“Baby, that knife could have killed you. You act like you don’t get that.”
“Don’t call me baby,” I snapped.
“Jameela, do you know how torn up I was when they told me you were unconscious with tubes and shit coming out of you?”
“But I’m better now.”
“Your doctors said full recovery could take a year.”
“Yet I’ve already been cleared. I’m ready to come back.”
Hale stood from his seat and took a few steps to close the space between us. I hated the feeling of static in the air as he moved closer. If I took a step back, I would have run into the door. I didn’t want to look intimidated, so I stood my ground.
“And what about Bella? You have a daughter now, Jameela. This isn’t the life for a mother.”
Those words were like a slap in the face. He had no right to speak on the daughter that he barely wanted anything to do with.
“Don’t you dare use my fucking daughter as an excuse to keep me benched, Tremaine.”
He scoffed. “Correction,ourdaughter.”
“Right! Our daughter that you can’t be bothered with aside from trying to tell me what the fuck to do with my life when it comes to her.”
He reached for my hand, but I pulled away. “You know I care, Jameela. I care about both of you.”
“Care? Did you really just use that word?”
He cared enough to sneak around with me for months, but not enough to man up when the pregnancy test came back positive. Since the day shit started to get real, he had made one broken promise after the next while keeping me far away from his everyday life. I was stuck at home alone while he got to portray himself as the devoted, concerned lieutenant.
“You know I care about you.”
“Then let me come back to work,” I urged.
“Not yet, Jameela.”
“Then help me with the car, Tremaine. I need a reliable way to get around withourdaughter.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“I already know what that means. Don’t even fucking worry about it, Tremaine.”
“That’s Lieutenant Hale. Just because you have a fucking attitude, yet again, doesn’t mean you get to come in here and disrespect me.”
That got a low chuckle out of me.
“You’re right. It won’t happen again,Lieutenant,” I said before turning and walking out of his office. I entertained his antics long enough.
Once I was out of his office, I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. I had to make sure I regained my composure before walking out to face my coworkers. I refused to let any of them see the cracks in my foundation.
People were filing into the conference room by the time I found a seat in the back. Lieutenant Hale strolled in with Kelly on his heels like a sad little puppy. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as she slipped into a seat right in front of him at the front of the room.
It wasn’t even jealousy that made me so annoyed with Kelly. I didn’t want anything from Hale but his presence in my daughter’s life. Even that seemed like too much to ask for, so fuck him. I just couldn’t stand her.
Briefing started as it always did. Sergeant Ruiz gave us updates on all the ongoing investigations. They mentioned starting a new task force that was supposed to target money laundering in the city. Money laundering and narcotics went hand in hand sometimes.
“We’ve got on good authority that they were using a lot of the clubs in the area,” Ruiz mentioned.
Although I was more or less out of the loop these days, that comment made me lean forward. It irked me that Lieutenant Hale glanced at me before speaking.
