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Aiden remains calm under my verbal onslaught, his face betraying nothing except his eyes, they slay me with the regret and sadness I find in them. “You look good.”
“Aiden…” I growl.
He arches a brow and I see him slip his mask on, the unreadable, flat, passive one. “How about this then, I'm not showing you mine till you show me yours. For all I know, you're on the wrong side of this.”
I narrow my eyes. “The wrong side of what? You’re the one who has shown up on my turf and just happen to be working at the same club owned by the man I'm investigating. It’s all a bit too coincidental, don't you think?”
He doesn’t respond to that, instead he walks into the kitchen and pulls down a bottle of Jack from the cabinet, bringing out two tumblers and getting ice from the freezer before pouring himself a drink. He offers me one, but I shake my head, my mind too wired to even think about alcohol. There's also the fact that last time there was alcohol involved, we ended up horizontal and naked before he shattered me and almost cost me everything.
“C'mon, Marls. First time seeing each other after all this time and you won't even have a drink with me?” he says, taking a sip of his drink.
I throw my hands up in the air. “You expect me to just forget our past and move on?”
“For this case, yes.”
“Ugh,” I grind out, stalking over to the kitchen and pouring a drink for myself, downing it one go before slamming the glass back down. I brace my hands on the counter and pin him with a stare that he hopefully reads as me telling him to cut the shit.
His eyes warm as he looks me over, but there is still wariness in his gaze. “You look good.”
“I always look good. That's the point of dressing like this.” I wave my hand up and down in front of me. “Make myself irresistible to the mark.”
He chuckles, taking another sip of his drink. “Still as confident as ever, Marls. Never change.”
I can feel the tension between us slowly melting away, but I can't let it. I need the mental and emotional distance to stay between us to keep me on track. “Who are you working for?”
He leans back against the counter, studying me with a calculating gaze. “Can't tell you. It's confidential.”
I roll my eyes. “At least tell me if you're working against me. I can't have anyone jeopardizing this investigation. I've put too much time and effort into getting this case.”
We stare at each other in a silent standoff, neither one of us willing to fold. Thankfully, he looks away first with a resigned sigh. “Right now, I can't say I'm not working against you, because there's a lot of smoke and mirrors around my client. I don’t even know who my client is, but my focus is on the books and money, nothing else.”
I nod, not fully convinced. I pour myself another drink and take it with me into the living area. Slumping down on the couch, I cross my legs and look over at him. “What do you know then?” I ask, watching as he sits down in the armchair opposite me.
Aiden leans forward and rests his elbows on his spread legs, his eyes darkening with intensity. “I know that the club isn't what it seems.”
“Well duh.”
He chuckles. “There's too much high-tech security, and I've been accepted into the fold a little too quickly.”
“By Decker?” I don't even try to hide the disbelief in my tone. Decker James is nothing but calculated.
“Nope, by Justin. I know him from my SFPD days. He left before me but there seems to be a little idolization there. Fuck knows why.”
I snort, earning a quirked brow. But I don't need to say anything else. The fall of his expression tells me he doesn't need a reminder of his past…our past. The golden boy who fell on his sword to protect his pension and part of his reputation, the rest of it was already destroyed when he broke his oath to uphold the law. Outside of whatever disaster happened between us, he'd screwed up before then.
“Are you going to tell me what the deal with Decker is?” he asks. I open my mouth to answer but stop and slam it shut again as I'm hit smack in the face with the one undeniable truth. I can't trust him… not right now… maybe not ever.
“I can't discuss an active case.”
His eyes widen infinitesimally before he schools his expression and shuts himself down. “Guess there's not much else to say then, is there?”
“Guess not,” I sigh. “That doesn’t change the fact that I need you to pull out of the club.”
“Not happening. Not even for you.”
My eyes widen. “Aiden, I--”
“No, Marls. I have a job to do just like you do.”
