She casts a quick glance towards the camera again before she shakesher head, closing her eyes briefly.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah. Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” I nod.
“What is the deal between you and Raphael?”
Oh. I wasnotexpecting that.
“It’s a long story,” I sigh.
“We’ve got time, don’t we?”
“Yeah. Alright… Well, it started about four years ago. I’ve just started working with the LAPD with consults, and I hit it off with a few detectives, so we went for drinks sometimes.
“One night, I met a girl in a club we’d been going to. We… hit it off and had sex a few times. She knew I wasn’t interested in anything more serious, and when I didn’t change my mind, we agreed not to see each other again.
“Problem was, I saw her again about a week later. At the precinct, with a ring on her finger. When she saw me, she freaked out a little before she took me aside to explain herself. Turns out she was married, but every time her and her husband had a fight, they broke up for a few days or weeks. I learned afterwards that it’s been going on for about three years.
“The guy had absolutely no idea that his wife was sleeping around every time they had an argument. And one day, not even two months later, after they probably fought again, she just showed up to my house, completely drunk, wearing barely any clothes.”
“Shit. What did you do?” She asks, holding her drink in front of her, turning it between her hands distractedly.
“I had no idea what to do,” I chuckle dryly. “But after trying to put her in an Uber for an hour, I just called him. I wassoover this. For a full hour, I had a fucking—almost naked—Meredith, trying to grope and grind on me, when the only thing I wanted was for her to just get in the car and leave me alone. So, yeah. I took her phone and called her husband. Who was Raphael, which I only found out at that moment. As you can imagine, the conversation was mortifyingly awkward.”
She giggles softly, bringing the glass to her lips. I press on my phone, and the click of the camera is barely audible. She doesn’t notice.
“Anyway… He shows up at my doorstep with the address I gave him on the phone. And follows the mostabsurdconversation I ever had. She, obviously, thought this moment was appropriate to try to grope me some more, and somehow,Igot punched in the jaw.”
“She yelled at him that he was a piece of shit and she’d rather have sex with the cab driver—who was still waiting upfront, by the way—than go back home with him. He then proceeded to threatenmephysically for sleeping with his wife.She told him,” I pause for effect, insisting on that information, “thatIdidn’t know and dumped her because he existed—which is not entirely true, as we’ve already established that it endedbeforeI found out. But the whole thing was a shitshow. She was yelling at him, he was threatening me, and I wasonedodge of his fist away from dismantling his jaw.”
She frowns. “Wow… That’s a bit much.”
“Maybe. But it was 4a.m., and I’d had enough of all of it. Plus, he got me once by surprise, so I felt like repaying the favor.”
She rolls her eyes, but still grins at the dramatic tone I use to tell her the story. I snap another picture.
“So, after an hour of them yelling at each other and either praising my bedroom skills or trying to punch my face, I managed to kick them out. But the next day, they both acted like nothing happened. And, even if they never showed their relationship in public before, they started holding hands and kissing at random in the middle of the precinct.
“Next thing I knew, some detectives started to avoid me, thinking I was after their wives too. But some others came forward, Matthew being one of them, to tell me they all had to push Meredith away at some point.”
“You’re joking,” she gapes. “How are Daisy and Meredith friends if she—”
“They were friends before,” I interrupt her, shaking my head. “And that guy is a saint. He never told Daisy, saying Meredith was drunk and probably didn’t remember, and he pushed her away anyway. He doesn’t want to cause trouble.”
“But if Raphael knew that it wasn’t just you but others, maybe he’ll… I don’t know, leave you alone?”
I shrug. “I don’t really care. It’s their problem, and I’ve made myself clear when she tried again after their divorce.”
“Oh my god… But doesn’t it bother you what they all think?”
“It doesn’t.”
“But—”
