Gamma

Tyler heard a knock on his door, and he put his phone down momentarily to see who was there. He had security around his house, and didn't get too many unknown visitors that made it up to the house.

He opened the door to see Alex standing there. She was wearing a slightly oversized T-shirt with a pair of leggings. To Tyler, she looked rather put together given the fact that she had just learned a huge secret from her boyfriend.

“Alex, what are you doing here?” he asked her as he moved aside to let her come inside.

“I’ve got your cover,” she answered, and Tyler perked is at her words. She had done the photos for his GQ cover shoot, and he was excited for it to hit shelves. He hadn’t seen any of the pictures yet, but he completely trusted Alex.

“Let’s see them!” he requested excitedly.

She walked over to the couch and opened her laptop on her lap. She clicked a few buttons and suddenly a mostly naked Tyler was on the screen. She spun it around to give him a better look.

“Damn, you do some good work,” he complimented her. He wasn’t surprised, though, as she had done a previous photo shoot with him, which had turned out just as good.

She smiled. “Thanks. Doesn’t hurt that I had a good subject,” she added, nudging his shoulder with her own.

They scrolled through a few other pictures before Alex changed subjects. “Have you heard from Van?” she asked.

Tyler nodded his head. “A little bit. I texted her last night. She’s not sure how long she’ll be there for. She said probably a couple more days though.”

“Yeah, she said they have a new lead she’s looking into. She likes the girl that took her place, though, Maren. So hopefully they get Sonny behind bars quick and she can come back to Dallas. It’s funny. She worked in Chicago for eight years and I barely ever saw her in person. Now she’s gone for a couple days and I miss her,” Alex said with a soft laugh.

Tyler nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean. It feels like she’s always been in Dallas.” There was a moment of silence before Tyler decided to go for what he was thinking. “Have you talked to Benn?” Alex shook her head. “Are you going to?” he asked cautiously.

Alex sighed. “I don’t know.”

Tyler looked over at her. “You miss him, don’t you?”

“It’s been two days,” she rolled her eyes.

“So?” Tyler asked. “Doesn’t mean you don’t miss him.”

“Segs, he was engaged,” she stated. She was looking straight forward down at the ground, avoiding Tyler’s gaze.

Tyler’s phone started ringing and both he and Alex looked at it on the coffee table in front of them. Jamie’s name was flashing on the screen. By the look on Alex’s face, Tyler could tell Alex didn’t want Jamie to know he was there.

He reached for the phone, picking it up. “Hey man, what’s up?”

“What are you up to?” he inquired.

Tyler looked at Alex, knowing she had heard Jamie’s question. “Just playing with the dogs,” he lied to his captain. He didn’t want to, but he knew Alex wanted to remain hidden.

“Savannah called me,” Jamie suddenly stated.

That got Tyler’s attention. He glanced over at Alex, who looked just as surprised as Tyler felt. “What? When?” he questioned.

“A little while ago. She was asking me about how scouts work. What case is she dealing with in Chicago?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” he answered honestly while he shot Alex a questioning look. “What exactly did she say?” he said, running a hand through his hair.

“Honestly not a lot. She asked me what a scout does and if I knew ours. It was weird,” Jamie answered. “She hasn’t said anything to you?”

“No,” Tyler shook his head. “Though before she left she did tell me to be careful. There’s no way this case she’s working on involves the league,” he muttered. He looked over at Alex again to see her looking at the ground. “Shit,” he cursed. “I gotta go,” he suddenly told Jamie, hanging up before the captain could even respond. Tyler turned to face Alex. “What do you know?” he demanded.

“Not much,” she replied.

Tyler narrowed his eyes at her. “Alex,” he said in a warning voice.

“Just call her,” Alex told him.

“I could say the same thing to you about Benn,” Tyler countered. He saw the look she was giving him. “Sorry,” he apologized. “You two really should talk, though.”

“You of all people should understand avoiding someone,” she retorted.

Tyler was a little surprised to hear the insult coming from Alex. “Ouch,” he said sarcastically putting a hand over his heart.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized sincerely. “I just…” she trailed off.

“It’s fine, I can take it,” he told her. “He loves you, you know that, right?”

“He loved her, too,” she mumbled under her breath, but Tyler caught it.

“Is that what’s got you so upset? That he loved someone in another lifetime?” he asked. He hadn’t even thought that that might have been bothering her. He hadn’t loved anyone like he loved Savannah. And he never really thought much about who she loved in the past. He knew she had dated an abusive bastard for way too long, but he never even thought that she could have ever loved him. The mere thought made him sick to his stomach.

“No!” she adamantly shook her head. “I get that he was with other women before me and I’m not that naive to think he didn’t love anyone before me. But it was obviously a very important person in his life and he never even mentioned it to me,” she said sadly. “Do you think I’m being too dramatic?” she asked Tyler suddenly.

Tyler chuckled. “I’m probably the wrong person to be asking that,” he replied. “I think the guy loves you, and that’s all I know. I don’t know anything about this person in his past, but I think he wanted to keep her in the past for a reason. He doesn’t love her.”

Alex looked down at the ground. “She’s the reason he doesn’t want to get married,” she said. Tyler wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or just trying to process everything. But, he was sure she was right about that. They’d finally cracked the mystery of why Jamie never wanted to get married. Though no one really knew what had happened with this woman and Jamie to turn him so jaded against marriage.

Tyler shrugged. “Probably,” he agreed with her. “But, does that really change anything?” Alex didn’t reply. “Look, you can stay here as long as you want. Avoid him as much as you want. But, at some point you’re going to realize you miss him. Trust me, I know from experience.”

“You should call Van,” she changed subjects back to Tyler.

He looked over at Alex. “What do you know about what’s going on in Chicago?”

“You should call her,” she repeated as she stood from the couch. “Thanks for the talk. And for not telling Jamie I’m here. And for the pictures, I think they turned out well,” she smiled at him.

“They’re really good, Alex,” he grinned at her. “I’m glad you were the one to do the photo shoot.”

“Get ready for a million more girls to be ogling you,” she joked with him. “See you later, Segs,” she said as she opened the door and walked out of his place. His dogs seemed to notice that noise and woke up, coming over to Tyler.

He let them settle in around him as he picked up his phone and called Savannah. He wished Alex had given him more information on what was going on, and it worried him that she was being so vague. He was surprised when Savannah picked up on the first ring. “Hey,” she greeted him.

“Hey, what are you up to?” he asked.

“Just getting ready to leave,” she replied.

“Where you headed to?” he asked. He wasn’t clingy, but he was curious. She hadn’t told him much about this trip to Chicago at all. Just that an old case of hers opened back up with a new lead and she needed to go. He didn’t dare fight her on the matter.

“I’m about to go have a conversation with someone to see if I can get some details,” she answered vaguely. Tyler wanted to ask for more details but he knew she wouldn’t tell him.

“Can you just tell me what this case is about? Jamie said you called him earlier.”

Savannah sighed loudly. “I should have known he was going to tell you.”

“Savannah, what the hell is going on there?” Tyler demanded. He was sick of beating around the bush and not getting a straight answer from her. “Does this case have something to do with the NHL?”

Savannah was quiet for a moment before finally answering. “Yes, but we just found this out,” she told him, as if she thought he was going to think she had been keeping this from him. “We’re still working on figuring out all the details, but I think the guy I’ve been trying to catch for years somehow has connections to the NHL,” she told him.

It still wasn’t a lot of details, but it was more than Tyler expected from her. “What do you mean connections to the NHL?”

“I really don’t know much,” Savannah answered honestly. “That’s why I’ve got this meeting I’m heading to. To find out more information. Maren and I are trying to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.”

Tyler wanted to tell her to be careful, but he refrained. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I really appreciate that,” she told him. “But...just be careful.”

“That’s the second time you’ve told me that now, Savannah,” Tyler reminded her. “I’m starting to think I’m a target. Or you’re a target.”

“Neither of us are targets,” she assured him. “I just don’t know how big this drug ring is, so I’m just saying in general, be safe.”

Tyler absentmindedly petted Gerry between his ears. “I trust you to protect me,” he said half-sarcastically.

“You won’t let me go after the bad guys anymore,” she reminded him.

“Tell you what. If I have a criminal coming after me, you can chase him down and shoot him,” Tyler told her.

Savannah laughed. “Don’t tempt me with that,” she said, and Tyler could picture the smile that was bound to be on her face.

“Well, I’ll just tell you what I always do - be safe. And I love you. I’ll talk to you later,” he told her.

“I love you, too,” she said before hanging up the phone.

Tyler looked at his dogs. “Okay boys, let’s go outside,” he said. He was never going to change Savannah going after the bad guys. Even if she wasn’t physically chasing after them anymore, it didn’t stop her from interrogating them. And, he had to learn to deal with that. In the meantime, he’d try to keep his mind off of it and focus on what was in front of him: his dogs.

Notes

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you all had a good holiday and are looking forward to the new year!