.

“Yeah, but you won’t be shooting people, so you don’t need to worry about those nightmares. Which part of investigating are you going to get your certification in?”

I took a sip of the sweet juice. “Forensics.” There were several types of investigators: forensics, photography, ballistics, DNA and blood analysis, and crime scene reconstruction. I wanted to gather and preserve physical evidence at crime scenes and then go back to the lab and analyze it, run tests on fibers and hairs, and help solve thecases.

He grinned. “Then maybe we’ll work crime scenes together.”

“Maybe, but I need to find a job first.”

“I might be able to help with that.”

I smiled. “Really?”

“I’m sure I can. I know people in this town.” Hewinked.

The very first person I gave my heart to was sitting across from me.

The same person who first broke my heart, and the person who still carried a piece of it after all these years. When I’d thought about seeing Reagan again, I always thought I would turn the other way. After all, she’d ripped out my heart and never looked back. But when I saw her at Judy’s, all those thoughts went out the window, and then she was in my condo, drinking my apple juice as if nothing had ever happened.

I didn’t hate her. It was the complete opposite. I …

I still lovedher.

A part of me always had. They say you never forget your first love, and that was definitely true. Just the thought of Reagan walking out my door and never coming back again was messing with my head. I needed to prolong the reunion even though it was getting close to one in the morning, and I had to be at work in less than eight hours. I wasn’t ready to let her leave mysight.

“I’m sure I can. I know people in this town.” Iwinked.

“A job at your precinct?” sheasked.

“Maybe. I’ll see what I can find out.”

“I just have to get through nine more weeks of school.”

“Maybe I can be your study buddy?” I proposed. “I do know all about crime scenes.”

Reagan smiled. “You’d do that for me?”