“She targets our patients,” Remi said. “She undermines Ava. She ignores context every damn time it’s inconvenient. And you keep pretending you don’t see it.”
“I’m not pretending.”
Remi raised an eyebrow.
“I’m... trying to fix it without blowing everything up.”
“That’s the problem,” she said quietly. “You’re still more afraid of blowing up your department than you are of letting another girl slip through the cracks.”
That landed harder than I expected.
Because I’d been thinking the same damn thing for weeks now, I just hadn’t said it out loud.
Remi stepped back, the anger in her face cooling into something heavier.
“She is only seventeen,” she repeated. “Just a girl with a horrible family, a girl who has to fight through every single day, chief.”
I didn’t know the story. But I knew the type.
We stood there staring at each other for a moment.
I shifted on my feet, which Remi caught. What was it about these girls that made me feel like being me wasn't enough?
I cleared my throat and asked, "Uh... Did you and Ava do anything fun for New Year's?"
She raised an eyebrow in question, shook her head. "I had so much fun at the bedside of one of my patients in the ER, on New Year's Eve, Chief. We didn't count down or kiss or anything... but I did hold her hand while they reset her shoulder and gave her enough money so she could take a bus to her family up North."
I stared at her, unsure of what to say next.
Remi turned before I could ask more... say more. And that was the thing when Remi spoke, I wanted to listen. But I had no idea how to respond.
She walked toward the elevators, her head high, her sundress swaying as if she wore her joy on the outside for everyone else. A leather jacket and sweater layered over top.
I stood there, still hearing her voice, still processing her words.
She was right. She’d been right since the first time she looked me in the eye and told me the law wasn’t always justice. That rules were only as good as the people enforcing them.
And I didn’t like how often I realized she wasn’t just insightful; she was usually two steps ahead.
I pulled out my phone to check in on the intake when a voice behind me said, “Chief? You got a second?”
It was Officer Reid. Still too clean-shaven and baby-faced to be taken seriously by half the department. But sharp, smart.
“Disturbance call just came in,” he said. “One of the truck stops off Old Ridge. They’re saying it’s a full-on brawl between two MCs.”
I groaned. “Which ones?”
Reid hesitated, then pulled out his notepad.
“Devil’s Ride... and uh... Iron Serpents, Sir.”
I blinked. Looked at him again.
Fuck could this day get any worse.
“Did they say who was involved?”
Reid raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. The caller said Spike and Hammer might kill each other this time... do you know what that means? Sounds like code names.”
