Read Busted: Promise Harbor, Book 3 for Free Online

let Hayley forget that important detail for an equally long time.
    Phil shrugged as though that fact didn’t mean a whole lot, then winced. “Today is not your best day, Hayls.” He stared at something behind her.
    She turned around, immediately spotting Eric strolling toward them. She barely suppressed a groan.
    “You want me to hang around and pretend like I give a fuck about organizing my desk or something?”
    Hayley surveyed the mess on Phil’s desk that had Category Three Hurricane written all over it. “I think it’s probably a lost cause.” Especially since he had a habit of stacking his stuff on her desk the rare times he decided he liked a tidier work space.
    Eric had just about reached them.
    “You sure? Running down a perp and tackling him on the boardwalk isn’t the same as dealing with this jerkoff’s kind of bullshit.”
    Spending as much time together as they did, she had confided in Phil on more than one occasion about her relationship with Eric and the problems they had. Phil probably knew more than even her brother and had been thrilled when they finally broke up, undoubtedly relieved he didn’t have to listen to her ramble about the whole situation any longer. If he’d had his way, he would have kicked Eric’s ass long ago.
    “I’ll be fine.” She wasn’t exactly surprised to see Eric after last night, but she couldn’t imagine what was left to say. There hadn’t been anything to say since their breakup, and she didn’t see a reason for that to change.
    Grabbing her keys, she stood just as her partner left and Eric reached her desk.
    “Hi.”
    She spared him no more than her polite, on-the-job half smile.
    “We didn’t have much time to talk last night.”
    “What was it you wanted to say?” With a wedding that could break her best friend’s heart, having to face Jackson after last night knowing he was undoubtedly pissed, and getting bad news about her gramps, she wasn’t exactly in the mood to indulge her ex the way she foolishly had for most of their relationship.
    “Can we talk somewhere else? Maybe grab a coffee?”
    “I have a lot to do today, Eric.”
    “Oh yeah. The wedding. Maybe we could talk there. You don’t have a date, right?”
    The sincere tone might have swayed her to extend their conversation for another minute or two—against her better judgment—until he got to the part where he assumed she was going alone.
    Maybe he didn’t mean to imply she couldn’t possibly have someone to go with—as if that mattered—but she was operating on little sleep and didn’t feel like giving him the benefit of the doubt. She’d made that mistake too many times in the past not to learn from it.
    “I do have a date, actually.” Or she had until a few minutes ago.
    His disbelieving look grated on her last nerve. She tried hard to let it roll off her shoulders. Really, really hard.
    “Let me take you, Hayley. Please? It’ll give us a chance to catch up.”
    “You’re not trying to steal my date, are you, Thorton?”
    Hayley couldn’t have been more stunned had the entire NHL All-Star team skated through the police station. She stared at Jackson, her brain scrambling to piece together what he’d just said about Eric stealing his date.
    Eric, who was clearly struggling to make sense of it too, tried for that charming smile he could call up at a moment’s notice, but it fell wildly short. “Not at all. Hayley and I were just reminiscing about old times.”
    Jackson glanced at Hayley like he didn’t believe a word and wanted her confirmation.
    Eric didn’t give her a chance to respond. “I hadn’t heard you two were seeing each other.”
    “It’s a pretty recent development.” Jackson shrugged as though admitting even that much was more than Eric was entitled to know.
    Instantly suspicious, Hayley kept quiet. Awkward silences tended to make people ramble, and she was fine with the two of them oversharing until she could figure out what angle the both of them