CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN JESS
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
JESS
I was doing home visits with my partner today.
I waited until after the first stop before bringing it up. “So, you and Reyo, huh?”
Val had been taking a sip of coffee, and I was noting that it was her only very small purchase of caffeine for the day.
I knew her daily habits, but since finding out about the bun in her oven, I was paying extra attention.
Val knew I knew. I knew she knew that I knew, so I’d given her time to adjust.
I was done giving her time to adjust.
She choked on her coffee, almost spitting it out before she swallowed, and glared at me. “You did that on purpose.”
I gave her a shit-eating grin, taking a cool and casual sip of my coffee. “You bet I did. Perfect timing on my part too. I’d give myself a four point five out of five.”
“We’re not doing this.” She was trying to be all assertive, putting her coffee back in the cup holder in her car before starting the engine.
I waited until we were in traffic. Less chance she’d punch the gas or hit the brakes when we were merging. “So you’re keeping it?”
“You’re not going to stop, are you?”
“I’ve asked two questions.”
She made a growling sound as she flicked on the turn signal and zoomed into the other lane. “You better not have said anything to Leo. I’m aware you two are like family, but he’s my team leader too.”
My grin wiped clean. “That means you’re thinking of not keeping it?”
I wasn’t referring to the baby as “the baby” out of respect for my partner.
Val was all or nothing, so the fact that I even knew about the little beanpole said she was keeping it.
She’d probably decided in the back of her mind the second she’d suspected, but Val needed time to come to grips with her decision.
It was how she handled everything in her life.
Having a kid tended to change things for us, and I wasn’t meaning with our jobs.
I’d watched other females have kids. They became human.
I didn’t think Val was ready to be human.
Another frustrated growl as she hit the steering wheel with the palm of her hand before settling down.
She grumbled, “I don’t know, okay? I just want to keep it quiet for a while.
I’m cool with you knowing. You can keep your mouth shut, but Jesus.
Can you imagine if someone else found out?
Travis?” She shuddered. “Just fuck me like a trucker, why don’t you?
It’d be all over the office in two minutes. He’d do a fucking TikTok about it.”
“Tell me about Reyo instead.”
She rolled her eyes, another grumble leaving her. “What’s there to say?”
“You two got it on that night at the wedding?”
She got quiet. “Yeah.”
“He must have stamina.”
She snorted, a slow smile lifting on her face. “Fuck you. You know he does if I went back.”
I grinned back. “He seems like a good partner.”
She glanced at me when I used that word but sighed. “He is. He’s like a young eager beaver. Fucking cute with his little dimples in his cheeks too.”
I was not touching that one because I’d witnessed the guy smiling. He did not have dimples in the only set of cheeks I wanted to see on him.
“Oh, Jesus. Fuck me twisted. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
I was. There were two guys walking on the sidewalk, walking within distance of a school, and one of those guys wasn’t supposed to be within a certain distance of any school.
She veered over and pulled into the parking lot just ahead of them, and then we were out of the car.
One of those parolees was hers, and he was a sex offender.
“Mr.Bartram, why are you within walking distance of that elementary school just a block away?”
“Oh, hey, Officer Hartman.”
Our day had officially started.