The Detective and Her Bachelor

Chapter 5

You can't avoid home forever. At some point, you have to walk back through the door and face the quiet, the shadows, the ghost of decisions and stories past. But that doesn't stop you from avoiding home whenever there is unpleasantness there. You suddenly become social, pick up more work hours, or find new places to call home. But eventually, you run out of excuses, clothes, or money and have to head back.

Pretending my house wasn't full of painful memories and ignoring the closed door that hadn't been touched in years,  I made a beeline for the shower, bolting past the shadows that tried to tug me back to the past. 

It was five-thirty in the morning by the time I had washed away the previous night and hit the restart button by yanking on my flannel pajamas and crawling into bed. Burrowing under the quilted blanket on my twin bed in the room I used to share with Allie, I took a page out of Misty's book and typed in "ACE WALKER," onto my phone's search engine, falling into a virtual rabbit hole of stalkin— detective work.

Ace Walker himself wasn't considered well known, but his family name sure was. His brother was a famous actor and his parents owned an established law firm, along with several businesses all under the WALKER name. In short Ace Walker was part of an Empire Family.

Why would a Walker go on a reality tv show?  Empire families were very careful with how they were perceived. And going on a reality show didn't guarantee you would walk out looking like a likable character. And more than that, Empire Families were extremely careful about who they let join their family empire.

What's your game Coffee Guy? Are you the black sheep of your family? Do they not care about your reputation? Do you not care about your reputation? He seemed smart enough when I met him. Clever even. So it isn't a decision made by an idiot... I'm just missing something bigger here.

A publicity stunt seemed pointless. The Walker's were well known and didn't need the attention or the money. So what was it? Why reality tv? It didn't line up with his prim and proper family.

Before I could look more into Ace Walker, and how I could possibly make him fall in love with me after I had been a major pain in the span of a five-minute conversation, I fell asleep, the caffeine in my veins finally bowing to the melatonin running through my veins.

...

Lifting a beat-up duffle bag over my shoulder, I made it as far as my porch before I spotted the new addition to my worn-down driveway. 

"Decker... I am starting to wonder if I should get a restraining order," I muttered, dropping my bag on the porch.

He was leaning against my car like he owned it, sporting a pair of aviators making it impossible to see his eyes. His white t-shirt did little to hide the tattoos that decorated his arms and parts of his chest. Ink black stories he never talked about.

"Have I already been fired?" I asked, hand on hip, leveling him with a stare.

Decker lifted the sunglasses off of his nose, glancing at my clothes, trying not to laugh. "Depends... is that what you plan on wearing to your 'introductory encounter.'" 

I glanced down at my mustard yellow sleeveless t-shirt, black flannel wrapped around my waist, black skinny jeans, and worn black converse with confusion. "What's wrong with this?" 

Decker swore, muttering something under his breath about being an impossible task before he pushed off my car. The car screeched in protest at being manhandled, before falling silent again. "It's a formal event," he said, stopping at the bottom of my porch.