Micah’s stomach churned.
Feeling the distinct urge to puke, he wasted no time heading back to the toilets. He tried to empty his discontented stomach, but it was empty except for the coffee so nothing came up.
When he eventually gave up, he stared at his pale face in the mirror, pressing the back of his hands to his clammy cheeks before splashing water onto his shell-shocked expression and drying his skin with brown, crispy paper towels until it felt raw. He took a deep breath in through his nose. “Get it together,” he ordered his reflection sternly.
No one would put the pieces together. (Probably.) Only Tessa knew the significance of Damon coming to the station, and she would never say anything to anyone.
Speaking of Tessa…
Micah nearly plowed down the pregnant woman when he stepped out of the bathroom. “Sorry, I’m sorry! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she assured. “Though I can’t say the same for your growly boyfriend.” Judging by the shrewd look in her eyes, she somehow knew that he knew about Damon’s visit. “I’ve never seen someone get Dolores in such a tizzy before.” (That was saying something considering she dealt with more than her fair share of violent criminals.) “Though I think she was equally as turned on as she was annoyed. I know I was.”
Micah groaned. “Do you say these things just to torture me?” he demanded. Despite Tessa’s good humor, he still felt fairly sick about the situation.
Tessa’s smile faded, but her eyes remained soft, and her voice assuring as she gazed at him, almost like she thought he was some scared, cornered animal. Micah hated it.
“Are you okay, honey?”
Micah swallowed hard. He didn’t bother answering in the affirmative or negative. Instead-
“So… about those shots?”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Ugh. Does she drink ketchup straight from the bottle at home?”
Micah had knocked back two kamikazes, a lemon drop, and was halfway through a vodka soda. His fingers were tingling, and he felt pleasantly floaty.
No amount of liquor, however, could temper his disgust at watching Tessa sip on her virgin bloody mary.
Jasper laughed, choking on his drink when Tessa elbowed him in the gut. She flicked Micah on the nose. “Plebeians. It’s hardly my fault your taste buds are so underdeveloped.”
Jasper shot Micah a look over Tessa’s head. It was quite easy considering Tessa barely hit five foot and Jasper easily surpassed six feet. While Tessa was short and curvy, her husband was tall and lanky with narrow shoulders and shoulder-length brown hair he usually kept in a man bun. Tessa teased him endlessly about it.
“If developing my taste buds means I’ll suddenly acquire a fondness for pineapple on pizza, I’ll pass.”
Tessa gasped, mock offended. “Take that back! Pineapple on pizza is the perfect mix of sweet and savory.”
“It’s an abomination against nature is what it is.”
In unison, Tessa and Jasper both turned towards Micah, clearly expecting him to settle what was obviously a regular argument for them. “Um… it’s okay, I guess?”