Page 121 of Callahan

“Shawn died a hero; his memory will be just fine. And here’s the thing about Haven Springs. People move on to the next juicy morsel pretty quickly. You’d be yesterday’s news before you even knew it.”

I shook my head. “She should find someone worthy of her, and that’s not me. Maybe she’ll hit it off with the doctor.”

“Maybe. But why don’t you think you’re worthy of her?”

“I’ll tell you some night over a few beers. After you tell me what happened between you and Sylvia.”

“So, never then.”

I shrugged, secretly relieved we’d put this conversation to bed.

****

Lainey

Brian’s voice boomed, “Pizza’s here!” when he walked through the door, followed by Adam.

I paused the TV and got up from the couch to take the boxes from Brian while they both took their boots off at the door, letting them drop with loud thuds before they each quickly removed their duty belts.

Adam let out a sigh of relief when his came unbuckled. I imagined it was probably the equivalent of taking a bra off at the end of the day. Female officers must get double relief when they got home from work.

“How was your first day?” I politely asked Adam.

“It was productive, yet blissfully uneventful, if that makes any sense.”

“Kind of?”

“We made a little bit of progress on your case, and I was able to meet a lot of people who I ruled out as being the guy who attacked me.”

“But we’ve still got plenty of people to talk to,” Brian added.

“That’s good.” I glanced at the dining room adjacent to the living room. “I wasn’t sure if we’re allowed to eat in here, so I put plates and silverware on the dining room table.”

Brian pawed the air.

“Please. You’re ‘allowed’ to do any damn thing you want here. But yes, I eat in front of the TV all the time.”

“Okay, well, you guys get changed, and I’ll set up the food.”

“Don’t wait for me,” Adam declared as he walked toward the stairs. “Eat while it’s hot. I’m gonna jump in the shower first.”

An image of me with my tits flush against the tiles on my shower wall while he pounded me from behind popped in my head. He looked at me and pressed his lips together, and I knew he was thinking the same thing. It made me wonder if he’d said it on purpose.

“Yeah, me too,” Brian said. “I’ll only be a few minutes, but don’t wait.”

After I briefly considered—then quickly ruled out—joining Adam, it didn’t take long for me to clear the coffee table and move the plates and silverware next to the boxes with the Pizza and More logo. The idea of eating without them felt rude, so I went to the kitchen and filled three glasses with ice. I wasn’t sure if the guys preferred soda over water, or maybe they’d even want a beer, so I took their cups to the living room before returning to put water in mine

I got situated on the couch and hitplayto continue watching my show.

And yes, it was a cop drama, but it was almost over so they would just have to suffer through until it was done.

The pizza smelled so good that finally I opened the box and grabbed a slice. With the plate in my lap, I took a bite of the cheesy goodness and moaned out loud as soon as the mozzarella hit my tastebuds.

“You can’t do that, princess.”

I let out a little squeak of surprise. Adam stood barefoot with wet hair in the doorway of the living room, wearing blueand green plaid pajama pants and a white t-shirt that hugged his chest and arms.

Forget the chocolate chip cookie, I wanted him for dessert.

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