Page 20 of Mine to Share

“For fuck’s sake,” he growled and ran a hand through his short dark hair. “Rain. Dr. Evans. How do you know her?”

“I think you want to know more than that, but we’ll start there. We met during her forensic pathology fellowship. She was working with the ME there in Nashville, where I was a homicide detective. Now I have a question.” Slade shifted, putting his back to the door to face me fully as he motioned for me to get on with it.Impatient fucker.“I couldn’t really tell because of the gloves, but it didn’t look like she was wearing a wedding ring.”

Slade blinked, the corner of his lips curling upward, probably loving that he knew information I didn’t. Asshole. “That’s not a question.”

Touché, fucker. Touché.

“Is she still married?”

“Nope.”

“Hence you memorizing her favorite drink and warning the other male officers to stay the hell away from her or risk your wrath.”

Grumbling something under his breath, Slade shifted the car into Drive and pulled away from the curb. “I know nothing about her ex. She showed up here out of nowhere, full of so much fucking sunshine despite the dark that comes with her job. So yeah, I might have warned some assholes I work with about approaching her, but I didn’t want anyone mixing business and pleasure.”

“Right,” I drawled. “And that’s the only reason.”

I cursed, hand jerking to grip the oh-shit handle so I didn’t fall out of the seat as he took a turn too tight. “So, no more husband. Thank fuck.”

“Did he hurt her?”

Now, if my Glock weren’t sitting at my hip and I didn’t know the vengeful wrath in Slade’s voice wasn’t directed at me, I might have shit my pants. Because holy fuck, the menace in his tone was intimidating as hell.

“Depends on your definition of hurt,” I hedged, watching for his reaction to that evasive answer. As expected, he shot me a pointed glare that promised intense pain if I didn’t get on with it. “Emotionally abusive, sure. Manipulative as fuck. Filled her brilliant little head with all kinds of lies and shit that I spent every day that year we worked together trying to untangle. But physically? I saw no evidence of that in how she acted around me or any visible bruises.”

“Name.” With just one word, I knew if I told him, he’d find Rain’s asshole ex-husband and make sure he disappeared for good.

“I’m not giving you that.”

“Why. Not?”

“Because from what I saw earlier at the crime scene, the connection you two have, you mean something to Rain. I won’t be somewhat responsible for you getting tossed in jail for murdering the fucker.”

“Only if I get caught,” he stated with a sharp grin.

“Believe me, I fucking get it. Do you know how many times I debated making him disappear so he couldn’t keep hurting her? I had to watch it all first-fucking-hand for a year, witness the confused looks and doubt as I worked to unravel his lies. The fact that I didn’t murder that bastard should’ve won me some kind of damn citizenship award.”

“I’ll get you a cookie after lunch.”

My lips curled into a smile. “Thank you. I feel seen.”

He thumped his thumb on the top of the steering wheel while we waited at a red light. “So, you two never…?”

I swallowed the memories of how much I wanted her, making my throat dry, and turned to look out the passenger window so he wouldn’t see how guilty I still felt for pining over a married woman. “No. That amazing woman, even though she was treated like shit and knew it, she remained faithful to him. That’s the person she is. If she would’ve given me any sign that the flirting could’ve turned to more, I would’ve been all over her, but she didn’t. And you know, as much as I hated it, her keeping those boundaries made me respect her even more.”

He rubbed a hand across his mouth and slowly nodded in agreement. Tense silence filled the car as we both thought about that amazing woman.

“Not trying to take us too far off-topic, but this car is terrible.” Slade’s barked laugh echoed in the interior. “I thought the one I had in Nashville was bad. It had been impounded after a body was found in the back seat. You really can’t get the smell of death out of cloth upholstery.”

A humor-filled smirk tugged at his lips. “I’ll never make fun of this rolling turd again. At least it never had a dead body in it.”

“How long have you been a detective?” I asked as we pulled into a diner-style restaurant parking lot. The few empty spaces hopefully spoke to the good food served inside.

“Seven years. Been on the force for almost twelve now.”

He shoved the car door open and stepped out into the crisp morning air. I followed suit, taking a deep inhale of the cool breeze, a vast difference from Texas, which was preheating for summer.

Slade noticed my pause. “Can’t beat the weather out here, even with the haze. Next month it’ll be all sunny skies and warm weather, but the nights are always amazing.”

---