Chapter 8
Donovan
“Ithinkyouneedtoleave.”
Alex’s words haunted my every step as I stumbled through Saturday. I’d fucked up, and I knew I deserved his anger, but I hadn’t expected him to kick me out. Except, did it still count as being kicked out if I’d never lived there officially?
“Donovan, I swear to God I’m going to buy a water gun during my lunch break and keep it in the fridge so the water is ice cold.”
I frowned, tuning back in to find my partner glaring at me across our desks. “Why are you going to buy a water gun?”
“Finally,” he grumbled. “I’m going to get one so I can shoot you with it every time you space out. I said your name like five times.”
“Sorry. It’s been a shitty morning,” I said, sighing. “What’s up?”
“I asked if you’d heard about the OD Lake caught last night? The chief is pushing the county for more funds to crack down on the drug flow around here, and we’re probably going to get pulled in.”
“Jaime Smalls? Yeah.” Memories flickered behind my eyes. Her thin body on the bed. Levi Smalls, standing alone in the living room. Alex’s grief. Those damned words. “Alex found her last night.”
“Wait, what?” Will reached back without looking and shut the door to our office. It was tiny enough that he didn’t even need to stretch to reach it. “That’s not what Lake said. She said the son called it in?”
“Yeah, because we told him to.” I quickly relayed the story to Will, wincing when I admitted we’d left the kid alone to deal with it.
“Poor kid,” Will said, shaking his head. “I get why you had to do it, but still…”
“Tell me about it. I didn’t want to, but what other choice did I have? Alex is determined to stay anonymous, so things like this are going to keep happening.”
“Honestly, I’m pretty sure the chief knows there’s something weird going on there. I’m betting she let it go because the case was solved and now she’s dealing with bureaucratic crap, but once that’s wrapped up, don’t be surprised when she comes looking for answers.”
“That’s what I was trying to explain to him. I just let myself get too caught up and I may have accidentally implied that his power would be a great tool for investigators.”
I’d never realized how very loud silence could be until that moment. I completely deserved the appalled look Will gave me, and I buried my face in my hands, groaning in defeat.
“Donovan, please tell me you only thought it. You didn’t say that out loud.”
“I did,” I mumbled, voice muffled in my hands. “I didn’t mean it that way, though.”
“There aren’t a whole lot of other ways that can be taken.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face, palms scraping against the stubble I hadn’t bothered to shave this morning. “Believe me, I know I fucked up. I just got carried away. I was trying to come up with ways his power could be useful, so maybe he wouldn’t hate it so much. I’m pretty sure I ended up doing the exact opposite.”
“Did you at least apologize?” Will sounded pained, like he was embarrassed for me.
“I tried to, but he told me to leave.”
“Damn. Did he say for how long?”
“Basically all of my things are at his house, so hopefully just for the day.” I peered at my partner through my fingers. “I don’t know how to fix this, Will.”
“You’re definitely going to have to do a lot of groveling. Mostly, though, I think you need to talk to him. Have you guys everreallysat down and discussed his power and how to handle it? Besides that day in the hospital with me and the girls?”
I took a moment to comb back through my memories, then shook my head. “No, not really. He doesn’t like talking about it, so I didn’t want to bring it up while he was recovering. After we got back from meeting my family, it just never came up, I guess.” It sounded like a lame excuse in my head. Saying it out loud didn’t make it any better.
“Yeah, so that sounds a lot like you were both avoiding it and hoping it just kind of solved itself,” Will said dryly. “Look, I’m hardly the expert on long-term relationships, but even I know that you have to talk about the big stuff. I’m pretty sure the fact that Alex finds dead people and you’re literally a detective falls under that category.”
“Alex said he trusts me and I think hewantsto, but after what happened with his parents when he was a kid, I’m not sure he fully trusts anyone anymore.” It was probably a good thing I’d never meet Alex’s parents, because I didn’t think I’d be able to keep quiet if I did. What kind of people abandoned their traumatized 12-year-old in a psychiatric hospital?
“No one knows how to ruin a kid’s life better than their parents,” Will muttered, and the rancor in his voice distracted me from the less-than-pleasant suggestions my mind was offering for Alex’s parents.
