Page 109 of Always Be an Us

I stare at the man sitting across the metal table, wondering how to get to the root of his lies. He glares right back at me.

Well, let's start with the asserted facts.

"So," I say. "You broke into my office and fucked things up because you have a problem with me."

"Yeah," he responds, his tone dripping venom. "How many times do I have to repeat it?"

"Hey, don’t be rude." Officer Jensen smacks the table in front of Nate. "You’re in a lot of trouble, young man. After what you did you should count your lucky stars that you’re still sitting here and not lying six feet under somewhere. Trespassing on private property? Destroying expensive equipment? In my day, they would have shot you for less."

The officer has all the intimidation factor of a Sunday school teacher, but Nate crosses his arms and looks away, seemingly affected by the admonishment. He suddenly seems a lot younger than he looks. "Whatever. I know I’m going to jail anyway."

"Yeah, but you’re lucky I haven’t told Rick what you did yet. He would kill you." As I meet his eyes, Jensen finally allows, "Nate here also admitted he was the one who broke into the Crane house."

My head snaps back to Nate, rage suddenly flaring within me. "You wrecked Emma’s place?"

Nate doesn’t meet my eyes this time but does answer with his usual caustic tone. "Yeah? And what about it? She deserved it."

"She deserved it?"

"Yeah, by hanging out with you all the time. I figured the two of you were doing the devil's tango. I thought maybe you were going to help her out financially and that meant she would have some better stuff for me at her place. Jewelry or whatever," he says. "But no such luck. I guess she was a cheap fuck to you huh?"

The atmosphere spikes from frosty to boiling hot in the space of a few seconds.

My rage flares to the forefront, and before I even know what’s happening, I snatch Nate by his shirt and drag him across the table to get in his face.

I hear Officer Jensen saying something, but I can’t quite make it out through the roaring in my ear. Nate’s eyes have gone wide with fear, filling me with savage satisfaction. I want him to piss himself with fear, right before I pummel him into the ground for having the gall to say that to my face.

"Hang on." A hand goes out to my wrist. "Let's all be civilized here."

I ignore Officer Jensen, keeping my eyes on Nate.

"If you talk about Emma like that again, I’m going to kill you," I tell him, in a quiet voice so he understands I mean business.

"Now bud, you know you can’t threaten someone in front of me– "

"That clear?" I cut Officer Jensen off with a growl.

Nate’s throat bobs and he blinks several times, then still tries to bluff. "Take your hands off me."

I drag him even closer till our noses are inches apart and I can smell the tart scent of his fear, along with mild BO. This time, Nate squeaks a little when his knee hits the edge of the metal table. It takes an ungodly level of restraint to not throw him to the ground and beat him till he cries.

Instead, I repeat through gritted teeth, "Is that clear?"

"Yes. Yes, it’s clear. Fine.God."

"Good." I release him, and he collapses into his seat. Officer Jensen whistles out in relief and then shakes his head at Nate again, smacking him on the shoulder. "See what happens when you try to piss people off? You get your ass handed to you, that's what."

Nate grumbles something in response but it's not loud enough for me to hear him.

I wait for the fury to clear from my mind enough for me to think. The undercurrent of simmering rage still stains the air, but I take a breath to tamp it down.

I still have my doubts that he broke into my office, and I doubt that he broke into Emma's place, too. His motives don't make sense at the very least. He claimed to have ransacked her place searching for money, but why would he destroy the rest of the house rather than just searching her room?

It seemed like a waste of time, and a mess like that would also automatically reveal that someone had been there. Didn't he care about covering his tracks?

Or was the chaos intentional and personal? Did he have some kind of problem with Emma?

"I can’t believe you would do that," Jensen continues his scolding. "After everything her grandfather did for you, bailing you out that last time. I just can't believe you would pay him back like this."

---