Page 15 of Mine To Break
Chapter Seven
Walking into the precinct the next day, Colby could only think of John Travolta strutting down the street toStaying Alive. Elias saw him coming and groaned so loudly that everyone in the room looked up. So Colby put a little more swagger into his step.
“Somebody got laid last night,” Elias said in a morose tone despite his own liberal amounts of laying that he was undoubtedly getting now that he was engaged to Vicki.
Rather than sitting down at his desk that faced his partner’s, Colby plopped down on the corner of Elias’s desk and snagged half of a sandwich.
“Hey, I was eating that!”
He grinned and took another bite. “Vicki’s been feeding you really well.”
“Yeah, I know. That was leftover from yesterday and was supposed to be my breakfast.”
Colby winced and made a mental note to be sure and pick up the tab while they were out. Elias hadn’t given him shit about his eating habits, other than a casual,damn, son, why are you dieting so hard?Which he hadn’t been dieting. He just couldn’t eat much. Until Mal set him straight last night.
“So I see you survived unscathed.”
Grateful Elias changed the subject, even to something that could get personal real quick, Colby shoved the rest of the sandwich in his mouth and moved over to his chair to sort through the waiting stacks of paperwork. “More or less.”
He didn’t look up at his partner, but he could almost see Elias’s eyebrows rising with curiosity and speculation. “I figured you’d come in limping not strutting like a cocky rooster.”
“She’s a…” Colby glanced over to the nearest person and while Brown wasn’t looking at him, the guy was listening very hard. Elias knew what he would have said anyway.Mistress. I’m dating a Mistress. Domme. Dominatrix. What the fuck are you doing?“Not a prize fighter.”
“You look good considering you went toe-to-toe for twelve rounds.”
He hadn’t felt this good in… He couldn’t even remember. He’d slept. Actually fucking slept. For almost five hours.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this rested. He was ravenous… and he’d been able to eat the sandwich. Even leftover chicken salad with soggy bread tasted like ambrosia.
His analytical side remained skeptical. Surely one night with a Mistress couldn’t have changed so much. Mal shouldn’t have had such an impact on him. Yet he felt like he’d crashed their police cruiser so hard that it’d flipped half a dozen times. In fact, he could easily imagine hanging upside, trapped in the seatbelt, with the car upside down in the ditch.
And he felt great anyway. Relaxed. Hungry and rested and ready to go again. Not miserable, injured, or worried about being trapped.
Elias stood and waved a file at him. “Let’s go. We should’ve left thirty minutes ago.”
Nodding, Colby opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out one of his spare ties. He’d barely had time to get home and shower this morning. At least he’d still had a clean shirt in the closet. He grabbed the suit jacket draped over the back of his chair and followed his partner outside.
It wasn’t even April yet and it was fucking hot. He wouldn’t last more than hour before he had to strip the jacket off. Brass really preferred all the detectives to look the part, but most days it was too damned hot in Dallas to wear a suit and a tie all fucking day. He followed Elias into the convenience store next door instead of waiting outside like usual. A super large coffee with cream and sugar, and a giant bear claw would tie him over a bit. Cop jokes about the donut shop aside, he’d really missed the shot of caffeine and sugar that helped with those long hours and little sleep. He waited at the register for Elias to come up with his hot dog loaded with onions and relish and an energy drink. The lady ringing them up didn’t bat an eye at a hot dog for breakfast. She’d been working here next door to the precinct longer than Colby had been in Dallas and already seen it all. Colby paid for everything and they headed down the side road to the parking lot in the rear.
Elias waited until both car doors were shut and they’d both snapped their seat belts before beginning the interrogation. “What the hell did she do to you?”
Colby paused with half the donut already shoved in his mouth. “What?”
Eyes narrowed, Elias watched him eat the rest of the bear claw in a matter of bites. “You heard me.”
“Nothing, why?”
“Don’t give me that shit. I haven’t seen you eat in months, and you just demolished a donut the size of a dinner platter in three bites.”
Colby shrugged, but Elias wasn’t buying it. Unfortunately, his partner had the instincts of a pit bull crossed with a piranha. He smelled blood in the water, and wasn’t letting go.
“So Mal waved a magic wand and all your issues suddenly disappeared?”
Colby narrowed a hard gaze on him. “What the hell do you mean byissues?”
Elias’s eyes widened for a split second and then he laughed like Colby had just told him the dirtiest joke he’d ever heard. He started up the car and drove off the rear lot, merging into light traffic. “Yeah, right. You don’t have issues. My bad.”
“No, really. I…” Colby started to say,“I’ve been hiding them—pretty damned well, if I do say so myself.”Hadn’t he?
