Page 30 of Last Mile

I sighed and kicked one of the loose pieces of gravel with my boot.

“If I like him, there’s a different set of issues than there is for you.”

“Because he’s straight, and you’re coming on to him to get the job done?”

“Yep. That pretty much sums it up.”

Gavin grinned at me. “I just said you liked the guy, Vargas, not that you were ready to have his babies.”

I couldn’t help laughing at Gavin’s summation. “The situation escalated pretty quickly if I’m ready to have his babies.”

“You know what I meant.” He nudged his shoulder against mine. “So quit worrying, ’kay?”

“The thing is I let myself get too comfortable with him while we were talking.”

Gavin’s smile faded. “What do you mean?”

Groaning, I covered my eyes with my hands. “We were playing this stupid get-to- know- you game, and when trying to connect with him about being the youngest of the family, I let it slip that my siblings didn’t think I could do what I wanted when I grew up. When I realized what I’d done, I covered my ass by saying I wanted to be a cop.”

When I dared to look at Gavin, he was once again grinning at me. “Jesus, Sam, you’re entirely too hard on yourself. For a minute, I thought you had given him your badge number or some bullshit. That was barely a slipup.”

“You’re too forgiving when it comes to me.”

“Fine. You want the truth?”

Now it was my turn to groan as he did the familiar bit with me from A Few Good Men. “Yeah, I can handle the truth.”

“My first undercover case I let it slip where I really lived— almost blew the whole damn thing.”

I widened my eyes in disbelief. “You never told me that.”

“Maybe I didn’t want to look bad in front of my new partner,” he said with a wink.

“Thanks for telling me now.”

“You’re welcome. Now we better get inside before Peterson wonders what the hell we’re doing out here.”

As Gavin started for the door, I blurted, “He’s not a monster.”

Glancing back at me over his shoulder, Gavin looked confused. “Who, Peterson?”

I shook my head. “No. Bishop.”

“I’m glad you figured that one out.”

“But I’m not. You know it just makes the case harder if he’s really a decent guy,” I argued.

“That’s true. But at the end of the day, what we’re doing doesn’t mean sending Bishop to prison and throwing away the key. There are a lot of parameters in this case. He and his brothers play their cards right, and they won’t be locked up forever.”

While I nodded, I didn’t tell Gavin what I was really feeling. The truth was in that moment, I had a hard time imagining seeing Bishop punished. In my mind, I hoped there was some way he could cop a deal and plead out of any charges. If they were truly giving their guns to the cartel, then the bureau would be much more interested in taking the cartel down if the Raiders would help.

“Stop overthinking, Vargas. I’m starving for some fucking waffles,” Gavin said, bringing me out of my internal tirade.

I laughed and let him lead me into the restaurant. At the sight of us, Peterson waved us over. The place was fairly empty with only a few sleepy- eyed truckers as the other patrons.

When we reached the booth, Peterson’s gaze roamed over my heavy makeup and skintight attire. “We really have to stop meeting like this, Vargas.”

I snorted as I slid into the seat across from him. “I have a feeling a burlap sack wouldn’t stop you from ogling me, you old pervert.”