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ZERBROWSKI SURPRISED ME by getting a salad with grilled chicken on it "You&039;re not getting a burger?" I asked

"Had luers?" I asked

He shook his head

I patted his back "Dude, I&039;? You&039;re acting like he&039;s lost a relative"

"When you ride in Zerbrowski&039;s car, you&039;ll understand He lives on fast-food burgers, and throws the wrappers into the backseat"

"Will there be room in the backseat for hing

I looked at Zerbrowski He shrugged "I can clean out the back"

"I was joking," Brice said, looking from one to the other of us "Are you serious that the backseat is so full of fast-food debris that no one can sit in it?"

"We&039;re serious," I said

"I&039;ll clean it out The sry" Zerbrowski picked up his tray with its healthy salad on it; he looked sad

There were plenty of tables to choose from, because ere late for dinner and hours too early for breakfast We needed plenty of seating choices, because ere all cops and that meant that none of us wanted our backs to a door, or to the restaurant in general, and especially not a busy area where people would be walking back and forth behind us We didn&039;t really like here people on the outside could just walk up to where ere sitting, especially not if we had to put our backs to the s Yeah, the chances of so to shoot at us was s Police aren&039;t paranoid because of soical disorder, they&039;re paranoid because real bad things have happened to the alive

So, where to sit?

There was a booth that sat back in a corner with a wall that backed the kitchen so there were no s, and as et to weapons without crowding each other We also had a clear line of sight to the door It was perfect We slid into the booth, with me in the middle, which would have trapped Brice or Zerbrowski, but I was so under the table and be shooting at people&039;s legs and be shooting them in the chest and face as they dropped to their knees, because that&039;s what happens tobones Yes, that is how cops think, that&039;s how anyone who lives by the gun thinks We don&039;t talk about it, but we are totally into preplanning our survival

We got settled into the booth, portioned out our food, and started eating before we started talking, because we could talk in the car, but we couldn&039;t eatHave you ever tried to eat a salad in a car? Of course, I hadn&039;t ordered a salad, I had a burger, but you can&039;t eat Jiers in a car either unless you want to be wearing all that yuoodness

"Red meat is bad for you, you know," Zerbrowski said, sort of forlornly

"My cholesterol is fine," I said, stacking the bun higher with all the layers of vegetables on the burger

"Mine, too," Brice said, as he took his first bite

"You should have said so to pout, Zerbrowski"

"Would you have ordered a salad to keep uilty about it" I took the first bite of the burger It was juicy and cooked to perfection The veggies were crisp, ripe, and yummy I tried to keep the look of bliss off my face, but I think I failed, because Zerbrowski looked like so hurt

Brice and I ate in happy silence for a few minutes, and then I said, "Sorry, Zerbrowski, but I eat salads at home because Nathaniel decides the menu; when I&039;m not at home, I eat what I want"

"Nathaniel is your live-in boyfriend?" Brice asked, after he&039;d sed another bite of burger

"Yep," I said, and took another bite of burger

Zerbrowski gave nored him

"You said he does the menus; what does that , as either head chef or sous chef to one of the others"

"You make it sound like a restaurant," Brice said

I shrugged "The nated chef and the others are sous chefs It&039;s their systeure if I&039;, I shouldn&039;t bitch about how they want to do it"

"Very reasonable," Brice said

I shrugged again and took another bite of er

"She usually is," Zerbrowski said, as he took a small bite of his salad He chewed the lettuce as if it were the opposite of yummy

He was only about nine years older than ers soe, buta little thicker around the ht With two kids and a wife, he had y I&039;d probably never have to worry about that particular complication

"Earth to Anita," Zerbroas saying

I blinked at hi about so hard just now?" he asked, and he looked suspicious

"Nothing," I said

"Liar; wo"

"When you say you&039;re thinking nothing, I believe you," I said

"I&039;ave him an exasperated smile "What the hell does that mean?"

"Itabout so hard just now"

"And I said, nothing, so I&039;rinned "See, you were thinking so"

I frowned at him "Drop it, okay?"

"No," he said

"You enjoying your rabbit food?" I asked

"That was low, Anita," he said, and he stirred his salad with his fork, not really eating it Maybe that was how you lost weight on salads; you just didn&039;t want to eat theht

I ate my first French fry It was crisp, salty, and yummy, too

"If your lovers are all shapeshifters, then why do they eat rabbit food?" Brice asked

"Yourabbits?" I asked

"Did I offend you?" he asked

I thought about it "Sorry, I&039; too et a little meat tummy When you take your clothes off professionally, you want to look your best doing it"

"Again, very reasonable," he said

"You sound surprised," I said

"If you&039;d been listening, Brice was saying that you have a reputation with the other cops for being unreasonable"

I looked at Brice "That true?"

He studied my face as he said, "They say you have a bad temper and bust their balls a lot"

Zerbrowski snorted and almost choked on his soda

I frowned at him "I don&039;t back down, so if that busts their balls, then so be it"

"They&039;re jealous that the itty-bitty woman is better at their job than they are," Zerbrowski said, when he could talk again without coughing

"Itty-bitty?" I said

"Argue if you can?" he said

I started to frown, and then just smiled "I&039;hed

I looked at hiesture "Hey, I got no proble"

"Fine; weren&039;t we supposed to be discussing you, not e Arnet without pissing her off?"

"I&039;m not sure you can," I said

"What do you mean?"

"Nathaniel Graison waseveryone at work, so Arnet saw hi he was just a friend of mine She decided she wanted to date him, and then felt like I&039;dup front that he was ht?"

I looked at him; it wasn&039;t a friendly look "How do you knohat kind of wereanimal he is?"

"He&039;s on the website for Guilty Pleasures They list the animal form of all the strippers, Iup on my men?"

"I can look at theto know the local wereanimals and va ata little odd that Marshal Brice ht have looked at Nathaniel&039;s picture, or Jason&039;s, or Jean-Claude&039;s, and lusted after theuy? I didn&039;t think so I think it was just that he worked with me and you&039;re not supposed to lust after the sweeties of the other cops, or at least you&039;re not supposed to let the cop in question know that you lust after his sweetie It&039;s just not cricket, somehow

"Makes sense," I said

He s at your guys"

"Its not the possible lusting after uys; I kno yu up on the purposes that would piss enuinely shocked "I would never do that to a fellow officer"

"Jessica Arnet has; she dao apeshit and we&039;d have to do so about hienuinely shocked

"She threatened your boyfriend?" Brice asked

I nodded I was suddenly not nearly as hungry

"What did she say exactly?" Zerbrowski asked

"She told me that Jean-Claude was just a pretty monster and if he wasn&039;t around that Nathaniel would be free to have a life"

"She said exactly that?" he asked

I nodded

"When?" he asked

"Three days ago"

"Why didn&039;t you tellto decide if this was so I should handle between Arnet andto shove up the food chain"

"And?" Zerbrowski asked

"And I think she went too far by threatening hts that Nathaniel works She&039;s told him that she would rescue him from me and Jean-Claude She&039;s told , but that was like over a year ago, alo,personal, Brice, but if she can obsess about you instead of my sweetie, I&039;d feed you to her"

"Gee, thanks, Blake," he said

"If I&039;d told her that Nathaniel was , would she have fixated on hi with twoso hard not to love Nathaniel God, I was so in denial about how I felt about hi that made you happy, didn&039;t you?" Brice said

"You have no idea," I said

Zerbrowski laughed "I do, and no one fucked up their own love life weirder than you did"

I glared at him, but the look of sympathy and real concern on his face hed, and poked atto argue?" he asked

I shook ue?"

He stood up, leaned over the table, and tried to feelhis hand away "What are you doing?"

"Checking for a fever," he said, "because you just gave in, and said, Why argue? You have to be sick"

I glared at hirumpy partner; I knew you were in there sorinned back "Damn you, let me be in a bad mood for a minute or two"

"I&039;m your partner I&039; the biggest, baddest bull in the da the pieces fall where theythe bad-ass, and that rubs people the wrong way I help rub theht way"

"You make me sound like a bully"

"No, never that," he said

"Are you really as good as your reputation?" Brice asked

I gave hi, brown eyes "Yes," I said

"I&039;d accuse you of bragging, but if half of what I&039;ve heard is true"

"I don&039;t knohat you&039;ve heard," I said

"That you have the highest kill count of any Marshal"