Page 18 of Icy Heart, Empty Chest
“I’m small enough to fit in odd places and I can make myself relatively inconspicuous. Eventually I started taking on more jobs by myself, even traveling a bit. I wasn’t bad at it. Even after Dad was gone, I didn’t want to stop. I still felt connected to that world. Mind you, I never did anything but art or jewelry. No kids, no drugs, no trafficking. I was OK with a few people, OK with being on the outside looking in. I just wanted enough of a bolster to figure out life.”
A beep sounded from outside.
I gathered the long peacoat and buttoned it up around me. “Go time.”
He nodded and got up swiftly, putting his coat on.
I locked the door behind us and as soon as we cleared the front of the complex, Damien grabbed my hand. The sudden warmth shocked me slightly.
“Couple, right?” he asked earnestly.
He opened the door to the cab for me. I smiled and climbed in.
As soon as our seatbelts were on, I instructed the goblin driving to get us to St Christopher’s, the children’s hospital.
As the tires started to roll, he took my hand again. I didn’t mind it. All part of the cover, right? It felt nice. I hadn’t really had many boyfriends in my life. A hook up or three. When I was a dumb kid, it had just been him. The light had shown out of his ass and you couldn’t convince me otherwise. When that changed, a part of me hardened away that I never expected.
Never really felt that way again.
I took our combined hands and lightly thumped them against the seat to get his attention.
“Your turn.”
He looked puzzled.
“Story time?” I added.
“Oh,” he laughed. It was a sweet sound. “What do you want to know?”
I thought for a second. “How did you get on the force? I thought you once told me the MF was the last thing you wanted to do.”
He took a deep breath and contemplated. “You’re not wrong. Dad…was a factor in me joining. So were you, in a way. You know I swam in high school and college. I joined the academy but in a different division than him. He was obviously disappointed that I elected for search and rescue, the dive team, volunteering with special ops, going to incident sites. I needed to be around people who needed help. I liked what I was doing but that wasn’t enough. He hated that I wasn’t doing ‘white collar’ crime like him. I never really cared about the prestige of his position. He thought I was an embarrassment to the family, again. He wanted me to make detective by a certain age, glad hand all the ‘old boys.’ I couldn’t do it. It just wasn’t me. The MF just ended up working for me.”
I nodded.
“I guess that makes sense. You were always more extroverted than I was.” Damien could easily charm people but he was oblivious to how. He could sell ice to a polar bear and genuinely thought the bear could use the ice.
“You could fake it though. Just liked your space.” He wasn’t wrong. I do OK surrounded by the common folk but interacting with too many gets painful.
“You get tired of faking it after a while. It gets tiring.” I paused and thought for a second. “Wait, how did you get on the scene of the alleged forgery if you do search and rescue?”
He groaned slightly. “Dad requisitioned me on that one. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t have a choice.”
Conversation dropped off after that but he didn’t let go of my hand. I don’t think he ever thought to.
I peeked outside at the streetlights near the buildings, watching the flashes go by.
This place was my home, with the places I grew to love over my two decades of life. I was still only twenty-four, still had a lot to explore.
We pulled up to the hospital and with a smile I paid the goblin. I got out and stood on the sidewalk.
“Ready?”
He nodded and we headed in past the visitors’ desk. I stopped to read the sign and meandered over to the elevators, once inside, hitting the button for the second floor. As we stepped off there were few in sight.
We started walking and I put an arm out to halt him.
“Relax. We’re not in a hurry,” I hissed softly.
