Chapter 33

Allen

I woke up in the morning later than normal. The bed was empty, and I glanced around to see light filling the room as I blinked. I glanced at the bathroom door, found it cracked and wondered where Nicole was.

I smelled the coffee and bacon a second later and grinned as I stretched. I was fucking starving, and I went to use the bathroom before pulling some shorts on to go see what she was up to.

Nicole was in the kitchen wearing one of my t-shirts as she turned the bacon in the pan. She had a cup of coffee beside her while she worked and music was playing softly as I watched her from the entry. I knew I wanted to marry this woman, and it scared me. I wanted everything with her.

Nicole sang softly along to the song that was playing, and I knew this was the true version of her. I missed this at first in the beginning of last night but it didn’t take too long for us to become reacquainted with one another once I told her how I felt about her. She turned her head and saw me grinning at her as she raised an eyebrow.

“What are you smiling at?” She’d washed her face at some point and looked young and beautiful right now.

“You look good in my kitchen. You look hot in my shirt.” I stepped forward and kissed her hair. “You’re amazing, Nicole.”

“It’s just mediocre bacon and eggs. Don’t get excited,” she teased me as I wrapped an arm around her waist.

“It’s more than that,” I assured her, and I kissed her hair again and then her lips, tasting the creamer from my fridge. I went to pour myself a cup of coffee and added some milk as I looked at her. The shirt hung off one shoulder, and I licked my lips as I considered stripping her of it and taking her on the island again.

Instead, I made toast while she finished cooking and plated the food. She brought the plates to the table, and I grabbed the coffee as we sat down together. Nicole was all smiles today as we chatted about our day and enjoyed the meal.

She dressed in jeans and her own shirt, and I took her home before going to the station. While we drove, Nicole talked about getting her writing going and earning money again. They were holding onto the remaining money from the auction, something we were keeping between ourselves. I wanted Nicole as far removed from the scandal as possible, and since the captain was buying my story, I was going to stick with it.

I pulled into the complex and parked in front of their unit, kissing her goodbye as she pressed closely to me. “I love you,” I told her, and she smiled against my lips.

“I love you,” she told me as she kissed me again. We’d made love one more time in my bed this morning before leaving, and fuck me, if I didn’t want her again.

“I’ll call you later,” I promised her, then she got out of the car and made her way to the door. I made sure that she was inside before I pulled out and headed to the station.

Brandon was already there, and I assumed Noelle was waiting for her inside of the apartment. They were probably talking about everything right now but it seemed like Noelle supported us being together. I walked inside and went to the corner where our desk was lodged, and Brandon looked up at me. “How did it go?”

“Good. We’re back together and I dropped the bomb on her,” I replied, and he let out a whistle.

“Damn. How did she take it?” His eyes were bright, and I chuckled as I smiled at him.

“It went very well.” Nicole wasn’t like the other women, and I wasn’t going to talk about her like she was. “I’m happy, Bran. I think she’s the one for me.”

“I am glad to hear you finally admitting what I’ve known all along,” he told me, and I rolled my eyes. “It seems like everything is getting back to normal for you.”

“It’s still a process. She went through a lot being kidnapped but at least we’re going through this together.” I frowned as I thought about it, knowing I’d always be troubled by the kidnapping. I would talk to her about it and we’d work through it together, the way it was supposed to be.

We could do this.

The phone rang at our desk, and Brandon picked it up. He hung up quickly and told us that we needed to go to the captain’s office for a new assignment, given that the other one was handed out to another team. I stood and grabbed the coffee I bought on the way in and followed Brandon across the large room. He tapped on the door.

“Come in.”

We walked inside and sat down. Captain Peterson went over the last few details of the case surrounding Ricky. They found some of the girls safe but some were unaccounted for. I felt my heart drop at those words as I pushed the feeling of guilt away. I did the best I could with the time I had. I saved Nicole and she was back in my life now. I needed to focus on the present.

“I caught wind of something else that you can work on. It should be pretty straightforward for you boys, nothing like this last train wreck of a case. It involves illegal gambling.” He shuffled some folders on the pile on the desk, pulling one out and opening it to read the first page. “We live in the biggest city for this kind of thing and we all know that, but there was a recent shooting near this place. I want to find out more about it so we can shut it down. The victim survived, but I don’t want any more people dying than I can stop.”

“Was it over a game?” Brandon asked, as lost in the news as I was. We’d been distracted lately, and I glanced at him.

“The victim said that he was robbed, but it was near a well-known warehouse we found out housed these games. He might have been robbed of his winnings. A lot of these guys play dirty.” The captain kept reading and frowned. “I think all I want you to do is go in there and play a few hands with some of the department money. Get a feel for the place and who runs it that kind of thing.”

“Sounds good. Where is it?” Brandon asked as I took another sip of my coffee.

I almost spit it out as we were given the same address we were at to win the money for me to buy Nicole. Everything came crashing around me as I remembered how much those guys paid attention. There was no way we could walk back in and pretend that we just stumbled upon it again, not after winning the amount that I did.

I couldn’t let him learn about how much Nicole was involved in the situation. I couldn’t let him know that I won illegal money in the game there. I was fucked, and I didn’t know what to do.

I felt Brandon staring at me, and I lifted my eyes to his. The captain was still talking about it but all I could hear was the ringing in my ears of reality. I couldn’t run from this anymore, and I scrambled to come up with something to say.

I was going to lose my job. I was going to lose everything that I worked so hard for and I pinched the bridge of my nose as I took a deep breath.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Allen?” my boss asked. “Are you sick?”

“Just a headache,” I replied as I focused on a decision. I knew that I had to come clean, at least a little bit. I couldn’t go in there, but I searched my mind for information that I could give to help the case.

“I was thinking that we could have you go in this weekend. Friday or Saturday night, just to have a look around.”

I breathed in deeply and looked at Brandon. I couldn’t and I had to come clean with that. We couldn’t.

“I have to talk to you, Captain.” I blurted out the words as Brandon looked at me. “Alone.”

“Why?” He stared at me with suspicion in his eyes as I watched Brandon stand up. “What’s going on?”

Brandon left and closed the door behind him as I ran my hands through my hair. “The truth is, we’ve been there before. Brandon and I scoped out the warehouse one night when we were in the area. He’d heard talk of it, and we had some down time in between cases. I wanted to see what it was all about.”

“You went off duty? Did you play?” His eyes were dark as he stared at me, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“No. We just looked around and ordered drinks. The thing is, they saw both of us. The guys there ran a smooth operation. I couldn’t tell you who was completely in charge but they had people watching every move in the room. I think we’d be recognized if we went back.” I shrugged as he leaned back in his chair. “I think we could add to the case of you want to send someone else in there.”

“I’m disappointed in you, Allen. You went to a place without telling anyone instead of stepping forward and opening a case. Why? That isn’t like you.” He stared at me, and I kept my face neutral as I struggled to find an answer.

“I guess this other case took over and it slipped my mind. I was only reminded of it when you told us the address. I’m sorry for forgetting about it.” I shrugged as he scowled at me, searching my face.

“You’re one of the best I have. I trust you, but now I feel like there’s more to this than you’re telling me about.” His shrewd gaze took me in as I struggled to stay still. “This whole thing with your friend getting kidnapped fucked with your head, didn’t it?”

I could work with that.

“Yeah, I guess it did. She wasn’t even that involved and he targeted her. It has stuck with me.”

“Take some time off. Get out of town. I’ll work with Brandon on this one behind the scenes and send another couple of guys in there. You need to be ready to work starting next week on Monday. Part of this job is putting things behind us.” I nodded as he tossed the file back down on the table. “Get Brandon back in here. Take off for the weekend and work this out of your system.”

“Thanks, Captain Peterson.” I said before I stood and left the room, my heart pounding in my chest. I told myself never to fuck up this way again as I made my way to our desk and filled my partner in on what went down in the office. We got our stories straight before he went in, and I grabbed what I needed before heading out of the door.

I went home and made some calls to set up a little vacation for Nicole. I thought that some time on a beach would do her some good, and I grinned as I sat back on my couch. I’d go over later and surprise her with the news, telling her to pack so we could head out and have some fun.

I breathed in relief, thinking that I’d dodged losing my job tonight. I couldn’t let that happen again and needed to focus on work and sticking to the rules.