Page 21 of Black Heart

“He doesn’t have a choice. Neither one of you can work in the pit. There aren’t enough desks and there’s no privacy. The files you both work on are confidential, so he’ll have to deal with it,” Tristan heard as he neared his office.

“Doesn’t have a choice about what?” Tristan asked, already having a good idea what they were talking about. He leaned back against the doorframe and took in Hank’s guilty expression as he ran a hand over his hair. Great, Hank was up to something. There was no mistaking that sign.

His gaze shifted to Marty. She looked defiant. That was interesting. He watched her for a moment as she hauled two oversized bags onto the empty desk and placed them next to a box. Then, she grabbed the small box from Hank as the man looked nervously between the two of them.

“Morning, Hank. What’s going on?” Tristan asked casually.

He watched as Hank noticeably swallowed before he forced a smile.

“It’s good to have you back, Tristan.”

“That doesn’t explain the boxes,” Tristan said with a pointed look at the boxes, forcing himself not to look at the woman that every fiber of him craved.

Hank gestured for Tristan to follow him. “Let’s go and talk in my office about what duties you’re allowed to perform while on light duty.”

Tristan threw one last look at the shit covering the extra desk before he nodded. “Sure.”

This should be interesting.

* * *

As soon as they left,Marty slowly exhaled and wondered why Tristan made her nervous. He never made her feel like this before. He used to be her peace, but now…

She wasn’t sure how she was going to do this.

She-

“No fucking way!” Tristan shouted, startling her into dropping the book she’d been holding. As she knelt down to pick it up, Tristan stormed back into the office.

Without a word, he picked up one of her boxes and stormed back out. With a resigned sigh, she followed him only to watch as he dropped the box on top of one of the secretary’s desks before he stormed back into the office.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Marty muttered as she grabbed the box and carried it back into the office to find his arms loaded with the rest of her bags.

“Get out,” he snapped.

“No, this is my office, too,” Marty said, placing her box back on the desk before she reached for her bags only to have him pull them out of her reach.

“Listen, because I’m only going to say this once. I don’t have time to babysit you. I’m sure the secretaries will play nice and make you feel like a big girl with an important job, but I don’t have time for this bullshit,” Tristan bit out coldly with a glare that probably terrified most people.

It only managed to piss her off.

She opened her mouth only to have her father cut her off.

“Sit down, both of you,” Hank said in a tone that they knew better than to argue with.

With a glare of her own, Marty grabbed the bags from Tristan and put them back on the desk before she joined her father as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face and released a heavy sigh. She watched Tristan sit down across from her, his glare locked with hers as a small muscle beneath his right eye began to tick.

“You’re sharing this office,” Hank announced, drawing their glares.

“Marty has been hired as the Criminal Forensic Specialist for our region. She will not be acting in her position until after she receives her degree.” When Tristan opened his mouth to argue, Hank held up a hand to stop him. “Which will be very soon. Until then, she will be acting as your assistant.”

“I don’t need an assistant,” Tristan bit out through clenched teeth.

Hank shrugged. “Too bad. You’ve got one. She’s also going to be helping with other functionsandshe’ll observe you when you conduct interviews. Also, you’ll let her shadow you on cases. She has experience from the internship that she did with the FBI last year, but she needs to learn how we do things around here. Since you’re my lead detective, you’re going to take her under your wing.”

“No,” Tristan said firmly.

“This isn’t up for discussion, Tristan. With your education and abilities, you’re the most qualified person in this department to show her the ropes.”

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