by Rachel Smith
“He was helping Justin with something,” I said as I wrung out a cool washcloth in the sink by her bed. “He should be here soon.”
“Good news, because you’re almost dilated to ten. It won’t be long now.”
I thanked the doctor and placed the washcloth on Charlie’s face.
“He better hurry. I love you, Lizzie, but I don’t think I can do this without him,” she panted, still winded from the last contraction.
“He’ll be here. I promise.”
Ten more minutes passed and still no David. Charlotte was fully dilated and ready to rock and roll. The doctor came in, gowned up and positioned himself between her legs. “Okay Charlotte, on the next contraction I need you to push.”
“Wait!”
Oh, thank God.
“You made it.”
David rushed to Charlotte’s side, just in time to grab one leg while I held the other. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Charlie,” he said with a wink before he leaned down to kiss her.
And then, I watched my sister bring my beautiful nephew, Joshua Alexander, into the world.
18
Alex
My tires crunched over the gravel road. The beat-up truck in front of me curved to the left. Keeping my distance, I followed him. The road we were on curled around the outskirts of Glenview Lake. I knew this because I’d been back here a time or two.
It seemed to be the place where unruly teenagers hung out. Drinking, smoking, making out. All the things unruly teenagers do. Most of the time I’ve kept my distance from this area on the weekend, but every now and then we would get a tip about a big party. I’d write a few tickets and take a few kids home to their pissed-off parents.
Sadly, busting parties is a big part of being a small-town cop.
The beat-up truck pulled into the driveway next to the small cabins along the lake. They were quaint weekend rentals, with a rustic, woodsy look to each unit. The thought of being holed up inside one for a long weekend with Lizzie made me smile. Nothing but nature, lazy afternoons, and a naked Liz for a few days.
Perfect.
I shook my head to regain focus and watched as the truck door opened and Johnny Trellis stepped out. The ever-present cigarette dangled from his lips. Again, dressed in only a T-shirt and jeans.
He’s either immune to cold weather, or just plain dumb.
I sat back, still in my car, and watched him finish his smoke before he tossed it to the ground, grinding it into the dirt with his boot. He checked his watch, looked around, and then leaned against the side of his truck.
I stayed put. Maybe he saw me, maybe he didn’t. Whatever, or whoever, he was waiting on was obviously late and Johnny didn’t like it. The scowl on his face proved me right.
Finally, another truck pulled down the drive. Another rusted out hunk of junk. The rust so thick, I couldn’t even tell what color the piece of shit used to be. Looking closer, I sighed. No plates.
Damnit. That’s never a good sign.
The truck stopped on the opposite side of the cabin. As I waited for the driver to emerge, my phone rang.
“Lexington,” I answered.
“Alex, it’s Alan. We got a match on the DNA from the Waters’ case.”
My adrenaline spiked. “And?” I sat forward in my seat, anxious to hear the news.
“And I called you first because you’re one of the few people who might have a little insight here.”
Insight? That could mean anything.
“Spit it out, Raftzen. Was it Trellis?”
Alan paused. “No. Not even close. DNA is a match to a James Scorelli. That name mean something to you?”
“Jesus Christ,” I bit out.
Jimmy Scorelli had worked as a peon for Carlito. In fact, after Carlito bit it in the warehouse takedown last year, it was Scorelli who moved himself right on up the ranks.
“He’s big time now,” I went on. “Took over Carlito’s whole fucking operation. Why the hell would he rape and kill a woman in the middle of Podunk, nowhere?”
“I hear ya, bud,” Alan agreed. “Nothing about this is a good thing. Especially the connection of a known crime boss to this family. I don’t want that shit leaking into my town.”
I sighed and looked out my windshield. Johnny approached the rusty truck. He knocked twice on the driver’s side window and the pane slowly lowered into the door.
“Drugs,” I answered. “There has to be a connection between Paul Waters selling drugs for Johnny. When Carlito was in control, Jimmy’s number one job was pushing their drug supply out to all their distributors. Seems fitting now that he’s in charge that they want to step up their drug game.”
Alan remained quiet on the line for a moment before he answered. “I’ll feed this to the detectives and see what they come up with.” He paused. “I know you can’t stand the guy, but you need to talk to Johnny Trellis. See what he knows and if he’d be willing to help in any way. I know these guys keep their shit locked up tight, but a woman is dead. Talk to him.”
“On it,” I clipped and ended the call.
The rust-bucket vehicle drove away just as my phone beeped again. I stepped out of my patrol car and clicked the text icon. A picture of Lizzie holding her nephew popped up.
Liz: My favorite snuggle bug!
The sight of her holding a baby made my stomach drop. She looked beautiful. A natural. I never expected this woman to come into my life, and now I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
And I’d be damned if Johnny Trellis—or anyone else, for that matter—hurts her. I’d do anything to keep her safe.
Even die.
Me: Baby looks good on you… something to think about.
I smiled and put my phone in my back pocket as I walked toward the cabins. I knew she’d freak out when she read my message. All part of my plan. I loved getting her all riled up so I could straighten her out tonight when I got home.
My favorite thing.
“You know, for a cop, you do a shit job at tailing someone.” Johnny smiled, but more like he was laughing at me than genuinely happy.
“Didn’t care if you saw me, asshole. If I did, I’d have been wind to you.”
He scoffed, “Sure you would.”
I crossed the gravel path and stood on the other side of his truck.
“So did you like what you saw there? Me talking to my buddy?”
“Oh is that what that was?” I asked sarcastically. “You talking to a buddy, huh? Not giving him his next stash to sell to the good people living in my town?”
“Your town?” He threw his head back and laughed. “I’ve lived here my whole fucking life, Lexington. This is my town.”
I shook my head. “Not anymore.”
We stared at each other over the truck bed before Johnny finally broke the silence. “So you heard I stopped at your woman’s office and are here to bust my balls. Nice of you to take the time out of your busy day.”
My body tensed. Seemed Lizzie forgot to tell me that little tidbit of information. I rubbed my chin. Looks like my night just got even more interesting.
“Look,” Johnny continued. “I swear to Christ I’m not after your woman. Believe it or not, I don’t have a problem getting pussy on my own. I dropped off a package that got delivered to my house by mistake. That’s it.”
“What package?”
He shrugged. “Fuck if I know. I didn’t open the damn thing.” He paused and gave me a sideways glance. “You aren’t here because of that, are you?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Something else.”
“Fine, shoot.”
I looked him in the eye. “Tell me what you know about Jimmy Scorelli.”
Johnny tensed. His faced paled, eyes wide with fear. “Why?”
I waited, letting him sweat it out for a minute before answering, “His DNA was found on Nancy Waters’ body.”
His fist slammed into the side of his truck. “Goddamn motherfucking cocksucker!” He shouted a string of profanities as he continued
to slam his fist into the side of his truck.
I ran around the back and grabbed his arm. He’d need a cast on the damn thing if he didn’t stop. “Talk,” I growled.
He turned away, his hand on his hips, head bent in defeat. “He recently took over as my supplier. When Waters fucked up and ingested all his product, he wasn’t happy.”
“I can imagine.”
Johnny spun on his heel to face me. “No, you can’t imagine. Because Paul Waters wanted to offer up his kid in exchange for a clean debt.”
“Fuck,” I hissed. That’s what Brandon was going on about that day I found him beaten up. The day we took his dad into custody.
“Yeah. Dad of the year shit right there. Except before he can officially make the offer, Nancy turns up missing. My guess? Scorelli got impatient and cleared that debt on his own. Using her.”
Jesus. I scrubbed my hands down my face. What a clusterfuck. “I know you’ve got to…” I stopped, unsure how to even ask. “I don’t want you in danger either, Trellis, but the boys at the station need to hear this. On the record. It’s the only way we’re going to be able to take Scorelli down. We’ve already got his DNA, but this is motive.”
Johnny stayed quiet as he thought it over. I didn’t want to push him, but shit, he couldn’t just sit on this information. Lives were at stake. If Scorelli wanted to, he could come after Brandon, too. He wouldn’t even need a reason.
“I let Brandon off the hook, you know,” he said.
I nodded, the pit in my stomach finally getting a bit of relief. “Thanks for that.”
“He’s a good kid. Needs to get his shit straightened out though, or he’ll end up going down my road in life.”
I stepped closer to Johnny. “There’s still time for you to get on a different road, man. All you’ve got to do is make the right turn instead of the wrong one.”
He nodded, rubbing his chin with his tattooed hand. “Yeah,” he answered softly.
I stepped away and turned back toward the patrol car. “Meet you at the station in ten,” I called over my shoulder.
“You know,” he called back, and I stopped. “I’m not the total piece of shit you’ve made me out to be.”
My head bobbed in agreement. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Guess we’ll see,” I said and got into my car.
Before I pulled away, I checked my phone one more time.
Liz: You can’t say crap like that in a text message!
I smiled, pulled up her number and hit send.
“You are in so much trouble,” she greeted, and I chuckled. I could hear chatter and laughing in the background.
“You still at Charlotte’s?”
“Yeah, the girls stopped over and we’re…”
She didn’t finish. It sounded like she dropped the phone. In the distance I heard her say, “Damnit, Melissa.”
“Babe,” I called, annoyed. “Lizzie.”
“Well, hey there, sexy po-lice man,” was drawled, or maybe it was more of a slur. “So, your girl here got aaaaallll sorts of worked up because she thinks you want to have a…”
I sighed. This whole scenario did not sound good. I put the phone on speaker and set it on my console as I pulled out of the trees onto the road.
“Okay, I’m back,” Lizzie huffed.
“What the hell is going on over there?”
“The girls and I thought it would be nice to clean David and Charlotte’s house before they got home from the hospital tomorrow.”
“And…” I prompted. It did not sound like cleaning going on over there. It sounded more like they were three sheets to the wind.
“Melissa brought wine. And so did Lily.”
Aha.
“How are you getting home?” I asked.
“Justin is coming to get us soon. Lily just called him. Except,” she paused. “I’m not sure the house is any cleaner than when we got here.”
I chuckled as I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw Johnny pull out and follow me. “I can imagine. You girls and wine aren’t always the best combination.”
She sighed into the phone. “Yeah, especially for Melissa.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Apparently she’s had this thing going on with some guy named Evan that she knows from high school for like, ever.”
“Evan Wakefield?” I asked.
“Yeah. You know him?”
“I know of him. Just from Deluca and Lyons.”
She squealed. “Alex, you totally need to talk to the guys, so they can talk to Evan about her.”
I rolled my eyes just as I pulled into the parking lot of the station. “Lizzie. I’m not getting into any of the woman bullshit that you guys cook up when you’re blasted on wine.”
“But…”
I cut her off before she could argue. “Get your ass home safe. My house.”
Her huff filtered through the receiver. “Fine,” she pouted.
“And Lizzie,” I warned, my voice deep and husky as I thought about what tonight would entail.
“Yeah?”
“Be ready.”
Click.
19
Lizzie
I arched my back to get just the right angle and drove down on Alex’s cock. Fireworks exploded behind my eyes as the orgasm ripped through my body, threatening to tear me apart from the inside out.
His thick fingers dug into my hips to hold me steady. I’d come twice already. Once from Alex’s extremely talented mouth, and now as I rode him.
“Again.”
My eyes flew open. Alex sat up, putting us nose to nose. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he continued to thrust his hips up into me.
“I can’t,” I whimpered.
“You can.” His hands slid from my hips, up my sides until they cupped my breasts. With a simple roll of his finger and thumb, he tweaked my nipple, creating just the right amount of both pleasure and pain.
I cried out, overrun by too much sensation coursing through my veins. Need and want. Pleasure and pain.
I wanted more.
I needed more.
I just wasn’t sure my body could handle any more.
“This,” Alex growled as his mouth worked at my neck. Kissing and biting the soft skin at my throat. “Been thinking about this right here all…” Thrust. “Damn…” Thrust. “Day.” Thrust.
Eyes closed, head thrown back in ecstasy, I felt it begin to build again. Alex’s hands continued to roam, floating over my skin, his touch leaving a trail of tingles along the way.
My nerves were shot, my thoughts a jumbled mess. My mind had been lifted to the clouds two orgasms ago and still hadn’t come back down to Earth.
“Get there, Lizzie.”
I screwed my eyes shut tighter, tits bouncing furiously from each powerful thrust of Alex’s strong hips. It continued to grow, building into a bubble of pleasure. The edges pulled taut and I knew… I knew it would wreck me.
Finally, when I couldn’t take it anymore, the bubble burst, spilling the pleasure over me like a wave washes over the sand at the shore. My head dropped back; jaw relaxed as a guttural moan escaped from my lips.
Alex continued to thrust, harder now. Faster. His labored grunts echoed in my ears until he stilled, spilling every ounce of warm liquid inside me.
Our foreheads rested against one another as we came down from the high. My body felt limp, worn out to the point where my muscles resembled Jell-O.
After getting his breath under control, his eyes caught mine. A playful smirk formed on his lips. “You should piss me off more often.”
“Yeah… about that…” I trailed off.
He’d barely been inside the door tonight before shooting off rapid-fire orders at me. I wasn’t sure what had gotten up his ass, but I didn’t really care either.
It was exciting. Exhilarating. I loved the ‘take-charge’ side of him just as much as his sweet side.
It balanced.
I pulled back, hoping to get myself to the bathroom to clean up before we had
this discussion. Except I didn’t get far. Strong hands held me in place.
“A baby looks good on me?” I asked, referring to his text from earlier. It had seriously freaked me out.
“You still tipsy?” he asked.
A little. “No, pretty sure three orgasms knocked the tipsy right out of me.”
He nodded once. “Good.”
His face grew serious and I realized this wasn’t about some silly text. “What’s the matter?”
He looked into my eyes, all the warmth from earlier gone. His ‘cop look’ firmly in place. “Tell me about the package.”
Confusion filtered through my brain. “The what?”
“The package,” he repeated. “The one Johnny Trellis brought to your office the other day.”
I gasped. “Oh my God! The package. I totally forgot he even brought it by.” I pulled away from him and reached for my panties next to the bed.
Pulling them up my legs, I went on, “That one cop came to get me and we went to the hospital, and then with the baby and helping get Charlotte’s house in order and everything, I totally forgot.”
I continued to ramble while getting dressed. Alex stayed in the bed, watching me with a wary eye.
“What?” I asked as I snapped my bra into place. He didn’t respond, just continued to stare. “Do you not believe me?”
Annoyed, I turned on my heel and stalked to the bathroom. What an ass. Seriously. Why the hell would I lie about something like this? He didn’t realize how crazy things got. I mean, my sister had a baby for Pete’s sake. Unless he’s worried because…
I poked my head out of the bathroom. “Did something happen?”
He’d moved. One hand planted on the mattress as he bent low to reach for his clothes. I continued to brush my teeth, watching his muscles bulge and ripple. Damn, he was a sight.
Alex pulled his boxer briefs up his legs and rested his hands on his hips. “Yeah, Liz, something happened. A lot of shit has happened lately in this town, and not one goddamned part of it is good.”
I spit, rinsed, and wiped the toothpaste from my mouth. Standing in the doorway, it was my turn to put my hands on my hips. “Tell me.”
