Page 85 of Compassion

She shoots me a glare and playfully swats at my chest.

“Careful, woman. Don’t make me call the cops in here.” The two of us can’t hold in our laughs. “I mean they’re right outside.”

Like her father could hear the joke, he reenters the house, smug smirk wedged on his expression.

Fuck. Me. Should I be worried again?

“Perhaps being fingerprinted and behind bars for a few might do thembothsome good.” His hands find their way into his pants pockets. “We take domestic abuse claims very seriously in this city for both men and women. And the fact they’re both just so quick to make criminal accusations about one another as well as innocent bystanders isn’t something I think should be taken so lightly. Green and Hurst are taking them down to the precinct now.” Charles’s stare swings specifically to me. “And Green will be reprimanded for his procedural misconduct, Cox. Bullshit behaviors like that are acancerin his career. One that I’m not afraid to cut out.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now,” seeing his expression harden has dread stirring in my system once more, “I’ve got a couple questions I want answered before I leave this morning.”

“Can you make them quick?” Jaye sweetly interrupts. “We have therapy to get to in about an hour.”

“You’re in therapy again?” He cautiously investigates.

“I am, sir.” The proclamation is far from my favorite, but I know how important it is to own it. To embrace my progress even if it’s slower than I care to admit. “I suffer from anxiety and PTSD. Help wasn’t always available; however, now that it is, I am…learning…training myselfto accept it.”

An impressed hum is presented. “And this help has come from my daughter?”

“Yes, sir.”

“She’s paying for it?”

“Until I can get a job, sir, at which point I will pay her back.Every. Single. Penny.”

“You will not,” Jaye huffs from my side.

“I have kept a financial track record, sir. From groceries to medical costs.”

“Archer!”

“Impressive,” Charles compliments on a slow nod.

“No!” My girlfriend unhappily squeaks. “That’s not impressive. That’s ridiculous! And unnecessary! And I won’t be accepting-”

“Why don’t you have a job yet, Cox? Dragging your heels? Enjoy being a handyman too much? Hoping to knock her up and just be a stay-at-home father?”

“Dad!”

“No one will hire me, sir.” Placing a hand on the small of Jaye’s back is done to wordlessly help her calm down. “I have applied for everything I can think of andcontinue toapply for everything we come across. We pick up applications practically everywhere we go, but I have not been called in for a single interview. It’s disheartening as fuck; however, I owe it to your daughter…to myself…to keep going. To keep trying. Jaye restored my faith in humanity, sir, and I will not let it go so easily.” My head tips a little higher. “While I hope to have steady work soon, I would like to note that I do make myself useful throughout the neighborhood whenever possible. Dog walking. Weed pulling. Furniture assembling. Hell, I even watched Dane’s kids for an hour, so he could run to the office to pick something up. Thankfully, they like books almost as much as Jaye does so it was easy.”

She giggles and wiggles herself closer to me.

“I love your daughter, sir. And I respect her. And I would never do anything to use or abuse her. I’d rather eat a bullet.”

“Do those things and you will.”

“Dad!”

“I’ll feed it to myself, sir.”

Another impressed smile crosses his face. “I like you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You can relax, Cox.” The grin grows friendlier. “You don’t have to be so formal.”

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