Chapter 30
Chapter thirty
Levi
Tristan kept his distance our entire shift until I started packing up to leave the station. “You OK, man?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” I wasn’t. I wanted to be at home, feeling sorry for myself and thinking of all the things I did wrong yesterday instead of steps from Chief’s office where Everly ripped my heart out and left it on the floor. But no matter how broken up I felt, I had a job to do.
“For fuck’s sake, Levi,” Tristan said. “I’m your partner. I need to know where your head’s at. You look ready to break something.”
“I’m not angry,” I said.
Tristan laughed. “Sure. You mad at Everly or yourself?”
“Myself,” I said, blowing out a breath. “I fucked up. I never should have asked her to drop Bryant Wythers. I ended up implying she had a moral obligation to, which led her to the obvious conclusion that I thought my job was more important, morally, than hers.”
“Well, I mean, isn’t it?”
I shook my head. “Not to her. She believes in the work she does, and I basically implied I didn’t.”
“Yeah, that probably didn’t go over well.
Did you at least try to call her last night and talk it out?
You’re both coming at this from different experiences.
She lost her brother and then watched his best friend serve a year in prison on a technicality.
And you’ve seen some shit. Does she know?
” he asked carefully. “About your partner.”
I nodded.
“She had to understand this was personal then.”
“Every case Everly takes is personal to her,” I said, sinking into my desk chair and resting my head in my hands.
I didn’t want to say the next part out loud.
Unfortunately, if I didn’t, Tris would keep pressuring me to call Everly, thinking we’d had a surmountable misunderstanding. “None of that matters anyway.”
“Why not?” Tristan asked. His voice was closer, and I looked up to find him right beside my chair.
“I told her I loved her,” I said, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat and pushed past the lump tightening my vocal cords. “She thought I said it to manipulate her into quitting.”
Tristan’s eyes widened. “You didn’t, right?”
“Fuck no,” I said. “But if she felt the same about me, she wouldn’t have jumped to that conclusion. There’s no point trying to talk through everything else because she doesn’t feel the same way I do.”
“You sure about that?” Tristan asked, looking down at his hands.
“You telling me you’d have called her?”
He shook his head. “No, probably not. I’d have been too hurt. Admit it though, the two of you haven’t been together long. It’s understandable she’d be skeptical. Unless you were together longer and just didn’t tell anyone.”
I shook my head. “I know it sounds insane—”
“No, it doesn’t,” Tristan said. “You might have just gotten together, but the woman stopped you in your tracks every time you saw her.”
I cleared my throat again. “You noticed that?”
“Of course. I’ve seen it before. Most guys get over how beautiful she is after seeing her a few times. At least enough to function.”
“Well, I never had that effect on her. I was a temporary mistake and she corrected it.”
“So, are we going to Church tonight or am I bringing beers to your place?”
“Neither. I’m going to Professor Exton’s master’s class, then going home to sleep because we have another shift at 7AM tomorrow.”
“Fine,” Tristan said. “But Friday. I’m texting Wyatt. Your house or Church?”
“Do you even know Wyatt?” I asked. I’d mentioned him a couple times to my partner, but Wyatt was a relative newcomer to Peace Falls like me.
“I stopped into Karma and got his and Cammie’s numbers, so I could reach them if I saw that piece of shit ex of hers.”
“See, great instincts,” I said. “You’re more than ready to partner with someone else if I make detective.” Because there was nothing holding me back now. I’d miss working with Tris every shift, but the station was small enough that we’d see each other often.
“Stop trying to change the subject,” Tristan said with a frown. “Your house or Church?”
“I wouldn’t mind having some company at home tomorrow.”
“OK. And I’m coming to your presentation tonight.”
“You don’t need to do that. I’m fine.”
“You might think you don’t have much more to teach me, but I know better.”
“Let’s go then,” I said, sounding more annoyed than I felt. As much as I hated to admit it, I appreciated him tagging along. I wasn’t in the best headspace, and he probably knew it.
Tristan rode with me to campus and kept up a running monologue about everything except Everly.
When we passed Exton’s office, the professor called my name.
I stopped in the doorway and all the blood in my head dropped to my stomach.
Everly sat across from Exton, dressed for work in a navy suit, a notepad resting on her knee.
Everything about her screamed professional, from the set of her spine to the man-eating stilettos she favored for court.
“I was just telling Everly how much I appreciate you presenting again, Levi.”
“We appreciate how much the department helped with Springboard,” I said, forcing my eyes from Everly.
“It can be an annual thing as far as I’m concerned,” Professor Exton said, looking between Everly and me with a slight scrunch in his forehead. A person would have to be half dead not to pick up on the tension in the room.
Exton cleared his throat. “Well, we should probably head to class. Everly, I’m happy to look over the case. If it’s OK with you, I’ll pass it on to one of my colleagues in the law school as well.”
“Thank you,” she said, standing. “I’m afraid the most difficult part might be convincing Theo we have an appeal worth pursuing.”
“I’m happy to help with that as well,” he said, standing. “See if you can get him to stop by sometime.”
“I’ll try.”
She shook his hand, and I quickly stepped into the hallway to give her space to leave.
“Have a nice evening, officers,” she said, walking past me. The scent of her perfume made my lungs seize. I forced out a breath as she clicked across the stone floor without glancing back.
We talked about Springboard and plans for the internship program on the way to the classroom, or rather Tristan and the professor talked while I tried to calm my racing heart.
I hadn’t expected to see Everly so soon, though part of me was relieved I’d gotten it over with.
We couldn’t exactly avoid each other, and I hadn’t decided how I should interact with her.
Everly had slipped effortlessly back to the cool professionalism that marked all our interactions before.
Even if it was the obvious response, I hated it.
Too much had happened between us to pretend otherwise.
At least for me. Still, after fucking everything up, I’d do what she needed to tolerate being around me since avoiding her wasn’t an option.