“It’s complicated,” I reply, uncrossing my arms and sliding my drawer out to grab my keys. I don’t make eye contact. I’m usually good at covering shit, but I’m tired, stressed, and it’s been a long ass day.
“Complicated?” he asks. “Wait.”
My eyes jump to him. I swallow. Please don’t say what you’re about to say.
Please don’t…
“You catching some kind of feelings for this guy?”
“Fuck you,” I say, brushing him off.
He stands up. “You are.” Like the Cheshire Cat himself, Monroe grins wickedly. “This is good,” he says, rubbing his hands together.
I eyeball him. “How is this good?”
“Because you never do this. You breathe work. It’s good you’re into someone.”
“Are we forgetting that someone is a case? That someone has a brother who I’m going to try to put in prison for doing illegal shit?”
“Is it that serious?”
“Yeah,” I say. “If what we have on him is true, then he’s big-time. He’ll go away for a while.”
“Damn, Dalton.” He rubs his face. “That sucks.”
“I know.” I look back at Davy’s office. “Why don’t you ask Davy if you can take over?”
He laughs. “I already have. I knew you didn’t want the case when he first gave it to you. He told me to fuck off.”
I blow out a huff of air. “This is the most complicated shit I’ve ever been in.”
“Yeah, I don’t envy you right now. But you know what you’ve got to do, right?”
I look over his face for a moment before nodding. “Yeah. I have to take down his brother.”
“Yeah.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jace
Missed calls and unanswered texts. That’s what I’ve been dealing with for the past week. Well, I’ve had enough of that shit. I went to her house, but she didn’t answer the door. So here I am, standing outside of Hudson’s. Her car is in the parking lot and I see her through the window sitting beside a man.
He’s an older guy.
Dalton is a few years older than me, so maybe she decided she wanted an older guy. Fuck, I don’t know. He’s much older, though.
Shit, it might be her dad?
Am I ready to walk into that?
Meet her dad?
I scrub my face before I hit my smoke. I look like a creeper out here. Why won’t she just talk to me?
I mean, I know I stopped calling for those two weeks, but I was trying to get my shit together. Dealing with the fact my brother was lying about Mary, I needed to clear my head, so I went out to the ranch. But I’m back now. Things are better, so I need to talk to Dalton.
She’s the only friend I’ve got.