Page 69 of Bazooka
“Patricia,” I said, ignoring the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. “How about that drink?”
Jordan choked on his sandwich and looked at me wide-eyed. Maddox smirked. Adam burst into laughter, taking off the ice pack from his black eye to look at me.
“Oh, this is too good. This day is getting better and better.”
Even Chief Bibb was staring at me from his office, as if he wanted to tell me I was making a mistake.
“Sure,” Patricia said, clearing her throat. “After work?”
Which was officially in an hour.
“Yeah.”
“Works for me.”
I reached for my phone and texted Luz.
Me:I don’t know when I’ll be back.
Pest:Is everything okay?
Me:Yeah. I’m having a drink with Patricia after work, so I’ll be late.
I got no reply, and I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. I tried to concentrate on my work, but the bad feeling in my gut kept getting worse. Of course, since my day was already a shitshow, nothing changed after my shift was over. Patricia and I arrived at Pete’s, which was so crowded that we had to sit in a tiny booth, and it brought us knee-to-knee. I downed my tequila and told the server to bring us a bottle. Five rounds later, I was buzzing. I was relaxed. I started to wonder why I was so nervous in the first place.
Patricia was in a good mood, too. She told me about her time at the police academy as we reminisced about our beginnings inthe police force. It turned out she was newly divorced. She had a son, but he lived with his father. From what I gathered, her chosen profession was a stumbling block in their family. As I guessed, she was a former underwear model, but her father was a cop, so she decided to follow in his footsteps.
“What about you?” she said, nudging me with her shoulder. “Have you ever been married with kids?”
“Nope,” I replied, refilling our glasses. “Not my style.”
“Not even a girlfriend?”
“Honestly, I don’t have time for one. This job takes everything you’ve got, so it seems easier this way to me.”
“Aren’t you lonely?” She asked me the same thing that Luz had asked me the other day.
“Sometimes.”
As if she could read my thoughts, she asked me an unanswerable question.
“How long will this situation with Luz go on?”
I made a face. “Until I find his attackers, I suppose.”
No one except Chief Bibb knew about my arrangement with his father, so I didn’t have a better explanation.
She cocked her eyebrows. “You know it can take forever?”
“Yeah, I know.”
She put her hand on mine, and I counted to five before I pulled my hand away.
“You have to do something about him, Levi. He’s exploiting you. You’re a good man, and you can’t see it, but everyone else sees it.”
I shook my head, not knowing what to say to her.
“You deserve a personal life, Levi. You deserve companionship, privacy, and intimacy like every other human being. Look… how about we go to my place? For one night, we could forget about things. Let’s have some fun. What do you say?”
