Page 64 of Starlight

Gabe shook his head. “Nah. We have a medic here. He’ll patch me up.”

“We’ll need to take your statement,” another officer said.

I opened the door to the conference room. “We’re set up in here.”

We all filed in, and I closed the door behind me. Michael was set up in the middle of the long conference table with his laptop connected to four screens. Liam had already opened his medical bag and was set up in the corner with a side table and two chairs.

Liam smirked and patted the chair next to his. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

Gabe plopped into the chair and took the bloody towel off his arm. “I thought this was the best way to meet cute nurses.”

Liam smiled and blushed. Gabe’s gaze slid over to me, and I knew he’d done it on purpose. I was going to kick his ass. Andrea’s voice came over the comms. “Hey, Sarge. I have Marissa and Scott out here. She doesn’t want to be in the same room with Charles.”

“Okay. I have NYPD here. I’ll bring an officer out, and they can take her statement.”

“Copy that,” she replied.

One officer was already taking Gabe’s statement. The other three were talking to Charles in a corner of the room. I got the attention of one of them, who came over and asked, “What can I do for you, Mr. D’Angelo?”

I gestured with my thumb to the conference room door. “I have the bride and groom outside. The bride has a restraining order against Mr. Wainwright and wants to press charges. But she doesn’t want to be in the same room with him.”

The officer nodded. “I get it.” She briefly spoke to one of the other officers before following me into the hallway. The hotel manager was there, wringing his hands nervously. We assured him repeatedly that this wasn’t his or the hotel’s fault. I gave him the job of setting up a room for Marissa so she could make her statement in private.

Andrea and Pete had already gone into the conference room when I got back. I went in and sat in a chair, trying not to stare at Liam giving Gabe stitches. I decided closing my eyes would be the best way to deal with that.

I caught myself almost drifting off to sleep, which was bad. I never did that in the middle of an operation. A light touch on my shoulder startled me, and I turned my head to find Liam standing there. Now that I saw him up close, he looked as bad as I felt. “What’s up?” I murmured.

He looked so uncertain it broke my heart. I’d done that. “I’m all done with Gabe,” he said quietly. “Since the rest of the night is just talking to the police, I figure you don’t need me anymore, so I’m headed home.”

In my head, I said,I always need you, but the words stuck in my throat. I didn’t want him to leave, but I didn’t say that either. Instead, I said, “You don’t have a ride.”

For some reason, his frown deepened. “It’s okay. Tony said he’d drive me home.”

Stay with me. I’ll drive you home. We can talk. I can tell you…

I sat a little straighter. Tell him what? My throat closed around the words as the revelation struck me. I couldn’t speak, and Liam was backing away from me. I finally opened my stupid mouth to say something, but all that came out was, “Thank you for coming. I really appreciate it.”

His eyes got a little shiny and he swallowed hard enough for me to see his Adam’s apple bob. “Sure. I’ll…see you next time.”

He grabbed his medical bag and coat and walked out of the room. When the door closed behind him, someone slapped me on the back of the head hard enough to actually hurt. “What the fuck?”

I turned to see Gabe standing there. “You idiot.” He pointed to the chair where Liam had sat while he worked on Gabe. “You know what he did the entire time he stitched me up? He talked about you. He kept saying how he wished you would talk to him. Tell him what’s going on in that stupid head of yours so he could understand why you were such a flaming asshole to him.”

I narrowed my eyes. “He said all that. Just like that.”

Gabe shrugged. “I might have embellished a little.”

There were snickers around the table. Michael spoke up, “Marco, the guy is head over heels in love with you. You know that, right?”

The police officer interviewing Marissa came back into the room to save me from the inquisition. “Mrs. Kelsey wants to press charges. We’re going to take Mr. Wainwright down to the station for booking. We have all your statements. We’ll call you if we need anything else.”

“I have the video from the kitchen,” Michael said.

She nodded and handed Michael her card. “Send it and anything else relevant over to that email address.”

After the officers left with Charles in handcuffs, my entire team just stared at me. “What?”

“What are you going to do about Liam?” Gabe asked.

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