Clandestine

The Before (20)

CHAPTER 20

"Keep touching your hair and I'm going to cuff your hands to the basin." Piper's voice made me throw a look at Calie who was bent over in Piper's wardrobe inspecting her clothes, and deciding which ones she was going to wear out tonight. The cold floor beneath me dropped a few degrees as a shiver shot up my spine, the irony of what she had said was chilling. The fact that I could indeed handcuff her to the basin within a few seconds and she had no idea was funny in a weird way.

I huffed out, patting my hair once more before allowing my hands to rest on my lap. If I would had known that Piper was so serious about doing hair I probably wouldn't had let her do it. I mean I was seated on the cold floor of the bathroom; my back was uncomfortably pushed against Pipers knees as she curled my long hair, I was getting in trouble for holding my head straight when Piper decided wrap my hair around the curling iron with strong force.

In no way was this fun.

I wasn't even excited to go out, I knew that Noah would be there and I knew that if I got a few drinks in me I'd probably never be able to stay away from him, which is saying something.

My makeup was on the darker side, so were the clothes that Piper had picked out for me. My outfit consisted of a grey playsuit, and a black leather jacket which Piper paired with a pair of knee thigh high boots.

After my hair was completely curled and was bigger than it had been in my whole life, Piper excused herself, I stood in front of the mirror and inspected what they had done to me. For maybe the hundredth time in the month I had been undercover, I was shocked by the person staring back at me. A gasp left my lips, as I pulled the playsuit together to the front to minimize the amount of cleavage I was showing. I hadn't realized how dangerously low the front of the jumpsuit dropped, Calie pulled my hands away.

"Liana, you don't need to hide anymore." I dropped my hands and smiled at her in the mirror, her blonde hair was straightened to perfection, she was wearing a short leather skirt and a crop top showing off her toned waist. She smiled back. "You've changed,"

"It's the case –,"

"Maybe, maybe not. I remember when I met you, Ana. You were tough, you were always the boss of the playground." We both laughed, "When your dad left, you broke, and I get it Ana, I do. But you let life just fly by." I shook my head, dad leaving had taken a massive toll on my family, after he left I started trying even harder to join the police force. He was a cop; it had always been in my blood. When he left, my reason for wanting to be on the force changed, I didn't want to do it because it was my dream job anymore, I wanted to be a detective to hunt him down for myself. "Then you met Vince and you started breaking out a bit, I started to see that badass little girl again. But then he left, and you sank back down lower. You quit the bar, wore those god awful clothes, you went to work and come home."

"I went out!" I protested, I wasn't sure where she was taking this conversation.

"Getting groceries doesn't count," I huffed, and threw her a look.

"What are you trying to say, Cal? You don't want me to do my job?" I shook my head and turned to face her, was she expecting me to not put Noah away because there was no way I could do that.

"I just want you to think about how much you have been enjoying life lately, you love working at the bar, you've been racing, visiting your mother more. You're happier, why would you want to get rid of that?" My mouth fell open a little, she wanted me to not do my job. She knows how important this was to me, why was she telling me not to do it? She must have noticed the look of confusion of my face because she spoke up again, "Look, just think about it. Noah has made you bloom." I shook my head.

No he hadn't, He had made my life hell. He had made me confused, more sexually frustrated than I had been in my entire life, he had made this case more work than it needed to be, I didn't know where I stood with him. Noah and this case had turned me into someone I wasn't. I wasn't blooming, I was acting. This wasn't me.

"No –," I went to speak up, but the front door to the house slammed shut and Noah's deep voice echoed throughout the house as called out for Piper.

I rolled my eyes. Perfect timing.

Calie laughed softly, and moved to the bathroom leaving me to turn back to the mirror. I pulled a hand through my hair, as I heard footsteps coming up the steps. As they moved closer, my heart beat ran faster. I tried to relax, as the anticipation to see him grew stronger. After what happened today I was hoping that I wouldn't have to deal with him sober.

"Piper are you – whoa." Noah's voice appeared at the doorway making me jump although I was expecting him. I turned to look at him. Confidence grew in me as his eyes dropped down my body, a smirk growing on his lips as his eyes darted back up to my eyes.

I folded my arm across my chest, "Enjoying the view, Rivera." I asked, I couldn't help the smile that come to my face as he lent on the door frame, his eyes seemed heavy with a need for sleep as he just watched me.

"You heading out with Piper tonight?" His smirk fell a little as I turned back to the mirror to look at myself one last time.

"Yeah, are you not coming with us?" I sat down on the bed, and slipped my feet into the boot. I groan when the zipper got stuck on one of the boots. Of course this had to happen right when Noah was watching.

"Yeah I am," Noah shifted at the door, and started walking into Pipers room.

"Are you sure your up for it? No offence but you look like you could pass out at any minute." I sigh and huffed out in frustration at the boot, my heart picking up again as Noah got closer to me before slipping his hands around my waist to stand me up. My stomach flipped when he dropped to his knees in front of me. My breath caught when he wrapped one of hands around my knee, and pulled my foot onto his lap.

"I'm fine," He smiled up at me, his hand slipping up a bit higher on my leg. "Plus, someones got to keep an eye on you three." As his fingers lingered ever so lightly on the back of my thigh, as he looked up at me his chocolate eyes deepening to a darker shade of brown.

His other hand fiddled with the zipper, getting it to zip up within a few tries. He didn't make any movement towards getting up, or even taking his hands off my legs.

All I could think about was this afternoon in his office, I tried to remind myself what an ass he had been, but seeing him so tired made me want to forget about all of it. "I'm sure we can look after ourselves." I pulled my leg off his, twisting the boot leg to get it to sit right. He stood and looked down at me for a moment, before shaking his head and walking out leaving me standing in Piper's room, heart beating louder than I think it ever has.

"Geez." Calie's voice appeared from the bathroom door. "You two need to fuck already or at least a repeat of today." I'm pretty sure that was the last think we needed to do.

I rolled my eyes and pulled Calie towards the door. "C'mon, let's go get wasted."