Killing Roses

13__Take a Girl to Work Day

Roman massaged his neck as he closed his apartment door behind him. Ten minutes. He’d take a shower, swallow coffee and be out in ten minutes.

Reaching across his chest, he began to massage a shoulder but froze on the spot when he came to his living room and found four pairs of eyes blinking at him.

Two of them wide and uncomfortable and one of them very, very unexpected. Dane Smith.

“Rome!” said Dane.

“What in the hell?” said Roman with a laugh as Dane got up from the sofa. “When did you get here?”

Valerie watched them bro hug and laugh about God knew what for a moment and leaned toward Michael. “Think he’s gonna kick us out when he finds out I beat up his friend?”

A snort was Michael’s only response and Val sighed. She hadn’t even realized that she was that tense about this whole protection situation until she was attacking the poor guy. True, he’d been in a locked apartment and he’d been holding a bloody knife, but turns out he had a spare key and he was trying to surprise Roman with a steak dinner. Hence the bloody knife. Valerie had shamefully sat, watching Dane with wide eyes as he went about preparing food even when he’d assured her he was alright. She still felt shitty about it.

“I met Valerie and Michael over there,” Dane was saying before sending Valerie a smile. “Had a little… misunderstanding, but we cleared all that up.”

Roman raised a brow, glancing suspiciously at Val. “Oh?”

At the look he was giving her, Valerie shot off the sofa and went to Dane’s side. “It was nothing! I didn’t injure him too badly, right Dane? And I apologized!”

Roman frowned. “Injure?! What happened here?”

Dane’s hands rose as he laughed. “Yo, let’s just say… I nearly lost every chance to be a dad. But Valerie’s alright, we straightened it out.”

Grateful, Val smiled up at Dane in relief. His brown eyes were filled with humor, crinkling at the corners as he grinned back at her. Valerie realized for the first time that he was rather handsome. She never found guys with no hair handsome before, but his neat, full beard and bright smile made up for that. He was about Roman’s height, maybe an inch or two shorter, with skin as brown and clear as a sparingly creamed coffee and chocolate drink.

“You’re rather nice, aren’t you?” she commented, giving Dane a curious look. “How are you friends with…?” Her words trailed off and her gaze slipped over to Roman.

His eyes narrowed on Valerie. “Friends with who, Ms. Quinn?”

Val raised a brow. “Friends with an ice-block, Detective Parker.”

Dane chuckled as Roman glared at Valerie. “No, I assure you, Valerie, Roman’s not like that. He just needs to be around the right people to reveal his charm.”

“Exactly,” said Roman before piercing her with a sharp look. “And you, Ms. Quinn, would be lying if you said you really believe me to be unfeeling and icy.”

“Y’all need to stop,” said Dane, reaching for his bag and sparing Valerie the need to dig up a response to Roman’s statement, which had been a clear jab at her for what happened between them.

Turning his sharp, grey gaze away from her face, Roman looked at Dane, zeroing in on the bag he was putting over his shoulder. “You leaving? Seriously?”

Dane clapped Roman on the back. “Gotta go, Rome. I know you’re busy, Mr. Big Detective, catching a killer and all.”

Valerie watched, biting the inside of her cheek as Roman and Dane walked on to the door, talking in hushed tones.

A few steps away from the door, Dane glanced at her over his shoulder, a smile curving his mouth. “Nice meeting you… Valerie.”

Val blinked. “Hm? Y-yeah, great meeting you, Dane! And sorry again!”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it!” called Dane as he left the apartment.

“Detective Parker isn’t going to send you from his place, Ms. Quinn,” said Officer Kingston. “It would go against his orders.”

Valerie glanced at him and pursed her lips. That was right. He couldn’t kick her out, could he? He had to follow orders! A victorious smile curved her mouth. This was great, she had absolutely nothing to fear.

She sent Michael a wink. “We’re good, kid. He can’t kick us out.”

The front door slammed shut. “Don’t be so sure,” Roman told her, shrugging off his jacket as he approached.

Val crossed her arms. “Officer Kingston said you have to follow orders.”

“Not at the cost of my peace of mind.” Roman tossed his jacket over a shoulder before pointing a finger between Valerie and Michael who watched him with wide eyes. “You two are going to stay here for the time being, but you are not going to interfere with my daily routine, you are not going to bother me when I’m working and you, most importantly, are not going to make any noise. Three strikes and you’re out.”

Val frowned. “Give us four.”

Roman’s eyes narrowed. “Two strikes and you’re out.”

Her lip curling, Valerie sneered at him as he turned for his stairs, taking two at a time. To think she’d actually kissed that jerk. The handsome ones really always are the weird ones.

“Lieutenant wants to know if you’ve gone yet!” Kingston yelled after Roman.

“s**t! Tell him I’m on my way!” Roman yelled back.”

Valerie huffed and plopped down on the sofa beside Michael, glancing at Kingston. “Where’s he going anyway? Isn’t he supposed to check up on us, give us bedrooms, food, and all such? Shitty host if ever I saw one.”

Kingston looked apologetic. Valerie Quinn would surely have a hard time adjusting to a life with Detective Parker. Being the daughter of millionaires and surely having gotten whatever she wanted since birth, suddenly staying with and abiding to the rules of someone as difficult as Roman was going to be hard on her.

Sympathetically, Kingston smiled at her. “He won’t be that bad, Ms. Quinn. Once he’s returned, I’m sure he’ll do all he must to make you comfortable.”

Val’s interest piqued up and she tilted her head at him. “Where’s he going?”

The big cop’s face tensed and Val watched him turn slightly pink. “That’s information related to the case, ma’am. Not sure if I can share it with you—”

“Tell me!”

“He’s going to pay a visit to your ex-boyfriend at the place where he was located early this morning.”

Valerie’s eyes widened. “What? He’s going to Austria? To see Shawn?”

“That’s not for you to worry about,” Roman flatly stated as he descended the stairs. He’d thrown on a fresh black t-shirt with his black jeans and Valerie forced her eyes to stay on his scowling face.

“What? Why not?! This is all about me. And why would you be going all the way to Austria to see my ex, who, I assure you, is not sick enough to do any of this.”

Ignoring her, Roman rounded his kitchen counter, checking the fridge to make sure there was enough food for that day at least. He had not been planning on bringing Valerie and her runaway to his apartment, so Davis would have to excuse him if they starved.

"Did Dane cook?" Roman murmured to himself, eyeing the pots and pans on the stove. Bloody amazing, his unexpected guests could eat that.

As for having Valerie in his home… Roman didn’t know how this was going to play out. He glanced at her, noting the lasers she was shooting from her eyes, her arms tightly crossed over her chest. Roman released a breath. How in the hell was he supposed to keep his mind off this woman if she was in his face every single day?

Fuck. This would be torture, but there was no other way. He would keep his hands to himself hereafter because Valerie remained in the sights of a psychopath and it was Roman’s job to make sure she never ended up like Jennifer Crawford. Losing his head during this investigation was not an option.

Sliding his phone into his pocket, he turned to Valerie and the stubborn look on her face. “Ms. Quinn, in this investigation, I am the detective, you are the one in danger. Your job is to stay here safely while I go out there and find whoever’s after you. Clear?”

Thinking he’d made his point, he nodded at Kingston and made for the door.

Roman walked until, a step from the door, his back was chilled by the presence of a stubborn person.

He turned on Valerie with a raised brow. “Where are you going?”

“With you,” she responded with a raised brow of her own. “If you’re seeing Shawn, it’s best I come with.”

“You’re not going any—”

“I’ll be back soon, Michael! Be good for Officer Kingston!” called Valerie loudly as she marched past Roman and pulled open the front door.

Clenching his jaw, Roman stared at the floor for a second before cursing and marching out after her. Damn stubborn women. Weren’t social workers supposed to be the reasonable type?

She was already pressing the elevator button when he caught up to her and Roman gave her a look.

“Ms. Quinn, go back inside right now.”

Val released a breath. “Just take me with! I’m going to be locked up in here for heaven knows how long, give me this one chance to go out and breathe some air.”

“No. Return to the safety of the apartment this minute. Detective Kingston will ensure that you and your runaway are comfortable.”

“You need me if you’re going to talk with Shawn. I know how he thinks, I know his behavior and I could definitely tell you if he’s lying.”

“What if he’s the perpetrator? What if Shawn Crews is the man we’re looking for? Do you realize that you’d be willingly putting yourself in the same room as the man who has killed your colleague and who wants to kill you?”

The words made Valerie slowly gulp, but she forced herself to look back up at Roman. “You’ll be there.”

“And?”

“If you’re there then… I’m safe.”

His grey eyes narrowed and sent a chill down her back. “You blindly trust, Ms. Quinn. That… is a bad trait.”