Page 110 of Forgotten Prejudice

“That’s good to know.”

“Do you have any pets?”

I snorted in response.

“Of course you don’t,” he chuckled.

His soft laugh was like a breath of fresh air that brought back so many moments that were now out of reach, and disappointed, I stayed quiet. I could have said something about how wonderful this evening was, but it felt pointless. Since returning here to work on the case, Ashton had made it clear he didn’t want our past to resurface. So, even though the air between us was always loaded, neither of us dared to mention the elephant in the room.

So instead of commenting on his beautiful laugh and stunning smile, I told him good night before returning to my office.

One, two, three, four, five, six… I started counting the tiles on the floor. At one hundred and four, I finally reached my office and walked in, my mind still busy with Ashton. We never talked about how things ended, almost as if we’d both accepted the breakup in the years that followed. He’d clearly moved on with his life, and going back to mess him up again felt wrong. I was a selfish man. That much was true, but not when it came to him.

Never with him.

Ashton Sage was and always would be my first priority. It was why loving him nearly cost me my already fragile sanity. All of which he never knew and never would.

Kai

“What if we lose the case?”

“Jessie,” Levi grunted.

“What?” Jessie turned to look at him, holding a slice of pizza he had yet to take a bite from.

“We can’t think like that.”

“But it is a possibility—”

“Jess.” It was Andrei who joined in, face serious. “Don’t even think about that, okay? Diesel is innocent, and the truth always comes out in the end.”

Jessie stared back at Andrei and then at his pizza. Hopefully, they were done.

“The truth didn’t come out in your case,” he murmured before taking a bite, causing Andrei and Levi to groan his name in union.

“Guys, why don’t we all calm down?” I said, placing another box of pepperoni pizza between them, then sat next to Andrei on the floor. I might not know the right thing to say, but I did know pizza made everything slightly better.

“So, Jessie, how’s your illustration business going?” I tried changing the subject. Recently, Jessie had started doing art commissions online.

“I got my first job done last week, and now I’m starting a new one.” He didn’t sound as excited as usual, so I tried my luck with Levi.

“What about you? Getting ready for college?”

“I had to postpone it a year because of… you know, Diesel being on trial for murder?” he answered flatly before reaching for a new slice.

Well, shit, I truly sucked at small talk.

“What’s going on between Chief and Diesel’s lawyer?” Jessie asked out of the fucking blue, his question catching me off guard.

The room turned slightly hotter, and if it weren’t for how all three suddenly looked at me with curiosity, I would have tried avoiding the question.

“What do you mean?” I played dumb.

“They know each other from before, right?” Andrei said, his full attention on me.

Now they’re in chatting mode?

“I think they dated,” Levi added.