Retaliate Read online

  Stepping out of the cruiser I lock it, as I do every time. I don’t need a crack head slipping in behind me and taking off with my fucking car. The Chief would have my head for that one.

  The air is thick and smells of gasoline and sour trash. It makes my nose scrunch in distaste, as I look around for any suspects.

  A short bald man steps out of the house, the screen door that’s void of screen slamming against the doorframe.

  “Well, look who it is, the fucking pigs!” he heckles around a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He’s wearing a greasy gray shirt, and gray torn sweatpants. His stained whitie tighties a sight to behold.

  “Why don’t you come down here, sir?” I suggest in a serious tone, wanting him where I have full control of the situation. First rule of being a cop, trust few.

  “Did I do something wrong?” He tilts his head to the side, rubbing his junk like he has a farm of crabs living in there.

  “Arrest that sum-bitch!” A woman flies out the front door, the screen-less door nearly slamming into her face as she points at the man. She’s wearing a gown printed with little duckies wearing pink shower caps. It’s two sizes too small, giving a full view of her pink panties that look to be period panties with the number of stains on them. Be a police officer like your dad they said, it will be great they said. How he did it for so long, I ask myself at least once a day.

  “What’s your name, ma’am?” Raven asks, her hand on her weapon. I notice her hand is shaking, she’s scared and if I can see it, everyone can. We need to work on that, if the suspects notice, they’ll play it against her. Like a dog, once it smells fear you’re fucked.

  “Oh, you don’t know what you’re talking about, Lucile!” The man shouts in the woman’s face as he slowly makes his way down the steps.

  “Hell I don’t, Harold, you took my weed and you’re going to give it back!” She screams so loud her voice gives out, her face red like a cherry tomato. Not even caring she admitted to having a controlled substance or that we’re even here from the looks of it.

  The man laughs, finally reaching the bottom step. He places his hands on his hips towering over Lucile. “I ain’t giving shit back,” he says with a southern twang.

  Lucile punches Harold on the bridge of the nose and he falls to his knees howling, while Lucile climbs on his back, slapping him recklessly.

  “You dick-less momma’s boy. I sucked creepy Stevie for that weed, and I’m gettin’ it back!” she demands, riding Harold like a wild bull into the grass.

  Shit. Quickly I pull out a pair of gloves and slip them over my hands. Who knows what creepy Stevie may have given Lucile after all. Stepping forward, I intervene and grab Lucile by the arms, and she begins to kick and buck in my hold. My knees ache as they press into the ground trying to keep control, and the smell coming from her makes me choke on the air entering my lungs.

  “If you don’t calm down I will hog tie your ass!” I threaten her, and she eases in my grasp.

  I flip her around on her stomach with force and slam her into the dirt. I press my knee into her back and she cries out in pain as I fish her hands out from underneath her before handcuffing her. I’m not going to lie, this part excites me. Having the training I need to control people two sizes smaller or bigger. I’m the law, and I can put anyone down. It’s a good feeling.

  “What are you doing? He’s the bad guy, he’s the one smoking all my weed, man?” she laughs with a dopey tone, squirming beneath me like a fish out of water.

  I glance over my shoulder to see if Raven has everything under control with Harold. She’s struggling trying to cuff him, and he’s finding it hilarious. Damn it!

  Pushing myself up from a laughing Lucile, I step up behind Harold and lay my boot into the back of his leg. His knees bite into the desert floor and I kick him in the back until he falls face first into the ground. Raven nearly sits on his head as I grab his meaty hands and handcuff him as well.

  “Sorry,” she mutters, and I snap an angry glare at her verbally expelling her weakness in front of everyone. It would have been different if it were just her and I in the car, but saying it here in front of the suspects is not something you do.

  “You have anything I need to know about?” I ask, searching the sides of Harold’s body.

  “Just a giant dick!” he cackles, and I roll my eyes at his ego.

  “Really? Because, I’m not finding anything that resembles that in the slightest, sir,” I retort seriously, and his eyes furrow with surprise at my flippant etiquette. Most police officers don’t say such things, but I’m not most cops. Not by a long shot, I know that and it both bothers me and drives me. My whole life I have been the third wheel in everything, and never knew why I felt that way.

  Reaching into his pocket I find a dime size bag of weed and some ecstasy pills. I open it and smell the weed, it’s strong and fresh. Creepy Stevie must be good at what he does.

  My brows furrow remembering seeing a family asking for money at a corner this morning.

  I’ll sell this and run by there and give them the cash. I bet I can get a couple hundred out of this at least. I don’t see it as being a dirty cop, more like Robin Hood. Kind of.

  “That’s mine!” Lucile wails, kicking her legs like a child having a tantrum.

  “Not anymore,” I mumble under my breath, shoving it in my pocket.

  Raven’s mouth pops open and I give her a look to shut it.

  “731 status check?”

  Grabbing the radio on my shoulder, I turn my head toward it.

  “731 situation handled.”

  “Roger that.”

  My cell phone rings in my lower pants pocket, but I ignore it. It’s my personal phone and it can wait.

  Pushing off Harold I blow out a steady breath. “So, I can arrest you both for resisting arrest, domestic violence, and posession, or you can both kiss and make-up and take a fucking shower. What’s it going to be?” I ask, fidgeting with the right glove strangling my wrist.

  My phone begins to ring again, and Raven juts her chin at me to take it. “Uncuff them,” I inform her, walking toward the cruiser.

  Pulling the gloves off, I fish my phone out and finding two missed calls from Jillian.

  Returning the call, I watch Raven get in Harold’s ass for giving her a hard time. She can be a little bad ass if she wants, she just needs a little push.

  “IT’S TIME!” Jillian pants into the phone and my spine races with goosebumps.

  “Time?” I ask startled. It can’t be. I’m across town!

  “My water broke. IT’s time,” she sobs.

  “Oh my God, I’m on my way!” Shoving my phone in my pocket I open the cruiser door.

  “Come on Raven, we need to go. NOW!” I demand. She looks at me puzzled as she un-cuffs Lucile.

  “Everything okay?” she asks, walking my way.

  “Move your ass, woman!” I holler at her. Lucile and Harold stand next to each other staring at us like we’ve lost our minds.

  I don’t even wait for Raven to shut the door before I pull out of the driveway.

  “What about my weed?!” Lucile hollers jogging after us.

  “731 take me out of service.”

  “Copy that,” dispatch replies.

  “What the fuck are we doing?” Raven asks with fear laced in her voice as jet out of the vicinity.

  “Jillian is having her babies, I have to be there,” I tell her, flipping the lights on.

  Raven looks at me with furrowed eyes. “Can you do that? Is this even okay to do while on the clock?”

  “I don’t really care,” I sneer.

  Feeling her eyes on me, I look her way finding her staring at me intently. Her dark eyes trying to size me up.

  “What?” I finally ask.

  “I swear this is like the movie Training Day, and I’m riding with Alonzo.” She shakes her head looking out the window.

  I smile and don’t say anything because she won’t agree with what I have to say. And that’s Alonzo was
a smart motherfucker when it came to running the streets.

  Heading toward the hospital there’s an accident with ambulances and a fire truck, the scanner is going haywire alerting everyone of a truck that caught fire so I have to go around, adding at least another fifteen minutes.

  “So are you the godmother or something?” Raven asks, smoothing the wrinkles in her pants.

  I eye her, curious why she’d ask that. “I don’t think so. I don’t know anything about kids, Jillian would be a fool to leave her kids to me,” I snort.

  “At least you have a best friend,” Raven whispers, the dread in her tone making me look back at her. She glances at me and I see a darkness in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. The depths of her eyes show hurt, and a rough life. I give a tight-lipped smile.

  “You got me,” I offer, and she smirks and looks out her window.

  “Yeah,” she mumbles, as if I’m not good enough. I’m not hurt, I only offered it because I think we could kick it and be good friends, but there is something there that tells me she has a wall I can’t get over.

  Parking in front of the hospital, I turn the ignition off and take a long pull of my iced coffee that is now melted thanks to the desert heat.

  A loud roar erupts from beside me and I jump so hard I spill my coffee down the front of my uniform, dropping the cup between my legs.

  “Shit!” I squeal, quickly grabbing the spilling cup and up-righting it.

  Growling, I look up finding Felix and his men parking right in front of me, an arrogant smirk pulling on his sharp face. That motherfucker!

  Jerking the door to my cruiser, I get out. My arms outstretched coffee slips down my arms and drips off my fingertips. My hooded eyes slowly lift to Felix, my right brow raised.

  “Do you get off on being an asshole?” I bite through clenched teeth. Anger poisoning my reason and common sense, I stomp toward him, my department issued boots slamming into the cracked sidewalk.

  His brows furrow slightly as he tries his hardest not to smile at my temper.

  Getting close, he towers over me, the smell of gasoline and cologne dancing around me in a hypnotic euphoria. My neck is cricked back to look at him fully. The gray in his green eyes reminds me of the color of steel concealing a criminal in prison. Cold and merciless, much like his personality.

  “Jillian might have gone soft and got knocked up by one of you dipshits, but I’m not her. In fact, when the time comes, and it will, I’m not going to throw cuffs on you and take you in, no. I’m going to drive you out into the desert and beat you with my fucking nightstick!” My voice shakes with hostility.

  “Sounds like my kind of Friday night,” he smarts with a curled lip. “What time should I pick you up?” He comes on to me, and I blink rapidly. His dark but captivating eyes sink into me, clawing out feelings I’ve never felt before. Fear? Lust? I look away, not liking the way his stare makes me feel. His body looms over me, snaking my body heat away and replacing it with something cold and savage.

  “Just stay out of my way,” I warn. “That goes for your fuck-tard prospects too.”

  Felix’s face hardens, and his eyes search his men wildly. Is he embarrassed? Or is he waiting to see if one of his men come at me for the disrespect I just spat at them.

  “And here I thought Jillian was the queen of bitches, but I gotta say… you take the crown, Blue Bird.” He mocks, his men laughing behind him. I don’t find it funny, I don’t find any of them funny. They’re savages and killed Jillian’s father. How she can overlook that is beyond me.

  Losing control, I shove him, pushing him half a step back. He’s hard beneath my hands, and my heart skips a beat at the contact.

  “I swear to God I will tase you in the nuts!” I reach for my Taser, and he chuckles like I just made a joke. Gah, I want to claw his fucking eyes out!

  “My best friend might have married one of you, but that doesn’t make us friends—”

  “Sure as fuck doesn’t, that is one thing we can agree on!” he reiterates, his men agreeing by nodding.

  “Good, then stay out of my fucking way,” I point a sharp finger at him in warning.

  He steps forward, his chest flush with mine. I suck in a tight breath, a weight on my chest making me feel like I’m about to combust at the seams. I’m scared of this man and what he’s capable of, and here I am poking him with a fucking stick.

  “Or what?” he snaps hastily, challenging me. I swallow hard, looking around nervously. His men stare at me intently. Their poses conveying they’re ready to take me down with a snap of Felix’s fingers. Raven is pale and looking at me like she might throw up from the altercation. Blinking from my stunned state I lift my chin and shoulders.

  “I may not be able to arrest you because you’re a dirty son of a bitch, but I’ll make your life a living hell,” I whisper, my eyes never leaving his. I’ll pull him over just to pull him over. I bust a tail-light just so he has to pay for it to be fixed, and I will arrest every chick I see with him for solicitation.

  “I’m the fucking king of hell, baby. If you haven’t noticed,” he says with a rugged voice. The darkness in the depth of his eyes telling me if anyone is going to hell, he’ll be the one ruling it.

  Maybe so, but I won’t make it easy on him.

  “Boys are so cute thinking a man runs hell,” I sneer, propping my hand on my hip right next to my gun.

  His nostrils flare as he silently looks into my eyes. The tension, hostility and something else lingers between us as thick as the Vegas heat.

  “I hate to break this up, but Jillian is about to give birth and Zeek is going to kick our asses if we aren’t there,” Mac interrupts mine and Felix’s staring contest.

  Huffing, I take a step back and walk around him, Raven running up behind me.

  The hospital smells like lemon and antiseptic. The fluorescent lights bright and ugly, and showing every bit of dirt and grime on the walls and broken tile.

  Striding to the reception desk, a woman with short red curly hair types away at a keyboard.

  Her gaze flicks to mine for a brief second before looking back at her screen.

  “Can I help you?” she asks lazily.

  “My friend was just rushed in having a baby, her name is Jilli—”

  “Second floor, room three,” she replies, eyes glued to the screen.

  “Thanks,” I raise a brow and head toward the elevator where all of the Sin City Outlaws piled in. The doors closing in on a shit-eating grin plastered across Felix’s face.

  “I really hate that prick,” I grumble, taking the stairs instead.

  “Really, because I thought you were going to kiss his face off outside,” Raven huffs behind me.

  My forehead wrinkles at her accusation. “I mean, he’s sexy, any woman can see that, but I…” I swallow hard, trying to figure out what the hell happened out there. “But the law is the law.” I give a curt nod, and might actually throw up at how cheesy that sounded.

  Making it to the second floor, Zeek is talking to his men, and I take no time to push everyone out of the way to get to him.

  “Where is she? Is she okay?” I ask frantically.

  Zeek looks down at me with a hard stare, and I can’t help but swallow hard. How Jillian got knocked up by him is a crazy thought. He looks anything but cuddly. His ink black hair has fallen in his eyes. His jaw hard and not a hint of happiness to be seen. He has to be packin’ down there to make up for his asshole personality.

  “She just delivered and is resting. You can go see her if you want,” he informs with an unemotional tone. I flinch, as if I was asking to go see her. I was seeing her with or without his permission. She’s my best friend. Practically my sister.

  Entering the room, I find her lying in bed, her stomach not as big as the last time I saw her. Her dirty blond hair is everywhere, her face sweaty and flushed. She has a baby in each arm, and is looking down at them like they’re her whole world. As if she’s never seen or experienced a love like the two bundles in her arms
have just gifted her.

  “Hey,” I whisper. Her head sweeps my way and her face lights up.

  “You’re here,” she croaks trying to sit up.

  “Don’t, stay put,” I insist walking to her bedside.

  Smiling I pull the blue fabric to the side and see a Zeek look alike sleeping cozily.

  “Oh my gosh, he’s adorable,” I coo. He’s all pink and wrinkly looking.

  She silently laughs. “They both look like their daddy.”

  “Did you guys decide on names?”

  “Yeah. Meet Layken and Samuel,” she looks back down at the twins. Her movements are slow and sluggish. I can tell she’s exhausted.

  “Very cute.” I brush a finger over Layken’s dark hair. She’s just as beautiful and giving me baby fever like the fucking flu. I never knew what people meant by the smell of a baby, but being this close to Layken and Samuel I now know. It’s clean, and sweet all at the same time. I could lift them to my chest and smell them all day.

  “How are you feeling?” I whisper, looking her over. She looks a hot mess. Like she just went through war to be exact.

  “It went really fast actually. I was having back pain all day, but didn’t think anything of it carrying the twins. But before I knew it, my water broke and they were coming out!” she laughs, her eyes heavy and tired.

  “Oh nice, you’re like one of those moms who has their baby in the toilet because you thought you had a big lunch,” I joke, and she nods as if she’s agreeing.

  “When my water broke, I thought I peed myself,” she raises a brow at me and I cringe. “You should have seen Zeek’s face when I told him it was time. I thought he was going to pass out.”

  “I’m never having kids,” I insist. I’m tired just looking at what Jillian has gone through.

  “You know, I’m not one to believe in love at first sight, but this… it’s a testament that it really does exist,” she tells me with a somber smile. Reaching forward, I grab her hand, and give it a squeeze.