Fighting Redemption

by Sidney Bristol

  “Seriously?”

  “Come on.” Trevor rolled his eyes.

  “No, that’s awesome.” Alex held out his fist and Trevor pound his knuckles against Alex’s. “So you leaving us?”

  “Nah, they’re going to let me stay on. I might not go out as often, but I’ll still be there, saving your ass.”

  “Congrats. You’ll have to let me buy you a beer tonight. When will they announce it?”

  “Not sure. Next day or two, but they told me this afternoon.”

  “Alright, if we can get started, we’ll get you guys out for a late supper.” The head of narcotics took the front of the room, a thick file folder in hand.

  Alex’s mind strayed from the introduction. He was well aware of the details on the case since he’d helped with some of the footwork, gathering information and sources to build up to this bust.

  Everyone knew Trevor wanted to make detective. His old man had been a detective before old age forced him into retirement. Trevor had always said it was in his blood. Alex knew the man wasn’t getting preferential treatment. It was his work ethic and all the effort he put into the job. He’d worked his ass off to make it to this point.

  Which made Alex wonder, what was it he wanted in life?

  A decade ago, he’d had plans, a goal and more. Then a horrific set of events changed everything. He’d come to Texas wanting nothing more than to do a job he believed in, uphold the law and live a quiet life. Those were great goals for a man recovering from the kind of public shit storm he’d been thrown into, but they weren’t working out for him any longer.

  SWAT was the thing that he lived for. He loved what he did and knowing that they saved lives. Everything else...was just passing the time.

  He glanced over his shoulder at Jenna studiously staring straight ahead.

  That was what he wanted. A future with someone he loved, doing the things that made him happy.

  Ransom would always be home in one way or another, but maybe Jenna was right. Perhaps it was time he thought about switching gears. He had a lot of years left in him. Why not put in his application at Ft Worth? Worst that could happen was that they’d pass him up for someone else. In fact, he didn’t have to tell anyone he was doing it, not even Jenna. That way, when they went with another candidate it wouldn’t be that much of a disappointment. Thing was, the Dallas-Ft Worth Metroplex was a big place. With a lot of police departments. If Ft Worth didn’t have a spot for him, there were other cities with dedicated SWAT. Irving. Dallas. Grapevine. Arlington. He could do it.

  The best thing was, if he applied for another position and transferred, neither he or Jenna would have to leave Ransom SWAT. They wouldn’t have the need to lie about being together. It was the perfect plan.

  He just had to get the job, first.

  “Alex, you’ll take it from here?”

  “Yup.” He pushed to his feet, energized and ready to tackle tonight.

  Tomorrow, he’d put in his application. He didn’t think he’d get it, but it was a start.

  12.

  JENNA PEERED AT THE interior of her little hatchback car. Her heart beat could have been a bass drum for a metal band. She could practically hear it beating against her ribs.

  Someone had driven her car. Hadn’t they?

  “Is it safe?” Alex asked his mechanic friend.

  “Yeah, nothing was wrong with it. Changed the oil, cleaned the air filter. Looks good,” the man said.

  “I appreciate you doing that.” Alex shook his friend’s hand.

  “Not a problem. If you run into anything else, give me a holler.”

  “Hey, thanks for staying open for us. I know this is late for you.”

  “Least I could do. I’m headed home. See ya.” The mechanic ambled toward his pickup truck, his duty done and absolved of responsibility.

  “It’s really okay?” she asked Alex.

  “He said it was.” Alex nodded at the car.

  “And you think it is?”

  “Well, yeah. You don’t want to drive it?”

  “I’m just...what if I did it? What if I moved the car?”

  “Then why would you have moved the seat?”

  “I don’t know. But, maybe I did?”

  “I don’t think so, Doc.” His steadfast faith made her knees weak. He believed in her more than she did herself.

  “Okay.” She wrapped her arms around Alex, needing his strength and certainty, because she was out of any tonight. He rubbed her back, pressing her against his chest.

  “We need to hit the bar.” His voice rumbled in her ear.

  “Do we have to?” She sighed.

  “If we want to be the only two not there, no.”

  It was a SWAT tradition to grab a drink after briefings and shoot the bull. Jenna had avoided going to The Watering Hole, more often just called The Hole, for a while in the beginning, but after her first trip there she’d discovered a fun, easy way to get to know the guys. It was team building in the bottom of a cup.

  If she and Alex didn’t show, it would be obvious something was up. All the guys would comment on it like a bunch of gossiping girls.

  “Fine.” She pushed him away and turned toward the car.

  Alex grabbed her shoulder and spun her. He swooped in before she realized his intent and set his mouth firmly against hers. Her insides turned to jelly. She curled her hands over his shoulders and lifted up on tip-toe, drinking him in.

  He straightened, leaving her to claw at his chest and pant.

  Damn, the man could kiss.

  “I changed my mind. Let’s go back to your place. Now.” She wasn’t even joking. Let the girly-boys talk.

  “Get in your car.” He slapped her bottom with one hand and tugged her hands from around his neck with the other.

  “You’re going to ignore me when we get there, aren’t you?” Yes, she sounded whiney, but he couldn’t kiss her like that then expect her to pretend he hadn’t banged her lights out last night.

  “Because that’s what we have to do, Jenna.” He held the driver’s side door open for her.

  This sucked.

  She plopped down into the car and let him close her door, shutting her inside this bubble.

  Stupid, stubborn man.

  The rules blew a big one.

  She spent a moment adjusting her seat, the mirrors, all the little things until she was satisfied her mark was on everything.

  Alex’s headlights flashed, his high beams reflecting in her rearview mirror, momentarily blinding her.

  “Alright, alright, I’m going,” she grumbled. No, he couldn’t hear her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to grouse at him.

  Jenna eased out onto the deserted street and headed for The Hole. It, like many things around Ransom, got their start back when the town was just a string of wooden buildings on the way to the Ft Worth Stockyards. The brick and mortar structure sat on the same foundation as the original saloon. It wasn’t very modern, but it had character and the lawmen of the town were regulars.

  Her phone rang with an incoming as the old building came into view. Alex hadn’t been kidding when he told her the shop was around the corner. She glanced at the screen a scant second before hitting the Answer button.

  “Sterling. Hey, what’s up?” Talk about unexpected.

  “Hey, I just wanted to say sorry about earlier.” Sterling’s voice was soft, muted, nothing like the sassy officer Jenna had come to call her friend.

  “No problem. I get how things can be.”

  “Yeah. I’ve got good hours and bad hours.”

  “I hear ya.” Jenna smiled though her heart ached for her friend.

  She turned into the tiny lot across the street from the bar and wedged her car into a small spot no one else would be able to fit. What was it about these country boys and their big ass vehicles?

  “How’s it going tonight?” Jenna asked after a few moments of silence.

  “Better than usual.”

  “Good to hear.”

&nb
sp; “I realize this is random and probably totally inconvenient, but if you aren’t doing anything tomorrow do you want to try to hang out? Not for long or anything, I can’t do long, but I think I’d like to see someone besides my doctor and parents, you know?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’d love to see you. Tell me when and where and I’ll be there. Actually, I’m going in the morning for a psych thing. I would like to talk to someone who knows what this is like.”

  Alex filled her rearview mirror. She turned and pointed at her phone. He gave her a thumbs up and strode out of view. It was probably a good idea to not go into the bar together, either, regardless that he’d let it casually slide that she’d needed a ride.

  “Psych thing? What’s going on?” Sterling asked, bringing her back to their conversation.

  “I don’t know. I’ve just been...weird lately. Makes me wonder if all my screws are tight, you know?”

  “Do I ever.”

  “So yeah, I’d like it if we could hang out tomorrow and talk about missing marbles or how freakishly hot it’s getting. And, if you decide you can’t do it, it’s okay. I totally understand bad and good hours. I’ve had them.”

  “Thanks, Jenna, you’re the best.”

  They chatted a bit more before Sterling said she had to go. It would be good to catch up with an old friend, talk about the kinds of things no one else understood. A lot of the law enforcement guys got it. At least a quarter had served at some point or another, but it was different for her. As a woman and a medic, her set of experiences were unique. She’d been in the trenches, carried a gun and fought back when she had to, but her mission was different. What drove her wasn’t the same.

  Jenna got out of her car, pushed her shoulders back and screwed her smile on. She needed to pass at least an hour before she could scoot out. An hour of ignoring the man she was going to go home with, and if she were really lucky, she’d be sleeping with him again tonight. Though she didn’t want to sleep a whole lot. At least they’d have tomorrow morning off.

  Both the PD and hospital gave the active SWAT team time off around an operation to accommodate the long hours they spent in the seat of danger. All that meant was that they had more time to fool around before Jenna got her butt to Ft Worth for her appointment.

  First, she had to get through tonight

  “Jenna!” Trevor bellowed her name, a beer in both hands, as she entered.

  “Wow, hey there. You supposed to be drinking that?” She prodded him in the ribs.

  “I wish. Sadly, I’m just helping Jessica serve these lousy asses.”

  “You suck as a waitress.” Jessica grinned from behind the bar. Twenty-something, pretty and the daughter of the owner, everyone knew Jessica North was off-limits. Which made her the perfect evening co-conspirator when the guys got a couple beers in them.

  “I need a short skirt, don’t I?” Trevor frowned at his jeans.

  “You’re hopeless.” Jessica poured another beer and slid it over to Alex sitting with Val, their heads together.

  He didn’t even glance her way. Figured. Would he if she pulled her shirt off and danced on the bar? He’d probably be on her before she got more than a couple buttons undone.

  “What’s that smile for?” Trevor asked.

  “Nothing. Can one of those be for me?” Jenna helped herself to one of the beers.

  “Another coming right up,” Jessica said.

  Jenna took the cup and gulped down nearly half the liquid. If she was going to make it through the next hour or two without biting someone’s head off, she needed a good, happy buzz going in her favor. The sooner the better.

  She joined the table of guys near the bar followed by Trevor.

  “Jessica find your long, lost girlfriend yet?” Liam grinned at Trevor. He was another of the born-to-be-a-Ransom-cop kind of guys. His roots went back generations. There was something a little bit redneck about him, but in an endearing, hat tipping kind of way. No one on the force could sharp shoot like he could.

  “Yeah, said your mom sends her love.” Trevor made kissing noises as he sat.

  Liam flipped Trevor the bird and everyone had a good chuckle. It was bar business as usual.

  “Oh, the girl you took home last week?” Jenna propped her chin up. She hadn’t been at The Hole when long-legs-and-gorgeous happened, but she’d heard all about it from the guys.

  “Who?” Trevor scrunched his face up. The stitches made him look a little like Frankenstein’s monster. No doubt it would add to his repertoire of character.

  “He keeps pretending it didn’t happen, but we were all here.” Sean toasted Casey and the two men drank.

  Jenna caught Trevor’s gaze and lifted her eyebrows. He hadn’t said anything to her about the mystery woman, which meant he really must not want to talk about it. And that just made her all the more curious.

  “Well guys, good news for me since he’s all mine tonight.” Jenna slung her arm around Trevor’s shoulders and chugged the rest of her beer. Their friendship could go both ways as far as diverting attention. Still, she was going to get him to dish later whether he liked it or not. She wasn’t jealous of the woman, but Trevor was one of her closest friends and she wanted to know what was going on in his head. In a logical world, he was the person she should have called about her fears. Not Alex. But everything had changed.

  The conversation turned to sports and hunting, two topics she was useless at, despite her shallow Texas roots. Her family had been decidedly suburban while others like Liam Jones’ stressed hunter education and the value of procuring food for the family table.

  She’d been invited out to the Jones homestead a time or two. The grand-dame of the family was one of the few other founding families who hadn’t shunned Jenna’s grandparents after the fire. They were all smiles, laughter and hard work. Good people, but after learning squirrel was a regular ingredient in the meal pot, she’d passed up the last couple of offers to partake of meals there. She was adventurous, just not when it came to furry little creatures in her food.

  “I need another beer,” she announced and slid off her stool.

  More locals had drifted in until it was fairly busy at the bar. She found a spot that wasn’t directly across from Alex and settled in to wait for Jessica.

  “Thanks for the save.” Trevor slid in next to her and leaned against the wooden surface.

  “No problem, but dude, you have to spill. What happened?”

  He scrubbed a hand over his face and glanced away before shifting closer.

  “Nothing, really. Hot chick comes in. We struck up a good conversation. She went home with me and after I passed out she left. Just took off.”

  Interesting.

  Trevor scrubbed a hand across his mouth and glanced away from Jenna, toward the door. There was something he wasn’t telling her. Had this woman gotten under his skin? Was there more to the story?

  “I didn’t think you liked them to stay. I mean, the one nighters.” She drew circles on the wood with her finger, doing her best to act casual.

  “No, but...”

  “But?”

  “There was something different. I don’t know. It’s stupid. Anyway, I made the mistake of coming in here a couple nights later and asked Jessica if she knew the woman. She said no.”

  “And someone overheard you asking about her?”

  “Yeah.” He rolled his eyes.

  “What’s your new name?” She grinned. Sucked to be the one left, but it wasn’t like Trevor was hurting for company if he wanted it. A single night together didn’t make a romance, and there was no such thing as a magic vagina that could change a man.

  “Romeo.” He said it with as much disgust as she’d expect from him.

  Jenna laughed and made a mental note to work in a few good jabs this week before letting it die.

  “What’s up with you?” Trevor’s casual tone set off warning bells. He was great at getting people to say what they meant to keep to themselves. Case in point, the several instances she’d told
him some of her war time sob stories.

  “Friend of mine called. Just got me thinking.” She shrugged and nodded at Jessica when she held up a finger.

  “Bad news?”

  “Maybe. I’m going to go see her tomorrow. She just got out. It can be pretty rough.”

  “You are a stronger woman than me.” Trevor shook his head.

  “Whatever.” She rolled her eyes at him.

  “Keep something between us?”

  Jessica slid a plastic cup Jenna’s way and kept going.

  “Sure.” She wrapped her hands around her beer. If she wanted a buzz, she’d need to drink a lot more.

  “I got my shield.”

  She almost didn’t hear what he said, his voice was so low. His shield. As in—his detective’s shield? She sucked in a breath and swallowed, staring at him with wide eyes.

  “You—shut up! That’s awesome.” She wrapped an arm around Trevor, giving him a squeeze. “Who knows? Do your parents know?”

  “No, not yet. I want to surprise them. Do something silly.”

  “Your father is going to be so proud of you.”

  “He’ll probably tell me to go be an accountant again.”

  “He’s proud of you.”

  “No, no I know he is.”

  Some legacies were hard to live up to. Trevor’s was huge. Everyone knew Detective Walters, the man who single handedly stopped a ring of bank thieves and put the worst kind of filth behind bars. Trevor had to figure out how to be his own man, but it was a lesson she couldn’t teach him.

  “That’s awesome, Trevor. When will they make the announcement?” She squeezed him one more time before settling her hands around her cup once more.

  “A week, I think.”

  “We have to celebrate.”

  “It’s kind of surreal.” Trevor tore a napkin into strips and absently rolled little, white fluffy balls from the stuff. “You know, I’d have let it go this time if it weren’t for you?”