Page 9 of Cage

‘Respectfully, sir, there’s no chance,’ Cage barked. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to be getting on with. At my own pace. And with one goal in mind. Keeping the citizens of this city safe.’

Mase tutted and turned away from Cage.

Cage got up from his chair and walked out of the office.

He took a quick detour to the water dispenser and poured himself a cup. He downed it in one and immediately refilled.

Cage was furious.

The suggestion that he should take time off had not gone down well at all. It felt like an insult.

Cage prided himself on how good a cop he was.

It was his lifeblood.

There was no way in hell he was taking time off.

If anything, all Mase’s words had done was motivate him to take more work on.

Come in early.

Leave later.

The whole nine yards.

Cage took a second however and thought back to his old partner. He thought of what could have been between them and his heart sunk. It might have been hot and sunny in the city, but in that moment Cage felt as cold and gloomy as it was possible to feel. Maybe Mase had a point. Maybe his partner’s death had changed him.

It certainly affected Cage’s personal life.

Any idea of a relationship seemed crazy.

Cage saw himself as damaged goods now. The emotional hurt he had experienced with his partner had left the kind of scars that would probably never heal.

The hours Cage put into his work meant that he didn’t have the time to deal with a Little in his life. Not only that, but he didn’t think he was well adjusted enough to handle being a Daddy.

If Cage couldn’t give a Little the same amount of care and attention that he gave his case files, then it was a non-starter.

On this basis, Cage had decided that any kind of romantic involvements were pretty much out of the question for him.

He was married to the job.

That was it.

Nothing more, nothing less.

It didn’t mean that Cage still didn’t have his own kinks and desires. Of course he did. But Cage had the discipline to keepthem locked away. That was the only way forward as far as he was concerned.

‘Cage, those papers still haven’t arrived,’ Kaplinksi hollered, shrugging his shoulders in frustration. ‘It’s a cop’s life, eh?’

Cage nodded his head in solidarity.

It was frustrating, but all part of the job.

Feeling a little calmer, and with the files he needed still not ready, Cage headed towards the reception to see if there were any new cases he could pick up.

This was something that Sergeant Mase frowned upon.

It was his belief that the detectives should finish their caseloads and wait for the juniors to bring through the new files. That way, Mase could choose who got what.

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