“You miss him a lot, don’t you?” Braden asked.
She looked away. “Yeah. And I hate that Thorn and the asshole he had murder Rory aren’t rotting in jail right now. It’s not fair.”
“No, it isn’t,” he agreed. “Unfortunately, life is rarely fair.”
Dreya regarded him thoughtfully. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”
Braden swigged his beer before placing the bottle down on the table. “Back when I first made detective, my partner got killed in a shoot-out.”
“Did you ever catch the guys who did it?”
He shook his head. “Didn’t have to. Tommy and I took out the whole crew. Unfortunately, I never found the piece of crap informant who gave Tommy the bad info that put us in that position in the first place.”
There was anger in his voice…and pain. She’d become familiar with both those things lately. “Do you think the guy did it deliberately?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. All I know is that Tommy is dead in part because of him.”
“In part?”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I’ve always kind of blamed myself for it, too, because I didn’t do anything to stop him from going into that warehouse. People tell me there’s nothing I could have done, but I blame myself anyway.”
She knew what that felt like. “I spent a lot of time blaming myself for Rory’s death, too. If I hadn’t pissed off Thorn, or if I left town earlier, Rory would still be alive.”
Braden’s mouth curved in a sad smile. “Rory might have been the biggest fence along the northeast corridor, but I always liked the guy anyway. I wish he was still around so I could thank him for being there for you.”
Dreya felt her eyes tear up, and she blinked. “Yeah, I wish he was still around, too. For a long time, he was the only person who knew my secret. After Rory was killed, I never told another soul.”
Braden chuckled. “And yet, here you are, telling your secrets to the cop who arrested you. Is the world a strange place or what?”
She laughed and helped herself to another slice of pizza. If she didn’t keep an eye on him, Braden would hog it all. The guy ate like a machine.
The rest of the day’s training had taken a slightly different tone after her big reveal and learning that Braden was going to be her partner. It had suddenly turned into less about what she could do and more about what she and Braden could do together. But still, it had been physically exhausting, and she was famished.
After they finished eating, they grabbed a couple of bottles of soda from the fridge and moved into the small living room.
“What do you think Rory would say about you getting recruited by a covert organization for the federal government?” Braden asked. He looked good all stretched out on the couch a mere foot or two away.
She rested her head on her hand with a laugh. “He wasn’t a fan of the federal government, but since it’s not the FBI, I think he’d be okay with it. As long as it’s what I wanted.”
“Is it what you want? Tomorrow is day four of your deal. Are you going to stay and give this a shot, or are you going to go back to what you know?”
Dreya considered that. It wasn’t a simple question. When she’d first gotten here, she’d planned on bailing immediately, but Braden had talked her out of that. Even then, she’d thought of the DCO as little more than a way to avoid a prison sentence. But since that time, everything had changed. Finding out there were other people like her out in the world was huge. Realizing there were also people who knew how different she was and still wanted her to work here counted for a lot.
“I think I want to stay,” she finally told him. “It’s hard to put into words, but my instincts are telling tell me there’s something here for me. That this is where I’m supposed to be. Does that make any sense at all?”
He grinned. “Yeah, it does actually. And if my opinion matters at all, I think your instincts are right. This place is perfect for you.”
She smiled at him, feeling extraordinarily happy knowing Braden agreed with her decision. “Thanks. And your opinion does matter.”
“You realize these people are going to keep pushing you,” Braden said. “I get the feeling you’re going to have to do a lot of dangerous stuff. Are you up for that?”
“I’m up for it,” she said softly. “As long as you’re my partner.”
Dreya cringed the moment the words were out of her mouth. They’d spent the whole even talking about her, and she had no idea if he was planning to stay here even to the end of the week, much less long-term. Danica and Clayne had tricked Braden into being her partner for this training stuff. It wasn’t like they were recruiting him into the DCO.
If Braden noticed her misstep, he didn’t react to it. Instead, he stretched and got to his feet. “Then I guess we need to get cleaned up and go to bed. Clayne and Danica will be here early as hell tomorrow. They said something about getting you a gun.”
Dreya let out a shudder that was only half fake. Rory had hated guns, and she had picked up on that disdain. But if the DCO wanted her to carry a weapon, she supposed she’d have to get used to it. Not that she ever planned on using one, of course.
