Got your back

Chapter 2

A couple hours later, Kim and Hailey were the only two left at the table. Jay was off talking to some of his buddies from a different district, Voight was introducing Kev to someone, and Adam was saying hi to some of his dad's old friends. Left alone, the two women were people watching, pointing out various cops they had dealt with over the years and swapping stories.

"Oh goodness," Kim said with a short laugh, "I think that's my old FTO over there. Gosh, I can't believe he hasn't retired yet."

"You wanna go say hi?"

Kim shook her head. "Nah, as much fun as it would be to see how shocked he is that I haven't quit or gotten myself killed yet, I think I'll pass."

"Ah, he was one of those," Hailey replied knowingly.

"Any time I did something right, the man would look at me like I had just grown another head. I actually think he might've been less shocked if that had happened."

Hailey laughed slightly and shook her head. She had been there too many times and knew the feeling all too well.

Adam walked backed over to their table. "Ladies, you're looking lovely tonight," he commented, somewhat teasingly, as he sat down.

In return, Kim chucked a napkin at his head, which he narrowly avoided. "Knock it off," she said, rolling her eyes but laughing anyway.

Hailey smiled, amused by their antics. Figuring that now would be as good a time as any to excuse herself, she turned to Adam. "Hey, did you see Jay anywhere?" It was getting relatively late, and she had a feeling these two would be leaving soon. If they were lucky, she and Jay would be able to make their exit soon after, assuming that they didn't run into too many people on their way out.

Adam nodded. "Yeah, he was over there talking with a bunch of guys from the Ivory Tower."

Hailey told them she'd see them tomorrow and made her way over to rescue her partner from the brass.

———

Jay caught her eye as she stood off to the side, not wanting to interrupt as he finished talking with the various ranking officers. He waved her over.

"And here's my partner now," she heard him say as she walked up. Hailey smiled politely at the group, trying not to show how out of place she felt.

One of the commanders spoke first. "Nice to meet you Officer..."

"Detective Hailey Upton," she corrected without so much as a second thought, having had to do so frequently ever since she'd been promoted to detective years ago. She was so used to it by now that she'd stopped noticing the look of surprise that would briefly flash across people's faces.

The conversation quickly returned to whatever it had been about before she had made her appearance. Jay discretely glanced over at her, his look asking if she wanted to leave. She gave him an almost imperceptible shake of her head. There was no way she was going to let him excuse them from a conversation with half of the Ivory Tower if it meant that they would see them leaving together, especially this late at night. Because they weren't leaving together like that, not really, but without a doubt someone would get that idea, and she'd already been the subject of more than enough CPD gossip in her career to voluntarily provide any more ammunition. So instead she stood there and resisted the urge to put her hands in her pockets or cross her arms, trying her best to pay attention to the conversation. Which was rather hard to do when she kept thinking about how much she would rather be back at her apartment playing video games with Jay.

After what felt like forever, the group finally dispersed. Hailey and Jay took the opportunity to leave before they got pulled into any other conversations. Walking through the parking lot, Jay slipped his hand into Hailey's. She smiled while also looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was nearby. Once they arrived at Jay's truck, confident that they were alone, Hailey stood up on her tip toes and caught Jay by surprise with a quick kiss, before getting into the passenger side of the vehicle.