Erik leaned over the bar, staring into his latest drink. He didn’t even know what it was. He’d asked to be surprised and hadn’t paid attention when the drink was set in front of him.
“The problem,” he explained, “is that I want someone I shouldn’t want. She’s younger than me by a lot. I thought there was nothing there, and then I realized there is something there, but I’m not going to go somewhere I’m not wanted. I thought it was just attraction, but there’s something more there. A lot more. We’ve been doing other stuff together lately, like hanging out. You know, just having a good time. They’re not dates, just a good time.”
A light buzz didn’t kill his tactical instincts. He turned on his stool, sensing someone behind him. There was no Tin Man or gangster assassin there, just a voluptuous redhead in a semi-sheer dress that some might classify as lingerie.
“Hey,” she purred. “I see you’re alone.” She looked at his hands.
Erik shrugged. “Sometimes a man wants to drink alone.”
The redhead placed a hand on his knee and leaned forward to give him a better view of her assets. “A man like you shouldn’t be alone. You’re just my type, big and strong, and we could have a good time together.”
He could take her home. It didn’t have to mean anything. Sometimes a man just needed to scratch an itch. She was offering. What reason did he have to refuse?
He could think of one—the very reason he was there.
Erik sighed and shook his head. “It’s been a long day, and a nice girl like you needs someone who is going to be fun. I’ll bring your night down. Maybe a different time?”
The girl stuck out her bottom lip. “If you say so.” She sashayed off, looking disappointed but not annoyed.
Erik turned back around. “Like I was saying, the woman I’ve finally willing to admit I’m interested in is younger…”
Jia tried not to frown. Corbin had barely touched his duck. She hadn’t learned the recipe for him, but he could at least appreciate it. Given how thin the man was, he could use some protein. He had a handsome face, but he needed more muscle.
Like Erik.
She tried not to wince at the thought. The last thing she should be thinking about was another man while she was on a date with her boyfriend, especially one in which she provided him a homecooked meal.
“Did you see the news about Diogenes’ Hope?” Corbin asked, dangling his fork.
“Diogenes’ Hope?” Jia blinked. Maybe the wine had gone to her head. It took her a second to remember where that was. It was in the Trappist-1 system, about thirty-nine light-years from Earth. “What? Did they find Navigator artifacts or something there?”
Corbin sighed. “If only. A rebellion’s broken out there. Insurrectionists overran a military base. They’ve already seized control of most of the colony, and they’re claiming they’re seceding from the UTC.”
“There’s always someone out there stirring up trouble. I wish they could be reasonable, but the frontier’s a different place. Not worse, mind you—my job reminds me of that every day—but different.”
“They are, at that.” Corbin set down his fork. “I’ve never been beyond Alpha Centauri. I don’t think you’re missing much by not traveling the UTC. Why go anywhere else when the cream of humanity is on Earth? The colonies are pale imitations of our home planet. Too many antisocials have been transported there, too.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” she mumbled. It was the way she had looked it not all that long ago.
Jia’s mind wandered to an imagined Erik in an exoskeleton leading a platoon to take a rebel stronghold. He was already an incredible combatant without military-grade weapons except for the TR-7, so she could only imagine what he could accomplish with proper equipment. The more time she spent around him, the more surprised she was that his unit had been wiped out.
She tried to shove that train of thought from her mind.
Corbin had brought up the insurrection. It was natural her mind would go to a man who had spent most of his life in the military.
Jia blinked. Corbin had been saying something new, but she hadn’t been listening. She tried to focus.
“That’s interesting,” she offered. That would work for most things, unless he had asked a question. She held her breath, waiting for his response.
“That’s what I think.” Corbin smiled softly. “Penjing is fascinating, and Master Lao’s arrangements are inspiring. I want to hire him to decorate my office, but I worry that he’ll be insulted if I approach him like he’s a mere artist for hire.”
Penjing. That was just cruel. If the universe didn’t want Jia to think of Erik, why were they going from insurrectionists to penjing in the same conversation?
“I’m sure he’ll understand you respect his work,” Jia managed. She swallowed. Her heart was pounding so hard she was half-convinced Corbin would hear it. “Maybe you’ll get lucky, and he’ll want to do it for free.”
“Oh.” Corbin chuckled, a hint of embarrassment flavoring the sound. “I forgot to ask you how your sphere ball game went the other day. You said it was your first.”
Was the Lady messing with her, or was the universe trying to tell her something?
“It was fun.” Jia shrugged. “I didn’t mention it to you because you told me you weren’t interested in sports. I didn’t want to bore you.”
“It’s not as if I look down on sports, mind you,” Corbin explained. “It’s just I have other things to occupy my time. I do find sports less interesting than other activities, but it’s not as if I’m trying to force you to choose only hobbies I enjoy.”
Jia had been trying her best not to talk about Erik. It wasn’t her fault that the conversation kept bringing him up. Perhaps dating was futile in her current job. She was close to an impressive man for most of her day, and they’d had been spending more and more time together, both training and relaxing.
It didn’t help that they’d been through several life-or-death incidents, and it was impossible for a normal guy to establish the same connection without those kinds of shared experiences.
What was she supposed to do? Take on a terrorist group with Corbin?
She had been kidding herself. Her sister and mother had been deluding themselves. Jia doubted she could sustain a normal relationship at this point in her life. Not only was she working full-time as a detective in a corrupt area, but she was also helping Erik with an even more dangerous conspiracy.
That spelled death for romance.
There was one possibility. If she dated Erik, he would understand her job and her concerns. Hunting the conspiracy was his mission.
Date Erik?
Jia managed not to gasp. Corbin was still describing the intricacies of Master Lao’s penjing designs, but all she could think about was her partner’s cocky grin. The idea of dating him wasn’t inherently insane. There were no departmental policies against it.
No, she couldn’t do that. He was twice her age. She was just starting her career and had barely traveled.
Erik had spent decades among the colonies of the UTC, experiencing the vast scope humanity had to offer, both the glorious and the disturbing.
Being attracted to a man and trusting him to have your back in a firefight didn’t guarantee a successful romance. Dating him would be a mistake. He might get sick of her, and if he did, they would ruin their professional partnership. Even if the entire 1-2-2 wasn’t filled with Jared Thompson types, there was no guarantee her next partner would be as good as Erik.
“So that was why I told him, ‘Ten percent. What about fifteen percent?’” Corbin laughed at his joke.
Jia forced a chuckle. She’d barely heard the rest of what he’d said. She had thought they were still discussing penjing.
Everything she was feeling was probably one-sided anyway. Erik had swept into her life like a typhoon. He was like no man she’d ever met. Of course, she would be impressed with him, but it wasn’t worth risking their professional relationship for a personal one tha
t was likely doomed to end in disappointment.
Jia nodded firmly. “That’s it.”
Corbin blinked. “You think I should threaten to sue him?”
“No, no, I guess not.” Jia offered him a sheepish smile.
She might not want to date Erik, but it was unfair to continue to string Corbin along. He was a nice guy, but Corbin wasn’t what she needed.
She needed to finish this sooner rather than later.
Erik stood, swaying slightly. Emma was going to chew him out when he got back in the flitter, but he would soothe her ego by noting only she could get him home safely.
“Thanks for listening,” he slurred.
The multi-armed bartending bot took his glass and tucked it under the bar. The tangled mass of limbs had an almost sinister look, like it was the bastard offspring of the King sentry and an octopus.
“Sir, please note you have credits remaining on your tab,” the robot noted.
Erik shrugged. “You’ve been a great ear.”
“I don’t understand. Please repeat your drink request. If you would like food, I can summon a waitress.”
Erik laughed. “Emma’s spoiled me. You don’t care what I’ve been talking about, do you?”
“Customer satisfaction is very important to us. Please rephrase your request, and I’ll do my best to accommodate you.”
Erik walked away and shook his head. “I prefer my AIs with more personality.” He chuckled. “And a little bitchier.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
February 27, 2229, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Bar Remembrance
“Third beer?” Erik eyed Jia like she’d slid a blade out of the top of her wrist and was bleeding out. “Did you finally decide that since I’m paying for your drinks, you should get your money’s worth?”
She raised her glass and stared into the amber liquid. “I’m training in different ways to be your partner.”
Her red face and slurred words told Erik all he needed to know about her alcohol tolerance. She had a long way to go if two beers messed her up that much.
Erik sipped his own beer. “Good work this week on that robbery case. I know it’s not as flashy as some of the things we’ve had in the last couple of months, but you figuring out they had redirected the cargo flitters saved us a lot of trouble.” He shrugged. “And they straight-up surrendered. That’s always nice.”
“It’s nice not to have to shoot someone.” Jia set her drink down and sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
She eyed him, taking a second to focus her thoughts…or her eyes. He wasn’t sure. “The Qingming Festival is coming up. It’s a big deal in my family, and Mother can be obnoxious about it. Then again, this year, I’ve got a boyfriend, so at least she won’t harass me about that.” She sat back, crossing her arms. “It’s like she’s afraid our ancestors are going to come back and scold her for not marrying me off yet.”
Erik raised an eyebrow. “Good thing I’m not Chinese. A lot of my ancestors aren’t worth honoring, and while I’ve patched things up with my brother, it’s still kind of awkward.”
She leaned over the table in front of him. “I’m sure you have some good ancestors.” Jia gave him the wide, sloppy smile that only a drunk could manage. “You’re not so bad right now.”
“I like to think so. And the same to you.” Erik leaned back in his chair and surveyed the room. Like any typical night, it was mostly filled with off-duty cops and their friends. The bulk of the patrons were from the 1-2-2 since it was the closest enforcement zone. Halil sat at the end of the bar, chatting up a waitress and gesturing at a dartboard excitedly.
A brown-haired, dark-eyed, middle-aged man glared at their table from across the bar. Erik had never met the man, but he’d seen pictures. It was Jia’s old partner, Ryan Castille. In the pictures, he had bothered to comb his hair.
“Trouble,” Erik warned. He inclined his head toward Ryan. “Or at least, something annoying.”
Jia turned that way and muttered a curse in Mandarin.
Erik laughed. “You kiss your mom with that mouth?”
“My mother doesn’t like kisses,” Jia retorted. “I’ve always worried about running into him, but he stopped coming here after he retired. I kind of assumed he never would come here again. Guess I was wrong.”
The ever-present din quieted, near silence spreading from Ryan to the rest of the room. A few people not from the 1-2-2 exchanged confused looks. Their friends leaned in to whisper to them, a few nodding toward Jia or pointing at Ryan.
Erik cracked his knuckles. He didn’t want to get any blood on the floor of his favorite bar, but sometimes the Lady threw trouble at him, and he needed to react by punching someone in the face.
Erik spoke softly. “Want me to get rid of him?”
Jia shook her head. “No, I don’t need that. If he’s not an idiot, he’ll turn around and leave.”
“And if he is an idiot?”
“Then he’ll regret this night.” Jia’s expression turned stormy. She locked eyes with her old partner, the challenge obvious.
Ryan lifted his chin and flared his nostrils like an angry bull ready to charge.
Erik shook his head. The man had chosen the path of the idiot. He remembered how Jia had dealt with Jared, but he was still an active cop with something to lose.
The few remaining conversations in the room stopped. Tension hung thick in the air. If it were any other place, someone might have called the police, but it was pointless to call the cops in a cop bar.
Ryan snorted and stomped toward Jia, his gaze unwavering. His voice carried as he snarled, “If it isn’t Lady Justice!”
Jia rolled her eyes. “I didn’t tell anyone to call me that. You know how the media are. You could sneeze, and they’d turn it into a story about you being illegally genetically engineered.”
He shrugged, the disdain all but oozing out of him. “You always were ambitious. I suppose you finally got your big break, and you get to be the cop you always thought you should be.”
Jia took a few deep breaths. “Ambitious? No. All I’ve ever wanted to do was be a good police officer and protect the public.” She forced a half-smile. “Actually, Ryan, I have to apologize to you.”
Erik frowned but didn’t say anything. Jia was a big girl and could handle herself, but he didn’t like her giving attack opportunities to her ex-partner. From everything she’d mentioned about him, he was a lazy piece of trash.
“Apologize?” Ryan smirked and licked his lips. “That sounds good. What are you apologizing for?”
Jia gulped down some beer. “I was naïve when we were partners. I’ll admit that. I didn’t understand the truth of the world, and that made things more difficult than they needed to be.”
Ryan narrowed his eyes. “And you’re saying you do now?”
“In the sense that I get there are real problems out there, yes.” Jia scooted her chair back and stood. Her face might be redder than before, but there was no hint of a slur as she spoke. Trouble had sobered her up quickly.
Ryan nodded, looking increasingly satisfied. “If you get there were real problems, you probably regret bothering me and the captain about so many unimportant cases.”
Jia looked pained.
Ryan bared his teeth. “What the hell is with that look?”
“If you’ve been reading any of the articles about me, you should have picked up that some of those so-called unimportant cases turned into big deals. Very big deals.” Jia squared her shoulders. “If I’d ignored them, major criminals wouldn’t have been caught. So I don’t regret that at all.”
Erik forced himself not to stand. He wanted to march up to Jia’s old partner and loom over the man, but he understood the importance of the moment. She needed to prove to herself and everyone else that she wasn’t the same woman she had been when she was partnered with Ryan.
Her old partner flung his arms out to the sides and bowed deeply. “I’m sorry, Lady Justice. I didn’t mean to disrespect you. Yo
u’re a big, famous detective now. What’s a piece-of-garbage cop who spent many years on the force doing questioning you?”
Erik stood. He’d reached his limit. Jia might need to do it herself, but he was her partner. When someone came at her, they came at him.
He took one step forward. She threw her hand up, and he froze.
Ryan laughed. “Oh, you got him on a leash, too? Down, boy.”
“Keep talking,” Erik replied. “You’ll see what this junkyard dog can do.”
“He has respect for me,” Jia spat through gritted teeth. “Which is more than I can say about you, Ryan.”
“Respect is earned, Jia, not given because your parents are rich.”
“Respect is earned.” Jia nodded. “That much I agree with, but that’s where I’m confused.”
“Confused about what?” Ryan furrowed his brow and glanced at Erik.
Jia unclenched her jaw. A sickeningly sweet smile replaced her frown. “What did you do to earn my respect?”
“What?”
“It’s not a hard question.” Derision permeated her voice. “If respect is earned, and you wanted respect, then you need to explain to me what you did to earn it. I’m a little drunk right now, so keep it simple. Then again, you’re an idiot, so it’s not like you have another option.”
A few people in the crowd chuckled.
Ryan growled and scanned the crowd as if trying to remember who had dared to laugh at him.
“You’re nothing but a spoiled corp princess who got lucky,” he shouted. “I’m a good cop, and you forced me off the job because you couldn’t let trivial crap go.”
Jia laughed. “Good cop? If you were willing to come and apologize for your attitude, that would be one thing, but you were worse than a bad cop. At least a bad cop occasionally does something useful to cover up the fact they are bad. You were a lazy, useless cop. All you cared about was treading water until you could retire. If a major case came along, you sent it to someone else. There’s only so much you can blame Monahan for.” She took a step toward him. “It’s amazing. A miracle! The minute I got rid of my dead weight and got a partner who gave a damn about doing the job, we started solving crimes and saving people.” She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “To be honest, I felt a little bad about what went down between us, but now I’m not naïve, and I understand the truth. I wasn’t an unbearable partner. You’re just a lazy coward who had no business calling himself a cop.”
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