HER

The Drafting Peek

(Unedited) Chapter 5

Darla

Lawson pulled off the road and into a dirt drive that led to what could only be technically classified as a gas station. It looked sketchy and a sense of dread washed over me.

“Is this safe?” I asked, whispered even. He unbuckled and started to get out of the car.

“We’ll be fine, I’m sure.”

He closed the door and started on the gas as I stepped out and looked around. Walking around the back of the vehicle, I stopped in front of him and crossed my arms, leaning against the car.

“You look too much like a cop, Stevens,” he said.

He reached over and untucked my shirt, the tips of his fingers skimming my waist. It felt intentional as he moved his hand to my gun, his eyes locking with mine. He adjusted it slightly from hip to my back. He took off his baseball cap, reaching for my wrist. He slid the hair tie off and turned me around, tying my hair back and threading it through the ball cap as he placed it on my head. His fingers brushed my neck as he fluffed the low ponytail.

He turned me around and I was face to face with his chest. His cologne swirled in my nostrils as I took a steadying breath. Lawson didn’t touch me like this, didn’t touch anyone like this from what I’d gleamed. He reached out and moved loose strands of hair around to frame my face.

“Actually, this, too.” His fingers moved from my hair and down to the front of my shirt. He undid a few buttons, exposing more of my chest. “More casual midwesterner, less stiff bureaucrat,” he murmured. My cheeks burned as his eyes roamed over me.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” I said, completely forgetting about why we came here in the first place. I just needed some space from this moment between us.

I walked across the dirt parking lot and pulled open the store door. The clerk was an older man in his early thirties, his face stern and displeased as he eyed me.

“Hi, where is your bathroom?” He grunted instead of responding, dipping low behind the counter and producing a key attached to a paint stirring stick.

“It’s in the shed,” he groused. I took the key from his outstretched hand. As I walked outside, I caught Lawson’s attention and nodded toward the shed. It loomed some distance away and a pit settled in my stomach as I approached it.

The key slid in effortlessly and the lock turned, the door swinging open to reveal a nightmare from a horror movie. I pushed inside and looked around. It wasn’t a set of bathrooms at all really. It was someone’s garage with tools of all kinds. An industrial garbage bin of long-handled tools sat by the door. The smell was thick with oils and chemicals. Car parts sat stacked on top of each other.

“What the hell is this?” I looked around in the dimly lit space, pulling out my phone to use the flashlight. I roamed it over various bins and boxes. The ground wasn’t cement, but loose dirt. Something caught my eye, a pattern in the sand.

It looked like a drag path. Two parallel drag lines. I took a picture quickly and followed them. They led to a makeshift bathroom of sorts. The wall was gone and it was merely covered by a few black trash bags. I could hear the noise from outside through it. I scanned the bathroom, looking for anything that could’ve been a clue. There in the corner by the sink on the floor was something sparkly. I bent down to inspect it, zooming in on my camera and taking another photo. It was bracelet charm.

Emily had been in here.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood and a tingle worked through my spine. Thoughts raced through my mind, questions about Emily and how long ago it was that she sat in this very bathroom. I pulled a glove and a small baggie from my back pocket and carefully picked up the charm.

I stepped outside and looked around, Lawson was looking over the car and tires so I darted across the parking lot and brought the key back inside.

“Thank you so much,” I rushed out, placing the paint stick onto the counter and not giving him a moment to respond.

Outside, I noticed Lawson was on the passenger side and I hissed a quiet psst at him. He didn’t turn around. I got closer, whispering, “Lawson.” He looked up and smiled at me, eyes moving above my head. When I was within reach, he grabbed for me and pulled me into a hug. Weird, but I let it go, rushing to show him and tell him.

“That’s not a bathroom but it is a murder room. There was a charm,” I went to pull it out of my pocket, but he stopped me. He opened the passenger door and moved me inside.

“Go with it, Stevens.”

Lawson

I spotted the man storming out of the gas station store behind her, but she didn’t seem to notice him at all. She had that look in her eye when she was hot on a lead. Everything around her disappeared in those moments. When she got closer, I noticed the gun on his hip, proudly on display. I pulled her into me and backed her against the passenger seat. She looked confused, muttering on about a charm and the murder room.

“Go with it, Stevens.”

She didn’t have a chance to respond. I moved over her protectively. She braced against me. I wrapped her ponytail around my hand and angled her head back. My eyes were locked on her mouth and her eyes searched my face.

“Darla,” I whispered, just a breath away from her lips.

She was frozen as I advanced, melting into me when my mouth met hers in an electrifying kiss. I pushed deeper and her hands moved up my chest, her nails digging in as she clawed her way up my shoulders. My muscles tightened beneath her touch as I pulled her into me. My other hand trailed her jean-clad thigh, hooking under her knee and wrapping that leg around my waist. My cock hardened pressed against her and I knew she could feel it but I didn’t care. I was lost in her. Even as I heard the footsteps approaching. She moaned into my mouth, slipping her tongue against mine. A deep grumble left my chest.

“My salvation,” I whispered, breaking the kiss for just a second before I claimed her mouth again. Her hands were in my hair and my heart felt like it would explode at any moment. I craved her, I realized. I’d been craving her for a long time. My fingers skirted around the hem of her shirt, feeling her hot skin. The footsteps were louder, he was closer. I rested my hand on her gun.

My lips felt kiss-bruised as we went at each other. Years of pent up feelings on both sides started to spill out between our touches. She pulled me closer, rocking her hips against my aching cock. I wanted to come. I wanted to come inside her. I needed to strip her down right here and push inside her soaked pussy, having her scream my name until her voice went hoarse.

“Fuck, Darla,” I whined, not wanting this to end here. I rolled my hips into hers, enjoying the press of my cock to her pussy.

A knock by my head startled us. She pulled away fast, her eyes wide as she stared at me before looking over my shoulder. She wiped her mouth and straightened her clothes as the man said, “There’s a motel down the street. You got your gas and stuff, no need to overstay a stranger’s welcome.”

“Of course, my apologies,” I said looking at him over my shoulder but not daring to take my hand off her gun until he was halfway across the parking lot. My voice was rough with lust and want. I looked back down to Darla, letting her see it clearly. I wanted her—needed her.

I released her hair and smoothed my thumb down her cheek. Her lips were red and swollen, she looked delectable and I wanted those lips wrapped around my cock.

“I’ll drive this time, baby.” I’d said it loud enough for it to carry across the parking lot, but I meant it. She was mine now. She always had been. I smiled against her lips, taking an unnecessary kiss from her. Then another. I disentangled myself from her and she hopped in the seat looking forward with her mouth parted open in shock. As I closed the door and walked around the vehicle, I adjusted my cock. I was rock hard.

Heat flushed up my neck as I saddled into the driver’s seat and started the car. She looked over at me then, but she said nothing. I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but we headed toward the motel anyway.

“Pull over at the motel, I think we need to canvas this area and gather as much evidence as can and see where he might have gone next.” I nodded in agreement and flipped my turn signal on as I pulled off the highway and we rocked over the bumpy ground into the parking lot.

We walked inside the front office door and were greeted by a younger woman with blonde curls and a peppy demeanor.

“What can I do for you two?”

“We need a room for a few nights or so,” I said, leaning on the counter. My jeans were still strained and I was doing everything I could to focus on the woman in front of me and not the one to my right that I just made out with. Her name tag said Janet. “If that’s okay, Janet.”

“One room or two?” She asked looking between us and back to me with a hopeful look in her eye.

“One please,” I said beating Darla to the answer. She checked us in and off we went back to the car. The outside of the motel was designed like conjoined cabins. They had charm, but with Darla’s find there was a looming sense of dread. I grabbed our bags, moving in silence with Darla. We needed to talk, I needed to apologize and come clean about my feelings.

Inside, there was a living area and a large bed. If need be I would take the couch for the time being. We’d been sharing a bed all week, but after today I recognized the possible discomfort with that. She perched on the kitchenette counter and I dropped the bags by the door.

“Based on that guys behavior, I get a weird feeling from this town.” I placed my gun on the coffee table and moved to the windows. “I say we keep all the curtains drawn and lock the doors. With no dead bolts, I’m tempted to barricade the door while we sleep.” She stared at the ground in thought but hummed in agreement. I crossed the room toward her. “Stevens, you okay? Back at the gas station—”

“I just have a question,” she interrupted. “You said there’s no point in dating, but you did have a girlfriend before.” I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck as I walked closer to her still. She looked up at me as I stood just barely between her legs.

“I did, yeah. Lacey, but I mean that’s been five years now?”

“Yeah… Why did you break up with her?”

“You,” I said, my cheeks flushing red and my body burning hot. It was all because of Darla. “There was a time where I thought I could balance it all, and it was going pretty well. Then they assigned me as your partner. At first, there was a bit of annoyance I’ll be honest. I didn’t want a new partner, I was hoping to be assigned to a team or a new department. Then,” I paused and reached up, sliding her bangs out of the way of her crystal blue eyes.

“Then I met Darla Stevens, and you flipped my entire belief system upside down. Manageable at first, I closed it off. Put it all into boxes and kept you at arms length as just another friend to go drinking with.”

“But something happened?” She asked me, confused. Her eyes searched mine and I let her see every raw emotion in them.

“Nothing big, or noticeable. We went out after a case. It was pretty rough, the kids always are. I doubt you remembered it because we were nearly blackout drunk, but you threw back your whiskey sour and touched my face. ‘You’re a good man, Lawson,’ is what you said—slurred almost. And I don’t know, pieces kind of clicked that I wasn’t. I was there drinking with you, and we’d been gone for three weeks and I didn’t even see Lacey that first night back. You touched me and I realized I couldn’t have it all and be a good man.”

I rested my hands on the counter on either side of her and leaned in closer.

“But I wanted to be. All I wanted was to know that I was the good man you saw. Or that I could even be a great man. I broke it off a little bit later and I promised myself no girlfriends. I couldn’t date someone while I was wrapped up in you, so until that ceased I would just exist here with you.” I leaned in and brushed my nose against hers.

“Perry—” She was interrupted by a knock at the door. We froze for a moment but I went into action, grabbing a throw blanket and throwing it over our stuff.

When she answered the door a little old woman started speaking to her and from what I could overhear, it was about the housekeeping schedule and if we needed anything to give them a call. She closed the door and locked it, returning to me. I took her hand in mine and traced my thumb across the back.

“It doesn’t matter how I felt, I’m sorry for earlier.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek. I didn’t want to read too far into what it meant, but I placed a safe bet on her not minding that it happened.