AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Give me a break.” Her gaze locked with mine for a second. “You do realize I’m paid to notice things?”
I shrugged.
“Adam just shot a man. If he tells you it doesn’t bother him, he’s lying. It bothers everyone it happens to.”
I didn’t respond for a moment. I couldn’t catch my breath. “What can I do?”
“Be there for him. I don’t know if he’ll want to punch the wall, cry, go silent, or what. Just know that he’s dealing with the hardest part of the job, and he needs you more than he’ll be willing to admit.”
She pulled to a stop outside Adam’s place, turned off the car, and looked over. “He’s a good man. He doesn’t deserve the shit they put him through, and you just made it worse.”
I followed her to the door as new questions swirled in my head.
She opened the door and locked it again behind us. “I’ll fix some coffee.”
“None for me, thanks. I don’t drink the stuff.”
She located the pods under Adam’s coffee maker and started one.
I started my tea before turning to her. “What shit is he going through at work?”
“It’s not for me to say. You should ask him.”
That was a bullshit answer. “Hey, you want me to help him, then tell me what I need to know.”
Her coffee finished before she relented. “Let’s sit.”
I followed her to the couch.
“His uncle was in the Bureau.”
“He told me.” I located a teabag and started dunking it.
“The short of it is, his uncle fucked up big time. So Adam is constantly fighting against that legacy. It eats at him.”
Something like that would be difficult for anybody. I lost count of my teabag dunks and kept going. “What can I do to help that?”
She narrowed her eyes. “He obsesses about it, and he shouldn’t. I tried talking to him, but he shut me down. He needs to let go. Maybe he’ll listen to you.”
“I can try.” I’d had pretty much the same shutdown experience trying to get him to talk about the incident with Dennis. But if Rylie thought it was important, I’d do what I could.
We didn’t speak for a moment.
She reached over to touch my shoulder. “Sorry about jumping down your throat earlier.” She picked up the remote and clicked on the TV. “What do you feel like?”
“You don’t have to stay.”
A game show started on the TV. She muted it before turning to me. “I’m staying.”
“Really. I’m fine now.”
“You need to listen better. I told you we work as a team and all do our part.”
“But I’ll be fine.”
She gritted her teeth. “Adam told me to stay until he got back, so that’s what I’m doing. I told you the team succeeds by everyone doing what’s expected of them.”
“Is he your boss?”
