Double Standards, page 29
As she flung herself at me, I grabbed her wrists and twisted them behind her back.
“Who are you?” I seethed.
She just laughed, choosing to say nothing as if she were imposing her Fifth Amendment rights.
A couple of officers raced toward me then, seeing the end of my attack.
“Detective Eden, are you alright?” One of them asked as they reached me.
I nodded, even though my body was hurting more than earlier and my stomach was rolling. “Yes, please cuff these two,” I spat with disdain. As I watched them arrest the redhead and Kelsey, I doubled over and puked over the cement of the parking garage.
Gross.
I straightened and grabbed both women by their arms, marching them into the precinct to take them into separate interview rooms.
“What the hell were you thinking, Kelsey?” I snarled. My mouth tasted of bile and I cringed internally.
“Let me go, Callie,” she snapped in return, tugging on my fierce grip on her arm.
“As if. Not after that lame-ass attempt to attack me,” I quipped. “And I have no idea who this woman is.” I shook the other woman’s arm.
The redhead laughed, but I figured it out.
“You’re the one who got an abortion and didn’t tell him. Just so you know, when he filed for divorce on Christmas Eve last year, he fucked me,” I told her smugly.
Maybe now wasn’t the time to rub that fact in her face, but I was the one arresting them and I was feeling petty.
Kelsey stiffened as the elevator opened. “So he has slept with you.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed them both forward, passing the booking area and heading toward the bullpen. “Relax. He’s been faithful to you.”
“I can’t believe he told you our personal business,” Liam’s ex-wife sneered as she struggled in my grip.
I tightened my hold on her. “We spend all day, every day together. Now, shut up and keep walking.”
“Let me go,” they both said in unison.
I snickered, but didn’t respond to them fighting against me now. I simply continued walking them to the interview rooms. I caught Liam’s eye as I walked past the stairs, where he was frozen at the landing. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.
Once I had each woman cuffed to the tables in separate rooms, I slammed the doors shut and stormed right up the stairs, where Liam was still standing in shock.
“You want to tell me what the hell is going on?” I demanded, balling my hands into fists. My head pulsed as blood rushed to my face. I winced as pain from the hangover, the fight, and the emotional distress, all blended together.
He seemed to break out of his trance as his eyes swept over me, his mouth opening and then shutting again. “Callie, I—,” he cut himself off, his eyes muddled with confusion. “Are you okay? What happened?”
I searched his face frantically for some answer, wondering if he already knew what had happened. “I’m fine. Your jealous girlfriend and psycho ex-wife attacked me in the parking garage, but I took care of it.”
“They what?”
I threw my hands up in the air, pointing at my bruising eye and busted lip. “Could you please explain to me what’s going on?”
Liam looked over his shoulder. Everyone was pretending not to look at us, but it was evident they were. He grabbed my hand—a gesture that made me miss him, made my insides melt—and pulled me into the copy room.
There was a time not too long ago that being stuck in a small space with him would’ve drawn us closer together. I forced those thoughts aside as I put my hands on my hips, waiting impatiently for him to provide me with some sort of explanation.
He rubbed his hands over his face. “I told you the other day that Kelsey had gotten increasingly jealous. And I’ve been ignoring my ex-wife’s calls, but I never expected… I never told her… I don’t know how she found me.”
I exhaled sharply. “Well, can you at least tell me what happened last night?”
His eyes flickered with an emotion I couldn’t place. “You don’t remember?”
I shook my head.
“You really don’t remember telling me how you feel?”
My heart stopped for a brief second. “I did what?” I breathed.
“Of course you don’t remember,” he mumbled. “How could I expect you to tell me how you feel when you’re anything but blacked out?”
Something snapped inside me, like an elastic band finally breaking. “So suddenly this is all my fault?” I shouted. “You’re the one who bailed on me. Before I could tell you how I felt, before I could end things with Owen. You walked away. Just like you walked away from your ex-wife.”
Liam closed his eyes and let out a groan. “That’s not fair and you know it.”
“What’s not fair,” I started as tears sprang to my eyes, “is what you did to me. You lead me on. You slept with me at that party, and then you treated me cruelly and blamed it all on me. So tell me, Liam, tell me why you did it.”
“Because I’m not ready to be with you!” He yelled. I flinched at the volume, my head aching. “Because the way I feel for you scares the shit out of me. Because the last time I felt even a fraction of what I feel for you, I had my life ripped away from me.” He paused, his chest heaving as he raked a hand through his hair. I was stunned, and my heart lodged itself in my throat at his proclamation.
“Is that what you want to hear?” He demanded, his eyes rimmed red with raw emotion. “You see what you want to see, Callie. It’s why you haven’t been able to see how I feel about you, and those are your problems. And it’s probably why those two women are sitting downstairs in interview rooms right now.” He spun on his heels and left the copy room, flinging the door open so hard it hit the wall with a loud thud.
I was frozen in place. It was a roundabout way of admitting his feelings, but it wasn’t enough.
“Alright, Kelsey, why don’t you tell me why you attacked me, an officer of the law, today?” I inquired, somewhat condescendingly as I slid into a chair across from her.
Liam stood behind me, admiring the situation with cool curiosity. We hadn’t spoken in the half-hour it’d been since he’d stormed out of the copy room, but I knew he was in here to support me and help get to the bottom of this.
“I had been talking to Victoria on Facebook, and we got pretty close,” Kelsey began, leaning forward on her elbows, eyes flickering between Liam and myself. “And I told her about Liam’s incessant texting back and forth with you.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “So? We’re work partners. We text all the time.”
Not as much as we used to.
She rolled her eyes. “All hours of the day? Really? Besides, between your confession about you and Liam sleeping together two Christmases ago, and him lying about where he was last night, I have a hard time believing you.”
She wasn’t addressing him. Only me.
I quickly glanced over my shoulder to see Liam’s reaction. His lips were pressed tightly together and he was looking anywhere but at me. I turned back to Kelsey, my fogged brain trying to think up a response, when Liam saved me.
“I didn’t lie last night,” Liam snapped. “You asked if Callie had called, and she hadn’t.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I saw Callie’s name on your phone. You then told me it had to do with work.”
“All of that is true,” he defended. “A bartender called from Callie’s phone asking me to come get her, so I did. And it was work-related because Callie and I are nothing more than work partners, and we never will be.”
Ouch.
That was hurtful. It stung my ego for him to say we would never be more, and I honestly didn’t know if he meant it or not.
Kelsey shook her head, her nostrils flaring. “That is the most ridiculous explanation I’ve ever heard, and I work in law. Anyway, Victoria and I had been talking and I told her we should confront Callie. She agreed and drove over first thing this morning.”
I scrutinized her before getting up, not saying another word as I went to go speak with Victoria. I sat down in front of Liam’s ex-wife. She stared at me with a calculated gaze.
“So, Victoria. Why did you feel the need to attack me?” I wondered, meeting her gaze unabashedly.
“It was Kelsey’s idea,” she sneered.
“That’s funny, because she said the opposite. She said she only wanted to confront me.” Twisting the truth a little bit would certainly get her to spill. If she was crazy enough to attack a cop on police grounds just because her ex-husband was working with a woman she didn’t know, she was probably itching to throw someone under the bus.
Her jaw dropped. She was very pretty, probably a little older than Liam, with her hair chopped at her shoulders and a nice, heart-shaped face. They would’ve had beautiful green-eyed babies. They almost did. My chest tightened at the thought.
“No, we had been talking, and she said that she and Liam were dating and broke up because of you. That he was constantly sneaking around to talk to and be with you. And then I got to thinking that maybe the reason he wasn’t answering my calls was because of you, so I agreed to the confrontation.”
Liam barged in, and Victoria’s eyes lit up when she laid eyes on him. “Liam, it’s so good to see you!”
I eyed him carefully, wondering if he should be in here. He was flustered and angry, I could tell, but he was putting on a brave front. “I left New York because the city was too small for the both of us. We’ve been separated for well over a year, so that’s why I haven’t been answering your calls. Also, for the record, Kelsey lied about us breaking up,.”
Victoria’s lips tightened. “What? She really lied just so we could do that to Callie?”
“Well, duh, she’s been jealous of Callie since the moment she met her.” Liam ran a distraught hand through his hair.
They were talking like old friends. Comfortable with each other, despite the messy divorce that had taken place and the fact that she’d just attacked me. It was nothing like how he’d been talking to Kelsey.
“It’s obvious. Look at her. The two of you together look like a dangerous combination,” Victoria said in mock disgust, a small smile playing the corners of her mouth.
I smirked internally, because I knew Liam and I would make a kickass power couple, but I knew now more than ever was a bad time to make that apparent.
I sighed heavily and leaned forward on my forearms. What I was about to say pained me. “I’m going to be completely honest with you. Liam and I are just work partners. Nothing more and nothing less. But…” my voice faltered. I stole a glance at Liam, who was finally looking at me with curious deliberation. “He’s a hard person not to love. So I understand where you’re coming from. That deep-seated jealousy from watching someone else be with him is painful, no matter how hard you try to ignore it. But he’s made his choice, and that choice is neither of us.”
Her eyes glinted as she looked at me again. She looked like she felt understood, and she nodded. “I’m so sorry for pulling your hair.” She gave me a lopsided smile.
I returned her smile and rose to my feet. “Thanks for not being the one who punched me.”
As she laughed, I pushed past Liam to leave the interview room. My head was pounding, my heart was confused, the black eye that was forming was making it difficult to see out of one eye, and the pain unraveling inside me was nearly unbearable.
Just when I thought the heartache couldn’t get worse.
Liam was hot on my heels, following me into the backroom of the two interview rooms, where we could see both Victoria and Kelsey. I spoke up before he could say anything.
“Let them go,” I told him wearily.
He eyes flared in shock, like he really wanted to address what I’d said to Victoria, but decided against it. “You want me to let them both walk out of here?” I nodded, and he stared at me.
My heart sped up under his gaze. It used to make me writhe with desire, but now I just wanted to burst into tears. I was so exhausted from this cat-and-mouse game, this constant back and forth, the constant wanting and never getting. I couldn’t do it anymore. I was destroying my body with alcohol, and my depression was worse than it had ever been.
Hands trembling, as if it were a subconscious reaction to him, I slowly forced out the next words. “Tell me everything that happened last night.”
Liam sighed. “I got a call from the bartender at Prohibition stating I was your emergency contact and asking me to come get you. So I did. I met your friends, watched you sing a heart-wrenching song, and then took you home. Owen was surprised, said he didn’t know that you’d been out drinking all these nights, and he wasn’t aware you were still working the Garrison case.” He bit his tongue before he could say more.
“That’s it?” I asked, picking up that there was more to the story than he was letting on.
“More or less. The rest can be for a different time.”
Terry entered the room and looked at the two of us. “I heard what happened,” was all he said.
Liam and I didn’t say anything. Our boss just arched a brow at us.
“I thought I told you two to not let this… thing affect your work.”
“It’s not,” I snapped, then checked my tone. “There’s nothing between us anymore.” Saying it over and over didn’t make it easier. It just became a more bitter pill to swallow.
He exhaled loudly. “Care to explain what you two intend to do about this messy situation?”
Liam jutted a thumb at me. “Eden wants to let them walk.”
Terry blinked at me. “They assaulted you, an officer of the law, at a police precinct. You don’t even want to press charges or file a restraining order?”
I shook my head. “I’m really not feeling great today and don’t care that much. This is Liam’s baggage, not mine.”
Terry shrugged. “Okay, your choice.” He left and Liam followed, both going to un-cuff the women.
I met all of them out in the main office. I took a power stance, my feet shoulder-width apart and my hands clasped behind my back. I examined Kelsey’s annoyed, jealous glare and Victoria’s agitated glances at Kelsey.
“I’m really not in the mood for this shit today,” I stated. “So you guys are free to go. I’m not pressing any charges despite your offenses.”
Kelsey stepped forward toward Liam. “Liam—”
“We’ll talk later,” he responded curtly.
She grunted and glowered at me.
I gave Victoria a nod of understanding and turned to head up the stairs, not caring to look back at any of them. If I did, I feared I would vomit again, and not just from the hangover. The overwhelming, drowning, suffocating feelings I was getting from saying over and over that Liam and I would never be together was breaking me.
There was something between us. He all but said those words to me, the words that could just end this all and allow us to be together.
Liam
What a fucking nightmare.
The last thing I wanted to see was Callie dragging my ex-wife and girlfriend into the precinct in handcuffs. Callie looked rough, her hangover glaringly obvious. Paired with the bruise quickly forming on her face and her split lip, she looked brave, pissed off, and more beautiful than ever.
It’s why I couldn’t help but gawk as she marched them through the precinct.
At least Victoria would no longer be a problem, but a new one with Callie popped up: she was declaring her feelings in the most inadvertent ways, and I was still scared shitless by my own.
I met Callie in our office upstairs. She was trembling, leaning against her desk like she was going to fall apart at any moment. I wanted to run to her and hold her like I did last night outside of the bar, but I knew that wasn’t the appropriate response.
“Hey,” was all I could muster.
She didn’t look at me, but grabbed her trashcan, hunched over it, and vomited. I hesitated in the doorway. When she finished, she straightened and wiped her mouth.
I took a deep breath. Now was as good a time as ever.
“Callie, there’s something you need to know.”
She scowled, walked over to the couch, and plopped down. “I don’t know how much more I can handle.”
I groaned, opened a drawer in my desk, and pulled out the evidence bag containing the neon yellow G-string I’d picked up from her apartment last night. I had to tread carefully or I’d never live this down.
“There is something I didn’t tell you about last night. I felt like you deserved to know in private.” I sat down beside her and set the bag in her lap.
She frowned it at before an amused smile graced her pouty lips. “You got me underwear? Isn’t this the sort of thing you would get your girlfriend?”
Humor. Cute. But she didn’t recognize them, so that must mean…
“When I took you home last night, these were in plain sight in your living room. From the many times I’ve undressed you,” I paused to admire the blush that crept across her cheeks, “I knew these weren’t yours.”
Realization dawned on her, and her eyes flickered up to mine. She put a hand over her mouth.
“Oh my God. It all makes sense,” she whispered in horror. “That son of a bitch.”
“Maybe you should take the rest of the day off—”
She jumped to her feet. “He’s not home. I should go inspect his room and see what else I can find.” Before I could respond, she grabbed her bag and hurried out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Callie wasn’t gone for more than two hours before she burst back into our office, her cheeks aflame and her eyes clouded with fury.
It was a look I did not want to be on the receiving end of.
“What happened?” I prompted as she chewed on her lower lip, the side that wasn’t split open.
“He’s cheating on me. I’m confronting him tonight and coming clean about my own indiscretions,” she announced, suddenly firm and sure.
Chapter 20

Liam
Callie’s discoveries were disgusting, but I knew she finally found peace in her “engagement” with Owen. Not like her affair was justifiable, but at least she could stop pretending and could get some answers. It inspired me to want more for myself than Kelsey. Kelsey was nice enough, but the second she was uncomfortable with my work life, she resorted to violence, and that wasn’t something I could get past.
