Marrying the quarterback

Chapter Five

I don’t know what my obsession with staring at my phone was. Maybe I wanted Rick to come around and apologize for yesterday. The moment I met him, I knew he can be a jerk and tough on solving cases but yesterday was a bit much.

My position at the precinct as a detective didn’t come around with flowers and rainbows. I had to pay a lot of dues, ride around in squad cars and write tickets. My position came solely from hard work and I got noticed for putting in the extra hours.

My relationship with Rick can sink my career and maybe I acted immaturely when I fell for his cute smile and warm brown eyes.

“Still no word from him?” Kurt asked from beside me.

Kurt was driving me over to Maxwell’s house since I am living with Maxwell for the next couple of weeks, months and maybe even years until we find the shooter. We didn’t even have one suspect which makes it technically no case at all but because he was a superstar, we are forced to react.

Putting me in a house with the playboy wasn’t the best idea my lieutenant could come up with. I was cut from my job to babysit this broad shoulder, 6’3ft tall womanizer.

It wasn’t my idea to progress further in my career by going undercover as Maxwell's wife.

“No, I don’t know why I keep thinking he will call,” I slipped my phone back into my jean shorts and tilted my head back against the headrest with a heavy sigh.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to have a s****l relationship with an FBI agent?” Kurt asked.

Kurt is a few years older than me and has been looking after me like I was his daughter, also respecting me in every case and trusting my instincts. Kurt is my mentor and training officer when I started out as a rookie, it is a huge honour for me when they assigned me as his partner after graduating.

“I know you are looking out for me. Rick is a good guy and serious about his job, just like me,” I noted.

“He is still FBI, Burgess, you know how they operate. One minute you are the lead detective on the case and before you know it, he is running the operation,” Kurt shared his opinion as if he experienced it himself.

“He won’t do that to me,” I confidently remarked.

“Never say never,” Kurt said pulling up in front of the security gate of Maxwell’s house.

After showing our identifications the guards let us through and I struggled to keep my jaw attached when I saw the size of his house.

“This is all his?” I asked taking in everything.

“Well, there is his agent,” Kurt noted, pointing at the porch where a woman stood waiting for us.

We stepped out of his car and grabbed my bags. “AJ Burgess,” The woman greeted me with a smile.

“I’m Sarah Duquesne,” She introduced herself, shaking my hand and then Kurt’s.

“You are the woman who is responsible to extinguish fires,” I noted.

She shrugged. “And to spot talent even when there are some things to worry about,”

“I hope you have a tough skin, miss Burgess,” She remarked.

“It’s detective Burgess,” I corrected her. “My skin is as tough as it gets,”

“Well, detective, from today you are AJ Johnson, Maxwell’s wife and you two are madly in love,” She handed me a cheap diamond ring but I didn’t care about the size of the diamond or that it was cheap.

“We have to make the press and media believe you two are madly in love and have been for months,”

“That’s hard considering that he sleeps with a new girl every week,” I muttered with sarcasm.

“Are you jealous, Angel?” Maxwell’s euphonic voice rolled over my shoulders and down my spine.

I looked up at the length of the staircase and found him standing at the top of the stairs, his arm wrapped in a sling. I narrowed my eyes when I noticed a bruise forming around his left eye.

“How did you get that bruise around your eye?” I asked Maxwell, ignoring his dumb remark.

He shrugged. “I woke up with it in the hospital,”

“You didn’t have it when I was there,” I noted, taking the flight of stairs to reach him so that I can take a closer look.

His bemused and vivid deep blue eyes gazed into my mine.

“Should I start looking for a girl who is behind this?” I queried keeping my eyes narrowed.

“It will be fun to watch my wife get in a fight—knuckle to knuckle,” He was starting to pull every inch of my self-control to shreds and all I wanted to do was give him another black eye.

“You know what, FBI Cardoza was right, we are wasting valuable time on someone who doesn’t need it,” I said to Kurt and turned away from Kurt.

“I’ve got better things to do than babysit a jerk who is loving all of this attention on him,” Kurt quirked an eyebrow at my remark.

I threw my bags back into Kurt’s car and was ready to get in and left him to drive us out of here but Maxwell spoke up. “One of the girls I have been seeing was mad when she found out that I married,”

“You invited a girl to hang out even after you were ordered not to?” Kurt expressed his annoyance while I bit mine back.

“She was inside my house when I got here,” He said with a smug smile and I even noticed Sarah rolling her eyes at him.

“Do you even know how serious this is?” I asked him calmly. “People die every day, I have to alert parents, husbands, wives and friends that their family or friend is dead. While you are standing here making jokes, other people are busy dying and their cases don’t get solved. So, what actually makes your life more important than theirs?”

Sarah gazed at him waiting for an answer from him.

“I’m sacrificing my career, my relationship in order to protect you and all you can do, is make jokes about it,”

His jaw was twitching and I didn’t care if I unsettled him. He had to know that I wasn’t just another girl he can play with. I was immune to his game of degrading women just because he has no conscious.

“You have to decide now if you are going to take this serious or I am gone and you can face your shooter by yourself,”

Maxwell gazed over at Sarah as if he was asking her for advice. “Do you want to live or die?” Sarah asked him.

“You are not the only one suffering here, detective,” He gestured to his shoulder. “Why would I cause trouble to lose my spot to someone else? Due to this injury, I sustained means I am out for a while until my doctor clears me. Do you really think I want this for myself when I worked hard for this spot?” I saw a tiny piece of the real Maxwell and it helped to convince me to help him out.

“It’s clear both of us worked hard for our positions,” I acknowledged. “So, let’s catch this guy or girl so that both of us can move forward with our lives,”

“Deal?” I asked.

He nodded slowly. “Deal,”