Ridin' Solo (Sisters From Hell Book 1)

by Marika Ray

  “I’m just gonna throw this out there. I say we keep those cuffs for our own personal use.” Wyatt grinned down at me, a twinkle of the devil in him shining clear as day in his eyes.

  “I think I could look the other way if we reported those cuffs as missing,” I replied, already thinking of ways to use them on him.

  Wyatt

  * * *

  “I can’t believe we only have one day together before you transfer out,” Oakley said with a smile over the top of the cruiser.

  It was good to see her back in uniform, doing the job she loved so much. She’d softened a bit since I’d first met her, but wearing the badge was still her most natural state. She slid behind the wheel and I climbed in the passenger side, our bellies full after grabbing lunch at Forty-Diner in downtown Auburn Hill. The morning had been entirely uneventful, leaving way too much time for me to flirt with Oakley and for her to knock me down with a frown and a sharp retort about being serious. Just like old times.

  “Got another call about Jeremiah Singleton violating his restraining order. Can you run over and check it out?” Dispatch’s request came over the radio loud and clear.

  I grabbed the receiver to answer. “We’re on it.”

  Oakley hit the lights but kept the siren off. Jeremiah was usually harmless, and scaring him with a blaring siren wouldn’t do us any favors in talking him off his ex’s property. When we pulled up to the address she was so familiar with, she didn’t have to look it up, Jeremiah was sitting on the porch steps, head in hands.

  “I got this,” Oakley sighed, getting out of the car and approaching the guy before I could get there first.

  “Yo, Jeremiah. What’s going on, man?” she asked jovially, standing in front of him.

  He glanced up and winced when he saw who it was. His gaze darted over to me and he sat up straight. “I swear I wasn’t doing nothing! I just came over to get my shirt back.”

  Oakley sighed, and I caught on quick that this time, she was going with the good cop. Which meant I was bad cop. Which meant now my brain was thinking about her being a bad girl last night and how us riding together really wasn’t going to work out based on the little problem I now had in the front of my pants.

  “You broke up almost a year ago, Jeremiah. You need to accept that it’s over.” She crouched down and put her hand on his knee. “There’s a woman out there who’s just perfect for you, but you’ll never find her because you’re too caught up in the past. Let this one go, J.”

  His lower lip trembled and the extra shine in his eyes wasn’t from yawning. “I’m trying, Lee.”

  She squeezed his knee. “I’m going to need you to try harder.”

  “Time to stand up, pal.” I came over and pulled handcuffs out. The poor guy stood and put his hands together to assume the position like he knew the drill. I’d have to ask Oakley how many times she’d arrested him.

  He didn’t put up a fuss, just got in the back of the cruiser and looked out the window as we drove him back to booking. Oakley wanted to take him inside herself, so I sat in the cruiser and watched them like a hawk. They whispered back and forth a few times outside the door to the tiny county jail. My heart squeezed when Oakley reached over and gave him a side hug before escorting him inside. Guess Jeremiah had taken Oakley’s advice to heart about finding a new woman.

  I got busy on the computer, looking up Jeremiah’s arrest record, nearly peeing myself when I saw the last arrest had ended with the back seat of Oakley’s cruiser needing a full sanitizing. My leg jiggled up and down. If she took any longer getting Jeremiah booked in, I’d have to go inside and use their bathroom. I shouldn’t have had all that tea at lunch.

  Another cruiser came into the lot and parked. The other deputy team hauled a guy out of the car and to his feet. In a flash, he reared back and headbutted the deputy behind him. I was out of the car in the next breath, running over to help. Between the three of us, we got him down on the ground. Clearly, the guy was on something to have that kind of strength even while handcuffed.

  The deputy who’d gotten headbutted shouted, “On three we tase.”

  We all knew what that meant, jumping up and clear of the guy when he got to three so the deputy could tase him. The guy went rigid for a few seconds and then relaxed enough the guys could drag him inside to booking.

  Oakley scrambled out of the doorway as they passed, looking at the dirt all over me. “What happened?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t ask.”

  We both climbed in the car and spent the rest of the afternoon not doing much at all. That was simply how the job went. Long stretches of nothing interrupted by situations that turned your hair prematurely gray.

  As we pulled into the parking lot of the station at the end of our shift, Oakley glanced over at me. “Well, this is it. Our last ride.”

  I gave her a smarmy smile I knew would get her all riled up. “Oh no, it’s not. I plan to ride you tonight, in fact.”

  “Wyatt!” She tried to hush me, putting the car in park and rushing to get out.

  I burst out laughing, realizing I’d never had so much fun with anyone, ever. I didn’t need a flashy life or drugs and alcohol to have a good time. I just needed Oakley.

  The rest of the crew, including Sheriff, Betty, and even the maintenance guy, walked outside the station to watch us. I frowned as I got out of the car and walked closer to Oakley. Shit. I’d just been teasing her. I hadn’t actually meant to get us in trouble. “What’s going on?”

  Oakley spun, lightning fast. Two little darts flew at my chest and the next thing I knew, I was facedown on the pavement, a pillow under my face.

  “What the fuck?” I roared, blinking rapidly and trying to get my muscles to function.

  Charles stood next to Oakley, laughing his damn head off. Oakley tried to hold back a smile even as she looked down at me in sympathy. In her hand, she held her Taser, minus the two loaded electrodes. I realized two strings went from her unit to my leg.

  She’d fucking tased me.

  I stood, swaying on my feet for a second before I pounced, hauling Oakley over my shoulder. She screamed and pounded on my back, but I was having too much fun thinking of payback to care.

  “We put a pillow down for God’s sake!” Oakley yelled, like that made up for the fact she’d tased me in front of the whole department. I hadn’t felt that jolt since we had to tase each other in the academy for practice.

  Sheriff Locke stopped me, a beefy hand on my chest. He shrugged. “It’s a tradition. We tase everyone who leaves our unit. Now put my deputy down.”

  I let Oakley slide down my body until her feet hit the ground. She looked up at me with those big blue eyes and I couldn’t be mad at her.

  “Is this to get me back for letting you get shot last time we rode together?” I asked her, pretending to have my feelings hurt.

  “It only seemed fair,” she answered, all sass and innocence.

  I’d be smacking that ass tonight. Hard.

  “Oh, and you might want to put a sweater around your waist,” Oakley added, smiling prettily.

  I frowned. “Why?”

  She gestured to my pants. “You peed yourself, Lieutenant.”

  I looked down and saw a tiny dark spot on the front of my pants. “Mother f…I didn’t pee myself!”

  Oakley spun and walked inside while the deputies behind me roared with laughter. I ignored them all and followed Oakley, arguing with the back of her head. “I swear! The parking lot was wet. That’s not pee, Oakley.”

  “Whatever you say…” she sang, swinging her hips as she walked away.

  Arms crossed over my chest, I grinned evilly, thinking of all the things I’d do to her tonight as payback. This insufferable woman had become the best thing to ever happen to me.

  Epilogue

  Oakley

  * * *

  “We’re going to be late, Vee.”

  I checked my watch for the millionth time. I should never have let Vee talk me into getting ready at her ho
use before heading to the end-of-summer bonfire down at the beach. She’d lured me in with talk of going to beauty school to be a hairdresser. I’d been trying out new hairstyles lately—Wyatt went wild when I left it down, which was quite the motivation—and was game to let her experiment on me. And my hair looked gorgeous in soft waves down my back, but then she’d wanted to dress me too, and then do my nails in a soft pink shellac that I’d normally forgo because it wasn’t conducive to my job. The bonfire had started fifteen minutes ago and, quite frankly, I planned to spend the evening cuddled up to Wyatt, not making myself into a pageant queen.

  “All right already. Calm your tits.” Vee came out of her tiny closet, dressed in jeans and a sweater.

  I looked down at my sundress and flip-flops, ignoring her vulgarity, though it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “Um. We seem to be dressing for different seasons.”

  Vee tossed me a ball of pink. “Here. Take my sweater. It matches the dress and will keep you warm if the breeze kicks up.”

  Considering changing would make us even later, I stuck with the dress. I might freeze, but that just gave me more reason to snuggle up to Wyatt or suggest we leave the bonfire early.

  By the time Vee stopped to get gas, made a left instead of a right on Main Street, and then took forever to successfully parallel park along the coastline, I was ready to press my luck by jumping out the window.

  “What is up with you tonight?” I asked her crossly as she backed up a third time.

  “What? Parallel parking is hard, okay?”

  I pressed a hand to my forehead, telling myself to calm down. Tonight was supposed to be a night of fun and relaxation. “I just don’t know how you grow up in a small town your whole life and still make a wrong turn.”

  Vee put her little car in park, her front bumper still a few inches over the line into the lane, but whatever. “Oh, I’m sorry. We aren’t all cops who drive around all day and have the map of the county burned in our brains.”

  I stared at her, wondering why she was so grumpy. I knew why I was grumpy, but come to think of it, Vee had been grumpy a lot lately.

  “Everything okay, Vee?” I asked sincerely.

  She sniffed, but pasted on a smile. “Peachy. Let’s go already. We’re late!”

  I rolled my eyes, but climbed out of the car, following her carefully down the dirt path to the beach where I could hear a bunch of people talking and loud music already playing. We came around the bend and I looked up to try to find Wyatt’s head over the crowd.

  I gasped. “What in the world?”

  Vee ran off giggling, leaving me there at the foot of the path, my feet sinking into the sand. Thousands of tiny white lights were strung high in the air across the beach from palm tree to palm tree, the blazing bonfire in the middle. Off to the right, someone had laid down a bunch of plywood boards, forming a makeshift dance floor which was already crowded with all kinds of people I knew from growing up in Auburn Hill. This was far fancier than any bonfire I’d ever been to.

  The music decibel lowered, and the crowd shifted to the sides, leaving Wyatt standing alone in the center of the dance floor. He raised his arm and beckoned for me to come closer. I did, my gaze focused solely on him, but aware everyone was staring at us. My knees wobbled, and even though I smelled the salty breeze off the ocean, something else was in the air tonight too. Something big and important.

  When I reached him, the music stopped entirely, and I noticed Mom and Dad standing in the front of the crowd. Since when did my parents come to a bonfire party? It was as I was gazing at them with that question in mind that Wyatt moved.

  He dropped to one knee, holding a tiny black box.

  My hand went to my mouth, and I knew. He’d only told me a hundred times over the last four months he intended to propose the first second he felt I’d say yes.

  “Oakley, I’ve loved you from the moment you put me in my place on day one.”

  Dad interjected with a muttered, “Thatta girl.”

  Mom shushed him, and I couldn’t help the smile that split my face.

  Wyatt cleared his throat and continued. “I admire you for putting your life on the line every single day for the town you love. I respect you for your ideals and beliefs about right and wrong. And I love that I’m the one you trust to let your hair down with. I promise to always be your safe shelter, the partner who will never let you ride solo as long as I’m still breathing. Will you do me the honor of marrying me and taking whichever last name you prefer?” He cocked a sly grin. “I clearly don’t care what our last name is, as long as I’m standing next to you.”

  “They should totally hyphenate,” Esme whispered loudly.

  “Shh!” Izzy responded.

  I shook my head, still smiling. Everything in me shouted just one word. “My answer will always be yes. Over and over again yes.”

  Wyatt’s smile intensified. He popped open the box to show two rings. I tilted my head. One was a white gold band with tiny diamonds lining the entire circle. The other was an enormous diamond surrounded by smaller ones, the setting fit for a queen.

  “My mom wanted you to have the family ring, but I also know you can’t wear that to work, so I got you a smaller one.”

  I ignored both rings and cupped his face, more precious than any jewel. “You think of everything, don’t you?”

  His eyes sparkled. “When it comes to you, hell yes.”

  I kissed him then, not needing the words, or the rings, or the people around us. I only needed him. I gave him my answer with my kiss and I’d give him my answer later tonight with my body.

  A throat clearing had us both backing off, remembering the entire town watched us. Wyatt stood and Dad clapped him on the back. The girls rushed in, along with Mom, to see the rings in the box.

  “Oh, I know which one I’d wear!” Vee exclaimed.

  “I think they’re both beautiful,” Izzy declared.

  Emmeline popped her head into our huddle. “That big diamond could be a weapon, right, Oakley?”

  I grinned at her, realizing how excited I was to get yet another sister in the deal. Wyatt pushed back into our group. “May I?” He nodded toward the ring box.

  I put my left hand out and let him place both rings on my ring finger. He’d been right to get me a smaller ring. The family ring would take some getting used to. Might have to do some hand-strengthening exercises before I wore it again. Hell, even my Glock was lighter than that thing.

  The music cranked up again and Wyatt spun me away from my family, where we danced most of the night away. When the parents had all left and the alcohol was flowing freely, I tapped out of dancing and headed over to my sisters while Wyatt got us some drinks.

  “Will you help me plan the wedding, Esme?”

  The girl could plan a presidential inauguration in her sleep. Organization was her middle name.

  She smiled so brightly I knew it was worth it to have her nag me for months on end about every detail. “Yes, I’d love to!” She pulled out her phone and scrolled. “Let me just check my calendar. Okay, so I can meet you Monday of next week after I get back from Tahoe. Does that work?”

  I nodded, not having anything planned but work. While that might have made me feel inferior six months ago, now I knew there wasn’t anything wrong with me for not being a social creature like Esme. We were sisters, but we were also very different.

  Vee squealed. “Tahoe? Why are you going to Tahoe and can I come?”

  Esme rolled her eyes. “Find your own friends, Vee. I’m actually going there for a bachelorette party. You remember my friend Ashley? She’s getting married in October.”

  “But I just turned twenty-one, and your friends are my friends, right?” Vee pouted. All of us could see by the look on Esme’s face, there was no way she’d change her mind.

  Amelia rubbed her extended belly. “You’re still friends with Ashley? Wasn’t she the one who stole your prom date senior year?”

  Izzy snorted. “You’d think that would kill a fr
iendship, but these two are more like frenemies.”

  Em nodded enthusiastically. “I totally understand. I have a lot of frenemies too.”

  “I don’t get it,” I interjected. Why be friends with someone if you hated them?

  Esme stood up straight, loving any moment when she could appear the expert. “A frenemy is someone you’re friendly with, but you also compete with and want to always do better than.” Then she slouched, very unlike her. “I’m so not looking forward to going. She’s got a rock almost as big as Oakley’s on her finger, and I don’t even have a boyfriend.”

  Izzy patted her on the back. “Ahh, it’s okay. You’re freaking gorgeous, E. You’ll find a man in no time. But you may want to drop the business suit. It scares men off.”

  Esme gave Izzy a look that only a sister could give. “It’s not the suit. I went out last weekend to some janky bar and this guy was hitting on me and he wasn’t horrible looking. I’d probably had one too many martinis, and I said I’d only go home with him if he could promise me a good twelve inches.”

  “Life’s too short to go home with small dick men. I get it.” Vee sighed like she’d spent so many years dealing with substandard men.

  My cheeks burned. I really hated when my sisters went off about their sex lives. I just wasn’t one to share the details. I mean, Wyatt gave me all the inches I needed and then some, but you didn’t see me bragging about it.

  “You know what he said back?” Esme looked positively appalled. “He said if I wanted that, he could just fuck me twice!”

  Emmeline snorted, I shut my eyes in horror, and Amelia grabbed her belly like she might pee herself from laughing so hard. Vee’s lips twisted in disgust, and Izzy looked around the party like she was looking for an excuse to get out of this conversation.

  When we’d all calmed down and Esme had finished off her drink, I tried to be positive. “I think you need this trip, then, Esme. Go have fun, but never compare yourself to Ashley. The girl knits cat costumes for a living.”