Day 19: 38,055 words about his royal jawliness

 

It was not Jeff (the Australian who was in Jackie's Place earlier) who was with the police chief. And now Jake and Scottie are getting shoved into a broom closet.

“Before you get any ideas,” not Jeff said to mostly Jake, “I would re-think every single one of them.” In his hand was a gun, pointed right at Scottie. 

They were cornered and out of options. 

“What is happening? Why are you detaining us?” Scottie asked, panic ringing in her voice. 

“We need to get you out of the way. You’ve been poking around more than I’d like. Asking too many questions. Questions like ‘What is happening?’ and ‘Why are you detaining us?’” not Jeff said in a mocking voice.

“The high pitched voice went a bit far,” Scottie huffed.

“No answers to your questions will be forthcoming,” Police Chief Pettipiece said as he slammed the door. They heard keys jangling on the other side, locking the door.

“Well, at least we aren’t under arrest,” Scottie said, eyeing Jake. 

He looked completely miserable and crestfallen.

“We’ll make it out of here,” Scottie tried to reassure Jake. 

“I don’t see any way that we are going to get out of this situation alive,” Jake moaned. “They’re cops. They can do whatever they want and then lie. Only two people know that we are here. And one of them is a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis consultant.”

Scottie had to admit that he had a point. 

“What’s the point of being 6 foot 3 and 227 pounds if I can’t stop us from being kidnapped?” Jake put his head in his hands. 

“Jake,” she said as she put her hand on his shoulder, “Being 6 foot 3 and 227 pounds won’t protect you from a gun. And they know that. That’s why they brought it.”

“I should have come here alone to talk to IT Brandon. You shouldn’t be stuck here,” he said sadly, his dejected eyes cast down to the floor. 

“What do you mean?” Scottie lightly touched his face and turned it so he had to face her. “I’m the one that brought you into this. You had no reason to be involved in any part of my investigation, but I dragged you in.”

Jake laughed. “Is that a joke? I practically begged you to be involved.”

“Because you have a taste for adventure?” Scottie asked in a high-pitched voice. They were getting into some territory that she hadn’t expected. 

“It’s because I have a taste for smart and beautiful women that I’ve known since high school, before everything else,” Jake said, his voice low. 

“You do?” Scottie said, feeling like her heart was about to leap out of her chest. 

“I do,” he replied, brushing hair off of her face. Their faces were practically touching. Every nerve in her body was firing.

“For the record, you were hot in high school and clearly going to be in the NHL. Having a crush on you, as I very obviously did, was not a sacrifice,” she grinned.

Scottie didn’t want there to be any space between her and Jake. She wanted to close the space entirely, to feel her body on his and see what it felt like to run her hands through his thick hair. She wanted to see if he tasted as good as he looked. To see what it would feel like to have his strong hands on her. To use her hand to touch his perfect jaw and worship it the way his royal jawliness deserved. 

She had wondered more times than she would ever want to count what it would be like to kiss Jake Kneiss. When she imagined it, it was never in a broom closet in the basement of the London Police Service headquarters, when the two of them were in danger that she got them into. No, that wasn’t exactly fantasy material. Maybe for others, but not for her.

“I want to kiss you,” she finally said out loud, courage finding her because of the matching heat in Jake’s eyes. “But this just cannot be the place where it happens for the first time.” They both looked around the shabby broom closet.

“The first time?” he asked, grinning broadly and raising his eyebrows suggestively. His voice was low and rough, bringing her closer than she had ever been to falling over into his chest and accidentally commenting on the hardness of his pectoral muscles. She had a feeling that he would actually be a really big fan of that if she did it. 

“Well, if that’s what you want," she added hurriedly.

“I want there to be a first time. And I don’t want it to be the last time, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m not worried. I’m super casual and laid back,” Scottie shook her head. It was a blatant lie. Jake made her feel comfortable and completely unsure of everything that she was doing at the same time. Like she was back in high school again.

Jake laughed. “You don’t have to be super casual and laid back. You just have to be you. I like you.”

Scottie had never wanted to kiss him more. That includes high school, when she used to stare at his perfect jawline so much that she could have sketched it back at home from memory. Not that she ever actually did that or anything. 

“Well let’s find a way to get out of here, then. I didn’t think that I needed any more incentive to try to get out of this broom closet where I’m being detained by the police illegally,” Scottie said. 

But if she did need any further inspiration to break out of the broom closet, finally getting to kiss Jake Kneiss after way too many years of thinking about it was all the inspiration she could have hoped for.

“Me neither. But after this conversation, I’m ready to rip this door open,” he grinned. 

“I mean, can you?” Scottie asked. “It’s just a broom closet. It can’t have that much security, can it? Unless they illegally detain people here all the time. Which they might.”

That was not an encouraging thought. 

“Back up,” Jake said. “It’s worth a shot.”

While Jake pretended that the door was an opposing team’s defender with the puck in the corner, Scottie checked some of the more obvious ways to get out of the closet. As she anticipated, she did not have any service there. She also did not have Jackie’s cell phone number. She suspected that he did not have one, anyway. That would put him too squarely on the grid. There was nothing to turn off and turn back on again, which would have been what Brandon from IT would have told her to do. She officially did not have anything to contribute. 

Between Jake’s checks to the door, Scottie heard someone approaching down the hall. Or, a few someones. She grabbed Jake by the shoulder and gestured to him to quiet down. Hopefully it was someone good who would help them. Perhaps IT Brandon would try to get them out. Or maybe Police Officer Brandon, who might have correctly thought that kidnapping Jake Kneiss was a bad idea. 

She did not forego the opportunity to touch his shoulder, which she knew was probably not feeling good from hitting the door repeatedly without any hockey equipment on. It felt like touching a boulder.

Soon enough the mystery was solved. Police Chief Parm Pettipiece opened the door, looking angrier than ever. He shoved a tall blonde man into the broom closet with them, muttering something about cheese, and shut the door. The three of them listened in silence as the jangling keys locked the door once more. 

Scottie recognized the man in an instant. She didn’t need to hear his signature sweet voice, or touch his “grate” abs to confirm. She didn’t need to do any investigative journalism to figure out who the tall drink of Australian water was. 

It was the Australian Men’s Olympic Swim Team hopeful. The “Pretty Brown Eyes” singer. The owner and head cheese grater of Cody Simpson’s Own Artisanal Cheese Puffs. 

It was none other than Cody Simpson. 

“What is going on?” Jake looked to Scottie, realizing that she appeared to be much less in the dark about their new closet occupant than he was. 

“This Wortley Village serial arson conspiracy just got a lot bigger,” Scottie said, her mouth agape.