Disorderly Conduct (The Academy #1)

My father holds up a hand, tubes extending to the clear drip beside the bed. “I’m not upset.” His sigh seems to take an hour escaping. “First of all, I remember you saying those things. She loved her children. I’m the reason she left.”

Until I hear the words out loud, I don’t realize how much I believed it was me who sent her packing. All me. Even against common sense, I thought I was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The last ditch effort to save a marriage that wasn’t working, but ended up only making it worse. There’s no miraculous lessening of weight off my shoulders, though, because I see my father is carrying it. There’s no winner here.

“The department makes me happy. My work makes me happy.” His eyes lift to mine, shoot away. “But it doesn’t love a man back. The job put me in this bed. This, my body, is my sacrifice. Your mother was a sacrifice, too. And I think I’ve done a lot of good for this city because of those sacrifices.”

“No one is questioning that,” Greer says quietly. I nod.

“I should have tried harder, though,” my father surprises me by saying. “She was only asking for me to try a little harder. To be a husband, as well as a cop. I could have done it, but I was selfish. And then she was gone.” His jaw flexes, his nostrils flaring on an inhale. “I’m . . . proud of you, Charlie. For recognizing happiness. I’m still not sure I know what it looks like.”

“Happiness is a she. I can introduce you to her.”

Greer groans. “Jesus, you fucking sap.”

My father laughs as I punch Greer in the shoulder. “It’s going to happen to you someday. Then we’ll see who’s a sap.”

“Don’t hold your breath. Someone has to pick up your slack, now that you’ve decided to play house.” His shrug is stiff, but his lips are twitching. “I guess if you’re signing up to be whipped by a woman, might as well make her a hot blonde.”

“You did not just call my future wife hot right to my face.”

“He did.” My father is laughing, his big chest shaking. “I heard him.”

The mood between the three of us is the lightest I’ve ever felt it. Incredible. I thought my decision would drive a wedge between the already stilted relationship with my father and brother, but somehow it had the opposite effect.

I can’t wait to tell Ever. I can’t wait to tell her everything in my head, for the rest of my life. Our life.

With the promise of her warmth making my blood zing, I slap Greer on the back a little harder than warranted—after all, he just called Ever hot to my face—then, I head back out to the waiting room, Greer already beginning to drone about department business before the door closes behind me. When I walk into the beige purgatory, however, I find only Jack and Danika.

“Hey.” I scratch my head and turn in a circle, as if Ever will appear out of thin air. “My father is fine. They’re going to keep him for a while, but he’s out of the woods.” They both visibly relax, Danika tossing her magazine onto the low, gray table. “Where’s Ever?”

“Not sure.” Jack clears his throat. “Said she was running out for a little while.”

“But she’ll be right back,” Danika added quickly, giving me a curious look.

“Huh.” I pace to the window and look down at the rushing lights of the city. As if I could pick her out among thousands of people from this height. “Where would she . . .”

Oh. Fuck.





Chapter 25





Ever


Well. Joke is on me. I’m the one being stood up.

At 8:01, I get a sympathetic look from the hostess and wave it off, smiling back. It doesn’t matter. I’m actually relieved I don’t have to explain to a virtual stranger that I’m in a relationship and I can’t stay for dinner. For once, getting stood up makes things a lot easier. Impatient to get back to Charlie and find out how his father is doing, I head for the door—

Just as Charlie walks in, eyes wild. Sweat dots his upper lip and darkens the front of his T-shirt. His hands clench and loosen at his sides.

Despite his disheveled appearance, however, a thrill squeals through my body at the sight of him. His blue eyes pan through the waiting area and land on me, his stomach hollowing on a deep breath when he sees me. I know the feeling. My tummy is bottoming out just knowing I’ll touch him soon. Talk to him.

That’s my first reaction. It lasts a split second before dread settles in my chest.

“You went on the date, Ever?” Charlie croaks the words. “You went?”

“No.” His misconception must be the reason I’m nervous. But knowing I can clear it up with an easy explanation doesn’t make me feel any better. The lighthearted joy I was feeling earlier in the night is being chafed by splinters. “No, I’m only here to cancel, and I was coming right back to the hospital. It was the right thing to do on short notice and . . . Charlie, you know I was coming right back.” I go up on my toes and rub our noses together. “After all the dating nightmares over the last few weeks, I wanted to do someone else a solid. That’s all. Look at me.” More nose rubbing. “I love you.”

His shoulders lose most of their tension, but the muscular lines of his body are still whip tight. “Yeah, I know. I know you were coming back to me.” His eyelids fall shut. “Of course you would do something like this. It’s why I love you, isn’t it?”

Instead of being comforted by those words, words I’ll never get accustomed to hearing, my dread amplifies. A horn blares right against my ear. “How . . . how did you know I would be here?”

When dudes in hazmat suits approach a suspicious package? That’s how Charlie is looking at me right now. Like there’s about to be a potential disaster. His Adam’s apple drags up and down, thoughts racing behind his blue eyes. “Remember back in the hospital when I asked you to be patient with me?” I don’t respond, but my heart does. It flies into a riot. “Is there any way that could take effect now?”

“Spit it out.”

A rickety inhale. “I’m Reve.” His lips barely move as he says the two words that make my skin burn. His must be burning, too, because it seems like he wants to crawl out of it. “Or there is no Reve. He’s just the name on the profile I created.”

Ice replaces the burning sensation on my arms, my neck. “Why?”

“Because I missed you. I needed to see your face. That was all it was supposed to be, but you messaged me and . . . cutie, then I was talking to you. And it felt like you were there with me. You were always supposed to be there with me.” He drags a hand down his face. “I shouldn’t have made this date, but you have to believe me. I was going to show up as Charlie and come clean. Unless . . .”

I’m afraid to ask. I’ve already been buried under an avalanche, but I need to know. I need to hear everything. “Unless what?”

Misery slashes across his face. “Unless I could convince you to come back to me before tonight ever happened.”

“Come back to you?” My voice is high-pitched and unnatural, but I can’t help it. There’s an earthquake taking place inside me. “We weren’t even together until tonight.”

His eyelids lift and all I see is shame. Shame. And it terrifies me. “When I created Reve, I still wanted things to go back to how they were. When we were just . . .”