Sworn to Be His(The Archer Family Book 3)(7)

Jade cleared her throat. "Um, excuse me, but wasn't there another important community update to go over?"

The supervisor's brow furrowed. "I don't-"

"From Human Resources, maybe?"

The old man's mouth thinned into an impatient line. "Lockhart, you clearly have something to add. Add it."

"Fine, okay, well, um, Dare-I mean Derrick and I are officially seeing  each other. So, you know, don't treat us any differently, we just  thought everyone should know." Derrick followed her gaze as it swept  over the table.

Nobody moved. They barely even reacted. It was the reactionary  equivalent to announcing that they were breathing oxygen-like everyone  already knew.

Jade's gaze darted to Flynn and Derrick frowned, noticing that he was  the only one in the room who frowned at the news. Not in disappointment,  he didn't think. No, there was something else behind the man's  expression. Like he was thinking hard about something.

"That's it?" Jade said. "Nobody has anything to say?"

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say we thought you were just too  lazy to fill out the paperwork." The supervisor looked down at her,  then at Derrick. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, uh, best wishes guys." Freddrick chimed in.

"Thanks." Jade frowned, then glanced at Flynn's thoughtful expression  again, apparently waiting for him to get down on his knees right then  and there and beg for her to change her mind. Derrick's fists clenched  at his sides, but he let them go and did his best to focus on the rest  of the updates before the supervisor finally dismissed them to their  projects.

As people filed past him on their way out, a few detectives clapped him  on the shoulder and said things like "about time, Archer," or "Good luck  with that one. She's a hellcat," before leaving him be. Across from  him, he saw a few of the women do the same thing to Jade.

But Flynn?

He was the first one out the door.

After a moment or two had passed, it was only Jade and Derrick in the room again, and she frowned at him, expectant.

"What?" he said.

"What the hell was all that?" she asked.

"I don't know-"

"Oh come on. Didn't you expect a little more reaction than that?"

"I guess we were better at seeming like a couple than we thought."

"Maybe." Jade turned thoughtful, and try as he might, Derrick couldn't bring himself to hold his tongue.

"Flynn looked unhappy enough. Isn't that the main goal?"

"Yeah, yeah it is. It's just weird. A bunch of people said things like  'what took so long?' while they were walking by." Her brows knit  together.

"Because if they were you, they would have tried to bag me a long time  ago. Now come on. We've got a case to focus on. The big night is coming  and you've got plenty of paperwork to do." He tried to smile, but then  he thought of the look on Flynn's face again, and the grin died on his  lips.

"Yeah, right," Jade said, then got up and strolled out of the room.







Jade tapped her pencil against her desk and stared blankly at  Freddrick's collection of troll dolls. Not because their blank,  unsettling expressions fascinated her, but because if she focused hard  enough she could just spot whether or not Zac was coming or going from  his desk.

He'd been there all morning, resolutely pouring over the files on  Scaglietti and his friends. And when he wasn't busy doing that, he was  off in the debriefing room, studying the case board she and Derrick had  revised earlier that morning.         

     



 

Jeez, Derrick.

Pursing her lips thoughtfully, she glanced past Freddrick's desk over to  place where her friend sat, tapping away mindlessly on his computer.  He'd hardly said a word to her today, even when they were working the  case together. She'd messed up while she was coming into the room and  hit herself in the face with the door.

He hadn't even laughed.

Weird. It was all weird. Just like their stilted, awkward conversations  after their kiss yesterday. She'd had half a mind to call him up when  she got home and tell him to forget about the whole thing, that she'd  figure something else out. But then she wondered if he'd think she was a  bad kisser.

And, deep down, she lamented not being able to kiss him again.

Which was a crazy, wild thought. She didn't even know where it had come  from. If anything, the way she felt was just some weird reaction to not  having anyone in her life for so long. The human contact had felt  good-better than good-but that had nothing to do with Derrick.

That had to do with her. Her and her womanly needs. And if she'd taken  care of those womanly needs as a result of the kiss later that night?  Well, that was natural.

When Zac finally moved from his desk, Jade got up and followed him until  the two of the them were alone in the debriefing room. When the door  closed behind them, he turned to face her, apparently unaware of her  until now.

"Jade, just the girl I wanted to see." He turned his thousand watt grin on her.

"Is that so?" She smiled back.

"Yeah, I've been reviewing this case all day and I think I'm missing a few pieces of information."

"Oh," her heart plummeted into her stomach. "Right."

"There are some sources in the files that are blacked out-can you help me sort out who they are?"

"Well, not really. All that stuff is classified. You know that."

"Right, right." Zac glanced at the giant cork board behind them, then  fingered a piece of red yarn on the table. "I'm just thinking...a few of  the notes are sketchy. I wonder if we have false information, and it's  hard to go back and check that kind of thing when you don't know who to  talk to."

"Right, I get that." She gazed out the window to where Derrick was  sitting and for a moment she thought she'd caught him glancing back at  her, but just as quickly he was facing his computer, typing away again.

"I'm sorry, I guess I'm just so distracted because of this new thing with Dare."

"Right, totally." Zac nodded, though he didn't bother to look at her  while he spoke. In fact, even his voice sounded far away. Like he was  only half paying attention to her.

"He's just so great, you know?" She tried again, a little edge to her voice, but he traced a photo on the board and nodded.

"He seems like a great guy. I'm a little surprised. He doesn't seem your  type, but," he shrugged. "I haven't seen you in years so what do I  know?"

"Not my type?"

"Yeah, I mean, you've always been the girl who goes after the brains,  right? An army guy like that doesn't seem like someone you'd be into."

She blinked, not sure what to say and oddly stung by the remark. "Are you saying Derrick is stupid?"

"No, no, I'm just saying...Look, maybe I'm off track here, I've been wrong before."

"He's a detective. One of the best."

"Not according to my files. Half his paperwork is misfiled and the other  half is missing swaths of information. Are you sure he's doing  everything he's telling you he is?"

Jade chewed on the inside of her cheek, biting back her next response,  when suddenly it hit her. The plan was working. It was so obvious now.

Zac was trying to turn her against Derrick so that she'd be his. He was jealous.

Now the only question was whether or not to call him on it.

"If I didn't know better-" She started, but he cut her off, tapping the photo of Scaglietti on the board.

"How sure are we that this guy is actually the head of the operation?"

She reeled back, caught off guard by the question. "Um, about a thousand and one percent sure."

"No margin of error?"

"No. Not that I can-"

"I wouldn't be so sure. This paperwork has been garbage, so I'm  thinking..." He trailed off. "Look, I'm sorry if I insulted your  boyfriend. I just really want to crack this case and see the right guys  go to jail. Sometimes I guess I get a little intense about it. Forgive  me?" He looked up at her through thick, dark lashes that matched his  mocha eyes and she shook her head.

"Yeah, totally, I know you didn't mean anything by it."

"Great. Great." He dropped his hand from the board, placing it on his  chin instead. "Now, have you filed your reports about yesterday's  interviews? What else can you tell me about those?"         

     



 

"Oh, um, well, they didn't give us much of anything. They only really  help to inculcate the perp behind the robbery, not Scaglietti. We just  need him in order to get him to turn and give us some intel."

"Right, I figured as much." Zac nodded, his full lips drawn together as  he thought over what she'd said. "You know, you're a good detective.  Someone should make sure you hear that."

Heat rushed to her face, but that fluttering feeling she always used to  get when he spoke to her was gone. Instead, it was like every butterfly  had turned to stone and one by one they were sinking in her stomach,  making it twist and turn while she considered him.