caught up to us and moved past us, saying quietly, "Let's go before Kirkland says something I'm going to regret." And just like that, Brice was with Zerbrowski and me.
Chapter Fourteen
WHEN WE GOT to my Jeep, Zerbrowski riding shotgun beside me and Brice in the backseat, I said, "Not that I'm not flattered that you came to my defense, but what's going on, Brice?"
"Thank you, Blake, and you, too, Zerbrowski, for not saying you didn't know what the hell I was talking about, and that you didn't want me to go eat with you."
Zerbrowski turned in the seat as far as the seat belt would allow. "You're welcome to eat with us. After putting Kirkland in his place you can sit by us any time, but why did you want to eat with us this bad? I mean, I know we're charming and all, but with all the offers you've got for dinner and more, why us?"
I glanced back in the darkened car quick enough to catch Brice smiling. He leaned between the seats and I realized he wasn't buckled in. "Buckle up," I said.
"What?" he asked.
"Seat belt. I'm pretty fanatical about it, buckle up."
"It's hard to talk from back here," he said.
"I can stop this car and turn it around," I said.
"Is she joking?" Brice asked.
"No," Zerbrowski said.
Brice frowned, but slid back and buckled himself in for safety. "Okay, now what?"
"Yeah, I'd rather see your face while we talk, but my mom died in a car crash, so seat belts make me feel better."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It was a long time ago," I said, pulling out into traffic.
"Doesn't mean it stops hurting," he said.
I used the rearview mirror to glance back, and he was looking at me as if he knew I'd be looking. I looked back at the road. "You lose someone?"
"Yes." He said it soft, and didn't offer to elaborate.
I let it go, but I knew that his loss was more recent than mine. You get better at talking about it casually after a decade or two.
Zerbrowski said, "So, how'd we get to be your pick of dinner dates?" We'd go back to talking about something less painful, by the guy rules. Girl rules are different, they poke at things; guys do not.
"Well, first off, I meant what I said back there. Even officers who don't approve of your lifestyle choices would still take you as backup over Kirkland, or most anyone else. They'd say how you're bad for shacking up with vampires and wereleopards, but in a firefight they'd take your vampire-loving, furry-fucking ass over most anyone else's."
"Did they actually say 'furry-fucking'?" I asked.
He laughed. "Not exactly."
"So you want to learn the ways of the force from Anita," Zerbrowski said.
"Somethin' like that," he agreed.
"Do you have a preference on food?" I asked.
"I've been on the job for eight years."
"Which means you're just glad to have a chance to sit down and get a hot meal, whatever it is, right?" I asked.
"Yes, ma'am." Again, I caught that lopsided grin in the mirror, before I went back to looking at traffic.
"Let's go to Jimmy's," Zerbrowski said.
I nodded. "Works for me." I took a right at the next light and we were there. I found a parking spot, turned off the motor, unbuckled my seat belt. Everyone else followed suit.
Brice said, "Can we talk in the car for a minute?"
Zerbrowski and I exchanged glances, then nodded, and turned in our seats so we could see him more plainly. I thought we were about to find out how we got to be Brice's dinner dates.
"I do want to learn the job from you and not Kirkland, but I didn't expect to have Detective Arnet be so... persistent in her attempts to..."
"Date you," I offered.
He nodded.
"It's not just her," I said. "You are at the top of the female officer and female employee who-can-date-the-new-guy-on-the-force-first pool."
"I'd gathered that," he said, but he was looking at his hands. He had his fingers tangled together, almost clenched. We were about to get to something he didn't like.
"Smith thought he was the hot new thing until you showed up," Zerbrowski said.
"He's dating someone seriously, isn't he?" Brice asked.
"Yes," I said, "but that doesn't always stop some women." In my head, I added, It didn't stop Arnet from pursuing Nathaniel, but I didn't say it out loud. It sounded petty out loud; in my head it didn't sound as bad.
"No, it doesn't," Brice said, and he was looking at his hands where they held on