Murders & Romance: A Psychic Detective Romantic Mystery (Isaac Taylor Mysteries Book 5) by Lashell Collins (ready player one ebook .TXT) 📗

Gavin sighed, dropping the pen, and finally looked up at him.

“What did you see, Ike?”

“Is Gerri wanting to transfer out because of you?”

He knew it was an extremely personal question, and he knew that Hayes could easily pull rank and tell him to mind his own eff’n business, or worse. But he had to ask.

Gavin sat back in his chair and folded his hands together.

“Have a seat.”

Isaac took a seat in the chair across from Hayes’ desk. It was strange, but he was getting used to being Hayes’ sounding board and his confidant. Since his recent promotion to sergeant, Hayes seemed to be pulling him in a lot more.

“Tell me what you saw when Gerri touched you.”

Isaac ran his hands over his thighs and hesitated for a beat.

“I saw the two of you… you know. In bed.”

Gavin closed his eyes and lowered his head for a second before he met Isaac’s gaze again.

“How long?”

Isaac couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“The sex, not long. Just a few days. The feelings? Several months.”

Gavin shook his head, as though he couldn’t believe it himself.

“I have fought so hard to avoid the situation I’m in right now. But it’s like… once Curt Dorn died, I worried about her so damn much. And I purposely stayed away from her for as long as I could. That’s why I hadn’t gone to see about her after his funeral.”

Gavin stopped and shook his head again, and Isaac could feel the turmoil bubbling up inside him. He took a deep breath and pushed his boss’ emotions away, and began reenforcing that imaginary concrete wall in his mind.

His boss’ weird headspace lately made so much sense now.

“You realize the dangers here, sir?”

Gavin’s gaze snapped back to Isaac.

“Of course I do. Why do you think I’ve been fighting it for months? I could be demoted over this relationship. I could lose my job. Not to mention I have Trey to think about.”

“Well, Trey’s almost a grown man.”

“Yeah, well he’s still mostly kid on the inside. And he’s been through a lot in the last year and a half with the divorce, and his mother remarrying and having a new baby. And now I’m going to spring a girlfriend on him? One who’s half my age.”

Gavin paused and ran both hands over his close-cropped hair.

“Gerri is closer to Trey’s age than she is to mine.”

He looked Isaac in the eyes, and Isaac got the feeling he was waiting on a reaction of some sort.

“Look, Lieu… I’m one of those people who thinks that age is just a number. The fact is, Gerri may be closer to Trey’s age in numbers, but the fact that she went to the police academy right out of college and has been on this job for the last seven years puts her closer in age to you in all the ways that matter.”

“I’m not sure I follow your logic, Ike.”

“Well, think about it. The things she’s seen and done on this job has given her an education that someone like Trey will never have, unless he decides to become a cop himself someday. At this point in their lives, she has much more in common with you than she does with him.”

Gavin stared at him for a moment, and Isaac could see his mind working. He slowly began to nod.

“I guess I never thought of it that way.”

“Is she bothered by the age difference at all?”

“No. She thinks I’m making more of it than it is.”

“I tend to agree.”

“You don’t seem shocked about this at all, Ike.”

Isaac shrugged a shoulder, realizing that he was now squarely involved in yet another conversation about a friend’s love life.

“Frankly, I don’t give a shit who you sleep with, sir. But I would hate to see you face any backlash over it. And I’d really hate for you to lose your job over it.”

Gavin nodded.

“I take it this is why Gerri was wanting to transfer out and go to another precinct?”

“Originally she wanted to transfer just to get away from me. She said it was too painful being around me everyday and not be able to be with me.”

“Wow. Sounds like whatever’s between you two is serious.”

Gavin nodded again and stared past Isaac’s head, like he was looking into the future.

“Feels like it could be, if it’s given a chance.”

“Then maybe you should. Give it a chance, I mean.”

“After we… crossed that line? Gerri actually offered to go through with the transfer to another precinct solely so that we can be together.”

Isaac nodded. “Sounds reasonable.”

“Does it, though?” Gavin met his gaze again. “I mean… can I really ask her to do that? Uproot her life to another precinct, just to protect my career? Somehow that feels like a jerk move, you know? Like I’m telling her my career is more important than hers.”

Isaac was shaking his head before Gavin even finished his sentence.

“But you’re not asking her, Lieu. She’s volunteering. And if I’ve learned anything about women, I’ve learned this. When it comes to matters of the heart, they don’t make big life-changing moves unless it’s important to them. So if she’s volunteering to switch precincts so that your career won’t be jeopardized, she’s doing it because being with you is important to her.”

Gavin stared at him and grinned.

“Since when did you become the love guru?”

“Hell if I know. But damned if I haven’t been drawn into the love lives of three other men this week besides you. Each of you asking for my advice, or my help in some way. Like I’m not still the socially awkward misfit with touch issues who just happened to get lucky when a beautiful woman decided she loved me.”

Gavin laughed out loud, and Isaac smiled.

“I guess desperation leads us dumb men to strange places sometimes.”

“Yeah, it does,” Isaac agreed.

Then he took a breath and leveled a serious gaze at his boss.

“Listen, Lieu… as someone who spent a whole lot of years alone and lonely, my best advice to you would be to choose happiness.