Chapter 9
Matt
Flinging open the door of my cruiser, I climb out and take in the scene. With her hands cuffed behind her, Briggs leans back against the tailgate of Jimmy’s now dented in truck, looking pretty damn pleased with herself, while he rants to Officer McKnight about locking them up for the rest of their lives. Sienna sits on the pavement, legs crossed Indian style, staring blankly ahead at the shattered window. While I am relieved she is safe, I am mad as hell that she even came over here to confront him in the first place.
“What happened?” I shout, heading straight for Sienna.
“I’m pressing charges,” Jimmy barks as he paces back and forth. “I want both of these crazy bitches hauled in for vandalism and assault.”
“We’re going to get to the bottom of all this, Jim,” McKnight says, steadying him when he nearly falls over. “Sit tight.”
“She hit you?” I ask, jerking my chin at Sienna.
“What?” Jimmy clips, his eyes snapping to me. “Oh, I should’ve known you would haul ass to get here.”
“You call, we show up. It’s our job.” Unfazed by his tone, I take a step toward him. “Now, answer the question. Did Sienna Keaton physically harm or threaten you, in any way?”
Looking at her, he swallows hard. “No,” he replies, shaking his head. “Why should she? All she has to do is snap her fingers and this bitch steps off like a rabid dog,” he argues, pointing at Briggs.
Briggs straightens, her eyes raging. “Watch it, asshole,” she warns, her tone ice cold. “I work better with an audience.”
“That’s enough,” I say, keeping my voice calm. Walking over to Sienna, I hold out my hands. “You hurt?”
Shaking her head, she slips her hands into mine, allowing me to pull her to her feet. It takes everything in me not to haul her flush against my chest and bury my nose in the long dark hair I know smells like strawberries and vanilla. “Good. Wait for me in my car.”
“No,” she shakes her head again. “I’m pressing charges. Tessa will too.” She glares at Jimmy. “Vandalism and assault.”
“What?” Jimmy roars, throwing up his hands. “I haven’t come anywhere near you or Tessa! The only time I’ve talked to you was because I was trying to apologize and make things right between us. This!” he shouts angrily, gesturing between his battered shop and truck. “Is why men don’t say they’re sorry. Women are fucking crazy.”
“I’ve only begun to give you crazy,” Briggs grounds out, baring her teeth like an Aztec warrior about to charge.
Sienna’s entire body tenses at his words, only adding to my anger. She takes a shaky step back and I notice how her breathing picks up. The last thing this bastard gets to do is instill fear in her.
“Got a busted window of her own,” McKnight counters, yanking a pair of cuffs from his belt and grabbing Jimmy’s wrist. “Along with my aunt being stitched up at the emergency room.”
“Bullshit!” Jimmy argues as his hands are cuffed behind him. He glares at Sienna, looking like he would tear into her if given half the chance. “I don’t go near that fucking place. Ask anyone.”
“Don’t worry, we will,” I ground out, my rage simmering beneath the surface. I want her away from this motherfucker. There is nothing I would like more than to make sure he can never lay his eyes on her again. “We’re going to need you to come down to the station and answer some questions, Mr. Anderson. Including some on your visit with Miss Keaton last night.” When the color drains from his face, I turn my attention to Sienna. “Now, will you please go to the damn car?”
Sienna’s eyes spark, and I freeze, wanting to get lost in them instead of dealing with this bullshit. Opening her mouth, she starts to speak, only to stop herself. Shaking her head, she turns on her heel and heads for my car without a word. The tension of whatever was about to come out of her mouth is left hanging in the air between us. Words that I will make for damn sure are pulled from those lips later and dealt with.
After she listens to the ones I have for her.
With Sienna tucked safely inside my cruiser, and away from the situation, I help McKnight by offering to take Briggs to his car, while he helps get Jimmy loaded up into the back of another car pulling up. Without me having to ask, Briggs begins breaking down everything that happened as we walk, starting with her dropping in on Sienna at the bakery in the hopes of grilling her on info about our date last night.
“I feel shorted,” she mutters as we walk. “She didn’t tell me a damn thing about last night.”
“Oh yeah?” I chuckle. “Neither will I.”
“He deserved it, you know,” Briggs says, looking over at me. “Not that I ever liked him to begin with.”
Nodding, I laugh again. “Not sure that’s the best thing to say while in handcuffs. Though, I’ll admit, he’s not exactly helping his case right now, either.”
“Probably not,” she nods thoughtfully. “Doesn’t make it any less true,” she adds, stopping at the back of McKnight’s cruiser. “Anyone hurts her, they deal with me.” Looking over at me, she shrugs. “I don’t mind getting my hands dirty to make that point.”
“Noted,” I admit, picking up on where she is steering the conversation. Leave it to a woman to use a felony assault as a teaching moment for the new guy trying to date her best friend. If anything, she made sure the lesson was memorable for everyone. “How about next time you let the police handle the dirty work?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Sitting, Briggs makes herself comfortable before flashing me a smile. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Closing the door, I head over to where they’ve gotten Jimmy loaded into the back of the other car. Stupid asshole has been cuffed, strapped into the damn seatbelt like a toddler, and is still running off at the mouth, challenging every single one of us. “Shut up, moron,” McKnight barks, banging on the window with his fist. “Unless you want to keep adding charges?”
Jimmy stops ranting, his eyes landing on me, narrowing. “Fuck you,” he mouths.
“You two have everything you need from Sienna?” I ask, ignoring him as he continues his intimidation attempt. There are more important things to worry about than indulging some shithead who wants to push back against the law. These assholes never learn that it won’t work. They only dig themselves a deeper hole. I couldn’t give two shits what he says or does to try to get a rise out of me. My focus is on Sienna and keeping her the hell away from this clown. “I need to get her back to handle the damage at her own shop before she can lock up.”
“Yeah. It all seems pretty cut and dry,” McKnight replies. “How’s my aunt?”
“She threatened to put the Medic in a chokehold when he said she needed to go in and get an x-ray and stitches.”
“Sounds about right,” he laughs. “She’ll calm down once they start offering pain meds.”
After a quick run through of what both Jimmy and Briggs are being charged with, I make my way over to my car where Sienna sits waiting. Climbing in, I put on my seatbelt before glancing over at her. “You changed your shirt,” she says, looking down at her hands.
“Yeah. Keep an extra in the trunk.” Shifting into gear, I pull onto the street, heading back toward her bakery. “It’s not safe being covered in frosting around the chief.”
“Dodged a bullet there,” she snorts out with a little laugh.
“I could say the same about you,” I reply honestly.
“Yeah.” Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, she sighs. “I guess.”
“Looks like we’ve got another elephant to deal with, yeah?” Not prepared to make a joke about it like last time, I continue. “What you did was fucking stupid, Sienna.”
“What I did,” she bites out as I turn into the alley behind her shop. “Was chase after Briggs because I didn’t want her to do something fucking stupid. I was hoping to keep her ass out of jail.”
“How’d that work out?” I ask, sarcasm dripping from my words.
“Oh,” she snorts and I don’t even have to look at her to know she is rolling her eyes. “You’re hilarious.”
“Glad you think so,” I reply, mocking her snarky ass tone as I slam the car into park. “He touch you?”
“What?” she asks, sounding shocked at my question. “No. Briggs put his ass on the ground the moment she saw him.”
“Good,” I breathe, satisfied with that at least, even if this whole mess could have been avoided, had they only let us handle it. “You need to report what happened last night, too. Get something on file for a restraining order against him.”
“A piece of paper that says he can’t come around?” she asks, and this time I actually see her roll her big green eyes. “And if he comes at me, then what? Give him a papercut and hope he bleeds to death?”
“You call the police,” I toss out. “You call me if I’m not with you, and I deal with Jimmy.”
“That’s real noble,” she murmurs. “Offering to be my big, bad protector.”
“Not a damn thing noble about it,” I huff out, knowing good and fucking well that wanting her safe has gone far beyond me doing my job. “Trust me on that.”
“Noted,” she huffs, flinging open the door. “Thanks for the ride, I’ve got a window to get boarded up.”
Before I can blink, I am around the car and grabbing her arm before the door slams. Whipping her around to face me, I snake my other arm around her waist, hauling her into my body. Dropping my head, I close my eyes and run my nose along hers, breathing her in. “Don’t walk away from me angry.” My words come out in a rush. “Unspoken P.D. rule, babe.”
“I’m not mad, goddammit!” Grabbing my face, she slams her mouth to mine in a hard, quick kiss. “I’m freaking the fuck out and here you are bossing me around and making me crazy.”
“Yeah, babe,” I nod, biting back a laugh. “I see that.”
“Do you?” she asks again, sounding skeptical. “Because it seems like you’re enjoying looking all fuckable in that uniform, while barking orders at me.”
“Fuckable?” I ask, arching a brow.
“God!” she shouts in exasperation. Looking up at the sky, her lips move as she counts to ten. “Sway was right. You’re fucking clueless to the sickening degree of your hotness.” She throws up her hands. “Yes, you’re fuckable. Can we move on now?”
Slamming my mouth down on hers, I shift our bodies and press her back to the side of my cruiser. The fight doesn’t leave her body like I expected it to. Instead, it is turned at me full force and unleashed as if I’ve opened Pandora’s box. Her fingers dive into my hair, yanking hard as she kisses me back just as fiercely. I hiss out a breath, a mixture of pleasure and pain that has Sienna letting out a strangled moan.
I can taste the adrenaline flowing through her body. I want to drink it from her lips, binge on it until there is nothing left. Dragging her teeth over my bottom lip, she moans. “You should learn to say please,” she pants against my mouth.
“Please stop talking and fucking kiss me,” I fire back, grinding my hips into hers. “That better?”
“Mhm,” she breathes, smiling against my lips. “Much.”
“Well,” a male voice chuckles and I curse under my breath. Fucking great. Sienna and I jump apart, coming face to face with the Chief. Scratching his salt and pepper goatee, he nods thoughtfully, stepping out from the now opened back door. “I’m willing to bet they didn’t teach you that questioning tactic at the academy; huh, Hudson?”
“Uh.” Yanking at my collar, I clear my throat. “No, Sir.”
The Chief nods his head again. “Thought so.” His eyes shift between a fully flushed Sienna and me. “The building was cleared. There was no structural damage, other than the front window. Nothing that will keep you from opening tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Chief,” Sienna says, sounding relieved.
“Don’t thank me,” he replies honestly. “I didn’t do a damn thing.” Stopping, he scratches his chin. “On second thought, you can thank me. With cheesecake.”
“Of course,” she says with a little laugh. Squaring her shoulders, she heads for the backdoor. “I made a few larger ones. I could wrap you up one to take home?”
“Home?” he splutters, shaking his head. “No. No. I’ll take it to the station. Share it with the boys, you know?”
I think we all know no one at the station is getting any of that cheesecake…