Page 17 of The Fighter
Cameron lifted his hand with a coffee cup in it. “How is that even possible? Did he go to the Motherlands? Where would he find a woman to cheat with?”
“Her name is Gennie and the wife found her husband in bed with her.”
“Wait a minute, that has to be Storm’s wife.”
“Storm who?” Cameron asked.
“Storm. I went to school with him and he married some wacko woman from the Motherlands.”
“Maybe your friend should have kept a better eye on his woman.”
Raven was waving her hands. “No, no, they aren’t married anymore. She divorced him last year.”
“Then why is she still here?” I asked.
Raven lifted her shoulders in a shrug signaling that she had no idea. “It’s lucky for her that most women here don’t have fight training. If she had been withmyhusband, the bitch would’ve been dead.”
To call a woman a bitch was not done, and I gave Raven a reproachful glance while Cameron focused on another detail of what Raven had said.
“You plan to have a tournament, Raven?”
Raven wrinkled up her nose. “Not a chance.”
“Then why did you mention that if she’d been with your husband, she would have been dead?”
“I’m not saying that I’ll never marry. Just that I’m not having a tournament. And why would I? I don’t need a strong warrior when I can take care of myself.”
With a snort, I crossed my arms. “Are you saying you want a weak husband?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Raven mirrored me and crossed her own arms. “The right man for me will be someone I can laugh with and who will support me and my dreams the same way I’ll support him.”
“Hmm.” I frowned because I understood her comment about laughter was aimed at me. Raven had called me stiff and boring plenty of times. “Well, good luck finding that while I go find a solution to this mess.”
I was walking out of the room when I heard Cameron talking to Raven behind me. “I’ve been supportive, haven’t I?”
The man was twenty years her senior and a strong warrior in his own right. We could all see how he had fallen for Raven, but I didn’t think any of us stood a chance with her. Still, I slowed my step, wanting to hear her answer.
“Yes, Cam, you’ve been supportive with my fight training, but I’m still stuck in the basement sorting files that no one really cares about. That’s not exactly my dream of police work.”
The door closed behind me before I could hear any more. My head was spinning as I kept thinking about something one of Raven’s friends had once told me.She grows on you.
After my initial strong attraction to Raven when I first met her, I hadn’t wanted the job as her mentor. It was one thing to admire an unattainable woman from afar, but working with her was a nightmare. I had little experience with women in general, and having responsibility for her safety had me worrying all the time. My life had been much easier and more uncomplicated before she got the crazy idea of joining the police, but at least I’d been able to use my irritation to suppress my attraction to her. The fact that she was annoying and disrespectful had pushed me to act cold and hostile to her.
So why was Raven the first thing I thought about in the morning? Why did I wonder if she would come to work wearing her hair up or down? Why did I stand close enough to see if I could smell her perfume? And why did the days when she didn’t poke fun at me feel longer than the rest?
I didn’t have time to ponder about it when I had a historic case waiting for me. Under normal circumstances, I would call in the Doom Squad in cases of domestic violence, but with a female aggressor that seemed like overkill. We men of the North believed in “an eye for an eye” but it wasn’t like we could beat up a woman or cut off her nonexistent penis. I would have to come up with something else, but what?
When an idea struck me, I pivoted around and walked back into the station.
“Raven, come here.”
Popping her head around the corner, she looked at me. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You said you wanted action, right?”
