Justice
Ana’s breathy moans played on a loop in Justice’s head all night and into the next morning. No doubt winning her over would be a challenge. But once he set his mind to something, Justice never gave up, and this would be no different.
Thankfully, the station was quiet as he walked in through the gated parking lot at the back of the building. He headed straight for Ana’s desk, where she sat ramrod straight in one of the crappy old chairs the borough was too cheap to replace.
Justice plunked the cup of coffee down right next to her hand cradling the mouse. “You ran out so fast after our night together, I never found out how you take your coffee, so I guessed.”
She glanced up at him, then at the empty desks around them. “You can’t do shit like this, Reilly. I will not have people gossiping about us. Especially since there is . . . no . . . us.”
Leaning over her chair so that she had to tilt her head back even farther to maintain her tough-as-nails glare, Justice just laughed. “Ana, they’re already gossiping about us. This place is worse than my mom’s damn hair salon back in the neighborhood.”
“Fuck.”
“Don’t worry. We aren’t the only topics of conversation.” He tucked one of her crazy corkscrew ringlets that had fallen from her bun behind her ear. “The Chief and Ms. Artiga are the main topic of conversation. Then Wright’s new baby. Then us. Then Luke and Sophie and whether they will make it down the aisle before her bun pops out of the oven. By the way, you either call me Justice or ‘Oh God Yes.’ Not Reilly.”
“Anyone ever call you a cocky, pushy bastard before?” Ana raised one eyebrow, giving him that trademark smart mouth that he loved.
“No one. You know why?”
She shook her head, never taking her eyes off his.
“Because until now there was nothing in my life that required me to be a cocky, pushy bastard. But I can see that you are going to take some convincing to give in to our chemistry.” He leaned closer, so close he could smell the minty aroma of her toothpaste. “So, I plan on making it as hard as possible for you to say no, until all you are saying is yes, yes, yes.”
Ana’s chest rose and fell with her quiet little pants. He could tell she was trying to suppress her reaction to his close proximity and the truth of his words, but it was useless. Justice could read her body as if it were his own.
The door from the lobby swung open, then slammed shut with an echo through the room, breaking the intense staring contest Ana and Justice had found themselves in. Justice straightened up, taking his own coffee over to his desk to get started on his work for the day.
“Morning, Chief.” Justice gave Luke a swift nod as they passed.
“Fuck, do not start calling me Chief, Reilly.” Luke grumbled and glared at Justice. “What are you doing here so early anyway? Day shift doesn’t start for another two hours.”
“Figured I’d get a jump on things. Go through my write-up on Big Eddie yesterday.”
“Well, good. You’re actually saving me a call. Bryan is on his way in now, and the four of us are going to sit down and brainstorm how to advance our investigation. Ana is up to speed, and Wright has all of his paperwork in for us to look at. I do not want to have another phone call with the Chief saying we are stalled.” The stress of letting down the man they all looked up to was evident in Luke’s entire demeanor. He held his shoulders high and stiff, his fists clenched at his side, and his eyes clouded with doubt.
Justice had never before seen his commanding officer in this state. “Got it, Chief.”
“Fuck, Reilly, so help me God. Just because Wright is out on paternity leave does not mean you get to take up his place as resident jackass. Stop calling me Chief, or I will put you on crossing guard duty for the rest of the year.” Luke spun on his heels and marched away.
Justice held back the retort balancing on the edge of his tongue. School is out; no crossing guard duty during the summer.
***
“We got great information from Big Eddie on how the operation is run, but it doesn’t do a damn fucking thing to actually find Artiga and his goons.” Luke paced back and forth in the conference room, his hair sticking up all over the place from how many times he’d yanked at it in frustration. “For all we know, the asshole could have left the country by now.”
Ana leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table. The change in position pushed her tits together, and despite a button-up blouse covering her cleavage, Justice had a good imagination and could picture what she would look like with nothing on.
“I think that is unlikely, sir.” Ana’s voice demanded everyone’s attention. Justice simultaneously loved that all eyes automatically shifted to her as she spoke, and hated it, wanting to punch everyone who got to look at her. “According to Big Eddie, the drop-offs didn’t stop until the day after the attempt on Camille’s life at the station. By then we had his name on the no-fly list, and all transit security personnel were given his details. There isn’t an airport, train station, or bus station in a five hundred-mile radius that he could have gone into without getting picked up on the spot.”
Justice tapped the table in front of him, Ana’s words striking a chord. “She’s right. Plus, everything we’ve heard about this guy so far points to him having an extremely paranoid personality. Only three or four guys in his entire operation have ever seen his face. According to his sister, he killed anyone he thought could be a threat. And he changed locations for his operation just on the possibility that his sister might have said something to the police, despite knowing she most likely didn’t say a word since they tortured her to find out. I’m guessing he would be too paranoid to venture far from where he is comfortable. He probably has a place that not even his sister or his goons knew about in his back pocket.”
Across from him Ana nodded and picked up the paper cup in front her. Absentmindedly, she took the first sip of the coffee Justice had brought for her, but a moment later shock registered on her face, and her eyes flew to his smug face.
Perfect.
Yes, he had guessed how she might take her coffee, but it had been an educated guess. She’d had a dark beer that night at the bar, so he figured she wasn’t one to shy away from bold flavors. But she had also confessed to a love for chocolate during their conversations in bed between bouts of intense orgasms. And despite it being damn near ninety degrees outside, she still wore a long-sleeved button-up shirt to work every day, so she wasn't afraid of getting a little hot. So, he’d gone with a pour-over Cuban brew with brown sugar. It was strong, with just a touch of sweetness. Just like Ana.
Ana shook her head slightly in disbelief and took another sip, closing her eyes and savoring the flavor. Damn if that face didn’t make him grow long and hard in his uniform pants.
Coy cleared his throat, interrupting Justice’s admiration of the woman on the other side of the table. “Okay, so if the consensus is that he is still hiding locally, how the hell do we find out where he is holing up?”
Silence fell over the room as they racked their brains to try and find the solution that had evaded them up to this point.
It was Ana who spoke up first. “While I was going through the files, there was mention of an informant who tipped you guys off about the break-ins, about the guy you ended up arresting for the break-in at Sophie’s place. But there isn’t a name listed anywhere in the files.”
“Yeah, I made a promise to him that I would keep him out of it.” Luke braced both his hands on the end of the conference table, his eyes downcast.
“Don’t you think we’re past that now? This guy ordered a house to be blown up, he tortured his own sister, and now he’s all but vanished.” Justice wasn’t normally one to second-guess his commanding officer. He trusted and respected Luke, but these circumstances called for him to speak out. “I know you like to keep your word, Sergeant, even to suspects, but if there is any chance your guy knows something, we have to question him.”
Luke sighed and fell back into his chair, scrubbing his hands over his face. “The informant was Simon Carmichael. You guys know him better as Shady.”
“Wait. As in Shady’s Bar? The guy who runs the underground fights at the barn just over the borough limits?” Coy laughed out loud after Luke nodded in confirmation. “That little sniveling shit. I never would have guessed he’d been your informant.”
“Don’t underestimate Shady. He may be a rat, but he is a rat with eyes and ears in every corner of this freaking town.” Luke ran his hands back through his hair once again, sending it spiking all over the place. “But if we bring him in for questioning, he’s not going to say a damn thing. According to him, he has a reputation to uphold. I’ve tried contacting him a few times, and he is freezing me out.”
“So, we go in undercover.” Ana shrugged her shoulders casually at her suggestion.
“It doesn’t work like that around here, Detective Formosa.” Coy smirked a little bit, obviously getting a kick out of Ana’s big-city ways. “Every single one of the guys on our force is known in the community. You can’t go undercover when Shady knows everyone by name and went to high school with half of them.”
“So, I’ll go in. He doesn’t know me from Adam.” The flippant way she suggested putting her own life in danger had Justice’s blood boiling. His vision became hazy, and he had to grip the table to keep from going over the edge.
“No.” The word came out more growl than anything else, and all eyes turned to him.
“Why not? This Shady dude has a dick, right?” Ana glanced at Luke, who nodded. “And he’s not gay, right?” Luke shook his head no. “Then this is perfect. I go in, flirt a little. We make up a reasonable story for why I’m there, and I slowly pump him for information. If he doesn’t have anything we can use, nothing is really lost. But if he does . . .” Ana let the words fade off, letting them all fill in the blanks for themselves.
If they did get the information, they could put this drug operation to a stop. They could make their town a little safer. They could bring home the Chief. But none of that mattered to Justice. Maybe it made him an asshole, but the town and the Chief could go fuck themselves if it meant Ana was put in the direct line of fire.
“We are not sending you in there to flirt with Shady. We’ll find another way.” Nausea grew thick in Justice’s stomach, crawling its way up his throat, threatening to spew his breakfast all over the table. Just the thought of Ana talking to Shady in any way that wasn’t in an interrogation made him want to be ill. Hell, not just Shady. He didn’t want her flirting with anyone but him. “You are not putting yourself in danger.”
Ana scoffed, looking at him as if he were insane. “Excuse me? I’m a cop. I’ve been a cop since you were doing keg stands in college. Danger is nothing new to me, just like it isn’t to any of you. I will go in there and I will do my job, and you will not pull this misogynistic crap on me, Officer Reilly.”
Before Justice could say another word, Luke barreled on with the conversation and with their plans to put Ana in the direct line of fire. Logically, he knew Ana could handle herself. She’d made it to detective in one of the most male-dominated fields at a relatively young age. But that didn’t mean he liked the idea of her coming face-to-face with a scumbag like Shady. The guy was known not only for his underground fights but also for providing women to high rollers. He held no qualms about treating women as goods to be traded, and Justice doubted he would hesitate to do Ana harm if it came down to it.
Justice wouldn’t let that happen, even if it ended up putting him on the wrong side of the law.