Page 63 of Solanum

I laughed and nudged her leg with my boot. "True. Anytime."

Her smile broadened at the contact and she rolled her chair closer, both of us falling quiet for a moment. She looked back to her computer screen but rubbed the knuckle of her index finger against my shin, her hand remaining hidden in her lap under the desk.

I let her, smiling under the small bit of affection that we hadn't shared in a while. A few weeks felt like forty years sometimes.

"Where's Donovan?" called Wilkinson from the hall, his tone harsh.

"Uh… Right there, Sir." Jenson stood two feet from Nora's office, pointing inside.

Nora recoiled immediately, her eyes trained on her computer screen.

"Donovan." Wilkinson swung into Nora's office, his wild eyes narrowed under his thick, dark brow.

"Yeah?" I cocked a brow at him and the angry face he wore. "What's happened?"

His gaze flickered between me and Nora. "Jackson was looking for you."

"We just finished meeting," I said. "Are you having a day, Wilkinson? Do you need a little prune juice or something? What's with the face?" I gestured in a circle in the air.

He stared at me, his eyes narrowed. "I want your report before you leave tonight. Long weekend ahead."

"I…already sent it to you—" I hopped down from the desk and approached him. "What's the matter with you?"

"Gordon found a social media connection that corresponds to one of the assaults." His face relaxed then, but he kept glancing over at Nora. "Help him."

"What happened to Taylor?"

"He has no idea what he's looking at." Wilkinson nodded for me to follow him and I did. "I'd rather you do it."

"Okay…" I glanced back at Nora and her forehead smoothed a fraction, her clinical face unshattered by the intrusion.

"Thanks," was all Wilkinson said before he headed back to his office.

***

"How did we finish so fast?" Maya stood in the living room beside the stack of boxes by the front door. "All of the breakable shit, kitchen stuff, and most of the bedroom in one day."

"Nora doesn't have much," I said, dropping down on the sofa to hand Nora a beer.

"You sure you don't want a drink, Maya?" asked Nora after a swig of her own.

"One is enough." Maya turned around and slid onto the loveseat across from us. "I have to work tomorrow, and alcohol makes me sleepy."

"You're not sleepy, kid. You're tanked." I laughed at her and nudged her Doc Marten-covered foot. "How are you drunk on one beer?"

"She's little." Nora smacked my arm. "Leave her be."

"I can't believe I'm hanging out with two old ladies on a Saturday night." She pointed to the boxes. "And doing manual labor."

"Listen here, probie." I pointed at her. "You better screw that little blonde head of yours on a little tighter before I knock it off your shoulders. Old lady. Get real."

"You're like a decade older than me." Maya laughed while slouching in the seat.

"I mean, she's not wrong." Nora grinned and sipped her drink. "You're almost five years older than me."

"Well, as it turns out, I hate you both." I flicked the bottle cap of my beer at Maya. She caught it in an unusual bout of reflexes. "Nice one."

"Shit." She looked at the cap in astonishment. "Maybe all that Krav Maga shit is helping me not trip over my own two feet."

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