Chapter 20 - Quest Level Awkward

Maggie grabbed the card key and the little bag and walked out of the room. She leaned against the closed door with a sigh and held her hand over her racing heart. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. Her face heated up again as she remembered what it was like to have Tank on top of her like that. Her stomach did flips and it got really warm in the hallway when she thought of the way he brushed her hair out of her face and the kisses he’d given her.

Part of her yearned to kiss him back just like she did in the woods. Without her consent, Maggie’s imagination started running away with the idea of what it would be like to date Tank and be his girlfriend. She imagined dinners of take out and video games and romantic getaways to Comic Con all the while holding each other close. Maggie let out a gush of breath as she pushed herself off the door and shook her head.

What was wrong with her? Maybe she was suffering from post-traumatic stress; she hypothesized as she walked down the hall. Tank would never want her as a girlfriend outside of this situation and she knew it. Before they met, she was sure his girlfriends had the perfect beauty with a sparkling personality. He would’ve never looked at her twice and Maggie knew very well that her personality didn’t sparkle but more like sparked and flared dangerously similar to how a short circuit would.

Tank was only suffering from a weird breakout of reverse Stockholm’s syndrome mixed in with a touch Whitney Houston’s movie about the bodyguard, the only thing missing was her to start singing “I will always love you.”

When things went back to normal and Chase was in jail Tank would be free. He’d forget all about Maggie and go back to being the all-star detective with the Barbie girlfriends. All the interest he showed in her would be gone like a random epic drop in a crowded raid hall! Maggie longed to go back to the way her life was but as she filled the little plastic bag with ice, she realized she would never forget Tank and the way he made her feel accepted and almost normal.

It was a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time and it felt good though she hated to admit it. When all was said and done a big part of her was going to miss him, she thought with a sigh as she entered the room again. She forced all those thoughts deep down inside her and gave herself a mental shake. Wake up Maggie! This is the real world, she told herself and grabbed a towel from the bathroom and wrapped the plastic bag with it.

“Here y-you are Tank,” she said, walking over to the bed but he was asleep. “Great,” she mumbled and sat down carefully next to him. She set the bag of ice on his shoulder and saw him wince in his sleep.

Maggie felt a little guilty for being so harsh on him. She did want him to keep his distance and she didn’t want to start liking him like that, but he did save her life after all. He had been so far an effective tank and even received a shot for her. Maybe she should try to find a nicer way to make him keep his distance. Was there a nice way to tell a guy to get lost without being rude? Times like these she wished she had Hannah around. Hannah knew all about men and how to act around them.

After a while when the bag started to drip so Maggie got up and set the whole thing in the bathroom sink with a large yawn. She was starting to get really tired, but there was only one bed. She was sure if she asked him, Tank would have a great explanation for that little detail, but the truth was it was just another one of his damn tricks! Tank was an effective tank, but he was also an effective rogue too.

How could he play those two classes so well? It seriously seemed impossible! Maggie tried to make a makeshift bed out of the chairs in the room but after a several cramps, many aching bones, and a few hours later she realized that it was going to be impossible to sleep like that. She played with the idea of sleeping on the floor, but she noticed a stain exactly where she had planned on trying to sleep.

That got her thinking of what caused the stain and just how dirty was that carpet. With a shudder, Maggie discarded the idea as quickly as it came. There was no way she was sleeping on this floor! With a groan, Maggie slowly trudged over to the bed…her only rational option left. She eyed Tank with skepticism where he still slept soundly. Thankfully he didn’t sleep all spread out and she had plenty of space.

She slipped under the blanket since Tank slept on top of them. With a yawn, she laid down on the very edge of the bed and tried to get some sleep. It took her a while but finally she closed her eyes and managed to fall asleep.

Maggie awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. She felt so relaxed and comfy that it took her awhile to realize that she was up against something warm and hard. In fact, it felt much like she was being held. Her breath caught in her throat as opened her eyes to the bare naked male chest in front of her. She tried to move but found that her current position didn’t allow her to move.

She looked up to see Tank’s sleeping face was resting on the top of her head, his arms were wrapped around her tightly and somehow his legs were tangled with hers. How the hell did she get in this situation? She wondered as her face and body started to warm up when she noticed of just how close they were to each other. Maggie buried her face in her hands to hide her blushing face and to keep her eyes and hands from roaming to places they shouldn’t.

Never in her life had she felt the perverse urge to look at someone’s body before…and it was better to not even think about what she was tempted to do with her hands. She had to get away from Tank as quickly as possible. When she finally felt her face start to cool Maggie uncovered her face and tried to wiggle herself loose of his grip. Just when she thought she might be getting somewhere, he suddenly tightened his grip.

“Good morning Maggie,” Tank said quietly, his voice heavy still from sleep.

Maggie swallowed nervously and tried to calm herself by deep breathing. “Uh g-good morning,” she stuttered nervously, not sure what more she could say that wouldn’t come out sounding horribly rude. He shot her one of those charming smiles of his. Despite the heat coming from Tank’s body and her own goose bumps broke out where Tank’s hand slowly ran up her back, neck and into her hair.

Her eyes involuntarily closed from the pleasure such a simple gesture had caused in her as once more her imagination ran away with possible scenarios of what could happen next. Many of which carried the twenty-one or over rating on it. Maggie mentally shook her head to remove such thoughts once more and tried to force the logical part of her brain to start working! She opened her eyes and tried to demand from Tank what he thought he was doing, but it came out as a jumbled up mess that made him flash another smile at her.

Her stomach clenched almost painfully and her heart skipped a couple of beats at least.

Tank removed his hand from her hair and cupped her cheek in his hand and forced her to look up at him. “Take a deep breath and try again,” he told her softly and almost affectionately.

A strange sensation bubbled up inside her and she felt her body start to relax against her will. Oh no, this couldn’t be that whole melting sensation she had read about in so many romance books could it? She couldn’t be melting, not for him. This was a runaway train that was leading to disaster, she had to stop it!

So she took a deep breath and tried to speak again. “What are you d-doing? Why are you almost naked?” She demanded and felt her face heat up when she mentioned his lack of clothing.

Tank’s laughter vibrated through her giving her strange set of chills. Instead of letting her go like she wanted he pulled her closer against him and Maggie was finding it very hard to breathe. “I’m not practically naked. I’m wearing boxers. I can’t sleep in a pair of jeans as you can apparently. As far as what I’m doing I was sleeping till now,” he told her and started kissing her cheek.

“I wasn’t talking about that,” she stuttered. “What are you doing now? Why aren’t you letting me go?”

Tank laughed once more causing those strange chills to go through her again. He pulled away from her so that he could look her in the eye. “I’m just getting comfortable. Haven’t let you go because you didn’t ask me to Maggie.” As if to make his point he grabbed her thigh and pulled her leg on top of his.

If it weren't for the pained expression on his face, she would’ve gotten a lot angrier. She suddenly realized that Tank was lying on his injured shoulder. “What are you doing?” Maggie said, pushing him on his back. “You’re going to hurt your shoulder.”

“Awe I didn’t know you cared so much. Though I have to give it to you. This is much better,” he told her with an impish grin.

Maggie realized that now she was on top of him. Her throat tightened and her stomach seemed to want to escape through her mouth as her whole body warmed up as if it was on fire. “Tank let me go,” she told him as she got off of him and away from him finally. Maggie immediately went to the bathroom and proceeded to take the coldest shower in her lifetime. She got out shivering and dressed back into her old clothes.

The situation was getting bad, real bad and her traitorous body wasn’t helping matters any. God, she was acting like some goopy eye sixteen-year-old. She stared at her reflection with determination. “Remember who you are Maggie! You’re the loser, the geek, and a nerd. Tank doesn’t really like you and when this is over he’ll leave,” she told her mirror image trying to make her body and even her heart realize that fact.

Maggie left the bathroom and felt a strange mix of relief and disappointment to see that Tank was out of bed and dressed.

“Are you ready to go, Maggie,” he asked with a business-like tone that made her feel a little disappointed too.

“Yes I’m ready.”

“It shouldn’t take us long to reach the city and Marcus’s apartment,” he told her as he opened the door for her She nodded in response and walked out of the room. They ate breakfast in silence before starting out on the road.

Maggie was really nervous when they arrived at the large house. She stuffed her hands in her jeans pockets as she fidgeted in the seat while Tank was talking to someone at the front door.

With a cautious look around he walked back to the car and opened her door. “Come on Maggie,” he told her with a stoic tone, keeping a hawk like watch over the area. She quickly got out of the car and he practically pushed her the whole way to the door.

If it weren't for the fact she could see the worry in his almost completely emotionless face, she would have snapped at him, hopefully, something wonderfully witty too. An older couple awaited them. “Ah, Ms. Kent, a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Marcus Jenkins, the D.A. that is prosecuting the case against Chase,” the man told her holding out his hand.

Maggie had no desire to shake his hand, but she also knew that he said she also knew that she had to try and hide who she really was. So she clenched her teeth tightly and took his hand. “It’s…nice…to meet…you too,” she said slowly through her teeth, feeling her nervousness starting grow.

The man smiled appreciatively with a nod. “Well it’s a start,” he laughed.

Maggie gave him a very forced smile in return as she held her hands behind her back tightly hoping that would prevent any more handshakes.

“This is my wife Rachel,” he told her and the woman gave her an elegant smile, but Maggie could detect the hint of displeasure in her hard brown eyes.

“A pleasure,” she stated with a bit of a flat tone. It appeared only Maggie picked up the dislike Mrs. Jenkins felt for her as the D.A. turned to Tank with a happy smile.

“Brian good to see you alive and well, for the most part,” he started “I must thank you for keeping my witness alive. I’ll make sure that the department rewards you well. You really have gone above and beyond the call of duty. How’s the arm?”

Tank replied something, but she honestly wasn’t listening. How Mr. Jenkins described what Tank had done for her it sounded so business like and for some reason it made her stomach churn. It seemed their quest was entering in its final stages and soon it would be all over. For some reason, she found the idea a little depressing.