Sweat glistened visibly on Parker’s face. “I helped her,” he said. His voice cracked with his need to make Marlow understand. “That was the truth. She just… she didn’t realize she needed my help. Not yet. She would have.”
“No,” Marlow told him. “She wouldn’t. Hands up.”
Parker stared at him. “I’m not a wolf yet,” he said. “I’m still human. You can’t just kill me.”
He turned around and scrambled up into the driver’s seat of the catering truck. He slammed the door and revved the engine, which coughed and screeched as Parker ground the gears. Whatever was in the back of the truck rattled and crashed as it jolted into motion and screeched away between the rows of cars.
“Shit,” Marlow muttered.
He turned on his heel and broke into a jog as he cut through the closely parked vehicles. It didn’t matter how fast Parker gunned the engine, he still had to circle back around to go up the ramp.
Marlow skidded to a stop in front of the ramp and turned to face the truck as Parker drove toward him. He planted his feet on the oil-stained ground and lifted his gun. On the other side of the grubby windshield, Parker looked sick to his stomach. That didn’t stop him from hitting the gas.
As the truck barreled toward him, Marlow narrowed his eyes and held his aim on Parker’s forehead untilalmostthe last second. Then he lowered the gun and took out the two front tires instead. The truck veered wildly as the rubber burst, sparks thrown up off the battered rims, and crashed into the cars on one side and then, as Parker wildly overcorrected the wheel, the other.
Marlow flung himself out of the way, up onto the hood of a Lexus, as the truck lurched past him and crashed into the wall of the ramp. He slid back down onto the ground as Cade loped over to the truck and yanked the door open. Parker was slouched over the steering wheel as blood dripped from his nose.
“You could have killed him,” Cade pointed out as he dragged Parker out of the truck. “No matter what he thought.”
Marlow tucked his gun back into the holster.
“He kept her a prisoner,” he said as he walked over. “Only fair he gets to experience it himself.”
The kid in the white coat ventured cautiously out from behind a dark red SUV. He stared at them with a slack mouth and wide eyes.
“Shit,” he said, as he took in the wrecked truck. “My boss is going to kill me.”
Epilogue
“JUST DON’T DROPme off at the beach,” Cade said as he got into Marlow’s car. It was a nice car, a ‘69 Impala with black paintwork and original leather seats. Maybe too nice for a cop on an officer’s salary, but Cade didn’t plan to ask. “I’d rather not wake up with a belly full of sea lion again.”
Marlow snorted as he started the engine. “Mission Trails do?”
“I suppose,” Cade said. “Hopefully, I won’t run into my ex-partner.”
Marlow glanced at him for a moment as he pulled away from the curb. He didn’t ask.
“Business partner,” Cade clarified anyhow. Just in case. He tilted his head back and studied the roof of the car. He still wasn’t over that crush, then? “What about you? Surely, after all this, you get tonight off?”
“I would have if I’d shot him,” Marlow said. He flicked the indicator and took a left, past a black van and an Apple store. “I’m on call. Which means I can catch up on my sleep but not my drinking.”
“Good. You look like you need to be in your bed more than you do the bottle.”
Marlow glanced over at him. He had his glasses on again, but it didn’t matter. Now that Cade knew the precise silvery-gray of his eyes, he could pick it out through the tint.
“My bed?” he said. “Not yours?”
Reluctance clogged the back of Cade’s throat, but he pushed through it.
“Well, there’s no reason for us to see each other after this, is there? And that’s probably best. My clients aren’t exactly your biggest fans.”
Marlow hung one hand over the steering wheel, wrist braced on the leather curve and fingers loose as he stopped on red. The streets were empty, but technically you could still get a parking ticket from the cameras. He shrugged one lean shoulder.
“Yeah, same could be said for my superiors,” he said. “I guess the spirit of cooperation died with that shitty email you sent O’Hara.”
Cade snorted. It was for the best. He didn’t need any of this. Maybe the crush would starve to death once the only Marlow fantasies it had were Cade taking him to task over throwing one of Cold Winds’ men into the Crate.
The thought made his mouth dry and his balls tighten for some reason. He’d dressed a lot of people down over the years, and it wasn’t his kink. Not usually. But the thought of turning the rough edge of his tongue on Marlow in public, while the TAC officer listened with that placid, unreadable expression of his…
