by ANDREA SMITH
“I’m going to miss you, baby girl.”
“I’m going to miss you, Trace.”
It was strange hearing her call me by anything other than ‘Taz.’ I liked the sound of my given name on her lips.
She sat back up and I immediately pulled her into my lap, stroking her hair.
“Stay and have breakfast with me then.”
“Ohh,” she moaned softly. “I would if I could, but I have an assignment due for Physics class that I have totally blown off and I have to have it done today.”
“It’s not like you have someone breathing down your neck like a professor.”
“Taz, I have to submit it for my grade by five o’clock. I’m really struggling. I set up a “face-time” with my study buddy at two o’clock so he can help me with some of the formula interpretations before I submit it.”
“Who in the hell is your study buddy?”
I saw her hesitation and I knew immediately who it was. I wanted to hear it from her.
“It’s Kyzer,” she replied, pulling herself up and off of my lap.
“Lindsey. What the fuck? Haven’t I told you to steer clear of him?”
She walked over to the chair in my bedroom, gathering up her purse and jacket.
“It’s not like we’re going to be in the same room, Taz. We’re a hundred and forty miles apart. Come on. He’s the best in the class and he offered.”
“Oh, I’m sure he did,” I ranted. “So, there is no one else you could have approached?”
“Not really,” she replied. “If you recall, the semester had barely started. Kyzer is the only one I know and he is the bomb when it comes to science stuff.”
Yeah, if she only knew.
“I don’t know, Lindsey,” I continued. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Taz, I don’t need your permission to have a study buddy, even if it is Kyzer. There is no proof that he is anything but what he appears to be. Do you know something I don’t?”
I couldn’t say shit to her about what I knew because nothing was conclusive yet. I could only tell her what my instincts knew for sure.
“I just feel as if he cannot and should not be trusted, Lindsey. There are too many coincidences.”
“Taz, you’re trained to suspect everyone until you weed out evidence, right?”
“More or less, but Lindsey--”
“But Lindsey, nothing,” she interrupted, coming over to the side of the bed and settling back down into my lap. “I really think my G-Man is being swayed by testosterone in this case. But I promise I will have no contact with him other than electronically and for study purposes only. Okay?”
I nodded, still not feeling good about. Hell, I had always done well in Physics. I wished like the devil we could postpone this deal for one day and I would fucking stay here and help her with the damn formulas.
“Just see that you do. I don’t want you answering any questions he asks not related directly to the subject matter, okay?”
“I promise, Taz,” she replied, kissing the tip of my nose. “Now, will you please drive me home?”
I did so reluctantly. I wasn’t ready to part with her yet. I didn’t like the thought of a one or two week absence from her. This was definitely a first.
Luckily, I had hard-wired the GPS tracker in her car when we had arrived back in Falls Church, not that I intended to use it for “stalking” purposes. It did provide some peace of mind, though.
“Do you want me to drop you off a little ways from your house?” I asked her, trying to be considerate, in light of the situation. I fully intended to be the one to let Slate know the score.
“Gee, Taz,” she replied, getting an impish grin on her face, “I could’ve just called my pimp from your house and had him meet me on the corner to drive me home.”
She was such a smart-ass at times, but funny as hell. That was sexy.
“Gosh, do you think Daddy Slate is going to ground me?” she asked, batting her eyes at me.
I pulled my car into the driveway, pulling her over to me.
“Smart ass,” I whispered against her sweet mouth. “Be good, okay?”
“I will, Taz. I want you be careful, okay?”
“Always am,” I said, giving her a final kiss. “I’ll be in touch when I can.”
CHAPTER 33
I practically stumbled through the front door, one of my heels catching on the rolled up cuff of the still too long sweats. I could hear Slate and Bryce in the kitchen. For once, luck was on my side as I crept on up the stairs and hit the shower.
I hated washing Taz’s scent off of me, but knowing Slate and his well-honed senses, he would pick up on it. I preferred letting Taz handle the PR on our relationship.
I dressed in a pair of my own sweats and went back downstairs to check out the situation with Slate and Bryce. It was all good.
I peeked in on Mom and she was dozing off again. The pain meds she was still taking seemed to knock her out.
I told Slate I would be upstairs starting my Physics assignment. He said he was good to hang with Bryce for a while and to take all the time I needed.
I started my lesson plan hoping I could make some progress before Kyzer and me face-timed on our iPads. The content we were studying was magnetic fields. My eyes glazed over ten minutes into it.
At two o’clock sharp, my iPad chimed with his incoming call.
“Hey, Lindsey,” he greeted warmly. “How’s it going?”
“Not well,” I admitted, “I’m really struggling with all this stuff about charges moving parallel versus perpendicular to the magnetic fields.”
For the next hour, Kyzer went over the study material with me. He was really great at showing examples of how the same concepts we studied in electric fields with the exception that all magnetic fields have both a north pole and a south pole, equal in strength. His visual examples helped with my understanding the concepts.
As we wound up the conversation, I felt more confident that I could get through the rest of the material and submit my assignment for a passing grade.
“Thank you so much, Kyzer. I was actually considering dropping this class.”
“I am happy to help, Lindsey. How is everything else going there? Is your mother feeling any better?”
I remembered Taz cautioning me on sharing info so I made it as general as possible.
“She is resting well, so hopefully I’ll be back on campus in the near future.”
“That’s great,” he said earnestly. “I wish I could say the same thing about my father. He seems to be slipping away more every day.”
“Oh, Kyzer, I am sorry. That must be tough.”
“My stepmother has moved him to a facility in Atlanta. She had to assume the responsibility of managing the operations at the research and development facility he opened there a few years back. She wanted him close. They have a condo there, but he’s at the point where he needs around-the-clock care.”
I really felt for him. He had lost his mother at such a young age and now his dad who wasn’t all that old. He had told me before he was an only child.
“If there is anything I can do, Kyzer, please let me know?”
I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth. I knew Taz would be shaking his head and bitching at me if he knew I had said that.
Still, Kyzer had never been anything but kind and caring, where I was concerned. Taz was only passing judgment based on his instincts or so he said. I still thought it was a ‘male’ thing.
“Thanks Lindsey, having someone to talk to helps more than you know. I guess I just need someone to listen.”
Listening wasn’t dangerous. Listening wasn’t too much for him to ask. I could do listening.
“Anytime,” I replied. “Whenever you need to talk about this, call me. I’m here.”
“Thank you, Lindsey. Good luck with your assignment. Let me know when you want to do another study together.”
“Will do, Kyzer.”
We signed of
f and I finished the unit assignment and uploaded it to the website.
I was lying across my bed taking a breather. I heard my phone beep next to me. I picked it up seeing I had a text message. It was from Taz. I smiled.
‘R u still studying with Poindexter?’
I immediately texted him back I had finished and was considering taking a short ‘power nap.’
‘I have a better idea.’ He responded in his next text.
‘Do tell?’ I responded.
For the next twenty minutes Taz and I had some steamy “sexting” going on. I was amazed at the sweet little orgasm it generated. Now I really did need a nap.
CHAPTER 34
(Taz)
Slate and I were on our way to Baltimore just a little after 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. Both of our asses seemed to be dragging for similar reasons.
We discussed our schedule for the day. We were both picking up separate vehicles in Columbia less than an hour south of Baltimore.
As usual, I got to drive the old beater, while Slate was posing as a rich, big-shot who wanted in on a sweet deal that Hatfield had been working on with his longshoreman buddies on the dock.
I was picking up Dee Dee in Columbia, she came with the beater.
“Looks like you’re already dressed for the part, Taz,” Slate said, eyeing my tattered plaid flannel work shirt. I had put on a pair of worn out, mustard yellow Carhart work pants. The knees were nearly worn clear through.
“Don’t worry,” I said, “I’ve got more clothing like this packed away in my duffel. If Dee Dee and I are going to be bar hopping around the docks the next couple of nights, I’ve got to look the part.”
Slate smiled, shaking his head.
“I think the clothing is a tactical move on your part to keep Dirty Diana off your nuts.”
“You know, Slate, one of these days somebody is going to slip and call Dee Dee that to her face and she is not going to appreciate it.”
“Since when have you become all politically correct, Taz?”
He looked over at me from behind the wheel of his truck. He was studying me.
“I’ve never had anything going with Dee Dee,” I said. “I just don’t appreciate the innuendos. What she chooses to do with the other guys in the bureau is her business. I just don’t want to be associated with any of it.”
“What in the hell is up your ass?”
“I’ll tell you what’s up my ass, man. That comment you made to me on the phone the other day about my staying late at the shooting range because of her, calling me a horny bastard like that in front of Lindsey.”
“What the....” and I watched as the realization sunk in and Slate got with the program.
“Taz, tell me that you’re not sleeping with my wife’s daughter, please?”
I didn’t say a word. I turned my head and gazed out of the passenger window.
“Fuck! Jesus Christ!”
I had a feeling Slate wasn’t happy about this.
“I fucking knew it,” he said, slapping his hand against the steering wheel. “I knew it that morning she came in looking all upset and disheveled. I told you then how I felt about it, Taz. So, it’s been going on all of this time? You’ve been fucking her since last Thanksgiving?”
“No,” I snapped, looking back over at him. “We got together at Christmas. In case you don’t know, Lindsey is an adult, and I’d like to know why the fuck my best friend is so pissed and offended that she and I are seeing one another.”
“Because,” he halfway snarled, “her mother is going to be upset about it and if she’s upset then I get upset.”
“Oh, it’s like that, huh? So Sammie doesn’t like me? Is that it?”
“No, Taz. That is not it. Sammie thinks you’re great; just not with her daughter.”
I looked over at him, cocking an eyebrow.
“Look,” he said, “it’s just because she knows Lindsey is young and so inexperienced. I mean for Chrissake, up until Christmas she was a freaking virgin. Sammie still thinks she is.”
“It’s not what you think,” I said to him.
“How do you know what I think?”
“Because you’re upset, man. This thing between Lindsey and me is not just sexual, Slate. We care about each other. I can’t think Sammie would have a problem with that.”
He rubbed his hand across his forehead.
“For now, can we agree that we keep Sammie out of the loop? I don’t want her stressed about anything.”
“Fine, no problem.”
Slate and I picked up vehicles in Columbia. Dee Dee and I had a room at some flea bag hotel near the docks. She was filing her nails, cracking her chewing gum on the ride into Baltimore.
“So, Taz,” she said, blowing nail dust off of her fingertips and gazing over at me all wide-eyed. “That was some sweet shooting you did at the range last week. Expecting you might need to use your Glock this trek?”
“Never know, Dee Dee,” I replied. “I hope not.”
“You know what’s crazy?” she asked.
“What?”
“Outta all the guys in the bureau, you’re like the only one that doesn’t call me Dirty Diana. I like that.”
I turned abruptly to look over at her. She had a smirk on her face.
“For Chrissake, Taz,” she said with her faux Brooklyn accent. “What type of a freaking agent would I be if my head was that far up my ass? I’ve known for a while about the nickname assigned to me.”
“So, it doesn’t bother you?” I asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders.
“The only thing that bothers me, Agent Matthews, is that you could screw every female recruit on base or every female cadet at the FBI academy, and the only thing they’re going call you is a stud. For chicks, things haven’t changed too much over the past say, seventy years, in that respect.”
“Why the tag ‘dirty’, I’m curious?”
She smiled, popping her gum.
“It’s got nothin’ to do with hygiene if that’s what’s got you worried,” she replied, giving me a flirty wink. “It’s because I play dirty; in the field and in the bed. You interested in finding out just how down and dirty I can get, Agent Matthews?” She followed that up with a wicked, little laugh.
“I’ll pass,” I replied.
“Well, that’s a new one,” she said, laughing again. “From what I heard about you, your prowess is legend, right up there with Slater’s.”
“Is that right? Well, let’s just say I’ve been domesticated for now.”
“Such a shame,” she replied, shaking her head. “I was looking forward to carving another notch in my bedpost for you.”
I almost believed she thrived on the hype she was getting. Maybe she had a point though. It wasn’t as if I had screwed every chick at Quantico, but if I had, there would have been plenty of pats on the back and zero negative press. I guess maybe it did suck to be a chick in certain situations.
“So,” she said, changing the subject, “when are we meeting with Hatfield and Simmons for the update?”
“They will be stopping by our hotel after their shift tonight to confirm status on the customs clearance of the cargo. Once it has cleared, hopefully by tomorrow, the cargo will be unloaded tomorrow night.”
“Then my part is done, right?”
“Yep,” I answered, feeling almost envious that she would get to return to D.C. while Slate, Hatfield, Simmons and me went on to Philly.
“See, there it is again,” she commented, shaking her head.
“There what is?”
“I’m pulled into this operation because I’m a female, but my only purpose is to cause a distraction for the rest of you boys, so that you can set up for the kill.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, when the fun starts, girlie gets sent home. The boys get to have all the fun with collaring these slime-ball perps, maybe even getting to draw their weapons and use them. It’s still a man’s world, Taz.”
She was shaking her head as
if thoroughly disgusted.
I usually felt that adrenaline rush by now that she was jonesing to feel; not this time. It had nothing to do with being pussy-whipped either. Uneasiness had settled over me when we left D.C. and it hadn’t let up one bit.
“You know what, Dee Dee? If you wanted day-to-day action like that then why didn’t you join some big city police force? Maybe then, you would see enough daily action to assuage your need to live on the edge.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that we are the peeps that get called in on “big time” shit. Sometimes it’s all action, other times its’ hunkering down and waiting for the best opportunity or getting into the minds of the bad guys. I have to tell you this, none of the other agents, whether male or female, that I have served with have ever made it all about gender or all about pulling their guns. If I didn’t know better, I’d say maybe you are afraid of having to pull your weapon. Is that it?”
She flounced around in her seat as if she was pouting. I had hit a nerve, I could see that.
“Oh, yeah, I get it now," she turned back giving me a plastered smile. “Yeah, Hatfield told me you were all about going in the BAU. You are a wannabe shrink, am I right?”
I smiled back at her, feeling some sense of achievement that I had pushed her button so easily. It was a win for me. I had my doubts as to whether it was a win for the bureau. Who the fuck had cleared her for this detail?
“I’m no shrink, Diana. I’m just observant. You need to keep it together during this detail. I’m your superior officer right now, and I’m telling you, once this goes down, you better be listening to everything I tell you.”
“I know my place, Agent Matthews,” she said with a sulk. “Don’t worry.”
“It’s Special Agent Matthews, Diana. The first order of business is for you to acknowledge and respect your superiors.”
She was squirming ready to spout off. I could only think the fact that she had a reputation for giving mind boggling blow jobs to some of the higher-ups had given her some sense of entitlement to disregard protocol. So much for her argument for gender equality; no male agent or cadet would have made the blunder she was making right now.
