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“Been a while?”
“Yeah. The last few months haven’t exactly given me much cause for celebrating.” He took a couple more gulps before sliding the empty bottle to one side. In seconds, another one appeared without him even asking for it. Sloane wouldn’t be surprised if a few digits accompanied the next one.
“It must have been hard.” Sloane hadn’t really watched the news when the whole thing had gone down. He’d been busy with his own problems, but he’d heard about it. Maddock and Cael hadn’t mentioned it either, though he figured they’d most likely been protecting Dex. The rest of the office was a different story. The THIRDS didn’t get involved in HPF problems unless there was cause to, or if it became their jurisdiction but seeing as how the THIRDS was all about the union between Human and Therian, the case had stirred up plenty of interesting conversation and opinions. The consensus being the HPF detective had done the right thing.
When Sloane had first met Dex, he hadn’t been sure about him turning in his partner, despite knowing it was the right thing to do, but he’d also been looking for any excuse to hate the guy. Now he could see how hard the whole thing had been on Dex, and he admired him for coming through it relatively unscathed.
“I testified against my partner, which made me feel like shit. I got jumped in the parking garage after. Got home in time to watch my boyfriend move out, after he dumped me of course, then I got beat up at work, then I lost my job—so to speak. My first day of my new job, I got the crap beat out of me by my team leader, and then today I nearly got eaten by a pack of Therians. All in all, a pretty productive few months.”
Sloane peered at him slyly. “Your team leader sounds like a real prick.”
“He has his moments,” Dex replied with a wink, causing Sloane’s pulse to jump, at least until he caught onto what Dex had said.
“Wait, back up. You got beat up twice? How’d that happen?”
Dex shifted his gaze to his beer bottle, giving a shrug as he picked at the corner of the label. “They got the drop on me.”
“Maybe your guilt got the drop on you.”
“What are you talking about?” Dex mumbled, his feigned ignorance not fooling anyone.
“Come on, Dex. Unless you were up against armed thugs or a hoard of ninjas, you could have kicked their asses. I’ve seen you fight.”
“What? Our little sparring sessions in Sparta?” Dex scoffed.
Sloane didn’t like what he was hearing, though he couldn’t say he was surprised. Dex was a good guy. He cared about those around him and went out of his way to do what was right. “You held your own against me. Believe me, that says a lot. Those guys who got the drop on you, were they Human?”
“Yeah.”
“Where they armed?”
“Yes.” Sloane arched an eyebrow at him and Dex winced. “Sort of. They had a stick.”
“Are you telling me a THIRDS agent couldn’t take down a bunch of punks with a stick?” He knew those steel batons were a bitch. They could do some real damage, but nothing compared to a firearm or blade. Dex was a very capable agent.
“THIRDS rookie,” Dex muttered pathetically. “And they weren’t punks, they were cops.”
“Shit.” Sloane ran a hand over his face. He nodded his understanding, not that he agreed with what Dex had done. He leaned forward, jabbing a finger against the bar’s sleek black surface. “That’s the last time that happens, you hear me? Letting those assholes beat the shit out of you will not make the guilt go away, believe me. You feel like you need an ass kicking, you let me know. I’ll throw you in the ring with Ash. I’m sure he’ll be happy to be of service.”
Dex shuddered. “Point taken. How is it you two are best friends anyway? No offense, but the guy is a total douchebag.”
“He’s not as bad as he seems.” Sloane took another sip of his beer. He wasn’t much in the mood for drinking tonight, though it might be because he wasn’t getting much of a chance while talking to Dex, not that he was complaining. Talking with Dex was easy. He could have a discussion that involved more than Ash’s Rule of the Three S’s—shooting, sex, and sports.
“Really?”
It took Sloane a moment to remember what he’d been talking about. “Yeah. We’ve known each other since we were kids. We were both in a rough place, I was in a rough place, and he helped me through it. He’s helped me through a few rough patches, actually. I know he can be a pain in the ass, but he would take a bullet for me. He has, quite literally.” Sloane shook his head, chuckling at the memory. “It was only a flesh wound. He bitched for months, milked it for all it was worth, but he’d earned it. He’s always had my back, and I’ve had his. We’re the only family we got.”
“What about the rest of the team?”
“They’re family, of course, but you know, Rosa’s got her girlfriend. They’ve been together ten years. Letty’s got a boyfriend over in Brooklyn. Calvin’s got his mom, and Hobbs has his parents and a couple of brothers. They’ve been friends since they were kids. Hobbs’s mom used to babysit Calvin when his mom was at work. They grew up in the same apartment complex. That’s why they’re so tight. Then there’s me and Ash.” He shrugged, not sure what else he could really say about it that wouldn’t sound pathetic even to his own ears. “So what happened with your partner?”
Dex looked like he might not be ready to give up the previous conversation, but Sloane was grateful when he took a swig of beer and nodded. “It was supposed to be routine. We didn’t deal with Therian informants all that often, but they help the HPF more than the force wants to admit. Human criminals love to evade the HPF by hiding out in Therian neighborhoods, especially when they’re willing to pay for protection. Anyway, we were trying to find this guy who’d killed a store clerk during a robbery, and we knew he was hiding with a Therian gang. We found a guy who had information, and when we met up with him, he was just a kid, fifteen at most.
“I started talking to him, but Walsh kept butting in, getting hands on, accusing the guy of holding back information, so you can imagine how that went. The guy got defensive, didn’t appreciate being pushed around or the shit coming out of Walsh’s mouth. I tried to diffuse the situation, but the guy said he wasn’t going to say any more and walked off. Next thing I knew, Walsh had pulled his piece and fired. Hit the kid right between the shoulders. One bullet.” Dex shook his head, his lips pressed together. “I stood there, dazed, telling myself what I saw hadn’t happened. Walsh shook me out of it and started telling me the guy had asked for it, that he likely had a piece, was high, along with all this other bullshit. At first, I didn’t know what he was talking about. Then I realized what he was doing.”
“Leading you. Trying to get you to believe his story as true.”
Dex’s mouth twisted wryly. “Yeah. I don’t know if he was hoping I’d be in enough shock to convince me but it didn’t work. I wasn’t stupid, though. The only thing standing between him and a prison sentence was me.”
