It occurred to me that it was long past time for me to go, so I said, “Thank you, ma’am.”
I’d just turned back to the door, when she added, “Oh, yes. Almost forgot. Your partner, Jeremy.”
And once again, I found myself gaping like a child who sees a monkey for the first time. Thing was, this was no monkey in front of me. This was the hot cop himself, the one I’d seen out in the hallway. Jeremy.
Worse still, he was looking at me as if I wasn’t alone in my attraction.
For my part, all I knew now was that one thing was for sure: the odds of me doing great had just decreased.
Significantly.
2
Jeremy
It's her.
Shake her hand, I ordered myself. Say nice to meet you, convincingly.
“Nice to meet you,” I said
For shit’s sake, though, would you just look at her. Soft brown hair, soft brown eyes, chin with a tilt that seems a touch cocky. The kind of chin I'd tilt even higher, so her lips could reach mine… Hang on there, cowboy.
I gulped. The Chief was saying something, but all I knew was that if the Chief had the foggiest idea what I was just thinking about, she’d fry me up on the staff barbecue and eat me alive like an oversized sausage.
That first touch of the woman’s skin as we shook hands went through me like a knife. Her hand was rigid though. Was she noticing how I was looking at her?
“Jeremy will show you the ropes,” the Chief was saying. “One of the best we have, him and his brothers. First day, you can start out easy. Just checking for the same old speeders on the road. Not a lot of action. So, if you’ve got any questions, you ask them.”
Now that the Chief mentioned it, I had a hell of a lot of questions for the new girl. Too bad none of them were appropriate for work.
“You ready, Jeremy?” Chief asked. “Or would you rather stay in here and help me clean up my office?”
That got me out of there pretty damn quick. One time the Chief punished me by making me help her clean the dusty old basement with a wilted old Swiffer, which clearly hadn’t been cleaned for years, if not decades. It was still an experience I could only recall with a sneezed shudder.
My new partner– Blair -- and I were halfway out of the station, when I realized I still hadn’t said anything.
“Don’t let the Chief scare you,” I told her. “She gives that hard ass speech to the rookies when they come in.” A smile quirked at the corner of my lips. “Although she does kind of mean it. Doesn’t tolerate any bullshit, the Chief.”
“Clearly,” Blair said.
“You’ll see,” I continued. “You’ll do fine. As long as you’re good, that is.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” she said, with that chin tilt of hers.
“I wasn’t.”
“Good.”
Yep, my new partner definitely had a saucy side to her.
Once we got to the cruiser, I gave her a brief tour of the layout – the leather interior with the buzzer and all that jazz. All was going swimmingly, until I opened up the glove compartment and what had to be at least five bags of barbeque chips fell out.
I slammed it shut. Fucking Noah.
To her clearly amused smile, I explained, “Yes, I like barbeque chips. Gives me something to do on these long-ass sitting sprees, waiting, praying for someone to break the law.”
Even though she only nodded, I got the annoying impression that she was laughing at me. I breathed in a whiff of some scented soap and my dick twitched in my uniform pants.
I twisted away. No way was I going down that road. I liked my job, and I fully intended to keep it. With the Chief being how she was, the fastest way to get fired would be to get involved with another cop, especially a new one at that.
So, when we got in and I got driving, finally pulling the cruiser over around the corner, I didn’t say much. Although, as we waited for speeders to pass, I couldn’t help saying, “You’re not really what I expected for my new partner.”
“No?”
One look at those expectant, soft brown eyes, and I was done for. Don’t tell the truth, I counseled myself. Whatever you do, don’t go telling the goddamn truth.
“Forget it,” I said, feeling like an idiot.
She did.
I kept the radar gun pointed at the road, waiting for the next car to come. The unfinished words were eating at me, so finally I blurted out, “I just meant that some girl cops I meet seem pretty gruff and intense. You don’t seem like that.” That seemed to both disappoint and please her.
“No?” she said again.
I shrugged. “You just seem a bit nervous, if anything.”
She turned to watch the empty road in front of us. “You’re right. I’m a little freaked out. Chief Fallows is notorious, and I really don’t want to screw this up.”
“Hey.” I put my hand on hers. “Don’t worry about it. You won’t.”
She said nothing, her gaze dropping to my hand – what the hell had I done that for?
“Anyway.” I forced a laugh as I ripped my had back. “You’re my partner now. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
I meant it. It was almost radiating off Blair in waves, how much she wanted this job. If she really was capable, which I assumed she was - having made it through the Academy and gotten hired here - then there was no reason why she wouldn’t be an excellent cop.
A beep distracted my attention away from her.
“Got one!” Blair said. Sure enough, the red Honda that I’d just clocked with my radar gun was going ninety in a fifty. Yes, this was going to be good.
I turned to Blair. “Want to drive?”
“Now?”
I jumped out of the car and raced over to her side while she lunged into the driver seat. “Let’s go.”
And then we were off. The red Honda had gotten a bit ahead because of my ill-advised pause, but this was a fairly unused road so I wasn’t overly worried. Besides, I knew the stretch ahead for miles. Our target wasn’t going anywhere. Not to mention that Blair’s driving skills were on point. She accelerated smoothly and easily, making an easy pass around a Lexus and a BMW in our way.
A few more seconds of accelerating, and she was behind the car, blaring her lights and sirens.
Pulling the car over was fairly routine. The driver herself, however, was something else, with her orange afro and a wailing purse-sized dog that seemed more upset about being stopped than she was.
After Blair asked her for her license, the woman leaned in with a strong licorice waft, and asked if there wasn’t any way to come to a mutually beneficial situation.
For a beat, Blair paused. Her eyes met mine, as if to say, is she really hinting at that?
“How much, ma’am?” I asked abruptly. As Blair ogled me and began to speak, I shushed her.
“Three — I mean five hundred dollars,” the woman said. Leaning in, she said, “I can’t afford anything more on my license, no more points.”
I nodded, and as Blair watched on, said, “That’s really too bad. Then you shouldn’t be speeding.”
Then, I nodded to Blair. “Write up the ticket, Collins.”
“And be glad I’m not hauling your ass in for attempting to bribe a police officer,” I added.
As we drove away, Blair’s gaze rested on me.
“What?” I said, now the one at the wheel.
“Just… For a minute there, I thought you were actually going to accept her bribe.”
I shrugged. “Not worth it in the end. Too much at stake, even if they offer you a couple thousand.”
“You been offered a couple thousand for avoiding a speeding ticket?”
I laughed. “Not for that, no. You’ll see. You get to see all sorts of wild shit out here. Makes it interesting, but also makes you lose faith in the human race, seeing the same bad shit day in and day out.”
Blair was looking out the window, her ponytail slacker than it was earlier. “People aren’t that bad, really,” I tried
correcting myself. “Just a bit crazy, some of them.”
She adjusted her elastic, setting her ponytail higher. “Yeah, I guess so.”
--
The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. We didn’t talk much, as we caught one speeder after another. Mainly because of me, although Blair seemed hyper-concentrated on doing a good job.
Although, near the end, the conversation picked up when I mentioned my brothers and how close we all were.
“My sister is my best friend, too.” Blair’s smile softened her face considerably. “She’s younger and…”
Blair checked her phone, laughed. “Looks like I’ve got to return her call.”
“Good thing we’re almost off shift,” I said.
I pulled the cruiser into the parking lot of the station and turned off the engine.
“Some of us are going out for a beer if you want to join?” I asked her, not wanting her to go just then.
She smiled but shook her head. “Thanks, but I think I’ll take a rain check. My adrenaline is about to run out and I’m gonna crash pretty hard,” she said as she climbed from the car.
I nodded. “Yeah, I remember my first day on the job too. Well have a good night then,” I said. “Thanks for today,” she said. “And for showing me the ropes.”
“Just my job.” I waved a hand. “What kind of partner would I be if I expected you to be some kind of pro on the first day?”
“Still,” she said. “Thanks.”
As she turned away preparing to go, I tried to think of something to say.
“See you tomorrow,” I said with a brisk wave.
“Bye,” she said, turning away and heading toward her car.
I headed into the station to change out of my uniform and meet up with my brothers for that beer. I couldn’t wait to tell them all about my new partner.
3
Blair
First things first — a shower.
After everything that’d happened that day — being assigned Officer Hot Hallway Guy as my partner, having that terrifying conversation with the Chief, and then being bribed by some rich redhead with a noisy Pomeranian, I just needed to relax and clear my head.
Mainly clear my head of how attracted I was to Jeremy.
Inside the shower, I lost myself in the sensations: the hibiscus scent of my shampoo, my scalp-massaging fingers, the lap of water down my back. Every time I closed my eyes, Jeremy’s face swam into view.
I snapped my eyes opened and got to work scrubbing myself down with a loofah a bit more roughly than necessary.
I was no less determined now then I had been at the start of the day that Jeremy would stay only my partner. Nothing was going to happen between us. It couldn’t.
I’d worked too hard to get the job. Busting my ass all through school and becoming basically a wallflower, working overtime and more while studying at the Academy, keeping my body in top physical condition and avoiding my family’s beloved Dairy Queen outings like the plague.
So, what if the first partner I’d been assigned to was crazy hot and actually pretty cool? Didn’t mean that I had to do anything about it..
The only thing to do was to have a scoop of strawberry gelato and go to bed.
--
The next day at work, the morning and afternoon were pretty much taken up with cheesy nineties training videos. When Jeremy at first told me that it was what the Chief had assigned me for the entirety of the day, I’d thought he was joking.
If only it were a joke. After only one thirty-minute video on how to avoid a shoot-out — complete with the rhyme, “When in doubt, avoid a shoot out!”, I was bored out of my mind, even with Jeremy popping in to hand me an orange from the breakroom.
And that was only the first one.
By the time my training video marathon was done – eight of the abysmal videos in a row, I was just about ready to doze off in the straight-backed metal chair. Although I had had a nice lunch break, that still didn’t help with just how bored I was. They had covered everything I had just watching in the Academy, so I wasn’t sure why I’d had to sit through it all again.
At least the marathon had provided a nice distraction from the whole Jeremy problem.
As I was leaving for the day, the Chief stopped me.
“Collins, an opportunity just came up. Although it would require working overtime.”
“Yes?” I said, eagerly.
I didn’t have plans that night, and anyway, it was a great chance to prove myself at work.
“Excellent.” The Chief gestured down the hallway. “Jeremy will explain the details.”
And with that, she was gone. It occurred to me that my “Yes” had been a question, but she’d taken it as an answer. No matter. I was pretty much up for any job. As much experience as I could get was worth it.
“So, our job tonight is pretty low-key,” Jeremy said. “We go to Wild Wings, get some wings…”
“That’s it?” I said dubiously.
“Not exactly,” he admitted. “It’s a stakeout. Our informant told the chief that the Hells Angels president is going to be there tonight and is actually willing to talk. There’s this recent murder we haven’t been able to solve, and this guy apparently has some serious intel.” His brows flared. “In exchange for us overlooking some of his most recent dubious activities.”
“I thought the Chief was too much of a hard ass to make those kinds of deals,” I said.
“That's the thing,” Jeremy said, “she is. But you can't get anywhere if you don’t have friends in this world. Friends on the other side, I mean. Sometimes you have to make a deal with the devil, so you can get shit done.”
“All right,” I said.
Truthfully, I’d expected as much, even with the Chief’s reputation. Jeremy was right. You couldn’t be an effective cop and have enemies on all sides.
--
A few minutes later, once we got there, Wild Wings wasn’t exactly packed. Not that I was complaining. It meant that Jeremy and I got our honey garlic wings in record time and could actually hear each other as we talked. He grabbed the ketchup bottle and squeezed some out on his plate.
“Want some?” he asked me.
I allowed him to pour me a square-ish glob on my plate. “Thanks. I have a ketchup addiction myself.”
“Good to know I can count on my partner if I’m ever jonesing for the red sauce,” Jeremy joked. Now we were both laughing. As Jeremy reached for the salt, and I reached for my water, our fingers brushed.
“Sorry,” Jeremy said, too quickly.
Maybe I wasn’t the only one who’d been feeling the tension. Maybe he’d also been trying to decide whether to move his foot when mine brushed against it, or how long to hold eye contact with me.
Luckily, a call broke the awkwardness.
“Yeah.” Jeremy’s smile was rapidly dissolving. “No kidding. All right, bye.”
He hung up, his glance going to me. “That was the Chief. Apparently, she got some shitty intel.”
He glanced to the door.
“Yeah?” I said.
“Yeah. The guy isn’t gonna be here tonight. So we can leave now,” he said. “If you want to.”
My fingers clutched at the napkin on the table in front of me. Had he been secretly bored stuck here with me and was now jumping at the chance to escape?
I snuck a look at him. The way his eyes were resting on me, almost hopefully, didn’t seem like it.
“I’m okay staying if you are,” I said.
“I’m definitely okay with staying”, he said.
As my heart leapt and he flagged down a waitress, it occurred to me that it was probably a bad idea.
I shrugged it off. It was just a drink.
A few minutes later, our drinks had just arrived when Jeremy got a call. This one was a lot different than the last.
“What?” he intoned to the receiver. “So I’m supposed to report to you where I am at all hours?”
Crap, I realized. He has a girlfrien
d. Of course. How could I have actually thought that a guy like that would’ve been single?
But then he said, “Yes, of course,” and hung up.
“That was my brother,” he explained to me. “Stick-up-the-ass Peter. Apparently, I was supposed to meet him at Shanty’s and forgot. Anyway, he and our other brother Noah are coming here. As long as it’s okay with you.”
“That’s fine,” I said.
It was more than fine, actually. It was probably a good thing Jeremy’s brothers would be there to distract me from the thoughts that were bubbling in my head now that I had drunk half my beer. Like just how good Jeremy filled out his uniform. And how his stubble climbed over his cheeks and made him look rugged and appealing.
By the time the others arrived, I’d drunk the rest of my beer and Jeremy had ordered another plate of wings.
As I took the other two men in, my stomach bubbled like the foam in my beer.
Because these weren't just some guys who kind of looked like Jeremy. They had his same dark hair, although the tallest one had it close cropped and the other wore it a little longer. They also shared his blue green eyes that seemed intent to study whatever they looked at. Just like Jeremy, they were hot as hell and looking at me like maybe I wasn’t the only one with way too much attraction here.
“I may have to leave in like thirty minutes or so,” I told Jeremy. “I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night.”
Which was true, mainly because I hadn’t been able to get him out of my head.
But, looking back at the brothers who now sat down, I realized that leaving was going to be a whole lot harder.
4
Peter
So, this was the new girl.
I scratched at the back of my head, pretending not to eye her. When Jeremy had come back to the house the night before with news of his new partner, he hadn't mentioned how her eyes were too big, or how the heart of her face shape set off her lips. He hadn't mentioned a body so curvy, her constraining uniform still couldn’t conceal it.
And Jeremy sure hadn't mentioned how he was looking at her now. No wonder he hadn't invited us. Clearly, he wanted the new girl to himself.
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