She giggled and gripped my shoulders, rolling me over onto my back as she sat up on top of me, holding one arm across her chest, keeping her dress in place. “You didn’t have to get me anything; it’s not a tradition or anything. I just really wanted you to have this tonight,” she assured me, bending and kissing my lips softly. When she pulled back, my hands instinctively tightened on her waist. I didn’t want to let her go, I felt whiny and needy and I just didn’t want her to get off me even if it was only to get something from her bag three feet away from me. She smiled and pushed my hands off her, climbing out of the bed and heading over to the bag. While she was busy, I took the opportunity to slip off my shoes. As I pulled it off, something white caught my eye on the sole of it. I turned it over to see I had two big letters: L and P, written on the bottom of one of my shoes in white marker. Frowning in confusion, I grabbed my other shoe and looked at the sole of that one
I was shaking. No, that wasn’t right, the bed was shaking. Or someone was shaking me which was making the bed shake? “Daddy!” I cracked my stinging eyes open to see DJ bouncing on the edge of my bed with a grin stretched across his face. Groaning, I rubbed my eyes and pushed myself up on one elbow. “Hey, Kid. What’s up?” I rasped. “Momma saids I needed to wake you up,” he replied. I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “Where is Momma anyway?” Yawning, I glanced around the room. I usually got a better wake up than that if I’d been on sixteen hour nights all week! He beamed up at me. “She’s going out to buys a new dress for the party tonight. You gots to look after me.” His smile told me he was pleased about it. I remembered Ashley mentioning something about having to buy a new dress. “I do? Well maybe we should think of something fun to do today then, huh? How about we go play catch at the park or something?” I offered, knowing he wanted to test ou
As a subtle vibrating started against my leg, I looked up at my captain, wondering what he would do to me if I pulled out my phone and checked my incoming message. No doubt he would be seriously pissed if I got caught not listening to his briefing about the raid tomorrow. Unable to resist peeking to see if it was from Sarah, or Sasha, or whatever the girl’s name was I was supposed to be taking out tonight, I pulled my phone out and took a sneaky look beneath the desk. I already knew that even if I got caught I wouldn’t be taken off point for the operation tomorrow. I was the best sharp shooter he had, so that afforded me a little leniency. But instead of seeing a message from my date for the night, there were two picture messages from my best friend, Bryson Taylor. As I opened the first one, I was greeted by a cute little scrunched-up and messy-looking baby. My eyes widened as my breath caught in my throat. A moronic grin slipped onto my face as I scrolled to the next mess
“He’s here.” Anna beamed proudly, motioning towards the side of the bed at the plastic crib. Okay, first it’s time to tease the new dad! I gripped Bryson’s shoulder tightly and pulled the cigar from my pocket, holding it out to him. He laughed nervously, subconsciously scrunching his nose up in distaste. “A cigar?” “Tradition.” I nodded, trying to look serious; I couldn’t wait to get him to smoke it. He’d probably puke his guts up. “Dude, I hate cigars and so do you.” He looked a little horrified, and I knew just by his face that it was worth the seven bucks I spent on it. “Taylor, it’s in the movies; the dad and his best friend have to smoke a cigar to welcome the baby into the world. I also have to take you out to get you drunk to wet the baby’s head.” I grinned and turned to walk around the bed to see the baby. “I guess if it’s in the movies then it must be true,” Bryson mumbled sarcastically. Anna smiled. “I’ve seen that movie too. Jace’s right, it
As soon as we were outside of the door, I spotted Rick still sitting exactly where I'd left him earlier. “Hey man, still here?” I asked, frowning. “No, I left an hour ago.” “Hilarious. Go call the night guard and ask what the hold-up is,” I suggested. “You definitely sure you can’t come out Saturday night for Seth’s birthday?” He shook his head in answer. “Definitely. I have family over. Next time though, for sure.” I nodded absentmindedly as I glanced up at Ashley. She was frowning down into her purse. “I’ll catch you later, Rick.” I walked over to Ashley, glancing over her shoulder and seeing that she had just over four dollars in her purse. “Ready?”I smiled. As she jumped and looked up at me, her frown left her face and a teasing smile graced her lips. “Actually, I can’t. I’ve just remembered that I have to go and wash my hair. Sorry.” Brush off number four, why the hell do I like this? “Baby, I’m going to have sex with you tonight, so you might as well
Thankfully, the waiter came over and took our order, so I got a few minutes reprieve. Surprisingly, she didn’t order anything too expensive like I thought she would. When the waiter walked off, I smiled and decided to change the subject. “Cameron’s so cute, isn’t he?” She smiled. “Nice diversion. And yeah, he was incredibly cute, but then again with parents like Anna and Bryson, the kid’s going to be good-looking.” “Yeah, I guess he’s got good genes,” I admitted. “Our kid would be hot too.” As soon as I said it, I wished I hadn’t. Another comment about us sleeping together. Clearly I couldn’t take a hint or a rejection. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?” she commented, rolling her eyes. “Not around you by the looks of it. So, what three jobs are you working now then?” I questioned, trying to change the subject. “I work in a restaurant as a waitress at lunchtimes. I have a cleaning job, and I’m a maid in a hotel.” She shrugged turning her nose up.
We chatted easily the whole trip. She told me about the school she was going to be working at. How she had graduated college, but wasn’t able to find a teaching job in her home town, so she had to come to LA instead. Apparently, she didn’t like LA very much and was going to miss her mom who she would be leaving in Barstow. She was, however, excited to have her dream job and be closer to Anna and her younger sister. We talked a little about my job and where I lived. I continued to flirt, and she continued to reject me. Ashley was incredibly funny and smart, and I couldn't help but admire her putdowns. During the whole two-hour trip, there wasn’t a single awkward silence. Usually I ran out of things to say to a girl after a little while – which wouldn’t be a problem because I’d just shove my tongue down her throat – but Ashley just seemed to capture my attention. I also noticed little things about her that made me smile, like how she used her hands when she spoke of somethin
Two hours later I was lying flat on my stomach, looking through the eyepiece of my rifle. In the building opposite, I could see five guys fussing around a briefcase. One of them was the undercover cop. Apparently, there were another four guys spread around the building, keeping watch while the deal went down. I didn't need to worry about those four though, the ground team would take them out before they moved in. My comms unit crackled to life. “We’re moving in. Radio silence.” This meant that we could hear what was going on with them, but they couldn’t hear us unless we buzzed to get their attention. That way we didn’t give away their positions. I glanced at Russell, who was about twenty feet away, mirroring my position and aiming at the building too. “I’ll cover the two on the right,” I said, signalling with my hand. “Yeah okay, I’ll go left then.” He nodded, looking back into his eyepiece. My comms unit crackled again. “I’m going in,” Kurt, one of my more reckless team membe