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“Trinity?” I ask as I reach her.
“Oh, thank God!” she exclaims wrapping me in a tight hug. “Justice mentioned you worked here so I took a chance that you’d be here. I hate showing up at the compound alone. And I really didn’t feel like driving down that damn dirt road with my car because I swear it’s on its last legs, and Kelly will have to look at it before I go back to school.”
I watch her as she verbally vomits in front of me, barely taking a breath before moving onto the next sentence.
“Sorry.” She giggles before covering her mouth with her hand. “I tend to talk a lot when I’m nervous.” She takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders while holding out her hand. “Hi. I’m Trinity. It’s so nice to meet you.”
I feel a smile spread across my face before I pull her in for a hug. “Hi, Trinity. I’m Irene and I’m happy as fuck to have you here. Kelly is going to lose it when he sees you.”
She smiles as I release her and nods in agreement. She opens her mouth to speak but quickly closes it again. A hand clasps my elbow and turns me around.
“Irene?”
That voice sends chills down my spine. Why the fuck is he here? This isn’t right. My eyes travel up from the center of his chest to his face. I look at him, carefully. Trying to find what attracted me to him in the first place. He is an attractive man. Dark-blonde hair, cropped close to his head. Light-grey eyes and a nice smile. But, what I see when I look at him now falls short on everything I didn’t know I wanted. Everything I have in Kelly.
“Gerald,” I say with a nod.
“What are you doing here?” he asks.
I can hear from his tone of voice that he’s finding it hard to figure out just what is going on.
“I could ask you the same,” I reply watching as the tips of his ears turn red. Now that I know who he really is, I can see the signs of his anger more clearly. He hates when people don’t answer his questions.
“I recently transferred to the GFPD,” he says lowly. “I live here now. The guys brought me out as a welcome to the force.”
I nod before plastering a fake smile on my face. “I’m happy for you, Gerald. Sorry, but I can’t chat. I have things to attend to.”
Turning, I take Trinity’s hand in mine and start to walk away. A strong grip wraps around my arm and pulls me back.
Kevin is beside me in a heartbeat, but I smile and shake my head before turning around to face Gerald again. I glare at the hand that still has ahold on me.
“I suggest you take your hand off me,” I say with deathly calmness. “You’re not in Louisiana anymore.” I bare my teeth at him.
“Are you threatening me?” His face starts to darken to a color I remember vividly.
“What? Are you going to hit me again?” I ask loudly. I see Chief Barker walk up behind him with a genuine smile.
“Is there a problem here, Irene?” Barker asks me.
“Not at all. Just a misunderstanding with your new detective.” I smile. Looking down at my watch I make an executive decision. “But it is last round, Chief. Sorry, but we’re closing early tonight.”
“No worries,” he says and smiles back at me. “I know you want to head out for the party. Tell Beast I said Happy Birthday.”
He pulls Gerald away from me even though that doesn’t stop him from glaring in my direction. Nodding at the bartender, he rings the large brass bell behind the bar, signaling to all the customers that we are officially closing in the next fifteen minutes. Some grumbles can be heard but everyone knows how it works here and I know that Dusk will be empty soon.
“What was that?” Trinity asks as she walks into my office behind me.
“Urgh…” I run a hand through my hair in frustration. “Stupid ex-boyfriend. Nothing to worry about.”
“Are you sure? Shouldn’t we call Kelly or Justice?”
“Don’t worry about it. And not a word about this today,” I tell her sternly. “I’ll tell him tomorrow, but I want him to enjoy tonight. Gerald has fucked up enough in his useless life, I’m not letting him screw up your brother’s birthday too.”
“Okay.” She nods even though I can see she doesn’t agree with me.
I start shutting down my computer and the bartender brings in his cash drawer for me to lock up in the safe. Sparrow will be around before opening to do the cash-up. I hate working with money, so he just fell back into his role as the accountant here when he came back. When everything is shut down and locked up, Trinity and I make our way out to the main floor.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that Gerald isn’t still seated in a booth, waiting to confront me. Smiling, I wave at everyone as Trinity and I walk outside.
