Page 98 of Enraged

I wandered into my office. Opening my desk drawer, I pulled out my phone.

I only had one text message, and it was from Cassie; I deleted it without even looking at it.

Get it through your damn head.

Frustrated, I sat my phone on the desk.

“Don’t know what to do with your hands, either, huh?” Jace spoke up from behind me.

What?

I spun my chair around to face him. “What do you mean?”

He leaned against the door frame. “Idle hands. I don’t know what to do with them, either.”

“Oh, I know what to do with my hands,” I informed him. “I just can’t do it right this minute.”

He didn’t respond and I knew I needed to bridge the gap.

“If you’re bored, go shoot pool,” I suggested. He stared down at his boots. “None of the guys like to play.”

Oh yeah, I’m his pool buddy.

I forgot that I knew that.

He and I had gotten the pool table years ago, before one of the guys on B-Shift was medically retired, forcing Jace to transfer to cover him. He has been on that shift ever since so the only time we played was if one of us came up here off- duty.

“I’ll let you get back to work, Lieutenant,” he told me, leaving the office without waiting for a response.

Two hours down, the rest of my career to go.

Jolene

I sat outside of Deja Brew watching Cassie through the front window. She looked nervous, her hand coming up every so often to spin her earring.

Go see what she has to say, Lena.

Carefully avoiding the traffic on the main street, I hopped out of my car. The coffee shop’s door alarm jingle-jangled as I pulled it open and stepped inside. Regretting my decision already, I walked over to the table where Cassie was waiting. Without a word, I sat down, the tension so thick, you could cut it with a knife. A smiling server made her way over to us.

“I see your friend made it! Would you like to order now?”

Friend…yeah, right.

I spoke up first, “I’ll take a large cappuccino.”

Cassie nodded. “I’ll have what she’s having.” The server scurried off to make our drinks.

Not for the first time, apparently.

“Interesting choice of words,” I pointed out dryly.

“What?”

“That you’ll have what I’m havin’.”

She turned beet red. “I…I didn’t even think about it when I said it.”

I sighed loudly. “What do you need to say, Cassie?”

---