Center Mass

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “What the hell is she doing here?” I spat.

  Lydia was sitting on a rock that was decorative along the police station’s yard. Her hands were crossed around her belly and she was rocking back and forth.

  “No clue. But the shooting started as soon as she got up to Luke. We were outside getting instructions from Trance, and then the shots fired,” Downy shook his head.

  That’s about when I noticed Downy’s shadow, a large white dog the size of a small pony. She was gorgeous, but I felt it prudent not to mess with her. She looked a little shaken up.

  “Anybody else hurt?” I asked quietly.

  He looked down at me. His pretty eyes saddened. “Trance lost a dog. Radar got shot because he was trying to protect Trance. Trance was the closest to Luke, and when they all dropped, Radar covered Trance’s body. Trance wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Radar.”

  A cry bubbled out of my throat, and I started to cry. “Oh, God. No.”

  Poor Viddy, Trance’s wife. I’d grown fond of all the wives of The Dixie Wardens, and it broke my heart to hear that her dog had perished in this senseless shooting. Especially one that’d given so much over his short lifespan, saving not only Trance’s life countless times, but Viddy’s as well.

  “Who did it? Did they catch him?” I asked.

  Downy shook his head. “No. It was a drive by. He got about a magazine’s worth of shots off before he took off. They found the car four blocks away empty.”

  My head hung for a few short seconds before I squared my shoulder and looked up at Downy. “Tell me what I can do.”

  ***

  Two hours later I found myself picking up the girls from their respective schools.

  I went home and started dinner, allowing both girls to help keep my mind off the day’s events.

  After an easy dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, we read books before I tucked each of them into bed, thankful that I had my life. That they had theirs. That Luke would be coming home to us.

  Once they were in bed, I found myself glued to the news as they went over what had happened during the shooting.

  Then they played a segment on the accomplishments of Radar, and I broke down.

  I cried for the lost life. I cried for the two officers that were hurt, although not fatally. I cried for Luke having to experience that. For all the police wives that had to deal with the possibility of losing their loved ones on a daily basis.

  How was I supposed to deal with that?

  It wasn’t like Luke was just a cop. He was a SWAT officer.

  He willingly went into dangerous situations like the one today, whenever the need for him and his team arose.

  Then Lydia’s face filled the screen, and she said how thankful she was for the Kilgore Police Department’s quick action that saved her life.

  “I just don’t know if I’d be alive right now if it wasn’t for the quick thinking of the Kilgore Police Department. If they hadn’t thought so quickly, I’d very well be in a morgue right now. They’re my heroes,” Lydia said to the newswoman.

  My head hung.

  It was true. If they hadn’t have been there, she’d have been dead.

  If Luke wasn’t a cop anymore, who would be there when someone needed help?

  I needed to stop thinking about myself, and think about the bigger picture.

  Luke was a cop and a hero; I needed to put my big girl panties on and get over it.

  ***

  Luke

  “Thanks for the ride,” I muttered to Downy as we pulled into my driveway.

  Downy nodded. “No problem. I’ll catch you on Monday. At least I hope, anyway.”

  I knew what he meant. There’d been too much excitement today. I was fuckin’ wiped.

  I didn’t want to hear my pager go off for a very long time.

  After Downy pulled away, I stood outside for a few minutes and reflected on my day.

  I’d nearly died today.

  A K-9 officer had died today. Sure, some would say he was just a dog. But to us, he was one of our own, and we didn’t take killing one of us very lightly.

  I’d also seen two of my fellow officers go down.

  Luckily they were all okay, but that didn’t make it all right.

  In fact, it was so far beyond all right that I was justifiably homicidal.

  We had three hundred square miles of cops looking for our suspect…God help whomever it was when he’s found.

  They’re going to need him and any divine intervention they could get.

  “Luke?” Reese’s sweet, sleepy voice called from the doorway.

  I hadn’t realized that she opened it.

  I’d been staring right at it, and I hadn’t noticed the movement.

  Shaking my head of the cobwebs, I walked inside and closed the door. Locking it. Then facing it, trying to gain my composure.

  If I didn’t, I might do or say something I’d regret.

  “Luke?” Reese called again, placing her hand on my shoulder.

  I tensed, needing her touch, but knowing if I allowed my body to take hers while I was in this state, it would be far from gentle. In fact, it’d be so far from gentle that she’d probably become scared and I didn’t want her to ever be scared of me.

  But then she made a mistake.

  She started stripping me.

  First my gun. Then my belt.

  The muscles in my belly tensed, and my hands fisted where they rested against the door.

  Control, Roberts.

  Get some fuckin’ control!

  Her soft, nimble fingers tugged the shirt from my pants, pulling it up and over my head, leaving it dangling from my hands that were still planted against the front door.

  She leaned her head against my shoulders, running her nose along the skin of my back, tracing the tribal tattoo as she liked to do.

  Then her hands slipped down, starting at my collarbone and ending at my hip bones.

  My stomach, already tense, froze solid.

  I realized too late that I was hanging on by a thread.

  When her soft lips ran from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, all propriety flew out the fucking window.

  Turning with a growl, I lifted her under her arms, forced her up against the wall, and slammed my mouth down onto hers.

  The kiss was rough, hard and hot.

  The force of my kiss felt bruising, but I couldn’t let up. I didn’t have the willpower.

  I didn’t have the strength to pull back. I wanted her. I needed her.

  “If you don’t want this,” I managed to pant. “You need to go to your room. Leave me now.”

  She circled my hips with her legs, grabbing onto my neck with both hands. “Even if I wanted to leave…which I don’t,” she said, nipping my neck. “I couldn’t. You’re pinning me to the wall.”

  I nipped her bottom lip, then sucked it better.

  Then, with every ounce of energy I had left, I grabbed her ankles and physically removed them from around my hips. Stepping away from her one painful, debilitating, inch at a time, I stopped until our bodies had a good foot between us.

  My fists were planted above her head and my head hung.

  My jaw was clenched, and my chest was heaving.

  “Go,” I rasped.

  She ducked underneath my arms, walking straight out of the room without once looking back.

  I heaved a sigh and dropped my arms.

  One hand went to my crotch, and I pressed against my raging erection, squeezing the head of my dick, willing it to go down.

  It didn’t.

  Not even a little bit.

  Turning out the last light in the bathroom, I walked to my bedroom.

  My heavy dick led the way as I walked into my room, forgoing the light.

  I closed the door, stripping out of what was left of my clothes before walking to the bed.

  My hand encountered a leg as I started to crawl into bed.

  It convulsed, and I growled, yanking the leg down until Reese’s ass was o
n the edge.

  My hands traveled up until they encountered the soft fabric of her panties, then I hastily ripped them from her body.

  She squealed in surprise, reflexively trying to close her legs, but I stopped the movement with both hands pressed firmly on her thighs, holding them open wide.

  The panties were gone with a ripping sound, and my head descended in the next moment.

  I latched onto her clit in a hungry fervor. Running my hardened tongue around the tightened bud quickly, flicking it back and forth.

  She rocked her hips, and her thighs tried in vain to close once again.

  My hands gripped her thighs harder, pushing them not only down, but wider, exposing even more of her to my hungry mouth.

  I ate her up; licking, sucking, and rubbing.

  “God,” she gasped frantically, her hands latching onto my hair in desperation.

  When she was on the brink of coming, her hips rocking in desperation, I sat up so fast I went lightheaded.

  Then, in the very next instant, I slammed home.

  Her hot, needy pussy was hugging my cock like it was made for me.

  The fact that it was dark, and the only thing I could feel was her body wrapped around mine…her breath on my neck…the smell of her scent enveloping me, rocked my fucking world.

  My ass tightened as I pumped into her, taking her so hard that she was forced up the bed in my enthusiasm.

  She held on, though. Taking each of my thrusts and giving back more of her own.

  My cock felt like it was in heaven.

  The head of my cock bumping against her end with each thrust was making my head spin.

  Then…she bit me.

  Her sharp little teeth sank into my shoulder as her pussy started fluttering around my length.

  Then she screamed. The only thing muffling the abrupt sound was my flesh.

  I shoved my hands underneath her shoulders, grabbing hold of the top of her shoulders for leverage as I started pounding into her roughly. There was no finesse in my strokes. Only hard, raw, dirty possession.

  She gasped as I twisted my hips, and impossibly, she started convulsing around me once again.

  Her hot, little nipples poked me in the chest as she came, and the continued movement of her sensual body against mine finally pushed me over the edge.

  In five jerky strokes, I started coming, pouring myself inside of her.

  I leaned down, giving her my weight as my orgasm subsided, but I didn’t pull out.

  I was quite content where I was, more than willing to sleep on top of her all night.

  But her soft laughter, as she explained that she ‘couldn’t breathe,’ had me withdrawing my softening member from her well used pussy, rolling over until I fell onto my back beside her.

  “Holy shit,” I said breathlessly.

  She curled into my body, and I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her in until her head rested over my heart.

  “You’re heart’s talking to me,” she whispered.

  “What’s it saying?” I played along.

  “It’s saying it’s time for bed. And that you want to repeat that every day for the rest of eternity,” she said tiredly.

  I agreed.

  “Oh, yeah?” I asked.

  “Mmhmm,” she confirmed.

  I pressed a kiss to her forehead and rolled over until my body was curled around hers, using the comfort of her body to chase away my fucked up day.

  She didn’t realize it yet, but I was perilously close to keeping her. For now and ever, amen.

  Chapter 24

  Cry on the inside. Like a winner.

  -Coffee Cup

  Reese

  I sat quietly in the car on the way to the funeral.

  The ride was a silent one.

  Luke didn’t speak. Downy didn’t speak. Nico and Michael didn’t speak either.

  They were all dressed impeccably in their Kilgore Police Department dress blues.

  Their hats sat in their laps, except for Luke’s whose was sitting on the console in between us.

  We were less than five minutes from our destination, according to our navigation, when I started to see the long line of cars.

  My eyes widened as I took in the sheer volume of vehicles, and even more when Luke pulled up behind the nearest car and put it into park.

  “What…” I asked in confusion.

  Luke looked over at me, his eyes haunted. “We’re not going to find a closer spot. Nearly every officer in the Ark-La-Tex that’s not on duty is here today. Not to mention nearly every member of the different chapters of The Dixie Wardens.”

  I blinked and shrugged before opening my door. It’d be an uncomfortable walk, but I wouldn’t complain. Fortunately, I’d chosen my flats instead of heels. Otherwise it would have been a lot worse.

  I started walking, following behind a few other uniformed officers. Luke and Michael fell into step on either side of me. The rest were at my back.

  This was the first time I’d walked beside Luke for weeks and hadn’t held his hand. The entire thing felt foreign, but I knew he was in his own little world.

  He had been since he’d come home the night of the shooting.

  Now, seven days later, he still wasn’t acting right.

  Honestly, I couldn’t blame him.

  Radar had died protecting them, and I’m sure that was a lot to hang on one’s shoulders.

  Luke put on a good show for the girls though.

  He didn’t even act like anything was bothering him, which was what any man of Luke’s caliber would do.

  For me, though, he didn’t put on that act. He was so distant that there were times I wondered if he still wanted me there.

  I knew it wasn’t right to be thinking about myself at a time like now, but I couldn’t help it.

  I was a negative Nancy when it came to boyfriends.

  I always hoped for the best, but planned for the worst.

  Which was why I had an alarm installed at my old house, and I planned on moving back in within the next few days. I’d yet to tell Luke, and I was scared shitless to see his reaction.

  I knew he’d be pissed, but I didn’t want to live in sin. That wasn’t teaching my daughter the values that I wanted her to learn.

  The same went for Katy, too.

  They needed stability in their life, and I didn’t want to be that woman.

  The one who moved in and became a convenience to her man. The one who cooked dinner and washed laundry. The one who picked the kids up and watched them while her ‘man’ was out doing his job.

  I’d still willingly watch Katy, but it’d be from my house and not Luke’s. I wanted to mean something to Luke. I didn’t want to be a convenience.

  Luke peeled off and walked up to a man that was wearing a Dixie Wardens MC cut, and I looked down, very aware of how he never introduced me to anyone. Every time we met someone Luke knew, he let the other person introduce themselves. It was never the other way around.

  “Dark thoughts,” Nico said.

  I jumped and looked over at the man that’d taken Luke’s spot at my side and shrugged. “It’s to be expected, isn’t it?”

  He didn’t answer, only stared at me.

  “You tell him you’re moving back home yet?” He asked, turning to face the street in front of us.

  I shivered at the dark, smoky tones of his voice. Nico was beyond delicious.

  He was tall with dark, glossy brown hair that was tamed by gel that made it stand on ends at the top of his head. His eyes were a deep, warm brown that could turn cold in an instant.

  And his smile was devastating.

  All of Luke’s team was handsome, but Nico was the type of man that could really make a woman think twice. Especially one such as me who was beyond happy with her man.

  I’d never cheat on Luke, but Nico was just plain hot. That was when he wasn’t being scary.

  “No, I haven’t told him yet. I’d planned on telling him tomorrow,” I said, not bothering to ask how he k
new.

  He snorted, but didn’t say anything. Bennett, however, did.

  “You’re going to make him pissy,” Bennett rumbled.

  Bennett reminded me of a big teddy bear. Not because he was soft or anything, but because he was sweet and down to earth.

  I wondered constantly what made him want to be a SWAT member.

  He didn’t seem the type.

  But if he was on Luke’s team, he had to be good. Luke would require nothing less.

  I shrugged, unperturbed. “I’m not really big on living in sin in front of my daughter.”

  Michael and Downy, who’d been silent up until now, chuckled.

  I glared.

  Downy held his hands up, but Michael was the one who spoke. “You want a ring?”

  I thought about it. Did I want to be married? Was that why I was doing this?

  Then I thought about all the things I’d done over Rowen’s life. How I made her Christmas’ special, and how I went all out for holidays and birthdays to give her what she deserved.

  No, I was doing it for Rowen. Not for myself.

  Sure, I’d thought about marrying Luke, but I didn’t want to force him into it.

  I was in love with Luke, there was no doubt about that after the shooting.

  I’d been a zombie for two days afterward. Something hadn’t felt right in my heart, and it was only after I’d spoken with my sister about the feeling that she’d enlightened me to what was going on with my emotions.

  ‘You’re scared for him. You don’t want anything to happen to him, but you can’t help but worry. That’s normal. It doesn’t fade. However, you learn to live with it. If being on the SWAT team is what he wants to do, then you’ll figure out how to deal with all that. If you truly love him, that is.’

  My sister was a smart cookie.

  That was the day I decided that I needed to get my shit in a line.

  Starting with moving back into my house.

  I wanted to date Luke. I wanted to get to know him better. And that wouldn’t happen if all we did was fuck and sleep.

  “No,” I finally answered. “Not yet. I want to date him first.”

  “Date who?” Luke asked as he came back to us.

  Downy intervened for me. “I’ve got a date this weekend. With a chick from the bank.”