The Officer

by Kelli Callahan

  Suddenly she freezes in place. I pause, my heart pounding in my chest as I try to understand what alarmed her. I don’t remember making a sound. Was it me or did something else scare her? In a split second the woman jerks in my direction then darts away impossibly fast.

  She moves at such a swift speed. It seems almost unnatural for someone of her size and stature. I must be right. Noah is hiring teenage marathoners or long-distance runners on the high school track team. That makes sense honestly because he could be promising them enhancement such as steroids that will make them better athletes or get them scholarships and out of this town. It’s definitely an avenue worth exploring later.

  I follow her as quickly as I can at a dead sprint. I’m no match for her lithe body though. She is already down the road and turning a corner onto another street by the time I make it across the warehouse and out the door.

  My breath comes out in hard pants as I race after her my feet slapping against the ground. How is she so fucking fast? I am a man who prides himself on physical fitness, but I am no match for the person ahead of me. She doesn’t even appear to be winded. How is that possible? Especially because she is smaller than me. Though the darkness and distance make it difficult to accurately estimate. I can definitely say she is somewhere between 5 foot four and 5 foot nine. The individual turns sharply starting down an alley.

  I can’t help it; I have to pause for a moment because it feels as if my chest is going to explode under the pressure of my beating heart. Air comes out in quick puffs, and my head spins as if I’m going to vomit. Swallowing hard, I look up and see the woman still running at a steady pace ahead of me. I am roughly twenty feet behind her. If I really push myself hard I might be able to catch up to her, and grab that black hoodie, tackle her to the ground, and lay there for a moment as my body remembers what a normal pulse is.

  Forcing myself to run harder than I have in years, I start down another corner where I saw her disappear only seconds before and freeze. She’s gone. Where could she possibly have gone? Turning slowly and looking around the narrow alley I don’t see anyone. No lights, just tall buildings and vacant windows.

  Great. Just fucking great. My first real break and I lose her.

  Closing my eyes and raising my hands up over my face, I don’t know how I could have lost the culprit. No one is faster than me, I have never had to run so hard and fast after a criminal in my entire life. They must have been fucking long-distance runners in high school or something. Ridiculous. Maybe he gives them something before they go out on jobs so that they run faster and harder and are more brave and reckless than anyone else on the police force.

  Turning around and exhaling hard, I give one final glance back at the empty alley before I walk back to my truck and turn the ignition.

  Leaning back in my seat for a moment, I press my hand hard against my chest. I force myself to breathe slowly by inhaling deeply and then exhaling through my nose for 1,2, 3, or four seconds before I pass the hill again. It feels like everything inside me is going to explode. That was one hell of a workout. Kudos to her and fuck me for all that I got out of this which is basically nothing. Goddamnit! I punch my steering wheel before gripping it tightly.

  I need to breathe, so I think slowly and carefully to ensure that I can really ponder the facts. Maybe there is something I don’t see, yet maybe if I sit still and think hard enough I will find something. Closing my eyes, I ask myself a simple question

  What did I learn? The question echoes in my brain as I turn the steering wheel and drive down the dark streets. She has to be there somewhere. I glance back-and-forth hoping for any sign of movement. Okay, be calm.

  What do I know? I know no more now than I did this morning. I know that there is a large drug movement in the area. The drugs are being shipped using food packages specifically granola and that Lucy likely distributed them earlier today without even realizing it. Annie Andrews is a suspect because she owns the place. Annie is forever glued to the stool behind the counter, but there is no way she can outrun me. However, that still leaves a question, who is fast enough, and female? Maybe the dealers are scouting out high school track players promising a life of grandeur? I think once again, wondering how I can prove this.

  I will need to start running surveillance on the school. I turn the steering wheel, and I look closely around the yard as I park the car in front of my modest home.

  It is a nice place, one that is often overflowing with flowers and a green garden. Gardening is a way that I unwind along with fishing. Really, it’s nature that gets me, and I don’t know how anyone manages to go an entire day without sniffing the fresh air or feeling the wind on their face.

  Reaching for my briefcase, I ascend the stone steps. There is a small comfort when I arrive home at the end of the day. Especially after nights like this that drag on forever, I virtually pull an all-nighter. I don’t spend as much time here as I used to though. After Charlie left for college, the house just feels so empty. Empty nest syndrome is a real thing, and apparently, it’s for men and women, mothers and fathers.

  Unlocking my front door, I imagine what life could be like with a wife, and the baby here. The idea seems foreign, but there was a time long ago when I had those things in my life, and I was happy. I am happy now I think as I reach my bedroom and strip off my sweaty clothes. I know that I could be happier though if I had a woman like Lucy here in my home. Lucy is so sweet and thoughtful. She is funny and hardheaded and exciting all at the same time.

  I wonder if Lucy ever feels lonely in her home. She’s all alone too, no longer living with her sister or her father, I don’t think she even has a pet. Maybe I could bring her something like a dog? Yes a dog would be good. Something loud and yippy like that would be annoying, but it would scare off potential intruders.

  Maybe I should get one for myself too? I smile to myself now. I place my dirty clothes carefully in the hamper. Perhaps we can get a pet together. That would be really big for our relationship I think. Getting a pet together that we take care of together is kind of like practice for the real thing isn’t it?

  I don’t know if Lucy is ready for the real thing. She is so much younger than I am, and that’s something that I forget about a lot. There are times when she seems so mature, and other times where she seems like the nineteen-year-old child that she is. We really are a lifetime apart from each other. Worlds apart and at very different places on the lifeline spectrum. Regardless of us, I am still drawn to her in a way that I have never been drawn to anyone else, including my ex-wife.

  Yes, I will definitely get her a dog this week. With so much going on in the town today, I don’t want to have to worry about Lucy any more than I already do. And Noah might be regaining his strength, so there could be a drug war in the future… and I may be a target. I only hope that he would not allow his daughter to be targeted because she is my weakness. Perhaps this situation will protect her and keep our love a secret for as long as possible. I don’t want anyone to hurt her. I think it would kill me.

  Finding myself in bed, now I lay back. I think I see Lucy and her father. It makes me angry that her father would be so careless with something as precious as Lucy. I remember the day I had to arrest Lucy’s father for drug charges specifically for the sale and distribution of narcotics. It broke Lucy and Abbie’s heart, and to this day kills me to think that I had to be a part of it, even though my job specifically puts criminals behind bars.

  What kind of man can disregard the emotional well-being of another in such a way? What kind of man doesn’t care about his child crying as he is in jail? I lay in bed and rub my hands up and down my face feeling the stubble against my palms. I need to see it again I think absently. Also, I need to make sure the age is better for Lucy. I need to give her more than anyone has ever given her. She needs to know that she is safe with me, and that I will not let any harm come to her. Not even from her father.

  I fall asleep with angry thoughts of Noah in my head.

  Suddenly, I am surro
unded by darkness and running. The darkness creeps in closer until I feel like I’m suffocating as its cold fingers reach up and cloak my skin. There’s someone ahead of me, not too far, but not close enough for me to reach them. It’s a female I can tell that much.

  As I race forward my feet slap against the hard concrete. God it’s getting harder to breathe as I stretch my hand out desperately wishing that I could reach her and tell who she is.

  Suddenly, I find myself in a room. It’s big and open and the sky seems to jet highly above me forever with only darkness and stars. And from the darkness a single glowing ball drops down in the center, trained over the floor, illuminating a very small circle.

  Stopping my chase, I turn and look at a package on another floor. I need to go to it, it’s important, but I can’t remember why. As I get closer to it a figure darts from the shadows, scoops up the package, and races in the opposite direction.

  I am running again. I don’t know how much longer I can do this. Blood is rushing in my ears and I can hear every hard thump of my heart as it goes faster and faster. Every pounding step I take has my blood pumping violently and forces it to move faster and faster.

  Now I am running down a long, angular corridor with no windows or lights. Somehow, despite the darkness, I can still make out the silhouette of a woman running ahead of me, her feet slapping lightly on the concrete.

  She’s only inches away now. I can feel the cotton hoodie under my hand. I clinch the hood, grabbing a fist full of hair in the process of turning her around to face me. Before I can pull back the hood I feel like I know her, as I stare at the long locks of brown hair. Forcing back the hood, I see it’s Lucy!

  Gasping for air, I find myself sitting up in my bed sweating and searching next to me frantically for the woman whose hair I just had in my fingers. But where there should be a hoodie and hair, there is only the sheet twisted around my hands.

  That was one hell of a nightmare.

  I look around me waiting for my heart rate to slow down. I can’t come down. My heart is beating so quickly, and I find myself longing for a woman on the other side of town. I need to see her now. I need her in my arms to hold her, to touch her, to love her.

  I run down the stairs of my quiet home, not bothering to lock the front door or even check to make sure it’s closed all the way, as I slip on my shoes and race to my cruiser. I know I shouldn’t be using it for personal business but the nightmare fighting my mind for reality tells me I need to get to Lucy. All I need her to do is listen.

  I turn on the sirens on my cruiser as I head towards her neighborhood. Running through stop lights is completely unnecessary at four in the morning in Oak Valley, Wyoming. Nonetheless, I keep my lights on only for the safety of others in the off chance of someone being up and out at this time of night. I need to see her.

  I’m on autopilot. My hands shake as if I’m going through withdrawals from a nightmare straight from my heart. I don’t know what is running through my mind. I don’t know why I would see her face in my nightmares like that.

  Perhaps it’s because I’m terrified of losing her or maybe a part of me is afraid she is like her father. Maybe she knows something about him and she isn’t telling me? Either way, it isn’t good, and it isn’t true. My Lucy is good and would never betray me like this.

  Turning sharply onto her street, I impatiently get out and open the gate so that I can pull into the dirt driveway. After I pull forward, I shut off my sirens and lights and race to her door, pounding frantically. My only thought is the image of her face in my dreams.

  “Lucy! Lucy!” I call, not bothering to notice if the neighbors heard my pulling up, or if there were dogs in the neighborhood.

  In an instant, Lucy opens her door.

  “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” she asks. Her eyes look red and tired, and her body is shivering. Something isn’t right.

  Lucy

  * * *

  “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” I ask when I see a sleep ruffled Kenton on the other side of my door.

  My heart pounds and breaks at the same time. He must know it was me he saw there. That’s why he’s here. That’s why he pulled up, sirens blazing to my front door.

  “I needed to come to your rescue. It has come to an end,” he says. He’s not making much sense but my body trembles and I fight back tears. I was desperately hoping he couldn’t tell it was me there in the warehouse. I guess that was a longshot hope.

  “Oh no Lucy, please don’t cry. Please don’t cry,” he begs. He laces his hands in my hair at the back of my head and kisses my forehead whispering sweet nothings in my ear. “Lucy let’s go to bed, please. Can we just go to bed for now?”

  I sniffle and step back so he can walk into the house and close the door. Picking me up, he tucks me against his chest and carries me down the hallway. I don’t know what to think of what’s going on. It wasn’t the reaction I was expecting when I heard the sirens or saw his face at the door. His eyes are wild, his body is shaking, and a part of me wonders if he has gone mad.

  That his grief was from the knowledge of my betrayal. How can I trust him?

  My father made me choose between the man I love for another man I love, and for that I can never fully forgive him.

  We get to my room and in two long strides, he lowers me to my bed. He quickly kicks off his shoes and crawls in under the covers next to me. Wrapping me in a blanket of heat from his body as he curls up next to me. His arms and legs wrap around me in an unfamiliar shell of comfort. I have never been in his arms like this. This is something different. This is more tender. More desperate.

  And though it is something I have never done before, not quite like this, I know exactly what we both need. Tilting my face up to his, I kiss with every ounce of longing and desperation in me in case this is the last night I get to be in his arms.

  Because in my heart I know. After he finds out it was me in that warehouse, he is never going to forgive me.

  I slide my hands up and around his neck and begin to pour myself into the soft kisses. “Kenton,” I whisper, “make love to me.”

  Saying nothing, he rolls, pressing my body into the mattress, his eyes burning into mine. I arch beneath him as the weight of him between my legs fills me with demanding desire. I have never wanted anyone the way I want Kenton; I want him all the time, which drives me crazy.

  Smiling in the dark, I enjoy the way his body fits perfectly against mine as my legs rise, wrapping around his trim waist. Watching him from beneath, his eyes darken, and I feel his breathing change. It's shallow, as his eyes look down, watching as my hands slide his shirt up and off. My hands move over his shoulders, and he closes his eyes, enjoying the sensation of skin against skin.

  I love how he responds to my touch as if it alone could soothe away the deepest pain. He opens his eyes slowly, leans toward me, pressing himself harder against my center, sending blood pulsing through my body. I gasp in pleasure, always in awe of the way he moves me.

  He's smiling now, as his eyes flicker from mine to my parted lips. My heartbeat quickens in anticipation as his lips move closer to mine, closing the gap as he slides his hands up to my face, gently caressing me, before leaning in and fixing his mouth on mine in a slow-burning kiss. The kiss deepens as he slides his hand back down, cupping my breast.

  My legs part further as I reach down, freeing him from his pants. I enjoy the way he feels in my hands, long and hard; the feeling alone is almost enough to make me wet.

  His eyes close in pleasure as I stroke him. His breath is uneven as he slides his hands up my nightgown now and pulls down my panties and drops them to the floor. Looking into my eyes, he slowly grinds against me; our centers pressed tightly in a way that has my eyes rolling back in pleasure. I want him so badly, I feel like I'll go mad without him inside me.

  As if reading my mind, he slips inside me, filling my body with his. I gasp in pleasure as his mouth fixes on mine as if to catch that first breath of delight. He grinds against me at a slow
heart-pounding pace, as his hands slide up and grasp my hair. Sliding my hands up the length of his body, enjoying the way the lean muscles tighten under my touch, I slowly drag my nails down his back. He groans in pleasure, his eyes watching me now in a way that leaves me breathless.

  "Lucy," he murmurs, his lips now tracing kisses from my ear down my neck. Fixing his mouth on my throat, he bites gently. I gasp in pleasure and surprise as I arch beneath him, loving the way Kenton moves against me. He has such a beautiful body, I wish there were more time to enjoy it, but with all that is pressing down on us now, I wonder if this might be our last night together. The very idea has my heart breaking in my chest, and I feel a single tear trickle down my cheek. I never want this to end; I want to live and die in his arms, to forever be entangled between these sheets, feeling his heart pounding against his chest and reverberating in mine.

  Chapter Eleven

  KENTON

  The early dawn creeps in and sheds light illuminating a small bedroom. Frowning against the sunlight, I raise my hand and cover my eyes. Where am I? The room is relatively unfamiliar to me. Turning my head slowly, I notice a small nightstand. The clock is blinking 7:05 AM.

  I never sleep until seven and I never sleep anywhere except for my home or the office. Raising my arms, I find that I am unable to move. What is obstructing me? Sitting up is now impossible. Looking over to my right, it all comes back to me. Last night’s adventures and misadventures. I had the most awful nightmare of my entire life. And considering I am an officer of the law, that means a great deal. I have seen a lot in my twenty years on the force, enough for any man to have flashbacks. It was part of what led to my divorce and why I moved to Wyoming years ago. I had enough of the big city life and needed the peace and tranquility of the countryside. My ex-wife didn’t want to leave the city. She did for a while but in the end, she hated the small town and ended up moving back to the city.