Oliver sucked his teeth. “I’ll have you know I passed the blue light course on only thefourthattempt. It took Matteussixtries and about five hundred lessons. So can I ride in the front or am I to strap myself into the booster seat again?”
Pushing himself off the car, Lucas brushed off his coat and tugged open the drivers side door. “Reed, you can ride wherever you like.”
“Well, that was unprofessional,”Julian said as he and Matteus sat at Oliver’s kitchen table. He’d tried to hide the day’s events from his brother, but lying had proven impossible thanks to their twin bond. And if Matteus knew, Julian also knew. He’d found the two of them waiting on his doorstep with a Chinese takeaway when he returned home that evening.
“Oh please, it’s not like he’soursergeant. He’s hardly abusing his position,” Matteus said, pressing a pair of chopsticks to his lips.
“He’s still a sergeant, Matteus. Not to mention they were on duty,” Julian replied, dark brown eyebrows pulling into a frown behind his glasses.
Oliver sipped white wine as he watched the two argue back and forth, both clearly forgetting that he was there.
“You’ve kissed me plenty of times when I’ve been on duty.” Matteus said, his cheeks pink from the wine.
“I’m your husband. And I’m not a police officer. It’s totally different.” Julian’s eyes slipped to Oliver with an expression that said‘back me up here?’Oliver just shrugged and took anotherbite of Peking duck. “Did anything else happen? Anything you haven’t told us?” Julian’s deep brown eyes studied Oliver as he took a long swig of beer.
Oliver hummed and finished chewing. “Just some aggressive sniffing. That’s all. The suppressants have been working quite well.”
“Aggressive—for the love of God, Ollie, that’s how it starts. The next thing you know, he’ll start getting all possessive and controlling.”
“Possessive and controlling? I don’t remember you being like that?” Matteus said, patting the back of Julian’s hand as it rested on the table.
“That’s because I gave you the bite when you were in heat. If we’d have left it months on end I’d have probably gone out of my mind with jealousy.”
“Okie dokie, that’s quite enough for one evening,” Oliver said, getting up from the table. He didnotneed to know about his brother’s sex life, or be lectured about his own abysmal prospects.
None of it would’ve mattered come the following morning. Not the kiss, not the phantom heat, and certainly not the inexplicable longing Oliver felt in the pit of his belly. Come tomorrow, Lucas would know he was a sigma, which caused a strange feeling of inevitability to settle over him.
The alpha had requested everyone’s personnel files in order to construct the team, and as soon as he found out he was a sigma, he’d rescind his offer pretty fucking sharpish.
Inspector Callahan called him into his office before he’d left for the day.
“Sit down, DC Reed,” he’d said with an unreadable expression. “I wanted to let you know that I’m authorising the investigation into the suspected sex trafficking ring. DS White has asked for you directly. He also told me about whathappened with Shirley Spencer, and I must say, I am extremely disappointed in you.”
However, the Inspector said it with such a huge smile on his face that Oliver couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. Regardless, Lucas had reported him, but how could he not? He nearly assaulted a social worker. Even if it was only Shirley fucking Spencer.
The Inspector lowered his head and dropped his voice to a whisper. “He also told me about what happened afterwards.”
That made Oliver’s toes curl in his boots, and he wouldn’t have blamed Lucas if he’d have conveniently left that part out.
“I’m writing both of you up to Professional Standards, but it’ll be my suggestion that this goes no further, so long as you can move past it. God knows we’re thin on the ground as it is.”
Oliver nodded as he stared at his lap, mortified that the Inspector knew about the kiss.
“And DC Reed…”
“Yes, Sir?”
“There’s more. DS White has asked to access everyone’s files to determine who he wants on his team. He needs to know each of your qualifications and specialisations. With that comes the disclosure of your secondary sex. Do you want to tell him in person, or shall I?”
Oliver knew it was coming, but he hadn’t expected to feel so damned conflicted about it. He wanted to work the case. Of course he did. He wanted to protect Helena Cartwright and all the other children that were involved.
But should he put himself at risk like that? Being the fucking coward that he was, he shook his head. “No, sir. Please, just give him the file. He can decide for himself if he still wants me on the team.”
After everything that happened, he should have been brave enough to tell him straight to his shockingly handsome face.But it was precisely because of that, he couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in his eyes. With any luck, after the following morning the most they’d be seeing one another would be in passing along the corridor. Or at the water fountain… or the printer. Perhaps he should just never drink or print anything ever again.
That thought alone kept him awake long into the night, despite the suppressants dulling his senses. That, and the way his nose started running like a god-damned tap.
The following morning,Oliver was late for work. He’d been up half the night sneezing and coughing, and when he finally dragged himself out of bed, he looked like he’d been on an all night bender with the local crack-heads.
