Page 14 of Bears Behaving Badly
“Well,great. No idea where he is or how he got out. Nothing from Caro or Lund, adding to the great big pile of unacceptable that is this case. Nadia, I want those video feeds yesterday.”
“Impossible, as I’m not a temporal-bending sorceress. But I can provide them in the next thirty minutes.”
“It’ll have to do.”
“You’re so welcome. When are you and David going out again?”
Oh, now this was too much. Teasing Annette about her nonexistent love life was one thing; doing it right in front of David was taking it too far. “Never, obviously,” Annette snapped. “Drop it, will you?”
“The path of true love is never—”
“Nadia.” This through gritted teeth, and Annette didn’t bother keeping the growl down.
“I’ll see to the videos, shall I?”
As Nadia hurried away, Annette turned to David, who’d been looming over them the entire time. Not that it was his fault—you couldn’t be annoyed at someone for being obscenely tall—but she was in no mood for lurking, no matter how benign. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s not a problem.”
“It’s just this dumb thing Nadia does for reasons I’m terrified to look into,” Annette continued. She absently brushed the damp spot on her sweater. The baby had drooled, but David’s fingers lightly grazing her shoulder was the sensation that remained. It was annoying to discover some romance tropes (burning touches, long soulful glances, pining, etc., etc., ad nauseum) were true. Annoying and maybe a little…averylittle…exciting.
David shrugged. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not, but you’re sweet to say so.”
“I’m not sweet.”
She barely heard him. Well past time for a subject change. She brushed at her sweater again and mused aloud. “Now, if I were an amoral troublemaker with no regard for the system or the careers of those charged with my safety and well-being, where would I go?”
“Perkins Restaurant?”
That surprised a laugh out of her. “Not around here. But that’s a good idea—Dev’s always hungry.” Anddammit! Now she was feeling sorry for him again. Dev was always hungry because he’d been neglected by those who were supposed to love, protect, andfeedhim. Then he was hungry because he had to steal to feed himself. And then he was hungry when the state took him in…
You remember that all his foster homes fed him, right? Every one of them. His choice, every time, to run.
Still. Hungry cubs tweaked something inside her. In a world full of food, starving children were an abomination.
Annette spotted him the second she stepped into their vile break room, because he was the only one in there,
(obviously not hiding)
(dammit!)
and the audacious creature had the gall to greet her with “What the hell is that smell?”
“You!”
“No, it’s not me. It smells like someone took a dump in here, then deep-fried it. But that can’t be right.” He glanced around. “Uh…can it?”
“Dev Devoss, you trickywretch.” Annette had to make a conscious effort not to shake her fist at him like a B-movie villain.
“What? You needed to talk to me. So here we are, talking. It’s not like you… Ow-ow-ow!”
“The temptation to yank your ear off your skull issostrong,” Annette confessed, tightening her grip. “I’m not sure I’ve got the self-control to resist.”
“Aw, c’mon, not again, Garsea,” David mock-groaned from the doorway. “There’ll be blood everywhere and reams of paperwork. And the boss’ll land on you like a disapproving motherfucker.”
“Is this—ow!—good cop, idiot cop? Because you suck at it. Both of you.”
