Page 16 of Mine To Break
Elias cast a quick side glance at him. “After riding with me over a year, do you honestly think I’m that blind? You don’t eat. You don’t sleep. You exercise like a mad person. Some of the guys have even muttered about steroids for you to bulk up so much. Doesn’t help that you’re… twitchy. Like you’re on something. And your temper isn’t the best. That’s why you get to play bad cop all the time.”
Fuck. He’d never done drugs in his life. Never suspected that the people he worked with day in and day out had the slightest suspicion. “Who started that kind of rumor? Rodgers? I’ll fucking kill that bastard.”
“Oh, yeah, because talk like that helps so much. Look, don’t worry about it. I’ve had your back and always will, but you’ve got to be careful. One bad report from an eye witness, or a roughed up suspect, and both our asses will be on the line. The LT has already told me to keep you on a tight leash.”
And here he’d thought he’d been doing so great. No one had as many collars as him and Elias. Not even close. Until recently, when his partner had hooked back up with his woman, they’d both worked nonstop. He’d been going places. Elias was going to sit for his lieutenant test soon, and Colby would move up to senior detective in a couple of years. Moving on up in the world, or so he’d thought. Maybe the senseless grind of fighting to keep drugs off the streets would finally lighten up a bit. Or better yet, he’d move on to some new position entirely.
Only to realize his entire reputation was tarnished by gossip and his very character in doubt.
“I get it,” Elias said in a low, grim voice. “I’ve seen soldiers with it way worse than you. You’ve been holding it together fine, but I see you all the time. I know how tight a wire you’re walking. Until today. And I want to know what happened last night to snap that wire, so I can be on the look out for any new issues that might crop up.”
Colby turned his head and stared out the side window to be sure and not meet his partner’s gaze. “I had some… bedroom issues. For a couple of years now.”
“Ah.” Thank God Elias didn’t ask for all the gruesome details. “And Mal got around those issues?”
“Piece of cake.”
“What’d she have to do to eat that cake?”
Colby choked back a sudden wave of desperate laughter.It was actually a piece of pie, and I ate the whole fucking thing.Instead of trying to explain anything, he simply pulled up his sleeve enough to bare one of the bite marks on his forearm. It’d been the first bite, and arguably the least painful. Yet he had a brilliant bruise of green and purple around still-red marks in his flesh.
“Fucking hell. Yeah, that’d do it. Vic knows a thing or two about that. She bites like a fucking crocodile.”
“TMI, dude. I so do not want to know about your habits in the bedroom. Baring my soul is bad enough.”
Elias drove for a few moments before continuing. “So you’re feeling better now, right? I mean, if she got around the other issue, you won’t be wound so tightly.”
Colby shrugged, still staring out the window. “Don’t know how long it’ll last though.”
Elias grunted softly. “So you’ll see her again, then.”
“Fuck, yeah.” Colby was able to say it without hesitation. Even if his bedroom issues started to come back, he still wanted to see her. He still hoped she’d come up with a new way of helping him battle those demons.
“She’s that good? Not that I’m interested in details,” Elias said hurriedly with a threatening scowl as he pulled off to park in an nondescript alley. “But I’ve seen enough to know she’s…” He hesitated, as if he didn’t want to insult the woman if Colby liked her. “Dangerous.”
Colby pushed open the door, swung out, and leaned against the top of the car, waiting for Elias to get out and face him. Then he flashed a huge grin at his partner. “Damn straight she’s dangerous. That’s what makes her so appealing. She’s also sexy as hell.”
“TMI, TMI,” Elias rolled his eyes. “Just be careful, and keep her on the down low as long as you can. Some asshole still thinks it’s funny to leave spare handcuffs on my desk after that commercial.”
Colby didn’t say anything, because that asshole was him. If Elias found out…
He’ll probably start leaving whips and chains for me in our car.
That made him remember the hank of rope that Mal had laid out last night. His stomach quivered, uneasy, unsettled, but intrigued. He couldn’t lie. Not with a hardening dick.
Maybe I’ll ask her about that sometime.
