“That’s not for me,” I admitted. “Never wanted them to be fair.”
Brent was quiet for a few minutes, looking into the swirls of his drink. “Yeah, I didn’t either but since I found out…it’s changed something in me, you know. Do you think that you don’t want them because of what happened with your mom?”
“I see a lot of shit, Brent, I see the darker side of humanity and it isn’t something you can unsee. I can’t know what people are capable of and still look at my child the same way. It’s not fair to them.”
He nodded. “I get that. I hear some pretty messed up confessions from my clients.”
Brent had become a defense lawyer. He was literally working for the bad guys. Not that I could talk. I was over here sleeping with my enemy and wanting a repeat performance. I really hated that she had this power over me.
A few more rounds down and our conversation had turned light and airy, and for the first time in a long time, I was enjoying being Kane Garrick rather than Detective Garrick.
“I gotta take this,” he said, holding up his phone. “It’s the baby mama.”
“Jesus, man, you’re a man in your forties. Don’t call your girlfriend that.”
Brent laughed as he headed out of the building that had become slightly more busy. I looked to the bar, wondering if I should get another round when my stomach dropped.
It couldn’t be…could it?
She was here.
Maurelle was here, in Chicago, one leg crossed over the other as she sat at the bar, looking down at her phone. She had her hair down, curled, and she had dyed it a deep red that reminded me of a nice Merlot. I got up, moving over to the bar, unsure of what to actually do when I got there.
She had tried to kill me just minutes after I’d given her the ride of her life. Yet, I couldn’t stop myself from moving up to stand beside her. I leaned on the bar and turned to her.
Slowly, she looked up from her phone, her smile disappearing instantly as she realised I had caught up to her.
Not that it had been intentional.
She looked around to see if I had backup, her calm demeanor changing as it became clear that I was alone.
“Detective,” she said, her voice all but a purr. It did things to my cock, which was currently pushing against the fly of my jeans quite painfully. “I see you escaped from a rather heated fate.”
“No thanks to you.”
“It’s nice to see you,” she said, taking a sip from her martini. “What brings you to Chicago?”
“Do you really think I’m going to walk out of here without you?”
“Oh, darling,” she purred. “I’m not walking out of here with you, and since I don’t see any of your buddies here, I know you’re alone. Judging from the glassy look in your eye, you’re also intoxicated, so you’re off the clock. If you’re interested in another go round with me, all you need to do is ask.”
“That’s not going to happen, Maurelle.”
She finished her drink, taking the stick of olives and seductively pulling them from the pick with her mouth, slowly chewing on them as she looked up at me through those thick eyelashes.
My cock was close to breaking my fly at this point. She shifted in her seat and slid off the stool as effortlessly and elegantly as you’d expect from her. I could smell her perfume again. Violets, that’s what it was. Violets.
Her hand slid down to my crotch, cupping my balls and hard dick through the denim. I let out a grunt at the feel of her squeeze.
“Mmmm,” she said, her lips just inches from my ear. I could smell her hair in my nostrils as she moved against my body. “I see the effect I have on you, Kane. One day, soon, we’ll have more time.”
She moved off, to the doors, where she greeted the man she had come here to prey on. He looked at her with pure love in his eyes.
The poor fucker.
I willed my cock to calm the fuck down before I headed back to the booth. I pulled my phone free and shot a message to Petra.
GARRICK
