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“What the hell is going on here?”
“I’ll tell you what’s going on.” Charlotte raised her hand and pointed a hostile finger at my partner’s chest. “This motherfucker called my boss demanding for a new CDA. Apparently, Detective Hutch seems to think I have an issue keeping my personal problems emotionally contained outside of work.”
“He did what?” I asked, staring between the both of them in utter disbelief. It must have been time to clean out my ears because I was certain I had to have misunderstood her.
But as my gaze flicked back over to Spike, visually processing how he refused to look at me and how he neglected to defend himself, I became angry, and fucking fast too.
Why the fuck would he do something like that?
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
“No,” he growled, his jaw ticking. “There isn’t. But she has something to tell us. Isn’t that right, Eve?”
Charlotte blinked wide-eyed at him with her lips parted, her breath trembling. “Wh-what did you just call me?”
My heart dropped.
I opened my mouth, but as hard as I tried, no words came out.
What the fuck was Spike thinking? This was not part of the fucking plan!
“Eve,” Spike carried on with a malevolent grin on his face. “That’s what you told us your name was when we met at The Flirty Sanctum.”
“Spike,” I growled without thinking, seconds away from striking him across his thick fucking jaw as I turned to him with my fists clenched and ready.
“Sp-Spike?” Charlotte repeated, her skin paling as she took another step back, her eyes sweeping over him again, and then me. “Ph-Phoenix?”
“Hi, Eve,” I muttered, frowning with remorse as I watched her hands shoot up and clasp around her mouth, tears filling her eyes.
“My name is Spike Hutcheson and his is Phoenix Rhodes. At the club you know us as Spike and Phoenix, but here you know us as Hutch and Rhodes. We didn’t know who you really were until you gave me your phone number the other night. I am the lion, Phoenix is the rabbit, and you, Charlotte Greene, are our precious feline.”
“No.” She moved closer to the door, shaking her head. “That’s impossible.”
“I’m sorry, Charlotte.” I wanted to go to her, but I knew she’d shove me away or run if I tried. “But he’s telling the truth. You weren’t supposed to find out this way. The plan was to invite you to lunch and then tell you.”
I cut my eyes at Spike, who did nothing but roll his eyes in spite of his constant refusal to look me in the eye.
I’d deal with his ass soon enough.
“We have a case,” I told her before she could say anything. “Possibly another rape victim. Chief thinks it’s related to Delilah’s case.”
“Good.” Charlotte straightened her posture and then turned for the door, grasping the knob. “Text me the details and I’ll meet you there.”
She took a step out before she froze and whirled back to face us, her forehead scrunched with wrinkles as she glared ruthlessly at Spike. “I’ll make sure to keep my personal problems emotionally separate from the case.”
Charlotte took her leave and viciously slammed the door behind her. I turned to Spike and without thinking twice about it, grasped him by the collar on his shirt and vehemently slammed him against the wall.
I typically wasn’t one to resort to violence so quickly, but I was good and pissed the fuck off and Spike deserved to have his shit rocked sideways after that stunt he just pulled.
“What the fuck were you thinking, huh, Spike?” Spit flew out my mouth and landed on his chin and cheek. “We had a plan!”
“Plans change,” he sneered, shoving me off of him and adjusting his collar back in place, smirking at me as my chest began to heave. “It felt like the right call and so, I did what I had to do.”
“You went to her fucking boss!”
“How the fuck was I supposed to know Harley would tell her?” he asked, raising his hands in defense. “The woman denied my request and shot me down. There was no reason to tell—”
“That’s her fucking boss, Spike. Of course she was going to tell Charlotte!” I scrubbed my hands down my face and took a moment to get the jackhammering in my chest back under control. “Charlotte’s right, Spike. You had no fucking right to do that shit. However, what’s done is done and well, I doubt there’s anything I can do to fix this shit. Not only did you decide to fuck me over, but you probably just cost us our relationship with her too. Thanks for that. I truly hope it was fucking worth it.”
