I stopped brushing, spit, rinsed and looked back to his eyes in the mirror as I shoved my brush in the holder. “So I’ll find the mole, if there is one, and I’ll track down the trouble and put it out of commission. You’ve been looking into me, Creed. You know what I’m capable of. This assignment is not outside my skill level.”
“Two working together is safer and shuts this shit down faster than one,” he shot back.
Unfortunately, this was true.
“Then I know a couple guys who I can work with,” I returned. “They’re local. They can hit the ground running. I’ll talk with Knight about them.”
“Again, I’ve had the job a month. I don’t have to hit the ground running, Sylvie. Right now, it’s you who’s catching up.”
Fuck.
Fuck!
Exactly how was this happening?
Exactly how in the fuck was I standing in my bathroom, brushing my teeth, Tucker Fucking Creed at my back after I hadn’t seen him for sixteen fucking years, talking to me about partnering on a job with him and not groveling or writhing in pain after I kicked his ass?
I knew how.
Because that was then but that was over and this was now.
This was now.
That was over.
“Fine,” I agreed and watched a weird flare in his eyes but I ignored that, turned to face him and kept talking. “Got shit to do. We’ll meet with Knight, after, you’ll catch me up.”
“No, now we gotta get shit outta the way so, as we work, it doesn’t get in the way.”
“No shit to get out of the way,” I replied and moved out from in front of him and deeper into the bathroom.
This got me another eye flare which wasn’t weird. It was annoyed.
“Sylvie –”
I shook my head. “I don’t just work for Knight, you know. I got things I gotta get done. It’s late. I don’t have a lot of time. You wanna help out, you can feed Gun on your way out.”
“I ride along on your shit, we talk before the meeting which means after we can get down to it.”
This was, for anyone other than Tucker Creed, an excellent suggestion.
Since it was Tucker Creed, I shook my head. “Not gonna happen. I work alone.” He opened his mouth to speak so I finished quickly, “Except for this gig for Knight, I work alone.”
He didn’t move.
I did, to put my hands to the hem of my shirt and I did this as I asked, “You not moving, does that mean you aren’t gonna help out and feed my cat?”
“I know,” he whispered and for the first time in a long time I had to hold back a flinch.
But I managed it and kept the mask in place.
“No shit?” I asked.
“We need to talk, Sylvie.” He leaned forward an inch. “He told me –”
Oh no.
Fuck no.
I whipped my shirt off and tossed it aside. Creed stopped speaking abruptly and his eyes dropped to my torso as my hands moved to my belt.
“Learn this about me, partner, and I suggest you do it now,” I told him. “I do not go back. Eyes ahead. Feet moving forward. I don’t ever fucking go back. I don’t talk about it. I don’t think about it.” I undid the button on my jeans and pulled the zip down. “You were in my life a long time ago. I’ve lived two full lifetimes since then, each entirely different. I like the one I’m in now. I’m not going back to the ones before. I didn’t like them as much.”
His eyes shot back to mine and his lips whispered, “Sylvie –”
It was my turn to lean in an inch. “Deal breaker. You’re all fired up to discuss that shit, this is done. I’ll tell Knight to find you another partner. He’ll understand. We’re tight. He’ll give me that and not one thing will change between us. You keep your mouth shut about that shit, eyes forward, feet moving ahead, mind on the job, we’ll be fine.”
His gaze moved over my face and it took its time.
Then he said quietly, “You’re serious.”
“Serious as shit,” I replied immediately then pulled down my jeans.
I stepped out of them and straightened, hands to my panties.
“You gonna hang while I shower?” I asked on a tilt of my head.
His eyes were locked to mine. “I’m ride-along with you,” he declared.
“Man, I work alone.”
“Not anymore.”
I took my fingers out of the waistband of my panties and planted my hands on my hips. “Deal is, Knight’s job and only Knight’s job.”
“Deal is, we’re partners. We learn to work together so we don’t get dead workin’ together. That means we take every opportunity to work together. Sebring’s footin’ the bill and you got yourself extra hands, eyes and brains on your other jobs that have shit to do with him. Honest to God, you gonna turn your back on that?”
“Yes,” I returned instantly.
“Then that tells me that hard shell with sharp edges you grew isn’t about life but about protecting yourself,” he shot back. “Which means you won’t let me in because of the shit we share. That means it’s between us. And that means, we need to take each other’s back, with that shit between us, we’re fucked. And that… partner, means, if that shit’s between us, you aren’t lookin’ forward. That’s bullshit. You got your eyes trained way the fuck back.”
Fucking fuck, fuck, fuck.