A Steel Town (A Gateway to Love #3)

by Chloe Barlow

  On a good day, Claudia treated such things with much more care.

  But this was in no way a good day.

  In fact, it was a terrible day and she was tempted to scream so loudly she broke every one of her dependable Volvo’s tempered glass windows.

  Instead, she turned and leaned back against its front fender, forcing her emotions into check until she’d calmed down. Claudia pushed her purse strap back onto her shoulder and made her way to the apartment building in front of her.

  Claudia had been thrilled when her brother’s girlfriend, Dr. Jenna Sutherland, had invited her to her old apartment for a girl’s night in, complete with Jenna’s two best friends.

  Jenna was a beautiful orthopedic surgeon from Georgia, who also happened to be the only person in the world Wyatt ever seemed to listen to about anything. This fact alone was proof Claudia needed to get to know her better.

  Maybe Pittsburgh wasn’t Claudia’s first choice of places to start her FBI career, but she’d been really trying to make a go of it, and new friends seemed like just the boost she needed. Which meant, she should probably stop acting like an angry eight-year-old in the parking lot and start socializing.

  She entered the code Jenna had given her to the building, a free-flowing sense of excitement filling her body as she made her way up the steps.

  Claudia pressed the doorbell of the apartment, now inhabited solely by Jenna’s best friend, Aubrey.

  The door opened and Claudia fought to soften her features so she didn’t scare off the grinning cool-looking woman in front of her.

  “Hi. I’m Claudia. You must be Aubrey. We haven’t actually met, but…”

  The tall beauty grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, which planted Claudia’s face into her small bosom, knocking the wind out of her.

  “Of course I know who you are! You’re practically family, girl. Get on in here,” Aubrey said cheerfully, pulling away enough to give Claudia some air before dragging her through the door. “Jenna’s not here, yet. She called to say she’s running late with one of her patients. Girl’s night has already commenced, even if we’re still short one girl.”

  “As long as it’s no trouble, that would be great.”

  “Of course not. If I always waited for that workaholic to drag herself from the office, I’d never get a drink in me, and wouldn’t that just be a shame? Our friend, Tea, is already here, too.”

  Aubrey’s words came at Claudia like rapid-fire shotgun pellets of happiness, punctuating just how lonely and desperate she’d been for friendship over these last few frustrating weeks.

  Claudia responded with a smile twitching at her lips, “Thank you. I really appreciate you guys including me.”

  “Don’t be silly. We just feel bad it took three weeks to get us all together. Whenever your brother has an away game, Tea and I finally get to spend some time with Jenna. Don’t worry. Tea can be a really bad influence, just like me — when she wants to be. Follow me,” Aubrey ordered, walking with grace and ease toward the counter lining the open kitchen, where the woman they called ‘Tea’ was fussing with strawberries, mixers, rum, and a blender. She was stunning in her own way, shorter and more curvaceous than Aubrey, with full lips and big hazel eyes.

  “Tea, we’ve got company, and she looks thirsty. Claude, would you like a daiquiri? Jenna bought a new blender for her and Wyatt’s place, so I got to keep this one. We’re celebrating with sugary 1980s girly drinks, so it was this or mudslides. You want one?”

  Claudia hesitated, concerned at the prospect of what so much sugar and alcohol could do to her blood sugar.

  “It’s okay if you want something else,” Tea said quickly. “I’m sure we can dig up some ingredients for a cocktail people actually drink in this decade.”

  Irritation welled inside her. Jenna claimed to understand when Claudia told her she didn’t like people to know she was an insulin-dependent diabetic. Jenna wouldn’t really have told these girls without permission, would she? Claudia worried.

  “No. It’s not a problem,” Claudia insisted. “I’ll have whatever you’re drinking. I just need to use your bathroom first?”

  “Of course, right through there,” Aubrey answered and pointed down the hall. Claudia’s feet moved her forward, while her brain quickly worked its way through the familiar insulin game so many type 1 diabetics knew how to play. Surviving college with a moderately normal existence required she maneuver a world full of junk food and alcohol — a minefield where the only armor was a well-trained eye for sugars and a good insulin pump. As far as she was concerned, this night was no different.

  With the door shut behind her, Claudia reached to her waistband to reset her insulin pump. She wasn’t sure how many carbs were in the sweet drink awaiting her, but it was probably a lot. Confident she’d upped the insulin amount enough, she made her way back to the kitchen to see the icy treat awaiting her.

  Their smiling faces, which greeted Claudia, assured her she’d made the right choice. Ever since she’d graduated college, Claudia had missed being in the same town as her friends.

  That sense of loss had been tempered by her fierce excitement at the prospect she could get assigned to the cybercrime division of the FBI’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. She was eager to be a part of the action, taking on the toughest cases and worst bad guys in the country. Even though she’d learned years before her juvenile diabetes would prevent her from serving the military in combat, she was convinced this was the way she would achieve the next best thing.

  Yet, one unfortunate day during training at Quantico had derailed all of those hopes. Claudia had passed all her medical and physical tests with flying colors, and even though her insulin dependency had given some pause, her internship with the Bureau had seemed to dispel all that — at least until her blood sugar dropped dramatically during a raid simulation exercise. As the room filled with the loud alarm of her glucose monitor, she’d clumsily tried to manage the situation on her own, but they wouldn’t let her.

  The medical staff simply fed into the hysteria, and before she knew it, a challenging D.C. assignment was off the table. They’d at least been kind enough to let her choose between several other locations. Though it risked putting her smack dab under her brother’s watchful gaze, Claudia knew Pittsburgh was the most suitable compromise. It was close enough to D.C. to not completely eliminate the possibility of a real future, and it had a very respected cybercrime unit, with more than enough action to keep her busy. If only they’d let her actually do anything.

  Instead it felt like everything she’d fought for over the last several years, and dreamed of throughout her life, had all been ripped from her. Now, she was in a strange city, acting as a glorified desk clerk, with no friends to keep her company, unless one counted the presence of her own steadily growing need to prove to the world she could really be a successful field agent.

  “Here you go, Claude,” Tea said, waving her hand at it, before taking a seat at the counter with them. “Jenna said you work at the FBI. How cool. What do you do there?”

  Claudia took a long sip before speaking, “Not much it seems.”

  “What do you mean?” Aubrey asked.

  “Sorry, I swore to myself I wouldn’t bitch about work tonight.”

  “That’s one of our main pastimes here, come on, bring it,” Tea commanded.

  Claudia chuckled, explaining, “Well, Pittsburgh wasn’t my first choice assignment, but I’ve been trying to make the most of it.”

  “Good for you,” Tea said encouragingly, toasting her glass to Claudia’s.

  “A lot of good it’s done me. They keep sticking me on these bullshit low-level investigations, and today, one of my friends, Drew, said the word around the office is no one wants to see Pittsburgh’s star quarterback’s little sister get hurt.”

  “Is that true? Can they do that?” Aubrey asked incredulously.

  “I’d like to believe they couldn’t. But Drew’s been in the office five years now and knows pretty much everybody,
so if there’s a rumor, he’s heard it. Even if it’s not true, anyone even thinking it is so humiliating. And Wyatt didn’t help, sending everybody signed jerseys and footballs, coming by and taking pictures. I told him to stay away… I explained no one would take me seriously, but he just blew it off.”

  “Did you tell him what Drew said?”

  “Yeah. He claimed not to have any kind of influence over the FBI,” Claudia dropped her voice to impersonate her brother, “‘But if my swinging by makes people second guess getting you killed, then that’s great.’”

  “Aw, I bet you wanted to punch him in the face!” Tea said loudly, slurring slightly. “Sorry. I actually had two cocktails while I made these. Aubrey, help me out with the advice here.”

  “No, I agree. I was going to propose punching him somewhere else. Wyatt is definitely a leopard who won’t change his stripes…or spots, which one is it Tea?”

  Claudia laughed, a heady and giggly feeling filling her body.

  “Focus Brey. Damn Claude, you must be so frustrated.”

  “I am! I just want to do my best — really kick ass. If they’d only let me try, they’d see I know what I’m doing! Um, by the way, could I have some water?” she asked, her mouth incredibly dry from thirst. Aubrey quickly fetched Claudia a glass of ice water, which she slurped gratefully, before continuing with her story.

  “It’s probably even more aggravating because you’re in a new city, living a life you may not have planned or chosen for yourself,” Tea stated carefully.

  “You’re exactly right. How’d you know?” Claudia asked, honestly surprised at how insightful this woman’s words were.

  “My husband, Jack, died almost seven years ago, during my last year of law school. He mysteriously drowned late one night. I was a little older than you, and in an instant, I’d lost everything. I was alone in Jack’s hometown, with nothing to call my own. Then I found out I was pregnant without any warning. Aubrey and Jenna moved here to help me after Johnny was born, but…”

  “Wow, that was so great of them to do,” Claudia enthused.

  “Yeah, we’re really amazing. You’ll see,” Aubrey added slyly, Tea just rolled her eyes before continuing.

  “They helped me so much. We were like our own little family, but it took me years to really find my way and not feel like I was missing something.”

  “That and meeting Griffen Tate,” Aubrey added.

  Tea laughed, “Yeah, Griffen was a big part of it.”

  “He’s your fiancé right?” Claudia clarified.

  “Mmm hmm. I had no idea when I’d met him last year, but he’d actually been Jack’s best friend when they were growing up here in Pittsburgh. He’s the one who helped me find my heart again, even though I fought like hell to hold on to my grief. And he did everything in his power to figure out how Jack really died — that he’d been murdered by his boss and mentor, David Murphy,” Tea explained, as she shivered slightly.

  “That son of a bitch, David, even had the nerve to hang around and moon over Tea for years. He helped her with little Johnny, and everything…” Aubrey growled.

  “When all the while, he was hiding the fact he took money from some unknown bad guys to steal information from the CMU robotics department where they worked. Jack was just caught in the proverbial crossfire, I guess,” Tea mumbled, sadly.

  Claudia remained silent. She was very familiar with the continuing efforts to learn which “bad guys” actually paid Professor David Murphy to betray his employer and kill his protégé. In fact, it was an obsession of hers to get to help on the case.

  “It wasn’t easy for Griffen to break through and convince me I was able to have a life of my own, believe me,” Tea continued, a little emotion still coming through her voice.

  “But Griffen got the girl and busted David, because he’s a bulldozing investigative journalist who refuses to quit when it comes to what he wants to know, or whom he wants to get,” Aubrey interjected, smirking at Tea.

  “The point is, you never know where this life will lead you,” Tea interjected. “Jack’s death was the most horrific tragedy, but it was also like a stone falling in a pond. Each ripple from that one act has touched so many people, many of them here in this city now with me. So you may find your own little derailment in life could lead you to something really great…something you never even knew you wanted.”

  “She writes fortune cookies in her spare time if you’re interested. Good thing Jenna’s not here to listen to you get all ‘one-to-grow-on,’ Tea. She’d be making so much fun of you right now,” Aubrey teased.

  “I know. Well, guilty as charged. I’m the big softy in this group. Sorry, Claude,” Tea responded, taking a healthy slurp of her daiquiri.

  “Oh no, I think it’s great advice! It’s what I keep trying to tell myself. In fact, I found the perfect opportunity, too. There’s this case I want to work on…”

  Claudia paused, watching her words carefully. She didn’t want to compromise any sensitive information by sharing details about active cases, especially as it was an investigation into the very acts, which had stolen Tea’s first chance at happiness so many years before. The case may be the biggest thing happening at the Pittsburgh office, but she needed to be sensitive to the human tragedy behind it, especially after Tea had been so open with her.

  “Did you ask to get on the case?” Aubrey inquired, disturbing Claudia from her fuzzy thoughts.

  “I did! I may be new, but it’s the biggest cybercrime case going right now. Other junior agents have been allowed to help, even though they’re in other departments. After I scared up some of the non-confidential files, I came up with ideas about what might help the investigation. I swear, if I had a chance to show them what I’m capable of, I might finally get back all that progress I made when I was in D.C. I’m worried if I don’t make it happen now, I never will.”

  “You don’t take no for an answer do you?” Tea asked.

  “No. It’s kind of not in my vocabulary. Today, after Drew told me what people were saying about me, I got an anonymous email with a tip. I figured that had to change my boss’ mind. But when I went to him about it, he said no way. That it’s too dangerous for me and someone else should do it.”

  “Well that just sucks,” Aubrey stated definitively. “There’s got to be some way you can make them come around.”

  “I agree,” Tea added, “you must’ve worked really hard to make it this far. If they can’t see what you have to offer, then you have to make them.”

  Claudia nodded and smiled.

  “Thank you,” she answered, but she was suddenly having trouble forcing the words out of her mouth. Her eyes felt so heavy as they tried to focus on her newly-filled drink. She couldn’t process how much of this sugar bomb she’d put in her body. Claudia wondered if she’d misjudged the amount of carbs when setting her insulin, but it was too hard to figure it out as her eyes started to close independent of her own will.

  “Are you okay, sweetie?” she heard Tea ask in the distance.

  “Damn it, you’re so tiny, maybe you have a really low tolerance? Come on, you can lie down in Jenna’s old room.”

  “That sounds nice,” Claudia muttered slowly, feeling two arms lifting her off her stool.

  “Jenna’s room is still set up? Wow, Aubrey, are you in denial much?” Tea asked, helping Claudia from her seat.

  “Shut up, Tea. Focus on Claudia.”

  “I’m fine,” Claudia forced through her lips.

  “Poor thing. Aubrey, I think I should text Jenna. She’ll want to know Claude’s not feeling well.”

  Claudia’s eyes closed as they laid her body down on a soft mattress that felt as dense as the syrupy blood running through her veins. Once they left, she reached to her pump, quickly upping the insulin amount, before closing her eyes and waiting for it to take effect and battle the powerful sugar clogging her bloodstream.

  It seemed to Claudia like only a moment had passed when cool hands began touching her hip.


  “What’s going on? What are you doing?” Claudia mumbled, her lips stumbling over each sound.

  “I’m giving you insulin.”

  “Jenna?”

  “Yes, it’s me. Hold still while I give you a shot.”

  “But my pump…”

  “Is almost empty. And you’re pretty hyperglycemic. Jesus, Claudia. You have to know drinks like those daiquiris you had are so bad for you.”

  Claudia felt the needle enter her body, releasing the insulin she hated and loved simultaneously, into her body. What a fool she’d been — trying to live a regular life. That realization didn’t change the furious sense of impotent anger coursing through her body, just as powerfully as the injection Jenna was giving her.

  “I am not a child,” Claudia huffed out to her.

  “I know that, but…” Jenna trailed off, clearly searching for the right words to say.

  “I thought I had everything under control…”

  “You probably would’ve been okay, but why even risk it?” Jenna muttered. “Wyatt’s already so worried about you.”

  “This isn’t about Wyatt. It’s none of his business,” Claudia insisted.

  “That’s your decision to make. I understand wanting to keep issues with your health to yourself, believe me… Besides, I have ethical obligations to protect your privacy. Still, I’m sure he’d want to know.”

  Claudia’s mouth felt hot and cloudy as she worked it around her words.

  “I’m sorry, Jenna.”

  As the insulin started to take effect, Claudia already felt more like herself — enough to sense Jenna sigh and lie down next to her.

  Jenna stroked Claudia’s hair gently, making her feel safe enough to let her eyes flutter back closed.

  “Don’t be sorry, Claudia. You’ve had a rough few weeks, these things happen. Nobody’s perfect, and I’m not asking you to be. You’ll feel better soon. You can stay here tonight. Just rest. I took care of you. No matter what happens, I am always going to look out for you.”

  Trey thanked the barista for the two drinks she handed him, adding a quick smile and wink, which made her red lips curl upward into a grin. The soft light in the small, hipster coffeehouse Jenna had invited him to glinted off the woman’s lip ring, while her smooth cheeks quickly blushed.