Page 63 of What I've Tasted of Desire

He’s got a headache, the poor thing. We need to get him out of here and into a dark room.

She led us into a small room with a large window. Caliber was seated on the far side, and I could see Tom perched on a metal chair on the other side of the glass. He looked like an angry hornet, huffing and mumbling to himself with his arms crossed over his chest. The entire side of his face was black and blue, and he had medical gauze taped over one of his eyebrows.

Once we were inside, Caliber offered us a seat, and Rhodes closed the door before walking through a door on the other side of the glass and opening up a file folder she had in her hand.

“Why am I here?” Tom demanded, the second she sat down.

“Why don’t we start with you telling me how you busted up your face? You’ve got a mean shiner there, Mr. Hutchinson.”

Tom turned up his nose. “I don’t have to tell you shit. I didn’t do anything. How fuckingdareyou come into my home and demand I come with you in front of my pregnant girlfriend?”

“Did you go to the residence of Alex Winters yesterday?”

Tom’s eyes flashed. “Yeah. So what? I’ve known Alex for years. We grew up together.”

Rhodes looked down at the papers in front of her. “Bygrew up together,you mean you shared the same foster home for several years?”

Tom nodded flippantly.

“I would hardly consider a few yearsgrowing up together.”

“Consider it whatever the fuck you want, lady. You don’t know me, or what we had,” Tom spat.

The detective continued to ask Tom questions that he did everything in his power to skirt around, while Alex became more and more agitated next to me.

“He can’t see you, Alex,” Caliber offered softly, picking up on Alex’s restlessness.

“Y-y-yess h-h-he c-c-can,” Alex choked out.

I wrapped my arms around him tighter until they charged Tom with aggravated assault and trespassing, and Rhodes took him away in cuffs as she read him his rights.

I told Alex in the car on the ride back to the house that I was going to call my captain and tell her I wouldn’t be in tonight. Alex had argued with me and insisted that he would be fine. That Tom was in jail, so there was nothing to worry about. I didn’t want to fight with him, so I just held him a little closer.

Tom doesn’t have the balls to sit in jail. He’ll be out well before morning…

If Alex was insisting on megoing to work, that gave me an opportunity to stop by and say hello to his pregnant girlfriend while we waited for him to get home…

My pulse rate quickened, and my mouth began to water at the thought of all the fun I could have with the two of them.

The cops are hot on you with all this mess with Alex… it has to look like an accident. Or that Tom had done it.

How?

With fire…

Chapter Twenty-Two

By the time we made it back to the house, all the police cars had cleared out and the scene had been sanitized. The construction crew had all gone as well. Someone even washed the gore off the side of my truck, so Alex wouldn't have to see it again.

You’re an angel, Rob.

I walked Alex into the house and locked the door behind us. I put my hands on his shoulders and gently started massaging the muscles with my thumbs. “How about I make us some tea? Would you like that?”

Alex shook his head. “I think I j-just w-want t-to lie d-down.”

“Baby, you haven’t eaten anything. I’ve hardly seen you drink much, either.”

“M-maybe c-c-cra- crackers.”

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