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“Can you tell me what he’s shared with you?”
“About?” I spun the cap off my water and waited for him to come out with it.
“Are you always this obtuse?” He tapped harder. Flashes of Ben Oliver tried to force their way forward, and I blinked them back. He misread my silence and kept going. “Are you going to sit there and tell me he didn’t share his story with you?”
“He’s shared some things, some good, some not.” The sound of his incessant tapping overtook the sounds around me as he went on.
“Ivy,” both his hands covered mine, and I felt the tension in my shoulders the moment the tapping stopped, “I’m just looking out for Beckett. Hill’s not someone to mess around with.”
“That, I believe.” I looked down at our joined hands and slid mine back away from his.
“So, you understand he needs to back off. Let what happened with Brown go.”
“That’s not up to me. I can’t sway Ty. Maybe you should speak with him directly.”
I pulled out my phone and saw it was time for me to find Ty. I didn’t want him steamrolling this little encounter.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
“Did you know Brown was sleeping with Demi, and on our last mission, Beckett found out about it?”
“I haven’t heard that version.” I shook my head, annoyed he’d tried to plant the idea in my head. “But given the way Ty’s been affected by Brown’s death, I’m going to say that’s fake news.” I stood, tugged my bag over my shoulder, and plucked the tray off the table. “Thanks for your company, but I think we should part ways now.”
“Ivy.”
“I can smell your bullshit a mile away, Rivera, and so will any judge.”
I went to the corner and tossed my trash in the can then set the tray on top of the others. As I brushed my hands free of some crumbs, I turned to find Rivera too close to me. He grabbed my arm and pushed me into the wall, out of sight of the rest of the room.
“You’ve no idea what kind of trouble could happen if you can’t get Beckett to back off Hill.” All signs of his previous charm and humor evaporated in that moment.
“I think it’s you who needs to back off.” I held up a hand, but he pushed it down and held it to the wall.
“I tried to do this nicely, but since you’re a prissy bitch, we’ll do it this way.” He smirked when I lifted my chin to show I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t; I was petrified.
“I said let me go.” I tried to yank my arm away, but it only intensified his hold.
“I saw that TikTok video, and I know your story with Ben Oliver.” I licked my lips, hating how I’d become some sort of internet true crime celebrity lately. “What are the chances he saw it, too?” The food I used to fuel my fight threatened to come back up.
“Are you threating me in some way, Rivera?”
“No, Dr. Knight, that wasn’t a threat, just an observation.” His gaze made my blood run cold. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to tell Beckett to stop looking into Hill.”
“Why would I do that?”
“If you don’t, Dustin and I will come forward and say we saw the entire thing. Say we saw our captain raise his gun at his best friend and shoot him between the eyes because of a shared lover. And when Hill, Dustin, and I came in, he tried to pin it on Hill. It’s no secret they hate each other, so it seems natural he’d blame him.”
I wanted to lash out, slap him across his face, and knee him in the balls so he would think twice before putting his hands on another person the way he did with me. But then I saw something flicker over his face, and I stopped struggling.
“I’m confused then, Rivera. Why haven’t you come forward with that already?”
His face shot back, and he blinked a few times. “What?”
“Why haven’t you just done it? Say Ty killed him. I mean, if you guys are all prepared to say you witnessed it, what are you waiting for?”
“Stop talking.” I was clearly throwing his head for a loop.
“Why’s Hill trying to stop Ty from proving he’s guilty? Why not come forward now and end it all?”
