Beautiful Redemption (The Maddox Brothers, #2)(40)
“Who the hell are you?” Thomas asked.
“Jackson Schultz, Chicago SWAT. Who the hell are you?”
I stood up. “Special Agent Maddox is San Diego’s ASAC.”
“Maddox?” Jackson laughed once, unimpressed.
“Yes, as in the * who runs this place.” Thomas looked to Constance. “We’re in a meeting.”
“Sorry, sir,” Constance said, not looking sorry at all.
She didn’t fool me. She’d told Thomas what kind of coffee to buy, and once she’d learned Jackson was in the building, she’d swiftly escorted him to my office to remind her boss that he had competition. I wasn’t sure whether to strangle her or laugh, but it was clear that she cared about Thomas, and it was nice to know she thought well enough of me to push him in my direction.
“Agent Maddox, we were just wrapping up, weren’t we?” I asked.
Thomas looked at me and then back to Jackson. “No. Agent Schultz can wait the f*ck outside. Constance?”
One corner of her mouth turned up. “Yes, sir. Agent Schultz, if you’ll just follow me.”
Jackson kept his eyes on me while he followed Constance until they were both out of sight.
I narrowed my eyes at Thomas. “That was unnecessary.”
“Why didn’t you tell me he was visiting?” Thomas barked.
“Do you really think I knew?”
His shoulders relaxed. “No.”
“The quicker you allow him in here, the quicker he’ll leave.”
“I don’t want him here.”
“Stop.”
“What?” Thomas snapped, pretending to stare at the various photographs and Post-its on my wall or the bookshelf or neither.
“You’re being childish,” I said.
He lowered his chin to glower at me. “Get rid of him.” He kept his voice low.
In the recent past, I might have been intimidated, but Thomas Maddox didn’t scare me anymore. I wasn’t sure that he ever had.
“You made such a big deal of me being jealous last night. You know I left him and have zero interest, and look at you.”
He pointed at the door. “You think I’m jealous of Mr. Clean? You’re f*cking joking, right?”
“We both know you’re too f*cked up in there”—I pointed to my own head—“to worry about my ex-fiancé or about me in general.”
“That’s not true.”
“You’re still in love with her!” I said too loud.
Every member of Squad Five present in the squad room leaned forward or back in their chairs to watch through the glass wall of my office. Thomas walked over and lowered the blinds for one section and then the other, and then he shut the door.
He frowned. “What does that have to do with anything? I can’t like you and still love her?”
“Do you? Like me?”
“No, I just asked you on a date because I enjoy being shot down.”
“You asked me to dinner right before you had a meltdown. You’re not over her, Maddox.”
“There you go with the Maddox again.”
“You’re not over her,” I said, hating the sadness in my voice. “And I have goals.”
“You’ve mentioned that.”
“Then, we agree that it’s pointless.”
“Fine.”
“Fine?” I asked, embarrassed about the tinge of panic in my voice.
“I’m not going to push it. If I get over Camille and you get over your…thing…we’ll reconvene.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You weren’t just saying that to Constance. We were really having a meeting.”
“So?”
“This isn’t something you can outline, Thomas. You can’t tell me how it’s going to go down, and we’re not going to reconvene about progress. That’s not how it works.”
“It’s how we work.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’re ridiculous.”
“Maybe, but we’re the same, Liis. That’s why it didn’t work out with other people. I’m not going to let you run away, and you’re not going to put up with my shit. We can think about whether or not it’s efficient to be together until we retire, or we can just accept it now. The fact is, we plan things, we organize, we control.”
I swallowed.
Thomas pointed to the wall. “Before you, I was a lonely workaholic, and even though you had someone, so were you. But you and I can make this work. It makes complete sense for us to be together. When you tell Mr. Ninja out there to kick rocks, let me know, and I’ll take you to dinner. Then, I’m going to kiss you again and not because I’m distraught.”
I swallowed. I tried to keep my voice from wavering as I said, “Good. It’s a little disconcerting to be kissed when you’re distraught over another woman.”
“It won’t happen again.”
“Make sure that it doesn’t.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He opened the door, walked through, and closed it.
I fell into my chair, taking deep breaths to calm myself. What the hell just happened?
“HI,” JACKSON SAID FROM THE LOVE SEAT in the small waiting area down the hall. He stood, towering over me. “You look beautiful. California looks good on you.”