Page 73 of Built for Mercy

Christ.

I'm corrupting you.

Sophie 2:29 PM

>:)

I’ll tell my partner and captain I’m unavailable for OT or on-call duty this weekend. When do we leave?

Maverick 2:30 PM

Halls will pick you up after work tomorrow.

Sophie 2:30 PM

Will you be with him?

Maverick 2:39 PM

No. I’ll be tying up loose ends at work.

***

“Clemens is cool with you leaving so last minute?” Callie prompted as I packed a bag for my trip to Vegas tomorrow, my phone wedged between my cheek and my shoulder.

Sighing, I said, “She’ll have to be. She left me to do that stakeout alone while she was off sucking Taylor’s dick, so. She kinda owes me.”

“Wait, your new captain?”

“Mhmm,” I confirmed, distracted as I tossed my toiletries into a carry-on and continued packing lingerie and other clothes into my black hardback suitcase. “That would be the one. And since I know about it, she was willing to let me do this. Shocking, I know, since she’s the biggest raging bitch we’ve ever met.”

Callie huffed out a chuckle. “This is true. So, you and Maverick are…good?"

I zipped up both bags and yanked them off my bed, then glanced around my bedroom to make sure I didn’t miss anything.Chargers, check. Clothes, panties, socks, check. Makeup, hair products, check.

My black silk sheets were a rumpled mess on my bed, my charcoal comforter half on the floor. I knew I’d feel better if I made my bed now, but truthfully, the recent long hours at work recently had wiped all my energy, and this short break with Maverick was exactly what I needed.

“We are,” I told her, wheeling my bags out. “I love how I feel when I’m with him, and he’s everything I’ve been looking for.”

“Oh no.”

“What?”

“I know you,” she muttered. “There’s a ‘but’ in there.”

I groaned. “Buthe refuses to come here, so anytime we see each other, it’s because I’m making the trip there. Feels very one-sided, and after everything that happened with Dean, it doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Have you told him?”

I barked out a laugh as I grabbed an apple off the black quartz counters, only to pause and reevaluate my need to eat this morning. Chances are I’d eat on the plane with Mav. “And saywhat?No, I don’t want to come off as clingy. I don’t know,chula, maybe this is a case of something that burns too hot and fizzles out too quick.”

“Ooooorrrr,” she dragged the word out long and slow, “that’s what you’re telling yourself to get out of a serious commitment with this guy.”

Grimacing, I flicked off all the lights in my apartment and locked up. “There was a time when I was saying this shit to you,” I grumbled into the receiver.

“Where do you think I’ve gleaned this wisdom from, babe?” Her tinkling laugh put a smile on my face. “Besides, all I want is for you to be as happy as I am.”

“I don’t need a man for that,” I snapped playfully.