“And they deserve to find out,” Ashlyn said, keeping her gaze locked with his, knowing better than to look away first.
“And you’re hoping that I tell you everything that I know,” Tristan drawled, the assessing gaze never leaving her while he debated whether or not to help her. Given what she’d been told about him, she knew that he would have absolutely no problem telling her to go to hell.
“It would make this easier,” Ashlyn said, watching as he slowly nodded.
“It’s not my job to make this easier for you, Miss Cambridge.”
“You’re right,” Ashlyn said, reaching into her bag and pulled out a memory stick and held it up, “but I can make your job easier.”
“I’m on medical leave. My job couldn’t possibly get any easier,” Tristan drawled while Ashlyn sat there, absently twirling the memory stick between her fingers even as she couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else was disturbed by that glare currently aimed in her direction.
“True, but as a newly married man with a baby on the way, I’m sure that your time would be better spent elsewhere, especially since you went back on duty a week ago,” Ashlyn pointed out, making his lips twitch before adding, “Unofficially.”
“Been looking into me?” Tristan asked, sounding amused.
“Wanted to know what to expect,” Ashlyn said, shrugging it off.
“And what did you find?”
“Besides the fact that you’re an asshole?” she asked, watching as his wife’s lips pulled up into a smile.
“Besides that,” Tristan said, waving it off as though it was a given.
For a moment, she considered telling him everything that she’d learned about him, but after meeting his biological mother, she didn’t think it was a good idea to mention the woman that gave him up when he was six years old, mostly because just thinking about her pissed Ashlyn off. When she’d questioned her about her firstborn son, she’d acted like she had no idea what Ashlyn was talking about until she eventually admitted that he was a mistake, one that she was more than happy to forget about.
That, of course, led to relief when she realized that Ashlyn was a private investigator. She’d begged Ashlyn to take on her precious baby boy’s case for free, along with a sob story about her husband dying that she no doubt used every chance she got to save her son’s ass. Every time Ashlyn tried to bring the conversation back to Tristan, she kept bringing the conversation back to her precious son, doing her best to convince Ashlyn that he was innocent.
He wasn’t.
In fact, he was right where he needed to be as far as Ashlyn was concerned and just to make sure that he stayed in prison, she shared everything that she found out about the woman’s precious son with the investigating detective.
“You worked on your associates degree while you finished high school, which allowed you to graduate from college with a degree in criminal justice and psychology, early. You graduated at the top of your class from the police academy. You scored high on your detective’s exam, securing a position early and quickly rose through the ranks to lead detective.”
“You’ve been awarded two medals of valor, been shot once, and you have a history of pissing people off. You also have the highest complaints of any officer in the district, with most people using the term “Asshole” to describe you and according to an anger management group that made me promise not to tell you about their new location and meeting time, you very well might be a direct descendent of the Devil,” Ashlyn said with a heartfelt sigh that had Detective Black’s lips twitching again.
“Then, there’s that video of you that went viral a few months ago...” Ashlyn said, letting her words trail off as she watched his eyes narrow dangerously on her. She had to admit that video made her day, the censored and uncensored versions.
“He was very happy to see me that day,” Marty said with a wistful sigh that had her husband turning that glare on her while Ashlyn sneaked a glance to her right and-
Yup, Shayne was still glaring at her.
“We talked about the staring,” Ashlyn reminded him as she continued absently twirling the memory stick in her hand only to go still when she felt something cold brush against her skin seconds before she was hit with a wave of cold dread.
Just as quickly as it started, it was over, leaving her sitting there, struggling to suppress a shudder only to feel a burst of cold air rush over her, sending goosebumps racing down her spine. Another gust of cold air had her releasing a shaky breath only to leave her frowning as she watched everyone in the room suddenly go still.
She watched as the men shared a discreet look, Tristan subtly shaking his head while Shayne sat there, looking furious before their gazes as one returned to her only to shift to the right, drawing her attention and-
“I’ll tell you everything that I know on one condition.”
“And what’s that?” Ashlyn murmured absently as she glanced over her shoulder and-
“That you work with my brother.”
CHAPTER 3
He was losing his fucking mind, Shayne thought as he sat there, unable to look away from the woman who’d been haunting his dreams since the moment he met her.
The only problem?
