DIRTY BULLETS

chapter nineteen

"ALRIGHT SEXY, WHAT'S going on?" Samuels waltzed into the office, his usual cheeky grin on his face as he sent a wink to Lowe who was sat behind his desk. He was fashionably late as usual, but it was almost expected of him at this point.

"Just the usual, buttercup – fighting crime, getting justice." Lowe chatted; a charming smile pulled onto his face as he fake flirted back.

"Oh stop it, you know how I love that sort of pillow talk."

Samuels plopped himself down at his desk opposite to Lowe's, his hand immediately going up to undo the top button of his shirt and then loosening his uncomfortable tie. He'd barely had it on for an hour and it was an hour too long, in his opinion.

Reaching over his desk, Samuels grabbed the untouched fresh coffee sat on Lowe's desk while he had returned his attention to his computer that sat in front of him.

"Oi." Was all the detective said in defiance of his stolen coffee though his eyes didn't leave the monitor.

Bringing the cup up to his mouth, Samuels took a gulp of the hot drink letting out a sigh of satisfaction as he continued to stare at Lowe, a mischievous look on his face.

"Why are you staring at me, y' creep?" Lowe then mumbled out, glancing at the detective for just a second before returning his gaze to the computer as he felt Samuels eyes burning into him.

"Left Charlotte's place this morning." Samuels told him, a smirk pulling onto his face as he wriggled his eyebrows in suggestion and Lowe pulled a face as if to say 'nice one' in congratulations to the detective.

"And reckon you'll be returning any time soon?" He asked, encouraging the conversation as if he was twenty and not nearly forty. It was just how the two grown men were around each other, immature and thoughtless.

Samuels nodded. "We have plans tomorrow night." A large devilish smile pulled onto his face before he added. "I'm seeing Kristen tonight though."

Lowe chuckled at his words, not at all surprised.

Samuels wasn't tameable and he struggled with the concept of commitment, even now while in his thirties. But he didn't plan to change and he enjoyed the way he lived his life, moving from beautiful woman to beautiful woman. He wouldn't have it any other way. And perhaps Lowe envied him sometimes.

Don't get it wrong, he loved his wife and the baby they had on the way but sometimes the idea of just going out, meeting a gorgeous stranger and hooking up for just one night, no strings attached before returning to his normal life tempted him. Though he knew deep down he could never hurt the woman he loved like that, no matter how often they fought. So perhaps he lived vicariously through Samuels and that's why they always chatted shit as though they were in college instead of being full grown established adults.

"You going to question Styles with me today?" Lowe then asked, changing the subject.

If Samuels was there, they could do a classic good-cop bad-cop approach and he swore they'd get Styles to slip up somehow. Samuels was quite helpful like that and Lowe had been dying to throw him in an interrogation room with Styles to see what would transpire, though it hadn't happened yet.

"I reckon we've got him this time, at least enough to actually arrest him for something." Lowe continued, sounding confident and convinced at what he said. There was no way Styles would hold a legitimate legal reason for carrying that stash of money with him. And he would dig into that separate van ordeal later. "God, I would love to just see his arrogant face get locked away for the next ten years of his pathetic life."

Samuels smirked at his words, the image of the guy stuck behind bars was one he admired himself.

"One of these days that'll happen, but it's not today." He told him though, and Lowe's face dropped, brief confusion drawn to his expression.