“Don’t think I don’t know who you are or what you’re all about,” Charlie said, his scar twisting with his scowl. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll back the hell off, Balafonte. I worked with Nick Anthony for six years, and that man is no fool. If he hasn’t seen through you yet, he will.”
Joey batted Charlie’s hand aside. “The way he saw through you?”
My Cheez-Its chose that exact moment to slide down the vending machine with a thump. Charlie and Joey stepped abruptly apart, both of them turning toward the sound as my crackers dropped into the tray.
“Sorry,” I said, breaking the tense silence. “Didn’t mean to interrupt. I was just getting something to eat.”
The locker room door nudged open. Nick hobbled a few steps into the hall and paused, his eyes sweeping over the three of us. “Everything okay?”
Joey cleared his throat. “Yeah, I was just gonna run out and grab some dinner. Figured maybe you’d want to come with. We can swing by the lab on our way and pick up those reports you’ve been waiting on.”
Charlie chuckled quietly, bouncing his ball with a cocksure smile. “Thought you were a detective, Balafonte. Read the room.”
Joey glanced at the duffel in Nick’s hand, then the gym bag by my feet.
“Sorry, partner,” Nick said as he limped toward me. “I’ve already got plans for dinner. But do me a favor and text me if you hear back from the lab before I do. I can drop by and pick up the reports in the morning.”
Joey’s eyes narrowed. “You’re taking her off campus?”
“Never said I was.”
“You never said you weren’t.”
Nick turned to his partner. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked in a low voice.
Joey shrugged. “Nothing. Your program, your rules. I just don’t think it looks good to go bending them because you want to get in her pants. That’s all.”
Charlie’s ball stopped bouncing. Nick’s knuckles tightened around his cane.
“Hey,” Joey said, throwing up his hands, “I’m just being honest with you, Nick. That’s what partners do.” He pierced Charlie with a cold glare before disappearing into the locker room.
Charlie dropped his ball. He came up beside me and gave the vending machine a hard shake. A pack of M&M’s dropped into the tray alongside my Cheez-Its, and I was pretty sure I hadn’t paid for them. He handed both snacks to me with the tip of an imaginary hat. “The lady’s hungry, Nick. If you don’t take her to find something to eat around this place, I will.” Charlie clapped Nick on the shoulder, scooped up his ball, and dribbled it into the locker room.
“Sorry about that,” Nick said, frowning at the door as it drifted closed behind them. “I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with Joey. I’ll understand if you want to pass on dinner. I can walk you back to your dorm.”
“No,” I said quickly. The last thing I needed was for Nick to see Javi in our room. Or worse, shimmying down the drainpipe outside it. I glanced over his shoulder toward the locker room. I could either dine on vending machine snacks and risk another run-in with Joey, or I could go to the kitchen with Nick for a hot meal and maybe ask a few questions of my own. I hoisted my gym bag over my shoulder. “I’m starving. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 13
Nick and I made our way at a leisurely pace toward the building that housed the cafeteria. We paused at a crosswalk, allowing a police car to pass us. I watched as it rolled slowly toward the exit lane and proceeded to the gate. I could just make out the night duty officer inside the security booth. He glanced up from his cell phone as the cruiser approached, pushed a button to open the barrier, and waved the driver through it.
Leaving the training facility seemed simple enough.
“Is it really such a big deal for a student to leave the campus?” I asked.
Nick thought about that as his cane clicked over the crosswalk. “In theory? No. If you did leave, you’d be searched when you got back.”
“So why was Joey so upset about it?”
“Joey didn’t have an issue with you leaving. He had an issue with you leaving with me.”
“Why?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was jealous.”
I choked on a laugh. “Why would you think that?”
“He’s just a little too interested, you know? He’s been asking a lot of questions about you.”
The hair on my neck stood on end. “What kinds of questions?”
Nick was quiet for a moment, as if he was considering how to answer that. “Mostly questions about you and me. How long I’ve known you. How we met. If we were ever a thing.”
“A thing?”
“He wanted to know if we’d ever been … intimate.” He risked a sidelong glance at me.
I tried not to sound as curious as that question made me feel. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him it was none of his business.” An awkward silence dragged between us. Did that kiss we shared in his car three months ago count? Did I want it to? And, more important, why did Joey care? “I probably shouldn’t have brought it up,” Nick said, shamefaced. “I don’t think Joey meant anything by it. I think he was just trying to … I don’t know … connect with me about something other than work. I think he senses that I still haven’t entirely warmed up to him yet.”
“Why not? I thought you two got along.”
Nick’s head swayed indecisively. “I can’t put my finger on it, Finn,” he said in a voice too low to carry. “Joey’s a stand-up guy and a decent partner. I don’t think he tries to be a dick.”
“It just happens naturally?”
A smile broke over Nick’s face. He didn’t bother to deny it. “Joey can be a little too direct. It rubs people the wrong way sometimes.”
“What’s Charlie’s beef with him?” I asked.
“You caught on to that?”
“It was hard to miss.”
He shrugged as we rounded the corner to the dining hall. “Charlie’s beef is the same as everyone else’s, I guess. Joey asks too many questions. They come off as a little intrusive. I think it’s just his way of trying to fit in. It’s tough being the new guy. It’s natural to cling to your partner when you don’t have anybody else, and Charlie’s shadow is a long one to walk in. I don’t think I was off the mark when I said Joey’s probably jealous.”
“I can see why. Charlie’s pretty great.”
“So are you.” Nick paused under the awning to the dining hall. He turned to me. His lips parted around a thought, then closed again. “Come on,” he said, running his card key through the scanner and holding the door open for me. “You can warm up inside while I find us something to eat.”
I wondered what he’d been about to say, as he led the way to the kitchen. He flipped on a single wall switch, forgoing the bright overhead fluorescents in favor of a handful of dim spotlights over the counters. He took my coat and hung it on a hook on the wall beside some aprons. “Make yourself at home. Can I get you something to drink? Juice box? Milk?” His cane clicked toward a gigantic stainless steel fridge that could probably fit a half dozen bodies. “Sorry, it’s not as classy as Feliks’s restaurant.”