Good cop, bad cop.

I loved that game.

Today I was the bad cop. It was fitting to the situation, and I thought I deserved a little fun.

I could almost laugh at how happy I was right now. It would be so very inappropriate, but I was tempted. Boy was I ever fucking tempted to laugh in the face of Patterson St. James, the notorious drug lord I’d been trying to charge with a multitude of offences for close to two years.

The pitiful sight of him slumped in the chair before Aaron and me was hilarious. This was the same guy who’d told us he owned the world and we were ants to him in our nine-to-five jobs that paid us what he called “pocket change”.

We’d sat with him in the interrogation room for over an hour now. Patterson knew we had him. We’d gotten him good and proper, and yet he’d tried to bullshit us with shit talk about being blackmailed.

This fool had made my life a living hell for far too long, but this morning, everything had come to a head.

Wednesday had come through for me.

I had no qualms with Wednesdays. On Wednesdays, things could go either way. Hump day—it was the meh day that could surprise you. It had started great because I was still buzzed from kissing Brooke, and I hadn’t thought anything could top that.

Actually, nothing could top that. The news of Patterson came pretty darn close, though—pretty darn close.

It was Aaron who called me bright and early to tell me Patterson had been found on a fishing boat that came into the docks at four a.m. Our dear Patterson had been tied up with what looked like a whip a dominatrix would use in one of those BDSM clubs—not that I’d been for my own personal purposes, but I’d happened upon a few in my line of work. Then what made the news so funny was Patterson had been gagged with panties—lots of panties.

At least six.

What sweetened the deal for us was whoever left him like that had stuck the shipment assignment on his leg along with a mini tape. It was a recording of a conversation. While it recorded a female voice, it also captured Patterson saying he owned all the drug rings in not just Atlanta but the whole damn stretch of the North Carolina coastline.

That was how he’d said it.

He then babbled on about everything he was up to. Idiot. I’d bet the woman who had ratted him out and hand-delivered him to us must have looked like sex on wheels to get him to confess the way he had.

I’d heard the guy was a sucker for beautiful women, but damn that one had worked her charm. Whoever she was, we didn’t know, and that wasn’t our concern.

Our concern was looking right at me from the opposite side of the table.

I stood up while Aaron rested against the back of his chair. In a cool, casual manner, I made my way around to Patterson and sat on the edge of the desk near him.

This was my godfather mode. I would agree that I’d watched too many mafia films and probably enjoyed them a little too much, yet I didn’t stop the influence from filtering into how I conducted myself at work.

So, like Al Pacino playing Michael Corleone, I looked him over and leaned in close in that deadly manner that showed I meant business.

“Patterson, you know we have you. You know all this”—I pointed and wiggled my fingers, motioning to Aaron and the room—“it’s just a formality, just to get your side of the story.”

“I told you that chick blackmailed me. I have nothing to do with the shipment. I’m an accountant.” Patterson was still trying.

“And I’m a fucking farmer.” I took out my gun and pressed the steel barrel to the side of his head. He went rigid, and fear washed over his face.

“What are you doing? You can’t kill me. You can’t do anything to me.”

I taunted him by tapping the gun to his temple, and I probably made him more scared when I started to hum.

“I can do whatever I want. In here, I own the world—me with my nine-to-five, ‘pocket change’ job. I also own you. There’s nothing to stop us from popping a bullet right between your eyes right now.”

“You’re a cop. You can’t.”

“I can. I absolutely fucking can.”

He looked over to Aaron, who got up and walked over to the cameras in the corner. There was actually another camera behind us that no one knew about. The one Aaron approached hadn’t worked in years, but we kept it for show. He reached up and twisted it so it was facing the wall.

When Patterson saw that, he looked like he was about to shit himself.

“I’ll go grab some coffee and leave you two to talk…or whatever it is you’re doing,” Aaron stated, eyes focused on Patterson. “This is taking too long.”

“Call the crematorium while you’re at it and tell them I’m sending over one of our special requests,” I replied, trying so hard not to laugh.

“What!” Patterson looked up at me. His bloodshot eyes looked even redder and rough.

“How else will we keep this under wraps? It’s not like you’re an easy man to find anyway. People will just think you’re off on one of your sprees in wherever it is you go.” I smirked.

“Fuck you. You can’t kill me.” Patterson slammed his hand down on the table.

In that moment I pulled my pocket knife from my back pocket and wedged it right in the space between his thumb and forefinger.

Even Aaron gasped when he saw that.

The effect I had on Patterson was a little more that what I bargained for. As he shrieked from the shock, we both looked down to see the wet patch forming at his crotch.

The idiot had pissed himself.

I laughed now. It was too much to hold in. I at least tried to keep it more to a wicked laugh instead of showing that I found the situation hilarious.

Aaron saw what happened and looked completely grossed out.

“Confess if you don’t want me to throw the fucking knife straight in your dick.” I loomed in and hovered far too close to his face.

Patterson tensed.

“Now!” I roared.

Anger came back to the forefront of my mind. This asshole was the cause of me missing way too much time at home.

Nine to five? I wish. Our jobs were far from nine to five and it was because of assholes like him. In my case, this asshole had kept me away from my little girl.

“It’s all true, all of it—the tape, the assignment, the shipment. I’m responsible.”

I moved away from him and stood, placing my gun back in the holster.

“Nice. See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? And you even get to keep your dick,” I taunted, assuming my normal self and shedding the godfather persona. “Aaron, have Denziel get this fool out of my sight, and tell him he’ll need some paper towels or something.”

I walked out of the room, past Aaron with a smile on my face as I headed back to our office.

Ten minutes later, Aaron joined me. He waited until he closed the door behind him before he burst out laughing. I couldn’t hold it in either.

“Ryan, what the hell man?” Aaron could barely talk. “You are super scary. Fuck dude.”

He made his way to his chair and lowered himself to sit. It bobbled on impact. He ran his hands through his already ruffled hair and rested his arms on his desk as he stared at me, shaking his head.

“Got the job done, didn’t it?” I chuckled.

“Aria would never believe you could be that way.”

“And you will never tell her.” I pointed at him.

“Of course not—I’d be too scared you’d throw a knife at my dick. Jesus Christ, Ryan, I didn’t know you were going to pull that knife stunt.”

“I didn’t either.”

“What if it had gone wrong? He could have lost a finger.”

The thing was, it could have gone wrong. It never had before, but I’d never tried it like that before either. My dad taught me how to throw knives when I was younger. We also played darts. I had a good hand on me and even better hand-eye coordination, and I didn’t have to think about it.

“I’m glad it didn’t. Aaron, we’re free, man,” I pointed out.

That whole incident, funny and off key as it was, made us free. It wrapped up everything. There were still some questions and I supposed the offenses would most likely extend to the feds because there was some jurisdiction shit involved, but as far as we were concerned, it was case closed for the Wilmington Police Department.

The only thing left to do was clean up the streets and get the drugs off it and away from the gangs. It would be difficult and possibly a long time coming, but it was a much easier task than trying to catch the kingpin who was supplying said drugs.

A lot of lives had been lost because of Patterson, young lives. His concoction of black magic, as it was called, had taken off in a big way and made its way to our town, becoming popular with the high school and college kids—kids my Aria’s age.

“We’re free. Why do I already feel bored?”

“Because you’re crazy, that’s why. This investigation was nearly the death of me.”

“Come on, you know you enjoyed it as much as me. Catching the bad guys and making the world safer—that’s us.”

That was us. However, I couldn’t agree that I’d enjoyed the investigation as much as him, not when I was worried about Aria 24/7.

“Well that’s one bad son of a bitch off the street.”

“Yes indeed. And you…damn, there’s something different about you today. Sure, you’ve been bad cop before, but not like that.” Aaron laughed.

“He deserved my wrath.”

“Absolutely, and even I hoped for the knife to slip and cut off a finger for all the asshole’s done, but that’s not what I mean. You also looked it when you came in this morning.”

God, when I’d come in this morning, I’d been thinking about Brooke. I had been thinking of what she tasted like when Aaron caught me smiling to myself like an idiot. I was probably nothing better than an idiot hyped up on testosterone and lust.

I didn’t know what the woman had done to me, but she’d worked some kind of charm on me that made me…it just drew me to her. It reeled me in past the attraction to her overwhelming beauty, and it reeled me in past attraction itself.

I would admit that she carried herself with a certain level of class and sophistication that stood out by a mile, but there was something more than that about her. Maybe…maybe it was because her interests had lain with Aria well before me. Most women who were interested in me only tried to make nice with Aria so they could make nice with me.

Brooke was nothing of the sort. I wasn’t actually sure what she was, because I was pretty certain she’d leaned more toward hating my ass only a handful of days ago.

“Hmmm, interesting.” Aaron laughed, interrupting my thoughts.

I focused back on him and blinked. “What’s interesting?”

“You, my friend. Okay, since I know how you work, I’m going to go out on a limb and say your mind is consumed by a woman, and since my eyes have never deceived me, I’m going to guess the woman is your new neighbor.”

“What in the world gave you that idea?” I hadn’t mentioned Brooke to him at all.

“Well, there was the perfectly obvious way you took charge Monday night at the bar when you rescued her from Jackson. Then I watched you take hold of her hand while you led her out and took her home. What I don’t know is what happened once you got there.” He wiggled his brows in that stupid way he had since we were back in high school.

“She needed help and I took her home.” I tried to dance around the truth.

“That bullshit won’t work with me—you should know that. Also, the only person who knows you better than you know yourself is moi.” He pointed to himself and grinned with pride. “So, best friend, brother in arms, tell me what happened between you and your drop-dead gorgeous next-door neighbor.”

I chuckled and decided I’d come clean. “We kissed, that’s all.”

He gasped then started laughing. “Oh my God, what the hell Ryan? How and why did you keep that quiet? Also, I was pretty certain you thought she was on drugs.”

“That doesn’t mean I didn’t think she was hot.”

“’Course not—clearly. What else happened?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” Not that I’d wanted nothing to happen, but that was crazy.

That was my body talking—screaming, more like. It was screaming to be with a hot, sexy woman who made me want her even when I was trying not to. It was the part of me that skipped past logic and sense and went straight to wanting to get her naked with her long golden legs wrapped around me.

It was the part of me that yearned for escape from responsibility and stress, the responsibility and stress that came with being a single father to a sixteen-year-old. A single father who was still trying to get over the loss of his wife. Everyday with Aria reminded me of what I lost when I lost Olivia. It was a lot.

Again, it wasn’t that I wanted an escape; I just wanted a life.

Brooke was right—I needed to get a life.

“Ryan, for God’s sake, you have to change that. Nothing never accomplishes anything.” He chuckled. “I’m also going to point out that she’s the hottest woman who’s come your way in a while.” He nodded with conviction.

That was definitely true. It wasn’t that we had a lack of beautiful women in our town; it was just that she was on another level.

“I won’t disagree with that.”

“Thank God, because sometimes I wonder if you pick some of these women just because you know nothing will ever happen past a first date or a one-nighter.”

“Can I point out that you were the one who encouraged me to go out with a lot of them?” I couldn’t forget Mindy.

God, I still felt so bad about how Aria had treated her. It was so wrong on all levels, and I didn’t think she’d apologized yet. I needed to speak to her about that. Being mean was never good in anyone’s book, and definitely not mine.

“Hey, I just don’t want you to wither away. If the woman looks decent, I will at least give you some encouragement, and Brooke isn’t just decent—she’s hot.” He started to laugh then got a cautious look on his face.

I didn’t have to guess what he was going to say next.

“It’s my duty to make sure you don’t grow old alone.”

“You’re the same age as me pal.”

“You know what I mean.” The same wary look remained on his face. “I’m still searching for that special woman. I like fun here and there, and for a while that was all I wanted—fun. Now, though, I’m older, and I have a different mindset. I want different things now, a family—but you have that. You already found the love of your life.”

There it was.

Olivia.

I didn’t talk about her with anybody besides him, mainly because he was indeed like a brother to me. He knew me and he knew when it was okay to talk about the one person who’d probably hurt me the most.

It felt selfish to even think that, particularly because It was death who hurt me. Leukemia and death. Not her. Never her.

Still, knowing that didn’t make what had happened any less painful.

“Yes, I guess I did.” I sat forward and clasped my hands together.

“You know she’d be the first to agree with me.”

“What would she agree with?” I wasn’t following what he meant.

“That it’s almost like you purposely pick women you have no interest in.”

“Right. Yeah, she probably would.”

“And she’d ask you what the hell you plan to do with the rest of your life.” Aaron laughed.

I liked when he talked about her like that, like she was still alive.

“She’d probably tell me to get a life too.” Like Brooke had.

Outspoken women—that was it. It was the trigger for me.

It was the thing that seemed to push my buttons. It was the challenge of a woman who saw past my looks and didn’t give a crap about them. Muscles and tattoos, charm and all that business didn’t do anything for them. Sure, they were assets, but women like that were the ones I would have to work harder for.

Olivia had been outspoken, but more in the sense that she was blunt and straight to the point. Brooke was outspoken with a smart mouth and sass that made you want to think of sex instantly. That was different.

What she came up with shocked me at times, and I wondered if maybe she intended the shock. Most likely she did, but there was a part of the whole persona that showed that was just how she was.

“You should get a life, Ryan. Couldn’t hurt to start just next door.”

I had to laugh again.

I had a feeling that even if I wanted to attempt to rein in my emotions around her, it would be difficult. Last night was something else, that kiss and the way she’d looked at me…what she’d said had spoken of sexual promises.

We definitely needed to talk.

I just didn’t know when, or what I’d say.

Brooke was the first of her kind to attract me the way she had in a very long time. She was the first to interest me in years.

I hadn’t felt that spark that rippled between us since Olivia.