CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Cruise
March
It’s been a somewhat quiet night on shift, and I have less than an hour to go. I’m really looking forward to going home and crashing, this is my third twelve-hour night his week.
“We have a report of shots fired from a silver colored Impala, in the vicinity of Callahan and Miller.”
The info from dispatch makes my ears perk up, I’m two streets over from Callahan. “Dispatch, do we have plates?”
“The only thing anyone got was a possible W as in water, and a H as in Harry.”
Up ahead of me, a silver Impala turns into my line of vision. I accelerate, until I can see their license plate. There in the glow cast by my headlights is a W and an H. “Dispatch, can you run this plate? I believe I have the vehicle in sight.”
Giving them the plate number, I know this is the shooter in question. I can feel it in the way my body tenses, the way my hands grip the wheel, the acceleration of my heartbeat. It’s an intuition everyone told me I would get once I’d been on the force long enough – and they were right.
“They’re driving on suspension, Caleb.”
“10-4, I’m initiating the stop.” I flip on my lights and hope they pull over. When they take off like a bat out of hell, I groan.
The police package in the Camaro I drive responds as I punch the gas. “They took off, traveling north,” I calmly relay to the hub of the station, hoping other officers can respond.
“I’m coming south.” I hear my dad’s voice respond. Typically we aren’t on shift together, but his is starting right as mine is ending.
We take a left, and I keep the information coming. My heart is pounding, but my voice is calm. It was probably the hardest thing for me to learn, to not let what other people are doing affect me. I have to keep a level head about me, have to be the voice of reason, even when speeds are topping ninety miles an hour. This time we take a right, and I have to slow down to keep from hitting the car in front of me.
“He’s gonna lose it,” I warn everyone listening.
And as he pushes the limits of the car he’s driving, making a sharp left, he loses control and rolls over. “Roll over,” I quickly shout into my radio.
Hopping out of my car, blue lights and sirens blaring, I see that the driver has gotten out and is turning to run. I lunge forward, pushing us both against a chain-link fence.
“Don’t resist me,” I groan as he does just that, stiffening his arm so I can’t get it behind his back. He flings my hand off and sprints to the left, but I manage to tackle him and we hit the asphalt hard.
“I can’t go back,” he’s screaming. “I can’t go back, just let go.”
“Stop resisting!”
I’ve got him down on the ground, but he’s strong, trying to flip me over, and I can’t get his arms behind his back. We’re still for a moment, each of us trying to get the upper hand on the other. I use my feet to brace against the asphalt, put the legs that managed to almost let me be a pro football player as leverage.
Risking it for a moment, I manage to key my radio. “I need assistance, I can’t get him cuffed.”
It’s the longest seconds of my life as I hear other officers calling out where they are, and I almost cry with joy when I hear the stomping of boots in my direction. “I’m here, I’m here!” It’s my dad, and I’ve never been more thankful in my life.
He and Tank were riding together, both take over as I roll off the guy, completely wasted of strength, and trying to regain my surroundings. Adrenaline is flowing through my body, and I’m shaking with the exertion it took to hold him still. As Tank and my dad get him cuffed, other officers arrive.
“You okay?” Dad asks me quietly as he bends down so that we’re eye-level. He reaches out his hand, helping me up.
“Yeah,” I pant. “He was strong, I just couldn’t get him cuffed.”
He pulls me into a hug while Tank waits his turn. “Lost fuckin’ years off my life when you said you couldn’t get him cuffed and we didn’t hear anything else on the radio. Thought he’d hurt you.”
“I’m a big guy, but he was strong.” I lean over, pressing my hands against my knees.
“Not wanting to go back to jail makes you do things. You’re bleeding, and your pants are torn. You sure you’re okay?”
“I think so.”
“Let Blaze check you out.” Tank grabs me in for a hug around the neck. “Fuck that was scary, man.”
“Yeah, try being there,” I laugh, because now that’s all I can do.
“C’mon over here, let me check you out, stud muffin,” Blaze yells from her ambulance.
I’m not even sure when they got here, but as I have a seat, I’m feeling very lucky that I wasn’t hurt. This could have gone a very different way.
Ruby
“Are you okay?” I ask Caleb, as he walks through my front door.
We were supposed to meet after work, and while I was at the grocery store, I ran into Morgan who asked me how Caleb was doing. It was a shock to find out what had happened, and I’ve been losing my mind ever since.
“I’m fine,” he answers, enveloping me into his arms. “I’ve never had a scare like that before though. I couldn’t get him cuffed, and I was scared I wasn’t going to get him cuffed.”
“When Morgan told me what happened, I was worried he was going to tell me you’d been injured.”
I’m shaking as I hold him in my arms, running my hands all along his body, making sure he’s okay.
“It’s just part of the job, Ruby. There are days like this when things happen, and then there are days when nothing happens. I’m glad to get to come home to you, though. It made filling out all the reports and waiting to get checked out worth it.”
“What do you need from me?” I ask, my eyes searching his, looking to see if he needs me to be what I was after the hard night his dad had.
“I need you,” he answers, his voice hoarse. “I need you to be exactly who you are, and us to be exactly who we are.”
He’s got the stench of sweat on him, probably from the adrenaline that pumped through his body and the exertion of trying to save his own life. “C’mon.” I grab his hand, leading him to my bathroom.
I sit him down on the toilet, as I start to fill my bathtub up. He’s despondent as he gazes off to the side, not focusing on much of anything. I can understand he’s got a lot going on in his head, and I want to help him work through all of it. But I know him, he’s not ready to talk about any of it. What he’s ready to do is not have to think.
Once the tub is full, I go to work on taking his shoes off, then his pants, and finally his vest and shirt. When he’s naked in front of me, he seems to come back to the present. “Sorry, I’m a little out of it.”
I kiss the space over his heart. Before I move to the road rash spots on his arms and knees. I’m so thankful he wasn’t hurt worse. The reality of the situation is scary, but I also realize how lucky we are. “You’re fine, let me help you.”
When we’re both naked and I’ve put him the bathtub, I kneel next to it, taking the time to wash him off. I massage the tight muscles and do my best to ignore the one between his thighs that’s now resting on his flat stomach. Every once in a while, I watch as he reaches down and gives himself a few strokes, but I want him relaxed before I do anything. Finally, his head leans back against the tub, and his eyes close.
His hand is still on his cock, jerking slowly, to a rhythm only he hears in his head. It’s hot, watching him do this, knowing that he’s doing it for me. Knowing that he’s completely lost all inhibitions around me. Quickly I jump into the tub, hoping to not disturb him. I know I’ve accomplished that when I learn forward, take his length down my throat, and he levers up out of the water.
“Son of a bitch, Ruby, I wasn’t expecting that.”
It doesn’t take him long to get with the program though. His thick fingers dig into my hair, pushing me up and lifting me down. “Stop, stop,” he pants, pulling me up by the thighs to straddle him.
“We’ve never…” he swallows roughly. “We’ve never had the conversation, but I would really like to go bareback in you tonight. Can I do that? Are you protected?”
God, just the words he uses is enough to turn me on.
“Yeah, I am. I’d love to do that with you.”
There’s no hesitation, in one push he’s inside my body, mouth at my breast, and the world as I know it has completely turned on its axis. Because unprotected sex with Caleb? Feeling him with absolutely nothing between us? Better than I ever imagined it could be.