“Sure is.”
“You two able to deal with a case? We’re a little short-staffed and the team on call is dealing with a drive-by.”
“Yeah, we’re at my house and good to go.”
“Great.”
“Ask him why he didn’t call me. I’m the senior detective,” Liam says.
Michaels must hear him since he responds, “Because talking to him is the reason I’m bald.”
Liam beams, obviously proud of this fact. “Good.”
“Of course he thinks that’s good,” Michaels grumbles before hanging up.
I drop Lucille in her cat tree that she looks at in disgust before crying to me, like I’ve ruined her life by leaving her behind again. “I know, baby, I’m so sorry. I hate leaving you again. I’ve already left you all evening.” I kiss her and then notice Liam trying to stuff his head into the space of the cat tree, like it’ll earn him a kiss.
“Does it help if I look overly disgusted and offended like Lucy Fur does?” he asks as he scrunches his face up in his best attempt to recreate her melancholy look. “Is it working?”
I grin as I lean forward and kiss him while Lucille bats the side of his face. It’s not even enough to deter him; he’s just pleased as can be by the attention.
Liam straightens. “Let’s go. If I can figure out the case in under five minutes, we’ll still have time to have sex before bed.”
“That’s the plan?” I tease.
“A very good plan, thank you.”
He pats Lucille who acts like he’d just asked her to brawl, so I pat her to remind her that we are kind and gentle.
“I can drive,” I say as I head out to the car. I feel like I need to be doing something with my hands for the conversation I’m steeling myself to have. Liam puts the address into the GPS and I pull out of the driveway. “So earlier…”
“How much earlier? Like when your mom was telling me how you wanted to be a nudist when you were six?”
“After that. When I asked what you’d do… about the neighbor, and you said he wasn’t bad enough…”
“To kill him? Yeah.”
“You still kill people?”
He looks over at me and cocks his head. “I haven’t since Tobias, but some people deserve to die.”
“Would you stay with me if I forbade you from ever killing someone again?”
Liam watches me closely. “I would do anything for you, Gabriel.”
“You’d do that?”
He’s quiet as the car moves closer to our destination. “I would try… I would really try, but… I don’t know if you’d like the person I’m afraid I’d become if I couldn’t sate the darkness in me. I’ll do whatever you want. I don’t expect you to tell me you’re okay with me killing. But I truly hope you understand why I have to.”
I don’t know how to answer that. He doesn’thaveto. No onehasto kill. But then I find myself back in that room with Tobias standing over me, the smell of death surrounding me, fear tearing through me.
If I could save people from that, would I choose to?
My hands tighten on the steering wheel, and I can tell Liam’s starting to draw back. He thinks he’s said something that’s upset me. The man is so goddamn confident until it comes to me, and then it’s like a simple look or word from me can make him crash. It’s probably not healthy, but I don’t know what the fuck to do about it.
“Can I know… Can I know what they did wrong before you do it?” I ask.
“You’d want to know when I kill someone? I don’t think you want to know, Gabriel. You just want to be reassured I’m not doing something awful.”
