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Mills shook his head. “I don’t know how you did it, but the general is impressed with you.”
She inhaled sharply at his words. She’d had it all wrong?
“He said we need another pit bull on this case. He wants me to assign you to work with the crew you hauled in here. Get them out of interrogation. Let them walk out of this building on their own without another word. You will be the liaison between the military investigation and the LAPD.”
Commander Mills handed her a plain white card. “Meet them at this address at oh-eight hundred. Plain clothes. Try not to look like a cop and not a word to anyone.”
“Sir, what? Where is this?”
“Just play nice, Barr.”
* * *
Dean didn’t have to guess at what O was thinking. She made it clear he was keeping things from her…again…still. She was right, but General Harkness had blindsided him with his offer and baited him with those words about duty and serving his country. Not to mention the fact that a large number of LA residents were in grave danger. That was real.
But he’d taken this job because of Ophelia and the fact that she’d been shot by one of the members of his dad’s old biker gang. They were involved in not only attempted murder of a police officer…his O, but of the possibility of a dire threat to LA. He might be able to turn his back on the government, but he couldn’t do that to O.
What he had with O was real. Realer than he had let himself believe. Her parents had pushed her away from him, but he had walked away from her with secrets still between them.
He sighed. It was going to take some talking to smooth her ruffled feathers. Ever since they had assembled in this room, her frosty eyes had raked him, and her posture told him not to mess with her.
It would be wise for him to give her some space, but not too much. He couldn’t lose her again. It struck him like a fast-moving train, knocking him on his ass. He needed to tell her what she meant to him and not allow this misunderstanding to pull them apart. He’d just found her again. But they had a job to do, and apparently General Harkness thought she would be a great addition to the team.
Still reeling from her case being hijacked and having no idea what this new liaison position entailed, she quickly moved from room to room informing the Jessica, Logan and Gage they were free to go. She saved Dean for last.
She opened the door and Dean rose so quickly, his chair tipped over.
“You’re free to go,” Ophelia said as she walked away.
“O!”
She kept walking, and he swore under his breath.
He raced down the hall, ducking officers and other workers until he finally caught up to her. “Wait, O,” he pleaded, and she pushed the door to the stairwell so hard, the sound of it hitting the wall boomed with an echoing blast.
She turned on him when they were alone together. “I can’t believe you, Dean.”
“Let me explain, babe, but not here.” The hurt in her eyes devastated him.
Her expression went cool, lacking any emotion. “It’s always somewhere else. Some other time. What can you possibly explain? You shut me out again. It’s easy for you, and I think that we should be smart here and realize that this isn’t going to work.”
Before he could say anything else, a breathless officer rounded the corner and said, “The commander is looking for you.”
She didn’t bother to say anything else before following on the heels of the officer.
That couldn’t be the last word. He had things to tell her, and if that officer hadn’t intervened, she would have listened because O wasn’t the type of person not to give him a fair shake.
He walked out the door of the station where Jessica waited along with his newfound friends. “How about we get some dinner? This day has been interesting,” Jessica said.
“Sure,” Gage said with a soft smile. “We need to drop off Donner first.” The German shepherd’s ears pricked at the sound of his name. “But then we can swap war stories.”
“Watch out,” Logan said good-naturedly, “Gage’s war stories can be close to fish stories.”
Gage punched him in the arm. “Wow, bro, throw me under the bus.”
“Nah, I’ll be driving it.”
Jessica’s phone rang and she recognized the notification tone she’d set for the General. Pulling it out of her purse, she read the message. “Let’s move boys. Nothing more than food and cliff notes of the war stories today. Dean, we have an early morning. I need my beauty sleep.”
