Page 70 of Jagged

I nearly lost my shit for laughing so hard. I dropped my head on Clem's shoulder and her snickering escalated just the same.

"Fine! You pay for everyone then." Wyatt hopped up, grabbed his board, and tried to fight hysterics while keeping up the silly banter. "Are we going? I want to whine about my life, daddy issues, adolescent woes, and suburban rebellion in music form."

"Thirty years later…" Tati stood up with him, her face red from laughter. "Fine."

I chuckled and turned my attention back to Clem. "Would you like to go with them?"

"Um…" She took a moment to assess the situation it seemed, glancing from me to my hugging besties beside us. "Sure."

"Are you sure sure or only a little sure?"

"A little sure. Can we leave if it's too overwhelming?"

"Of course. Any time you want." I gave her hand a squeeze. "I have a tolerance limit on things like that as well."

"Okay." She perked up then and stood with me. "I'm up for trying."

"Me too." With caution, I kissed her cheek.

The sweet smile she tossed me nearly brought me to my knees in the middle of the skatepark. When we started walking, Tatiana glanced over her shoulder at me with a knowing smile plastered on her lips. She held tightly to Wyatt's wrist of the arm he had wrapped around her shoulders as they walked.

I returned her smile, feeling the heat rise from my belly to my face. This felt different to me and maybe she felt it too.

Chapter Ten

"James, calm the fuck down." Chief Walsh shouted at Sali in a way I hadn't seen him lose his shit before. "You don't run this fucking show. Roth does." He pointed at me. "Clear it with her—"

"Excuse me, Sir." Donovan interrupted. "I run the show, but Roth—have at it." She flicked her fingers in my direction.

"This is a show, all right. A shit show," I said, feeding the niggling of anger and frustration in my gut. "And stop shouting, Sali."

"I like shout—ow! Mags. Fuck." Sali rubbed her arm where her wife gave her a firm punch.

"Calm down. We're not breaking into a building, Sal."

"Why not?!" Sali flailed her arms then let them flop at her sides.

Maggie folded her arms, pursed her lips, and frowned. "It's a demolition factory. You can't stick C-4 to the door and hope for the best."

Sali grumbled and flopped into a chair. "I can pick locks."

"Yeah, but can you make yourself invisible to avoid the cameras? No. So calm down." Maggie thwapped her shoulder and Sali huffed.

"How many places manufacture or use the kind of explosive material found on the bodies?" I asked, raising my voice enough to demand the focus of the room.

"About thirteen according to Bryant," answered Donovan.

"We should go to each of those without blowing it up with C-4 and get a list of all the employees. We can then run demos on everyone and see what clicks to the profile." I folded my arms and glanced between them. "Like normal police work."

"Fine." Sali groaned. "Fine. If Roth wants to run around here acting all logically and of sound mind, fine."

I couldn't prevent myself from laughing at that.

"Let's hustle then," called Walsh. "Out with you all."

"Acting like you're in charge again, I see," teased Donovan as she stood up with the team. She narrowed her eyes at Walsh, and he scoffed.

Part of me began to enjoy the ragtag group of law enforcement working on this case. Despite the serious nature of the situation, their ability to preserve a sense of humor made it easier to tolerate. With our orders in hand, we split off to tackle the day.

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