Protect and Serve: Soldiers, SEALs and Cops: Contemporary Heroes from NY Times and USA Today and other bestselling authors

by J. M. Madden

  Instead, I made myself a cup of coffee and called the court to see if Claire’s bail had been set. She was being released on her own recognizance. I drank my coffee and contemplated my next move. I’d go to the jail and wait. I’d wait for her to walk out, and then I’d give her a ride. But what if she already had a ride? I chugged the rest of my coffee and headed out.

  Would it affect my job? Hell, if I could help out a friend…I felt I owed her something. What? I had no idea. Somehow, I felt like I’d abandoned her. I hadn’t, but seeing that she needed a friend, maybe I could be the voice of reason.

  I drove my car to the jail and pulled into the parking space out front. I gave myself a moment to change my mind.

  It was a good thing I didn’t wait much longer because as I was walking up to the jail, an even dirtier, more disheveled Claire came through the doors.

  “Hey,” was all I could manage as I stopped in front of her.

  She looked up. “What do you want?” Her eyes shifted in every direction, as if she was looking for a shooter.

  “Do you have a ride?”

  “What the fuck do you care?” She tried to walk around me.

  I stepped in front of her again. “I’m here to give you a ride.”

  “What’s wrong with you? You don’t know me or anything about me. Why are you stalking me and offering me a ride?”

  “Claire, it’s me, Dane Briggs. Remember me?”

  She looked at me, her eyes squinting against the sun and maybe against a headache. “Little Dane?”

  I smiled. “Not so little anymore.”

  “Right.”

  “My dear girl, what happened to you?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and asked, “What the fuck happened to you?”

  Ouch, like being a stand up guy, and a cop, was a bad thing. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “I mean we were friends, and then you were gone.” She looked around the parking lot, then said, “Are you going to give me a ride or what?”

  “Are you hungry?” I thought taking her to Ruby’s and chatting, catching up, would be a good start.

  “Not really. I don’t have any money anyway. And I need to get some clean clothes.”

  I knew by looking her up, she wasn’t married and didn’t have any children. But I didn’t know if she had a boyfriend or a place to stay.

  “Okay, I can take you to get cleaned up, and I’ll buy you lunch.” I could feel my enthusiasm for this idea fading fast. “Where do you live?”

  “I can’t go back there. It’s probably crawling with cops still.”

  “Oh, you live in that house we raided last night?”

  She uncrossed her arms and shoved me away. “That was you last night? I thought you looked familiar. I was so high, I thought maybe I was seeing things. Well, screw you. I don’t want a ride or lunch from no pig.”

  She again tried to get around me. “Let’s just say I’m a friend and forget the rest.”

  “No cop is a friend of mine.” She sidestepped again, but with less heart in her moves.

  “I’m not the enemy, Claire, I promise. Let’s go get you some clean clothes and a shower. We can have lunch delivered.” I moved to her side and put my arm around her shoulders.

  At first she stiffened and tried to get away, then she leaned into me as if she needed to take a load off.

  I wanted to crack the windows in my car, to let fresh air in, but Claire must have smelled her own stink because she rolled her window down first.

  “If you’re not interested in going shopping, I can loan you some shorts and a T-shirt, and you can wash your clothes at my place.”

  She stared out the window, not answering. I didn’t know how I could keep her from running if we went to the store, so I drove back to my place. As I pulled into my parking space, I realized I was letting a total stranger into my house, and my life. And it wasn’t even my home. It was my uncle’s.

  Claire sat up higher in the seat and looked around. “This is the lake house. You own this house now?”

  I shook my head. “I’m living with my uncle. I’m waiting for my apartment to be painted and cleaned. Then I’m going shopping and buying all new furniture and stuff. I can’t wait to have a place of my own.”

  “Your uncle won’t mind me taking a shower and using the laundry?” She looked down at herself.

  “He’s at his restaurant. He won’t even know.” Or so I hoped. Because even though Uncle Isaac was a nice man, I wasn’t sure how far his kindness went.

  We got out of the car, and I contemplated where to hide my gun key. My gun was locked in a case when I wasn’t working, but the key was on my ring, and it was easy to figure out which one it was. I’d worry about it later. She probably wouldn’t be there that long.

  I unlocked the house and pointed down the hall to my bedroom. “First door on the left. I have a full bathroom in my bedroom. Just toss your clothes out, and I’ll put them in the washer after you’re done with your shower.”

  “After? How’m I going to have clean clothes when I get out?” She crept down the dark hallway.

  “If I run the washer while you’re in the shower, you’ll either have a cold shower or you’ll get scalded.” I raised my right brow as if to ask, “You okay with that?”

  “I’ll put them in the wash myself. I don’t want you sniffing my soiled panties.” She winked at me.

  “Gross.” I laughed, and so did she. It released some of the tension.

  “What’s gross is that this is the same bedroom you had when we were kids.” She sniffed around like the room was stale.

  “Whatever. It’s just temporary, and it’s the guest room.” I tossed a towel at her. “Everything you need is in the shower. I’ll grab you a washrag.”

  She snagged the towel and shut the bathroom door behind her. I went into the linen closet and grabbed a couple of washrags and another bath towel, in case she needed one for her hair. I smiled to myself. She remembered the room.

  When I turned to go back into the bedroom, Claire was standing in the doorway, wrapped only in a towel. “I’m not letting you touch my clothes while they stink. Where is the washer?”

  “Follow me.” I had to walk in front of her, and not look at her, because even though she was scrawny and dirty, she was sexy as hell in that towel. I needed to not think of her that way. But then I’d thought of her that way when I was twelve, so how was this different?

  Claire padded along the hardwood floors in her bare feet. I could hear her steps behind me. “This place hasn’t changed much in all these years. We had a lot of fun, didn’t we?”

  I turned to look at her as we entered the laundry area off the kitchen. I tried to hide the sadness in my heart. “We did. Where did it all go wrong?”

  Claire’s face turned to stone. She put her clothes in the washer and said, “Don’t turn this on while I’m in the shower.”

  She grabbed the towels in my hand and turned on her heel, striding back to my bedroom with purpose. I didn’t move, I just listened to the sound of her feet hitting the floor. Then I grabbed my phone and ordered pizza.

  I don’t know how long I stood in the kitchen, looking out at the lake, before I heard my name.

  “Dane! Hey, I need clothes.” She walked out into the hallway.

  Her body was wrapped in the same towel from before her shower, and her hair was wrapped in the white towel I’d grabbed when I got the washcloths. She looked small, sweet, and innocent, now that I couldn’t see her hair, and her face and body were clean. The only thing ruining the image was seeing her shake.

  “Sorry, let me start the washer, and I’ll grab you some sweat pants and a shirt.” I poured detergent in the washer and started it. She stared at me the whole time.

  “Don’t suppose you have a sports bra in here somewhere. Maybe your aunt?”

  “No aunt, just my uncle, and I sincerely doubt he has a sports bra. Though a man bra might not be a bad idea for him.” I chuckled to myself as I scooted past her in the
hall.

  My shoulder rubbed against the towel on her breast as I walked by. I was sure I’d had plenty of clearance, but then in happened. I tried to pretend it didn’t.

  I’d unloaded my clothes into the dresser in the bedroom. I only took up a couple of drawers with my personal things, and I kept my uniforms in the closet. I pulled out a pair of drawstring sweatpants that Claire would swim in and a crew-neck tee. When I turned around to hand them to her, she’d dropped both of her towels to the floor.

  The smile on her face didn’t reach her eyes. She was performing for me. I could see this wasn’t what she wanted. As much as I wanted her, at least the memory of her, I didn’t want it like this.

  “This is what you want, isn’t it? It’s why you brought me here instead of taking me home. You wanted to clean me up and fuck me?” She raised her arms and spread them wide.

  I couldn’t help but take in her thin frame and shaking arms. For an addict, she still had a nice set of firm, round tits, but I tried not to look there or at her light brown bush at the top of her legs.

  “No,” I threw the clothes at her. “I brought you here to help you. Get you cleaned up. And with more than just a shower. But apparently, you aren’t ready to get clean. So, put these on, and as soon as your clothes are washed and dried, I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

  As she bent over to pick up the shirt she’d dropped, I saw the tears brimming in her eyes. I wasn’t going to show empathy. She was a junkie, and she knew how to manipulate people. Hell, it’s what junkies did for a living.

  “I’m sorry, but everyone wants something from me. No one ever just gives me anything. It’s not the way my life works.” She pushed her leg into the too long sweatpants while she held the shirt over her chest.

  I turned back to the dresser and closed the drawers slowly, giving her time to get dressed before I turned back around. It took everything in me not to pull the clothes right back off of her and grasp her breasts and caress her bare skin. The urge to run soft kisses over her skin was overwhelming, and I could almost feel that skin on my lips.

  The doorbell rang, and I sprinted out of the room. What had I gotten myself into?

  I opened the door, gave the pizza guy $30, and when I turned around, Claire was standing very close.

  “You’re sorry you did this, aren’t you? It was a fantasy, and I’m not the girl you remember.” She took the pizza box from me. “That TV in your bedroom work?”

  I nodded, avoiding answering her first question, because the nod was for both the TV and my motivations.

  “Let’s go lie on the bed and eat pizza and watch a movie.”

  “It’s the middle of the day. Wouldn’t you rather eat outside?”

  “I’m coming down off a week long high, Dane. I want to eat because I haven’t eaten in days, and I want to sleep. Is it okay if I sleep in your bed?” She nudged me with her elbow.

  I wasn’t sure being in the same bed with her was a good idea, but I was hungry and tired too. I let her take the pizza and lead the way. And I enjoyed watching her walk down the hall in front of me. I enjoyed seeing her in my baggy clothes.

  SIX

  The empty pizza box was still at the foot of the bed at eleven in the evening when I awoke. The pizza box there, Claire gone. I sat up in bed. Shit.

  “Damn it.” I got up to go to the bathroom, then walked down the hall to grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

  There were Claire and Isaac, sitting at the kitchen table with the coffee pot on the warmer in the middle of the table, and each of them had their hands wrapped around a cup.

  I’d walked in on their conversation, but I was quiet, so they didn’t turn around.

  “That feels like forever ago,” Claire’s voice sounded sad.

  “In a way it was a lifetime ago. I’m sorry you’ve had it rough, but it’s your own fault for making bad decisions.” Isaac took another sip of coffee.

  Leave it to Isaac to not sugar coat the truth. I waited for Claire to cross her arms in front of her or get up and storm out. She surprised me by putting her hand on his forearm and saying, “You’re right. I took what I thought was the easy way out. Turns out it was the toughest road I could have traveled. And now I have no idea how to get back to where it started.”

  Isaac looked at Claire and said, “You don’t need to go back. You need to take a hard right and get off this path of destruction. It’s your decision to make, and you’ll make it when you’re good and ready. I just wish your parents were here to help you get on track.”

  “I miss them every day. But it’s no excuse. Isaac, I’m in a shitload of trouble. I don’t want Dane to go down with me, but he picked me up from the jail, and now I don’t know how to tell him he made a huge mistake.” She crossed her arms.

  “Then don’t. Just leave. He’s not in this deep. He just picked you up, that’s it. Gave you a ride, a shower, clean clothes, and a few hours of much needed sleep. You tell me where you need to go, and I’ll take you there.” Isaac stood and grabbed the coffee pot.

  I jumped back around the corner, so he couldn’t see me.

  From the kitchen sink where he poured out the rest of the coffee in his cup, he said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you anywhere you need to go.”

  “I don’t want to make Dane mad.” Claire didn’t sound like she really cared all that much.

  “Don’t worry about Dane. He’s a big boy, and he’ll be fine. Change your clothes, and I’ll get the car keys. We’ll be out of here before Dane even realizes you’re out of bed.”

  I rushed back to my bedroom, not wanting my uncle to know I’d been eavesdropping. I climbed in bed and closed my eyes.

  Claire never even came back into the bedroom. A few minutes later, I heard two car doors slam, then my uncle’s car started. I willed myself to sleep as I heard the car drive away. But sleep was not going to come. It was going to be a long night.

  In the morning, I awoke around seven, my heart broken, not because Claire left, but because she snuck away in the middle of the night and didn’t even come in to say thank you. She probably did me a favor. I tried to look at it that way, anyway.

  I’d put myself, and my job, on the line for her, and she’d basically spit in my face.

  “Morning,” Uncle Isaac said. “I met your houseguest last night.”

  “Oh?” I didn’t want to admit I’d heard him and knew what he’d done.

  “We had coffee and she needed a ride, so I took her where she wanted to go.” He opened the cabinet and pulled out the canister of coffee beans.

  I grabbed the pot from the coffee machine and filled it with filtered water from the faucet. “Where’d she want to go?”

  “Home, apparently. At least that’s what she said.”

  I poured the water into the machine. “Okay. Well, thanks.”

  “Next time you want to invite a junkie into my house, I’d appreciate you talking to me about it first.” He carefully measured out the grounds into the filter and pushed it into place, then he pushed the brew button.

  “I’m sorry. I was just going to get her something to eat and some clean clothes. We fell asleep watching TV.”

  He shook his head. “You’re a cop. You should know better than to let a junkie in your home unsupervised.”

  I knew, and I didn’t feel like being lectured. I already felt stupid enough for even offering to help.

  “Did you check your wallet, your dresser stash, or anywhere else you hide money? Make sure she didn’t rob you blind?”

  I shook my head.

  “You’re smarter than this, boy.”

  That’s when my cell phone danced across the kitchen counter.

  “I’ve gotta grab this. It might be work.” I snatched the phone up, knowing good and well it wasn’t work, and walked out to the porch.

  The day still had a chill, and I could smell the lake in the air. I swiped the screen.

  “Briggs?”

  What do you know? It was work. “Yeah,” I replied.
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  “You need to come down to the station and pick up your girlfriend,” Harper snapped.

  “What are you talking about? I don’t have a girlfriend.”

  “Claire Hoffman.” The name couldn’t have sounded more clipped.

  “What the hell?”

  “She says you’re her boyfriend, and she’d like you to come pick her up. Dane, we need to have a talk. Get here ten minutes ago.” She hung up before I could respond.

  I’m not sure what I looked like when I walked back into the kitchen, but Isaac asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Too weird, but that was work.”

  “How is that weird? You just said it probably was.” Isaac smeared about a pound of butter on his rye toast.

  “Never mind. I have to go in.” I walked by him and grabbed my car keys from the hook. I slipped into my sandals by the back door.

  Harper was waiting outside the station when I arrived. She marched up to my car and opened the door before I’d put it in park.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Before you start jumping all over me, could you please tell me what’s going on?” I got out and stood close to the door, just in case I had to make a run for it. Harper terrified me.

  “You’re shacking up with the defendant in our drug case?” She grabbed me by the chin with one hand and squeezed. “Don’t you like being a cop?”

  “I love being a cop, but that’s beside the point. Are you going to tell me why you called me to come pick her up? What’s she doing here, and how am I involved?”

  As if her energy had been drained, Harper sat on the curb. I stepped away from the car, and closed my door. It felt weird to be looking down at her, but I didn’t want to sit next to her.

  “She came to the station early this morning. She stayed in the waiting area until I arrived. Said she’d only talk to me.” Harper shook her head. “It’s my day off too, you know.”