Hello my lovely readers,

I just want to tell you this week I will be adding two new chapters this week. So, chapter 10 (which is this one) and 11 will be added. Think of it as an apology for being late on updating last week. I hope you enjoy these two chapters. Please write reviews, they make things a lot easier.

Thank you,

M.

Chapter 10.

Trust

If anyone would have told me Adam would have done the things, he'd done in the past week I would have told them they were full of shit and never talk to be again. Sadly, he did do the things he did, and that was the reason why I was walking towards Molly's right now. I was needed a drink which was something I had never thought I would need. My day had sucked and was hurt; all I wanted to be was numb all over, forgetting all that happened today. What I didn't know was my evening was about to get worse.

As I walked through the doors of Molly's laughter and music greeted me. I saw failure faces, smiling and nodding to them as they acknowledged me. Making my way to the bar, I stopped in my tracks as I seen who was already sitting there. My blood started to boil again when my eyes landed on the face of Jay sitting with his brother. I don't know who I was pissed at more; Adam for his betrayal or Jay who ghosted me after one time of hanging out together. They were both pretty unforgivable.

Will saw me first and jabbed his older brother with his elbow. Jay glared over at Will and then looked my way when his brother gestured in my direction. His eyes got wide and it was like he was seeing me for the first time. He really was a handsome man, but that didn't mean I wasn't still mad at him. I watched him turn to his brother, before getting out of his seat to walk over to me.

"I know you're mad," he said over the music.

"Oh honey," I murmured, "I'm more than mad. After the week I've had I'm way past mad; I'm livid."

"I know Grace, and I'm sorry I haven't got back with you. I just thought it would be better to talk to you in person."

My blood instantly started to run cold. It's never happened to me, but I heard girls in high school crying about how their boyfriends broke up with them. This is usually how it started – until texting became a thing. He and I weren't even together, and it felt like he was going to break up with me.

"Talk about what?" I asked.

"Can we step outside?" he offered.

I nodded my head and turn around to lead the way out the door. When we were a few feet away I turned around to face home head on. Crossing arms over my chest, I glared at him. I wasn't going to show him how hurt I really was. I wasn't some weak teenager who let just anyone have her heart. Yes, I felt like there was something between us, but I guess I was the only one who felt that way.

"Okay," I said, "we're out here and I'm listening."

"Alright," he muttered. "I'm just going to say it… I don't think we should be friends."

Surprisingly, his words were like a blow to the chest. I knew this was coming, but that didn't stop it from hurting less. After years of practice though, I was able to keep my expression blank, making it look like I wasn't hurting inside.

"And why is that?" I questioned.

"Because it would be a conflict of interest," he stated.

"How in the hell would it be a conflict of interest?"

"I would with your brother."

"Everyone in your unit works with my brother and I'm friends with them."

"I'm not like them. I don't mix my work life with my personal life. It's just not who I am."

I watched him as he spoke and there was something off. He wouldn't look me in the eye when he was talking; in fact, he was glancing around at everything around us but me. This usually meant someone was lying. Oh well, if he wanted to lie to me about something as simple as why he hadn't talked to me since he dropped me off Monday evening, so be it. I wasn't going to put up with someone who didn't want to be honest with me.

"Alright," I muttered.

"What?" he asked.

He seemed a little taken back. I guess he thought I was going to fight back. Why would I if there was nothing to fight about. He made up his mind, there was no use in having a tantrum over it.

"If you didn't want anything to do with me," I began, "all you had to do was say so. You didn't have to show me a good time to please me."

"That's not what it was," he said.

"Oh please. Don't pull that bullshit on me. I'm not stupid. I can tell when someone is just playing games and you played the biggest one of them all. I just can't believe I fell for it."

"Again, that's not what it was at all."

He was yelling at this point and I could tell he was getting angry. To be honest I didn't care if he was mad or not; I was way past that point. The way my week had gone was more than enough of a reason for me to care less about how other people felt.

"What was it then?" I asked. "Can tell me that?"

"I wanted to see if it could work out okay," he growled in frustration. "I really want it too."

"Whatever."

I turned toward the front door of Molly's to go back inside, but Jay grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Gracey," he said from behind me, "please wait."

Without realizing what I was doing I spun back around and slapped him hard across the face. The sound echoed through my ears and his blue eyes were wide with shock. I wanted to feel sorry for what I did but I couldn't bring myself to do it, so I held my glare. He slowly let go of my arm, as he took a step back, putting his hands up in the air.

"Stay away from me," I told him, "and don't you ever call me Gracey again."

Just as I was walking into the bar Will was walking out. He was going to say hi, but I cut him down with a glare. Walking past him I made a beeline for a bar stool and ordered a shot of tequila. Hopefully with a few shots of this I would be able to forget everything that happened within the past week. If it didn't, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

~J&M~

I did my best to pace myself, but within the hour I had three shots. My body was heavy, and my vision a little blurry, but I wasn't numb like I wanted to too, so I took my fourth shot. Feeling the tequila burn on the way down, I closed my eyes tight and waited for it to go away. By shot number six I had numb lips and my teeth were getting there. Today was spinning in my head like a scene from a movie; it went from Adam kidnapping me, to the engagement announcement, to seeing and talking to Jay.

Just as I got done throwing back shot number seven, I saw someone sitting down beside me from the corner of my eye. I rolled my eyes and waited for them to go away, but they just sat there.

"Listen buddy," I muttered, "I'm not in the mood for company, so take your sweet talking somewhere else because you're not getting anything from me."

"Not really why I came here," a gruff voice chuckled.

My head jerked to the side and my vision swam a little but when I could see straight, I saw Voight was the one sitting next to me. I was so embarrassed about what I said, I could feel my cheeks get hotter, through the alcohol. Today just wasn't my day apparently.

"I'm so sorry Hank," I apologized. "I didn't know it was you."

"Well of course, you didn't," he chuckled, smiling a little. "You've had seven shots since you sat down."

"You've been watching me?"

"Yea. I was sitting and talking with a old friend of mine. Saw you came in and then walk out with Halstead. I thought you had left with him until Will left and you came back in and sat down. What happened? Did you and Halstead get into a fight."

"I wouldn't really call it a fight, more like a heated discussion."

"Well what was this heated discussion about?"

I sighed before looking away from him to stare at my empty shot glass. This was something I didn't really want to talk to him about. He more than likely would think of me as a childish person and not take me seriously and I didn't need that right now at all.

"Nothing," I muttered.

"Has it anything to do with your brother telling him to stay away from you?" Voight asked.

This was something new to me; so new my head snapped back to glance at the Sergeant in front of me. What did he mean Adam had told Jay to stay away from me? The man had no right to say anything like that when he was dating someone I despised.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Tuesday morning your brother and Halstead got into it," he informed me. "Something about it not being a good idea to be around you because you already had two cops in your life and having a third would only make things more dangerous than they already were."

"Are you kidding me?"

The man in front of me shook his head no and for the third time that day my blood started to boil in my veins. This day just got better and better, and it didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon.

"How dear he!" I exclaimed, slamming my right hand down on the bar. "That no good son of a bitch. Doesn't he already know I have a lot of friends in the police department. He has no right to do that."

My hand stung from the blow but I couldn't feel it a whole lot because of the tequila running through my system. Adam was in a world of hurt the next time I saw him that was for sure. I couldn't believe Jay went along with it. Shit was really going to hit the fan now and it was no one's fault but my brothers.

"Adam better hope he doesn't see me anytime soon," I growled, holding my right hand to my chest. "He pissed off the wrong sister."

"Calm down Stringbean," Voight suggested, putting a hand on my shoulder. "You two have been through worse."

"You've got that right, but he's in so much trouble with me lately it's not even funny."

"What's he done now? It must be pretty bad if he's got you so riled up."

"Besides kidnapping me this morning to take me to my childhood hell hole and giving my grandmother engagement ring to the woman I hate, which belonged to me I might add, he also didn't believe me when I told him someone was following me Sunday when I went to the grocery store. Why he didn't–"

"Wait. Someone did what?"

I hadn't realized that I had been ranting. This was something I did only when I was drunk or let my feelings build up and overflow. I think it was both this time. I didn't mean to let it slip about Clay following me and now Voight was going to think I seeing things just like Adam.

"It's nothing," I shrugged.

"It has to be something. Tell me."

"Hank–"

"Monroe, you answer me right now."

Hank Voight never called me by my first name; it was always Stringbean, kid, or Mo. So, the meaning was clear… he meant business. There was no getting out of this one. I guess I could tell him what I told my brother. I didn't necessarily have to tell him I already knew who was following. Of course, I had to tell him something or he wasn't going to leave me alone. Taking a big breath in and then letting it out, I finally gave in

"Last Sunday," I began, "I had to run to the grocery store. While I was there, I had a feeling someone was watching me, so I got what I needed and high tailed it out of there. When I was driving back home, I saw someone was following me. I made sure before I called Adam who was at Wendy's. He told me to come right over and he'd take care of it. Once I got there, I parked, and he came out. The car that had been following me slowed down but didn't stop. My brother thought I made the whole things up even though he saw how scared I was."

Voight nodded his head in the right places and looked like he was thinking really hard about this. I wanted to get my hopes up that he would believe me but didn't want to be let down if he didn't, so I sat there and waited while he thought things through.

"Do you know what car it was?" he questioned.

"I think it was a Range Rover," I stated.

"Color?"

"Black."

He was asking all the right questions, that had to mean he believed me. If he didn't this was just a waste of my time. I could feel my hopes start to rise, but I didn't let them go too far. I turned my chair to face him more to show him I was willing to tell him anything he needed to know.

"Did you get a license plate number?" he asked.

"No," I confessed. "I was too busy trying to get away from whoever it was."

"Did you see the driver?"

At this point I wanted to tell him, I really did, but I didn't want to risk anyone I cared about getting hurt. I know Clay didn't say anything about hurting the one I loved but I couldn't take the chance that he would. If Voight sent someone out to talk to him, he'd known I'd spoken to someone in the department and who knows what would happen. It was better to keep Clay's name out of it and see if there was some other way to get rid of him.

"No," I said again, making sure to look in his eyes, "the windows were too tented."

"Alright," he muttered. "If you see this vehicle following you again call me. I'll take care of it."

"You mean you believe me?"

"Of course, I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"I just don't get it. My own brother wouldn't believe me when I told him. He even saw the car slow down."

"Well I'm not your brother, am I kid?"

"No but… I guess I'm just relieved."

"Don't be afraid to tell me anything. I'm always here for you. It doesn't matter if it's day or night, call me anytime.

I could feel tears well up in my eyes and fall down my cheeks. Before I stop myself, I threw my arms around Voight's neck and hugged him tight.

"Thank you, Hank," I sobbed.

"Anytime Stringbean," he murmured hugging me back.

He patted my back a few times before letting me go. I saw the smile on his face and returned it without a second thought.

"Now," he said, breaking the silence, "I think you've had enough to drink. Would you like me to take you home?"

"Yes please," I nodded.

"Alight."

Hank took his wallet out of his pocket and through some money down on the bar. I was about to object, but he held his hand up and told me not to worry about it. Thanking him, he led me out of Molly, making sure I didn't fall because of my alcohol intake, and to his black SUV.

It was quiet on the way to the apartment and I was thankful for the silence. The man knew where I lived, having been there a few times himself, so I didn't have to give him directions. As we drove, I still wanted to tell him who the man following me really was, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I knew it was going to bug me for a long time to come.

We pulled up about ten minutes later and I was about to open the door, but Voight put his hand on my shoulder. Looking back, I saw he had a serious expression on his face.

"Don't forget to call me if anything happens," he ordered.

"I will," I agreed.

"Have a good night Stringbean."

"You too Hank. Thanks again."

"No problem."

I got out and walked to my building's front door. Hank waited till I was inside before he drove off. I decided to take the elevator because I didn't know if I would face plant on the stairs. Knowing my luck that would really happen and I didn't need anything like a hospital visit right now. Walking down the hallway to my apartment I couldn't help thinking how Voight was the only person I could trust at this moment. The man had given me no reason not too and he would never know how much that meant to me.

Once I was in the door, I locked it and made a beeline to my room. I didn't bother changing my clothes – just took off my bra – it was took much work at this point. My first stop was my bathroom to brush my teeth. When I was done with that I walked to my bed and jumped in, pulling my covers up to my chin. I snuggled into my mattress and slowly let the tequila take me into oblivion.