Page 50 of Not For Keeps
Chapter Sixteen
MATEO
Iwalk into the station, dropping my bag with a bit more force than intended. I’m frustrated.
Cap glances up from the table where he’s reading a report, brows rising slightly. “Morning, Rodriguez.”
Seb’s leaned back in one of the chairs, nursing a black coffee. “Damn. You look worse for wear. You good?”
I grunt. “Didn’t sleep.” I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and crack the top. “Weird night.”
Cap sets down his paperwork. “What happened?”
I sit across from them and rub my hands over my face. “That’s the thing. I’m not completely sure what happened. But it was really weird.”
Seb makes a face. “What does that even mean?”
“It started with a trip to the gym.”
“Oh, the horror,” Seb cuts in.
I glare at him. Cap waves his hand at me to go on.
“Anyway. It started with a trip to the gym. I was already in rare form, bad sleep or whatever. Then Letty was there.”
“Ahh. Not great,” Cap says.
“Exactly. So, she spots me and decides she needs to work out with me. And of course, has to put her hands all over me. Then Nico shows up.”
Seb chokes on his coffee. “Nico? At the gym?”
“Yeah.” I shake my head. “Just strolls up and starts running his damn mouth.”
Cap leans forward, arms resting on the table. “What’d he say?”
I toss the bottle cap onto the table, the plastic skidding across the surface. “Some shit about Letty and I working out together. Said it looked like we were picking up where we left off.”
Seb frowns. “What does that even mean?”
“Hell if I know.” I lean back in the chair, scrubbing a hand over my jaw. “I’ve never had a thing with Letty. She’s been…persistent since I moved her, but I’ve never given her anything to work with.”
Cap watches me for a beat. “So, you two never hooked up?”
I meet his eyes. “No. Not once. I’ve never touched her.”
Seb whistles under his breath. “Could’ve fooled her.”
“Yeah,” I mutter. “Tell me about it.”
I run a hand through my hair and sigh. “The whole thing just felt…off. I don’t know how to explain it. Not Nico showing up—him being annoying is par for the course—but the way they were both acting? It didn’t feel random.”
Cap narrows his eyes. “You think it was a setup?”
I shrug. “That’s the thing. I don’t know what it was. I don’t even know what they’d be setting me up with. I’m confused as hell.”
Seb leans forward, elbows on his knees. “Did Nico say anything else?”
I nod slowly. “Yeah. Something like, ‘Hateto find out you’ve got side pieces.’ Real smug, like he was waiting for me to react. I told him to watch his mouth, and then I walked.”
