Chapter 6

You want to know how lesbian sex works? Well, for starters, both people orgasm.

-True Fact

Winnie

I rubbed my forehead in concern.

“Mom,” Conleigh breathed. “I don’t understand.”

I didn’t either.

That was the problem.

I passed algebra, calculus, physics, and, hell, even calculus two, with flying colors. Yet, I couldn’t figure out what the hell to do with my daughter’s tenth-grade pre-cal math homework.

I was such a loser.

“Con,” I said softly. “I just don’t understand. I’d have to reteach myself. Which I’m more than willing to do. However, it’s going to take me more than the twenty minutes that I have before I have to leave for work.”

Conleigh looked away.

“Are you sure that taking a night shift is a good idea?”

No.

Yet, I needed money. I needed to put food on my children’s plates.

I needed…help.

Help that I wasn’t going to find anywhere.

I’d contacted the attorney general’s office yesterday about back child support for Cody.

It was a gamble.

By doing so, I was admitting that I needed help. I was also letting him know that he still had his rights as a parent, and alerting him to the fact that he could potentially take me to court to lower the child support settlement we reached in an out-of-court agreement two months ago. Child support he’d promised to deliver—the whole two months’ worth—but never had.

Until that came through, I couldn’t afford to not take extra shifts. Not with Christmas coming up, anyway.

I sighed inwardly at everything that I needed to do.

With her struggling with her own homework, there was no way I was going to be able to help Cody with his sight words.

“Mom!”

I looked over to see Cody standing there looking at me.

“Yeah?”

“I got papers!”

I hated papers.

Seriously, if I never saw another shittily—is that even a word? —colored fucking paper it’d be too soon.

“Oh, yay!” I cheered falsely. “Whatcha got?”

He gave me the papers that were haphazardly stuffed into his folder, and I winced.

He had a stack full of them.

Shit.

I dreaded the day when all my son’s graded papers came home.

He was a smart cookie…except when he’d put his stubborn foot down, then all bets were off.

He was like me in that way.

Unfortunately, things didn’t come easily for either of my two children.

Conleigh had been struggling since she moved to her new school district in the second grade. Cody was struggling to say the freakin’ alphabet correctly every single time.

If he couldn’t do the alphabet, how the hell was he supposed to grasp the concept of an actual word?

Then I saw the official-looking letter that was tucked in his folder amid all the graded papers that had been hastily shoved in there and winced.

I pulled it out and read the sticky note on top as I felt a lump form in my throat.

Winnie,

I know that we discussed this as a possibility at report card time, but I now believe he needs it for certain. Please take the time to fill out the paperwork and send it back. This is not the end of the world, I promise!

—Mrs. T.

I crumpled up the sticky note in my hand and looked at the envelope with dread.

Then I forced myself to grow a pair and opened the envelope as that lump forming in my throat grew larger.

I suspect that your son may have some developmental delays. Please don’t be alarmed—it might simply be due to the fact that he did not attend pre-K. But he is lagging behind his classmates in several areas, and it would be best to address these issues now, rather than later.

I felt like throwing up.

I looked over at my son, who was now happily playing next to his toy trucks, and felt a single tear slip from my eye.

Then I sucked it up, pulled on my big girl panties, and walked to him. “Let’s go over these sight words one more time.”

I stopped next to Conleigh, dropped a kiss on her head and went to the chalkboard that I’d installed just for this instance.

Then, I made myself late, just so I could help my son with his sight words.

Conleigh was on her own, though.

I left my house twenty minutes later after instructing Conleigh to lock the doors and set the alarm. I headed to work with my mind all over the place.

One thing was for sure…I needed help, and I would take whatever I could get.

Little did I know that my prayers would be answered by my hot cop neighbor. And I would like it.

***

Twelve hours later

The first thing I saw when I arrived home after my night shift was my neighbor.

My thighs clenched, and I growled under my breath.

But, he wasn’t where I expected him to be…like at his house, for example.

No, he was in my house.

Again.

It was as if he was living there.

What the hell?

I walked in with the box of donuts to find both of my kids dressed, fed and at the table.

Cody even had boots on, which was a fucking win. Normally I had to force him to put any sort of shoe on. Socks were a bonus most days.

“Uhhh,” I said as I came in. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Conleigh looked up from where she was sitting next to Steel, who was holding Cody on his lap.

Steel was fully decked out in his own uniform, my guess either coming home from work or about to go to work.

He looked a little disheveled, his hair askew a little more than his usual messy, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

“I was taking the trash out and saw Steel.” Conleigh grinned. “I asked him if he happened to know how to solve quadratic equations, and he said he did. Now, here we are. I almost have my homework done.”

I grinned, unable to help myself. “That’s great news!”

And it was. I was happy that she was able to get her homework done. I’d spent half my night of free time trying to reteach myself how to do some of the shit that used to come so easy to me just a few short years ago.

Conleigh shot me an excited look, then looked at the clock. “I have ten minutes until the bus comes, too!”

I started to laugh.

It was fifty-fifty if we made the bus or not. Today, hopefully, they’d make it.

“Donut?”

Conleigh snickered.

“What?”

She looked at Steel, who was eyeing the room around him with laughter.

“You just offered a cop a donut,” she answered.

My lips twitched. “Uhhh…I’ve got nothin’ to say to that.”

Steel stood up, setting Cody lightly on his feet.

“I’ll take one of those, but I have to go. I had a call come in about five minutes ago about a cop having to go home sick. I’m gonna cover the school zone for the next hour until it ends.” He looked at the kids. “I don’t mind giving them a ride.”

Cody whooped. “Yes!”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have a booster seat for him.”

Steel stroked his beard, bringing my attention not only to it but also to his lips.

Then he leaned forward and grabbed the box of donuts from my hands, snatching himself a chocolate one before handing the box over to Conleigh. Once Conleigh chose what she wanted, Cody pulled out the blueberry cake one, took one bite, and then put it back.

“Heard those things are easy to move around…” Steel said pointedly.

I tightened my lips together, and then nodded. “They are that.”

“Then it’s settled.”

And then they were all loading up minutes later, but I stopped Steel before he could follow them out.

“You have crumbs,” I murmured, wiping my hand down his chest.

He wasn’t wearing a bullet proof vest, but his chest was hard still.

“You’re not wearing a vest,” I pointed out.

He winked. “I don’t normally do as much running around as the rest of my officers. We purchased everyone else a ballistic vest. Mine’ll be next.”

And then he was walking away, but I was left reeling.

He’d made sure his entire department was outfitted with a vest before he was.

Holy shit.

That was so sweet of him, yet completely and utterly stupid.

“You’re a liar from hell,” I muttered to him. “How the hell are you going to tell me that you don’t patrol or do anything as much as your other officers when you damn well know you’ve been working every single day this week.”

He shrugged. “I’m older and lived a longer life. How’s that?”

Terrible.

The thought of Steel dying was suddenly very unbearable for me.

“How much do these vests cost?”

I had like three hundred dollars in savings…

“Seven hundred,” he answered as he took a bite of his donut. “But there are still three others I want to outfit before me, so mine’ll be a while.”

“You can’t buy your own?” Conleigh asked.

He shrugged. “We could, but I have a mortgage payment to make, a truck payment. A grandkid, and other things I need to buy. Seven hundred dollars is better spent elsewhere.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that.

I didn’t agree.

His grandkid could go without a toy for a couple of months…hell, so could my kids.

He’d used his own money on my kids, too.

Now I felt utterly like shit.

He was using his own personal money on my family, and he could be spending it on himself. Buying himself a vest that could protect his life.

I felt bile make its way up my throat.