Detective Justice's Story

"I didn't die. I'm not going to die and I didn't get injured. Honestly I could have gotten out of it, I didn't because I didn't know what he was going to do. I figured it was best to stay and let the situation play forward. I was undercover in some nasty situations for ten years, Alyssa. I'm not going to let one drunken idiot put a bullet in my brain." He told her. "It wasn't your fault. It was mine, Alyssa. Don't blame yourself. I was ready to walk out of there when he got me." It was an easy lie.

"So is he allowed to give you the right information now that you're a cop again? Does that mean you're about to pry into my business just because you can't accept what I say?" He needed to find out who this guy was. Those files were supposed to be classified to everyone apart from his boss and a couple of other people.

"It looks bad because of what I was forced to do. I can't say more than that but I did what I had to do in that situation. Right or wrong." Bray told her.

"Have I given you a reason not to trust me yet, that is the question you should ask yourself." Bray told her. "Okay, so my questioning skills need work, and my attitude sometimes, and maybe to you my clothes need work, but what else have I done that warrants this suspicion apart from the fact that I have something you don't know about?"

It was really curious that Brayden didn’t want Alyssa going back to her sources to find more out about him. She knew he was hiding something that much was obvious, but she wondered if she would try to find more about him now.

Alyssa took a long look at Brayden to try and decide. A few thoughts in and she somehow got off that track and onto a new one. She should not have allowed herself to hire someone that was that good looking. What on Terra was she thinking, Alyssa thought to herself. He was so fine it was almost painful to look at him.

God, she shouldn’t be thinking like this right now. There were already enough complications with Randin. Alyssa didn’t need another heartbreaking relationship in her life, or a scandalous one. She was starting to get her life back together again and doing anything with Brayden would send her backward, not forward.

Alyssa looked down at her feet.

“I trust you about as far as I can throw you, Brayden, but I won’t go poking around in your past. No one likes it when other people put their nose into your business.”

Bray shrugged. "Least I know where I stand. Guess I won't be doing much when you don't trust the people you work with. Don't worry then. I'll stick to filling in paperwork or something at a desk. That's better than being questioned on every little thing I do." He told her.

He'd seen the look in her eyes. She'd checked him out a few times and he'd not failed to notice. She liked him and she wasn't bad looking herself. Maybe that would play in his favor. Lena wasn't here right now either. She was probably still at it with Kenny now that Bray was gone... Despite having a son together, she hadn't demanded exclusivity from him. Not until they were together.

"Thank you for not poking around in my business... It's not that I'm not saying anything because I don't want you to know, it's because I'm not allowed to know. You should know how it goes, Aly..." He deliberately shortened her name and took a step closer to her, his hand on her arm.

"And back with Caleb, that wasn't your fault so don't kick yourself too hard." In a few moments, Bray had softened up a lot to try and make her believe him.

The room was suddenly far too small even though Alyssa’s office was quite large. It was so large in fact that Alyssa had a couch put in it so she could sleep in her office when it was necessary. That couch could also be used to—


“I’m still sorry,” Alyssa said before she moved away from Brayden. She needed a drink. Alyssa needed a drink so damn much right then and there. She went around to her bookshelves behind the desk and took down a thick book on Criminal Law. It thumped heavily as Alyssa set it down and she opened it.

A hole had been cut into the book and inside was hidden a bottle of whiskey. Alyssa opened her desk drawer and took out a glass. She was not going to take out the other. Whiskey was a huge factor in her last failed relationship.

The detective poured herself a drink.

“No one but my father calls me Aly and he’s dead so…” Alyssa drank down the shot of whiskey and poured another. It was too early in the day to be drinking but she was a drunk. It was never too early. Six months sober down the drain as soon as Randin had set foot back in Wing City. Despicable.

“And I’m not worried about what you did in the past. I just worry about you being able to do your job. That’s all. I’ve got to protect me and mine and that’s this city and those who live in it. I shouldn’t have done what I did and that’s the truth of it. You know it and I know it. So stop trying to bail me out of my bad decision.”

Bray came over and touched her arm to stop her drinking the second drink. "Stop." He told her. "You're about to go in and interview Caleb Jefferson, right? If you go in there having drank - or drunk and he picks up on that, he can use that to his defence and get off scott free? Do you want him getting away with what he's done because you drank before the interview?" Bray asked calmly, softly to show that he cared.

He didn't want her drinking. While his motives were unclear and he changed things on the spot to suit himself, the last thing he wanted was her feeling guilty about him. She shouldn't.

One minute he was standing there, the next his lips brushed against hers in a brief kiss. Distraction was the key. And he had to get her off of his case. "Now, let's go put this Son of a Bitch away for the rest of his miserable life." He didn't say anything about what he'd just done, instead moving to the door and holding it open for Alyssa.

A torrent of conflict ravaged through Alyssa’s head after Brayden kissed her. It had come right out of the blue and she hadn’t stopped him. Alyssa had let him kiss her. And it felt good to have someone kiss her that wasn’t Randin.

A pang of guilt shot through her bones. Randin had said there was nothing going on between them and that she should see other people. But Alyssa was in love with the man and wanted to be with Randin in a committed relationship.

However, Brayden’s unexpected kiss was enjoyable. Sure she was just thinking about taking the man on her couch but Brayden wasn’t acting like that. He was being a gentleman about his attraction. She should tell him about Randin and their trysts in the bedroom. That would be the right thing to do. If Brayden was still interested then maybe she would allow him to pursue her.

The phone rang and Alyssa jumped. She answered it.

“Yes. Oh God …” Her face paled. “How long? I will be there sho—No? Lock down?” There was a stretch of silence before Alyssa said, “I understand. Call me when the situation has cooled down.” The detective hung up the phone. Her eyes glanced over to Brayden and Alyssa walked to him.

She slipped past him and closed her office door with him still in it.

“The interrogation was postponed. The station is on lock down,” Alyssa said to Brayden. She glanced at his mouth and flicked her eyes away. Suddenly the woman had become vulnerable and it was visible.

“Looks like we’re stuck here for a while piecing the case together.” But Alyssa didn’t want to work. There were other things on her mind. She wanted to kiss Brayden again. She had felt something when he stole that quick embrace. Did it mean that she didn’t love Randin?

There was only one way to find out.

Alyssa grabbed Brayden’s face and crushed her soft lips against his.

What the hell was he playing at? This was a dangerous game, especially as the station was in lockdown and they couldn't interview Caleb for a while it seemed. And now he was stuck here with Alyssa, having just given her a brief kiss. He stood at the door, hovering and waiting to see what happened next. And what happened next didn't really surprise him either. He should have expected it. He did expect it.

She came over and basically made out with his face.

It took a few minutes for Bray to get his senses back and his hands pushed on Alyssa's shoulders, pushing her back a little so that he could take a breath or four. It was good. God, it was good to kiss a woman again. But this was his boss. She was pissed before, and then she'd been drinking. And he had no idea if she'd been drinking before he'd been summoned.

"Let's get some space a minute." He told her. "This is crossing a big line in our work system. Not that I care, but you need to have a clear head. And after today, I don't think you do have a clear head."

“Fine,” Alyssa said to Brayden. “You don’t want me. I get it. I do, really, so it’s no big deal. No one ever wants me.” Alyssa was blowing up the entire situation. It was confusing for Brayden to come onto her and then after she returned the advance he shut her down. It was like chasing after a dollar bill tied to fishing line.

“Do me a favor and stop fucking around with my head, Brayden.”

Alyssa ripped open the door and walked out.