Page 82 of Grave Beginnings

His gaze flicked down to my belt, then back up, going to Angel. He let out a long sigh and stomped away, heading back out to the garage.

“Is it me?” I asked.

Wade shook his head. “Ezra’s guarded, that’s all. He’ll get over it.”

“I’m hoping he went to get his computer,” Angel said. “He can pull up the feeds from both our cameras.” His gaze landed over my head. “Did you get the storage locker code?”

Bobby came up behind us, nodding. “Yep. Is that where you want to start?” He looked at Wade. “Do we have the scanner calibrated?”

“Not yet,” Wade said. “We need to head up and see if the line is still there.”

I worried at my lip that it wouldn’t be, as it had been fading while we traced it through the building. Angel put his hand on my shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Let’s head up. Ezra is pulling our video feed from the van for review.” He showed a text from Ezraon his phone. “We’ll try not to bother the Thayersons again if we don’t need to.”

Bobby pulled out one of those scannable visitor badges with the apartment’s logo on it. “Lead the way.” He waved at the elevator.

We all got in and headed up, but the car stopped to let someone else on. My heart sank when the door opened to reveal Brandon Cassidy in uniform. He blinked at the team, then focused on me.

“We’re going up,” Bobby said politely while we all waited for what he would do.

Brandon’s gaze slid over me like ice, but he stepped into the car. “I’m headed up to the roof deck.”

I didn’t even know there was a roof deck. But he pulled out his card, scanned the reader, and hit a button. The door closed, and everyone in the car shifted around. Angel slipped in front of me as Brandon took a few steps in my direction. The two glared at each other, but said nothing. Brandon turned around to face the door.

We reached our stop first, and the doors opened. Wade and Bobby exited without Brandon moving an inch, making the pair squeeze around him. Angel hesitated to move until I did. But I headed for the door and stepped out, Angel beside me. Brandon caught my arm.

“Want to get drinks with me and the guys this Friday?” he asked. “It’s been too long.”

Drinks was a euphemism for pretending to be straight around a bunch of drunk off duty cops until Brandon led me off to the bathroom for the least romantic round of fucking in the world. We hadn’t done it in months, and I never planned to do it again.

“No thanks,” I said, trying to tug free from his grasp, but his fist tightened enough to make me flinch. “You don’t like variants, remember? Let go.”

“Better than slumming like you are right now.”

“Fuck you, Cassidy,” I said, desperate to get away without making a scene. For a cop who wasn’tout, he was making a public ass of himself.

“It’s a downgrade, isn’t it?” Brandon asked, his gaze skimming over Angel with disgust. “An animal…”

Angel’s rage heated my back. I feared he’d cause a fight that Brandon would use unreasonable force to finish, because why was he fully armed in the middle of his apartment building? I reacted without thinking. I spun, forcing Cassidy to turn his wrist at an uncomfortable angle, smashed my hand into the bend, which broke his grip, and then shoved him back into the elevator. My heart raced, as I’d pretty much just attacked a cop. Even if SED and the police were supposed to be on even footing, I knew it wasn’t true.

“Have a nice day,” I said to Brandon, watching the door close. He probably wouldn’t come after me, at least not right this minute. Though, I’d have to watch my back down the road for his buddies doing shit like pulling me over or lying in wait for me at home. I waited for him to smash the door open button or something, but the elevator went up and I sucked in air.

Angel wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me away from the door. “I could have taken him.”

I sighed. “And he’s enough of a dick to have filed charges against you.”

“We’re still wearing our cameras,” Angel pointed out.

Fuck, I’d forgotten about that. I’d attacked a cop on camera.

“You were clear that you didn’t want him touching you. It could have been worse.”

“Bobby and I will testify too, if he’s dumb enough to bring anything up,” Wade said from behind us. I glanced back, having forgotten they were there. “Hanna doesn’t like when cops mess with her people.”

Angel let me go, his warmth slipping away, but he stayed in my bubble, letting his magic aura mingle with mine, soothing myanxiety without trying. “Do we need to file charges against him?” he asked.

“No,” I said, too fast, because they all looked at me with wide eyes. “Seriously. Don’t borrow trouble. I’m fine. Let’s see if we can find this mark, okay?” And let me leave my embarrassing sex life in the past.

“Sure,” Bobby said, his gaze on the screen of his scanner. “Do you see that line?” He glanced up, then back to the screen. “Maybe step away from Angel first.”