Wanting Us Read online

  “I do miss him working with us in narcotics but he’s probably glad he doesn’t have to do the paperwork anymore.”

  “Did you see his face when he got to leave with his unit after everything was under control?”

  “He was basically throwing it in our faces that we had to stay and catalog everything and he got to leave.”

  “Four hours of cataloging. It still surprises me the number of drugs that are stored and transported from Raleigh.”

  “This job definitely makes you realize how messed up the world is.” Caleb takes a drink of his beer. “I’m glad this work week is over. I can’t wait for a few days off and when we go back on Tuesday we’re back to days.”

  We tap our beers together and take a drink. “Yeah night shifts are always rough and you had four this week.”

  Caleb groans. “Don’t remind me. Why did I want to take a vacation again?”

  “Because you’re a good cop that needs a break.”

  Caleb places his hand on my shoulder. “Aww.”

  I shove him off of me, laughing. “Did the chief give you any grief about helping Liz on Monday? That situation isn’t really about narcotics.” I remember the chief pulling Caleb into his office after we got back from logging all the evidence from the warehouse.

  “I’m not even sure he even noticed. But I doubt he would have. You know him, he’d understand that I was helping you out.”

  “Good.” I take a drink feeling relieved that I didn’t get my partner in trouble over a personal matter. “What are you up to the next couple of days before we switch back to days?”

  “Sleeping mostly. I’ll probably meet some friend’s downtown tomorrow night if you want to join.”

  I’d really like to see Liz but that’s probably not going to happen. “Yeah. Maybe I’ll meet you.”

  The bartender returns with our burgers and my stomach growls reminding me I haven’t eaten since this morning when we got off. A hockey game starting on the tv catches my eye as I eat. Watching the game reminds me of all the Hurricanes dates Liz and I went on and how excited she would get at the games. I unlock my phone and stare at her smiley face, wanting to text her something.

  Liam: I miss our hockey dates

  No, I can’t send that, so I delete it.

  Liam: Are we friends yet?

  Nope.

  Liam: Hi

  “Who are you talking too? Is it a steamy conversation between you and a lover? Maybe the very attractive and available brunette that needed saving a couple of days ago.” I lock my phone without sending it.

  “Shut up man. And Liz is off limits. Drew wouldn’t let you get near Mack. Do you think he’d want you anywhere near his twin sister?”

  “He let you near her and we all know how that ended.” I wince at the slight stab and Caleb realizes he said the wrong thing. “Sorry man.” Caleb tilts his beer towards mine and I tap them together letting him know we’re okay. “Speaking of Drew, where is he?”

  “Running late like always.” I look around the bar and it seems the crowd has doubled since I arrived.

  “Well before he gets here let’s talk about Liz and what’s going on between the two of you.”

  That snaps me back to Caleb and he’s drinking his beer looking at me like I need to spill all the details. “There’s nothing going on. I haven’t talked to her since Monday. She asked for time and I’m trying my best to give it to her. But it’s hard because now that she’s back I just want to start where we left off.”

  Caleb stares at me like he’s trying to figure out what I mean. “So, you want … to date her again?”

  I shrug my shoulders like I don’t know. “I want to get to know her again. I’m not going to lie and say I just want to be her friend. Right now, I just don’t want to be a stranger to her anymore.”

  “I don’t know her but I don’t think you were ever a stranger to her. She’s not going to need much time. Maybe you guys should have the girls over for dinner?”

  “Have who over?” Drew walks up behind Caleb and me patting our shoulders. “Sorry I’m late.”

  Drew waves the bartender over and orders a beer and a burger when he sits down on the other side of me. “Mack and Liz.”

  He seems confused by the suggestion and Caleb has no problem filling him in. “Liam is trying to get in Liz’s good graces again.”

  Drew narrows his eyes at me like he’s trying to figure out what I’m up to. “Oh really. And them coming over will do that?”

  I shrug and point to Caleb. “It was his idea and it couldn’t hurt.”

  Drew’s face completely switches and a huge smile forms on his face. “It’s a good idea. I haven’t seen my sister since we moved her out. We should do it Sunday night.”

  Okay that was easy. I wonder if Drew would be okay if I started dating Liz again? Not that it’s going to happen. “We can order Chinese because we both know we can’t cook.”

  He nods in agreement. “Perfect. I’ll text Mack.” Mack? That’s strange. Why is he texting Mack over Liz? Since when is Mack actually talking to Drew? I shake off the thought and get excited about seeing Liz again. Hopefully she’s had the time she’s needed because I’m ready to be around her again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Liz

  “It’s just dinner.” I look at my smoky eye shadow and light blush in the mirror giving myself a pep talk about seeing Liam tonight. The thing is, I’ve had crazy sex dreams about Liam ever since I received his text Tuesday. And when Mack basically skipped into my room Friday night informing me that we were going over to the guys place for dinner, I’ve had to repeat this phrase to myself ever since.

  I’m afraid that the want I feel for him is going to show all over my face as soon as I see him. I can’t have him thinking I want to get into his pants, even though I do. We need to be friends only because as soon as sex is involved, feelings start and that didn’t end well last time.

  “It’s just dinner.” I say one more time taking in my purple razor back tank top and dark skinny jeans.

  “Are you talking to yourself?” Mack walks in wearing a knee length red dress that hugs her hips and then flows out.

  “At least I don’t answer myself.” I smile at her through the mirror and take in how steamy Mack looks in her dress. “Ooo.” I start fanning myself. “Is it getting hot in here?”

  She does a twirl for me with a huge smile on her face. “I know right!” She walks up behind me and fluffs my hair. “Are you going to curl your hair?”

  “I wasn’t planning on it. It’s just dinner with my brother and Liam. Not a date.” I’m proud of myself on how confident that sounded.

  “Of course it’s a date.” I whip around surprised because she didn’t mention it being a date Friday. Mack looks confused by my reaction. “When a guy is making or paying for dinner, it’s a date.”

  Okay so the guys didn’t call it a date. I let out a breath letting Mack think whatever she wants. “So what? You’re on a date with Drew and I’m with Liam.”

  She shrugs her shoulders like it’s no big deal. “Why do you think I wore this dress? Drew needs to see how hot I can be.”

  “I’m not on a date with Liam. And Drew knows how hot you are. He’s just stupid for not appreciating you. Your new guy will.”

  She pulls out my curling iron and gets to work on my hair. “Fine, no date. But you need to look hot so Liam will have dirty dreams about you like the dreams you’re having about him.”

  My eyes go wide with shock and my cheeks redden from embarrassment. “Mack! You promised me that we’d never mention that.”

  Mack looks around like she’s looking for someone. “What? It’s just us here. And you’re getting no shame from me.”

  I take a deep breath. “I know. I just don’t want to think about them right before I have to see him.”

  “What? Do you think you’re going to jump his bones on the kitchen table as soon as you see him?” Mack looks very amused with herself.

  “Nooo. I just don�
�t want him to read it on my face and think it’s something I want.”

  “But it is.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “I only want us to be friends.”

  Mack rolls her eyes at me like I’m being ridiculous. “Good luck with that. You aren’t having those dreams just to stress yourself out. You’re attracted to him so take advantage of that.”

  It’s not that I haven’t thought about it, it’s just not me. “I can’t do casual sex and if I did it wouldn’t be with my ex that I loved with all my heart.”

  “Okay, but I think you should consider it if the dreams don’t go away. I’m getting tired of you waking me up around 2am walking around the apartment because you can’t go back to sleep after your wet dreams.”

  “You’re gross.” I scrunch up my face at her as she finishes my hair and unplugs the iron. I run my fingers through the curls loosening them as Mack wraps her arms around my waist and rests her chin on my shoulder looking at me through the mirror. “You look sexy. Now you just need to wear your date night black heels, not those work flats.”

  Looking down at my basic black flats that I wear to work every day, I thought these would be perfect since it’s just dinner. “My shoes aren’t going to matter. They’ll come off as soon as we get there.”

  “Yes, but it’ll be long enough for them to picture us wearing nothing but our heels.”

  Not wanting to argue with her, I walk over to my closet and change my shoes. Looking at myself one more time in the mirror, I take in how great I look. I’d be okay if Liam wanted to picture me naked. “Are you wanting Drew to picture you naked?”

  Mack pulls me by the arm from the mirror to the front door so we can leave. On the way to my car, I shake the previous thought from my mind because this is only dinner. “I just want him to remember what he pushed away a couple of months ago.”

  “Still a little bitter?”

  “Not at all.” Yeah. Okay.

  When we get to the guys apartment, Mack fluffs her hair and I chuckle to myself as I knock on the door. Liam answers wearing a collared golf shirt and jeans looking good, with Drew standing behind him. The way Liam is looking me over and Drew is drooling over Mack, I realize Mack was right about how the guys would react to us. These guys were definitely not expecting us to show up looking this great.

  Liam’s eyes finally make it up to mine and the smile on my face holds no shame at how much I like him looking at me like that. His smile matches mine and he moves to the side to let us in. Mack walks in first giving Liam a quick hug before moving to Drew.

  The door closes behind me as soon as I step in and Liam pulls me into a hug. My arms wrap around him and I hold my breath trying not to smell him and the amazing aftershave he’s used since high school. I can feel Liam breath against my ear and it sends a shiver through me that I hope he can’t feel. “You look hot.”

  A blush forms on my cheeks and I step out of his arms needing separation. “Thanks. You’re looking good too.”

  He smiles at me and my knees go weak. Needing to get myself together, I look to Drew who is staring at Mack over by the kitchen bar. I shake my head slightly, walk over to him, and pat his cheek making him turn to face me. “You’re drooling.”

  He smiles at me and pulls me into a hug. “Shut up. How are you?”

  “I’m good.” Drew searches my eyes to see if I’m telling him the truth. “Really, I am.”

  Drew is silent for a second and I can’t tell if he’s wanting me to say something else or if he’s running his internal lie detector. “Okay. Will you tell me if you’re not?”

  “Of course I will. Remember, we don’t lie to each other. How’s the new job going?”

  Liam walks up next to me carrying a beer and wine glass for Drew and I. “Great. I actually got to work with Liam and Caleb this week taking out guards surrounding a drug warehouse.”

  We join Mack at the bar. “Just like old times. Dipping your toes into narcotics again.”

  I lean forward against the counter across from Mack and Drew stands next to her. I can feel Liam walk behind me and he leans on the counter right next to me with our arms touching. “Not quite like old times. He got to leave shortly after everyone was detained while Caleb and I had to log everything.”

  “Don’t be sour about it. You guys were always better at the paperwork.” Drew nudges Mack’s shoulder with his. “How’s work going?”

  “It’s going good. The patients are always entertaining.”

  Liam leans closer to me and I do my best to nonchalantly move away from him. “In a good or bad way?”

  “Both. We get patients that hate us and think we don’t know what we’re doing and we get patients that have crazy stories on how they arrived to the Emergency Room.”

  Drew seems captivated by Mack and wants to know everything. “Like what?”

  She smiles at him like she’s satisfied with herself. “There was a woman this week that fell out of a tree breaking her arm. But the crazy part was she was in the tree spying and taking photos of her husband and his mistress having sex.”

  We all have surprised looks on our faces and Drew says, “Ooo” like that was good gossip.

  I start laughing and Liam nudges me. “That’s crazy. I wonder if they were for a divorce or for personal use.”

  We all burst out laughing and as I catch my breath, I go to take a drink of my wine but Drew stops me. “Let’s have a toast first.” I give him a confused look because I’m not sure what we’re toasting too. Drew raises his beer and we all follow suit. “It’s great having the four of us together again. To old times.”

  We all repeat, “To old times.”

  I tap my glass to Liam’s beer and our eyes connect making me smile. I hope he can tell that I’m open to being his friend again. Our eyes never leave each other’s as we both take a drink. As the alcohol slides down my throat, I feel myself relaxing. This is just friends hanging out and having dinner. Drew’s phone lights up and he reads the text. I can see Mack’s smile drop a bit and I wonder what that’s about.

  “The food is ready.” Drew turns to Mack. “Do you want to ride with me?”

  Mack smiles at Drew, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes, and nods. “Where did you order food from?”

  “Mr. Wu’s.”

  I look at Drew confused. “Mr. Wu’s delivers. Why didn’t you get it delivered?”

  Drew quickly escorts Mack towards the door. “They don’t deliver here anymore.”

  Mack whips around and stops Drew’s escape. “What!? Why?”

  Drew shakes his head and moves Mack to the door, but before they leave Liam answers. “Because Drew answered the door in only his boxers and refused to pay.”

  I can hear Mack screech “Oh my god!” from the hallway as Drew closes the door. I quickly whip around to Liam holding my laugh in waiting for what has to be a great story.

  I jump up on the counter and Liam stands in front of my closed knees smiling like he can’t wait to tell me this story. “I played a prank on Drew a couple of weeks ago where I ordered a hundred dollars’ worth of food from Mr. Wu’s to be delivered around lunch time. Drew had worked the night before and so when Mr. Wu’s wife arrived to deliver the food, Drew was asleep. When Drew finally woke up, he answered the door in just his boxers. Mrs. Wu was very flustered by Drew’s appearance.”

  I cover my mouth trying to hold back my laugh. “She was trying to get out of here as soon as possible so she threw the food at Drew and asked for the cash. Drew refused to pay and handed her back the food. Mr. Wu was pissed when his wife came back with the food and called Drew and cussed him out. Drew didn’t help the situation because he fussed out Mr. Wu for making him pay for a hundred dollars’ worth of food he didn’t order. Mr. Wu didn’t take that well and banned us from his restaurant. I called Mr. Wu later that night to apologize and to pay for the food but it didn’t help much. So now we aren’t banned from the restaurant, just the delivery services.”

  I start
cracking up. “Oh my god. That was a great prank. Please tell me you taped it?”

  He busts out laughing. “I didn’t think about it. I promise the next prank I’ll tape.”

  I slide off the counter to head towards the couch and Liam follows close behind. “So what prank did Drew play on you to get you back?”

  Liam sits on the couch right next to me and makes an annoyed sound. “He hid like twenty alarms in my room one night while I was sleeping and set them to go off at 3. It took me several minutes to find all of them and turn them off. And then at 3:30 right as I was about to fall back asleep, they all went off again.”

  I try so hard not to laugh and Liam glares at me. “You better not laugh. It wasn’t funny.”

  I can’t take it any longer and I fall back on the couch laughing. Liam leans over me tickling my sides and I try to wiggle free. “Please... stop. I won’t laugh anymore.”

  Liam removes his hands from my waist but doesn’t sit up. “It’s wasn’t funny in the moment but I still think my prank was better.” Liam searches my eyes trying to figure out what I want him to do. My body is loving him being this close and wanting me to pull him down and kiss him while my head is telling me to push him away. I place my hand on his chest ready for either option, but in the end my head wins out.

  I push him back and sit up with him. “I don’t know. They were both pretty good, but Drew’s prank didn’t have any backlash like yours did.”

  “You’re biased. Drew’s your twin.”

  “If that’s what you think.” I lean on the back of the couch next to him and we get into a comfortable conversation. As we’re talking, I find myself moving closer to him and loving the normalcy of us. It’s like there hasn’t been six years between us.

  Chapter Twelve

  Liz

  February 2012

  It’s Friday night and instead of being at some party with my friends, I’m sitting at home with pizza and popcorn ready to watch a movie alone and eat my feelings about my recent breakup. My parents are on their weekly date night, Mack is out of town with her parents, and Drew and Liam are at Janice’s party with their girlfriends.