Page 137 of Trigger

I shook my head, smirking. “Nope.”

Courtesy of John Smith, we finally had a new lead on our killer. Astrand of hair, picked at Roxie’s crime scene, led us to the guy sitting infront of us—Barry “The Blade” Kiely, a small-time hustler who liked to playwith knives. The physical evidence incriminated him, but did he do it? My gut saidno.

“I like to fuck whores, so what?” Barry said, rubbing his wrist, whichwas handcuffed to the desk. “Yes, Roxie was my favorite, and yes, I fucked her,but that’s it. I’m not your guy.”

“When exactly did you leave her apartment on the day she died?” Iasked him, taking off my glasses.

“Around four o’clock.In the afternoon.”

Tye laughed. “So, youwerewith her on the day she died?Although you said that you weren’t five minutes ago?”

Barry whined, realizing that I’d tricked him.

“Why did you lie to us, Barry?” I asked him a legitimate question.

“What was I supposed to do?” Barry growled. “Hello, detectives. Ifucked Roxie on the same day some psycho killer cut her to pieces. Good day toyou, too.”

Tye looked at me, pointing his chin at the door. “I think we’redone here, yeah?”

I nodded, standing up and picking up the folder with Barry’s richcriminal history.

“See you later, Barry.”

“Wait. What does it mean? Can I go?”

“We’ll let you know.”

When we left the interrogation room, Chief Bibb approached us.

“So? Did he do it?”

I shook my head, looking at Tye, who nodded in confirmation. “He’snot our guy, Chief. He’s too clumsy and too stupid to pull off something likethat.”

“Any prior offenses we can charge him with?”

“Nope, but he just came out of jail, so he probably didn’t havethe time,” Tye replied, making me laugh.

When our eyes met, something flashed through his baby blues thathad nothing to do with work. Before Chief Bibb could pick up on it, I headed towardthe hall, nodding at Ruth, who passed by me with a flirty smile.

The thing was, I hadn’t seen Tye since the night we spenttogether, and I didn’t know how to act around him. I had to leave forGrangetown to serve as a witness in a court case, so I was away for a few days.I returned only this morning, just in time to read Barry his rights.

To summarize things, I finally got laid, and I did it with a man.Not just any man. The man who attracted me and intrigued me, who made me laughand question myself, and who ultimately made me feel alive again. The sex bitwas… Jesus Christ, eye-opening. I had no idea how much pleasure you could getfrom sex until I felt his dick inside me. I didn’t know how much a kiss couldmean until he kissed me. And I wanted to do it again and again and again. Kisshim. Hug him. Fuck him.

But I couldn’t. Why? We were friends, and I didn’t want to fuck itup. We were partners, too, and good partners at that, and I didn’t want to fuckthat up either. The entanglements at work were frowned upon, but since this wasthe LD, it didn’t even matter. Still, there would be consequences. The chiefwould separate us, maybe even transfer one of us, and I would rather lose apiece of my soul than Tye. Also, the thought of everyone knowing about us, mostof all Adam, didn’t sit well with me. And I wasn’t the type of guy to hide inthe corner. Tye, even less so.

So, I thought, maybe we should make it a one-time thing. Anexperiment of sorts. It would require squashing that attraction between us, andI still had to find a way to do that. Only, the look in his eyes told me histhoughts were on the opposite end of the spectrum... somewhere between adistasteful eighties erotic flick and a straight-out porno.

I wasn’t any better because my thoughts kept returning to thenight we spent together. It was all I could think about while I was away andmissing him like crazy. I never thought that having trouble sitting would makeme happy, but I grinned every time I saw a chair. Yeah, his dick did a numberon me that night, but I asked for it, and I loved every second of it. But itwasn’t just sex. Our entire date was awesome, making me realize that I neverfelt happiness in my life up to that point. I never clicked like that withanyone, and no one ever made my heart so full until him. In fact, Tye felt likemy soulmate, and it scared the shit out of me because I never imagined mysoulmate would have a dick. But to keep it platonic? Could I even do that?

In any case, easier said than done, and I realized it soonenough.

“Chief Bibb sends this,” Tye said, stopping by my desk and handingme a piece of paper. When his fingers brushed against mine, I felt goosebumpsbreaking out across my arm. I looked around to check if anyone noticed meacting funny, but everyone seemed busy.

“How was Grangetown?” he asked me, sitting in his chair, and sincehis desk was behind mine, it was difficult to ignore him. Not that I would.

“Boring,” I replied, turning around along with my chair. Just likethat, I stepped into the proverbial blue trap. Azure blue. Like theMediterranean Sea, only prettier.

He looked at the pencil in his hand he was playing with beforereturning his gaze to mine.

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