Page 67 of Black Heart

“We’re talking about my son’s future here. I think the least you could do-”

“I’m off the case. If you have any questions, you’ll have to speak with the chief,” Tristan said, and when Mrs. Erickson went to stop him this time, he simply ignored her and kept walking until he was in his office and slammed the door shut behind him.

Marty ignored Mrs. Erickson as her expression turned determined and she moved to go after Tristan, but she didn’t make it two feet before her father went after her.

“Let him cool down,” Hank said, handing her the suspect’s file.

“But-”

“Let him sort through this on his own,” he said quietly as he walked past her. Before she could ask him what was going on, the suspect’s mother was begging Hank to speak with her.

As much as she wanted to go to Tristan, her father was right. Tristan obviously needed time to calm down. When the time came and he needed her, he would go to her.

At least, Marty hoped he would.

* * *

“I thoughtwe were past this, lad,” Shayne said as Tristan focused on the file in front of him, ignoring his phone as it continued ringing.

“Do ye want to talk about it, lad?” Shayne asked as he pulled up a chair at the kitchen table. Tristan didn’t need to look up to know that Shayne was watching him with pity.

He didn’t need pity.

He needed to work and he couldn’t do that with Shayne hanging around, watching him like he was going to break at any moment. He wasn’t. Today might not have been the best day of his life, but he’d already moved on. He was over it and he didn’t need a fucking babysitter.

“Everything’s fine,” Tristan bit out coldly, hoping Shayne would take him at his word and leave him alone so that he could work through the rest of the files. He was more than halfway done and he’d like to finish them before he called it a night.

“If everything’s fine, then why aren’t ye with Marty?”

“Because I have work to do,” Tristan said, gesturing to the large stacks of files covering the small kitchen table.

“Last time I checked, lad, she was supposed to work with ye, so why isn’t she here?”

“She needed a night off,” Tristan said absently as he sorted through the files.

“That doesn’t sound like Marty,” Shayne murmured, sounding thoughtful.

“It wasn’t her choice to make,” Tristan said, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to stay focused and stop thinking about the hurt expression on Marty’s face when he walked past her without saying a word to her.

He knew that he fucked up and should have said something to her, but he just couldn’t talk about it. There was already enough bullshit in his life without dredging up the past.

“Why are ye pushing her away?” Shayne asked softly.

“I’m not pushing her away,” Tristan said, praying that Marty realized that since the last thing that he wanted to do was lose her. He loved her, wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but this just wasn’t something that he wanted to talk about.

Right now, he needed some space and he knew that he was already fucking this up, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t want to deal with anyone at the moment, even Marty. It was because he loved her that he was pulling away from her right now. She was going to have to deal with enough bullshit in order to be with him, he didn’t need to add to it with something that shouldn’t matter, but it did. Today was just another reminder of how truly fucked up his life was.

“Lad, I-”

“Just drop it, Shayne,” Tristan said on a tired sigh as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face, wishing this day would end.

The sound of the front doorbell echoed throughout the house, letting him know that his day was far from over. He glanced at Shayne to find the man shrugging.

“Who is it?” Tristan asked even as he stood up to go send whoever it was away.

On a good day, he hated having anyone over, forcing him to put on a show, and today definitely wasn’t a good day. He just wanted to get through the rest of the files, grab a beer, relax, and forget everything that happened once he’d made the mistake of leaving his bed this morning. He should have called in sick this morning and spent the rest of the day in bed with Marty.

“Tristan?” Denny yelled as Tristan walked into the foyer just in time to see his brother let himself in. When Denny spotted Tristan coming down the hallway, he sighed with irritation as he gestured lazily behind him. “Where the hell have you been? Dinner’s almost done.”

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