“Eczema and a heat rash might not sound that bad, but they are when you’re back out in the sun the next day with the vest pressing on it for hours on end. Then again, not having Kevlar to protect you if you need to take the vest off for some reason is worrying.”
Nodding, Carter added, “I agree. I like the tactical vest having the plates in it, with our belt holding what it needs to hold. I rarely have anything in the pockets of my vest aside from the handy pen holder on the shoulder. I do have an issue with not being protected when we take it off, though.”
“What he said,” I agreed. “I see the perks in both of them.”
Rubbing his lips together, Hurst exchanged a look with DB and then nodded.
“Do you all feel this way?” After everyone said yes, he clapped his hands. “Awesome, that fits in with the concerns I’ve had as well, so I’ll add it onto my plans to correct ASAP. Well, in my box, I’ve got some t-shirts you can wear in addition to your polo shirts. The latter is your official uniform, and the t-shirts are there for backup.”
Then, looking at Carter, he snickered, “I got you something special, seeing as how you keep whining about your shirt coming untucked.”
He pulled a bag out of the box and tossed it at Carter. “Never let it be said that I don’t think of you guys and look at how to make your lives easier.”
Slowly, Carter pulled the plastic open and pulled out what looked like one of our polo shirts. That was until he shook it out, and I saw it had a bottom attached to it.
“Is that—” Mark began, then burst out laughing. “It’s a freaking bodysuit.”
Sure enough, Hurst had gotten him a bodysuit version of our polo shirts, complete with the logo on it and everything.
“I’m wearing one myself,” Hurst told us, standing up and spinning around. “See, no lines, no riding up, no problems.”
Then, squatting and doing a lunge, he muttered, “I just wish it wouldn’t ride up my crack. Hey, do you think I should have worn underwear with it?”
DB had just taken a mouthful of his water as Hurst asked this and ended up choking on it.
“I swear there’s a therapist who’s a billionaire out there thanks to that man,” Carter whispered, folding the garment up again. “You can’t seriously expect me to wear that.”
Standing up straight, Hurst opened his mouth to answer but then did a body wiggle. “There, it just pops back out again. Anyway, to answer your question, last week you gave me a salsa to try. Remember that?”
Carter grinned and nodded his head. “How can I forget?”
“Well, see, I went to Tambien Tacos to ask them what was in it after it took eight hours for the pain to stop, and they told me it had jalapenos in it.”
“I told you that.”
“Yeah,” Hurst murmured, leaning forward and glaring at him. “What you didn’t tell me was it had ghost chili oil in it, too.”
Pasting an innocent expression on his face, Carter gasped, “It did?”
Narrowing his eyes on him, Hurst clipped, “Yeah, which you already knew, seeing as how you’d drunk a gallon of milk when you’d had it the day before.”
Lifting a shoulder, Carter fiddled with the bodysuit. “That explains a lot. They should probably put that as a warning on the menu.”
Hurst’s face went red. “They do! They showed it to me as they listed the ingredients.”
“Oops.”
“So, for a whole month, you’ll be trying out our new bodysuits. I’ve had three made so we get a good idea of how well they wear.
“I want a report on if they hold their color, if the badge begins to fade, how soft the material is, how well they wash, and if there’s any pilling on the material in the relevant areas.”
We were all laughing silently as the two battled it out.
“What constitutes as pilling, Mr. Mayor?” DB wheezed, holding his side.
“You know when you wear a sweater, and you get those irritating little bumps on it? Usually it happens on high friction areas, like under your arms.”
“Rose has a machine that shaves those off her sweaters,” Raoul spoke up. “After the month’s over, I’ll lend it to you so you can make them perfect again, pal.”
Glaring at him, Carter ground out, “Thanks, buddy. I appreciate how generous you are.”
“So,” Hurst said loudly, getting our attention back on him. “One last piece of news for you. Alex is now working on P.V.P.D.’s cold cases when he’s not dealing with current cases.
“After speaking to him, Carter has generously agreed to assist him, but DB will be calling on all of y’all at some point to help out. It could be speaking to witnesses, asking people if they remember it happening, going through old newspaper articles, and shit like that.