A/N: I know there's not a lot of CSI in this book, well, at least not yet. I've got it all worked out, don't worry. If all goes according to plan...well, I'll just let ya'll be surprised. And yea...I know. I'm serious...his name is Pot Roast...it's a nick name... –everyone laughs—I know, it's just so funny. –smiles—Ha, ha, it's so funny :)
Rating: M...again, always assume it's M, cause if there's not sex, there's language or somethin else naughty.
Disclaimer: I own everything but Nick and Sara...wow...OMG! normally I'm saying I own nothing except 'such-and-such'...I own a lot in this story, and I promise, the CSI is coming. I just feel that there is too much CSI and not enough personal life in some books...but any way.
Chapter 3
(2 months later)
"Hey, man, c'mon. Just tell me."
"I said no." Nick replied while chuckling and lacing up his black boots. Warrick chuckled.
"Come on Nick, just tell me, how was the date."
"Warrick, read my lips man, I'm not tellin."
"That bad huh?"
"It wasn't bad..."
"You just weren't interested." Warrick said, rolling his eyes. He had remembered the conversation from Nick's previous dates. "Nick, man, what's your deal? They were hot, sexy, girls, ready for fun...how could you, the ladies man of the lab, not be interested when they're practically begging you for sex?"
Nick chuckled nervously and swung his leg over the bench and faced his locker. He shrugged, truly lost in his predicament. He had been on a total of five dates in 2 months, but not one of the women he had gone out with had piqued his interest.
Warrick shook his head and sighed. "I don't get you Nick...I really don't."
Grissom appeared at the doorway of the locker room and interrupted the conversation. "Boys, where are you on the Madison case?"
"We have one more suspect to interview. Club owner, Daniel Mathis, he owns Club Spike." Warrick filled Grissom in, the older man nodded.
"Come see me when you're done. Try not to spend too much time on this..." With that Grissom left and Warrick looked at Nick.
"Ready to go for a ride Little Buddy?" Warrick asked and Nick chuckled.
"You're weird Rick."
"No, Greg's weird. I have a distinct personality that varies from day to day."
"What ever."
"Mr. Mathis, did you know the deceased, Debra Thompson?" Warrick asked and showed him a picture of the girl. He barely glanced at it before handing the photo back.
"No."
"Why don't you take another look?" Brass suggested
He sighed as if this entire thing was a total waste of his time. "No. I don't know who she is."
"Well our evidence says otherwise." Nick piped up. "Epithelials on the towel that was shoved down her throat says you were there the day she died..."
He scoffed. "Epithelials. What is that?"
"Skin cells, they were found on the murder weapon."
Mathis waved this comment away. "No more." He handed Warrick a card. "Next time you want to talk to me, talk to my lawyer."
And with that Brass, Nick, and Warrick were kicked out of Mr. Mathis' office. "Unbelievable." Warrick grumbled. Nick nodded in agreement and looked over in a nonchalant way...when she caught his eye.
Nick had to do a double take, but it was indeed her. Riley Turner. She was behind the bar, wiping down the counter quickly while pouring a drink for a man at the bar. She looked fantastic. Her midriff was exposed, showing the feminine, defined abs Nick had experienced. her black top was a ripped off at the sleeves and had silver studs encircling the arm. Her hair was down, and fell spiral curly around her face, reaching about an inch below her shoulders. She had black cuffs on her wrists and a black leather belt hooked loosely around her tight fitting jeans.
Her make up was dark, and edgy, but sexy all the same. Not Nick's normal type, she looked like a girl Greg would date, but something about her was so enticing. Nick slowed down his pace, but not enough to draw Warrick's attention. he did catch Riley's though. She made brief eye contact, and then looked back to the customers at the bar. She didn't seem angry or upset. It was almost as if she didn't recognize him.
"Hey uh, Rick, I'll catch up with ya in a minute. I wanna check something."
"Alright." Warrick said, not even looking back. Nick turned and went over to the bar and waited a few feet away from the man she was currently helping. She poured the liquor into the glasses in a long line like a pro. She twirled the bottles on her fingers and slid them back under the bar. A few men clapped and she smiled, and cracked the lid off the beer bottle off the cuff on her silver Texas buckle belt. She smiled devilishly and slid the man his drink. The men parted ways and she continued wiping down the counter, not looking up for a few moments at Nick.
When she finally did make eye contact she merely stared at him, as if she genuinely didn't recognize him. he smiled downheartedly at her. "You don't remember me do you?" He drawled and she cracked a cheeky smile.
"Yeah I recognized you. I just wasn't sure if you recognized me."
"Why else would I have come over here?"
"What everyone else does." She said gesturing to the alcohol around her. Nick smiled and shook his head.
"What've you been up to?"
Once again she gestured to her surroundings. "Work."
"Listen I um...I just wanted to uh, explain why-"
"Nick, I get it. I know how a one-night-stand works."
Nick stared at her a moment, "Oh..."
She chuckled. "It's okay Nick. I didn't expect you to call...I never gave you my number."
"Yeah but I knew where you worked." She shrugged. "So um..."
"I uh, I actually have to get back to work." She said and turned away from him and went to help the other patrons at the bar. She was really okay with it...she understood.
But for some outlandish reason Nick wasn't okay with that. He sighed and stood next to the person she was trying to help.
"Can I take you out to dinner?" Nick blurted.
"What?" Riley asked confused. She was trying to keep her attention focused on the person in front of her...
"I want to take you out to dinner."
...But Nick was making it difficult.
She sighed half exasperatedly and turned to face him. "Nick, you don't have to do that. I know how it works."
"Well...this isn't about that."
"Excuse me buddy, wait your turn." The man she was previously talking to interrupted them.
"Excuse me a minute sir." Riley drawled and the man sighed. "Nick, seriously."
"Hello, Miss." The man interrupted again.
"Just hang on one minute sir." She asked.
"Riley please." Nick beseeched.
"Yo! Woman! Get over here!"
"Hey! I'm tryin to fuckin talk here! Back off!" Riley shouted and the man stormed away from the bar. "Asshole." She murmured and Nick raised his brow. "Not you."
"Riley-"
"Nick-"
"Riley, I'm not doing this because I feel bad," Am I? "I'm doing this because I want to." I do? "I want to take you out on a date. Not a one-night-stand kinda thing." Oh man Nick, bad...bad. You can't handle this right now. Stop asking her out. "Please...?"
She sighed and ran a hand threw her curls. "Nick...I don't know if that's such a good idea."
"Why not?" Nick knew he was pushing it...but something inside his gut told him to keep pushing.
"Because, it's just not. Look, I really have to get back to work. I'm sorry." She said and turned back to some other patrons.
"Yo, Nick! You comin man?" He heard Warrick call him and he turned away from the bar dejectedly. Riley watched him go out of the corner of her eye and continued working. Thomas soon approached her and nudged her lightly.
"Wasn't that the sexy cowboy that you brought home a couple months ago?" He asked, the feminine tone of his voice peaking out.
"Yeah."
"What'd he want? Another rendezvous between the sheets?" he waggled his eyebrow and Riley chuckled and shook her head.
"Nah, he was just sayin hi."
Thomas nodded and then Jabari approached them. "Wasn't that the guy from a couple of months ago?" He asked motioning towards the door. Riley rolled her eyes and nodded. Jabari looked back skeptically.
"He was saying hi." Thomas relayed.
"What, he sleeps with you, and then 2 months later out of the blue he comes and says hi...?"
"Apparently." Riley said and continued filling the drink orders. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be spinnin Jare Bear?" She drawled and he shook his head.
"Nope. Tony's fillin in for me."
"Deven's friend?" Jabari nodded. "Is he comin over later?"
"Yeah, once his shift ends we're headin back to the 'pad' for some guy time."
Riley sighed and rolled her eyes, "Okay, first off, it can't be a bachelor pad when a girl lives there, and second, if ya'll are callin strippers again ya'll are cleanin up the mess. I ain't doin it again."
"Pssh! We ain't inviting strippers till you are outta town. You were livid last time!"
Riley chuckled. "Well comin home after a long days work to a trashed house and three naked women isn't exactly a good way to end the day for me." She defended and poured some more drinks. "My shift is over in an hour, when is Tony done?"
"About the same time."
"Okay, I'm hitchin a ride with ya'll. Poor Thomas will be here till closing."
Jabari winced and shook his head. "Poor little guy."
"Yeah, well he seems to have charmed a fella of his own so...I don't think he minds too much." They exchanged a few laughs before getting back to work. Riley was thankful for her short lived distraction, thoughts of Nick were returning from earlier.
She moaned and continued with her work until the bar seemed to be emptying out. Only two people were left and Vic, the bouncer, was kicking them out know. Riley was sprawled out on the freshly cleaned bar counter with Tony's head on her stomach. He had passed out from too many shots and decided it would be fun to play, 'use-Riley-as-a-pillow'.
She thought she heard Jabari coming up to her, when she opened her eyes and realized it was Deven. She bolted upright and looked at him in confusion. "I thought Jabari was taking us home?"
"No...he called and said that he had to go spin for Club Reckless." Club Reckless was the spin-off of the club they were currently in and owned by the same Daniel Mathis. "I'm taking you home."
Riley stared at him a moment, but nodded and lifted Tony's head off her stomach. "Tony, we're going back to my place, if you need to puke, tell me and I'll get out of the way. But if you up chuck on my new black boots I'll kick your ass. Got it?"
"Uh huh." He moaned and tried to walk. After he stumbled a few times, Deven threw him over his shoulder and carried him out of the bar.
"We still need to talk." Deven pointed out once they were all situated in the car and driving down the street.
"Deven...tonight isn't the night."
"Ry...listen, I know I fucked up,"
She scoffed.
"Ry, please."
"No."
"Riley-"
"Deven, not now. I don't want to deal with this alright? I'm tired and I just want to go home and take a nice long bubble bath. It's been a long day and I don't want to discuss our relationship or lack thereof." She argued and looked out the window.
Deven sighed. "Is this about that Nick guy?"
"No."
"Was he the first since-"
"Deven! I'm not discussing my sex life with you!"
"Riley...I think I have the right to know." He said softly. He looked at her and gave her the look that use to make her give into anything.
"No you don't...you haven't had that right in a long time." Riley pointed out softly and continued staring out the window.
Nick pulled into his driveway and sat in the car for a few minutes. He was sure Riley would be angry with him for not contacting her for two months. Then all of the sudden he shows up at her bar and asks her out...God he must've sounded like such an idiot.
"Damn it Nick...what were you thinkin?" He asked himself, getting out of his car and going into his house. He threw his bag and keys down by the door and fell back onto his ouch, throwing his arm over his head. he had fallen asleep almost instantly, apparently he was more tired than he thought.
He had a dream about their talk after their 'one-night-stand'. When they were sitting out in her backyard talking...when she had seemed eager to get to know him...was that all an act?
He had a hard time believing that. He had only known her for a shirt amount of time but he could tell that wasn't all an act. His dream continued, basically replaying their day's events.
Nick woke a few hours later and pulled himself into the shower. He physically felt like hell...like a horrible hang over...but he hadn't been drinking anything. "Damn, this chick has messed me up so fuckin bad." Nick cursed as he jumped into the shower and washed his day off of him.
Riley stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel around her long and slender body. She had done a Jane Fonda tape after work to burn off steam and relax. After that she had jumped in the shower and finally felt the effects of limited sleep getting to her. She dried off and crawled into bed, snuggling into the cool sheets that felt like velvet against her silky skin.
She sighed and fell asleep almost instantly, letting a dreamless sleep control her tired body.
She felt someone shaking her gently and whispering her name. "Riley...Riley wake up."
She moaned in protest and buried her head into the pillow. "Five more minutes."
"Riley get dressed now."
"Just two more damn minutes."
"Riley! God Damnit! Shaun's in the hospital! get your ass outta bed!" Jon ordered and she bolted upright, grabbing the sheets to hide herself.
"Oh my God...what happened?"
"He got into a car accident." She grabbed her robe from the chair beside her bed and slid it on, then crawled out of bed.
"Is he okay?" She asked, her voice trembling.
"He's in ICU."
"Holy Fuck." She swore under her breath.
"Get dressed." She quickly rolled out of bed and threw on clean under wear and her jeans from the night before. She pulled a form fitting Rock 'N Roll T-shirt and slid her Vans on her feet. After grabbing a hooded sweater jacket she jogged into the living room to see Thomas, Jon, and CJ pacing nervously.
"Let's go." She said and they all hurried out the door.
The foursome made their way into the ICU waiting room and met up with Tony, Troy, Marcus, Jabari, Kiersten, Deven, and Pot Roast. Kiersten ran up and embraced Riley in a hug and she felt Kit's tears soak through the shoulder of her shirt. She comforted her friend and looked around at the other inhabits of the room. Troy had a few tears on his face and Marcus was comforting him, Jabari looked a little confused. He had just been talking to Shaun a few hours ago. He had the 'How-the-hell-did-this-happen' look on his face. Pot Roast was staring at the floor, his hands gripping tightly at his short, curly black locks. The position of his slumped shoulders sent off signal saying he felt semi-responsible.
He was the one who had loaned Shaun his car. They were going out to get some chips and beer for the party when it happened...it could have been Pot Roast. No doubt the poor guy was kicking that around relentlessly in his mind. Riley sighed and passed Kiersten off to Jabari as she sat down next to Pot Roast.
He had never really been the talker of the group, he enjoyed himself, made jokes, and laughed...but he was usually very quiet. He would usually talk to Riley...if it was important enough. She reached over and took his hand in hers supportively. "it could have been me Ry...it should have been me..." He said softly and she shook her head.
"No, it shouldn't have been anyone...how did it happen?"
"Idiot driver, pulled out at a red light and crashed into Shaun and some other car...the other guy didn't make it. The one who hit them is in ICU too..."
She squeezed his hand and looked at the wall in front of them. He shook his head aggravated. "I need to walk." he stood and took off down the hall. Riley stood there and watched him go, wishing she could console him more. She looked back at the group and saw Tony was trying to get Deven to talk...
No doubt he had been trying for hours. It was probably useless. When Deven felt emotion he kept it bottled up...especially when he was hurting. Riley had been the one that could drag it out of him...and tonight would probably be no different. She walked over and stood by Tony and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey...why don't you go find Pot Roast..." She suggested softly and Tony nodded, going after his friend.
Riley sighed and sat next to Deven. Neither said anything, merely because there was too much to say and no where to start. Riley sighed and looked at her hands. "He's gonna be okay...you know that right?" She said softly, not looking at him.
Deven leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, mocking Riley's position. "I know..." He answered after several minutes.
Truthfully, out of all of her friends, Deven was the one she was worried about the most. He and Shaun had been the closest. They had been friends for almost twenty years...they had lived in Florida for a while, but then their families moved out to Texas. Desperate for the boys to keep contact with each other. Then they had met Pot Roast in 6th grade, the same time Riley and Kiersten met each other. They all united in Biology in 7th grade and then slowly, they collected random friends throughout the years.
The kids moved back to Florida for a while where they found Tony, then Jabari and CJ.
After the group decided on a risky move back to Texas they met Thomas and Troy at a Mardi Grass in New Orleans. The invited the guys along for their trip and they all made it to Texas. But they didn't stop there, they moved all the way out to California where they met Marcus. Shortly thereafter Troy and Marcus started going out, therefore adding a new person to the inner circle. While partying at a Rave in Hollywood the kids had a run in with the law when they were all caught getting high in public. Jon's father was a police officer that caught them... but Jon and Riley had met previously at a few parties, and Jon pulled a few strings to let them all off the hook. And the last member was instigated.
When Riley's mother got sick they all fled back to Texas, desperate to not separate. They toughed it out for a few years, and then on a drunken dare from a few other mutual friends, they moved out to Vegas. Most would call them crazy, twelve kids moving all around the Southern United States just for the hell of it, continually getting drunk and baked in public and constantly getting off the hook because of Jon and Riley's ties to the law in several states.
Others would call them bums and degenerates...but to themselves and their families...they were 'The Gang'.
But they original 5 were the core of the group...Shaun, Pot Roast, Deven, Riley, and Kiersten...they were the heart and soul of the group, and they were taking Shaun's condition the hardest.
"Are you sure?" Deven asked softly and Riley nodded.
"Yeah." She replied. "Yeah...he's gonna be okay." She reached over and rubbed the area between his shoulder blades, a trick that she had learned calmed him down quickly. He sighed heavily and grabbed her other hand and squeezed it lightly for support.
She tried not to tense up at his touch, and soon relaxed enough not to raise suspicion from him. Not that he would have noticed anyway...he was too worried about Shaun to even think about who's hand he was holding.
A few hours later they finally had word on Shaun's condition, he wasn't doing as well as the doctor's would have hoped. He was conscious but probably not up for any visitors. The police were coming to take his statement, so the entire group had to wait until after they left to even be considered for visiting him. Riley and Deven had seemed to be frozen in their places, both thinking about their favorite memories of Shaun. Suddenly the group heard a few separate pairs of foot steps and Jon looked up.
"Nick?" Jon asked and everyone looked up to stare at Nick in confusion. Nick's eyes flickered to Riley.
Whoa...I thought the name sounded familiar...
Nick thought and tried not to focus on Riley and Deven and the fact that they were holding hands.
Why is this bothering me...? She made it clear I was her one-night-stand.
"Uh...yeah." He greeted and tired to avoid Riley's stare. "This is my partner, Sara Sidle and Det. Brass, we're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab."
"Crime Lab?" Jabari asked confused.
"Why is the Crime Lab involved?" Tony asked.
"Well, there was an accident and a man was killed, and two were hospitalized, that's cause enough for the Crime Lab to be involved." Sara explained.
"So...you're investigating Shaun's case?" Troy asked and they nodded.
"Yes, I'm going to need to talk to all of you."
"Why?" Thomas asked confused.
"Because we need to get full accounts of all the stories." Nick explained.
"But none of us were with him when it happened." Kiersten protested.
"That's true, but what happened before and after are just as important as during the crime."
"You really think this is a crime?" Riley spoke for the first time and Nick turned to look at her.
"Someone was killed...that's always a crime." Nick replied and Riley looked away from his intense stare. She leaned back into her current position and looked down at her hand, her eyes occasionally flickering to her and Deven's entwined fingers.
Okay...when did we entwine our fingers?
Riley thought confused. It was a weird thing to be thinking at a time like that...her best friend in a hospital bad, barely conscious, her ex-boyfriend holding her hand, and her one night stand watching everyone's moves like a hawk...and she was thinking about entwined fingers. She let go of Deven's hand to quickly reach into her pocket and tie her hair up in a messy bun to keep it out of her face, and she returned her hand to its position, hanging loosely from her knee.
Much to her relief Deven didn't make a move to hold her hand again. But at the same time, it irked her. Was he only not holding her hand because Nick was here?
God Turner! Stop it! Your best friend is sitting in a hospital bed hanging on for dear life and you're thinking about your one-night-stand and your ex! You have to be here for Shaun...he needs you...
This only caused her to mellow out and a deep wave of depression hit her, it was as if she had just found out that this had happened. She let out a huge breath of stress and looked up at Kiersten, a lost look in her eye. Kiersten sensed something was wrong and they had a conversation with their eyes, a skill they had perfected in their seventeen years of friendship.
"What's wrong Chica?"
"Kit...its Nick, my one-night-stand, and Deven, my ex who's holding my hand!"
"Okay, calm down...you need to take big even breaths and chill."
"Okay, okay, okay...alright..."
"Oh Shit, Nick's coming towards me first. Stay strong Chica."
"Kit..."
Sara disappeared behind the door that led to the room Shaun was in. Detective Brass took Kiersten aside while Nick spoke with Thomas. They had spoken to everyone but Pot Roast and Riley.
They're double teaming us...Oh God, please let me talk to the Detective instead of Nick...
Some while later her name was called, "Riley."
No such luck...
Riley stood and walked over to Nick and leaned against the wall, not bothering to hide the fact she had been falling asleep only moments before. "Where were you earlier tonight?" He drawled and she sighed and rubbed her forehead tiredly.
"I was at work until 3 a.m."
"And afterwards..."
"I went home and slept for a few hours. Then Jon woke me up and told me about Shaun, so we came here." She explained calmly, her sweet accent extremely evident from her tired state. Nick finished writing down what he needed to on Brass' spare note pad and nodded.
"Okay thanks." He drawled, not making eye contact with her.
She immediately felt bad and wanted to say something...but what do you say in a time like that? She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it and went back to where she was sitting earlier.
Sara walked out of Shaun's room and nodded towards Nick. Riley kept her eyes down and tried to avoid his stare for as long as she could.
"Well probably be speaking with a few of you again." Brass stated. They all nodded and Brass turned to leave, with Sara following. Riley looked up and met Nick's eyes, he looked at her for a moment, it was an awkward and intense gaze.
Riley felt more uncomfortable than she had in a while, but she couldn't look away. "We'll call if something comes up." He finally said and Riley watched him leave.
Okay...that was the weirdest, most awkward ten seconds of my life.
Just then a nurse came from Shaun's room. "Excuse me, Mr. Reynolds can have visitors now." The nurse explained and Deven stood up first.
He looked around to make sure everyone was okay with him going first, and they all nodded. The minute he disappeared behind the door Kiersten rushed over to sit next to Riley. "Oh my God, there was more sexual tension in here than a bunch of virgins at a male model bikini exhibit."
Riley looked at her like she was nuts. "Why can't you just say there was a lot of sexual tension in here?"
Kiersten shrugged, "What ever, so...are you and Deven getting back together?" She asked cautiously.
"God no."
"Good, that would not be good. So what about you and the sexy criminalist?"
"No. That was a one-night-stand. Nothing more."
"Who just happens to be popping up everywhere."
"What?"
"The bar twice, here...hello, fate is totally knocking at your door."
She rolled her eyes. "You know, I liked you better when you were sitting over there." Riley joked dryly and Kiersten rolled her eyes.
"Fine, fine...just don't come cryin to me when someone else snags that hunky cowboy."
A/N: okay, whose she gonna end up with...? You probably already know the answer, so the torture will end soon enough.
Reviews are totally awesome...you should review...no more reviews, no more chapters. I'm holding them hostage!