Safe from Harm (Protect & Serve #2)(73)
He shrugged, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the conversation. “So what? They’ve known each other their entire lives.”
“It’s not like they were just passing acquaintances,” Elle pointed out. “They were high school sweethearts and have remained close friends all these years—more than friends for a while, I’m guessing. Have you really never even entertained the possibility that they’d rekindle their romance?”
He shifted in his seat, wondering why the hell the thought of his dad having a secret girlfriend was pissing him off. Especially when it was a woman who’d been like an aunt to the Dawson boys their whole lives and had often been a surrogate mother to them when their own mother had gotten sick. Was it because Mac hadn’t bothered telling any of his sons he was seeing someone after all these years? Or was it because it somehow felt like it was a betrayal to Gabe’s mother?
Or maybe he was just predisposed to be irritable because he was returning to duty, only to be parked behind a desk, thanks to his elder brother’s newly discovered cautious behavior. Regardless, he left Elle’s question unanswered and sulked the rest of the way to her office, only rallying from his piss-poor mood when she leaned across the seat to give him a good-bye kiss and whisper an “I love you” against his lips.
But his mood continued to darken as he drove to the department and pulled into a parking spot. He sat behind the wheel for several moments, psyching himself up, trying to tell himself being a desk jockey was just temporary, that Tom would come around after a week or two and he’d be back out on the road. And if that didn’t work, he’d go over Tom’s head and take his thoughts on the matter straight to the Old Man.
Their father had made it clear from the moment he’d promoted Tom to the executive deputy position that he was their boss. No questions. No bullshit. If anyone had a problem, they’d have to take it up with Tom. But screw that noise. Gabe had never backed down from anything. He sure as hell wasn’t going to now, when his career was on the line.
Setting his jaw and squaring his shoulders, ready to take on whatever bullshit he was going to encounter once he walked in the door, Gabe got out of the Tahoe and strode inside. He was so determined to appear unconcerned with his temporary desk duty that he didn’t at first notice the cautious, anxious stares from his colleagues. But after catching the eye of more than one deputy who quickly looked away or offered only a slight jerk of the chin in response to his nod of greeting, his purposeful strides slowed until he came to a halt in the middle of the room.
Gabe hadn’t expected a surprise welcome-back party—he wasn’t quite the egomaniacal dick people seemed to think he was—but a fucking hello would’ve been nice.
What the hell…?
He sent a frown toward his brother’s office. Tom’s door was closed, but his light was on, so Gabe knew his brother was there.
Shit—when wasn’t Tom there these days?
“Welcome back.”
Gabe turned his head to see Deputy Abby Morrow—the sheriff department’s digital forensics investigator and his brother Kyle’s girlfriend—sitting at her desk. She offered him a grin that looked forced. “It’s good to see you up and around again.”
“Thanks,” he muttered. “What the hell’s going on this morning? Someone piss in the coffee?”
Abby sent a glance toward Tom’s office, then leaned forward a little and tucked a wisp of shoulder-length blond hair behind her ear. “Tom wants to see you—and you might want to wear a flak jacket.”
His brows shot up. “What? This involves me? I’ve only been in the office for two minutes. I haven’t had time to piss off anybody yet.”
“Your dad got a call this morning,” Abby explained, keeping her voice low. “Don’t know what about, but we could hear him yelling at whoever it was from all the way out here. He called Tom into his office afterward. Tom stormed out a few minutes later and demanded we send you in as soon as you got here, then slammed his door.”
Gabe grunted. “Well, that’s encouraging. Where’s the Old Man?”
“Left,” Abby informed him. “No clue where he went, but he looked like he wanted to kill someone.”
Shit.
Gabe knew that look well. The last time he’d seen it was when the Old Man had caught him and Joe sneaking in after curfew coming home from Eric Malone’s party, where they’d consumed at least a case of beer between them—probably more. To make matters worse, Gabe had still been completely blitzed when he’d driven his younger brother home.
That was the first and last time Gabe had ever driven after drinking. He’d learned his lesson. The Old Man had made damned sure of that when he’d put both boys into the back of his patrol car and driven them to the jail to sit in the drunk tank overnight. Gabe still remembered dozing off on the cell bench and waking up to some boozer lying on the floor at his feet, puking all over his shoes.
Yeah, no way in hell was he ever gonna go through that shit again. Even if he hadn’t become a deputy, that experience alone would’ve kept from getting behind the wheel when he was trashed and putting someone he loved at risk. Now he either caught a ride home or took a cab. Period.
He frowned, wondering who was on the receiving end of the Old Man’s fury now. And why. “And that’s all you know about what’s going on?”