Double Standards, page 4
Ms. Eden:
I appreciate your cooperation with this, and will be sure to inform my replacement of your involvement, so they may contact you for more information if needed.
Perhaps next time you will be more forthcoming to your fellow officers.
Take care.
Kindest,
Liam Chandler
NYPD Detective
Midtown North Precinct
I smugly hit SEND, shut down my computer for the day, and practically skipped home. That ought to make her think twice next time.
I knew I should have been nicer, especially since I would probably have to see her from time to time now that I was transferring to her precinct, but I couldn’t resist.
I picked up Thai food on my way home, and enjoyed my final meal in this apartment. Tomorrow, I was going to meet Terry to sign my transfer paperwork, then only going back to the MNP to brief my replacement. My apartment was mostly packed, and as soon as I secured another apartment, I would move my belongings over.
My apartment was dead silent, and I despised it. I was tired of spending my nights alone. I’d spent so many years with my ex-wife that sometimes I even missed our arguments.
I sighed, finished my glass of wine, and retired to bed embarrassingly early.
I stood before Newark’s Third Precinct, my chest squeezing nervously. I wasn’t one to give in to my nerves, but it had been a long time since I’d made a big change like this in my life. Aside from filing for divorce last Christmas Eve, I hadn’t made any big moves since I got married. I had spent my entire adulthood in New York City, with my parents just upstate and close by.
And we all knew how well the marriage worked out.
I’d been with my ex-wife for six years, married for four of those years, and it failed.
Now I stood in front of a new building, in a new city. Yes, it was just right across the bridge from New York, but I went from a population of eight million to less than a quarter of a million.
In comparison, it felt like a small town.
I took a deep breath and forced myself up the steps. For the briefest of moments, I remembered the woman I slept with during the Christmas Gala last year, and how she said she worked in Newark. I wondered if I’d ever see her again, especially now that we were in the same city.
I entered the building and approached the booking clerk in the front. He looked up at me expectantly.
“Good morning. I’m looking for Terry Levinsky. I’m here to sign transfer paperwork,” I informed the gentleman, whose name tag read: PORTER.
The officer nodded. “Go right here into the main area. You’ll see his assistant, Hailey, off to the side but in the front. She’ll let you in.”
I thanked the officer and followed his directions. Just as I was told, there was a tall, slender brunette with curly hair and big brown eyes sitting in front of an office. I approached her and flashed her a dazzling smile. She looked sweet and innocent, and just as I was about to make a flirtatious comment, she tucked her hair behind her ears, and I caught a glimpse of a wedding ring.
“Can I help you?” Her soft, tinkling voice asked.
“Yes, I’m looking for Terry Levinsky,” I replied, raising an eyebrow at her.
She flushed. “You must be Liam Chandler, the new guy.”
The new guy? What is this, high school all over again? God, I hope not.
“That’s me,” I responded, hoping to not sound as exasperated as that statement made me feel.
Hailey beamed and gestured for me to follow her. She led me to the office directly behind her desk and poked her head in before opening the door all the way.
“Thank you, Mrs.—,” I trailed off, waiting for her to introduce herself.
“Mrs. Stafford,” she finished proudly before swiveling and intently walking back to her desk.
“Liam!” A familiar voice bellowed.
I grinned from ear to ear as I walked into Terry’s office. “Terry, it’s great to see you after all these years,” I exclaimed as I went in for a hug. He patted my back before gesturing for me to take a seat.
“It’s so good to see you! We haven’t been able to catch up much at the Christmas Gala these last few years,” he noted. “How are your parents doing? I haven’t heard from them in months.”
Terry was great friends with my parents. My parents didn’t know yet that I transferred to Terry’s precinct, but I would bet they’d be over the moon excited about it.
I looked at Terry now. He’d lost a great deal of weight since the last time I’d seen him, probably close to five years ago now.
“They’re great. Just celebrated their 35th anniversary!”
“Wow, has it been that long already? My God, I remember attending their wedding.” He pondered that for a moment before he looked at me quizzically. “So, what made you want to transfer? You’ve been in the Big Apple for nearly a decade.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Well, I’m sure you remember Victoria,” I stated blandly, her name leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
“Ah, yes, the beautiful red-haired wife. How could I forget?” He remarked fondly.
“We got a divorce,” I divulged. “We couldn’t make it work, and I couldn’t be in the same city as her. She doesn’t know where I transferred to, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Terry’s piercing blue eyes widened. “Liam, son, I had no idea. Divorce is messy. I should know,” he chuckled, referring to his divorce a couple of years ago.
I raised a shoulder. “It is what it is. I filed for divorce on Christmas Eve last year, actually. It’s a tedious process.”
He laughed again. “That it is.” He paused. “Listen, I’ve got your paperwork ready with everything we discussed. I also have a great partner for you. She’s absolutely wonderful, and I think you two will work together beautifully.”
I raised my eyebrows at him in surprise. “And she’s alright with getting a new partner? I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes here.”
Terry smiled at me. “She’ll be fine. Come on, let me show you around and see if we can find her. She’s probably making her morning rounds as we speak.”
He stood up, rounded his desk, and led me back in the main desk area, bustling with small-city energy. Everyone seemed friendly; it was a welcome change from the quick-paced NYPD atmosphere.
“This is where our patrol officers report to. We always have an on-duty sergeant who oversees their teams for every shift. Back through here,” he walked me past the desk area, “is the downstairs break room. Your office is upstairs, so you’ll have a separate break room, but feel free to use either as long as you pick up after yourself.” He gave me a scolding look, much like a father would to a son.
We doubled back and headed toward a grand staircase. “Back here behind the stairs are the interview rooms and holding cells. On the other side here, we have investigation and briefing rooms for meetings and larger cases,” Terry continued.
We walked up the stairs next. “Just off to the left here is the copy room. Down that hallway past it, you’ll find several offices we assign to our detectives, as well as the break room. Down here to the right there are more offices and the elevator. Your office is down in this area.” We paused at the top of the stairs. Here was a catwalk area that overlooked the main office area, making it visible to most of the precinct.
Then, we moseyed down the hall to where he indicated my office would be. He knocked on the door before swinging it open. He frowned. “Well, she’s not in here. We can head back downstairs to see if we can find her.”
I noted two desks: one so neatly organized it almost looked as unused as the other one.
We made small talk as we meandered back downstairs, when suddenly a head of glossy brown hair caught my eye. Those rich, long, luscious locks were identifiable from anywhere. I could only see the back of her head, and for a moment time seemed to slow down.
No way that’s her.
“Oh, there she is!” Terry exclaimed excitedly. He speed walked straight to the very woman I couldn’t look away from. “Callie, dear.”
Callie?
No fucking way.
She spun when she heard her name, her tresses swinging with her. Her face immediately gave way to recognition when she saw me. Her shiny, rosy lips parted, bright blue eyes widening, and her whole body seemed to stiffen. A slight flush crept across her cheeks.
She didn’t know who I was yet. No, she only recalled the incredible sex we’d had on Christmas Eve. In a mere matter of seconds, Terry would introduce me, and she would know exactly who I was.
“Terry… who’s this?” She wondered, and her voice sounded exactly the same. Feminine, friendly, and smooth like butter. Her hair was longer now, and she wasn’t wearing as much makeup, but her figure was still as banging as it was ten months ago.
Wipe that from your brain, Chandler. She isn’t going to like you in a few seconds.
I prepared for my name to fall from Terry’s lips.
“Callie, this is your new partner, Liam Chandler,” Terry introduced.
Ah, there it is.
Callie’s eyes immediately hardened and her smile froze. “Liam Chandler, as in the one who’s leaving Midtown North?” She wondered. The friendliness in her voice was gone, replaced by contempt.
“The one and only,” I replied, holding my hand out to formally shake her hand.
Her lips flattened but she shook my hand anyway. Her skin was warm, but her handshake was cold. “Well, what are the odds of that?” She murmured.
Terry looked between us in bewilderment. “I was pretty certain you two met at last year’s Christmas Gala. I remember seeing both of you talking with. Did I miss something here?”
I wanted to act like the discontent between us was all my fault, but it wasn’t. She had acted painfully hard-headed over some fucking case files… My comments certainly didn’t help, and the emails we’d exchanged yesterday weren’t the only ones. We spent several days going back and forth on that topic.
We matched forced smiles as we both turned back to Terry.
“No, sir. Everything’s great. This is just the same Liam Chandler who requested the Garrison files,” Callie informed him, shooting me a glare when Terry looked at me.
“It’s true. I’ll be filling in my replacement today, just so they’re prepared,” I countered.
Terry beamed. “Perfect! You’ve got a case in common. Liam, let’s go sign those papers so we can finalize this thing.” He pushed past us.
I narrowed my eyes at Callie, the same woman I’d spent countless nights thinking about and wishing I’d gotten her name. And yet here we were, not only in the same precinct, but forced to be partners.
My dick was just as confused as my head. It felt like a cruel twist of fate.
She set her jaw and folded her arms across her chest. “See you later, Mr. Chandler,” she sneered, throwing her email lingo in for dramatic effect.
My eyes shifted to her arms—no, not her chest—and to the familiar watch on her wrist. I reached out and tapped it gently. “Nice watch, Ms. Eden,” I snapped, just to remind her that I’d seen her with her clothes off.
Her cheeks reddened, but she turned and clacked away in her black heels. Though she was small, the confidence in which she walked made things churn inside me.
I watched as she strode away before shaking my head in disbelief and following Terry back into his office.
Chapter 2

Callie
I heard Terry’s voice calling my name, so I turned around. I wasn’t expecting it to be the biggest shock of my life.
The man standing before Terry was none other than the dreamy green-eyed man whom I’d let bend me over and fuck me in the MoMA’s back office. My body inherently reacted to him, from the way his sandy blonde hair was pushed out of his face, to the pure shocked expression he wore when I’d turned around, to the tall, broad-shouldered frame, and—
“… your new partner, Liam Chandler,” Terry had said.
Liam fucking Chandler.
I replayed that moment over and over in my head as I hurled myself onto Sophie’s office couch, draping my arm over my forehead as if I were in a therapy session. I groaned for dramatic effect, even though I really did feel like crying.
“Alright, what’s going on, chula?” Sophie wondered, using the endearing Spanish term she reserved for only her closest friends and family.
I turned my face to look at her. “The world is cruel,” I grumbled. When she looked at me ardently, I pushed myself to a sitting position. “Do you remember last year at the Christmas Gala? That guy I was talking to?” She nodded, urging me to continue. “Okay, and remember how I was telling you about that cop who wanted me to sign over the Garrison case files?” Again, she nodded. “Well, yesterday Terry tells me that I’m getting a new partner. He gives me absolutely zero information on him. I wasn’t expecting to meet him until tomorrow, because Terry implied he would be in at the end of the week, like Friday, and that he’d be starting Monday. But nope, turns out he’s here today, and I was just completely blindsided.”
Sophie scowled. “You’re not making any sense. What’s the problem?”
I scoffed. “The problem is that those two men are one and the same. The guy I fucked at last year’s Christmas Gala and the rude guy I’d been emailing about the case files. Now it turns out he’s my new partner.”
Her mouth formed an O as she looked at me. “Oh, no. That’s not good.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “I know! And I agreed to fax copies of all the files, which I spent all afternoon yesterday doing, and you know what his response was?” I paused for theatric flare as I pulled up the email. “Perhaps next time you will be more forthcoming to your fellow officers.”
Sophie cackled without humor. “You’re kidding me. You’re telling me he got his way and he still decided to be an ass?”
I rubbed my temples. “I don’t even know what to say. Last year I felt like I met this genuinely kind man. Granted, we were drunk and he’d just filed for divorce, but still. Am I being irrational for being so upset about this?”
My body was utterly perplexed. On one hand, I was still attracted to him, and I ironically was just thinking about my one night stand with him yesterday, but knowing what an ass he could be at work was a whole other ballgame.
Would the memory of the hottest sex of my life be tainted by this?
A pang of guilt rang through me. The last thing I should be doing is thinking about sex with another man when I was dating someone else.
Sophie shook her head. “No, he should know that you’re pissed with how he treated you. You did the professional thing and agreed to his request. His comment was uncalled for. Now you just have to figure out how to say that so you can work together efficiently,” she advised.
I sighed and pushed to my feet. “You’re right. I don’t have to see him again until Monday, so I’ll just plan to prepare for the conversation then.” I hesitated before saying this next part. “And just pretend like I’m not sexually attracted to him or give that away to Owen.”
Sophie grimaced. “Callie, if you’re not happy with Owen, then why are you still with him? It’s been almost a year and you’ve never even brought him around to meet any of us.”
I rolled my eyes to deflect the question, but she had a point. “It’s not that I’m not happy, it’s just…” I sighed. “Things are changing between us and I’m not sure what to make of it. It’s like he doesn’t care about the things I need, and as much as I respect his reasonings for not, it doesn’t change how I feel. He’s been good to me, and he’s been my emotional support system since I met him.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Who are you trying to convince?”
I stuck my tongue out at her. “I’m not ashamed of him. I just don’t think I respect myself enough to end it. I mean, what would that say about me? That I’m shallow?”
A curious look came over her face. “He doesn’t know you cheated on him?”
“Um, no,” I said slowly.
“And he doesn’t know that your new partner is the man you cheated on him with?”
“Also no.”
She clicked her tongue. “I guarantee if you tell him, the relationship will unravel itself.”
“I’ll let you know how it goes if I call things off.” I flounced out of the room and ran straight for my office so I didn’t have to see Terry or my new partner, making it a point to keep a low profile the rest of the day until I could return home.
At five o’clock, I packed up my belongings and left. I didn’t have any new cases at the moment; a lighter case load was the downside to not having a partner. Owen loved it, though, because it meant I was home on time more consistently.
I usually loved going home early enough to spend the evening with Owen, but lately I’d been distancing myself—hence the change in our relationship. I wasn’t sure if it was me or him. To be honest, we were more like roommates than anything else. Yes, we lived together, but we didn’t even share a room. When we initially made the arrangement, we were still in a more casual phase and both of our leases were up. Our apartment was in a great neighborhood, so it felt like a good compromise.
As I walked through the apartment door, I heard Owen rustling about in the kitchen. I was also met by the sweet smell of waffles.
“I’m home,” I murmured as I wrapped my arms around him from behind. I laid my head on his back and closed my eyes, trying to center myself and bring the peace back that I once felt with him. Instead, all I felt was turmoil, guilty, and exasperation.
“How was work?” He wondered, prying a waffle out of the waffle maker.
I released him and leaned on the kitchen counter, facing him. “Fine. Boring. I mostly just did paperwork all day,” I told him. “Oh, and I met my new partner today,” I added as nonchalantly as I could.
“Oh? I thought that was going to be next week?” He probed.
