Chapter Fifty-Two

Graves

Fucking finally. My body vibrates with the need to sink inside her and claim her as mine. As belonging to Lennox Owen Graves. I kiss her like a savage, the wild part of me breaching the surface at her admission. Her wet cunt slides up and down my shaft, priming me to slam inside her.

An ear piercing screech comes from the cab of the truck. I abruptly end our kiss as my head shoots up. My uncle’s guilt ridden voice invades the lust filled air around us. Perfect fucking timing.

“Graves, I hate to do this to you but you need to come back. ASAP. There’s new evidence.” Of course there is. I can’t even be with my girl on the best day of my life. I’m so fucking torn.

“Hey,” her sweet voice coaxes me back to the here and now. She lays helpless beneath me with flushed cheeks and swollen lips. It’s all I’ve ever wanted since the first time I saw Mallory Elizabeth Knight. Something settles inside of me as I take her in. She’s mine. Fully, completely, and irrevocably mine. “It’s okay. Go answer him,” she softly utters and I nod, giving her a quick peck on the lips. I rise, tuck my dick away, then reach in through the open back window of my pick-up to retrieve the radio.

“Captain?” I say into the mic and wait for a reply.

“Yeah, I’m here Lennox.”

“I’m on my way, should be about twenty minutes.”

“10-4,” he says, voice heavy with exhaustion and the weight of our departments unsolved cases.

I drop the radio back in through the window and return to my little siren. I need to tell her the truth, but I have nowhere near enough time right now. I owe it to her to have an unrestricted amount of time to absorb and accept every emotion that will roll through her. As much as I want to spill the truth at her feet, I know I can’t.

∞∞∞

The drive back to the police station is quiet. Even though her hand is held in mine, we are both in a different place. My mind races with what this new evidence could be and what will happen when I tell Mallory the truth. Will she hate me? Scream at me? The longer I wait, the more catastrophic her reaction will be. Inner turmoil ravages her mind, I can see it from here. She’s scared to tell Ghost what’s happened. Her feelings are justified, he can be quite the hot head. I know she’s missing him, and I’m fairly certain she thinks his absence is her fault. Obviously it’s not, but how do I tell her that? I haven’t put the mask on in days. I just don’t have the availability to be with her as much as either of us desire.

I back the truck into the parking stall at the precinct and watch as she comes out of whatever thought she was lost in. Without looking at me she asks, “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” She looks sullen and I long to make her smile before we part ways.

“Okay with what?” I ask, playing dumb to try to get a reaction out of her. She nibbles on her bottom lip as she tries to find the inner strength needed to confess this for a second time. I turn to her, and with my thumb I tug her lip from beneath her teeth. “I’ll take you any way I can get you. Even if I have to share. Whatever makes you happy, Mallory.”

Her frown turns into a beaming smile as she lunges at me. Throwing her arms around my neck and squeezing me as tight as she can muster. I pull her into my lap and stretch this moment out as long as I can.

“Thank you,” she says.

“Have you told the other guy yet?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

She pulls back from our embrace and shakes her head.

“Why not?”

“He’s been around...but we haven't talked in a few days,” she replies, sadness apparent in the tone of her harmonious voice.

What the fuck does that mean? She must sense my confusion because next she says, “It’s complicated.” The truth is on the tip of my tongue, but I hesitate because it isn’t fair to spring this on her here and now.

She walks me to the precinct doors and gives me a work appropriate kiss goodbye.

“Oh, shit,” she says. My hand pauses on the handle and I turn back to her.

“What?”

“I bought you snacks.” Of course she did.

“Babe, I have to go in, it’s urgent.”

“I know, just give me your keys and I’ll put the bags in your truck,” she urges. Like I could ever deny her anything. She extends her hand, palm up, and I drop my keys into it.

“Just put them on my desk when you’re done. Carla will show you which one it is.”

“Okay. Hope you like homemade trail mix,” she says as she bounds off toward her car, giving me a little wave as I disappear inside.

The Captain has the squad gathered in the briefing room. His mouth is a stiff line as we lock eyes across the bull pen. He holds up his hand and I freeze in my path. He bends down, speaking with Sgt Jefferds who is leaned over a man furiously typing on a laptop. He returns his gaze to mine, points to his office, and I nod. Turning sharply, I move to his office, opening the door and finding a seat to await his arrival. The minutes crawl by as a pit of anxiety begins to form in my stomach. We don’t have a tech specialist here, so I’m assuming that whoever Jefferds was monitoring so closely is from the city. Mallory’s text tone sounds from my pocket and I pull out my phone to silence the ringer, reading the message on the screen before I slide it back into place.

Mallory:

We need to talk.

Yes, we do. But... When? That I don’t know at this point in time. Our relationship is in limbo until I figure out whatever the fuck is going on here and with the case. At least we’re making progress and she wants to tell Ghost about Nox.

Something big must have happened for them to bring in another guy from the city. Although I have no fucking clue what this new evidence could be, and what the hell is taking my uncle so long.

Mallory

At first I was just going to place the bags in the truck and head home, but honestly, I’d rather stay here and put together the munchies for Nox. I drop the tailgate on the truck and climb in, spreading my ingredients out around me. I dump equal amounts of mixed nuts, cereal, raisins, chocolate, granola, and dried cranberries into resealable plastic bags. Then I place them back in the shopping bag with the drinks and place it on the passenger seat of his pick-up. Locking up his vehicle and collecting all my garbage, I dump it in the large bin by the door before heading inside the police department.

“Good evening, Miss Knight, what can I do for you?” Carla greets me as I enter the station. Quickly I look for Nox but I don’t see him.

“Hi, I have Officer Graves’s truck keys and some stuff for him. He asked me to put them on his desk. Can you show me where it is?”

“Sure, I’m just going to need you to sign in real quick first,” she cheerfully says while handing me a clipboard. I fill in my name, phone number, reason for visit, time, and signature then hand it back to her. She leads me around the corner, gesturing to an empty desk with Nox’s jacket slung over the back of the seat. Giddiness bubbles up inside of me as I scan the area for him, hoping to catch another glimpse of him without the jacket. My vision catches him in another room, the door is closed and his back is to me. I unfortunately can’t make out anything but the back of his head and the side profile of his handsome face.

I place a water bottle on his desk next to his keys and a bag of tailgate trail mix. The uneasy feeling of being watched creeps up and I try to shake it off. Who doesn’t feel like their every move is under the microscope in a police station? Even if you’re not a criminal, you’re worried you somehow have drugs on you and a k-9 is going to rip you to pieces for it. I quickly glance over the area, looking for anything that would have set me on edge, but there's nothing.

I say goodbye to Carla as the door closes behind me and I slide back into my vehicle. Before I pull out of the lot, I send a stomach churning text to Ghost, hoping this time I’ll get a reply.