Mia

Seven

Pierce

On the couch in their living room—that was nicer than any home I ever lived in, especially more so than my current shithole—we sat with the carton of ice cream between us while the mind-numbing show played.

            What the hell are you doing, Pierce? I questioned myself.  

            My judgment was usually much better than this. The rationalization to check on her was completely idiotic. My hopes that her family would be there were shot to s**t. Or that she would be at the dance recital like the rest of the goddamned school. For some reason, she was home alone. 

            Captain had ripped me a new one after I had worked fifteen straight hours and not had more on the drug case. No matter that I had just wrapped up three other cases. Sure they weren’t nearly as big as this one, but they were still tied up nice and tidy. I told him to get off my back and stormed off. Instead of going home like I should have, I found myself parked down the street from Mia’s house. I had told him I was working my ass off to get leads, but truth be told, I couldn’t focus on anything but Mia. 

            She was under my skin like no one had ever been before. That wasn’t a good thing.

            “Why aren’t you at the recital?” I asked once the ice cream was gone.

            She paused the show as if we might miss something detrimental. “What are you doing here?” was her answering question, which made my stomach clench. 

             “You first,” I told her, watching her posture go rigid.

            “I didn’t feel like it,” was all I got. Like hell she didn’t feel like it. This was her sister’s last recital at the high school. 

            “Bullshit,” I called her out, then shot up from the couch, my exhaustion making my temper difficult to control. “If you’re going to sit there and lie, I’m out of here.” 

            “Well good!” she shrieked, bounding off the couch to get in my face. “I didn’t ask you to come anyway!” 

            My body hurt from the exhaustion alone. Coming to pick a fight with her was not my intention. “Why didn’t you go, Mia?” 

            “Because…because I didn’t want to ruin her night.” Her shoulders sagged, while she studied a spot on the colorful area rug. “I’ve already f****d up plenty for her. She doesn’t need her screwup sister there anyway.” 

            My hands were on her shoulders before I could stop myself. Her stubborn gaze met mine. “You’re not a screwup. I think you’ve just gotten yourself caught up in a shitty situation.” 

            The wall slammed in place, her eyes shuttering. She shoved at my chest, but I didn’t move an inch. “I don’t need coddling.” 

            “Dammit, Mia.” I gripped her shoulders, shaking her a little, which made the anger in her eyes explode. “Why do you have to be so damn stubborn? I’m trying to help you.” 

            “And for the millionth time, I don’t need your help.” She shoved my arms away, and this time I let them drop. “What are you doing here?” 

            “I wanted to check on you!” I shouted, about to rip my freaking hair out. It felt as if she were literally crawling around under my skin. A part of me wanted to claw her out, get her out of my head, but my masochistic side thrived on it, on her presence. “Word around the school was something big was going to happen tonight. I wasn’t sure if you would be involved.” 

            “If that’s the ‘word,’ why aren’t you there busting them?” her voice was barely above a whisper and full of accusation.

            “It isn’t time yet.” I gave her too damn much. Someone who could easily tip them off, let them know how much I knew, was the one person I wanted to talk to about it all. 

            “You’re a cop,” she said like it was condemning me, which maybe it was. I was at a suspect’s house—one I hadn’t even added to my list of suspects—checking on them because I was too soft. Too wrapped up in her. “I can’t confide in you for that reason alone. I can’t expect you to let me off the hook for the s**t I’ve done just because I’m your buddy’s sister, and you shouldn’t come check on me just for that reason either.” 

            “That isn’t the only reason.” I growled, resisting the urge to shake her again. “What If I actually care about you, Mia? The real you. Not the shitty masks you wear.” 

            “Those shitty masks aren’t masks at all; they’re me.” Her face went slack. I ground my teeth together. 

            “They aren’t. You’ve just worn them so long you’re having a hard time finding you. I’ve been there. I know how it feels.” 

            “Like hell you’ve been here. Where I am. You have no f*****g clue.” She went to shove me again, but I grabbed her wrists, still keeping my temper at bay. She was picking a fight in order to keep bashing herself, but it wasn’t necessary. None of her s**t attitude was necessary. She yanked on her wrists, but I didn’t let go. “Let go of me, asshole!” 

            “Mia! Chill the f**k out!” I yelled, yanking her arms to my sides, which brought her so close her chest rubbed against me. “No wonder no one wants to help you. If you call anyone who wants to help an asshole, no wonder you’re still stuck where you are. Lucky for you, my feelings don’t get hurt so easy.” 

            “For the billionth time,” she breathed, glaring up at me, “I don’t need or want help. Especially not from a cop. If I got help from you, I’d be sitting in a cell for a very long time or murdered within a few days for what I know. I can get out on my own, and when I do, no one will be able to find me.” 

            “Mia,” I breathed, suddenly unable to stop focusing on her full lips, her eyes, and the heat of her pressed against me. Those lips were almost too big for her face; a dark blush color, the bottom one a little pouty. They were so perfectly kissable. I swallowed three times, forcing myself to concentrate on what was important. This conversation was important. She needed to hear, needed to understand my intentions. “That’s how I want to help. Not as a cop. Just me. Pierce. I want to help you get out of here.” 

            The helpless whimper that escaped her had me loosening my grip on her wrists, but she didn’t yank her arms away. She rested her hands on my hips, as if she was finally giving in, finally allowing me to help. Staring at her lips again couldn’t be helped. Kissing her to celebrate the epic moment seemed fitting. 

            Her breath hitched when I leaned closer, but I stopped short when our lips were only inches apart, the fog in my mind clearing enough for me to find logic. She cleared her throat, prompting me. “When was the last time you talked to Kai?” I asked without moving an inch.

            The laugh that exploded from deep inside her, her head thrown back, was the greatest sound I had ever heard. Her long hair hung in her face when she pulled back, but she kept her hands on my hips. “You’re bringing up my brother? Right now? Are you afraid he’d beat you up for kissing his sister?” 

            I shrugged with an innocent smirk, knowing damn well he would beat the s**t out of me for kissing her, but it made her laugh again. She reached up and pecked me on the cheek, which still heated my blood to a boil. 

            “I don’t give a damn what my brother thinks about me kissing his best friend,” she whispered against my cheek, causing chills to run down my spine. This was dangerous. She was dangerous. 

            When I pulled back and removed her hands from my hips, her eyebrows hitched up. “Even still, why don’t I help you as a friend for now, and we can just see what happens down the road?” 

            The tears welling up in her eyes, the smile that made them crinkle, probably should have made me feel insulted or incompetent. If I didn’t understand her, they would have. “I think I would really like that.” She nodded before throwing her arms around my neck, her face smothered into my chest. 

            The sobs that escaped her scraped against my soul. Someone finally being let in had caused her dam to break, and I was so glad I was the one. I held her while she wept, moving us back to the couch as she emptied out. And that’s when my heart and soul became hers—they would be for the rest of time, whether or not we ended up together. 

            When she was done, she was on my lap, resting her head on my chest. The hairs framing her face were curling from the tears that had gotten them wet. It made me wonder if her hair was naturally curly the way Ava’s was, especially since I knew their hair color was normally the same, but she bleached hers. Studying the curve of her ears, the shape of her cheeks that were now covered in runny mascara, I couldn’t help but kiss her forehead, causing her gaze to jerk to mine with an angry glower in place. 

            The amount of mascara running down her cheeks almost had me laughing. “That was purely a platonic forehead kiss. But I have to say, I’ve never found you more attractive.” I winked. 

            “My mascara!” she exclaimed, before covering her eyes, hopping off my lap, and fleeing the living room. 

            I made myself comfortable on the couch, trying to ignore the nagging in my mind that kept telling me I needed to get the hell out of there before I did something really stupid. While she was in the bathroom, her phone went off on the cushion next to me. With a quick glance, I saw it was from that prick Kenny. It took everything in me not to be a snoop and read it. I didn’t want to be that guy.

            When she came back, her face was clean and she wore a giant smile that lit up her entire face. “You’re such a jackass.” She laughed before she got to the couch. 

            A pit grew in my stomach when she checked her phone. The smile dissipated. She opened the text. Grabbing her free hand, I laced our fingers together, and her troubled gaze found mine. 

            “What’s it say?” I couldn’t help asking, even knowing from that moment forward, I was aiding and abetting a criminal. Because she was going to keep dealing, she was going to do whatever she had to in order to keep them away from Ava, until she could leave. And that broke my heart. 

            Her eyes squinted, as if she didn’t want to tell me. I squeezed her hand, nodding, and her face softened. “He said, ‘The party is rocking already, despite you bailing. The boss wants to meet you. He’s getting tired of your s**t. I’ll pick you up in the morning.’” 

            The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “The boss.” The man who ran the whole operation wanted to meet her. What if he decides she’s a liability? What if they hurt her in an unimaginable way to get her under control? But the amount of information she could get couldn’t be ignored. This was the biggest area of the case I was stuck on. I had no clue where they were operating out of, and I had no suspects for the leader. How could I risk her that way though, just to get information?  

            Gaze glued to the phone, she chewed on her thumbnail. What was she thinking? I had no clue, but the situation was so real, so dangerous. When she finally looked up at me, her eyes were pleading. “You’re my friend? Or you’re a cop?”

            My job, my career, was at risk. If she chose to confide in me, to give me information that could crack this case I had been working on for months and I did nothing with it, it wouldn’t just be my job on the line. My integrity would be a joke. What I wanted to do and how to go about it were two very different things. 

            “Friend,” fell from my mouth, and I about choked on it, but it was right. It was what was supposed to come out.

            The relief in her entire body was my reward. She needed a friend, since she had no one to confide in with this. Eyes on her phone again, she drew in a deep breath. “I want to tell you everything, but I understand you have a job to worry about. With what I just read, assume what you will. But what should I do?” She gave me a sideways glance. 

            Everything in me wanted her to run right away, to get out of this and get the furthest away from it as possible. “I’m not sure. You do what you need to in order to get yourself out of this. I said friend, Mia, so while I’m here with you, tell me everything. And if you go tomorrow, I will do what I can to keep you safe… as a friend who is also a cop.” 

            With tears in her eyes again, she nodded before telling her story. Every heart-wrenching detail of it. I had to admit, her track record wasn’t great, but that Kenny kid… When she told me about the bruises and the manipulation and the s*x, I decided then and there that his death… his death would last a very long time.

            There was nothing she deserved more than a good friend and freedom from this. When she was done, I wanted to kill a lot of people, but I also wanted to hold her, which I couldn’t do as a friend. Not then, not after knowing her deeper than anyone else. 

            After being quiet for a minute, she took another deep breath. “I thought I could just walk away,” she stated, and I kept my dark laugh in. That never worked. “I’ve made such a big mess of things, and now prom is only a few weeks away, but it also seems so far. I just… I want to leave, and I think you’re right that there’s no right way to do so. But if they hurt Ava or my family because I leave…I can’t live with that.” 

            Shoving all the anger rolling through me to the back of my mind was a must. There was another time and place where she wouldn’t be present that I could let that out. “I will help you figure something out. And I willsomehow be there tomorrow. I’ll find—”

            I broke off when my phone buzzed, showing an incoming call from the captain, one I couldn’t ignore. “I gotta take this,” I told her, and she nodded, but chewed on her bottom lip. “Yeah?” I answered, staying right there on the couch. 

            “Hendricks,” his voice boomed from my phone. “I need you here in an hour. Some s**t was called in on the party. We need to get this sorted out without blowing anything.” 

            “Yes, sir,” was my distant response, since Mia was staring at me with such a worried look it made my stomach hurt. 

            “Yes, sir?” Captain barked. “You up to something? You never call me sir.” 

            My irritation was overwhelming, but I had already raised his suspicions. “Ha. I try being respectful and you ask me if something’s up. I’ll be there in an hour. Bye.” 

            I hung up before he could respond. My heart pounded in my chest at the thought of leaving this surprisingly fragile girl. But when I met her gaze again, her walls were back up. “So I’ll see you at school, Cop.” She smirked. 

            “You don’t have to do that.” I shifted to the edge of the couch in order to face her completely. 

            “Yeah.” She rolled her eyes, and my fists clenched. “I have a show to get back to, so you can see yourself out.” 

            Shoving away from the couch, I towered over her. “Mia, we’re past this s**t. Just because I got a call from work doesn’t mean I changed my mind. That doesn’t mean you can’t trust me.” 

            The dead look in her eyes cut straight through me. “Bye,” she said before turning away from me, looking out the back French doors. 

            My fists clenched and unclenched, my head a mess of regret and uncertainty. How could I get her to trust me if she would close up every time I had to go back to my job? Instead of saying “f**k it” like I really wanted to purely out of spite, I rolled my neck, took a deep breath. “If you go tomorrow, please tell me before you leave with him.” She didn’t respond, didn’t turn to look at me. “Bye, Mia,” I breathed before I left her there on the couch along with all my pride, dignity, and honor, as I was headed to a job I was no longer being loyal to.