Kevlar to My Vest

by Lani Lynn Vale

  I snorted. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  She smiled up at me, and my breath hitched.

  She was so goddamn beautiful it hurt.

  Her long, wavy black hair was up in a ponytail at the top of her head with a pink bandana holding back the stray hairs. The makeup she was wearing was light, but what she did have on made her eyes pop with their intensity.

  The jeans she was wearing cupped her ass like a dream, and I highly doubted that she’d be able to sit comfortably in them with how tight they were. The shirt she was wearing was a simple one. Black with the Harley Davidson symbol emblazoned in pink.

  Her shoes were what stopped me in my tracks, though. They were motorcycle boots, with pink laces.

  On Viddy, though, they were the absolute cutest thing I’d ever seen.

  Smiling, I walked hand in hand with her until we reached the front door before saying, “I don’t care who you’re a bitch to. As long as it’s not me.”

  “Not even your mom?” She asked over her shoulder.

  She had a grin tipping up the corner of her lips, but I didn’t take the bait. “If that pleases you.”

  I knew she wouldn’t be a bitch to my mother. In fact, she’d go out of her way not to be a bitch to her.

  My mom was a hard woman to be mean to. She was friendly and considerate. But she also could give just as much as she could take. She had to with three boys that were all within three years of each other.

  “Glad to see you could make it back.” My mom said disapprovingly.

  I shrugged unapologetically. “Sorry.”

  I took a seat beside my mother and pulled her into a hug. “What are you doing here?”

  “What, you think that I wouldn’t come see my boys when they’re all in one place for once?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

  I snorted. Should’ve known she would be here. She always came down before, and this time she had extra incentive. Mainly in the form of Viddy.

  “I stand corrected. Viddy, why aren’t you at work?” I asked making a show of looking at my watch.

  She glared at me. “Teacher in service. You would know if you hadn’t left without waking me up first.”

  I held up my hands in surrender. “I tried, to be honest. You weren’t waking up, though. After the third time of you telling me to ‘fuck off’ I left you alone.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and refused to answer.

  My mother thought that was hilarious, though.

  “Trance has always been a morning person. I remember when he used to wake me up at four thirty in the morning, no matter what I did to tire him out the night before. Do you know how hard it is to tell this cute face no?” She gestured to my face.

  I rolled my eyes, and found my stare caught Bree’s fuming one, but I quickly looked away, instead focusing back on Viddy.

  She was nodding sagely. “The man has dimples. Where did he get the dimples from? I see those and I just melt.”

  Oh, Lord.

  “He tried to get away with a lot of stuff growing up. They all did. You should’ve seen him the day they tore my garden up with our new tiller. The entire thing was destroyed, and they all sat there crying with their little dimples, and I forgave them like the sap I am.” She said emphatically.

  “I seem to remember plenty of times when I got the belt growing up.” I scowled.

  “From your father. Never from me. He’s immune to the dimples since he has them.” My mother smiled warmly.

  “Did dad come with you?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No, he couldn’t get out of work on such short notice.”

  Their food came, effectively shutting them up, giving me the time to do my own talking.

  “Today, I plan on running a few errands. I have to stop by the police station and make a report. Then I have to do some training with the dogs. What are y’all’s plans for today?” I asked.

  “Movies.”

  “Lunch.”

  “Shopping.”

  “The boats.”

  Their answers were rapid fire, and it was clear that they’d had this planned out for a while.

  How they were going to fit all of that in was beyond me, but who was I to say what they could or couldn’t do. In addition, it worked for me. I needed to do some things that I didn’t really want to worry Viddy anymore than she already was.

  “Okay,” I said and stood. “I’ve got an appointment I can’t miss with Loki at work. Call me if you need anything.”

  With that closing comment, I gave my mom a peck on the head, Viddy a long, slow, wet kiss, and walked out the door.

  It didn’t surprise me in the least that Bree was standing by my bike when I got out there.

  “What do you want?” I asked once I got close to her.

  “You know what I want.” She said quietly.

  I shook my head in exasperation. “A couple of years ago, what you wanted would’ve really been a top priority for me. I’ve got a new woman though. One I plan to ask to marry me. One that’s going to be my old lady once I get the patches for her. You had your chance to have me a long time ago, and you blew it when I needed you most. I honestly could care less what you want. Move your ass so I can get done with my business and get home to my girl.”

  I hadn’t planned on saying that aloud.

  Hell, I hadn’t even admitted it to myself yet, and here I was telling the whole world of my plans.

  Somehow it felt right, and I was going to make sure Viddy knew the way I felt about her. One slow step at a time.

  Tears started to stream down her face, but I ignored them, got on my bike, and wheeled out of the parking lot. Leaving the woman that tore my heart out behind for good.

  ***

  “There’s no surveillance feed of what happened?” I asked in surprise.

  The complexes advertised the safety features of the apartments. ‘We have cameras on all angles’ my ass.

  “No,” Loki shook his head. “We’ve got nothing. The angle would’ve worked if the panel van wasn’t blocking you from its view. And then when he took off, he ran away from the cameras, so all we have is the back of his head.”

  Sebastian and Kettle, who were sitting at the table with me looking over the surveillance tapes as well, let out curses.

  “Did it look like Paul?” I asked.

  Loki shook his head. “No, this guy was shorter. Stockier. He had blonde hair, too. Not brown like Paul’s. Longer too.”

  “Fuck,” I snarled.

  “Any prints in the car?”

  Loki shook his head again. “No. Wiped clean.”

  “Goddammit. I know it has something to do with that little prick. I bet he sent someone to get the feed, and when I showed up, he used the opportunity.”

  My head was pounding. From both my most-likely concussion, as well as the fact that Viddy’s ex-boyfriend just wouldn’t go the fuck away.

  Sebastian shook his head. “I think you need to...”

  My work pager went off, and I groaned. “God.”

  The joys of being a K-9 police officer. You get called out any and all times of the night when they need probable cause.

  Looking at the number on my phone, I called dispatch.

  “This is officer Killian Spurlock. I received a page.”

  Twenty minutes later found Kosher and me at the intersection of Pine and Second Street. There was a white Cadillac Escalade with bright gold rims off to the side of the road, and Tunnel Morrison was speaking to a young Hispanic male at the back of the car.

  Tunnel Morrison was a prospect for The Dixie Wardens. He was capable enough, but at times, he seemed too...innocent.

  He was very young, only twenty-three, and one of the first ones in the club to offer you the shirt off his back. He had a wife and young child at home, and it surprised me that the wife wouldn’t have a problem with Tunnel being in a MC. However, she was a sweet, young girl and supported Tunnel fully.

  I pulled up directly in front of the Cadillac, backing up
some so the Cadillac wouldn’t be able to move unless either Tunnel or I allowed it.

  Which the young man noticed almost immediately.

  Going to the side door, I let Kosher out, holding onto his leash, and started walking him around the car.

  Kosher made his way around the car fully. Going low, not smelling anything at all.

  Legally, I couldn’t do anything but let Kosher investigate. Kosher would have to give some indication that he found something before I could search the car, or apply for a warrant.

  Which is what Kosher found when he passed by a second time on his high sweep.

  He stopped short at the rear passenger side door, and sat.

  With that one action, Kosher opened up a shit storm for that young man.

  Mainly in the form of 300 pounds of marijuana in the man’s back seats.

  He’d thought that he’d been smart, cutting the leather of the seats apart and stuffing the seats full of marijuana. Except he hadn’t counted Kosher’s nose into the equation.

  He was also a repeat offender, making me realize that some people will never learn.

  Little did I know that I was one of those people.

  Chapter 13

  Feel safe at night, sleep with a cop…your own cop, that is. Not mine.

  -Viddy to Bree

  Viddy

  “Bad boys, bad boys,” Adeline sang. “Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?”

  “Hopefully come with them.” I said dryly, making Adeline burst out laughing.

  “Oh, Jesus. That’s gross.” She said as she wiped away tears.

  “Why?” I asked as I pulled on a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt that had Benton High emblazoned on the front.

  I was getting ready to go to the Benton vs. Kilgore homecoming game. Trance was already going since it was one of the busiest places on Friday nights, and three quarters of the time, he was required to be there with his K-9.

  After his big bust yesterday, the town thought he was a hero.

  Poor Tunnel was thrust into the spotlight, too.

  “Because you just made me think about you doing naughty things with Trance.” She said in exasperation.

  I rolled my eyes and went to the bathroom.

  “What’s that dog doing?” Adeline yelled from the bedroom.

  I looked to find Radar half in-half out of the bathroom staring at my bedroom, and most likely my sister.

  “He’s guarding me while I pee.” I yelled as I washed my hands.

  “That’s...” Adeline started to yell and lowered her voice when the baby started to scream. “Weird.”

  I thought it was somewhat cool. It was nice to have him there with me. I didn’t feel so alone.

  I’d even taken him to school with me, much to Sandra’s displeasure.

  “He’s a good boy, aren’t you Radar?” I asked the dog.

  He wagged his tail fitfully as I scratched him between the ears. He enjoyed the ear rubs as evidenced by the lolling tongue and the eyes that were nearly rolling back in his face.

  “Okay, I’m ready whenever you are.” I told her.

  She stood from her perch on my bed and handed me the diaper bag while she grabbed Saylor’s car seat.

  “Sounds good. I have to get back before Kettle realizes I’m not where he left me.” Adeline teased.

  “Why’d he have to work today, anyway? Isn’t he on maternity leave?” I asked as we walked to the door.

  She shook her head. “He was. Or could still be if he wanted. But we figured we might need to be saving up his vacation time for when we have doctor appointments and stuff. So he went back to his scheduled shift.”

  “Wow,” I said in surprise. “He was okay with leaving you by yourself when she is only three days old?”

  She shrugged. “Not really, no. But Kettle’s mom is coming over later to help out, and I told him I was okay.”

  “Are you?” I asked as I set the alarm and opened the front door, ushering her out with a sweep of my hand.

  Radar was already trotting down the stairs as I closed the door, and stopped to sit on his haunches beside Adeline’s rear car door.

  I locked my door, and followed Adeline down, opening the door for Radar before taking my seat in the front.

  “Why do you have him, anyway?” Adeline asked as she dropped down in her seat and closed the door.

  Putting on my seatbelt, I answered. “Radar is retiring, and Trance doesn’t want him to think he’s being replaced. So I’m going to let him hang with me, since technically, I’m still legally blind.”

  “Well, that’s cool. And he can bite that Sandra bitch if you ask him to!” She crowed.

  I double fist pumped in pretend excitement, which in turn caused the trucker next to us to pull his horn, effectually scaring the absolute shit out of me.

  “Jesus Christ,” I jumped and looked over at the truck driver with a broad smile on his face.

  I waved shyly as he passed.

  Adeline had no problem laughing at my abject terror though. In fact, she pulled over to the side of the road. “Oh, God. I’m gonna pee myself.”

  I glared at the heifer. “Drive or I’ll miss the first pitch.”

  Adeline snorted. “Kickoff.” She corrected.

  “Oh,” I said. Then added. “I haven’t the first clue what goes on in football. And I don’t know who I’m going to sit with. Nor if I’ll even see Trance.”

  “Well, you have plenty of places to choose from. Although, Kettle likes to stand at the fence, so I can’t tell you where to sit or who to sit with. You might see Trance if you stand as well. As for how football is played, you’d have to ask someone who knows. I have no clue either.”

  The rest of the drive was spent contemplating getting our toes and nails done, and whether we should try to get Kettle to babysit.

  “What could it hurt? If she cries, you just rock her. You wouldn’t be doing anything different there than you would be at home.” I said in confusion.

  “Well, yeah. But what if she gets hungry?”

  “Then you feed her.” Duh!

  “Kettle would probably have a coronary if he found out I had my boob exposed in public.” She said dryly.

  Oh dear. We’d had this discussion many times over the last ten months. I, personally, didn’t care about what people thought. Adeline cared too much. So we always agreed to disagree.

  I was happy when we pulled up to the game. I didn’t want to have another breastfeeding debate with her.

  “Bye, Addy. Let me know what you decide on getting our toes done in a couple of days.” I instructed as I blew her a kiss and got out of the car with Radar hot on my heels.

  She drove off with a small wave, and I bought my ticket at the gate.

  For thirteen effin’ dollars.

  “Ma’am, you can’t have any pets,” the woman taking tickets at the gate snapped.

  I rolled my eyes and handed her my disabled license, effectually shutting the woman up in her tracks. I was prepared for events like this.

  The woman reluctantly stepped aside as Radar and I walked slowly into the very large crowd that was congregating at the back of the concession stand.

  What I didn’t realize was that Adeline had dropped me off on the visitor’s side; it turned out to be in my favor since one of the first people I saw was Shiloh, Sebastian’s sister, sitting at the very front center row towards the middle.

  Me never going to a game before, and being vastly overwhelmed by all the sounds, smells, and sights, I was glad to see a friendly face.

  Well, seeing the face was new to me. I hadn’t actually seen her for real since my vision had returned. All I’d seen were pictures at Sebastian’s place, or on Shiloh’s Facebook page.

  When I got within shouting distance (which was only five feet away, because holy shit was the band louder than hell) I yelled her name.

  Which got the attention of the entire group she was sitting with, including the two men, Max and Gabe, who’d very recently put
the alarm into my house, standing behind Shiloh.

  Shiloh started waving excitedly, and I climbed the stairs and walked over to them slowly, surprised by the sheer amount of people that were there.

  Holy shit, but did they know how to sit down? The people in the front row most likely couldn’t even see.

  Not that it bothered the men of the group I was headed to. They were all standing anyway, pissing off the people behind them who were too afraid to say anything about it.

  “Viddy! What are you doing here?” Shiloh asked as she pressed on the man’s legs at her side to make room for me.

  The man, blonde, big, and built like a sex God, moved over with a roll of his eyes, never interrupting his conversation with the man beside him.

  The man beside him was Sam, Sebastian’s brother.

  Those two looked so much alike it was uncanny.

  I’d also seen pictures of him at Sebastian’s place, too. Although Baylee was the one responsible for the pictures.

  No Facebook page for Sam, though. Apparently, it’s an alpha-male rule to not have anything social media related that has your face plastered all over the internet. I’d tried to tell Trance that everyone, and I do mean everyone, had a Facebook. Hell, I was blind and had a Facebook, but he didn’t care. He refused just on general principle.

  I sat down in between the blonde man’s leg and Shiloh, turning my attention to the game before answering her.

  Radar made himself very comfortable by sitting on my feet and leaning his massive furry body against my legs, with his head resting in my lap.

  I stroked his hair as I answered.

  “I’ve been asked by multiple students to come watch the game. One of my favorite students is the running back. Number 58, he said.” I yelled.

  The game hadn’t even started yet, and the roar of the crowd was nearly unbearable to my heightened senses.

  “Did you come with someone?” Shiloh asked in concern.

  I shook my head, oblivious of her concern as I scanned the field for Falco’s number and Jade on the sidelines.

  “No, just me and Radar here.” I said indicating the dog.

  The man that was at my other side dropped down and sat on the seat beside me and yelled, “Trance let you have Radar?”