Except for his manhood. The moment Cait raised her voice; Declan became painfully aware the man got aroused.
“Oh, this is rich.” Cait said. She narrowed her eyes while looking at the man. “I don’t even want to cuff you. That would only be a reward for you.” Cait turned her back to walk down the stairs.
She said over her shoulder, “I’m getting some fresh air. I can’t believe this shit.”
“Cait. Wait. We have to—”
Bree’s oldest sister whirled around and pointed her finger in the couple's direction that finally had the decency to blush.
“You’re wasting everyone’s time here. I can’t believe it. You probably got off on the idea of people calling the cops on you. Well, fuck that. And fuck you.”
Declan held up his hand before the woman in leather could respond. The man blinked a few times but held his head down. He clearly waited for permission from that woman to move his ugly, rumpled arse.
Declan nodded at the clothes lying next to them. “Put your stuff back on. And never do this shit again.”
He left the couple without hearing their sorry ass excuses. He went outside to search for his partner. He was worried for Cait and not interested in writing the weird couple up for indecent exposure.
He found her at the park in front of the apartment building. Cait sat on the concrete bench with her head hanging down. She looked up when he sat down next to her.
“I’ve had enough. Every day, we put our lives on the line. And for what? I mean… I’m just so mad!”
Declan took a moment to let Cait rant.
“I know you’re not doing this as long as I have, but come on, Dec. Aren’t you sick and tired of it all?”
He stretched his legs and crossed his ankles. He looked up into the dark sky before he watched people walking in and out of the three apartment buildings. He could envision a background story for every person passing by.
The girl with a stack of books was probably studying for exams. The guy running around with the too tight spandex, hoped to get noticed by the woman stretching over there against a tree. People still fascinated him.
After years of walking the beat, people still surprised him. And as long as he could help people, he still found meaning in his work. All the other shit that happened on duty hadn’t jaded him. Not yet.
But he got his criminal justice degree for a reason. He wanted to conduct investigations and knew the dynamics of his job would change if he’d got a promotion to be a detective.
“Sometimes, I just want to scream at them. Or punch their lights out.”
He’d hoped she had calmed down by now, but since she was still so angry, he said, “When was the last time you talked to that guy?”
Cait had mandatory sessions with a professional at their precinct, ever since she killed Kayla’s stalker. They all witnessed Cait’s transformation from a devoted LEO to a colleague who could fly off the hook in a heartbeat. Not only at the notorious assholes at their precinct. Even Shelly, who worked the desk and asked Cait how her day went got an ear full.
Cait scoffed. “Yeah, right. I’m done talking. Apparently, I’m messed up in the head because of my dad walking out on us. Boehoe. Like I’m the only one raised by a single parent.”
Declan turned in his seat. He had enough. “Exactly. Boe-fucking-hoe.”
Cait righted her shoulders and narrowed her light blue eyes at him.
“You don’t want to do this with me, Dec. I mean it.”
“Well, just sayin’. Stop feeling so damn sorry for yourself. If you hate this job, go find yourself a new one. If you want to stay in this line of work, go work out your problems. Fix whatever needs to be fixed so I can have my partner back. Because this,” he waved his hand between them, “Is exhausting.”
She stared back at the apartment building they’d visited tonight. “Well, if it only were that easy…”
He leaned forward with his elbow on his thigh. “You’re stuck, Cait. Whenever I see you outside of work, I see you smiling. I hear you joking around with my brothers and I miss that on the job. Last year, we would’ve cracked up if we’d found those idiots in the stairwell.”
Cait chuckled as she probably envisioned those two again. She stabbed a tear from her cheek. “What a fuckin’ disaster, those two. Can you imagine that? Only the thought of getting arrested got his little wiener up.”
He laughed and bumped her with his shoulder.
She waved her fist in the air and extended her pinky. “That’s what he’s working with. Poor guy.”