The wise thing for me to do would be to leave. Go. Walk away. I’m not feeling very wise right now. Only reckless. Full of hatred and disappointment. I push past the men and head toward Collins.
“Whoa,” James says over a non-humorous laugh, pulling me back. “That’s not a good idea.”
“Yes, terrible.” Danny blocks the way between me and Collins, and I look between them, interested.
“How do you two know who that is?” I ask.
“How doyou?” James counters.
“Educated guess,” I retort. “Once a cop, always a cop.”
“Don’t I fucking know it,” he mutters, taking my arm. “We’re leaving.”
“No.” I yank myself free. “How do you know that’s Collins?”
He gets up in my face, snarling. “Educated guess. Once a criminal, always a criminal.”
I recoil, wounded by his cruel reminder of who he is. He’s telling me without telling me there’s more. “The slaps in the face just keep on coming today, don’t they?” I say quietly. “Why don’t you ju—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Danny says, pulling both of our attentions his way. His face is pure disgust with a little bit of despair too. “Burrows. I thought this was a funeral, not a fucking reunion.”
My heart jumps twenty beats and James growls as I push past him. Ollie’s familiar eyes speak to me, tell me to play the game, and when he gives the same look to James, I pray he reads it. Keeping his eyes on my fiancé, Ollie comes at me, lifting his arms slowly, like he’s approaching with caution. He is. I remain still and unwilling as I’m taken in a hug that feels as wrong as being at my father’s funeral. “Collins is asking too many questions about you, Beau,” he whispers. “She’s digging. Be careful.”
“Get your fucking hands off her before I rip them off,” James hisses ominously, making me tense everywhere in Ollie’s embrace.
I gently break away and move back. “Where have you been?” I ask him. “You said you needed to speak to me and then nothing.”
“I took some leave.” Ollie obviously feels uncomfortable talking in front of James and Danny, his eyes constantly shooting to them, as if he thinks there’s a risk of them drawing and firing at any second. “Collins is watching me like a hawk. She thinks I’m on the inside for your boyfriend and his buddy.” Ollie looks at Danny and James, and Danny starts laughing in clear disbelief.
“She thinks you’re working for your ex-fiancée’s fiancé?” Danny’s eyes move to the woman watching us from not too far away as Ollie’s eyes shoot to me, and then my hand, which I find I naturally cover, much to my own annoyance, and definitely James’s. Maybe I subconsciously hoped to limit feelings from being hurt. Instead, I’ve poked an already pissed off rattlesnake.
“No,” Ollie replies, his jaw ticking slightly. “She thinks I’m being blackmailed.”
“Is that why you’ve taken annual leave?” I ask, locking eyes with Collins. Her face suits her voice. Superior. An attractive lady, but with quite pointed features and eyes that are constantly narrowed. Suspicious. All of the time. Of everything. I know better than anyone that constant, natural suspicion doesn’t necessarily make you a good cop. But it definitely makes you a less than liked one.
“I needed to step back,” Ollie goes on. “Not be around when shit goes down.”
“Love the way you look at us when you say that.” Danny’s jaw rolls. “And doesn’t your absence look a bit dodgy?”
“Every step I have taken in the past week can be checked and verified,” Ollie replies, making Danny laugh again.
“Everystep?”
“Every. Single. Step.”
“Even from your bed to the pisser?”
Ollie nods, looking out the corner of his eye at me. “The woman I’m seeing can vouch for every step taken in my apartment.”
I feel my heart tighten in my chest, and I have no idea why. The woman he’s seeing? His apartment. The apartment we shared together.
“She’s an attorney,” Ollie continues, as I drop my eyes to my purse and pointlessly rummage through it. Danny and James are both watching me. Looking for my reaction. I pray I’m not giving them one. I expect it’s no accident that Ollie’s dating a lawyer. An upstanding member of the community. Someone who would never dream of lying in a court of law.
Dating. She’s staying at our place.Hisplace. “What did you want to meet me for?” I ask him, forcing myself to look at him. Forcing myself not to appear hurt. I’m deplorable. I don’t love Ollie anymore. Not like that. And yet...it still stings. Maybe it’s just because I’m feeling particularly tender today. Maybe it’s because James and I are more and more at odds these days. I don’t know. I want Ollie to be happy. Truly, I do. And now, as I look at him, I see the burning resentment that’s been in his gaze in recent times is gone. So maybe it stings because, right now, he seems happy, content, and I am not.
Ollie clears his throat. “I wanted to tell you before you heard it from someone else.”
I blink and lean back. “What?”