“Save me the effort of looking it up in your personnel files. How old are you?”
“I'll be forty-seven this year.” He drew a deep breath and waited, knowing what was coming next.
“Then you are damn well old enough to understand my next comment, and this comes from her father, not your commissioner. You hurt my daughter and this drive-by will pale compared to what I'll do to you.”
He blinked. Not. What. He. Expected. “I'd never intentionally hurt her. You have my word.”
Chauncey stared at him for a moment. “Dinner is at six on Sunday. I'd advise you not to be late.” The Commissioner turned but glanced back at him. “Get yourself healed up. Your position on JDET is secure. Lieutenant Theron will man the ship until you get back.”
“Yes, sir.” He closed his eyes as the curtains filled in the big hole left by the one hell of a big man. Damn it, it had been a long, long day.
Chapter 8
Brianna gripped Ryker’s phone and lifted it. “Thank you for this.” It was the first time she’d talked to Brody since her rant against Fenton. Most of the team was still in the waiting room, all wanting to pay their respects to their captain. Brody nodded down the hall and they strolled until they were out of earshot. Brody stopped and leaned against the wall.
“So, you and the Captain, huh?” He shoved his hands into his pockets and did everything he could to avoid looking at her.
“Yeah.”
He scraped the toe of his boot against the tile floor. “How long has this... thing been going on?”
“Thing?”
“You know what I mean.” He crossed his arms and leveled a pissed off stare at her.
“Wait, why do you care?”
“He’s my boss, Brie! You could’ve cuddled up with a half-million other men in this city, but you put the moves on my boss! Do you realize what kind of position that puts me in? What type of mess this puts Dad in?”
She lifted a hand. “Whoa, right there. First and foremost, I had no idea he was your boss. We met when he’d been removed from command of your team. I didn’t ask what he did, and he never asked if I was the commissioner’s daughter. I love that man, so I’m sorry my relationship with Ryker puts you in an awkward position, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to walk away from the best thing that has ever happened to me to please my little brother.” She hissed the words at him. Even trying to be quiet, a few heads from the waiting area turned their direction.
Brody tightened his fists and started pacing. “Do you realize how old that man is?”
“I know exactly how old he is. Why?”
“Brie, think about it. If you had children today, he’d be like seventy by the time they were twenty!”
She jerked up and snapped her mouth shut. The words she wanted to say slammed against her brain, demanding to be let loose. “What did you just say?”
Brody didn’t catch the warning in her voice. He just continued pacing. “He’s in his late forties now, you’ll be a widow by the time you're fifty, with kids and bills. Hell, you got to look at this rationally.”
Her palm found his face and connected with a resounding smack. All conversation on the floor stopped. He lifted his hand to his cheek and narrowed his eyes at her. She pointed a finger at him. “You have no right. None. I don’t know where this relationship is going, but I know one thing—whatever happens between us is our business, not yours. Never yours. You judgmental asshole! You don’t want me to bring up your relationship with Amber, do you? No, I didn’t think so. You don’t get to dictate my life. Hell, you don’t get any input into my life! So take your sanctimonious bullshit and stick it up your ass, Brody.” She spun on the ball of her foot and headed back to the surgical ward.
“Brie.” He jogged after her and spun her around. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
“The only thing hurting me is your attitude. You know him. You know the man he is!” She shook off his hand. “Just leave me alone. I can’t do this with you right now.”
“Brianna.” She spun at her mother’s voice. Brie launched herself into her mom’s arms. All the worry, the terror of the call, the stupid low-life scum threatening her, and her scuffles with Fenton and Brody exploded into a barrage of tears. She felt herself being led to a bench where her mother held her and stroked her hair as she cried. Her mom thrust a tuft of tissue into her hand. She blew her nose and hiccupped, “I’m sorry.” Her mom shushed her and continued to stroke her hair. “Brody pissed me off.”
“Yes, I heard. Normally, I’d suggest that you need to apologize, but in this case, I think my son needs to pull his head out of his ass.”
“Mom!” She sat up and gaped at her mother.
“What? It’s the truth. I heard most of what he said about Ryker. I agree with you. One hundred percent. Your relationship has nothing to do with Brody or your father or the force.” She tugged more tissue from her purse. Her mother pointed to her own eyes and whispered, “You need to de-raccoon yourself.”
Brie chuffed a laugh and dabbed at her eyes. “Better?”
“Much. Now, tell me how your man is doing.”
“They did a shoulder replacement. He looks good. Pale and tired, but good. The nurse said she’d come get me when they transferred him to the post-op ward.”
“He was shot?”
“Yeah. At his house.”
“Well, neither of you will stay there for the foreseeable future. I can get the guest room ready and you can have your old room. They wouldn’t dare come to our house.” Hannah dropped her hands into her lap and smiled as if she had the entire situation handled.
“Ah, Mom, I don’t want you to take
