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“Absolutely! Be at the appointments on time, Mayet.”
“Uh-huh.”
Swinging the door open, I lead Aubree through and start toward the elevator.
“I’m not going to be at that appointment,” I mutter.
“Can’t say I understand your hesitance. Iloooovesalon days.” Stepping onto the elevator when the doors open, she pulls lengths of her hair forward and peeks at the pink streaks. “It’s my favorite weekend of the month.”
“Every month?” I hit the button for the second floor and step back as the doors close and lock us in. “Everysinglemonth?”
“Uh-huh. I prioritize salon expenses over groceries.”
My nose wrinkles in distaste. “I can’t relate. And that’sterriblemoney management.”
She only shrugs. “Sounds like a matter of perspective to me. Why are we heading to the fridges?”
“Because I want to—Ah, shit.” Dropping my head forward, I exhale my impatience as I remember James Kirk is leading this investigation. “Dammit.”
Snatching my phone from my pocket, I quickly dial his desk and wait only seconds for his astute self to answer.
“This is Doctor—”
“You need to come to the fridges on level two immediately.”
“Doctor Mayet?”
“Yep. Come down now, please.”
Taking the phone from my ear and killing the call, I slide the device back into my pocket and grin for Aubree. “He’s stiff and stuffy, and if he doesn’t brush off Kernicke’s influence soon, I’m going to need you to take over as his contact.”
“Ew. No thanks.”
Stepping back when the elevator stops on level seven, Aubree shuffles to the side when two broad bodies turn to face us. For a moment, she ignores the pair and keeps her gaze down, but then one of them speaks, and his smooth baritone voice brings her head up with a snap.
“Doctor Mayet.” Detective Fox stops beside me, demanding I take a second look when I spy bruising under his left eye and grazing on his jaw. And yet, he smirks as Grayson steps through and leans against the back of the elevator. “We were coming up to see you.”
“What happened to your face, Detective?” I keep my hands in my pockets and my gaze on the closing elevator doors. Because it doesn’t take a genius to see the way Fox looks at me. The way his body turns toward mine and his hands brush close when they get the chance.
He doesn’t look at me the way Archer looks at me, but there’s hunger there anyway. Challenge.
Sex is sex, and Fox seems the type to want it regularly. Add in the fact he’s already mentioned Archer by name, and it would be naïve of me to think there isn’t some kind of competition between the two.
“Just a little tussle with old friends,” he answers vaguely. “We were hoping to get an update on our case, Doctor. Do you have anything new for us?”
“We’re heading down to see them now, actually. Doctor Kirk is on the way.”
In the back, Grayson coughs out a smug, mocking laugh, barely attempting to cover it with a hand over his mouth. “Is it cool if we acknowledge that Kirk ruins the aesthetic? He’s just…” He sniggers to himself. “No one’s type.”
“No,” I bite out. “We can’t agree. In fact, discussing a colleague’saestheticis neither acceptable nor tolerated inside the George Stanley Building.”
When the elevator opens on level two, I stride out quickly, leaving behind the remaining three, then I stop at the check-in desk to log my access codes and essentially ‘check out’ the two bodies I need.
“Let’s go.” I wave Aubree forward and let the cops trail behind us, because every time I look at Beau Fox, he smirks like he has something exciting and gossipy to tell me.
Maybe, in a different world, in a different time—where Archer Malone never existed, and my heart remained in my chest and was never torn in half—I might’ve been intrigued by the silly secrets he wants to tell. It’s possible I would’ve appreciated Fox’s smiles and rough appearance, and just maybe, we’d have explored whatever was there when we had a little time off the clock.
But Archerdoesexist, and it would be foolish of me to think I could push him aside just because we’re choosing different paths right now.
