The Pros of Cons

9 | A Rather Annoying Interruption

CONS

"I'm sorry if I've made things more difficult," she had said to me. More difficult, I thought. That's one way to put it.

I had to lighten up on her. She was young and had been living in an entirely different world than mine. And the more I talked to her, the more I felt that she was innocent in this whole thing.

Truth was, I didn't know for sure where she stood in all of it — but I did know that she wasn't out of the woods yet. She had been nearly murdered and was going out at night? She had to be smarter than this.

I made my way out of her apartment building, nodding to Cobie on my way out. Kez was walking in just as I got outside.

"Hope you didn't go too hard on 'er," he said to me. I almost stopped in my tracks. Kez had the nerve, but he was still Kez. I knew he felt bad about the whole thing, and I didn't want to push him away. I didn't completely understand why I was so mad, myself.

"We can talk about it tomorrow," I said, waving him off. I was totally aware of how short I was being, but I didn't really care in the moment. Kez just nodded and we both went our separate ways. He would understand. He always did, somehow.

The moment I got into my car I took in a breath. I was an asshole. Toni had clearly been shaken up from this whole thing and I wasn't making it any better on her. I had been blaming her for something she had nothing to do with. At the end of the day, she was just someone who wanted a break from all of this. I could have let her. I could have had Kez show up quietly and just watch out for her, but I was being stubborn. I wanted to punish her somehow for lying to me. It wasn't just the lying, it frustrated me that she went out so carelessly. It made me realize she actually did have no idea what she was dealing with. She really didn't know who Daniel was. There was no way.

I drove back to the precinct. It was almost midnight, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep if I went home. I needed to sort my thoughts out — put what I could on paper and organize it. Maybe then I could think clearly and figure out my next steps.

I headed into the building and into my office, barely acknowledging the few people on shift. I immediately logged onto the database to go over anything and everything we had on Eugleshi—for the hundredth time. I was about an hour into it when I heard footsteps coming from the hallway, turning my senses on high alert. My hand instinctively moved to my belt where I had left my gun. It's not like there was nobody here. We had people around the clock here, so I wasn't sure why I was so on edge.

A figure rounded the corner, and I felt my hand tighten even more around my belt. Cruise stepped forward and leaned his arm against my doorframe. I should have locked it, I thought to myself. I did not want to deal with this tonight.

"Exciting night?"

I was irritated. I'm sure my face said it all. "Not particularly?"

Cruise snorted. He was wearing his blue uniform, meaning he was on a patrol shift where he should have been anywhere but here. "Oh, but I heard some chatter. Trouble with your girl?"

"If there were trouble, I doubt she'd be roaming free right now."

"Ah, so this is about the allegedly innocent girlfriend."

"What?" I gave him a look — of what I'm not exactly sure — but I knew what he was doing. He got off on pushing people and for some reason, he loved pushing mine since the moment I got here. I wasn't interested in playing into whatever he was giving, though. Especially not tonight. "You should probably be out there," I said eventually, nodding towards the window.

That seemed to push him right back. If there was one thing I knew to be true about Cruise, it was that he was insecure. He hated the fact that I could actually hold authority over him. He didn't like being told what to do, and I loved pushing the line of teasing it a little too much.

"The fuck did you say to me?" He took a step forward.

"Nothing, Cruise. Harvie doesn't concern you."

"I hope you're not as weak as you're starting to look, you know," he said, causing me to lift my eyebrow at his choice of words. "That bitch is going to get away with whatever because that's what they do, Cons."

"What are you talking about? Harvie is a witness. She's a 20-something with bad luck, nothing more."

"Whatever you say, Cons. I've read her file. Read her texts to that idiot. I know this one. When it comes down to it, I'll do what I have to do."

I gripped the corner of my desk. I wasn't going to waste my time. The guy was borderline an incel. Did he not hear himself? The fact this man received his badge in the first place was a problem. I shrugged my shoulders and looked at him. "She didn't bend down to your level, Cruise? Is that what this is about?"

It took him a quick second before his meaty wrists had my shirt bunched up in his hands. I simply grabbed his arm and held him from crushing against me.

"You keep doing that, Cruise. You know exactly where that will get you," I said quietly. It was a threat, yes — but I wanted him to go on. A suspension would give have given me the piece of mind I needed in all of this. I wasn't behaving well either by egging him on, but I was sure as hell lot better than him.

Cruise seemed to be out of breath already from lunging himself at me in his fit of anger. He was flushed and his forehead was beginning to sweat. He was clearly struggling. "You're a loser," he huffed before letting me go and stepping away. "I can't wait to take that badge off of you one day and bring you to your knees."

Again, I lifted my eyebrow at this choice of words but decided to pay no mind to it. "Good night."

He finally left the room, leaving me to my cluttered thoughts once again. That was a rather annoying interruption. I rubbed my temples. If I didn't have a headache before, I did now.