be mad at me.”
“Oh, gee, thanks for the permission.”
I rubbed my hands over my face. “I’ll make it up to you when I get back.”
“Good luck with that one, buddy.”
“Just please stay here, okay? He’s in a tough spot, and I gotta get over there now.” I tried my luck and slid my hand around her waist again, keeping my dick out of harm’s way. “I’ll get him to tell you. Hell, he’s going to have to tell everyone, but he’s just messed up, okay?” I lowered my mouth to hers. “I’ve known the dude for years. I’ve never seen him like this.”
“We’re family. Why won’t he tell me?”
“Pride, babe. Guys are assholes.”
“Yeah, you are.”
I moved in a little closer, my hand slipping a little lower to her firm ass. “Don’t be mad.”
“If you think this is how we’re going to end fights, you’re very mistaken.”
“C’mon. It’s working a little, right?”
Her lips twitched. “No.”
I lowered my mouth to her neck and inhaled my soap and shampoo. It never smelled that good on me. “Don’t be mad.”
“You’re just saying that so you get laid when you get back.”
I straightened. “It is a perk, but I really don’t want to ruin any of this. And we gotta talk when I get back.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“We have to figure out how we’re going to handle this with the others.”
“Handle what?”
“The fact that that’s your answer says we have a ton to talk about.”
She lifted her cross and sawed it back and forth on the chain. “I don’t know what this is yet, Cooper.”
The arrow was swift and sharp. I just needed to give her some time to catch up, that was all. Maybe it was good that we spent a few hours apart. I needed to get me and my dick in line. Teagan wasn’t just a quick tumble. She was my best friend and the love of my goddamn life.
Even if she hadn’t quite realized it yet.
I dropped a quick kiss on her mouth. “We’ll talk about it when I get back. I need a quick shower.”
Not that I wanted to wash her off my skin, but I didn’t want to be that obvious when I saw Zane. Any more obvious than I was already, anyway.
We were both fucked, just in different ways. And my sentence was for life.
Eleven
Finding my way to the police department was easy. Getting to see Zane, not so much.
There was an endless amount of paperwork and waiting around. My hope to get him out of there within two hours was a freaking joke.
Not like the cops were in a rush to help a guy out.
And the police department was a far cry from what was portrayed on television. It looked more like an office with rickety cubicles and an incessant ringing phone that never seemed to be answered.
I’d also been fighting with said paperwork so long that I felt like I was the one in jail. I hadn’t even talked to Zane yet. Supposedly, going through the bail process was faster than getting visitation.
I had my doubts.
“We have certain practices and procedures here.”
“I understand that, ma’am. I’m not trying to be difficult.”
I resisted the urge to slam my forehead against the Plexiglas partition. A bored woman with a far too tight ponytail shoved papers at me.
“I have the money in my account.”
“We don’t take checks. You can use one of these bail bonds company’s numbers.”
“Can’t I just go to the bank? Do you take cash?”
“No.”
“Certified check?”
“That’s a check, correct?”
I laced my fingers at the back of my head so I wouldn’t reach through and strangle her. “You don’t make it easy.”
“Easiest way to avoid this situation is to not get arrested, sir.”
“I’ll let him know for next time.”
She lifted tired eyes from the paperwork she was stamping with some ridiculously official-looking seal. The chomp sound as it slammed through the papers made my head throb. Wasn’t everything done by computer these days?
I took the pamphlets and sat down. Three of them looked sketchy as hell and the fourth looked more like an advertisement for a daycare.
All my instincts said to call Lila. She was our manager and equipped to handle this crap. The only cops I’d ever encountered were at a bar when I was buying them a drink. And okay, maybe Army cops when we were too rowdy on base, but that was more like a drunk tank and a smack on the back of the head in the morning kind of deal.
Many smacks via Noah in