Page 68 of Shifter for Brains

Temple shrugged. "Just say what you want.”

“Are we on the same side?" I asked.

He didn’t seem upset by the question. "I like to think so."

"Can you ever give a straight answer?" I growled.

"Why do you think I’m not?"

"Are you screwing with me? Whose side are you on?" I moved in close, cornering him between me and the beat-up car.

"The same side as always," he answered calmly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I should go clean up your mess.”

He neatly stepped to the side and walked away. Great. That sure cleared everything up. Cryptic bastard.

I couldn’t even trust my own instincts. They were torn. Was there another explanation for why he’d been snooping? Could I trust him? What did I really know about him?

Not a goddamn thing.

Except this: if Temple were really Hodge’s spy, he had access to Lucas. I brought Temple into Lucas’s life. We were supposed to be protecting him, not exposing him to new dangers. Keeping people safe was my job, and I’d never had so much trouble doing it. Just when I found someone I wanted to protect more than ever before, why did it seem like all I did was bring more trouble into his life?

~

Lucas

Finding Aaron to give me a ride was no longer necessary. Chase had… the day off might not be the right way to phrase it. More they sent him away for the day, the professional version of a time out.

We’d gone into the building, he disappeared behind a closed door and returned a few minutes later with his jaw clenched tight as he stormed towards the nearest exit. Now we rode the elevator back to the parking garage in silence.

I pressed the button to stop the elevator.

"So… You just disrespected a superior officer."

"Aformersuperior officer."

"How much of a difference does that make?"

He shrugged. “He was being a creep.”

"Yeah. I kept thinking ‘is this the guy,’ the man Merritt’s after. It was, right?"

“Lucas, I can’t tell you that.”

“There’s a chance,” I said. “That I was talking to… How do you do this every day?”

“It’s the job. The more comfortable you are, the better chance you have of connecting with someone else, no matter who they are or what they’ve done. I’ve always been good at shooting the shit and flashing a smile, but seeing him cornering you… I kept thinking…” What, how a desperate man might lash out at anything nearby while he goes down? “So, I can’t answer you because right now I don’t remember how I do this every day.”

“Sorry if I—"

"Not your fault.” He jabbed a button to continue the journey, trying to shake off the tense mood. “There’s no need to worry about Hodge anymore. Himoryour would-be husband."

"What, really?"

"Not all finalized yet, but yeah, it’s looking like a case of mistaken identity. Bolton paid someone to do some digging, see who was on the case, and I led him to you.”

“Wow. It’s really over? So what happens now?

“Seriously? Thought I already made that clear.”