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I felt my heart constrict at the sincerity in his tone

“Do you ever wear shorts?” I wondered, sh

Through the unifor They were too stiff and tight, leaving me unable to feel any of his imperfections

If he had any imperfections at all, that was

Oftentimes, ere always the hardest on ourselves

For instance, I looked in the irl that could use some vitamin D and a cookie

But it never failed that soh it mostly alas my mom

Maybe I should take that with a grain of salt

“Yeah,” he said “I have no probleh to inspect it yet…or touch me”

I laid ainst his shoulder in silence and contemplated what he’d just said

If I was the first woman to touch his—s—either?

Two minutes later, when our salads arrived, I was sad I didn’t want to move off of him, and I didn’t want him to drop his arm from around my body

It was good…but leaning ainst Pace’s muscular bicep was better

Reluctantly, I moved away and went to er

I picked up the fork and began eating little nibbles of it when a laugh froht my attention

That hen I looked over and saw Sergeant Jackson, the asshole who’d once been Pace’s superior, sitting at the table with his wife

His wife that was clearly not as entertained by so Jackson had just said as he was

She also looked like a scared little mouse One that would rather be anywhere than where she was

“She looks freaked,” I whispered so that only Pace could hear

“I’ve heard a lot of talk about Jackson’s wife,” he murmured back “That he treats her like a precious jewel Hides her away and brings her out only for special occasions I’ve seen her one other tih, the ti out of the police station, looking around as if she was trying to escape without being seen We ran into each other on the steps I lost my balance and went ass over tea kettle down the stairs She freaked out and started crying I ended up hugging her to tell her that everything was okay, to try to get her to stop crying That hen Jackson showed and flipped his lid”

I made a worried sound in my throat

“Do you think he’s abusive?” I whispered

That hen Jackson looked over and spied us both staring