Coup De Grâce

by Lani Lynn Vale

  He blinked, surprised at my outburst.

  “I wasn’t aware that was why you’d gone yesterday. I’d only heard what she said to me. I apologize,” Bryan said truthfully.

  Ah-ha!

  She!

  Well that could only be one person!

  “Stupid cunt muffin,” I muttered as I turned around to leave. “Fucking her way to the top.”

  I stomped my way down the hallway, passing the entrance into the ER, and then came to a dead stop when I saw Joslin’s fucking hand on my Michael.

  He was looking at her with concern as she wiped a fake tear from her eyelid, and I lost it.

  It’s hard to say where I came by my temper.

  My papa liked to say that it was my mom’s. My mom liked to say that it came from my dad.

  Wherever it came from, it was legendary.

  However, legendary temper or not, I needed my job, so I had my tantrum in the bay where the ambulances parked instead of in the hallway in front of the stupid bitch.

  “Stupid son of a whore. Puta needs her brain scanned if she thinks she can fuck with me. I’m a Pena, goddammit! And that pendejo has another think coming if he thinks I’m going to stand for this after last night. Motherfucker!” I hissed loudly as I marched out of the sliding glass doors.

  And right into a group of bikers that were looking at me funny.

  In their lead was Peek, and he had a mocking smile on his face that was perilously close to being slapped off.

  “What are y’all looking at, fools?” I snapped, pushing through them.

  They moved, I’m sure some of them trying not to laugh.

  Others, like the tall dark and handsome one with the caramel skin and the laughing green eyes, as well as Peek, didn’t bother to hide the laughs that bubbled out of their throat.

  “What’s got your panties in a wad, Owl?” Peek laughed from behind me.

  I flipped him the bird as I stomped across the parking lot, not missing the fact that through the glass walls that lined the back hallway I could see Michael standing with Joslin, in much the same position as before, but now he had his hands on her head.

  I made it all the way to the parking lot before I realized I’d forgotten that I didn’t have a car.

  Then I saw the shiny Dodge diesel with the black rims and electric blue paint job that Michael had gotten sometime in the last year, and bad Nikki came out to play.

  Let’s just say that my brother taught me a thing or two in his time, and with nothing else better to do, I’d honed the skills until I could get into anything, and drive anything.

  The newer vehicles were equipped with keyless entry, and you had to have a remote in the vehicle to start it.

  Michael, though, had made a whoopsie yesterday.

  He’d told me about a spare key he kept in his toolbox.

  I’d never thought that I’d need to know that…but right now it came in really fucking handy!

  Reaching under the wheel well, I ducked my head above the tire and looked for the black box, finding it within seconds.

  The box came off the metal it was attached to easily enough, but the entire thing was covered in dirt and grease, effectively making my hand completely covered in the gunk.

  Not that I cared.

  I was on my way home.

  I’d take my time and come back dressed, really dressed, and take it from there.

  Although I’d probably abandon Michael’s vehicle a couple of blocks over from my apartment.

  It wouldn’t do to have him knowing it was me.

  Pressing the unlock button, I opened the door and hauled myself inside.

  “Is there a reason a man has to lift his truck so big?” I muttered to myself, slamming the door.

  Pressing my foot on the brake, and punching the start button, the diesel motor rumbled to life with a quiet purr.

  Looking left and right, as well as at the door where I guessed Michael would come out of if he knew his truck was leaving him, I pulled out of the parking spot that Michael had so nicely backed into for me.

  Then I was on the road and two minutes from where I’d decided to park my newest acquisition when the red and blue lights lit up my mirror.

  “Son of a bitch!” I said, cursing myself and my stupidity. “You’re always doing this, Nikki. Always with the bad decisions.”

  To make matters worse, it was my stinkin’ brother behind the wheel of the cruiser that was pulling me over.

  His surprise was as great as mine when he saw me behind the wheel.

  It took him a few minutes to speak, but when he did, it wasn’t nice.

  Not that that was unusual for Nico.

  He was a major dick sometimes.

  “You are one stupid bitch,” he sighed.

  I took the nearest thing to me that I could reach and threw it at him, which happened to be a water bottle half filled with Gatorade.

  He easily caught it and glared.

  “You do know, right, that half the force is now looking for his truck?” He asked with a raised brow.

  I shrugged. “I was mad.”

  He blinked. “You were mad…so you thought it’d be a good idea to steal a man’s truck?”

  “I didn’t steal it. I borrowed it,” I said stubbornly.

  He just shook his head. “Get out.”

  “No.”

  “Yes,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “Make me!” I countered.

  I was sitting in the back of Nico’s police car when Michael pulled up twenty minutes later.

  Nico was leaning against the hood, tired of hearing me yell at him, and I was mad.

  I’d probably be fired, too.

  I knew I wouldn’t be arrested for ‘borrowing’ Michael’s truck, but Nico was an ass and put me back here because he wanted to, not because he had to.

  Michael dropped out of another cruiser that pulled up nose to nose with Michael’s truck, and got out.

  That’s when I closed my eyes and got comfortable.

  Leaning my back against the door, I crossed my arms over my chest and stretched my legs, with my forbidden colored shoes, across the seat.

  I was trying not to think about what I would find on my clothes if I had a black light.

  The inside of this cruiser was disgusting, and if this never happened again, it’d be great.

  It even smelled bad.

  Tapping on the window across from me had my eyes snapping open, and then shutting just as quickly.

  The door opened and Michael’s deep, sexy voice said, “Get out.”

  I shook my head and closed my eyes. “Nope, sorry. Can’t. My brother’s the arresting officer. I’ll have to deal with him from now on.”

  Michael’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to say it again, Nikki.”

  “And what are you going to do if I don’t listen? Sit there and stare at me? Yeah. No,” I said, closing my eyes once again.

  Then my ass was sliding across the seat by way of Michael’s massive hand wrapped around my ankle.

  I screamed, turning over onto my belly as he got my legs out of the car, and then latching onto the door as I was pulled all the way out.

  Michael’s hands went to my hips as he pulled harder, and my grip on the door started to give.

  “Let me go, you big douche bag!” I yelled. “Help!”

  We were on a deserted street in the middle of downtown, so the fact that I was yelling ‘help’ when there was no one around was quite comical, and apparently Michael thought so.

  He laughed. The bastard.

  “Let me go! I hate you!” I yelled, starting to kick when he tossed me over his shoulder.

  He smacked my ass, and I screeched.

  “You bastard!” I snarled.

  “You already said that,” he said laughingly, walking past my brother and the other officer who brought him, which happened to be James.

  My brother’s mouth twitched as I pa
ssed, and the bottle he’d handed back to me as he shoved me into the car sounded like a great thing to throw at him again had I had it.

  Except Michael had made me lose it with his caveman tendencies.

  When he got to the passenger door to his truck, he unlocked it with the keys in his hand and yanked the door open forcefully before depositing me unceremoniously on the seat.

  I gasped in surprise, and then glared at the closed door that had just slammed in my face.

  “Pendejo.” I muttered, then tried to open the door.

  It didn’t open, mostly because my brother was there to stop me.

  I flipped him off and he laughed.

  “I’ll get you back for this,” I said, pointing at him warningly.

  He lifted both hands and shook in fake terror.

  I narrowed my eyes, and then smiled as I pulled out my cell phone.

  “Hello?” My best friend answered.

  “Georgia,” I said when she answered. “You know last week when you asked Nico what he had for lunch, and he said salad? Yeah, it was really a burger from Jucy’s. He lied to you.”

  Her outraged gasp, and then the click of the phone in my ear, followed by the instant ringing of Nico’s had me nearly laughing in hilarity.

  “Karma’s a bitch!” I yelled when he answered the phone.

  Georgia was on a diet, which meant that Nico was on one, too.

  Except Nico didn’t want to be on a diet, and every day he was on shift he ate out because he was so hungry.

  He paid in cash because she could see their bank account, and I’d caught him at Georgia’s favorite restaurant just last week where he’d made me promise not to tell.

  Like the good sister I am, I didn’t tell. Until he put on his bastard hat. Then all bets were off.

  “That wasn’t nice,” Michael said from my side.

  I’d heard him open his door, of course, but I was ignoring him so I didn’t bother acknowledging him.

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I stared straight ahead and refused to even think about him.

  “Put your seatbelt on,” he ordered as he started the truck.

  I ignored him.

  “Nikki,” he said with a sigh. “Put it on.”

  I didn’t.

  Growling in exasperation, he unbuckled his own seatbelt, reached across me.

  His forearm caressed my breast, and my nipple tightened.

  The traitorous bitch.

  Once he had a hold of the belt, he reached it around me and buckled it into place next to my hip.

  He smelled good. Not that I would admit that.

  And my nipples were still tingling.

  Michael went back to his seat, rolled down the window, and started backing up.

  “Thanks!” He yelled at the two men watching us leave.

  I snorted.

  Screw them, too.

  I’d be talking with James’ wife, too. I was fairly sure I could find some dirt on him to wipe that smirk off his face.

  “What crawled up your ass?” He asked once we were on the road.

  I turned my head to look out the window and stayed silent.

  “Stop being childish and talk to me. What you did today could’ve turned out a lot different. You’re lucky it was your brother to pull you over and not someone that didn’t know you. Things could’ve gone to shit easily,” he growled.

  I turned to him then.

  “You wanna know childish? How about your wife telling everyone at work that I’m a piss poor employee, and then tattling on me because I’m wearing the wrong shoes. The same ‘rule,’ and I say rule with the upmost reluctance because nobody follows it, that everyone breaks. Which I then get sent home for,” I snarled.

  He blinked. “She’s not my wife.”

  “Well, you fucked her and you were married to her. Nearly the same thing,” I told him.

  “It’s not nearly the same thing. I’ve been divorced from Joslin for way over two years. We have no relationship whatsoever, and she’s marrying my brother,” Michael said matter of factly.

  I tried hard not to react to the fact that she was marrying Michael’s brother, but failed.

  “She’s what?” I yelled.

  Well if that didn’t take the wind out of my sails, I didn’t know what would.

  Michael shot me an amused look, and it only made that fire burning down in my belly become hotter.

  He was so sexy.

  His black hair was shaved tightly to his head on the sides, and had about a half inch on top, and his face was clean shaven, though it hadn’t been last night. He was back in his trademark black t-shirt, and a pair of jeans covered his legs.

  “Yeah, you heard right,” he nodded.

  I blinked and turned back towards my window.

  She was such a hoe!

  Bryan. At least three doctors that I knew. And Michael’s brother? For real?

  How did the woman have that much energy?

  “I thought you had to work today,” I said accusingly, not turning away from the view.

  “I do. At twelve. It’s only nine thirty in the morning,” he answered. “I was up there to come see you, when I didn’t find you at your apartment, but Joslin was telling me you were sent home.”

  I clenched my hands into fists.

  “She is such a bitch,” I snarled.

  He snorted. “And you’re just now figuring this out?”

  I snorted. “You were touching her.”

  He sighed. “There’s something wrong with her. She doesn’t understand the word ‘no.’ She’s devious and vindictive. I’ve learned over the years that the easiest way to deal with her is just let her have what she wants. Or, at least, let her think she got what she wants. Gentleness seems to throw her off, so that’s why I do that. I’ve learned to be just as manipulative as she is out of necessity.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, I think if you want to continue this relationship, you are going to need to figure out how to not touch her, because I don’t like it. Not even a little bit.”

  He smiled, revealing brilliant white teeth.

  “Noted,” he agreed immediately.

  Then he turned back to the road, and I was left contemplating my brashness of stealing his truck.

  “I sometimes don’t think before I act,” I admitted softly, looking at my hands.

  He snorted. “That’s an understatement.”

  “I’ll try not to steal your truck again,” I said softly.

  “You won’t have the opportunity to steal my truck again,” he laughed.

  I raised my brow at him.

  “You think?” I asked.

  He smiled. “I know.”

  When we pulled up to my apartment, I pulled out my keys and offered them to him.

  He took them, thankful that he hadn’t asked, and started up the stairs.

  I’d realized over the course of our four month dating life, and again last night, that Michael liked to be cautious.

  It didn’t matter if we were gone ten minutes or five hours, when we got back to my place, he was going to take a look through the house to be sure that everything was fine before he left me.

  I followed behind him, bemused, and walked into the door just as he was coming out of the kitchen and disappearing into the bedroom.

  I had a one bedroom apartment that I loved to hate.

  I was on the top right of a four apartment unit, and I hated every second of it.

  The neighbor to my right stole my parking spot. The neighbor to my bottom left liked to take my clothes out of the shared laundry room. And the neighbor directly below me liked to have loud, wall banging sex. Not that I knew how he did it since I was above him, and I was fairly sure he couldn’t fuck on the ceilings.

  Regardless, he did it, and I was impressed. But also a little sleep deprived at times.

  The interior of the apartment was nothing special. White generic walls, beige carpeting. Plain
crappy countertops and appliances that should’ve been updated last decade.

  My furniture, however, was nice.

  I spent a lot of time at home, and I wanted to be comfortable while I did it.

  Which was why I’d spent nearly an entire paycheck on my couch, and the next paycheck on my TV.

  My bed wasn’t as nice as my couch, which was why I found myself sleeping on the couch more often than not.

  “What’d you get sent home for?” Michael asked, breaking into my thoughts.

  I turned to him and crossed my arms over my breasts.

  “I couldn’t find my ‘appropriate’ shoes for work this morning, so I wore my regular tennis shoes, which Joslin immediately brought up to our boss, and I got sent home to change them. Although that was over an hour and a half ago, so I might not have a job to go back to,” I admitted.

  He moved forward, running his hand along the back of the couch.

  Visions of our one single night together started to filter through my brain, and I barely restrained the urge to cross my legs to try to circumvent the throb between my legs.

  “You’ll have a job to go back to,” Michael told me. “As for your shoes, those are in my truck in the backseat. You took them off last night and forgot to take them in with you. Which was what I was bringing back to you when you stole my truck.”

  I laughed.

  That man! How freakin’ funny he was!

  “That would’ve saved me a lot of time and heartache,” I told him. “Why didn’t you just text me?” I asked.

  “You told me to lose your number, remember? Since I’d never memorized it, and you deleted it from my phone, I didn’t have it. Unless I wanted to call Nico, and today was his day to take a standardized test with the department, athough it was canceled, thank God. So I wouldn’t have been able to do that. So I brought them to you instead,” he explained, his eyes eating me up.

  I sighed.

  Turning to my kitchen, I put my bag down on the table and went to the fridge to grab my lunch, which I’d forgotten and shoved it into my bag.

  “Well I guess you didn’t have to bring me all the way home then. I’ll just have to go change my clothes now because I feel like I swam in a cesspool after being in the back of Nico’s cop car,” I said, heading to my bedroom.