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I drove to the one place I felt like myself. The one place I knew would make me feel better. Western Security. My office. Well, our office. It belonged to me and my three best friends.
It was past seven on a Friday night, so I was surprised to find a light on inside one of the second-floor rooms as I pulled in front of the gray stucco building.
I pressed my thumb to the keypad next to the door, and a green light appeared just as the front doors unlocked.
My footsteps echoed down the marble hallway. I skipped the elevator, taking the stairs instead. If there was someone in our office who wasn’t supposed to be here, I preferred that the elevator ding didn’t announce my arrival.
I slowly turned the handle at the top of the stairs and crept toward the light at the end of the hallway. It was Will’s office. My hand clutched the holster at my side as I stepped closer.
I heard Will’s voice before I reached the office. Sighing, I relaxed my hand. I was definitely on edge tonight.
Will’s dark hair fell past his jaw as he looked down at a letter on his desk.
“What are you still doing at work?”
Will jerked back, taken by surprise, his hand reaching inside his jacket. I put my hands up, “Whoa!”
He shook his head and his hand fell to his side. “I’ve warned you not to sneak up on me. I didn’t even hear the elevator ding.”
I smiled, and he rolled his eyes. “You took the stairs, didn’t you?”
“Yup.”
“Smart.”
“So? What are you doing here?”
Will looked down at his Rolex. “The better question is, why are you back? I thought you had a date tonight.”
Taking a seat in front of his desk, I crossed my arms. “It didn’t work out,” I said, coughing into my fist. “I decided to catch up on some work instead. Did my request for a background check come in?”
With a flick of his wrist, he threw the paper at me. “Here it is. Rejected again.”
I grabbed the paper before it hit the desk, but quickly crumpled it into my fist. “Not again.”
“Yup,” Will nodded. “What are you going to do?”
I stared at the crumpled paper, signed by the police chief himself. It was the fifth such request I’d been denied this month. Only me. None of my friends had any trouble getting access to police files.
But none of them had dated the police commissioner’s sister, Janine, except for me.
“I’ve waited long enough. I have to talk to him.”
Will nodded. He advised me to do so after the first rejection, but I had made excuses. I thought it was probably a mistake. But after a fifth rejection, there was no mistaking his grudge against me.
“He’s making it impossible for you to do your job. How can you protect people if you can’t run simple background checks on their employees?”
I had avoided the commissioner because he reminded me of one of the most painful times in my life.
“You don’t want to bring up the past, do you?”
Will knew me well. I couldn’t deny that. I knew him, too. We’d joined the military at the same time and went through training together. We were at the top of our class. One day, we were pulled from training and asked to join special ops. We’d both agreed without hesitation. We’d known each other before the program had changed us. I knew that he had a dimple on his chin that only appeared when he grinned widely. I rarely saw it now, and I’d bet most people probably didn’t even know it existed.
“I don’t want to talk about the past, and I don’t think he does either. My purpose is to get the background checks approved.”
Will shrugged. “If you plan to grovel, can I come watch? It’s not often that someone gets the best of you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t let this get to your head. Or I’ll remind everyone of the time I carried your drunk ass home after only two beers in Germany.”
