Page 15 of Watch Over Me

James inhaled slowly through the tightness in his chest. One stupid question, and he'd put so much shit in motion.

Suddenly, he wasn't sure if apologizing would be enough to fix things with Eddie.

"If I may—" He paused, not sure how to frame it. "Could you give me time to make things right with Eddie? I don't want to interfere, of course, but I think if I have a chance to apologize and explain myself, he may at least understand my position better than right now."

Kalei stared at him for a long couple of seconds.

"Very well. I don't need to have this conversation with him today."

"Thank you, sir."

With that, James left, even more determined to talk to Eddie as soon as possible.

Before he reached the staircase again, though, he saw him with Jeremy and Martinez, heading into their office down the hall.

He'd missed his chance.

Later, though, James promised himself, swallowing back the disappointment.Later.

* * *

Unfortunately, as the day went on,latercontinued to slip further and further away. James didn't manage to catch Eddie before it was time to head out to pick up Senator Corner and her husband for a charity dinner, and he ended up "talking" with Eddie for the first time since the morning meeting through the comms.

The temperature of the conversation was chilly at best.

Everyone did their job, of course, but there were no jokes, no teasing, not even a simple exchange about anything that wasn't strictly related to the case at hand. Ryan, for his part, tried to start something, but it didn't hold.

James could sense his partner's eyes on him time and time again, but it wasn't like he could do anything now. Speaking to Eddie had to wait until after the dinner was over.

He only hoped Albert Corner would behave tonight, because with how tense James was, he might not be able to pretend innocence this time around.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly and, since it was a Monday evening, the event was relatively short. They were back in the HQ a few minutes before ten.

"You want me to go drop our things off?" Ryan offered as they disconnected the comms and left the car.

James shook his head. "No, I'll do it. I need to talk to him tonight."

"Lead with an apology. Explanations can come later."

"I know." James slumped his shoulders and leaned against the hood of the car. "This sucks."

Ryan patted him on the back. "You'll straighten things out. Just be careful with your overbearing tendencies."

James straightened. "I do not haveoverbearing tendencies."

"I'm not getting into it with you right now." Ryan stepped away and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm heading home. Good luck and see you tomorrow."

James crossed his arms as he watched his friend walk up to his car and leave. He wasn't trying to tell Eddie what to do, that had never been his intention. All he wanted was to express concern, to get him to think about—Oh.

Damn it.

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to move. Prolonging this would only make things worse, especially since Eddie couldn't go home until after James had dropped their equipment off.

He headed to the comm center right away and passed Todd, who was on his way out.

For a second, it seemed like Todd would say something, but in the end he passed him by without a word.

James took a deep breath right outside the entrance.

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