over. “GHD is on mandatory leave for at least three days after both of us were put in charge. How’s that for a vote of confidence?”
“Not me,” Delgado piped in. “Apparently I get guard duty.”
“Hey, you volunteered,” one of the patrol officers attached to their division muttered. “Someone couldn’t stand to spend three days babysitting his kids.”
“Fuck you, asshole.” Delgado threw a stress ball at the speaker.
“How about you, Nadia?” Gabby asked.
“You think I’m gonna leave my lab unsupervised?” their crime analyst said and turned slitted eyes at Declan. “After your friend commandeered my evidence?”
He chuckled as he grabbed another box for Gabby to fill. “He’s not my friend.”
“Of course, I’m just a small shrimp in the ocean,” Nadia said. “I’m not the CDC.” She gestured air quotes around the acronym.
Gabby inwardly smiled as Nadia continued to rant. The exchange between Nadia and Garrison had been hilarious. She was very territorial about items that crossed the threshold of her lab.
“Kelso, I’m just about done. Can you handle these two boxes?” Gabby said. “It’s our shared case files.”
But her partner knew why Gabby was anxious to get home. No one except the people in the captain’s office knew about Theo.
“Go ahead, Gab,” Kelso’s eyes softened. “Go see him.”
18
“We can’t tell him yet,” Gabby said, staring at the house, frozen in the passenger seat, unable to make her limbs move to get out of the car.
“I agree.” Declan tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. It was nine in the evening and they’d been gone since dawn. He’d turned off the engine a few minutes ago, but it seemed he was giving her time to get her wits about her. “Come on, Angel. He’s just a seventeen-year-old kid.”
She angled her eyes at him, noting the flash of his grin in the darkness. “You and I know Theo is not an ordinary teenager.”
“Didn’t think you’d let his star status intimidate you.”
“I’m not intimidated.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“You can quit being annoying,” she grouched and pushed open her door, slamming it with more force than she intended, and stalked toward the house.
She heard footsteps behind her as Declan pulled back her arm. “Hey … are we fighting already?”
His question rubbed her the wrong way, so she got into his face and snarled, “Let’s get one thing straight, Roarke. We’re not in a relationship. In no way have I agreed to one. The boy in there”—she pointed toward the house—“is our priority. Not our feelings. Not our guilt over how we fucked things up between us. Clear?”
Declan stepped back and crossed his arms. “What’s up your ass?”
“Argh!” Gabby wanted to smack the befuddled look off his face. “I would think seventeen years would have taught you more about women. You’re still clueless. God!”
She stomped away from him, and this time, he did not try to catch up with her, but she saw his reflection in the sidelights of the door, following her a few paces behind.
Levi opened the door, brow raised questioningly.
“We’re fine,” Gabby muttered, pushing past Theo’s mammoth bodyguard. “Where’s my brother?”
“He’s getting ready.”
“For what?”
“Some shindig down at Revenant Ranch,” Levi said.
“How did his check-up go?”
“Cleared and permitted to party,” Theo called from the hallway, striding up to them. He was freshly showered, and he was wearing some rock band’s tee, tight-fitting black jeans, and a pair of his special edition Converse sneakers. Gabby had seen his ad on a Sunset Boulevard billboard. Theo larger than life.
A feeling of inadequacy filled her. Did Theo even need to know she was his mother? From where she was standing, he was doing fine all on his own. “That doesn’t mean you can go ahead and stay out all night. You’re still on meds, right?”
“I stopped after the first day,” Theo replied, eyes looking over her shoulder and hardening at the sight of Declan. The teenager muttered an unintelligible curse, cutting his gaze to the side before blasting her with the full potency of his hazel-eyed glare. “You know what? I’m not even gonna pretend that I’m okay with this.” He pointed his finger between her and Declan. “We were supposed to be spending time as a family—bonding time. Remember?”
“We were called downtown, I should’ve—”
“And you!” Theo inched his chin up at Declan. “Father and son, huh? You’re full of shit. What’s happening here? You just want to screw my sister over—”
“Dec!” Gabby shouted when, quick as a flash, her ex-husband had gripped their son by the collar and backed him against the wall—thankfully, without slamming him.
“Apologize to Gabby,”