Chapter Twenty-two
Bree
Eric knocked on her door an hour after she got home. Bree didn’t answer. She didn’t need more apologies. She needed the entire Homicide unit to get their collective heads out of their asses and decide whether or not she was the enemy.
She wasn’t an idiot. She knew about confidentiality, and the danger of leaks on active cases. They knew she knew. But the lack of respect, especially in light of their apologies minutes earlier, was the last straw. She told them what she knew about the tattoo. That should have at least warranted a thank-you. So much for Eric’s proclamations of change and of them being a team again.
Fuck the Winnipeg Police Services. Let them hire their own specialists next time. At her rates, they couldn’t afford her anyway. And Eric didn’t deserve her awesome self.
“Bree, I’m not going away,” Eric said as he knocked on the door again.
“You will if I call Marcus and tell him WPS is trespassing on his property without a warrant!” she yelled back.
“We both know you’re not going to do that.”
Eric sounded so damned certain about what she would and wouldn’t do. Did he feel safe that she wouldn’t call him on his bullshit behaviour? Because she would. She stomped to the door and threw it open. “What? Didn’t the Homicide unit get all their insults in while I was over at your place?” she demanded. “Maybe you’d like to attack my professionalism now? Or my shitty choice in unsupportive men? Actually, I’d agree with you on that one,” she snarked.
“The guys fucked up. I called them on it. I’m on your side for this,” he said. He wasn’t pretending to be calm. He actually was. The tell-tale tic at his left eye was utterly placid.
“Right,” she said.
“I’m on your side,” Eric repeated.
“Against Dutch? Against Adam, your own partner?” That would be the day.
“Yes. I told them to go home right after you left.”
No tic. He wasn’t lying. “Why?”
“Because I trust you. I know you won’t talk about the case. Can I come in, or would you like to have this conversation in the doorway?”
Bree stepped aside. This was going to be good, and she was itching for a fight.
“I told them they were being stupid fuckers and that they should know by now that you are trustworthy. They said it wasn’t about trust. They were trying to protect you because there are aspects of the case which link back to Marcus Forrester. They don’t want you near him and neither do I. But I’m telling you anyway because I trust you and you deserve to know.”
“Marcus is involved?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“As a suspect?”
“No.”
“Am I in danger if I run into him again?”
“Probably not from him but I’d rather you didn’t take the chance to find out.”
Real answers to specific questions. Eric had never been so hot. “Take off your shirt.”
“What?” Eric asked, even as he was following her order.
“All I needed was for you to have my back. For you to trust me. You just proved you did, so get naked so I can thank you.” She already had her shirt and pants off. What was taking him so long? Bree unhooked her bra strap, then took it off and threw it at him before she headed to her bedroom. “Are you coming or what?”
He grinned at her. Huge. “Not yet, but give me five minutes and you will be.”
“I’m hearing a lot of talk and seeing no action today, Eric.”
So he showed her some. He grabbed her hips and lifted her until she wrapped her legs around his waist. “Never doubt that I’m on your side. I’ll always have your back. And your front. Your fearless lips, your incredible breasts, your magnificent…” He slipped his hand over her ass and between her legs, giving a bold pinch to the sensitive skin under the thin cotton of her panties.
