Page 35 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

He hadn’t had a decent night of sleep for days. His ass was dragging so badly he struggled to think and function. His patience was non-existent and his temper sharp.

With how he left the other night from the coffee shop’s parking lot, he avoided the group leader as she finished setting up cookies next to the coffee and water on the table near the door.

Near the fucking door.

He was sure she had set up the refreshments in that location on purpose. The food and coffee were always where people gathered—and chit-chatted—before the meeting and after.

Bonnie used to set up the table along the opposite wall. Out of the way. Where it was easy for Nox to avoid.

His goal was simple. He came, he sat, he left.

He didn’t share. He didn’t cry. He didn’t socialize.

He tugged his baseball cap lower. What the hell was taking her so long? She needed to get the meeting started before someone tried to strike up a conversation with him.

Throw the cookies on the damn platter, and let’s fucking go!

This wasn’t an open house where she needed to impress home buyers. She wasn’t even getting paid to be here. The longer she futzed around, the longer this meeting would last.

A cookie tucked in a napkin appeared in front of his face. “Chocolate chip.”

“They’re so addictive, Liyah!” someone near him gushed. “You should open a bakery.”

Nox snorted softly. He doubted the woman would give up her lucrative real estate business that had her rolling in the dough to actually roll in dough.

Aaliyah shook her hand, encouraging him to take the cookie from her. “This is why my car smells so good,” she said under her breath.

He hoped like fuck no one else heard her. He didn’t want anyone in the group thinking something was going on between them. “I don’t want it.”

“I don’t care,” she countered and balanced it on his thigh before heading across the circle to her seat.

He stared at the precariously perched cookie for a few seconds before lifting his gaze to her. And as soon as their eyes met, she shot him a blinding smile.

The woman sure knew how to get under his damn skin.

“All right,” Aaliyah called out. “Let’s start off tonight’s meeting by going around the circle, introducing yourself and letting us know where you’re at tonight. In other words, how you’re coping.”

For fuck’s sake, did that mean she expected everyone to participate?

When his knee began to bounce, the cookie tumbled to the floor and broke.

“That was a waste,” said the woman next to him. “There are starving children in?—”

“Then ship it to them,” he responded before she could finish.

Her mouth fell open as she looked at him.

“Don’t worry about the cookie, Nox, you can clean it up after the meeting,” Aaliyah said. Using her fucking mom voice again. “Okay, Linda, can you start us off? Then we’ll continue around the group.”

Great.

One by one, the members introduced themselves—even if they’d been attending for years—mentioned the name of the person they lost and how they were connected, then shared how they were doing emotionally.

Nox went back to concentrating on the spot on the floor. His eyes drifted from it to the broken cookie next to his boot.

Then he snuck another peek at Aaliyah.

She was watching him.

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