Free Worth the Fall by Caitie Quinn Page A

in on the rules now.” Ben leaned back, angling toward Jenna, and slid an arm over the back of her chair  
      “Whatever these rules are, I want in on them now.” I glanced toward the phone afraid of what would happen if the Underwear Situation was online as I tried to build my brand. That would be quite a brand all right. “I want it retroactive back to when we met as I wasn’t offered the deal ahead of time.”
    “I want what she said.” Max crossed his arms, the glaring spread out now to all three of us.
    “So, no more #OfficerMax tweets?” Jenna actually looked upset. “What will I tell the Camisoles?”
    I glanced at Ben, already aware he was an expert Jenna Interpreter.
    “Her fan group,” he answered under their argument.
    “You’ll come up with something.”
    “But, Max. They love you. I have people who have read my books just because of you. When you were one of the cops who went to speak about gun violence in schools to worried parents after the scare three towns over, people donated to those families all week.”
    I could see Max’s inner battle in his expression—no dimple in sight. Of course he was the type of guy who wanted to do good things. That’s why he was a cop. But he also didn’t like becoming one of Jenna’s characters. I was betting the Officer Max tweets were even larger than life than anything Max could stumble into.
    There were probably t-shirts and fangirl sites. I needed to Google this immediately. I glanced toward my bag wondering if I could pull out my phone without adding to the table tension.
    This was seriously the best meal ever.  
    And, thank goodness I’d retroactively invoked my privacy rights.
    “Jenna, I’ll make you a deal. We’ll let Kasey decide.” He smiled at me, obviously trying to win me over with his charm. Trying to convince me to vote pro-Max. “As a matter of fact, I went out on a really interesting call last night. A landlord situation—”
    “Down with Officer Max!” I pumped my fist in the air. “You totally don’t need those stories. Friendship is far too important! And, Twitter is so 2009.”
    Everyone was looking at me like I’d lost my mind.
    “I’m just saying,” I continued. “Maybe Max doesn’t like his exploits blasted over the internet.”
    “Obviously.” Max cocked an eyebrow at me.
    “And, I’m sure the police department doesn’t want him becoming some internet poster boy.”
    “This is a good point.” The cocky grin was back.
    “And what about the innocents? Those poor people Officer Max rescues who don’t want their story going international with a bunch of teenage girls?”
    “I don’t know.” Max tapped his chin as if thinking that one over. “The one last night was pretty good. She didn’t even know what day it was.”
    “I’m sure she knew what day it was.”
    “We almost had an indecent exposure situation on our hands.”
    “I doubt that’s what happened.”
    “Oh, it was close.”
    “I’m sure the poor, innocent, covered girl knew what day it was and—”
    Jenna had set down her Diet Coke and was watching us like a tennis match on crack. “This sounds even more dangerous than the kitten situation.”
    Max nodded. “This culprit had sharper claws.”  
    Now he was just out of line. “How would you know?”  
    “Excuse me.” Jenna leaned forward. “Could you guys slow down a bit?”
    That’s when I noticed she’d pulled out a little red notebook again. Ben shook his head like he knew what was going to happen next.  
    “Max,” Jenna tapped her pen against her chin. “Did you arrest Kasey last night?”
    “If I arrested Kasey, would she have been here bright and early to assault another inanimate object?”
    I kicked him under the table. “Oh look. A third inanimate object I attacked this week.”
    “Is there something you two would like to tell us?” Jenna smiled what I’m sure she thought was a reassuring smile, but I saw the evil pixie gleam underneath.
    I eyed the notebook.