Secrets and Ink by Lou Harper Read Free Book Online Page A

was fenced off with No Trespassing signs everywhere.”
    “And you trespassed?” He said it like he had me all figured out.
    “Not for fun. I heard crying. I climbed over the fence, went closer and saw a calico kitten stuck between a wall and another piece of wall. I crawled in to dig her out, and the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital. I was told the rest of the house collapsed on me.”
    “That was a dumb thing to do.” Nick had a talent for pointing out the obvious.
    “So it was. After the amount of stupid shit I’d gotten away with, I got smacked down when I was doing something nice for a change. You know, up till that point I thought I was invincible, but in the hospital bed, I felt so fragile—like if you poked me I would’ve crumbled. But the worst was seeing my family there. My dad, brother, sister, but especially my mom, with her eyes red from crying and trying act calm so as not to scare me.”
    As the setting sun painted us in a golden glow, the world seemed to slow down. Nick silently nodded. It felt good to unburden myself. Cops were a lot like priests, weren’t they? Or shrinks. Although I’d never been to either, so I was working on assumptions.
    “How badly were you hurt?” I could’ve sworn I heard concern in his voice.
    I decided to dish it all out and see if it bothered him. “A bunch of broken bones. I had to do physical therapy even after they healed. And I got hit on the noggin pretty bad—it scrambled my brain enough for me to have speech problems for a while. That was the most frustrating part. I knew what I wanted to say, but the words didn’t cooperate.”
    “So that’s why you have all those books now?”
    “I needed a hobby to fill the time after I stopped partying, and reading keeps me out of trouble.”
    He nodded, more to himself than me. “Brain injury explains your emotional outbursts.”
    “What, now you’re a nurse too, like my sister?” I knew I should’ve cut him some slack—cops were liable to learn all sorts of stuff related to bodily injuries.
    He surprised me. “My grandfather started having them after his first stroke. He got incredibly angry out of nowhere. It was frightening to me as a kid.”
    “Oh.” His admission made me less self-conscious about my outbursts. “It’s more likely to happen when I’m tired, but it’s getting better.”
    “Young brains heal faster. Still, it must have been a tough thing to deal with.”
    Wasn’t that the truth. “None of the guys I called friends visited me in the hospital. Riley only came by once. But my family was there, and supportive, after the shit I’d put them through. I would have to be a real asshole to go on as before. So you see, I became a responsible and upstanding citizen out of guilt.”
    He shrugged. “As good a reason as any.”
    “Okay. Tit for tat. Why would you want to be friends if you find me repulsive?”
    Nick squinted at me. “Where did you get that from?”
    “From the way you looked at me the other night. When you saw the tattoo. You had the expression of a man who touched dog shit with his bare hands.”
    “I didn’t—”
    “The same look you gave me on the night of the arrest. I’ll never forget it.”
    “Oh.” Nick sank back in his chair, and a dark cloud came over his expression. His eyes were on me, but he seemed to be looking inward.
    “Ha!” I said triumphantly, although I didn’t know what I was so proud of.
    Nick shook himself and leaned toward me, his eyes clear and focused now. “You’re wrong. I don’t know what you saw in my face, but my disgust was for myself alone.”
    I didn’t believe him. “How so?”
    “Isn’t it obvious? When I arrested you, I was aroused, and that was just plain wrong. I am an officer of the law.”
    “Cops are human too.”
    His expression twisted. “I was turned on by a teenager. That’s sick.”
    “So? I was coming on to you pretty hard. It’s not like you were gonna actually fuck me.”
    He shook his