Chapter Three

2009, Age 26

 

 

I cranked the speed up on the treadmill as I asked into the phone, “Are you working late again?”

David laughed, “What do you think? I gotta get this business off the ground or my old man’s gonna be busting down my door to get his money back.”

A shapely ass on the elliptical in front of me caught my eye and I momentarily forgot about David and his money problems. Jesus, I loved working midnights because by the time I got off and made it to the gym, I had all the hotties to myself.

Yeah, I became a cop. Surprising, right? After what happened with Patrick, I was hellbent on staying on the right side of the law. David wanted to get the fuck out of Dodge—Patrick’s face had been plastered on damn near every billboard along the gulf coast. We compromised and ended up in west Texas, renting a shitty little house in the college district. I went to college and got my sociology degree while David followed in his old man’s footsteps by starting his own construction company. John had loaned him the money to get it off the ground and David had jumped headfirst into being a business owner.

Even more surprising than my decision to become a cop was the fact that my father seemed to want the very same thing for me. Gone were the plans of me joining up with the Silent Phoenix MC. He’d shown up not long after the incident with Patrick, offering me a kutte and a chance to prospect for the club.

When I told him that I’d planned on looking into a career in criminal justice, he’d gone quiet. He scratched at his beard as he thought it over before a grin spread across his face. “My boy—a cop. At least one Sullivan will make something of himself.”

He was just full of surprises. Gone was the man who’d beaten my mom within an inch of her life for cooking chicken incorrectly. In his place was a man who rarely raised his voice and showed a genuine interest in his wife and son.

“Hello? Mike, you still there?”

I looked away from the blonde and her ass. “Yep, still here. Still thinking of a way to get your ass to unwind for a night. I worked all night and here I am at the gym, fresh as a fucking daisy. Surely, if I can pull a midnight and still go out, you can too.”

The blonde slowed her pace and tried to discreetly look back at me over her shoulder. I winked at her and her cheeks immediately flushed pink before she spun back around, giving me a nice view of that ass again.

“Fine,” David conceded and I grinned.

“Nick’s at eight, dick. Don’t flake out on me again.”

He laughed. “10-4, asshole.”

My shift had begun at eight the night before. I’d pulled over a car with a broken taillight, broken up a bar brawl between two drunken frat bros, responded to a burglary, and then dealt with a fuck ton of paperwork to top it off.

I went into the academy right after getting my degree. My father had supported me throughout school, but made it clear that if I didn’t get into the academy, I’d be on my own. Like I said, he was nothing like I remembered.

After FTO, I drafted to midnights, where I’d been residing a bit impatiently for the last four years. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed midnights—it was a hell of a lot better than working days where paperwork was the highlight of your shift.

I just wanted to be a detective—to be able to track my cases from start to finish. As it was, I’d bust someone only to turn around and hand it over to the investigating detective. I wanted the ability to control my cases from start to finish.

There’d been rumors for months that CAP (Crimes Against Persons) had an opening they were looking to fill. I’d applied to pick up extra shifts, knowing that it made me look better to the higher-ups. I just needed official word that they were looking and I’d make damn sure that I was first in line for an interview. Until that day, I’d be pulling midnights.

“So, you’re a cop?”

I looked away from the television screen mounted on a metal crossbar in front of me and down at the perky blonde with the great ass.

It was too easy.

Seriously, the badge was a pussy magnet.

I could say anything and they’d fall hook, line, and sinker for it. I paused the treadmill and grinned like there were a hundred paparazzi cameras in my face. “Why? You in need of some assistance?”

She licked her bottom lip—lips that had been injected with god-knew-what until they were perfectly pouty. I wouldn’t mind seeing them wrapped around my cock. She widened her eyes as if she read my thoughts. “I might be. Are you free, officer?”

I cleared the machine before she even finished talking and hopped down. “For you, Darlin’? I just might have some time to kill.”

 

 

“See? Aren’t you glad you came out tonight?” I slapped David on the back and took a long swig from the bottle of Guinness in my hand.

It was an unseasonably warm January night, so I decided we should hang out on the patio at Nick’s.

He looked between me and two of the guys he worked with. “Yeah, I’m not sure that this was ‘unmissable’ as you so eloquently put it—and what the fuck is going on with your eye?”

I reached up and patted the puffiness before grinning. “Well, it turns out that Little Miss ‘Aren’t you going to frisk me’ from the gym was very much married. Her husband got off early—ensuring that I didn’t get off at all.”

David’s two work buddies cracked up while he shook his head. “Mike, again? Jesus, put a leash on your damn dick. You should’ve stuck with Sadie, she was good for you.”

He didn’t get it. Being with Sadie had been a nightmare—she was constantly breaking down over Patrick’s disappearance and wanting to talk about it. Frustrated, I’d turned to someone who knew the whole story—my father. David was out because he’d made me swear to never bring up that night again.

I was desperate for advice and, in his own twisted way, my father knew just what to say. He bluntly told me that women were good for keeping a bed warm, but that they demanded something a man could never give—monogamy. He’d gripped my shoulder and told me that men like us would never be content to live with our balls in a vice.

I’d wanted to write the whole thing off as bullshit, but he had a point. I’d been happiest when I was inside of Sadie; any other time though, she drove me up a fucking wall. Breaking up with her had been a good decision. Now, I kept girls around long enough to keep my dick happy before sending them on their merry way.

It was a good arrangement for all parties.

I took another swig of beer. “Yeah. You might be right on the leash thing; I’ll probably need a muzzle as well. He’s a vicious son-of-a-bitch.” Everyone laughed and I continued, “As for Sadie, I could only watch her pine after Patrick Roy for so long before I decided to cut my losses and move on. Hard to compete with a dead guy, don’t you think, David?”

His face paled at the mention of Patrick’s name, but before he could respond, a flash of blonde appeared near him.

“Oh, head’s up,” I called out as the blonde and her drink fell into David’s arms. He didn’t even seem to be aware of the fact that she’d doused him in some fruity cocktail as he knelt down and freed her foot from the deck.

“Are you okay?”

The pint-sized blonde kept her head down and stammered, “I-I-I’m fine. Thank you.” Then she looked up and froze. Yeah, he had that effect on women.

Bastard.

He flashed her a big smile. “I think the only casualty was your drink, which I’m now wearing.”

David’s buddy, Pete, looked to me for answers and I shrugged. He wasn’t normally that talkative with people he didn’t know. In all honesty, he was kind of a grumpy asshole most of the time.

The blonde’s eyes drifted down his body and I shook my head. She was brazen to be eye-fucking him with a bunch of his buddies at the table.

She shook her head and muttered, “I’m so sorry about your shirt and for falling on you. I’ll let you get back to your evening. Again, I’m really sorry,” before turning to walk away.

I was all set to dive back into our conversation when he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Wait, at least let me buy you another,” he lifted his shirt up and smelled it, “Malibu and pineapple?”

Holy shit. He was into her.

She smiled again. “Shouldn’t I be buying you a drink?”

At that, he stood up and put his hand on her back. “Beautiful women should never have to buy drinks.” She walked towards the bar and he turned back to us. “Don’t wait up, fellas.”

Pete and Eddie raised their eyebrows and then went back to their pitcher of beer. Not me though. I couldn’t recall one instance in the last thirteen years where David would’ve chosen to go off with some woman, abandoning boy’s night.

Me? I pulled shit like that all the fucking time. Not him though. In the past, when I’d asked him why he didn’t put himself out there more, he’d laughed and told me that he didn’t want to waste time with the wrong woman.

It had sounded like that psychobabble bullshit they spoon fed us at church camp growing up. I didn’t want to think of him as naïve, but my old man had cheated on my mom almost the entire time they’d been together. Who was to say that David’s old man hadn’t done the very same thing? He might’ve just been better at it. Hell, even Grey hadn’t seemed like the faithful type.

I watched as David and the blonde came back out onto the patio, choosing to sit as far away from our table as possible. I decided that I could sit and watch the two of them for a few more hours or I could go. I was tired anyway—dealing with Vanessa’s husband hadn’t been in my plans for the day.

It was Vanessa, right?

Maybe it was Veronica.

I threw a twenty down on the wrought iron table and made my excuses to Pete and Eddie. I’d barely made it out of the parking lot when it hit me.

Victoria!

That had to have been it. Damn, it would’ve been more helpful if she’d been screaming her own name instead of just mine.

Violet?

Vivien?

V—What the fuck is this guy doing?

The sedan in front of me had a taillight out and was weaving in and out of cars like it was a damn NASCAR race.

It was most likely a drunk driver.

And I was most likely not going to make it home any time in the foreseeable future.

The sedan veered to the right, banking its tires up on the curb before overcorrecting and swerving back into the middle lane.

Time to call for back up.

I hope David was just living it up because, while he was off getting laid, I was going to be stuck under a mound of paperwork thanks to the dickhead in front of me.

Some guys had all the luck.