Page 2 of Hard To Stay

“Since I can’t ask you about work, I wanted to ask you about Samantha. Word has it you cut her loose.”

“That would be correct and believe me when I say it didn’t end well.” Blowing out a deep breath, my hands raked their way through my hair. “She didn’t take the news very well when I told her we were done.” Sammy was a great girl, but I just wasn’t there yet. Truthfully, I didn’t think I would ever get there with her.

Lucas let out a loud sigh reminding me that he knew the real reason why I was unable to commit. “C’mon man. You’ve got to let Emily go, dude.” As much as I didn’t want to admit it, my ex, Emily, was still fully camped out in my head and didn’t appear to be leaving anytime soon.

I knew the need to quickly change the subject was imperative to my mental health. “I appreciate the concern, but I’m good. I’m going to stretch my legs and work the room for a bit.” I tapped my bottle against his then went off to catch up with a few people I hadn’t seen in a while.

“Hey, Morgan! There you are. Get your ass over here!” The slurred words creating a well-timed distraction came from my old sergeant, James Flask.

“How’s it going, Whiskey?” I asked, reaching in to shake his hand. He instantly pulled me in for a hug, catching me a little off guard. The smell of Jack and Coke assaulted my nostrils.

He pulled back, gripping me tightly on the shoulder. “How the fuck have you been, Morgan? Long time no see. It feels like years.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he saw me just last week.

Everyone that knew James called him Whiskey. In part because his last name was Flask, but mostly because he was partially fond of Jack Daniels. I couldn’t even begin to count how many times I had to drive his drunk ass home from a party because he was too shit-faced to get behind the wheel.

“I’m good. How’s the family?”

Whiskey leaned in with his glossy eyes. “Annette misses you, Morgan. You’ll have to stop by for those meatballs you love so much.” He said rubbing his round stomach. His comment made me smile. His wife Annette was a saint, particularly having to deal with Whiskey when he had too much to drink. She was a beautiful woman; Italian on both sides of her family and possibly the best cook I’d ever known on the eastern seaboard.

“Tell Annette I’ll be seeing her soon.” I winked and took a swig of my beer, feeling myself slowly start to unwind. It was fun listening to all the office pranks and getting brought up to speed on all the shit that had happened since I’d left. Maybe it was the familiarity or just the comfort of being back with my old crew, but I found myself feeling a lot less stressed.

Unfortunately, that feeling hadn’t lasted very long when my eyes clashed with Gage Garrison. Gage and I had never been friends and everyone was well aware of that. Looking at him caused an unreasonable amount of anger to rise. Gage was a self-assured asshole and everyone agreed. At 6’4 he could come across as very intimidating and when you added that to his personality, that made him the most competitive person on earth with an ego the size of Texas. He was a win at all costs, take no prisoners kind of man and he clearly thought he was better than everyone else. The only reason people tolerated him was because he really was the best at almost everything he did. Especially as an interrogator—give him 5 minutes alone with Colonel Sanders and he’d come out of the room with the list of 7 herbs and spices.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Brad Morgan. What made you decide to slum it tonight with your fellow officers? Let me guess, there were no cops left in your office to stab in the back?”

I wanted to punch the grin right off his face. My patience was running thin. As happy as I was to catch up with everyone, it seemed the tension between Gage and I was just as strong as ever.

My hands clenched. Gage Garrison knew what buttons to push, and it irked me that I allowed him to get under my skin so easily. There was history between us, and I wanted to keep it that way… history.

“Don’t be a douche bag, Garrison.” Whiskey said cutting him off. Apparently, even under the influence his bullshit detector was in full working order.

“You guys may be okay with cozying up with the enemy here.” He gestured with his hand pointing in my direction. “But I’m sure as hell not.”

I was determined to not let him get to me, to be the better person, but he was making it extremely difficult. “Gage, why don’t you do everyone here a favor and shut the fuck up?” I hissed.

The room went silent. Everyone’s attention shifted to us when Gage grabbed my shoulders.

“Jesus, Morgan, you really need to relax. I’m just messing with you!” His fake laugh was obvious and for the sake of not ruining the party, I backed down.

Once everyone was assured that a brawl wasn’t about to break out, all the conversations went back to normal. I was pissed at myself for letting him get the best of me again and decided I wasn’t going to play his stupid games tonight. He wasn’t worth the trouble.

I eventually found my way back to the bar with Sawyer and Lucas who had just ordered another round of shots. The bartender lined them up and topped them off before we each grabbed one in salute. “Here’s to Chappy!” I cheered holding up my glass as they soon followed. When I looked up, I could practically feel Abby Chapman’s stare burning a hole into my eyes. Something about her gaze threw me off. I squinted trying to focus on the message she was sending.

It didn’t take long for my detective instincts to kick in. Something was wrong. I nudged Lucas in the arm, but he was too buzzed to notice anything. He just shrugged his shoulders and ordered another shot. I quickly dismissed myself when she signaled for me to meet her in the corner.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and walked briskly over to her. She seemed nervous.

“What’s up?”

She worked her bottom lip between her teeth as her eyes slid across the room. “I really need your help, Brad.”

My head slanted to the side, and I felt my eyebrows quirk up. “What kind of help?”

“My friend Lexi is trapped in the bathroom. She’s scared to come out. Her ex-fiancé is outside in the lobby causing a scene. She doesn’t want anything to do with him and he won’t go away.”

After taking a minute to assess the situation, the only question that popped into my head was what kind of idiot would stir up trouble at a party full of cops? Did he have a death wish or was he just plain stupid?

“Where is she?” I asked, feeling my curiosity get the better of me.

Abby pointed to the restroom down the hall. “Lead the way,” I said, holding out my hand letting her go first as I followed closely behind her.

“Thank you for taking care of this, Brad. I wasn’t sure who to ask, but once I saw you, I knew I could trust you to handle it.” Hearing those words offered me a sense of honor. The pity party I had been having in my head was getting kind of old. Being needed and trusted is what drove me, it’s what fueled me, and it was exactly what I needed at the moment.

Abby slowly opened the door, poking her head inside and glanced around. Holding up her hand she signaled that it was all clear. Slowly inching my way in, I froze when my eyes landed on the beautiful woman with long blonde hair cascading down over her shoulders. She didn’t look familiar to me, but something had me drawn to her. Call it curiosity or whatever you wanted, but it was very unsettling. She was perched up on the chair with tear-stained cheeks and a face that I would never be able to erase from my memory. Her knees were drawn up to her chin, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was terrified. I felt a slight pang in my chest.

Something completely unexpected came over me. Up until today, I would have sworn that this shit only happened in the movies. But there was something about her that pulled me in the second her big, blue eyes tangled with mine. A part of me knew right then and there that even when her current situation was resolved, she would still be a problem for me.

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