Chapter 5

Cassandra

My entire body shakes as soon as his eyes meet mine, making my skin crawl. Standing still, my feet were frozen to the floor as his palm touches mine and he shakes it. The warmth of his hand suddenly thaws my frozen body and I swallow the dry lump that has formed in my throat.

"It's nice to meet you, Cassandra. Welcome to the team." I hear him say, my mouth agape with incredulity.

Nice to meet you? Wait...he doesn't remember who I am, does he?

I run my tongue against my suddenly dry lips, clear my throat, and close my mouth before I speak.

"Uh, yeah, you too," I gripe, my eyes narrowing on the monster before me.

How can he be a police officer? We're meant to protect others from evil, not be evil and disguise ourselves as good.

"Cassandra, you are good to go for today. You'll start your regular shift with Crayvin tomorrow." Chief's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Lovely," I mutter under my breath. My eyes roll at Crayvin as I catch his blue eyes scanning up and down my hidden body.

Thank heavens for how these uniforms leave loads to the imagination. I'm no longer chunky monkey, am I Crayvin?

I force a smile at Chief and step outside of his office, huffing. My face feels warm, and internally I am boiling with anger.

"How did it go in there?" Drew asks, turning around in his chair as I grab my things and lock my drawer up. His desk is right in front of mine.

"Oh, just peachy keen. Just met my partner," I say.

"Cool, who'd you get?" Clearly he didn't catch the sarcastic tone that was laced within my first answer.

I hear the opening and closing of the door behind me, Chief's door, and I turn around to see Crayvin stepping out. My eyes glower as he walks to the desk opposite me and takes a seat.

Can this day be any more of a joke? Not only am I stuck with this prick for six months, but his desk is next to mine too.

Refraining from bumping my forehead to the desk and making a scene, I huff out another exasperated breath and bring my attention back to Drew, whose brows are now furrowed.

"Crayvin," is all I manage to say through gritted teeth.

"Right on. Guess that means I don't need to introduce you two like I tried to do the other night." He chuckles and I feel my glaring intensify.

The other night?

"Are you talking about the bar?" I ask.

My eyes wander over to Crayvin for a second, where his stupid large hands are typing away on his stupid computer like he's pretending he's working. I look back to Drew and he nods, answering my question.

"So, that's Houdini huh?" I ask, referring to his so-called friend who disappeared the other night. Drew lets out a not-sure-how-to-react-to-that laugh and rubs the back of his neck with his medium-sized hand.

I can't believe how small this world is. Or rather, how small my luck is. Of course, the friend from the bar with broad shoulders, making out with the blonde and ditching Drew, ends up being that tool.

I roll my eyes dramatically, exhaling at the uncanniness of this situation.

"Are you kidding? Crayvin? As in the Crayvin Smith who destroyed your life in school?" Tarra's tone of voice and wide-eyed expression both show how she's clearly baffled as I am about my unfortunate and unexpected turn of events.

"Yes, that Crayvin," I moan, running my hands over my face, and slumping my body into the white couch next to my sister.

I've only been home for a couple of hours, waiting for my sister to get home from work so that I can tell her everything.

"Wow, I had no idea he worked there," Tarra says.

"I'm not sure what's worse though. The fact that he has no recollection of who I am and what he's done to me, or the fact that after all I've gone through, my reward is getting stuck with my nemesis from school. It's like a bad dream I can't wake up from."

The oven beeps and I stand from the couch to go and pull out the food. Tarra and I take turns cooking dinner and tonight would've been her turn, but since I got off early I figured, why not?

I set the lemon pepper chicken, zucchini, and salad onto two white plates and place them on the breakfast bar for us to eat. Tarra gets off of the couch and joins me at the breakfast bar as we take a seat on the stools to eat.

"So, how was everyone else at the station? I still can't believe that the hot neighbor is a cop too." She giggles and adds, "That can be interesting if you guys do end up dating. For instance, sex with uniforms on! Oh, and the handcuffs are included!" She wiggles her brows with amusement.

I laugh with her as I bring my fork to my mouth, taking another bite of the savory chicken. "There will be absolutely no sex in uniform." I shake my head and continue. "Everyone is good. Bernie and Miles are still there." I notice Tarra fidget in her seat and a smile pulls on her face at the mention of Miles. She's always had a soft spot for him.

"And a few of the other guys, but a lot of them are new. For instance, Drew and..."

"Crayvin," Tarra finishes for me, saving my poor lips from having to spit that dreadful name out. I shudder at the thought that I'm going to have to be in a car with him for twelve hours tomorrow.

"For fuck's sake, you know what else annoys me, is that after all this time the man still has perfect pearly whites and broad shoulders. The only thing that has changed now is that he has a short boxed beard lining his perfect jawline, and I swear his muscles grew." I rant.

Tarra shakes her head, smiling as she brings the zucchini to her mouth, finding humor in my misery. "It's no wonder you didn't become a dentist."

She looks at me and I arch one of my brows.

Why the hell would I have been a dentist?

"You know since teeth are a deal-breaker for you," she answers me as if she had read my mind.

I shrug my shoulders, grabbing my plate to put it in the dishwasher. "Teeth are a big deal. You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their teeth. For instance, hygiene. If they have horrible teeth, do they take care of themselves?" I ask her and she shrugs.

"No, they most likely don't," I answered. "But no, I would never be a dentist. I'd probably puke all over my patients at the sight."

"I think there's some flaw in your logic there, Sis. I mean, mister pearly whites is a dick."

She has a point. Crayvin does have a perfect set of teeth and his blue eyes are a bonus, they are my favorite color; ocean blue. And as much as I don't want to say it, the new facial hair is kind of adorable.

Too bad his wretched personality ruins all of that.

"I can't believe I used to have a crush on him," I complain, smacking my forehead with the palm of my hand at the recollection of my teenage stupidness.

Tarra rolls her eyes and pats the couch, gesturing for me to sit. I take a seat next to her, leaning my head back on the couch with my arms folded over my chest. The familiar music of the opening credits to Stranger Things plays in the background for the billionth time; I swear she only watches this because of Billy. Tarra doesn't do scary.

Like my day tomorrow, now that's scary.

"Good morning, Em," Crayvin says as he takes a seat at his desk. I shudder at the use of the nickname he gave me. Although I admit, it's kind of catchy.

"You may call me, Cassandra or Porsse," I insist, looking away from Crayvin.

I observe Drew's top lip curl as he tries desperately not to do a full-on grin. My morning was so peaceful talking with Drew for the first fifteen minutes before Crayvin showed up.

I hear Crayvin's chair squeak as he stands from it. From the corner of my eye, I watch as he slithers over, the vile snake that he is, and leans on my desk with his arms folded across his broad chest. I gulp and look up. His freakishly tall build, still to this day towers over me whether I'm sitting down or not.

A grin grows on his perfectly sculpted face, bearing those pearly whites.

Oh, how I wish I could smack that grin right off of his face.

"Well then, Porsse. You ready to go?"

I grab my belt with my holsters attached and stand from my chair, not realizing he has bent forward enough that when I do, we are face to face. His cologne seeps through my nostrils and his sultry blue eyes gaze at me. Instead of letting that affect me as it may have in the past, it's time for Crayvin to realize for himself, I'm no longer that pathetic girl in school that was bullied and walked all over. And I certainly won't melt at his stupid smoldering face.

"As ready as I can be, Smith," I say with confidence, puffing my chest out and raising my chin to show superiority.

I remain the same when he stands upright, his face looking down at me. I size him up and wait for him to say something but... nothing.

"Well, lead the way, Smith," I grunt. His eyes flash with confusion when he nods and turns on his heel. I follow suit, taking a quick glance at Drew.

He smiles and mouths, "Have fun." I return the smile, knowing I may just do that.

After all, maybe making Crayvin squirm a bit could be fun. I do have the upper hand here since he has no idea who I am.

Time to make Crayvin's life hell, like he did mine.