Then a voice cut through the room like it owned it.
“Look at you.All responsible.Gold star sticker for you.”
I didn’t have to turn to know who it was.
Lamonte Davis.
I faced him anyway because some habits were built on loyalty.He leaned against the lockers with a grin that made him look younger than he was.He’d shaved his head like always, and his eyes were sharp, scanning the room without seeming like he was scanning at all.He was broad through the shoulders from years of carrying weight—packs, weapons, expectations.The uniform didn’t hide that.
He pushed off the lockers and stepped closer, clapping a hand on my shoulder hard enough to rattle my teeth.
“You look like hell,” he added.
“Morning to you too.”
He studied my face, the way he used to study a perimeter.“Nah, for real.You look, tired.”He gazed a moment longer, “no, distracted, yeah, you look distracted this morning.”
I shrugged.“Didn’t sleep great.”
Lamonte snorted.“That’s not new.”
I didn’t answer.His eyes narrowed.“Okay.So what is new?”
He could always tell.In Iraq, he’d been the first one to notice when I was carrying something too heavy, even when I pretended I wasn’t.
“I’m fine,” I said automatically.
Lamonte’s eyebrows lifted like he was unimpressed with my lies.“If you say ‘I’m fine’ one more time, I’m gonna write it on your tombstone.”
I exhaled and opened my locker, buying time.“I’m seeing someone.”
Lamonte went still for half a beat.
Then his grin came back twice as wide.“Oh.”
I didn’t like that tone he used.It had too much amusement in it.
“Oh what?”I snapped.
He laughed.“Nah, nothing.Nothing.Just you’re seeing someone.”
“Yeah.”
He dragged out the silence like he was savoring it.“Who?”
I stared into my locker.“Her name’s Charlaina.”
Lamonte’s humor faded a notch.“Char like the girl from the DV call?The one you went to the hospital to see knowing damn well that could have landed your ass on desk duty for punishment.”
My jaw tightened.I knew he would make the connection.He was with me on the call.He was the only person I told about going to see her at the hospital off duty.Why I decided to tell him now about her, I didn’t know.The only thing I did know was Lamonte could read me like a book and there was no reason to keep this from him if there was a possibility it could become something more.He was my partner sure, but he was my friend before the badge.We served together.He’s from Waldorf, Maryland.He got out of the service to come home and take care of his aging father.Took a job here in DC and made it sound good enough that I didn’t re-enlist for another four and instead came here to watch his six.Lamonte was more than a partner, more than a friend, he was my family.
“Yeah,” I said, because lying to Lamonte was pointless.
He didn’t tease me then.That was what told me he was taking it seriously.
He leaned his shoulder against the adjacent locker.“You okay?”
I almost laughed at the irony.The same question I’d asked her.Same tone.Same careful concern.
