by Anna Castor
The aroma of omelets wafted into the bedroom. She’d always been happy with her snug apartment, but at times like this, she hated how everything was so compact. Every cooked meal dominated her entire place. She walked out on her black pumps and turned her back to Declan behind the kitchen counter.
“Can you zip me up?” She brought her hair down over one shoulder and glanced over the other at Declan.
“Sure.” He placed a hand on her hip and she felt her dress tightening where the zipper of her moss green dress went up.
“It’s good to have me around, eh?” She heard the smile in his voice.
She nodded. “Yes. I can never reach this one properly.”
The zipper got stuck, and he brought the zipper down a bit before pulling it back up.
“I hope you never wear this one to work then,” he chuckled.
“Normally, I’d ask Gwenn. Or before that, I’d ask someone at work for help.” Bree shrugged. He froze for a moment.
“Not that guy, I hope.”
Bree bit her lip. Maybe she shouldn’t enjoy his jealousy as much as she did. But it felt good to have the tables turned for once. She said, “Oh, yes. Almost every other week.”
He gave her zipper a brisk tug, and the motion unbalanced her. She gripped the counter and did her best to keep from laughing.
“Last week, I asked him to fasten my bra. I was on the playground and my bra hook suddenly broke. Poof!” She emphasized with her hands mimicking a bomb explosion.
He turned her around by her shoulders and she said through her giggles, “And the week before, I had these stockings…”
Declan’s scowl made room for a smirk when it dawned she was messing with him. “That’s so, eh?”
Bree nodded. He cocked his head and studied her. His ocean gray eyes seemed darker somehow. “It’s ridiculous how much I want to punch that guy in the face.”
“No need. He’s sweet but—”
“Sweet?” He let go of her shoulders and she immediately missed his warm hands on her body. Bree blinked a couple times.
“Are you serious? Come, give me a kiss.” She stepped closer and placed a hand on his cheek.
He held his lips stiff against hers. She pinched his side to snap him out of his stupid mood. “Ouch!”
He furrowed his brows, and she had to work hard not to laugh at his boyish look.
“I remember you double dating some bimbo, you know. If we do this, we’d better forget the past. I used to have a Susanna in my class... I hated the little girl at first sight. Just because you dated a Susanna ages ago.”
Declan chuckled and shook his head. “Poor girl.”
“It’s irrational. I know,” she said.
He pulled her in his arms, and he sniffed her hair.
“I’ll try to forget about him. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go all caveman on you.”
One hand went to the nape and goosebumps traveled her skin.
She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
“It’s okay. It’s all a bit new.”
His other hand trailed down to her butt, and he squeezed.
“I can’t wait to tell everyone you’re mine.”
“Hello…. caveman much?”
After calling in with dispatch, Declan closed his door and walked up to Caitlin, who’d already exited the patrol car.
“Let’s do this,” she said.
They walked up to the second apartment building in a row of three. Their shift would end in half an hour and Dec couldn’t wait to go home and shower. It’s been a long day. A day where one call after the next came in.
Normally he’d liked the fast pace of his job. But he glanced over his shoulder to Cait, from the peaks of hair sticking out of her bun, to the bags under her eyes.
It seemed like his seven-year-older partner had enough of walking the beat. She’d been up for a promotion this year. But unfortunately, after killing Kayla’s stalker, Cait hadn’t been the same and someone else at the precinct earned her spot as a detective.
“I can’t believe I promised my mother I would come over tonight.” Cait said.
“Yeah, Bree told me about tonight.”
Cait held her step and said, “Oh? You’re talking to my sister again?”
At least that put a smile on her face. He nodded and said, “You’ll have to ask your sister about that. Not my place to tell.”
She rubbed her chin.
“Hmm. Okay. I’ll do that.”
Declan walked into the apartment building, close after a man that had used his key to open the central door.
“Can you point me the direction to the stairwell?”
The man narrowed his eyes at the two police officers walking into his building without first ringing the bell. He had no time to discuss ringing the bell first. They needed to check out the scene.
“Thank you.” He took off into the direction the man pointed at.
They’d received a call about a commotion in the stairwell of this apartment building. The old woman that called it in said she heard strange noises coming from the stairs.
He opened the door to the stairwell and Cait followed him inside. They took several flights of stairs before he heard a man groaning. He held his hand on his hip where his gun rests.
“Aaaah,” a low male voice said.
Taking two steps at a time, he walked into a sight so absurd; he needed to bit his lip to hold his laughter.
“Ma’am. Can you please unleash this man?” Cait asked the woman dressed from top to bottom in neon fire red leather. The naked middle-aged man sitting on his knees held his lips against the woman’s pumps. He didn’t stir.
Except for his manhood. The moment Cait raised her voice; Declan became painfully aware the man got aroused.
“Oh, this is rich.” Cait said. She narrowed her eyes while looking at the man. “I don’t even want to cuff you. That would only be a reward for you.” Cait turned her back to walk down the stairs.
She said over her shoulder, “I’m getting some fresh air. I can’t believe this shit.”
“Cait. Wait. We have to—”
Bree’s oldest sister whirled around and pointed her finger in the couple's direction that finally had the decency to blush.
“You’re wasting everyone’s time here. I can’t believe it. You probably got off on the idea of people calling the cops on you. Well, fuck that. And fuck you.”
Declan held up his hand before the woman in leather could respond. The man blinked a few times but held his head down. He clearly waited for permission from that woman to move his ugly, rumpled arse.
Declan nodded at the clothes lying next to them. “Put your stuff back on. And never do this shit again.”
He left the couple without hearing their sorry ass excuses. He went outside to search for his partner. He was worried for Cait and not interested in writing the weird couple up for indecent exposure.
He found her at the park in front of the apartment building. Cait sat on the concrete bench with her head hanging down. She looked up when he sat down next to her.
“I’ve had enough. Every day, we put our lives on the line. And for what? I mean… I’m just so mad!”
Declan took a moment to let Cait rant.
“I know you’re not doing this as long as I have, but come on, Dec. Aren’t you sick and tired of it all?”
He stretched his legs and crossed his ankles. He looked up into the dark sky before he watched people walking in and out of the three apartment buildings. He could envision a background story for every person passing by.
The girl with a stack of books was probably studying for exams. The guy running around with the too tight spandex, hoped to get noticed by the woman stretching over there against a tree. People still fascinated him.
After years of walking the beat, people still surprised him. And as long as he could help people, he still found meaning in his work. All the other shit that happened on duty hadn’t jaded him. Not yet.
But he got his criminal justice
degree for a reason. He wanted to conduct investigations and knew the dynamics of his job would change if he’d got a promotion to be a detective.
“Sometimes, I just want to scream at them. Or punch their lights out.”
He’d hoped she had calmed down by now, but since she was still so angry, he said, “When was the last time you talked to that guy?”
Cait had mandatory sessions with a professional at their precinct, ever since she killed Kayla’s stalker. They all witnessed Cait’s transformation from a devoted LEO to a colleague who could fly off the hook in a heartbeat. Not only at the notorious assholes at their precinct. Even Shelly, who worked the desk and asked Cait how her day went got an ear full.
Cait scoffed. “Yeah, right. I’m done talking. Apparently, I’m messed up in the head because of my dad walking out on us. Boehoe. Like I’m the only one raised by a single parent.”
Declan turned in his seat. He had enough. “Exactly. Boe-fucking-hoe.”
Cait righted her shoulders and narrowed her light blue eyes at him.
“You don’t want to do this with me, Dec. I mean it.”
“Well, just sayin’. Stop feeling so damn sorry for yourself. If you hate this job, go find yourself a new one. If you want to stay in this line of work, go work out your problems. Fix whatever needs to be fixed so I can have my partner back. Because this,” he waved his hand between them, “Is exhausting.”
She stared back at the apartment building they’d visited tonight. “Well, if it only were that easy…”
He leaned forward with his elbow on his thigh. “You’re stuck, Cait. Whenever I see you outside of work, I see you smiling. I hear you joking around with my brothers and I miss that on the job. Last year, we would’ve cracked up if we’d found those idiots in the stairwell.”
Cait chuckled as she probably envisioned those two again. She stabbed a tear from her cheek. “What a fuckin’ disaster, those two. Can you imagine that? Only the thought of getting arrested got his little wiener up.”
He laughed and bumped her with his shoulder.
She waved her fist in the air and extended her pinky. “That’s what he’s working with. Poor guy.”
The moment their eyes met, they busted out laughing again.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, Cait asked, “So, you’re talking to my sis again?”
“You can never let go of anything, eh? At least that’s still the same.”
Cait huffed. “Maybe.”
She smirked and said, “But you’re still bad at deflecting.”
He shook his head and smiled.
“Yeah, okay. Talk with your sis. I’m going back to the car.”
He stood from the bench and walked into the direction of their patrol car.
“Maybe it’s time for a change.”
Halting his steps, he watched Cait walking up next to him.
“A change?” He asked and arched his brow.
“Yeah, I mean. You and Bree are finally together. Maybe it’s time for a change for me too. Maybe a change of scenery? You know, spice things up.”
He followed her lead as she’d passed him. He said against her back, “Oh, you mean you want someone to take the stairs with.”
She turned and walked backwards while smiling at him.
“I see what you did there, Dec. But I also noticed you didn’t deny being with my sister.”
He walked around the patrol car and stepped in. He buckled up and waited for Cait to do the same. He started the vehicle while Cait called them back in. After parking the car, they walked up to the station. He put his arm over Cait’s shoulders.
“Good luck, tonight, Ryan.”
As usual, she narrowed her light blue eyes at him for calling her by her last name.
He bumped his hip to her, and she knocked her fist against his bicep after she stepped out from under his arm.
“Sometimes I forget you were the pimpled boy next door to us. And that you know all about my family.”
He chuckled. “Why else would I wish you good luck?”
Bree’s mother droned on and on about how she found the perfect statue for her boss. Bree took a sip from her tea to hide her yawn. Declan had kept her up all night.
Bree squirmed her thighs together at the thought of bringing Declan to orgasm with her hand. She’d never been so bold in her life.
“What’s up with you, Bree?”
Bree jerked her head in her mother’s direction. Joan Ryan peered over her coffee and narrowed her eyes.
“You’re acting different.”
Before she could dismiss her mother’s observation, her sister Fi added, “I know. You’ve got some color back on your cheeks. It’s almost like you’re no longer heartbroken.”
“There’s nothing to tell.” Bree shot up from her mother’s red sofa and excused herself to go to the bathroom. She needed to get out from under her mother’s scrutinizing stare.
Her mother had finally returned from Brazil. She worked as a PA for a billionaire and often lived abroad for months on end. Bree was proud of her achievements. It hadn’t been easy for Joan as a single mom of five daughters.
Bree washed her hands and walked out of the bathroom. She stopped dead in her tracks in the hallway when she overheard her mother.
“I’m glad she’s finally moving on with her life. It’s painful how she always followed him around all the time. Declan Mills will never love her like she loves him.”
Tears pricked Bree’s eyes and her ears drummed. But she didn’t miss Fi’s response.
“I know. I feel sorry for her. Just look at Ronan, I—”
Caitlin interrupted Fianna and said, “There’s nothing wrong with the Mills family. You had a bad experience with Ronan. We get it. Now, get over it. Declan has nothing to do with his twin stepping out on you. He’s a good man and a good fit for Bree. It’s time to let it go, Fi.”
“I don’t hate all Mills men. I work for Duncan at his dojo, and he’s great. And I love Pops. But Ronan? I still hate him,” Fianna said.
“Shocking. Never would’ve guessed,” Gwenn said.
Bree couldn’t believe that’s the way people talked about her when she left the room. She felt like a fool. But Dec rejected her last March. So to a point, her family was right to question his love for her.
She’d wanted to tell her mother and sisters tonight she was trying to work things out with Declan. But as she stood there, hiding in the hallway from her family’s judgmental remarks like a scared little kid, she knew she’d done the right thing to take things slow.
She just needed a few more weeks to be absolutely certain of his love for her. And then she would tell her family.
She entered the living room and Cait gave Bree an apologetic smile. Bree returned her smile and sat down next to Gwenn. Gwenn bumped her shoulder to Bree’s arm and whispered in her ear, “Just another hour. We’re almost halfway through.”
Bree couldn’t suppress her giggle quick enough and Joan cleared her throat.
“Gwenn. How’s sleeping on Bree’s couch working out for you?”
“It’s fine, Mom.”
Bree wondered how Gwenn’s night had been last night at Cait’s apartment. Gwenn often woke up in the middle of the night because of her nightmares. It’s the reason why she wanted to take the couch. So she wouldn’t wake Bree.
Joan tapped a long, red fingernail against her chin. “Hmm. And work?”
“What about work?” Bree felt Gwenn stiffen next to her.
“Well, how about finding a job so you can support yourself? I didn’t raise you to profit from your sister’s hospitality.”
Bree didn’t stand up to her mother as often as she’d liked, but considering it was Bree’s hospitality she’d mentioned, Bree said, “Gwenn can live with me until we’re both ninety and senile.”
Kera laughed and shook her head. Bree jutted her chin to her mother to come with another spiteful remark.
Normally, Bree would swallow her pride because she knew her moth
er meant well, and she had their best interest at heart.
But when Joan opened her mouth, Bree quickly added, “I love having Gwenn at my place. She’s my sister. I’d like to think you would be happy to see your daughters taking care of each other.”
Joan waved a hand in the air. “Pff. I’d rather see Gwenn grow up. She may be the youngest, but she can’t stay forever with you and hide out for the rest of the world.”
“I’m right here, Mom. Stop talking like I have no say in this.”
“Well, it’s your sister’s couch. So, it’s up to Bree to give you a kick under your butt, isn’t it?”
Bree glanced over at Gwenn, who pulled her long, brown hair into a ponytail. It was Gwenn’s tell she was fed up. Her eyes shot daggers at Joan. Gwenn was about to say her piece, but Joan missed these signs and continued her rant.
“Didn’t I teach you girls to never rely on anyone? To be self-sufficient? Have you even looked for a job, Gwenn?”
Gwenn stood from the sofa and flung her arms wildly in the air. “I may be fucked in the head, but looking at you, I realize my deployment is only half to blame. You’re toxic. And I’m leaving.”
Gwenn pulled Bree from the couch. “And Bree’s coming with me.” Gwenn tugged Bree on her way to the door. A bit stunned at being manhandled, Bree waved her sisters goodbye over her shoulder.
“Think about how you treat your daughters next time you’re home for the first time in months. Welcome home, Joan.” Gwenn said.
Joan winced when Gwenn didn’t call her Mom. Gwenn had just put Joan into the same category as Rob, their absent father. Joan stood from her seat and strode over to the front door where Gwenn and Bree pulled on their coats.
“I’m sorry, girls. I just want what’s best for you. I hate that you’re wasting away on your sister’s couch. You’ve got so much potential.” Joan stroked Gwenn’s cheek and Gwenn’s shoulders tensed.
Bree buttoned her coat, ready to go home. She was glad Gwenn made the decision for her to leave. Bree had been done with this visit the moment her mother talked behind her back over how stupid she’d been in following Dec around all these years.
“Then why don’t you say so like a normal person? I always feel like I’m letting you down. First with my deployment. Now this. I can’t win with you.”
