Chapter 4

Pepsi and Coke can’t even be on the same menu together, and you want world peace?

-Steel to a fellow officer

Steel

“It’s your girl again,” the dispatcher said over my cell phone.

I cursed. “You’re joking.”

“Afraid not,” she cooed. “But this one is for disorderly conduct. Not because she was trying to slip something into her coat.”

There was that, at least.

I debated calling Winnie like she’d asked me to do but then decided against it. I’d seen her leave this morning on the way to leave myself. She’d given me a timid wave, and I’d waved back as I’d gotten in my car. Then I watched her struggle to get into her car, wondering idly if she’d thought about trading it in. I immediately dismissed that because if Conleigh was stealing shoes, then I doubted she had the ability to trade her car in on something easier to get into. Then again, if she was stubborn like me, it was likely that she wanted to struggle. She wanted to get better. One day she would get better and then she’d be able to get into her vehicle easily again.

I’d cursed as I’d watched her nearly fall. Then cursed some more when she left and I saw her wiping tears off her face.

So no, I wouldn’t call her. I’d make sure that she heard afterward, but I wouldn’t be bothering her at work.

Which led me to the goddamn mall. The mall where about fifty young kids were gathered in a circle looking at something in the middle of that circle. My guess was that in the middle of that circle would be Conleigh.

I parked as close as I dared, got out, and immediately locked the cruiser. I could just see one of these dumbass kids trying to steal it.

Little fuckers.

I pushed through the throng of young kids. They started to push me back out, but then saw who it was they were pushing. Then they started backing away.

“Sorry,” one kid grumbled. “I didn’t know it was you.”

I snorted.

All the kids in this town knew me. All of them. I was a very visible member of the population. But I was also the president of the Dixie Wardens MC. Not to mention I started neighborhood watches. Did patrols and generally made my presence known by showing my face at all sporting events at the local high school.

“Yeah,” I said. “How about you go home?”

The kid didn’t argue. He just turned around and left.

Though, that might have to do with the fact that he was another cop’s son. He knew when he could and couldn’t joke around with me. This time being one of those times that he couldn’t.

“Yes, sir.”

Then he was gone and I was pushing back through more kids.

And there was Conleigh.

She and another girl the same age were screaming at each other.

“Your mother is a whore!” the other girl screamed.

“No,” Conleigh disagreed. “She’s not. My mother is not a whore and has never been a whore.”

My eyelid twitched.

“She cheated on your father. Everybody knows Officer Holyfield would never leave your mother if she hadn’t.”

Yeah. Those kids loved “Officer Holy.”

“No,” Conleigh snapped. “My mother wasn’t the cheater. My stepfather was. Go ask Cohen’s mom.”

“My boyfriend’s mom didn’t cheat with Officer Holy. Fuck you.”

I sighed.

“Girls,” I growled. “Time to break it up. It’s time for you all to leave.”

That last part I said loudly. Loud enough that every single one of the little shits had heard it.

They shuffled from foot to foot, unwilling to leave the juicy gossip.

“Now!”

Most of them left. But they didn’t go far.

“Girls,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“She’s spreading rumors about my mother,” Conleigh snarled. “Saying she’s a whore and that she deserves to be poor. She won’t stop talking about her, and now everyone at school thinks I’m ‘just like my mother.’”

I gritted my teeth and turned my eyes toward the other girl.

“What’s your name?”

The girl didn’t immediately answer. Conleigh did, though.

“Shannon Noor.”

Shannon’s eyes narrowed, and I saw her body tense in readiness.

“If you hit her, I will take you to jail for assault.”

The girl took a hasty step back.

“Time to go home.”

The girl gave Conleigh one more long glare and then swiveled around with the amount of anger that only a hormonal teenager could’ve pulled it off.

Conleigh glared at her back the entire way.

“Let’s go.”

She didn’t argue, and it was only when we were in my cruiser that I saw why.

She was crying silently beside me.

I had no clue what to say.

“My son, Sean,” I finally settled on. “Is getting calls from my ex. She’s a whore. I know whores. Your mother is not one.”

Conleigh burst out laughing in between sobs.

“Thanks for that,” she said as she wiped her eyes.

“Why do you keep doing this?” I asked. “One of these days I’m not going to be on duty and you’re going to get picked up by one of my cops that doesn’t have a soft spot for pain in the ass girls. He’s gonna take you into the station and book you. Then you’re going to forever have a record. Do you know what that does to you when you try to get a job?”

She stubbornly didn’t reply.

I sighed and started my cruiser, backing out of the crowd of people who were still gathered. Before I left all the way, I stopped and picked up my mic that would allow me to speak over the loudspeaker.

“In ten minutes I’m going to have a unit come over and make sure this parking lot is clear of loiterers. And, for all of you peabrains that don’t know what a loiter is, that would be the ones that are still standing around in the parking lot. If you’re still here, he’s going to be handing out tickets. Fines for said tickets are two hundred and thirty bucks. They also can’t be dropped. Think about that.”

Before I’d even hung the mic up, people were dispersing.

“Are they really that much money?”

I grinned. “No. They’re about seventy-five. But these kids don’t know that.”

Conleigh grinned at me. The grin quickly fell.

“I gotta tell you something.” She licked her lips and then looked away.

“What?”

I waited and listened as I maneuvered out of the mall parking lot, making it nearly halfway to her house before she decided to speak again.

When she did, my gut twisted.

“My dad—stepdad—cheated on my mom.”

I winced.

“With her best friend.”

My brows rose. “You know that for sure?”

I hadn’t heard a damn thing, and the station was a damn gossip mill.

She nodded, swallowing convulsively. “I heard her crying when she was packing our things when we moved out of Matt’s house. That girl, Krisney, the one we rented the house from?”

I nodded.

“She was asking mom what happened. My mom thought I was at school, but I’d walked home because it was early release and she forgot. Anyway, Mom was telling Krisney that my stepfather cheated on her with her best friend. And her best friend at the time’s husband was dying of cancer. Apparently, it was going on for a really, really long time.”

I felt sick to my stomach.

“I was hoping if I could do something bad…bad enough that the cops came, that one of those times Matt would come.”

“And what were you going to say to Matt?”

She pursed her lips, and her eyes changed. Before I could say anything on that, though, a call came in. I held up my hand when she started to reply to my question, and she clamped her mouth shut.

“All units be advised, there is a white male in a white t-shirt and baggy jeans walking down the middle of 240…he’s been flashing passing motorists his privates. Ummm, he’s also been pressing his genitalia against car windows that are stopped at stoplights.”

I bit my lip and momentarily closed my eyes.

“Does that mean he’s pressing his dick to people’s windows?”

I snorted. “Yes.”

“Can you go pick him up? That’s like half a block from here!”

I immediately shook my head. “No. I’m not dragging you to a call like that. Someone else will pick him up.”

“Please?”

I shook my head.

“All units be advised, the subject just exposed himself to a child by pressing his genitals into a cracked car window. The driver rolled his, ummm, genitalia up in the window.”

Conleigh burst out laughing, her hand smacking hard against her thigh.

But she got her wish.

With me being that close to the scene, I couldn’t just leave.

I parked next to the car that had the guy’s dick rolled up in the window and immediately recognized the vehicle. It belonged to one of the old ladies—Truth’s.

“Don’t get out of this car,” I ordered Conleigh. “Once another unit arrives on scene, we’ll leave. Understand?”

She nodded her head and held up her pinky. “Pinky promise.”

I winked at her, took her pinky with mine, and shook it lightly before letting it go. “Be good. Don’t press any buttons.”

Conleigh grinned. I slammed the door and went to deal with the poor schmuck who thought he could put his dick into a mama bear’s window.

Shit.

Before rounding the car, I sent out a quick text to Truth.

BP (11:59 AM): I’m here. Don’t freak out.

I knew that Verity, Truth’s wife, had already sent a text message.

Her phone was in her hand, and her child, EJ, was in her arms.

She was glaring at the man who was busy screaming his head off about his balls hurting.

Truth (11:59 AM): I’m on my way.

I rolled my eyes.

Of course, Truth was freaking out.

I sighed and walked to Verity, who was now standing a bit away from the car due to the man’s incessant crying.

“You okay?”

She nodded.

EJ leaned over, and I grinned as I took him into my arms.

“You okay, boy?”

EJ nodded his head.

He was nothing like his father. He wasn’t outspoken, but he was very watchful and curious. He loved Verity so much that it hurt to watch sometimes.

Made me realize what my own son had missed growing up with a mother like her.

“Give me a hug, boyo. I have to go deal with the trash.”

EJ gave me a hug, and I handed him back to Verity before giving her a wink. “Nice job. But you might want to take this a little further away. Truth is on his way.”

Verity rolled her eyes, but she did as I said seeing as both of us knew what would happen when he got there.

He was going to blow the fuck up, and Truth didn’t fuck around. When he blew up, he blew up big.

I sighed and turned back to the man whose dick and balls were rolled up in the car window and wondered idly whether or not I should take him out without backup present.

Deciding that that wouldn’t be a good idea since I couldn’t assure myself that the flasher wouldn’t run, I waited until another cruiser showed up on the scene. Tough, an officer that had been with us for going on ten years now, stepped out.

He took one look at the car, saw Verity off to the side, and then burst out in guffaws.

“Shit,” the big black man, one of the best officers we had in the entire state, rubbed his tears away. “I just…I just should’ve known it’d be one of your old ladies. You boys and your girls.”

I didn’t disagree. The entire club was now married. Every man in it had a great woman on the back of their bikes—except me—and all of those women were crazy. Crazy in a good way, but crazy nonetheless.

“Shut it, Tough,” I muttered under my breath. “Get over here and get ready to catch him. I’m fairly sure once blood flow returns to his boys, he’s going to hit his knees. But I’m not one hundred percent certain of it, so be ready if he tries to run.”

Tough gave me a half-hearted salute, then went to stand behind the man.

He didn’t get too close.

Then again, he didn’t need to.

Tough was one fast motherfucker.

He was big, but he also had the speed of an NFL tight end. He might look slow, but goddamn would he ever surprise you.

I’d raced him one time—and one time only—and wound up eating his dust.

Dropping halfway into Verity’s car, I’d just turned the ignition on and reached for the windows when two things happened.

One, Winnie stepped out of her car and started to yell at her daughter. Her daughter that was busy laughing her ass off and taking pictures of the stupid man with his dick and balls stuck in the window.

Two, Truth pulled up with the roar of screeching tires and a revving engine. He stopped his bike at the front of Verity’s car, got off of it and started stalking toward the poor motherfucker who definitely chose the wrong fucking car.

I sighed and hit the button to roll the window down.

The Flasher hit his knees, but he was right back up again when he saw Truth heading for him.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the Flasher knew who Truth was. Everyone did. We were members of the Dixie Wardens MC. It was hard not to know who each of us were if you lived in this town.

It’s not like we weren’t well known. We were. The Rejects did a lot of volunteering and held a lot of parties. We did a lot of everything, really.

And Truth was in the spotlight just as much as I was at times.

Especially after his swordsmith skills were mentioned in the fucking NY Times newspaper just last month.

Truth might be well known…but he honestly didn’t care. Especially when, after seeing the stupid man trying to run, he went after him.

Truth caught him. Tough hadn’t even bothered to go after him, knowing it wouldn’t be necessary.

“Truth…”

Truth slammed his fist into the stupid man’s face, dropped him like a sack of flour, and then turned on his heel to go to his wife.

His son threw himself into his arms the moment he got within reach, and Verity wrapped herself around him.

And my heart started to ache.

“Why are you here, Conleigh Annaliese?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and waved my hand. “Picked her up.”

Winnie’s eyes never strayed off her daughter. “And what happened this time?”

I felt someone come up beside me. Tough.

He watched the mother and daughter square off toward each other just as I was doing.

“This is Matt Holyfield’s ex-wife,” Tough whispered. “Holy shit. Why do you have his kid in your cruiser?”

I grimaced. “Long story.”

“Long story that I want to hear over a beer tonight,” he ordered.

And it was an order. He wouldn’t rest until he knew the full story, and I knew it.

“Fine. The usual spot?”

He nodded. “I’m gonna take that poor guy to the clink. I’ll see you around eight when our shift ends.”

And then Tough left, leaving me with two very pissed off girls in the middle of the road, staring at each other. Neither one of them willing to back down.

A car horn honked, reminding me that we were, indeed, in the middle of a freakin’ street blocking three of the five lanes of traffic.

“Ladies,” I said, voice tired. “Take it to the shoulder. Truth! Come move this car and your bike!”

“Get in the car,” Winnie growled.

And then I saw her limping to her car, sans cane or walker.

It made me smile.

“All my stuff is in Steel’s cruiser.”

Winnie growled. “Get your stuff, then meet me in that parking lot. I’ll pick you up there.”

Then Winnie was in her car, her eyes angry, as she moved out of the road.

She’d just pulled into the closest parking lot and parked when another cruiser arrived on scene.

This one was not welcome.

Matt poked his head out and then offered me a mocking grin.

“Darn, I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner,” he lied.

I knew he was lying, too. Fucker.

Conleigh rounded my car then and walked up to where I was just making my way to the shoulder.

“Conleigh, what are you doing here?”

Conleigh ignored Matt, turning her eyes completely to me.

“Conleigh.”

“Thank you for the ride,” she said, her eyes sliding away from me momentarily to Matt who’d said her name once again. “I appreciate your words of wisdom and your understanding.”

I touched the tip of her nose. “Go before your mother freaks out.”

Conleigh grinned, then purposefully walked behind my cruiser to avoid getting any closer to Matt, who was staring at her, watching her go.

I drew Matt’s attention when I said, “What are you doing here?”

“I just came off lunch,” he murmured. “Wanted to make sure you had it all in hand.”

Sure, he did.

It wasn’t a coincidence, and it didn’t escape my attention, that he always showed up to a scene after everything was all said and done.

He’d been doing that for about six months now, and it was starting to get on my goddamn nerves.

I assigned him to the school as the resource officer as a last resort. He picked up very little overtime and still managed to swap quite a few shifts with other officers. Meaning that half the time he wasn’t at the school dealing with the students, building relationships with them and performing his duties as the resource officer like he was supposed to be doing.

But since I allowed the officers under my command to do that at will, as long as the required number of officers were on shift, and not a lot of overtime was being had, I couldn’t exactly argue that he did it. Mostly because then it would be known amongst everyone that I didn’t care for the fucker.

“It’s all in hand,” I said as Truth backed his bike off the street.

Once it was safely ensconced behind my cruiser, he went to move Verity’s car, but not before sneering slightly at Matt.

Good to know it isn’t just me.

“Who did you swap with for today?” I questioned.

It may sound like curiosity, but I truly needed to know who was switching with whom. Normally I got at least a text message saying who was taking whose shift. It hadn’t happened with Matt, though.

Then again, I hadn’t made it mandatory, and since Matt didn’t do anything he didn’t have to do, it shouldn’t surprise me.

“Harrison,” Matt answered instantly.

I rolled my eyes skyward. “For which shift next week?”

“Monday and Tuesday.”

I growled under my breath.

“I know that I’ve told you before that you need to be a little more consistent than you’re being. Those kids up there need a resource officer that they can turn to when they need one. You, of all people, should know that they need consistency,” I said in a very even tone.

Matt’s eye twitched. “Is that why my daughter is here?” he asked, sounding a little put out. “Her mom wouldn’t like to know that you brought her daughter to a scene like that. She’s protective.”

What mother wouldn’t be?

And I hardly had a choice where I brought her when a call like that came in.

Before I could tell him that Winnie was already well aware of the situation, another call came in. This one being a minor wreck two blocks over. “How about you go get that one…since you’re so close.”

And, since he couldn’t very well argue with the chief of police and keep his job, Matt nodded once stiffly and started down the road.

“You really are pissing that one off,” Tough said thoughtfully from behind me.

I’d known he was there, but since he was busy writing up a report, I hadn’t thought much about him overhearing what I had to say.

Anything I said to Matt were things I’d say in public or in private. Just like I’d do with all of my officers if the situation warranted it.

“That one gets on my nerves,” I felt comfortable enough to say.

Tough was the captain of our band of misfits at the police station. He knew all that went on just as well as I did.

“That one gets on everybody’s nerves but Harrison’s,” Tough countered.

“Good to know it’s not just me,” I muttered, then glanced into Tough’s car. “Is he asleep?”

Tough grunted. “Sure the fuck is. He got in there and laid down like it was his own personal car. So, I figured I’d stay and listen to what was going on with that douche canoe instead of writing this report at the station.”

I snorted. “You never miss the chance to catch the gossip, Tough.”

Tough burst out laughing. “I gotta tell the wife something when I get home. And, I got something juicy today. Don’t think I didn’t miss those heated stares between you and Douche Canoe’s ex-wife.”

“She was just mad,” I countered.

“Mad and horny. For you.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that.

“She’s not in the place right now to handle what I got on my plate,” I muttered. “Take care. I gotta go to the girl’s house and have a talk with that same mother. I have to explain why she was here with me.”

Tough found that hilarious. “You ever thought of calling?”

My eye twitched. “Yeah, but why bother when I gotta go home anyway, and she lives across the street? Seems counterproductive when I could just run over there real quick.”

“She’s your neighbor?” Tough’s smile widened. “Oh, my Leilan is going to love this!”

Ignoring him, I walked to my cruiser and drove away without deigning to reply to his comment.

Tough was worse than a high school girl.

Seriously, I think he could drama Conleigh under the table.

Arriving at my house minutes later, I pulled into my driveway and went straight to Winnie’s house instead of my own.

The screams coming from inside were loud enough to permeate through the closed door.

I knocked, wondering if anyone would even hear.

Conleigh answered a few moments later, looking like she was about ten seconds away from pulling her hair out.

“She went to the store,” Conleigh murmured. “But she’ll be right back. We only needed milk. As long as you don’t mind listening to my brother screech at the top of his lungs…”

“What’s wrong with your brother?”

“My brother’s pissed off at the world today and letting everybody know it.”

I walked into a warzone.