There wasn’t much to say to that. Cade shrugged and glanced down at his desk, tapping his finger on a catering receipt as if it suddenly interested him.
“Fair enough. Call me if you find anything.”
Cade looked up in surprise and scowled at Marlow. He wasn’t sure how he wanted this to go, but he’d not expected Marlow to give up.
“You’re not going to ask why?” he asked.
Marlow glanced back over his shoulder. “Are you going to tell me?”
Probably not. Not until Marlow begged—whichdidhave its appeal—and jumped through a series of hoops to prove he’d do it. Then Cade would just bring it up occasionally, whenever Marlow thought he was finally over it.
It sounded exhausting. He could spend that time with his tongue down Marlow’s throat. Or elsewhere.
“I’m not mad,” he said. Marlow looked skeptical. “We’re good. This is good. Next time.”
Marlow tapped his fingers on the jamb of the door for a moment and then nodded. “Sure. Sounds good.”
He left.
Cade rolled his head from one side to the other to crack his neck. He’d never taken the high road before, but it had been easier than he thought. Maybe the next thing he’d do was give up his grudge against Justin—who had apparently thrown one last blowout party in LA on the company dime before he’d been congratulated on his new job out the door. Cade pulled a sour face at that as he balled the invoice—already paid—and tossed it in the trash. Or not. He wasn’t that generous.
He got up off the desk and walked over to grab Marlow’s abandoned fish cakes from the table. They had tasted good second hand, after all. Cade finished them off and folded the wrappers up neatly before he deposited them in the bin. He buzzed his assistant to bring his car around. It was time to find out if Lance was so grateful to Piper that he’d turn down a job offer rather than spill his secrets.
“I’ll have it brought around now,” his assistant assured him. “It’ll meet you downstairs.”
Cade pulled his jacket on. The other good thing about forgiving Marlow, of course, was that now he had the upper hand. Now, instead of him being the idiot with a crush trying to get the Night Shift hero’s attention, Marlow would need to prove that Cade hadn’t made a mistake when he handed over a second chance.
Yeah, Cade definitely thought he’d done the right thing when he let Marlow off the hook.
Chapter Five
THE BABY SUCKEDon her own fist contentedly and stared up at Marlow with vague blue eyes. It didn’t seem that her late-night adventure last full moon had done any lasting damage. Marlow really didn’t want to break that streak by dropping the kid.
He shifted the baby’s squashy weight into the crook of his arm and cleared his throat. None of the people mid-fight in the torn-up yard paid any attention to him.
“I don’t need to go!” Annette yelled. She folded down onto the ground, long legs in yoga pants bent into sharp angles, and pressed her hands flat against her ears. “I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t hurt my baby.”
The last time Marlow had seen her, she’d nearly kicked his ass, seven feet of misfired hormones and claws. She was younger than he’d vaguely expected, fresh-faced and freckled, with long red hair and bitten fingernails painted bright yellow.
Her mother grabbed Annette’s wrists and tried to pull her hands down. When that didn’t work, she used her grip to give Annette a frustrated shake.
“It’s court-ordered,” she yelled into Annette’s tearstained face. “If you don’t go, they can take Billie away from you. Is that what you want?”
Off to the side, Annette’s father shooed the family’s pet rooster back indoors. The rust-colored bird churred indignantly and tried to scoot back out round the man’s legs. Marlow kept a wary eye on it out of the corner of his eye. Even with their wings and spurs docked, the spur breeds were aggressive. He didn’t support breed bans, but he didn’t want a beak in his eye either.
“It would be a temporary hold,” Marlow downplayed the threat diplomatically. “And that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”
The father finally closed the door in the rooster’s face. His hands were scratched from manhandling the alarmed bird, and drops of blood seeped from the torn skin. He blotted it against his muddy jeans as he jogged back over.
“Mary, calm down,” he said as he patted his wife’s shoulders ineffectually. “It’ll be fine. She’s fine. This is just a formality.”
She turned on him. “They don’t send Night Shift for a formality! You know that. Your father was Night Shift, back in New York. Did they send him out to serve summonses often? Of fucking course not.”
“California does it differently,” Marlow said. “During the full moon, I’m Night Shift, the rest of the month, I’m just another cop. Annette failed to show up today, and I’m here to make sure she does. That’s all.”
For now.
Marlow could soft-soap this as much as he wanted, but if Annette didn’t engage in the process, it would escalate.
