by Tiffani Lynn
Now I’m wondering how much she did and if that was all she got into tonight. I call out to her again, “Fern! Answer me!”
There is still no reply and instead of the cop checking on her, he groans in my ear and dips his hand into my bra to grip my bare breast while I fight the urge to puke and lose my mind on him. I’ve heard other women talk about sleazy cops that take advantage of situations like the one I’m in, but this is the first time I’ve encountered it to this degree. Right now I can’t be worried about Officer Sleazebag. I’ve got to get him off me and check on Fern; I know something isn’t right.
“Chiquita, let’s move this along and I’ll check on your friend.” What a creep!
“I don’t think she’s breathing. You need to check her now! I promise I’ll do whatever you want if you check on her. Please!” My voice jumps up an octave as the panic weaves its way through my body. I’m saying a little prayer in my head as I try to twist my upper body, hoping to dislodge his hands. He smashes me tighter to the wall.
“Nah, I think you do this first and then I check on your friend.”
Try a different tactic, I tell myself. I twist my upper body again and bend my knees a little. He pushes on me harder and I explain, “I’m just trying to get on my knees. It’s what you want, right?” My voice shakes like crazy but he backs off a little and I move into the position he wants. What if I can’t do this? What if Fern isn’t okay over there?
“No funny shit, chiquita. All the way to your knees and get busy or you’re going downtown for possession and resisting arrest. I may even throw in an assault charge if you really piss me off.”
Again, I glance over at Fern and still can’t tell if she’s breathing, but the extreme stillness of her body is freaking me out even more than the disgusting cop. The tremors in my hands are so bad I can’t get his belt open and his hands bat me away as he loses patience. He almost has it open when a loud, deep voice booms through the night, startling us both. “What the fuck, Gino? You lost your damn mind? Get up, lady!”
I struggle to my feet as Gino hurries to re-buckle his belt. The loud voice belongs to a cop way bigger than the one I’ve been dealing with. He rushes over to Fern and bends down, putting fingers to her pulse point. Swearing loudly, he pulls out his radio and calls for an ambulance. I don’t know if I should run or stand here or what. I need to make sure Fern’s okay but if I stick around I’ll probably get arrested. My wristlet with my ID, apartment key and money is on the ground a few feet away and I’m in platform wedges so I doubt I’ll be able to get very far if I make a run for it. Besides, the cop whose face I haven’t seen because he’s been bent over Fern, looks way more fit than I am and I’m guessing he could catch me in a foot race even if I had on sneakers.
The cop by Fern is now kneeling on the ground by her lifeless form, starting chest compressions while Gino the asshole stands dumbfounded, staring at him.
“I need help over here, man!” the cop yells.
Gino continues to stand there and I want to slap the dickhead for delaying this long. That’s my friend dying on the ground and he wanted to exploit the situation? I glance between them and realize Gino has no intention of moving so I hurry over to them and drop to my knees hard, scraping them on the gravel next to Fern.
“Come on, Fern! You can’t go out like this! Not in a nasty parking lot, not right now!” I scream.
“Lady! Settle down, focus, and give her mouth-to-mouth when I tell you, but open her mouth and check her airway first.”
I do as I’m told and see nothing.
“Swipe in there with your finger. If you find nothing, then hold her nose closed and seal your mouth over hers, and breath into her mouth when I tell you to. You’ll give her two big breaths.”
I swipe and find nothing so I do as he’s instructed.
“Go, give her as much air as you can!” He barks the order and I comply, pulling away when I’m done.
“Again!”
He goes back to pumping on her chest, counting as he goes. Her lips are blue and I don’t think she’s going to make it. My whole body shakes as we repeat the process twice more. As we’re finishing round three, the ambulance comes screaming into the parking lot and the paramedics take over. I stand up, my bloody knees knocking, my body suddenly cold in the warm summer evening. I’m unsure of what to do. Am I getting arrested? Do I go to the hospital? Do I run?
The CPR cop stands to his full height and I realize again that he’s a beast, enormous in a way most men aren’t. Even in my wedges the giant makes me look tiny. This guy is way taller than Gino the sleazy cop. Before I register much more than the size of this guy, he turns to Gino and says, “Get her wallet, man,” pointing to my wristlet on the ground. Gino is pacing off to the side near my wallet as he runs his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end. I bet he’s shitting Twinkies. He got busted ignoring a woman dying right next to him because he was going to force me to give him a blow job. Jerk!
My body shakes harder as the adrenaline wears off and I wrap my arms around my bare midriff, attempting to calm myself. I need to call Dee. She’ll come get me and she’ll know what to do. Oh, my God! What if Fern is dead?
“Miss.” The humungous cop calls to me but I can’t answer.
My body continues with the uncontrollable shakes. He moves in closer and leans down, trying to get to eye level with me. “Miss, you need to clean up those knees so they don’t get infected.”
I glance up and when we make eye contact, I’m tossed back in time 12 years, to my last foster home. Oh, my God! I’d know those eyes anywhere. I mean anywhere. No one has eyes that color of aquamarine-ocean perfection except Jasen Dexter. But the Jasen Dexter I knew was a skinny, gangly, short, teenage boy with zero body fat and even less muscle mass. I open my mouth to speak, but before I can say a word his head jerks and he steps back, shifting his eyes from my head to my toes. He shakes his head a little as his brows pull together.
Just when I think he’s going to say something about recognizing me, Gino pipes up from behind him. “What are we gonna do, man? We takin’ her in?”
Jase turns and glares at him with an expression that could melt metal. “You really think that’s your best course of action right now? You really want a girl you were about to get a blow job from sitting in the same room with the sarge?” He throws his hands up in front of him. “Hey, man, if it’s that important to you to take her in, by all means grab the cuffs.”
Sleazy cop shakes his head vigorously. “Nah, dude. I don’t want that shit, but what do I do with her?” What the heck does he mean by that?
“You let her go home or see her friend at the hospital or go back inside if she really wants, and then you go back to the precinct and fill out a report on the girl that we sent to the hospital.”
I shift on my now ridiculously uncomfortable wedges as the tremors continue, and for the first time in a long time I try to stay unnoticed. Under normal circumstances I’m trying to be noticed by anyone and everyone. I want to be entertaining enough to not be forgotten and to keep people hanging around. Being alone is not something I handle well.
Finally, Jase turns back around to face me and I glance at his name tag to make sure I’m not dreaming this. I haven’t seen him since I was 16 years old. Sure as the sun rises, the name DEXTER is printed over his left breast.
“Jase,” I whisper, absolutely floored that he’s standing in front of me larger than life.
His expression softens briefly as his eyes search my face and I can tell the moment that recognition sets in fully. He knows who I am.
“Marina, what the hell are you doing? Are you all coked up too?” he blurts out in a harsh tone that’s not at all what I was expecting. Not hello or hi, so good to see you. Two words. Complete. Asshole. Just like his partner.
“No, I’m not coked up!” I tell him indignantly as I cross my arms over my chest.
Leaning down into me with his eyes blazing fury, he growls, “Well, I almost think that would better explain wh
y your friend was dying in the dirt next to you and you’re on your knees in front of Gino with his cock in your hands!”
I gasp at what he’s implying. How does he not know his partner is a douchebag? Asshole, asshole, asshole! We’re only inches apart when he finishes and although I’m pissed, I’m reminded of the power of his eyes. They say eyes are the windows to the soul and it’s never been truer than with Jase, but I’m not so overwhelmed with his eyes that I won’t fight back. He may be big, but I guarantee I’m tougher. I’d never leave a friend in need, especially for a parking lot blow job. I’m nothing if not loyal.
“His pants weren’t even unzipped. I didn’t have his cock in my hand yet. He hadn’t gotten that far!”
“Looked like it to me.”
“Maybe you should get some glasses, Jase, and while you’re at it, get a conscience for Gino over there.” I flap my hand toward his partner. “I wasn’t about to do that because I wanted to. I tried to get him to check on Fern, but he was more worried about forcing his dick down my throat, so maybe you should stop judging me and worry about your partner!” My chest heaves as I finish. I’m so pissed at him! I don’t see him for 12 years and the first thing he says once he realizes it’s me is completely offensive? This is not the Jasen Dexter I remember.
Chapter Two
Dex
The crazy girl in front of me who was just kneeling in front of Gino, ready to suck him off, is Marina Rossi. Sweet, gentle, Marina. What the hell happened? After all she went through when she was young I find her now in a public place, barely dressed, covered in tattoos and piercings, and out with a chick who just overdosed on coke. Why would she be around people like that after the damage drugs did to her family?
“Well, we aren’t talking about Gino. We’re talking about you. What the hell are you doing out here dressed like that, acting like that?” I gesture at Gino. “And what are you doing hanging with a girl who’s all coked up?”
Her sigh is deep before she responds in a quieter voice. “Fern is my friend, has been for several years. I didn’t know she had the coke until right before she got busted with it in the club. Fern was clean for a long time. This time came as a shock to me. I wasn’t acting like anything. Your partner was trying to force me to go down on him. You tell me how I get out of that situation without going to jail for assaulting a police officer, which he threatened me with, by the way. I’m not proud of being in this situation in the first place, but not all of us grew up as well as you did. Don’t act like you have a clue what I’ve been through over the last 12 years, especially when I did nothing wrong. Now, I really want to get to the hospital to check on Fern. Are you going to arrest me or not?”
Layers of sadness and a touch of defiance thread her voice. There’s no way I could arrest her after the way the rest of the night has gone. It’s likely her friend is dead and although I detest drugs, I know how it is to lose a friend. Besides, what did she actually do? There have been whispers about stuff like this with Gino since I started the force two years ago, but I’ve never gotten confirmation on any of it until now.
“Why were you about to be arrested?”
Gino tries to answer from his place behind me and I hold up a hand to silence him. He’s an asshole. I’ll be glad when my real partner is back from vacation. Quinn would never pull any of the shit Gino does. Now I see why he has problems keeping partners.
“I was with Fern when club security busted her. As they were dragging her outside, they saw your buddy walking past and passed her off to him. Because I was with her I got lumped in with her drug mess. You can do a drug test on me. You’ll find nothing. Gino decided that I needed to work my way out of a visit to the jail tonight. I don’t have the money for bail so I was about to have to do something I didn’t want to do.”
God, this girl is a hot mess, but she didn’t do anything wrong and she needs to get to the hospital because I have a feeling she needs to say her goodbyes.
“Alright, go check on your friend, but you need to stay away from that stuff and those kinds of people. If I hadn’t walked up it could have been so much worse for you. You know better than anyone what drugs can do to your life. I’ll handle Gino. I’m sorry about how he treated you; that would never happen if I was with him.” I turn and walk away because if I stand here and talk to her, I might discover I give a shit about her and that’s not an option. It’s bad enough I have the Rivers and Larkin families to care about. I don’t need anyone else to add to the list.
“Jase.” She calls to me using the name I haven’t heard in many years so I turn back. Her mouth twists a little before she says rather softly, “Thank you.”
I nod and continue to the cruiser parked in the back of the lot. Gino falls into step beside me and I shush him as soon as he opens his mouth. I don’t want to hear what he has to say. When I get in the car, I wait and watch as Marina tries to hail a cab. I won’t leave until she gets a ride out of here. She might be a grown woman but she obviously has no sense of self-protection; she has no idea how unsafe it is for her to be standing in that poor excuse for clothing on the street at night alone.
Wondering if Fern pulled through is eating me alive. I see this kind of stuff often, but knowing she’s Marina’s friend has bothered me. She’s known so much loss in her life, and that’s just what I know about, so I give in to the curiosity and take a trip to the hospital to see if Fern made it.
Why would Marina friend someone like that, especially with her history? I’ll never forget her story as long as I live. Although it’s not much different than a lot of kids in foster care, something about hers got to me. It changed me.
Her dad died in some freak accident when Mari was four or five. Her mom was apparently weak because she fell into a drug habit not long after the dad died, and she found a new husband with his own drug issues. When her mom was too strung out to whore herself out for their drugs, the stepdad started pimping Mari and her sister, who is only two years older than her. She was barely old enough to wear a bra when it started. There’s more to it but that’s the basic story. If I were her, I’d stay light years away from that shit.
As I reach the front desk the middle-aged receptionist smiles up at me like I hung the moon. Hopefully this will make getting information easier. I smile back.
“Hi, I sent a young woman in last night in an ambulance. Overdose. I didn’t get a last name, just a first. Can you tell me if she is still a patient here?”
She runs her pointer finger across her lips and her eyes roam my body. Damn, not this again. When women notice I’m not wearing a wedding ring, especially while I’m in uniform, they pull out all the stops. I’m not interested. I just want to be left alone.
“Well, officer, I suppose I could check for you.” Her attempt at a sexy voice fails in a big way. I stare at her, giving her no reaction. Sighing, she moves her focus to my requested task and types her password into her computer. After five minutes of her searching and her unsubtle attempt at flirting, I finally get my answer. Fern’s alive, but barely. She’s on life support in the ICU. I’m not sure why but I make my way to the seventh floor and through the security doors. When I approach the nurses’ desk I turn on the charm, hoping to avoid a bunch of questions about why I’m here. An older nurse shows me to Fern’s room where I find her alone and seemingly hooked up to every machine the hospital has to offer. She looks like a broken teenager, not a grown woman, but drugs will do that. I stand there for a few minutes before I finally tire of studying the poor young woman in front of me and return to the station.
I’m pissed as hell that Gino didn’t do anything to help her when she hit the ground. She might not be as bad as she is if he’d done something sooner. It’s not his fault that she’s a junkie but it’s his fault that she went unresponsive so long without help.
I’m back at my desk working on paperwork later in the day, the worst part of my job, which I usually avoid at all costs. But after Gino screwed up so bad last night I told the captain that I wouldn’t work with hi
m anymore. My partner, Quincy Rivers, will be back soon enough so for now I’ll tie up all the loose ends at the office and fill in where I’m needed—anywhere but with Gino.
As I’m clicking save on the third form of the day, I hear a very girlish giggle and look up to see who it is. We have four women in this department. One is my partner and she’s not here, one is old enough she’ll likely retire in the next year, so girlish is not what I would use to describe her laughter, one is sitting across from me and has been quiet since she arrived, and the last one smokes a pack a day and sounds like it. The high-pitched laughter is not normal for this room. I hear it again, followed by the deep timbre of Denatto’s voice. “Yeah, Dex is right over there but if you get tired of his grumpy ass, you know where to find me.” Denatto’s Mr. Charming today. Great. When my eyes make contact with Marina’s, her giggle dies in her throat and the smile slides away. My eyes—drawn in by the exposed skin—roam the length of her body before they return to her face.
Oh, hell! What is she wearing today? Does the girl own any clothes that cover her body? If I were her man, we’d be having words. A red tank top that barely covers her breasts leaves her whole stomach bare. The short jean shorts she’s wearing leave her legs exposed almost indecently. I pause at the scabs on her knees from the parking gravel before my eyes move down to note the sparkly flip flips that adorn her little feet. The tattoos on her belly disappear up into the tank top and in the light of day I can see a bunch more on her arms that I didn’t see last night. When my gaze returns to her face I notice a good amount of makeup coating her face. What is she doing here? I wonder if she’s here to report Gino. I wouldn’t blame her, but I don’t think it’s a great move considering she was trying to bribe a cop with a blow job and hanging out with a girl who overdosed.
