CHASE BUCKLEY
Demon
Posts: 150
Age:
38
Occupation:
Detective
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Roxanne Braschi
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 17:13:48 GMT
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Post by CHASE BUCKLEY on Jun 20, 2021 16:32:22 GMT
The security guard had stopped him as he rolled through the front gate. Chase had seen the guy’s eyes drop to the light on the dashboard, the one he’d have slung on the roof of the truck if trouble really kicked off in the town, that hound dog face brightening in an instant. Instead of waving him on through he’d gestured him off to the side, letting the kid in the battered Taurus behind him roll past without a second glance. He’d pegged him as a wannabe cop before the guy even bent down, resting his paunch against the door and his elbows in that brown nylon uniform shirt against the thin edge of the opened window. Happy to help law enforcement, especially Sheriff Forbes, a great woman, really keeping the town together. If there was anything he could do to help …
Fishing. Chase clucked his tongue as he pulled up outside the building the guy had guided him to in the end. The guy couldn’t have been more obvious if he’d had a tackle box dangling from one meaty paw and a rod strapped to his back. There was an eagerness on his face as he’d told the guy he was there to talk to a student about an ongoing case, stuff he couldn’t share, y’know. That light had been nuclear bright then, a nod, a wink under the brim of the matching brown ball cap. Eager to call in his request to the admin office to find out exactly where Frances Breyer was meant to be.
European History. The red brick building on the other side of campus. The place was meant to look like something British, kinda grand and obviously heavily donated to by the Founding Families over the years.
Chase followed the guy’s directions, passing packs of students loitering on the grass, stretched out, only surrounded by books half the time. The sun had most outside, obviously between classes on cutting on a day when the sun was baking down hot enough to have him driving with the windows down and the AC cranked on high. Sure as hell weren’t like any college he’d ever pictured but it wasn’t like he’d gone to one. The last grim couple of years of high school with Mikey’s name on everybody’s lips like what had happened to his brother meant he already had one foot down that rocky slide too, then despite his ma’s pleas to go on to college and get out of New Orleans, he’d gone straight into the academy. And further down that rocky slide.
Teeth set in his lower lip, one hand on the wheel, the other elbow propped on the window sill, Chase shook his head. He was meant to have come to the bottom of it. Out of New Orleans, away from the gang war that had tried to chew him up and spit him back out, new town, new job, fresh start … for him and Mikey.
He reached for his phone as he approached the building the guy had described, thumbing the screen on and frowning as it came up blank. No calls, no messages, nothing to say that his brother had already found himself back in over his head already. Hell, who knew if Mikey could even work the damn thing yet.
Clucking his tongue, figuring he’d check in when he was done anyway, he pulled up outside the building. A thin trickle of students were just heading out of the door. Voices lifted, excited to be outta class he imagined. Dark eyes scanned them as he climbed out, drifting sideways to see if the red head who’d been the only witness to an apparent body dump that turned out to have no body had already left.
Nothing. Maybe he was gonna get lucky.
Knuckling his mouth, Chase headed in the door. More students were spilling out of classrooms, most giving the guy with the boxer’s face and air of grim a wide berth. A few shot him looks but most were more concerned with getting out into the sun. Voices drift along the hallway, at least one close obviously not yet done. Different schedules? Maybe. Or a professor going over time. He studied the labels next to the doors as he went along, drawing up short at the end of the hall with that class still in progress.
The door was cracked, rows of students still focused on the professor staring rapt at the brunette in front of the white board. Chase pressed his hand lightly against the door, nudging it open silently. A few still glanced his way as he slipped into an empty seat in the back row but most of them were staring at the professor. His attention was on the rows in from of him, scanning the back of heads for some glimpse of the flaming red hair of the girl whose name was on the report. Zip.
His gaze ticked up as the professor turned, fixed on her. Well, shit. The snort of laughter was shushed. Whatever was said in the half an hour the class kept going afterwards lost on him. Chase kept his eyes on her, watching a woman totally in her element now where she hadn’t been in the middle of Kitschy Kitschy Coo.
Another bell rang, students gathering their stuff, bouncing up out of seats as Roxxi called out to them. Still no red head among them. Chase frowned, pushed to his feet anyway to stroll down towards the front of the classroom. ”Guess you weren’t kiddin’ about the make up lesson stuff,” he drawled lightly, his head tilting as a grin spread molasses slow across his face. ”The Renaissance huh?” It was the one word he’d caught from what she’d said and damn, he had about as much knowledge of that as she’d had about Cap and Superman.
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ROXANNE BRASCHI
Chimera
psychic-skinwalker
Posts: 188
Age:
30
Occupation:
Professor at Whitmore College
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Chase Buckley
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 11, 2024 20:39:32 GMT
|
Post by ROXANNE BRASCHI on Jul 2, 2021 3:52:33 GMT
 ━ i don't know where i'm going, but i sure know where i've been ━
Dio, any pipe dream she had about possibly flitting by Kitschy Kitschy Coo in two day’s time was immediately lost after that day in the woods. She felt like an absolute idiot, and seriously started to question her ability to do this on her own. This, like, this whole adult-independant-life thing.
She wasn’t going back to New Orleans, though, that was for damn sure. So she had to buck up and get the fuck with it; otherwise nothing would change.
“So, the Renaissance━or Rinascimento, as it did start in Italy, after all. Look at that, you guys get two of my classes in one! Aren’t you lucky,” Roxxi snorted, turning to draw a timeline on the board, mapping out the stages as she went. She carried that excitement through the whole class, not noticing when somebody new slipped in, or his familiar scent. It mixed in with the others, and she was too near to the whiteboard markers to smell anything but them.
Finally, Roxxi stopped to catch a breath for a second, gliding through her lesson like she could think of nothing better to do, and she couldn’t. She loved her job more than anything, it was like she could carry a piece of home (real home) wherever she went. A little piece of her dad, always with and carried on through her━a love and appreciation for Italy, spread even to these medigans. She finally glanced at the clock hanging at the side of the room, puffing out a breath and beaming at her class again. “Alright, I’m letting you guys out on time for once. Kind of.” She snickered, “Hey, I promise we won’t do any more makeup classes, okay? Just bear with me if we go over time. I’ll be in the history office for most of the day tomorrow if anybody has questions,” For a moment, Roxxi watched them all filter out, big clusters of kids melding together until they were gone. By then she had her head down, leaned over the desk that separated her from the rows of students, shuffling through the pages and trying to keep them organized. Those new abilities forced her to go all-paper, and the recycling committee at the school was probably plotting her death by now.
‘Guess you weren’t kiddin’ about the make up lesson stuff,’
She’d know that rough voice anywhere━spent all night dreaming about it on the Friday before, when she’d gone home alone after thinking she was going back with him. Still, it didn’t stop her head from bouncing up, brows raised, eyes gone wide with surprise. How did he find her? She wasn’t likely to have a criminal record, even with that crime family being part of her past, and she was Braschi under every information page for the college. If he found her that way, though, then Roxxi supposed she was safe. He didn’t know. He probably wouldn’t be greeting her so warmly if he did.
She straightened up, replacing that incredulous look with a smooth smile, one hand flat on the pages she’d previously cared so much about but didn’t care to look at now. Roxxi was suddenly grateful for the desk between them, especially as she leaned towards him. “You stalkin’ me, detective?” She smirked, not an ounce of actual worry or disgust in her response. That alone should’ve been concerning; the fact that him finding a way to her would’ve been appealing, even something to admire. Most of the time, she hated the responsibility of seeing a guy more than once━and of all the men it could’ve been, why the fuck did she have to get all flushed over Chase Buckley? Maybe ‘cause of what she did when she went home after that trivia night, which was… probably a bad idea━but still better than going home with him.
“Yeah. The Renaissance. You got any historical facts buried in that big, meathead of yours? Or is there no room after all the superhero shit and whatever mental harddrive space you lost during all that cage fighting?” Roxxi teased, her second palm pressing flat to the desk, allowing her to lean a few more inches towards him.
It was wrong to indulge him, to keep this going further than she should’ve. But she’d give herself a few more excuses to keep him around━and it wasn’t as if she could kick him out when he’d literally wandered into her workspace.
CHASE BUCKLEY |  |
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CHASE BUCKLEY
Demon
Posts: 150
Age:
38
Occupation:
Detective
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Roxanne Braschi
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 17:13:48 GMT
|
Post by CHASE BUCKLEY on Jul 14, 2021 21:50:27 GMT
She could’ve been speaking for a year about the Renaissance, offered up one to one tuition on it and Chase imagined he still wouldn’t have taken on board half of what came out of her mouth. It wasn’t a matter of not having the smarts, his 5th grade math teacher had promised his parents that he was smart enough to do whatever he wanted … the issue lay in what he actually wanted. Then there hadn’t been much competition between the latest issue of Captain America, tossing around a football with Mikey and the kids he’d been tight with before the Agnellis had loosened his grip on everything but them, and studying freaking polynomials. It’d always felt like there’d been time for all that learning shit after, when the fun parts of school were over and everybody was knuckling down with that last minute desperation to maybe get into a college and get away from Central City. By the time it reached that point for everybody else the fun parts of school didn’t exist for him. Four years in College wasn’t an option and never would be again.
Although …
Chase shifted slightly in the back row seat he’d slipped into, going still as he spotted just who was holding the class – and him – rapt. If he’d known just the sort of professors he might’ve got all bets on getting into the academy and fighting his way out and into a uniform to start scraping scum like the Agnellis off of the city streets. He might’ve failed every damn class, feeling dumb as a bag of rocks – not far off of how he was feeling now – as his focus was on her, not the meaning of the words that formed on her lips. Just the shape of them on a mouth that had been unfiltered and bordering on the filthy at Kitschy Kitschy Coo. Lips that had scraped over his throat, distracting him from his work then too as he’d taken the call from the station.
He huffed a breath out through his nose, half breaking the spell but not stopping that focus until hers had caught on his and she was dismissing her class … on time for once. For him?
Already writing off his absent witness as a lost cause for the afternoon Chase didn’t follow them out, scrambling through the clots of students calling her name like it’d somehow have her popping out of someone’s pocket. He rose from his seat, going against that tide instead. Hands slipping into the pockets of his jeans, scarred knuckles caught on the stitching, shoulders bunching faintly under the cover of his jacket as she looked at him with those big brown eyes. Wider now, brows hitched as he creaked out a low chuckle. Sinking teeth into his lower lip he raised his own gaze to the board, the timeline she’d sketched out without having to double check a single fact on it. Memory turned towards the historical, the cultured rather than who was mining Vibranium or who made Spidey’s life a misery on a daily basis.
They dropped back to her as she leaned towards him, his lip slowly sliding free of the grip of his teeth. Those hands squeezed a little tighter in the cell of his pockets, shoulders rising and staying high as he rocked back slightly on his heels. ”Detective’s prerogative,” he lied glibly. ”You know, someone crosses your path, don’t circle back around on it, you get kinda interested …” And you got that sucker punch to the gut when you walked straight back into their path instead of finding yourself back at the scene of the crime the next trivia night, eyes locked on the door instead of on the prize.
Humming low, he ambled closer, inches from his side of the desk, only a couple more from Roxxi the way she was leaning in over it. Chase pulled his hands free, one coming up to tap a blunt fingertip against the side of his head before he knuckled his lips on the way down. ”Still think there might be a little room in there for the … high Renaissance?” There was a question there but he was already snorting, shaking it away with a wag of his head. ”There’s plenty up there. You don't play Sekigahara every night for two weeks straight without learnin’ somethin’.” You didn’t get pounded into a coma without losing something either. Tongue tracing his lower lip, Chase lifted his chin. ”Kinda wondered if you used that teachin’ thing as your get away from the cops card.” He leaned in, thighs brushing his side of the desk, like it might disappear between them, leaving their knees tangled the way they had been before the job had crept into their little geek soaked harbour and sunk that ship before it’d even started to sail.
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ROXANNE BRASCHI
Chimera
psychic-skinwalker
Posts: 188
Age:
30
Occupation:
Professor at Whitmore College
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Chase Buckley
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 11, 2024 20:39:32 GMT
|
Post by ROXANNE BRASCHI on Jul 21, 2021 23:18:15 GMT
━ i don't know where i'm going, but i sure know where i've been ━
Interested? Well, shit.
She knew he was just flirting back━what was he gonna say? ‘No, ew, go away’? Of course not. But just the idea that this could go farther made her sick to her stomach. She almost wanted to blurt out ‘hey, I slept with your brother!’ just to get him to leave. Staying far away from her was for his own good.
Roxxi didn’t say it, though. Obviously. She was selfish; she didn’t want him to leave. And maybe if this exploded like a ticking time bomb, then he’d learn his lesson and clear out for good.
“Interested?” She repeated, raising her brows in mock surprise. “Like, you wanna put me in cuffs?” The double-entendre slipped out with a smirk right before her tongue slid across her upper lip. It was just too easy with him━as if continuing some game they’d begun on that first night.
And, just like that night, he ruined it with the geek shit. At least she partially understood him this time.
“High Renaissance is next week. Today’s just an overview. But… at least it sounds like somebody was kind of listening.” Roxxi snorted, “The Battle of Sekigahara? They made that into a video game?” She was frowning then, irritated and offended. Oh well, if it helped kids learn, then so be it. They probably took liberties with the historical facts and timeline, though. How would that even make a compelling game?
‘Kinda wondered if you used that teachin’ thing as your get away from the cops card.’
It should’ve been another thing to freak her out. Another reminder that this was not only wrong, but dangerous, and she had to separate herself. But his tongue appeared to wet those lips, and Roxxi was distracted again. “It was.” She mumbled slowly and to his mouth, fingers curling lightly into the pieces of paper underneath them, dying to reach out. She wanted to press against him like she had that night but the desk was like a chastity belt between them. Well, that and their intertwined stories. “I’m a world-renowned criminal, baby. They’ve been chasin’ me for years and never got a speck of hard evidence. Then I give myself one night off and come face-to-face with you. Some meddlin’ detective who throws me off my game.” Roxxi scoffed, expression full of insolence, still playing the act. She leaned in, glaring into those charcoal eyes.
“Bet you’re pretty proud of yourself, huh?” She was quiet then, voice resonating from her chest before she went up on her toes and closed the gap, finally allowing herself relief. She nearly hadn't, just paused there and lingered as she did the night they met, waiting for him to make the move. But it was her turn this time and, well, God, she just wanted to. What was the point of denying herself?
And, as she kissed him, Roxxi prayed that what she said wouldn’t be true any longer.
CHASE BUCKLEY | |
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CHASE BUCKLEY
Demon
Posts: 150
Age:
38
Occupation:
Detective
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Roxanne Braschi
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 17:13:48 GMT
|
Post by CHASE BUCKLEY on Aug 3, 2021 21:09:04 GMT
No work. That’d been the deal at Kitschy Kitschy Coo and probably for good reason too. You got to a certain age and that was all it became about. What do you do for a living, how much do you earn, how high up on the dating scale did that leave you? Chase knew that being a cop putting him right above septic tank operative. He’d been happy enough to shrug that side off and just play a game where the weight of that and his past in New Orleans didn’t come into it but as Roxxi had been sliding in and interest had started to edge out that one night casual, the job had slipped in there anyway.
Now it felt a little like a white elephant, sitting there right between the two of them as he tried to joke around it. Trunk and humungous ears thrust up like bars between prison cells. Professor Braschi, of the Renaissance loving Professors, on one side of them, him on the other. Fingers curled in his pockets to stop himself from leaning his knuckles on the other side of that desk and pushing in the way she was.
Chase echoed her expression, maybe a little chagrin in it as his tongue scraped his upper lip. A brawler’s hunched shoulders rose and fell beneath the cover of his jacket, a thread of innocence in those dark eyes that didn’t run too deep. ”You done somethin’ for me to go lockin’ you up for, Professor?” he asked. A dark brow echoed the arch of hers. ”I knew I shoulda run your name when I had the chance.” He clucked his tongue before the chuckle ran out low. Fingers worked their way around in his pocket, snapping quietly, the fabric trapping anything more. Hope of something outside the job had stopped him from digging too deep, nobody wanted to find a world that was already built on shaky ground crumbling entirely beneath you. He’d felt that free fall before and didn’t want that breathless drop again.
The ground felt steady enough as he leaned in, hands pulled from his pockets to gesture. Too much geek probably showing on the surface but she’d already seen half of that and he didn’t think that was what had made her run. Chase lifted his hand again, fingertips tugging on a fleshy earlobe as he half grimaced. ”Video? Naw. Table top, y’know…” He mimed throwing dice across the desk top, knowing that would probably earn him more than that frown. It wasn’t the first historical event someone had turned into an excuse to toss some dice around and play at being a world conquering hero. ”I was though, you get the right teacher…” Chase let it trail off, like there’d ever had one of those teachers. They’d all been sympathetic as hell after Mikey’s case but not one of those had looked at him and started talking about potential again.
He’d found that on his own. With the badge, with that determination that tasted like iron in his mouth every time the job kicked up into high gear.
That metallic bite was better than the bitterness of disappointment, bitterness always far harder to swallow. There wasn’t a trace of it now as he traced his tongue over his lip, his breath freezing in his throat as Roxxi’s attention seemed to drop to his mouth, her response a mumble he didn’t believe for a damn moment, not with the way her fingers were curling into the papers scattered. Chase’s smirk grew, his head tilting like a bird studying a worm. ”A catch of a career huh? My own personal Frank Abagnale Jr. huh? Guess I’m gonna need those cuffs after all. It’s a shame … you were kinda perfect as a femme fatale though.” Chase chuckled low before he clucked his tongue, fingers slipping around to the back of his jeans like he’d just pull a pair out to clap them around her wrists.
His hand remained there, freezing with fingertips hooked into that belt loop at the small of his back. Dark brows rose, that sense of anticipation tightening the muscles beneath his skin. Fight or flight … or something more kicking in at that low rumble of Roxxi’s voice. ”Uh huh,” he managed hoarsely. From actually being on the job to this in a heartbeat, his grip on his self-control looser than the one he had to tear away from his jeans to catch at her arm as Roxxi closed that gap. Fingers flexing as her mouth found his, a fierceness there, a hunger he was sure was coming from him as he let the edge of the desk bite harder into his thighs. ”You think this is gonna stop me taking you in?” he asked, voice rough against her mouth as his other hand came up, finding that spill of dark hair to draw back just far enough to fix his eyes on her. It sure as hell wasn’t gonna keep him away from her classroom even if he didn’t have to come back here again looking for his witness, even if another night went by at the store without Roxxi of the filterless lips stopping by.
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ROXANNE BRASCHI
Chimera
psychic-skinwalker
Posts: 188
Age:
30
Occupation:
Professor at Whitmore College
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Chase Buckley
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 11, 2024 20:39:32 GMT
|
Post by ROXANNE BRASCHI on Aug 10, 2021 16:11:56 GMT
━ i don't know where i'm going, but i sure know where i've been ━
Now she was really going to throw up. Her grin didn’t falter, though; it was just her heart sinking into her stomach at the thought of him finding out who she was. They only met twice, so why did it matter? Did she think she owed him something after the way her family treated his? Most likely, and no matter how much she tried to convince herself she wasn’t to blame, she still took that responsibility on her shoulders. And gosh, there was no way she liked him. He was sexy and had a rough-ass voice that kept her awake at night, but that was all. Physical. Chase was the biggest nerd she’d ever met, a geek through and through, and the only thing that made him attractive was that somehow he’d managed to fit in some time at the gym between all that mystical elf shit. Nothing was going to help that nose.
But oh, did she ever love it. And she loved talking to him, even if it felt like he was blabbering on in another language most of the time. She loved those cupid’s bow lips, those dark eyes, and the way she always wanted to reach out and touch him. Roxxi was pretty sure that even if they were sitting in blistering heat she’d still feel the need to get her hands on him.
And she cared about him. He barely knew her, but Roxxi knew him, and that was enough for responsibility to crash in like a tidal wave. She didn’t want to hurt him━not any more than her family had already done.
He lost it again at ‘tabletop’ and the mimed throwing of dice. Roxxi scoffed and rolled her eyes, though she was grinning, amused by the way he resembled a man and a little boy all at the same time. She didn’t find it attractive whatsoever━it wasn’t as if he made it hot for her; no, it killed the arousal each time.
But then the man kicked in again, and it was back in a flash like it never left, blazing just as hot as it had before. Enough to give her whiplash but Roxxi was enjoying this. She even enjoyed the desk between them━though it was irritating━because it was just another boundary to cross━another hoop to jump through. She’d climb on top of it if she had to get closer to him, but that seemed highly unprofessional and, after her sudden and unexplained absence, Roxxi going to push her luck with the board.
‘ …you were kinda perfect as a femme fatale though.’
“Mhmm,” Roxxi hummed, though her eyes didn’t move from his lips, inching closer. “Too bad you’ll never get me.” She whispered. Under the surface, it was more than just a tease. She couldn’t consider this going any further, it wasn’t safe for either of them. Part of her wanted him to want it, though━for the purposes of her ego, and because she wanted him, too. And if he tested the waters, maybe, just maybe, she’d break. Perhaps Roxxi wanted to test her own level of self-control, too.
Something went off when they finally came together again. She could feel it from him, and God was she ever glad it wasn’t one-sided, using one hand for leverage on the table while she pressed in harder. One more second and she could’ve been hopping over that desk, what with the way her tongue flicked against his and how her mind drove into the depths of her imagination. Breaking apart to lock the door would only take a second, they could handle the pause, couldn’t they?
A quiet sound, somewhere between surprise and pleasure, escaped when his hand was in her hair, forcing her to stare up at him. It took a moment for his words to process, that far-off, glazed look in her brown eyes but, once they landed, she was smirking. “You don’t have the balls.” Roxxi narrowed her eyes at him, still playful, a quick glance at his lips before she met his gaze again. “But, yes, I’m hoping you’ll take me... in.” She snickered, about to close that half-inch gap again when the classroom phone started blaring. She nearly ignored it, tensing under the sound and debating it for a moment before finally pulling away, a loud and annoyed groan rolling out from her chest.
“What’s with us and phone calls?” Roxxi muttered, only taking a second longer to revel in the moment before it chimed again and she pushed away, her hand on his chest. Turning, she strode to where the phone was perched on the wall a few feet from her desk, tearing it off the receiver and pressing it to her ear. “Hello?”
“Hi, Ms. Braschi? It’s Hank from security at the main entrance. There’s a Detective Buckley currently in the school; he was searching for Frances Breyer and was directed to your classroom. Is he still there?”
She sighed heavily, giving Chase a sad smile over her shoulder, but one that wasn’t surprised. Of course this happened to them again. Maybe God was trying to give Roxxi all the chances she needed to stop this idiocy. Too bad she wasn’t good at listening. “Yes. He’s here.”
“Great! Can you please let him know that the student is on her way out now? I just saw her leave from the main building.”
“Yup.” Roxxi’s reply was curt, taking out her disappointment and frustration on the security guard who was surely just being helpful. Another sad smile and Roxxi was making her way back over to Chase, standing at the side of her desk this time, with only the corner of it between them. She leaned sideways onto it with one hand, the other reaching up to cup his cheek. “I’m beginning to hate your job.” She didn’t at all, though. She was proud of him. “Security guard called. Said some chick you were looking for is heading out now from the main entrance,” It felt like the final nail in the coffin as it left her lips, bittersweet, another run-in cut short. Fuck was she ever in trouble with this guy.
CHASE BUCKLEY | end w yours? |
|
CHASE BUCKLEY
Demon
Posts: 150
Age:
38
Occupation:
Detective
Status:
In a Relationship
Partner:
Roxanne Braschi
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Nov 24, 2024 17:13:48 GMT
|
Post by CHASE BUCKLEY on Sept 3, 2021 19:12:40 GMT
It shoulda been the geek putting her off. Like he’d told her at Kitschy Kitschy Coo that first night, women like him didn’t turn up in places like that, they didn’t go for the sort of guys who could name every dwarf in the Hobbit – in order! – or who’d hero worshipped Steve Rogers well beyond high school. They went for guys who looked like him for five minutes. A run in with a bad boy who could give you that taste of black leather and bar fights, the kind that kept you running on adrenalin for a night while you waited to see if things kicked off, if that battered face could take another swing and you’d be the one playing nurse to the broken nose and the fat lip. Oh, he woulda disappointed her there, he took his lumps up on the job, not outside of it. Detective Buckley the one taking those swings, Chase the one wearing the scars of it.
The job hadn’t scared her off either, although it’d seemed it at the time. Those lips that were grinning at him now latching onto his jaw, his throat, making him wanna hang the phone up and shove the phone aside for the first time in as long as he could remember. Then she’d caught those words ‘Detective Buckley’ and in an instant all of that heat had cooled like a bucket of water had been thrown on the two of them. Professor Braschi, had snatched everything up then, practically run out the door like Cinderella.
That metaphorical crystal shoe she’d left him holding had fit though. The beauty to his beast had a nerdy side to herself, with that blatant hit of bad girl beneath. That roll of her eyes had promised it as he’d geeked out again, not interested in that nerd but in the man and he wasn’t put off by it in the least. There was tolerance there, even if there wasn’t an embracing of all of it and that was enough when you knew there wasn’t enough of you held together for anything more than that. Chase could feel those fine cracks the last couple of years – naw, screw that, the last couple of decades – had put in him as he leaned in but he pushed past it, playing along and into those nimble hands.
A low sound of disappointment edged with something more rumbled rough in his throat, dark eyes dropping from her face, to those hands she had splayed on the table, his own inching in like he could bracket them with his own, fingers closing around her wrists, pulling her in. An unbreakable hold if he wanted it to be, the cop in him getting his criminal – and it was criminal to tease that way, to dance around all of this and inevitably be torn away again.
Chase had allowed himself to be reeled in, thighs aching with the bite of the desk as they came together. Losing himself in that hungry press of his lips, knowing he had caught her in a way. The table a chastity belt between the two of them, holding them back, although there was a threat to shove it aside as he murmured against her mouth. It’d just take the slide of that hand in her hair down to the flare of her hips, a lift, probably the death of whatever paperwork she had spread across the thing. Worth it though as she deepened the kiss and that hunger he’d pushed down with a monk’s devotion burst free.
That little sound made something in the pit of his stomach clutch, the pupils in his eyes blown out, an echo of that glazed look in her eyes. Lost in that haze of pleasure until she smirked. He was making a sound then, a mock threat in his eyes as they narrowed at her. ”I think they call that resisting arrest,” he growled. ”It’s more than a slap on the wrist for that – an interrogation at the very least. You ready to be under my spotlight, professor.” Or was he under hers?
Either way that light dimmed – another slap of cold water – when that slow, sultry dance between them was cut off as the phone on the wall of the classroom started to bleat. Son of a …
Chase lowered his head, his brow almost brushing her shoulder and that alluring curve of her throat as he let out a groan. On the clock. He was still on the clock whether or not the student had been here or if he was playing cops and robbers with Roxxi. ”The universe obviously wants to reach out and make a connection,” he quipped, drawing in a breath that smelled of her the way his skin had when he’d trailed home that night from the shop. A noise of complaint low in his throat and he was letting her push him back, running his tongue over his lower lip as he watched her move away to it.
Dark eyes wary now, that tug of war in the pit of his stomach between the woman and the job that had been everything since he’d paraded with his class during his academy graduation. The blue uniform his first badge of honour, carrying the weight of expectation that he’d be able to do all he promised and clean up Central City. That smile over her shoulder sealed it. One of them was getting pulled away. He’s here. This time the choke chain was on him, pulling him back. Chase sucked his lower lip between his teeth, biting down hard for a moment in frustration.
Brows rising he released it with a sigh. Hands splayed on the table still, head hanging for a moment before he looked up. She was right there again then, closer, one hand coming up to cup his cheek. ”Security.” No question to it. There was only one person looking for him and the news was another tug on the badge. ”I ain’t too fond of it either right now.” A sighed admission. ”She was meant to be in your class, I guess she skipped and now she’s heading out. I better go … come by the shop this Friday. Or … pick up the phone.” He wanted to hear from her, to slip away somewhere the choke chain couldn’t pull either one of them back. A grumbled sound and he was dipping his head, taking just a couple of heartbeats to sink deep before he was pulling back. Careful steps backwards, away from her and the desk before he let out a quiet curse and turned, taking off at a jog.
If the job wasn’t gonna be the death of him then Professor Braschi definitely was.
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