Page 48 of Black Heart

His eyes snapped up at that. “It’s not fair?” Tristan bit out coldly. “What the fuck do you know about fair?” he demanded as he stood up, sending his chair slamming back into the wall. “Do you think this is easy on me? I’m the one that can’t be with her. I’m-”

“No one said that ye couldn’t be with her, lad. Ye made that foolish decision on yer own years ago,” Shayne said softly.

Tristan glared at Shayne as he said, “Foolish?”

“Aye, foolish! Ye love that lass!” Shayne yelled, which was surprising because Shayne never raised his voice at him. He’d always handled Tristan with a patient smile and a calm tone. “Yer a fucking fool to turn yer back on her! All ye care about is her rejecting yer dumb ass when she discovers what ye are instead of giving her a chance. Why don’t ye think about her for once-”

“She’s all I ever think of!”

“Yer putting her through hell! She loves ye and ye know it! Stop playing these games and grow some balls!”

“Fuck you!” Tristan roared as he kicked the chair across the room, slamming it into the side of a metal filing cabinet and putting a very noticeable dent into it.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Tristan’s gaze flew to the door as Marty walked in and dropped her purse on the desk. She gave his hot chocolate a glare before sitting down at her desk.

“Tell her!”

He stubbornly shook his head as his jaw clenched.

“Fine! Have it yer way then, lad,” Shayne said before he disappeared.

“What?” Marty asked.

“Nothing,” Tristan snapped.

She shook her head in disgust as she placed her purse in the bottom desk drawer and placed her jacket on the back of her chair before sitting down. Without another word, she logged onto her computer.

With a tired sigh, Tristan pulled his chair closer to his desk and sat down. He grabbed the small pile of folders in his inbox that required his attention. These were the arrests made over the weekend. The ones on top were the arrests made the night before and the ones that required his immediate attention.

He grabbed the top folder as he took a sip of his hot cocoa.

“You’re such a bitch!” a woman’s shrill voice suddenly announced, making him jump and spill hot chocolate on his leg.

“Shit!” Tristan bit out as the hot liquid seeped through his pants and onto his leg. He quickly placed his drink back on top of his desk and grabbed a handful of napkins and pressed them against his leg.

Marty muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “Karma” but otherwise didn’t acknowledge him in any way.

“Me? You’re the bitch!” another woman screamed.

Tristan was just about to get up and see what was going on out in the pit when two young women stumbled into his office through the wall. He barely bit back a groan. He didn’t need this shit today, especially with Shayne off pouting somewhere.

He wasn’t about to summon Shayne to deal with these two, knowing that it would just invite another lecture about Marty. That subject was closed. Any possibility of him taking a chance with her had been squashed when she’d shoved his naked ass out of his house and ran.

“You got us killed, you ho bag!” the peroxide blonde said as she shoved the brunette back. The brunette stumbled back several feet before coming to a stop in the middle of Tristan’s desk.

“I’m the ho? You’re the one that slept with that creepy security guy!” the brunette snapped with her hands firmly planted on her torn pink leather-covered-hips.

“I thought he was part of the band!” the blonde shrieked as she threw herself at the brunette. They both went flying through his computer and onto the ground, where they proceeded with the saddest bitch-slap fight that he’d ever witnessed.

Tristan sat back in his chair, rubbing his hands roughly over his face and sighed. This was going to be a long fucking day.

* * *

“At least Ididn’t die ten pounds overweight!”

“I might be ten pounds overweight, but at least it’s not all in my ass like in some people that I won’t mention!”

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