Page 2 of Never and Always
That was early last year, and he’d been evading invites eversince.
Glenn burst out laughing. “Nick, it’s gonna be fun. We’re going to getstrippers.”
“I don’t care about strippers. Glenn, it’s Wednesday. Why are you having a party on a worknight?”
“You’re starting to sound old,” Glenncomplained.
“No. I have things to do. So no, and no more parties for awhile.”
God, at least until he sorted his business out. Then he could have his own party to celebratethat.
He’d gone wild when he got back home, but did manage to put the ball in motion for his private investigation firm. He’d set up shop last summer and rented a small office near the docks. It was quaint and quiet, and he loved it. He just needed to roll it all out properly. He’d gotten the necessary training while he was in the Marines and his PI licenses prior to setting up, and now it was time to organize things properly and start doing some seriouswork.
When his father retired from the Marines, he’d joined the police and became an amazing captain. Nick was going to do this. It felt suitable for him with his love forinvestigation.
He was thirty-eight now and didn’t want to go backwards by indulging on wild parties and loose women. He wanted to move forwards, and keep on the careerpath.
“I’m going to work today,” Nick declared with a firmnod.
“Work? You’re still calling that work?” Glennfrowned.
Nick slumped his shoulders. “Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence. I have my licenses, Glenn, and you know I help Sawyer out bigtime.”
Sawyer was a close friend who was a detective with the Chicago PD. They met back in the Marines and were comrades, went on the same missions and had each other’s backs in life-or-death situations. Sawyer had left the Marines five years before Nick, but they kept intouch.
“You freelance, Nick, and that’s so ad hoc I’m not sure you can call it work.” Glenn shook his head andlaughed.
“I’m calling it work. It’s going to be work. I need to fix the office up and set things up properly to take on clients.” Sawyer had been bugging him on a daily basis now to take a fulltime job with the police, but Nick preferred to work on a contractual basis with them. That freed him up to work with other agencies andassociations.
He wanted to specialize on criminal cases. That’s why working with Sawyer was perfect, he was a direct contact forhim.
“Okay, I get it, but you gotta come, man,” Glenn insisted with an excitednod.
“Why?” Nickgrimaced.
“Because it’s fun, and…” Glenn’s eyes widened evenmore.
Nick frowned, he should have guessed there was more with thisinsistence.
“And what,Glenn?”
“Alice will be there.” Glenn looked at him like he was offering him a milliondollars.
“No.” Nick didn’t even bother to think about that one. Alice was crazy. She was one of Glenn’s colleagues that Nick wished he didn’t know. Unfortunately, last year he made the mistake of sleeping with her and regretted it ever since. The woman stalked him for months on end and he only had some peace when she went on a secondment to Dubai for thefirm.
“Nick, if you don’t come she won’t bring hersister.”
“That might not be a bad thing, Glenn. She could be crazy, too,” Nick said, reaching for his dog tags and rubbing themtogether.
“Alice isn’t crazy. Nick, you’re theproblem.”
“She sent me a box of love hearts and teddy bears for Christmas,” Nick pointed out. “And she came to my office dressed in nothing but her coat. You know the story.” Nick remembered the horror of it. He’d had a meeting with a potential client who wanted some help with a fraud investigation. In came Alice in the middle of the meeting. She burst through the door believing he was by himself, practically jumping inside, and dropped her coat, revealing her nakedbody.
Any normal person would have knocked first, especially since she knew it was hisoffice.
Of course he lost the client. They didn’t think he was professional enough. Then what was worse was Alice didn’t think anything ofit.
“That was an accident. Come on, Nick. I have to see her sisteragain.”
