Unfortunately, they weren’t out of the woods. The case was more uncertain now than at any point prior. Dev wasn’t safe until Cash had a better understanding of what was happening.
With slow precision, Cash moved out from underneath the bedspread, hoping not to wake the others. Once on his feet, he looked back at the girls, then to Dev. All three needed Cash’s dedicated protection. His superiors had to be more forthcoming, No more games.
Any lingering fatigue vanished. The anger at his leadership took center stage, replacing the special place he and Dev had found last night.
He pushed his feet inside his slippers, taking his cellphone and T-shirt off the chair as he quietly left the room then headed out of the apartment. Dev had a couple of hours before he needed to wake. He hoped his biker slept through, because he had a big day awaiting him.
Once in Joe’s apartment, Cash had laser-beam focus as he headed straight to his laptop. His fingers flew over the keyboard, entering his credentials to pull up Lily Collins’s email address, requesting an immediate call from her. He left no room to interpret his tone as anything more than serious.
With the T-shirt in hand, he flipped on the kitchen light switch and made a beeline for the refrigerator, catching his reflection in the microwave glass. He stepped back into its view. Even in the darkened glass, he could see the fatigue etched on his face. More than that, he always cared about his appearance but hadn’t done anything to hide his current state of unruly bedhead or the scruff of the beard forming.
As he stared at his reflection, he let go of a deep, unsteady sigh. Dev wasn’t the only one worn down. With every second this case lingered on, it was making him an innately different man.
Something had to give.
Flipping his T-shirt out, he shoved his head through then followed with each arm, until he was able to open the refrigerator door while the shirt fell down his chest. His stomach growled its hunger as he reached for last night’s dinner. A pizza Joe had ordered.
Joe. What a tremendous partner. He’d had Cash’s back since day one. Joe had stepped up, taking over the dinner responsibility last night. He’d ordered for everyone in the building. Insisting several times that Cash take the few minutes to eat. He never had. With a flick of his thumb, he lifted the top of the box, finding his favorite vegetarian pizza inside.
He turned the knobs to the oven, setting the temperature. Joe’s bedroom light flashed on, showing underneath the door. Seconds later, Joe appeared, rubbing sleep-filled eyes. “It’s early. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I got up so I’d have a couple of hours to sort out what happened yesterday before we go into another day blind,” Cash replied.
He registered, then filed away the aggressive undertone in his explanation.
“Good. It’ll be better to know…” Joe started and stopped, interrupting himself with a jaw-cracking yawn. “Yesterday sucked. As much as we’ve done, we were so unprepared.”
The bad taste in Cash’s mouth where the government was concerned just got a whole lot worse. “Yeah. It bugs me that we’re working hard to find the answers, yet we ultimately don’t know anything. Go back to bed. I’ll be quieter as I put my foot up the ass of everyone within the attorney general’s office.”
Those may be the truest words he’d ever spoken.
He carelessly placed the pizza directly on the oven rack and closed the door.
“Good goal. If you don’t need me, I’ll be up in a couple of hours.” Joe didn’t wait for an answer as he turned away. Then came back, taking a closer look at Cash. He pointed his finger out, swiping up and down. “I’ve never seen you like this.”
Cash looked down, feigning confusion. “Pajamas, bed head. Never?” Instead of continuing as if he didn’t understand Joe’s point, he shook his head and reached for a coffee k-cup on the counter. Drinking coffee, another thing he didn’t regularly do. “I’m pretty frustrated that our superiors let yesterday happen without better warning. Don’t worry. I’ll talk myself out of my bad mood and be my old self soon enough.”
From the look on Joe’s face, he didn’t buy what Cash was saying and propped a shoulder against the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest. “I saw from Mitch’s camera angle that you dove in front of a bullet to protect Dev. You’ve got to be worried about how all this is playing out.”
Cash refused to look at Joe as he tried to remember how to use the Keurig. “I haven’t been shy about my feelings for Dev. You should know better than most. You listen and watch everything I do and say.”
“It’s not that. Maybe it is. I don’t know. I’m tired too.” Joe rubbed his eyes again. “What happens with his girls today? I’ve never watched kids before. I can’t see me being a good babysitter.”
“I’ll be here. I think Dev plans for Millie to come over. I’m hoping Shanna won’t mind organizing the funerals. The bike shop and ink parlor are closed until the criminal investigation wraps up. I’ll probably have to pull rank to get Dev his work equipment. We haven’t talked about it, but I suspect the local authorities will keep the building as an active crime scene. Even with as connected as Dev is with the city officials, I doubt he can get in.”
He managed to get the k-cup into its slot then shut the lid and waited. Nothing happened.
Coffee makers were unnecessarily complicated.
“You gotta select the size of the cup then push start,” Joe explained. “It’s the button in the middle. Put a cup under the drip. I’m going back to bed. Wake me if you need me.”
“Thanks.” Cash did as he’d been guided, watching the coffee fill his cup. “Seriously, thanks for everything.”
“It’s what partner’s do,” Joe said, as if his part was nothing extraordinary, and shut the bedroom door behind him.
Since Cash was on a roll, he reached for the creamer, dumping a load inside the coffee cup. He stirred the hot liquid with his index finger, going back to his laptop. He choked down the bitter brew as he took his seat, waiting for his computer to initiate. The longer he stared at the screen the more aggravated he got.
He was tired as hell of being pissed off at his superiors.
