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Chapter 24 by micdan282 micdan282

What's next?

Distracted

Rikki sat behind her desk, fingers steepled beneath her chin, a folder open in front of her. A usual day. A normal case. Or at least, it should’ve been.

"Thanks for waiting," she said, offering a small, practiced smile to the man sitting across from her. "Let’s get started."

Marcus Vale. thirty-two. Second offense for possession. No gang ties. Mild history of petty theft. Never gave her trouble. He was punctual, polite, and mostly kept to himself. She’d worked with him for months now—run-of-the-mill, by-the-book.

And yet, today… something felt off.

It wasn’t him exactly—he wasn’t doing anything differently. But Rikki found herself noticing things she hadn’t before. The way he rolled up his sleeves, revealing lean forearms marked by faint scars and fading tattoos. The gravelly rasp in his voice when he spoke. The way his dark eyes lingered on hers just a second longer than necessary.

"So… uh, how’s work been?" she asked, blinking hard to ground herself.

He scratched the back of his neck, giving a half-smile. “Oh you know, good enough I guess, except we got caught in that storm the other day. But besides that, yeah it's been good.”

"That’s good." She nodded, jotting something in her notes. But her pen paused. Why was she thinking about what his shirt might look like clinging to his back in the rain? She blinked. What the hell?

He shifted in his chair, and the slight pull of his T-shirt across his chest had her stomach tightening with something close to guilt.

This wasn’t her. She cleared her throat and **** herself to refocus.

“You okay, officer? You seem kinda… distracted.”

Rikki straightened in her chair, heat prickling at the back of her neck. “I’m fine. Just been a busy week is all.”

“Yeah? You don’t look like someone who gets tired easy.”

Her eyes snapped up. Was that flirting? Or just idle banter? She couldn't tell. Worse—she liked it. She found herself smiling back. It took every ounce of self-control not to let it linger too long.

She stood abruptly. “Alright, that’s everything for today.”

He stood too, and for a brief second, they were closer than they needed to be. Rikki’s breath caught—what is wrong with me?

“Same time next week?” he asked, his tone casual but his gaze steady.

“Yeah,” she said, stepping back toward her desk. “Same time.”

He gave her a nod and left with his usual quiet confidence.

The moment the door closed, Rikki sank back into her chair and let out a slow, frustrated sigh. Her thoughts were still humming with a low, unwanted pulse of curiosity. It was ridiculous. She’d never thought about Marcus that way before. He wasn’t even her type.

So why now?

Was it the stress? The fallout with Finn? The loneliness that crept in every time she came home and the apartment felt too quiet?

She stared down at Marcus’s file and shut it firmly.

No, this was not going to be a thing.

What's next?

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