Chapter 16 – Mateo
Chapter Sixteen
MATEO
Iwalk into the station, dropping my bag with a bit more force than intended. I’m frustrated.
Cap glances up from the table where he’s reading a report, brows rising slightly. “Morning, Rodriguez.”
Seb’s leaned back in one of the chairs, nursing a black coffee. “Damn. You look worse for wear. You good?”
I grunt. “Didn’t sleep.” I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and crack the top. “Weird night.”
Cap sets down his paperwork. “What happened?”
I sit across from them and rub my hands over my face. “That’s the thing. I’m not completely sure what happened. But it was really weird.”
Seb makes a face. “What does that even mean?”
“It started with a trip to the gym.”
“Oh, the horror,” Seb cuts in.
I glare at him. Cap waves his hand at me to go on.
“Anyway. It started with a trip to the gym. I was already in rare form, bad sleep or whatever. Then Letty was there.”
“Ahh. Not great,” Cap says.
“Exactly. So, she spots me and decides she needs to work out with me. And of course, has to put her hands all over me. Then Nico shows up.”
Seb chokes on his coffee. “Nico? At the gym?”
“Yeah.” I shake my head. “Just strolls up and starts running his damn mouth.”
Cap leans forward, arms resting on the table. “What’d he say?”
I toss the bottle cap onto the table, the plastic skidding across the surface. “Some shit about Letty and I working out together. Said it looked like we were picking up where we left off.”
Seb frowns. “What does that even mean?”
“Hell if I know.” I lean back in the chair, scrubbing a hand over my jaw. “I’ve never had a thing with Letty. She’s been…persistent since I moved her, but I’ve never given her anything to work with.”
Cap watches me for a beat. “So, you two never hooked up?”
I meet his eyes. “No. Not once. I’ve never touched her.”
Seb whistles under his breath. “Could’ve fooled her.”
“Yeah,” I mutter. “Tell me about it.”
I run a hand through my hair and sigh. “The whole thing just felt…off. I don’t know how to explain it. Not Nico showing up—him being annoying is par for the course—but the way they were both acting? It didn’t feel random.”
Cap narrows his eyes. “You think it was a setup?”
I shrug. “That’s the thing. I don’t know what it was. I don’t even know what they’d be setting me up with. I’m confused as hell.”
Seb leans forward, elbows on his knees. “Did Nico say anything else?”
I nod slowly. “Yeah. Something like, ‘Hate to find out you’ve got side pieces.’ Real smug, like he was waiting for me to react. I told him to watch his mouth, and then I walked.”
Cap lets out a long breath and rubs his jaw. “Sounds like he was trying to get under your skin.”
“Mission accomplished,” I mutter.
Seb leans back in his chair again. “Yeah. You’re dating my sister and he’s pissed. That asshole thought he’d just leave her high and dry with a baby and she’d fall at his feet for him when he came back.”
Cap grunts in agreement. “He underestimated her. And now he’s trying to rattle the guy who’s stepping up where he didn’t.”
I stare at the bottle in my hands, turning it slowly between my palms. “Yeah…that’s true. The dope is jealous.”
“Speaking of Lyse, how are things with you guys?” Cap asks.
“That’s another thing!”
Seb’s jaw tightens. “What do you mean? What did you do to my sister?”
I lift both hands in surrender. “Nothing! That’s the problem. I didn’t do anything.”
Seb narrows his eyes. “Okay, walk me through it. Slowly. With all the context. Because if you’re telling me you hurt her—”
“I didn’t,” I cut in. “I swear, man. But something shifted last night.”
Cap sits back in his chair, arms crossed, watching me closely. “How so?”
“She was fine. We were fine. I brought Florecitas for Maya, hung out at the house, everything was normal. Then her phone buzzed, she looked at it, and everything changed.”
Seb leans forward. “Changed how?”
“Her whole vibe. She pulled away, said she forgot she had an early morning, practically rushed me out the door. I could feel it in my gut…something was off.”
“And she didn’t say what was wrong?”
“Nope. She didn’t say. Just…smiled tight and shut down.”
Cap lets out a thoughtful hum. “You think it’s connected to Letty and Nico?”
I pause. “I didn’t before. But shit. Maybe?”
Seb exhales sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose. “God, Letty is so damn messy.”
Cap’s eyes meet mine. “You planning to talk to Analyse?”
“I want to. I just don’t want to make it worse if I don’t even know what I’m apologizing for.”
Seb gives me a flat look. “You better fix it. Fast. I don’t want my sister unhappy.”
I nod, chest tight. “Yeah. I’m going to. I don’t want her unhappy either, bro. I just need to figure out exactly what’s going on.”
The door swings open, and Andres walks in, clipboard in hand and a shit-eating grin on his face. “Cap, we got a call,” he says. “It’s Libby’s cat. She ran up that damn tree again.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Cap mutters, rubbing his temple. “Seb, you’re up.”
Seb recoils. “Absolutely not. That devil cat hates me. Last time I tried to help her, she swiped at my face.”
Andres barks out a laugh. “She’s got taste.”
“Shut up,” Seb fires back, pointing a finger. “I still have a scar.”
“Barely,” I say, smirking.
Cap looks between us. “Someone go get that damn cat before Libby calls again and starts crying into the dispatcher’s ear. I can’t handle another voicemail about her cat’s emotional distress.”
I push to my feet. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
“You better bring her down gently,” Seb says, grabbing a granola bar and tossing it at Andres. “Or Libby’ll file a complaint with city hall again.”
Andres catches it mid-air, scowling. “She can file that complaint under not my problem.”
I glance at him, deadpan. “Oh, it’s your problem now.”
He blinks. “Wait—what?”
I jerk my thumb toward the door. “You’re coming with me, asshole.”
Andres groans, dragging his feet toward the gear room. “I knew taking that damn call was a mistake.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I mutter as Andres and I pull up to Libby’s house.
“Third time this month,” Andres says, cutting the siren just as we turn into her driveway. “I swear that cat’s either suicidal or just really into high altitudes.”
I glance up through the windshield. Sure enough, perched at the highest possible branch is the devil cat. Libby’s demon in fur form. The spawn of Satan with whiskers. She’s glaring down at us like we ruined her day.
Libby rushes out in slippers and a housecoat, her gray curls bouncing, cheeks either flushed from either panic or rage—or both. “She’s been up there for an hour! What if she jumps? She’s delicate!”
“She literally crawled through your drywall last week,” I say under my breath.
Libby doesn’t hear me, or she ignores it. “You have to get her down!”
Andres stretches, yawning. “Maybe she just needs some alone time. Cats are independent creatures.”
“She’s a princess!” Libby shrieks. “She’ll get cold! Or bored! Or attacked by a squirrel!”
The cat lets out a meow so long and angry it echoes like a death wail.
Andres sighs. “Alright. You’re going up.”
I blink at him. “Why me?”
“Because she likes you.”
“She does not like me.”
Libby gasps. “She adores you. She let you pet her once!”
“She bit me immediately after.”
“She was playing.”
“Then your cat has some questionable ideas about foreplay.”
We grab the ladder from the truck while Libby paces the yard, muttering into her bathrobe pocket.
“I swear if I die today because of a damn tabby,” I grumble, planting the ladder under the tree.
“Don’t say that,” Andres warns. “She senses weakness.”
I begin climbing, slowly, carefully. The cat narrows her eyes as I ascend, tail twitching.
“Nice kitty,” I murmur. “Totally normal, not possessed kitty. Just gonna bring you down so your mom stops threatening to sue the department.”
She hisses at me. Loudly.
I freeze mid-rung. “Andres.”
“Yeah?”
“She’s making the sound that comes right before she does something demonic.”
“She’s just vocal.”
“She’s hissing in another language, I swear to God.”
I reach the branch she’s on. She’s glaring. I slowly reached out, trying to grab her scruff like we practiced in training. She lets me almost get there…then flings herself two branches higher.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
Libby lets out a wail. “She’s so brave!”
Andres snorts. “You mean insane?”
“Don’t call my baby insane!”
I climb higher, practically hugging the tree at this point. “Come on, cat. Please. I am tired. I am hungry. I am slipping away from an early retirement.”
The cat meows again. This time it sounds smug.
With one arm wrapped around the branch and the other slowly reaching out, I inch closer. “Come on. Be a good kitty. Just this once.”
She leaps into my arms. I almost fall off the damn tree. “Got her!” I yell, hugging her to my chest.
She purrs. I blink. “Are you kidding me?”
“She does love you!” Libby cries, clapping her hands. “You’re her favorite!”
The cat nuzzles my neck and immediately sinks her claws into my shoulder. “Favorite,” I grunt, climbing down with one arm.
Andres helps me the last few feet, holding the ladder steady. “You good?”
“Yeah, aside from the minor blood loss.”
We hand the cat over to Libby, who acts like we just rescued her child from a burning building.
“You’re both angels!” she gushes, hugging the cat so tightly. “I’m going to bake you boys a pie!”
“No need, really—” I start.
“What kind do you want? Pumpkin? Cherry? Ooh, how about pear!”
Andres leans in. “Please say pumpkin. Her pear pie tastes like feet.”
“Pumpkin,” I say quickly.
Libby beams and disappears inside. Andres and I make it to the truck, blood on my shirt, tree sap in my hair.
He starts the engine. “Well…another heroic rescue.”
I glance down at the fresh claw marks. “Next time, I’m faking an injury.”
Andres grins. “That’s fair. But deep down, you love her.”
“Yeah, right.”
We pull away just as the cat appears in the window, her glowing eyes watching me like she’s already plotting her next tree stunt.
I shiver. “We’re not getting hazard pay for this, are we?”
“Nope.”
“Figures.”
And off we go. Just another day in Lake City.