by Kay Gordon
The drug was popular in the younger crowd for several reasons. The longer high was the most appealing draw of it. Getting a chance to experience the euphoria for more than double the time of just heroin made it well sought after.
It was also essentially being used as a date rape drug. The person not on Sludge could have sex with the user and experience a partner who appeared enthusiastic and appreciative of the act. It made the sober person feel powerful and in control.
It was highly addictive and easy to overdose on. We saw Sludge ruining many lives and it needed to be stopped. Based off what Dominic and I had learned, it wasn’t something country-wide yet and seemed to be isolated to New Hope, although it was slowly spreading to the surrounding cities, Rollins and Canyon City. A few cases had turned up in Las Vegas, too.
That led us to believe it was being processed and distributed right here in our little city. And we were going to figure out where and who so we could bring them down.
Once I was out of the shower and in a pair of basketball shorts, I laid down in my queen sized bed and let out a sigh.
I needed to solve this case and soon.
Chapter Three
Tori
“Hey, can I buy you a drink?”
I turned my head to look at the guy that had sidled up next to me. I was sitting at a bar table with three other men from my company and the conversation between them basically stopped so they could watch my interaction with the newcomer.
I gestured to the full pint glass in front of me. “I’m good, thanks.”
“You sure you don’t need a fresh one?” His lips turned up in a crooked grin. He was already a cute guy, probably in his early twenties with the classic blonde hair, blue eyes combination, but that grin amped up his level of attractiveness. If it had been seven years before, I wouldn’t have even hesitated to say yes.
“I’m sure.” To emphasize my point, I picked up the drink I already had and took a long drink of it, not bothering to look at the kid again.
Once he was gone, my co-worker, Ross Simpson, burst out laughing.
“Damn. That was cold, Jones.”
I shrugged. “I tried to be nice but he wouldn’t give up.”
It wasn’t like I was looking my best, either. We had just finished a baseball game against the Rollins Fire Department and I was a mess. My hair was in a sloppy ponytail with a headband holding back my bangs and the strands that were too short to be contained. I’d been sweating in my baggy, navy blue New Hope Fire Department t-shirt and my white baseball pants were covered in dust.
Either the kid had a dirty fetish or he was looking for an easy lay. It wasn’t hard to figure out which category he belonged in.
Our intermural baseball games had been going on for years before I’d even joined NHFD. All of our station houses were split up by teams depending on shifts and we played against each other as well as teams from neighboring city’s fire departments.
At the end of the season, the team with the most wins of the fire department went up against the team with the most wins out of law enforcement. It was a fun, healthy competition. The only downside was that we played when it was the hottest in Southern Nevada.
Our team was always good. In fact, we’d won it all two years before and come close just a year ago. This year, though, we sucked ass. With the fourth station in New Hope opening just a couple of months ago, the team we were usually paired with from station two was paired with someone different and we got the new guys.
Let’s just say we hadn’t found our groove yet.
Naked Joes was our go to bar and grill after games. It was a Friday so the establishment was full to the gills with people. Only four of us from my company had decided to come out since we went on shift at seven the next morning but that was okay. Shit could get crazy when the guys all turned loose at once.
“Why don’t you date, Jones?” Ian Dickerson asked he placed some chicken wings on his plate. From the expression on his face, I could tell he was just curious. “Don’t kill me for this, but you’re obviously a good looking woman and when you want to, you have a fun personality.”
Tyson snickered into his drink from where he was sitting next to me and I reached over to slug him in the shoulder.
The group of guys I worked with was great. They never treated me any different because I was a woman but it’d taken me years of being a hard ass to earn their respect. As it was, none of them ever mentioned my looks without fear of bodily harm. The only person really brave enough, outside of Ty when we were alone, was Christos and even then it was usually when he was trying to be profound.
“I always have a fun personality, Dickerson,” I deadpanned, causing the entire table to laugh.
Simpson grinned, setting down his empty beer bottle. “It’s a valid question, though.” He paused for a second and looked between me and Ty. “I mean, unless you guys really are together.”
Ty and I exchanged a look but it was him who shook his head and spoke.
“You guys are more my type than Jones is.”
My jaw dropped at his blatant admission. Dickerson and Simpson looked surprised for a beat but Simpson just shrugged his shoulders.
“To each his own, brother.”
Dickerson nodded his head in agreement. “Doesn’t change anything in our house. Although that leaves my initial question still unanswered about Jones.”
“I don’t have a juicy answer for you guys.” I pulled some cash out of a compartment on my phone case where I kept my debit card and driver’s license. “I just don’t date.”
The four of us stood up once the bill was paid and we all promised to see each other in a few short hours. We each went to our separate cars since none of us had indulged in more than one beer. Ty stayed with me and as soon as we were alone, I turned to him with a shake of my head.
“What was that? I can’t believe you’ve been hiding it for the past year and then just decided to drop it like a bomb.”
He stuffed his hands into his pockets and the insecurity on his handsome face was almost devastating. “I’m so sick of hiding. Aren’t you, Tori? I’m tired of being closed off because I’m scared. I’ve spent a good chunk of my life worrying about what other people think.”
I swallowed and looked away from his knowing brown eyes. “It’s not the same.”
“It kind of is. You hide behind your stony personality because you’re afraid if you have fun, they’ll think less of you.” His fingers gripped my chin and he gently forced me to look up at him. “You deserve a better life than you’ve given yourself.”
When I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist, Ty didn’t hesitate to return the embrace. He smelled good, like sunshine, dirt, and the cologne he always wore.
“I’m in love with this guy, Tori,” he murmured with his cheek pressed to the top of my head. “And we’re both hiding. It’s time for me to step out into the light to show him that it’s not so bad. That we can be happy out here. I don’t want to hide anymore.”
I increased my hold on him and nodded against his chest. “I just don’t want to lose you.”
“I’m here to stay. Even if the guys react poorly, I’m not going anywhere. I don’t think they will, though. We work with a great group.”
I wanted to agree with him but my intense distrust of people caused me to doubt what he was saying. I just hoped he was right.
“Go home and sleep.” He kissed my forehead and stepped back. “We have to be at work in less than nine hours.”
“Okay. See you in less than nine hours then.” I smiled at my friend and walked to the door of my SUV. Ty waited until I was inside before going to his own vehicle.
As I started the engine, I mumbled a plea to the universe, begging it to be good to Tyson Lennox. He deserved to be happy.
Chapter Four
Evan
After a long, restless night, I decided to get up Saturday morning and go for a run before it was too hot. I didn
’t bother with a shirt and just slipped on my sneakers before heading out the front door.
Neighbors in their yards waved to me, used to my presence, and I waved back as I passed. I was almost home when I went by the house at the end of my street and someone yelled my name. I groaned inwardly, wishing that I would have taken a different route, but I slowed my strides and forced a smile to my face.
One of my neighbors, Shelley, was standing in her front yard. Despite it being barely eight in the morning, she was already wearing a bikini with a sheer cover up that did anything but. Her brown hair was curled to perfection and when she pushed up her large sunglasses, I could tell she was wearing a ton of make-up.
“Hey there, handsome. You look hot.” She emphasized the last world while trailing her fingers down her bottle of water with a smile. She didn’t even try to hide the way her eyes swept down my bare, sweaty chest. “Want to cool down?”
“I’m heading home now but thank you.” Without giving her a chance to say anything else, I held up my hand in a wave and took off running again.
The young divorcee had been dropping hints for a over a year, since even before her divorce was final. She was hot, I wouldn’t deny that, but she was one of those women that screamed high maintenance. I barely had enough time to pay attention to my own needs, let alone another person’s.
The last time I’d been in a relationship was when I was still in Vegas. My girlfriend of almost two years got sick of waiting for me to take the next step. Dayna was a good woman and I liked her a lot. The thing was, I didn’t love her. I didn’t feel compelled to get home to her at the end of the day. She was just… there.
When she told me she couldn’t sit around waiting for me to love her anymore, I completely understood. She deserved more than what I was giving her.
And she found it. She was now married with a little one on the way and I was happy for her.
Since then, I hadn’t dated. I’d put all of my time and effort to getting settled into New Hope and finding my footing with the new precinct. Besides, no one had caught my attention in the slightest.
The second I was through the door of my house, I went right for the fridge to grab my water pitcher. I sucked down several glasses of the cold water and stood at the sink, looking out the back window while my body cooled down.
I headed down the hallway and back to my room to take another shower but my phone chiming from the nightstand grabbed my attention. I picked it up and rolled my eyes when I saw that my mother had called twice already that morning.
She left one voicemail and even though I didn’t want to, I hit play to listen.
“Evan.” Her voice was harsh, lacking a shred of warmth, but that wasn’t anything new. “I expect to see you for Lewis’s birthday celebration tonight. No exceptions.”
With that, she hung up.
My mother was something else. She and my father divorced when I was just three-years-old. Apparently she had been having an affair and was pregnant with her new man’s baby. My father was understandably bitter towards my mother but it bled into our relationship. He resented me because of what she’d done to him and she resented me because I looked just like him with my brown hair and bright blue eyes. It was a shitty spot for a kid to be in.
They shared custody of me, each of them making the hand off every other week, but both acted like I was an inconvenience. When I was eleven, my father took his new wife and my two half-sisters and they moved to San Francisco. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since. I stayed with my mom, stepfather, and half-brother in Las Vegas.
I never felt at home in that house. The Morris family basically took me in a year later and showed me what a family should be. Dominic was more my brother than the kid I’d grown up down the hall from.
I spent my free time that afternoon to go grocery shopping, drop off some suits at the drycleaner and pick up the ones I’d left the week before, and clean up my living space. Once that was done, I headed next do to the Morris house.
Rapping my knuckles on the door, I didn’t wait for an answer before I pushed it open.
Almost instantly, four feet of energy plowed into my legs.
“Uncle Evan!”
I lifted Grace into my arms and immediately began tickling her. “Hey, noodle.”
“Mercy!” she screamed through breathless giggles and I stopped my assault with a chuckle. “Grammy says you’re eating with us tonight.”
“Yep.” I barely had the word out before something else hit my leg and I smiled down at Jade.
Grace was seven and smart as a tack. With her dark brown hair in tight spirals, honey colored eyes, and her mother’s bronze complexion, she was already a beauty.
Jade was three and where her sister was outgoing and wild, she was soft spoken and calm. Even as a baby, you could tell that she was listening to what was going on around her and absorbing what she could.
Little Jade had smooth, silky hair that was as dark as her sister’s and dark brown eyes. Her skin was lighter than Grace’s but she took after her mother more and more every day. She, like Grace, was already a gorgeous little girl.
Dominic and I joked that it was a good thing we kept guns in the house because we were going to need them when his girls started dating.
I situated Grace in one arm so I could lift Jade into the other and I hugged them both to my sides.
“I need some sugar, ladies.”
Both girls giggled before pressing their little lips to my cheeks. I grinned and put them down, laughing as they both sprinted towards the backyard.
A head popped out of the kitchen and Ruby immediately smiled at me. “Hi, sweetheart.”
“Hey, Ma.” I moved to where she was and kissed her cheek. “Any chance you’ll feed your baby boy tonight? I’m wasting away.”
“Oh, I see that,” she replied with a roll of her eyes and a suppressed smile. She poked my bicep and shook her head. “You and Dominic used to be so scrawny and now you’re muscled men. Where has the time gone?”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m still extremely immature.” I offered her a charming grin and she laughed.
“Oh, you both definitely are.”
I hung out in the backyard with the girls, playing on the swing set with them. Keith joined us a little later and we ended up playing a little two on two soccer. Keith and Grace wiped the floor with Jade and me but in my defense, Jade kept running after butterflies.
We sat down to eat some delicious porkchops that Ruby had made and I was cutting Jade’s up when my phone vibrated against the table. I picked it up, saw my mom’s name on the display, and silenced it so I could shove it into my pocket.
“No one you want to talk to?” Keith asked with his eyebrows raised. I shrugged and went back to cutting up the porkchop.
“My mother. She’s calling to berate me for not being at Lewis’s birthday party tonight.”
Ruby nodded once, a sympathetic look on her face. “Oh.”
And that was all they said on the subject. I knew Ruby and Keith weren’t fond of my mom or Lewis but they didn’t bash them, at least not when I was around. They never forced me to try to make amends with them, never told me to do something they knew would make me uncomfortable. They just supported me the way parents were supposed to and I loved them so much for it.
I stayed at the Morris house until late. I helped get the girls bathed and into bed, reading them three stories before they finally couldn’t keep their little eyes open anymore. Then I kissed both girls on the forehead, moved Jade’s sleeping form to her room down the hall, and went downstairs.
“Thanks for dinner, you guys.”
“Of course, sweetheart.” Ruby gave me a kiss before hugging me tight and Keith slapped me on the back twice. The two of them always did that, acted like they wouldn’t see me again for a long time even though I lived next door.
It was nice.
When I made it back to my house, I showered, grabbed a beer, and sat
down in front of the TV. I flipped through the channels until I found some Bond movie on and spent the next hour and a half letting mindless TV take me.
I finally made myself go to bed shortly before midnight and once I was laying on the mattress, I stared up at the ceiling with a sigh.
Although I wouldn’t admit it to them, I wanted what Dom and Becca had. I wanted to find someone who I couldn’t help but love through the good and the bad. I wanted to have my own kids to push on the swing and chase around the backyard. It made me wish that I had been able to love Dayna. Maybe then I would be starting my own family rather than laying in my bed all alone.
“Well, that’s a depressing thought,” I murmured to myself, rolling over so I was looking at my bedroom door.
Forcing my mind to go blank, I closed my eyes and let sleep take me.
–––
My eyes snapped open in the dark room and I immediately sat up, grabbing my gun from my nightstand. I looked around my bedroom and tried to figure out what had woken me up. Nothing moved but my heartrate didn’t slow. I relaxed the grip I had on my piece, though, and slowly moved to my feet.
A flicker outside of the window caught my eye and I padded across the carpet to pull the blinds back. What I saw made my breath catch.
The Morris house was on fire.
Flames engulfed the entire second story and I didn’t even think before dropping my gun to the nightstand and running from the room. I slammed my feet into my sneakers but didn’t bother with a shirt as I dashed across the driveway and their front yard. With my cell in hand, I dialed nine-one-one. The operator hadn’t even finished answering before I was yelling.
