He shoved his glasses up his nose and sighed. “You don’t need to convince me. Let’s go.”
We took a trip straight to his apartment to collect the things he’d need before he came home with me. He asked me to wait in the truck, which I did for the sake of speed, but I hoped the lack of invite upstairs didn’t mean he thought we were rushing things. Nothing was ever simple with River.
The next morning,I made him breakfast like I’d promised, and he left for work before me. My day job went quickly. Me and my new partner handed out a few speeding tickets and caught a kid with some weed on him. He was underage, so we had to contact his mother and hear all about how her son couldn’t do any wrong. I always tried hard not to roll my eyes at women like her. Attempting to explain to her that hehaddone wrong and she needed to face the problem only made things worse.
By the time I got home, my body was sore from wrangling the few criminals we’d dealt with, and I was exhausted. I collapsed on the sofa, like I usually did, before I began to wonder what River was doing for the night. I’d gotten used to him here. I checked my phone to find a message from him.
Working late, Sir. Will call you later.
I shook my head. He was more of a workaholic than I was. Forcing myself to my feet, I had a quick shower, threw on some jeans and a blue Henley, slipped on shoes and grabbed my truck keys again, heading for the door. I stopped at Manzi’s and ordered some nice Italian food before I drove toward the city. Finding a parking spot at this time of night wasn’t hard, and I got one right outside his office building. I made sure to lock my truck before I pulled out my phone, messaging Madden. I had no doubt he was working, too, and I wanted to surprise River with dinner. Madden was quick to respond, and five minutes later he was pressing some buttons on the front door and opening it for me.
“Hey there, stranger.” He winked and licked his lips at the sight of the food bags. “Got any for me?”
“As if I wouldn’t remember you, Madden. Slater would kill me for not taking care of you too.”
He rolled his eyes. “Evanneverbrings me dinner. You should give him some lessons on how to be a good boyfriend.”
I laughed as I stepped through the door and turned to watch him press a few buttons on the keypad after he’d closed it again. “He’s too far gone to help.”
“You’re telling me.” Madden chuckled as he almost skipped past me. For someone who’d probably been working for more than twelve hours he had a lot of bounce in his step. I was jealous because I felt like I’d been hit by a train. “I’m glad you came, though. River’s been a real pain in my ass today, and not in a good way.”
I raised curious eyebrows at him. “Ever thought of him in the good way?”
He shook his head with a silly grin. “No. God, you and Evan. One of you is as bad as the other.”
I shrugged unapologetically and smiled at him. He led me to an elevator and pressed the button for their floor once we got in. I watched while the numbers on the panel lit up as we passed each floor, until it finally stopped and dinged at us. The doors slid open and Madden bounced out through the reception area of their office to the right. I followed him, taking my time to study the neat waiting area for clients. I hadn’t been here yet and it was nice. Tasteful. Tidy. Something I’d expect from a lawyer’s office.
I trailed Madden into a back office and took in a small sitting area, and farther along near the back wall were two desks on either side of the room. West, a man I had yet to meet but had heard about, was sitting at one of them. He stood as soon as I walked in and came to me with his hand out. He dressed well in a tan suit and was tall with longish mousy brown hair that fell in a natural part. His glasses hung near the end of his nose, like River’s always did. I thought he was rather average, but that was in comparison to River and Madden. He did have some attractive purple eyes, though. I’d never seen that in real life.
“Hey, you must be the other cop. What’s with my coworkers and cops?” He grinned to show me he was joking. “I’m West.”
“Hi, name’s Jayce.”
“I know.” West’s eyes grew mischievous. “Madden took the time to tell me all the gossip. He does love getting involved in our boss’s life.”
“I do not.” Madden dropped into the office chair that belonged to the other desk and crossed his arms. “I’m just keeping you up to date on our lives.”
“Like your airport chase?” West raised his eyebrows questioningly.
“He didn’t tell youhechased anyone, did he? All lies. He stayed back and let me and Slater do all the work.” I slapped West on the shoulder, and we laughed while Madden snorted and rolled his eyes again.
I set the brown paper bags on Madden’s desk and pulled out a couple of pasta containers I’d ordered for him and West. Madden’s eyes grew round, and he moaned his gratitude when he took the container off me.
“River better marry you.”
I chuckled before I nodded at River’s door. “Think I can go in?”
“Yeah, I don’t think he’s jacking off,” he said with a cheeky grin as he ripped the lid from the container and grabbed the plastic spork.
“Do I want to know?”
“No,” West answered.
I shook my head at Madden’s evil laugh and rolled up the tops of the paper bags again. Knocking, I opened the door to River’s office.
“You better have that report for me, Madden.”
“I don’t know about Madden, but I have food instead of a report,” I said when I entered, holding up the bag toward him.
