Devil in Disguise

Chapter Four

Devin POV

          I was expecting Alice to be shocked about this little development in her case, but I definitely did not expect her to pass out.

          “Did she just faint? Am I really that bad of a guy?” I stared at Alice’s unconscious body incredulously as the chief tried to pick her up.

          “Now’s not the time to be snarky, Rogers. I need you to call the hospital. I think she may have too much caffeine in her system.”

          If I didn’t looked stunned before, I was now. “Are you telling me she OD’d on caffeine?”

          “Call the hospital now! The number’s on the bulletin board over there,” he pointed toward the board. “Call them before I make my gun persuade you to.”

          “Okay, okay, I’m going.” I reached for the post-it that had the number and started dialing. A lady answered the phone immediately. I told her where we were and to make it quick. The paramedics were there in two minutes flat.

          “Jesus,” I said, watching the paramedics take Alice away. “How the hell did they get here so quick? Don’t they usually take about fifteen minutes at least?”

          The chief stared at me. “Okay, first of all, this is a police station. Second of all, the hospital is almost right next door to here.”

          I smirked. “So, America is slowly improving. Last time I checked, a pizza delivery could get to a house faster than an ambulance.”

          He put on a poker face. “We’re working on that.”

          I snorted. Yeah, right.

          I watched Alice be put in a stretcher and jostled into the van. She looked so fragile, which contradicted her whole personality completely. If I had told her she was fragile, she would punch me in the face for sure.

          “Hey,” the chief waved in front of my face, “are you listening, or am I too boring for you?”

          “I’m sorry, I zoned out for a second. What were you saying?” I asked.

          “I was saying that I’m heading over to the hospital to check on Alice. You can either come with me or you can stay at the station. It doesn’t matter to me.”

          I looked over to the ambulance taking Alice away. “I think I’ll stay here and help out some officers. Keep me updated on Alice, though. I want to be there when she wakes up. I’d love to see her face when she sees me.” I looked back at him and grinned.

          He shook his head. “Whatever, Rogers, but I want you to be on your best behavior. You’re my responsibility now, which means if you screw up, I screwed up. This deal of ours can be broken just as easily as it was created, got that?”

          I saluted him. “Yes, sir.”

          He walked toward one of the police cruisers. “I mean it, Devin.”

          I put up my hands in surrender. “All right, all right, be on my best behavior. Scout’s honor.”

          “You were not a scout.”

          “Yes, I was. For one day.”

          “Let me guess, you stole everyone’s lunch.”

          “No, I put a kid in a headlock for trying to hurt a squirrel. I was a sensitive kid back then.”

          “I’m sure you were.” The chief called out as he got in his car and drove away.