Sworn to Be His ( The Archer Family 3)

"Right. Except you call her Jade. And she calls you Derrick." Flynn narrowed his eyes, though the gesture wasn't as menacing as the other man seemed to hope it would be.

"That's different." Derrick took a seat at the opposite end of the table. "So what's the word on Scaglietti?"

"Not much of anything," Zac said. "Just surprised at how involved you two seem to have been on the case. Nearly three quarters of the documents were filed by one of you."

"We're devoted." Jade said, breathier than he'd ever heard her before. The knot in his stomach turned over, and he was about to open his mouth to change the subject when the supervisor walked in and greeted each of them.

"Flynn, Archer, Lockhart. Glad you're already here."

Behind the older man, the rest of the unit started filing into the room, everyone holding some version of a coffee mug and pastry. Feddricks noshed on a bear claw before taking his seat beside Derrick, and Derrick watched as Flynn slid into the seat beside Jade and started scrawling a note.

Fucking unprofessional.

The supervisor launched into his speech for the day, reviewing the progress the unit had made since yesterday's check in and then notifying them that the new badges had been commissioned for a redesign. Here, he paused to nod toward Derrick.

Derrick offered a half-smile in return, waiting for him to mention the paperwork they'd filed with HR, but the other plowed on to ask where everyone stood on their projects for the day.

Jade cleared her throat. "Um, excuse me, but wasn't there another important community update to go over?"

The supervisor's brow furrowed. "I don't—"

"From Human Resources, maybe?"

The old man's mouth thinned into an impatient line. "Lockhart, you clearly have something to add. Add it."

"Fine, okay, well, um, Dare—I mean Derrick and I are officially seeing each other. So, you know, don't treat us any differently, we just thought everyone should know." Derrick followed her gaze as it swept over the table.

Nobody moved. They barely even reacted. It was the reactionary equivalent to announcing that they were breathing oxygen—like everyone already knew.

Jade's gaze darted to Flynn and Derrick frowned, noticing that he was the only one in the room who frowned at the news. Not in disappointment, he didn't think. No, there was something else behind the man's expression. Like he was thinking hard about something.

"That's it?" Jade said. "Nobody has anything to say?"

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say we thought you were just too lazy to fill out the paperwork." The supervisor looked down at her, then at Derrick. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, uh, best wishes guys." Freddrick chimed in.

"Thanks." Jade frowned, then glanced at Flynn's thoughtful expression again, apparently waiting for him to get down on his knees right then and there and beg for her to change her mind. Derrick's fists clenched at his sides, but he let them go and did his best to focus on the rest of the updates before the supervisor finally dismissed them to their projects.

As people filed past him on their way out, a few detectives clapped him on the shoulder and said things like "about time, Archer," or "Good luck with that one. She's a hellcat," before leaving him be. Across from him, he saw a few of the women do the same thing to Jade.

But Flynn?

He was the first one out the door.

After a moment or two had passed, it was only Jade and Derrick in the room again, and she frowned at him, expectant.

"What?" he said.

"What the hell was all that?" she asked.

"I don't know—"

"Oh come on. Didn't you expect a little more reaction than that?"

"I guess we were better at seeming like a couple than we thought."

"Maybe." Jade turned thoughtful, and try as he might, Derrick couldn't bring himself to hold his tongue.