Jen

“Get down!” Ricardo Pilar was face first on the pavement. I held my weapon steady. My voice was firm. I was keyed up, no doubt about that, but I was sure of myself.

It had taken one year. One solid year. I’d crossed every ‘t’ and dotted every ‘i.’

Ricardo Pilar’s stated reasons for being in Port Azrael was for investment purposes. He’d had meetings with the developer of an old hotel outside of downtown, he had meetings with a restaurant owner, and he’d had meetings with a city official. It was mostly bullshit. It was a cover for the reason he was really here.

Ricardo Pilar’s reason had nothing to do with hotels and restaurants. It had everything to do with getting a foothold for trafficking hard drugs in Port Azrael.

I’d started this investigation, and I was finishing it.

In the beginning, I had a tip from an unlikely source.

Bear Bullock set me on the path. Though no one at the PAPD knew that for sure. They might suspect where I got my intel, but no one was braving enough or maybe stupid enough to ask.

Over the last year, while working this case, I also worked on being a part of Benz’s life. Neither came easy or overnight. But nothing easy ever makes you proud. So, I put in the work on both fronts.

I didn’t go from Benz’s arms to old lady overnight. I still wasn’t a regular at The Dark Saints MC clubhouse. There were times though, when I could show up, and feel comfortable, if not at home.

Those times usually had to do with Mama Bear making a gigantic dinner.

“No one’s stupid enough to bring their dirty shit to Mama Bear’s dinners.” Benz had told me. And so, I went, reluctantly at first, and Bear and I kept our distance.

The other Saints kept Benz on his toes.

A hug from Zig that lifted me off my feet produced a “watch it” from Benz, my gigantic body guard.

Kade, he’d taken one on the chin for me, and I would never forget it.

When Benz was busy with Zig Kade was there at my side with a beer.

“Here you go, Jenny, in the Yellow Dress.”

“What?”

“That’s what he called you right after he met you. Jenny in the Yellow Dress.”

I thought back to the first time I’d been in the same room with them, and that yellow dress. It was a Dark Saint trap really. It did work.

I didn’t wear dresses, ever, the one time I did I caught Benz’s eye. I was still grateful as hell for that. Even though it had causes a lot of turmoil before it was all over.

Benz learned a lot about the real me since that day. And learned more about him and his club.

We also devoted our time to Port Az, for my part I was trying to keep it clean, Benz and his brothers focused on keeping it the right kind of dirty.

“I see your jaw is healing. I never got a chance to say thank you for that. And I’m sorry.” I did owe Kade and said as much.

Kade brushed it off and we clinked beer bottle necks to show we were good.

Kade’s dark features were really gorgeous, he was what the phrase “smoldering” had to mean. All The Saints, together, at the clubhouse were an overwhelming feast for the eyes I could see why women fell at their feet. But my Saint, Benz, he was the only one who made me weak in the knees.

The Saints knew we were together, Benz and I, that was important to Benz.

“It’s another layer of protection for you, my brothers. If something goes down, you can bunker here with them. Remember that.”

I didn’t envision a time where hiding in the MC would be an option for me, but it made Benz feel better.

When I was in the clubhouse Benz was never very far and my beer with Kade was a short interlude.

“Mama Bear is almost ready to feed us.” He draped an arm around my back and rested it on my hip. I wondered if there would ever be a time when even the smallest touch from him didn’t set my insides on fire.

“I’m going to see if she needs anything.”

“She has this shit handled,” Benz said.

“Grandma always told me to help the hostess.” And so I did.

Mama Bear understood that I wanted to be useful.

“How about you put out all the silverware we have in that drawer honey.” I opened the drawer she’d indicated and went about doing what I could.

She did have it handled, she was also generous enough to try to help me to feel my way with this crew, and in this strange role I’d found myself in.

“I do remember how you’re feeling. All this, it’s sort of another planet. You’re right to have your career at the PD. That will help you.” I didn’t know exactly what she meant. I also didn’t know why her approval meant so much. But it did.

Watching Mama Bear with Bear was interesting. In my mind, I had this thought that a biker’s old lady was subservient or played second class citizen. Sure, there were women that would do anything for The Dark Saints, women who were clearly groupies, but then there was Mama Bear and Axle’s Maya. They were different, and they navigated these waters in ways I respected. I watched and learned.

Eventually, at one of Mama’s potlucks, I found myself next to Bear.

“You know, you didn’t have to snitch on your own family with that safety deposit box.” He’d said to me. It had made a splash, the revelation that that legendary Texas Ranger Randolph Davidson was on the take, but like all news, it faded fast.

“I did. Part of what I’d grown up on was a fairy tale.”

“Nothing wrong with a little fairy tale now and then. In fact, I’ve got a line on a Big Bad Wolf, I think you might like to hear about.” Bear and I sat at the bar, both of us staring straight ahead.

“I’m listening.”

“Ricardo Pilar.”

“Yeah?”

“Ever hear of him?”

“No.”

“Well, he’s the bigger fish.”

I thought back. The deal I’d busted in on was for New Jack Swing. I realized now how very green, very eager, and very stupid, I was. Both my boss and Benz said the MC was trying to get a bigger fish on the hook with that setup. I’d ruined it. I’d let the bigger fish swim away.

“How do you know?”

Bear slid an envelope to me.

“Put it in your bag, take it to the office. If there’s something else you should know, I’ll tell you. Oh, and goes without saying, you didn’t get this from The Saints.”

Bear left his bar stool, and I sat there a moment. Is this how it started with Deputy Chief Janning? I wondered how far the Deputy Police Chief and the Prez of the MC went back.

I’d learned a lot from Janning about how The Saints and the PAPD co-existed. And about how the citizens of Port Az may not want to sit next to The Saints at the local diner but they appreciated having them handle the dark corners of the world we all lived in.

The devil you know.

I put the envelope in my bag and felt Benz’s arms around me. He lay his head on my shoulder.

“Let’s go. I’m sick of sharing you.”

One year after the night Bear first tipped me off I was at the loading area at the back of the Port Azrael Grand Hotel with a gun on a South American drug trafficker.

The hotel wasn’t grand in the slightest. It was run down and had seen its good days decades ago. Ricardo Pilar was there, making a show of renovating it if anyone asked.

But really, he was using the loading dock as a distribution point for heroin. I’d watched for a year, I’d tracked, and I’d orchestrated a reason for him to be there in person to receive his biggest shipment yet. It was in a truck that appeared to be hauling hotel banquet tables.

Along the way, I had help, eyes where I needed them, and information that could only be gained on the street. These days even Janning didn’t question it.

“Don’t try it, Pilar.” I saw him think about trying for the gun at his belt. I looked over to my partner, Peter Peck.

“On it.” Peck covered me while I bent over, relieved Ricardo Pilar of his weapon, and slapped the cuffs on him.

I pulled him up to his feet and recited his rights. I’d done everything I could to make this bust. I wasn’t going leave a single detail available for a defense attorney to poke a hole in.

Pilar looked at me as I finished. He had a smirk on his face. I didn’t like the look of it.

I walked him out to our vehicle as the evidence team took photos. This was my collar, and Janning was letting me handle it top to bottom.

I shielded Ricardo Pilar’s head, and he got in the back of the vehicle. I got in, and it was just Pilar and me.

“You think you’re the winner eh? You think this is some big bust for you.”

“I’m not the one in cuffs now am I?”

“You’re fucking a Saint? Don’t get used to that taste.” It was an empty threat snarled from a man headed to jail. Still, it scared me that Ricardo Pilar knew anything about my life. I was the one watching him, not the other way around. I didn’t like that he knew who I was and whose bed I slept in.

Some would say it was dangerous, being in love with a Dark Saint. I knew it was the opposite. Benz and his club were the dark guardian angels this town needed. I accepted it. Beyond that, I was grateful for it.

“Let’s go. There’s a night of paper work ahead.” Peck said as he got in the passenger seat.

He was right. Ricardo Pilar was off the streets. And so was the heroin he wanted to bring to town. It was a win. A win with an assist from The Dark Saints.

The engine turned over, and I stole a glance in the rearview mirror at Pilar.

He smiled.

* * *

Booking and paperwork took most of the rest of my shift. Assistant Chief Janning walked out when I did as the sun was coming up over Port Az.

“Good work Guffy.”

“Thank you.”

“Keep that up, and I’ll be looking at you for a promotion, maybe even recommend you to The Rangers.”

“You know, I think I’m good right where I am for a while.”

“Yeah? Port Az grows on you.”

“Well, that and Peck still can’t remember his computer password. I can’t leave him high and dry.”

“There’s that.”

“See you tomorrow.”

I drove the short distance to my place.

Our place.

Before I could even turn the key Benz was at the door opening it for me and sweeping me up in his strong arms. My feet left the ground.

He kicked the door shut and his lips met mine. The kiss was part greeting and part promise. I missed him after working twenty-hours to put this case over the top.

Benz put me down.

“I got eggs going Detective, let’s get you fed.” I looked at his face and noticed a fresh cut on the brow over his left eye. I looked closer at it and inspected the rest of his face.

“Did you clean that?”

“Yeah, Mama Bear insists on that shit.” I figured if she cleaned it she also was okay with Benz no stitches. I didn’t ask how the cut got there. It was what worked for us. If I needed to know what happened, he’d tell me. I trusted him. That’s what it came down to.

I had no doubt if I knew every detail I’d worry over every minute.

This was better. This was the life we’d figured out together, night by night, moment by moment.

“I heard you got Pilar dead to rights. Nice work, year in the making.”

“You always hear this shit before the ink even dries on the fingerprints. I swear.”

“Come on.” Benz took my hand and led me to our kitchen. I loved our place. It was the same apartment, a whole floor, that Benz had brought me to the first night. He was better at making house than I was and for sure better at making eggs.

“Mama taught you how to make a killer omelet, another thing I owe her for.”

I walked up to the counter that separated the open seating area with the kitchen area and just inhaled. I was planning on inhaling that omelet when Benz’s wrapped his arms around me again. I leaned against back against his chest.

If there was anything sexier than Benz in a t-shirt and low-slung jeans, I didn’t know what it was, except Benz out of a t-shirt.

He trailed kisses from my earlobe to my neck while his fingers worked the buttons of my sensibly tailored white dress shirt. I had worn my serious as a heart attack black suit. I thought it made me look like the FBI instead of the PAPD.

“That skirt is so fucking pornographic on you,” Benz said, and I didn’t have a clue why he thought that. I also didn’t have the focus to ask what he meant because his hand had found my nipple and pinched hard. The other hand slid my skirt up to a dangerous height. His fingers brushed aside my panties, and a sigh escaped my lips.

Benz had me half undressed, and I couldn’t keep up with his lips or his hands. I felt him press against me and I leaned back into him.

“You’re going to want to hold on to something Guffy.” I put my hands out, and they found the edge of the counter. Benz bent me slightly over at the waist with his hand on my back and the other made quick work of getting rid of my panties.

I was spilling out of my bra cups, and my skirt was hiked up now over my backside.

“Oh, fuck yeah baby,” Benz said, and I felt him find me. He was rock hard, and my body responded to his need with my own. It always did, but it was never the same. He awakened new sensations every time he looked at me.

“Benz!” He rocked me hard, and I held on to the counter to be sure not to pitch forward. I was a match for him. That’s what I always wanted him to know.

His thrusts lifted me off the ground and then back down again as we both came fast and hard. We’d been apart a day and a half, too long, it felt like months.

“God Jen, I needed that.” He smoothed my hair and kissed the back of my neck again. My panties were on the floor, and my tailored blouse was hanging off me.

Benz turned me around, and we kissed again.

“I needed it too Benz.” Benz picked me up and headed for our bedroom.

“More,” he said as he put me down on the bed and began getting rid of every shred of clothing still clinging to me.

“But the omelet looked so good.” Benz climbed in bed next to me and trapped my nipple in his teeth.

I squirmed, and he looked up at me, “Did you want me to stop and make you another one?”

“Later,” his lips found me again and again. And I prayed they always would.

Benz

Jen was fast asleep. I watched her. She always slept better than I could. I got a few hours a day, and I was fine. I preferred to be sure she was peaceful.

I worried more than I let on about her on the PAPD but Janning and Peck knew they’d be the first two I tore apart if something happened to her.

I trusted that, to a point. But I also kept my eyes on her, on her cases, on her collars, and on Port Az.

Thanks to Jen, Ricardo Pilar was behind bars. He’d probably stay there. I was proud of her, she’d come a long way from the rookie librarian.

She was everything to me. Making Jen happy was the new code I lived by.

But I hadn’t gotten rid of the old code.

The Dark Saints were my brothers, I didn’t know how to live without them, and I couldn’t live without Jen.

Jen and Bear had reached a truce, it was uneasy, for sure, but they could talk to each other and eat Mama Bear’s goulash at the same table. That was a win.

My phone buzzed, and I grabbed it and made my way out of bed. I didn’t want to wake Jen, she was a pit bull with this case, and she deserved to rest.

It was Kade.

“Hey.”

“Yeah, Bear says we’ve got Church tonight. There’s some trouble kicking up with DiSalvos.”

“Alright.” I hung up and walked back into our bedroom. Jen hadn’t moved.

I crawled in next to her, and she snuggled back into me. The Disalvos were a constant issue in this town. And I knew that Ricardo Pilar was a part of a much larger organization. He had friends that had a taste for Port Az, and they’d soon know that Jen put Ricardo away.

I didn’t sleep. I watched Jen sleep. And I drew her body closer to mine. I would stay there until it was time to ride.

The End