Page 25 of Beyond the Badge: Crew

Finn answered, “He headed down to his apartment about twenty minutes ago.”

Crew nodded. “Okay, good. Torres, you’re in charge.”

“I’m leaving in about thirty. My oldest has a soccer game.”

“Don’t get thrown off the field this time.”

Torres laughed. “Some kid tripped mine on purpose.”

“It’s a game,” Crew reminded him.

“The little shit cheated,” Torres exclaimed.

“Yeah? Letting your boy deal with it himself will prepare him for real life.”

“Yeah, but as a father yourself, you know you want to protect them as long as possible.”

“I let mine fight their own battles.”

Finn snorted as he reached the door. “Sure you do. How many times were you banned from Dylan’s baseball games?”

“Just once.”

Finn coughed out a, “Bullshit.” His smirk quickly disintegrated. “Meet you down there.”

“Heading down now. I want to give Cabrera a quick tour before we do our thing.”

“Is that thethingyou guys have been talking about?” Mullins asked.

“Yeah.”

“About time,” Torres answered. “Every day I come in here, I keep expecting to hear bad news.”

“Don’t say that shit,” Proctor growled. “I’ve been fucking worried about the guy.”

“We all have,” Crew assured him. “Let’s just hope this helps.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Kruger asked.

“I don’t know. None of us can force him to do anything. We can only talk, hope he listens and takes our concerns to heart.” Though, both him and Jamison had something up their sleeves to try to get Nox to cooperate. Hopefully it didn’t blow up in their faces.

“That sucks, dude,” Mullins murmured. “Good luck with that.”

“Yeah, thanks. We’re going to need it.” Crew turned and called out, “Cabrera. You’re done for the day. Come with me.”

She twisted in her chair, with her eyebrows pinched together. “Come with you where?”

“Downstairs. Will give you a little tour before you leave.”

“Let me log out.” When she finished shutting down the work station, she stood.

His gaze slid over her from the top of her head to her toes. Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail, and she forewent the suit today. Instead, she wore dark gray cargo pants that emphasized the slight curve of her hips and a white button-down shirt with enough buttons undone to show a hint of cleavage. Her feet were covered with a pair of black, low-heeled boots.

“Did I passthattest?”

He lifted his eyes to her face to see a slight curve to her lips and a gleam in her eyes. “What test?”

“The test to see if I listened to you about dressing more casually.”

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