Stella"Are you kidding me?" I try the doorknob of one of the bathrooms in my grandparent's house, but it's locked. Karsyn comes up behind me, sighing when she sees me give it a turn. "I swear, there's not enough bathrooms for everyone," she groans. "I thought we'd be fine since some people have left now that we've all started swimming." I gesture down to my bikini. "Obviously not." Her tone is dry, her look is pointed. "Oh fuck it," I sigh, hotfooting it down to what looks like a junk drawer in their kitchen. Rifling through, I find the keys I'm looking for. "Bingo."Quickly I run out to the backyard, making my way to the pool house. Not everybody has keys to this, or know where they are. Only our family, so I'm confident no one is in this bathroom, and I can get in. The door is still locked as I try it, and I throw up a thank you, as I get inside and try the doorknob. Unlocked. Hot damn, now I can take care of business.Coming out of the bathroom, I walk over to the
Ransom"Here!" I command Rambo as the two of us walk into the Laurel Springs Police Department. We're about to go on-shift and he's excited. Always is as soon as he sees me put my shoes on and grab my vest. He's a work dog and loves to do so. The minute we pull into the parking lot, he's whining, dying to get out of my truck, and barking with excitement. When I let him out, he's like a child on Christmas morning, running, sniffing everything, saying hello to my fellow officers. Everyone loves Rambo, and he loves them. But I still have to make sure he can obey, and part of that is making sure we go on-shift on time."So…" Menace drags out the word as we walk into the squad room. "You've got a ride-along tonight.""Oh really?" I'm flipping through the shit that's been put in my mailbox at the office. How we get so much shit handed out in one day fucking amazes me."Yeah." I hear a familiar voice. "My tranny is out on my car; I'll be riding along with a few of you until it's fixed
RansomThere haven't been many times in my career where I've been nervous as I approach a car on a stop. Basically from the time I decided to be a cop, I went into it with the realization that every stop could be my last. Tonight, this one's got me nervous. Renegade is on the passenger's side, and we glance at each other as we both touch the trunk, walking up on both sides of the car."What can I help you with?" the young guy inside asks me before I can even say anything. In my experience, this is cause for concern. Immediately I smell the faint odor of weed. There's not a passenger, but I can see the beam of light from where Renegade stands, searching for things in plain sight. "I'm gonna need your license and registration," I start off, waiting to see what he says."Don't have it." He shakes his head, laughing a little."You don't have an ID?" I question, watching a trickle of sweat working its way across his forehead. The air conditioner is on in the car, there's no re
RansomStella's irritated about something and I'm not sure what, but I think I'm moments away from finding out. She's out of her car and stomping toward where I'm standing on the back porch, waiting for Rambo to finish his business."You okay, babe?"She doesn't answer, causing nervousness to sit deep in my gut. "Rambo, come on." I tap my thigh for him. He runs up the deck, waiting for me to let him into the house. Still she doesn't say anything. Which makes me warier of her than I was of the guy at the traffic stop earlier. "You're kinda starting to scare me."Finally, she faces me, putting her hands on her hips. I can see that brain of hers working. "You're mine, handsome."Oookay… "Of course I am.""All those ladies commenting on your picture on Facebook, they can fuck right off."I can't help it, I laugh, before letting Rambo in the house. He hurries to his food dish, which I filled up prior to bringing him outside. The two of us just got home a few minutes ago, and a
Ransom"How are things going with him?" Tucker, the K-9 trainer, asks me as Rambo and I get to the training field later on in the week. "Good, he had that huge drug bust the other day, and a couple weeks ago, he grabbed a guy out of the woods. There's slight problems I have with him when I need him to pay attention and we aren't on a call," I admit. "But I think as he gets a little older and a bit more used to me it's not going to be that bad.""I agree, he's kind of at the age a teenager would be." Tucker rubs Rambo's head and gives him a few soft commands. "So he's probably trying to test his boundaries. Unless it becomes a problem on calls, I'd let it go." Tucker grins as Rambo licks his hand. "He's a great dog, even if he's a little hyper.""A little?" I laugh loudly as Rambo gets up and chases his tail. "He wants to play at weird times in the morning." I shake my head. "Like four a.m., it's ridiculous."Tucker laughs along with me. "He'll learn. Like I said, he's trying
RansomI'm in a damn good mood this afternoon as I make my way along the streets of Laurel Springs. It rained overnight, cooling it down slightly. I have no doubt that it'll warm back up in no time. But I'm feeling good about Stelle and I. Maybe I should have made sure she heard me last night, maybe I should have woken her up and professed my undying love to her, but I didn't. I've never told another woman besides my mom I love them, and I'm scared of rejection. Even if I don't think there will be one.We spent some quality time together before I had to come on-shift, and I'm relaxed as I'm gonna be. I even gave the first two speeding stops I made warnings. Nobody can say Ransom Thompson isn't fair today.As I get in behind a SUV, they swerve slightly. Okay, I'll give them one. But then they swerve two more times, and I know immediately I need to run the plates. Something tells me I need to."Dispatch, I need you to run this plate."It's not three minutes later the voice of o
The world as I know it shifts on its axis, as I try to keep my reaction to myself. No one here knows about the months we've spent together. None of them know that last night as I drifted off, I heard him say I love you, for the first time, and damnit, I'd been too scared to say anything back. Right now that ranks as the biggest regret of my life."He's alive, Leigh. I wasn't there, so I don't know all the particulars. He took one to the vest, one to the arm, and there was a physical altercation. The suspect went after his dog.""How's Rambo?" I ask, almost as upset about him."They've got him at the vet, he also took a shot. I'm not sure how he's doing, but I think Tank was heading over there to be with him until Ransom can be."There's someone running through the door, and I see Violet. She immediately goes behind the counter, grabs an apron, and hurries over to Leigh. "I've got this, go check on him, go be with your family. Caleb will be here to help as soon as we hear someth
LeightonSitting beside my son's hospital bed is a place I always pray I'll never be, especially since he decided to follow in his father's footsteps. I'm proud of him, there's no doubt about that, but I worry. We live in tumultuous times and not everyone loves police officers like I do. My hand holds onto Holden's tightly as we listen to the surgeon speak. She's just given Ransom something to relax him and she's explaining to us that his surgery is minimally invasive. "Luckily for you, the bullet missed most everything that would be a major problem. Based on the x-ray it should be relatively easy for me to go in there and get it out. Now I do believe it may have grazed your scapula, which is your shoulder blade. If it did and there is debris from it, I'll clean all that out while I'm in there. You're looking at a recovery time anywhere from four to eight weeks, depending on what I find when I get in there." She's talking to all of us quickly and efficiently. "You're very lucky
MenacePresent TimeIt's been a hell of a day. One where I got here late in the afternoon because I had meetings. Something I've learned since taking this position a few months ago is that it's mostly meetings. It's keeping people happy and kissing a lot of ass. My legs ache to get back out on the street, to do a couple laps around downtown, or to drive a car fast. To chase a speeder with the lights bright and the siren blaring. I miss it more than I thought I would. It's close to midnight and I know Rina will be wondering where the hell I am, but I wanted to get a look at what went on today by reading the reports of the officers. This is something I do everyday so I can try to gauge how my officers are doing. It's important for me to know if there's an issue in town. If someone is a nuisance, do we need to step up patrols in certain areas? Community policing is the name of my game and I take it seriously. Reading the last report, submitted by Caleb
ArcherA Year And A Half LaterNerves make circles in my stomach as I stand outside of Laurel Springs Medical waiting for Alisa to come out. She doesn't know I'm here and, the truth is, I didn't know I was going to be either. I've been carrying this ring around in my pocket for the last year and a half of the two years we've been together. Waiting. For what, I'm not sure. The right time? The perfect moment? We live together. I could've done it a million times, but there's something different about these stars against the inky blackness of the sky. They aren't crazy bright, but they aren't muted either. They're sparkling. The perfect backdrop to the plan I have. Tonight, as I helped a woman leave a dangerous domestic violence situation, I realized I'm wasting precious and valuable time. Even after dealing with Calvert County, it didn't hit me that seconds are to be treated with the same reverence as the big events in life. Lo
Alisa"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "Yes." I nod as I sit before the grand jury to give my testimony about what happened with Officer Fugate. "Please tell us when you first met him," the attorney instructs. Archer is sitting in the back row, all hot in his uniform. I don't know how he managed to be here, but he has and it's one of the sweetest things he's done for me. I'm not sure I could be doing this without his dark eyes staring back at me. "I met him when he brought a suspect into the ER. It was obvious that man had been beaten badly and it didn't happen only once. After that day, it happened on a regular basis…"ArcherUshering Lis into the station is like sending a babe into the belly of the beast. She's never been here before, doesn't know how things work, and could honestly be scared, given everything she's dealt with. I'd like to kill Officer Fugate with my own two hands.
ArcherIt's a gully washer tonight, as my instructor at the Academy always said when it rained hard. Visibility fucking sucks and I've worked more accidents tonight than I have in the previous three months. It's as if when it rains, no one can remember how to drive. It's hard to even see out of my windshield but, as I pass one of the abandoned gas stations on the outskirts of town, I see another cop stopped.They're an eyesore and, at the next city planning meeting, there's going to be a vote on demolishing them. They're a breeding ground for drug use and criminals. We've put up cameras to show what happens at night when there aren't patrols going back and forth. Since it's raining and dark, I figure I'll hit them, just to make sure nothing's going on that shouldn't be.As I round the corner. I'm surprised as fuck to see Alisa's car parked next to a Calvert County patrol SUV. She's kneeling in front of a cop who has a taser pointed at her. My heart gallops in my chest as I wonder
Archer"Chief Harrison wants to see you," Tank tells me as I make my way into the squad room. I have no idea what I've done and am immediately questioning what the hell is going on. I try to do everything by the book and I can't remember anything I might've done that was untoward. My stomach rolls as I head toward his office. I've never been called before him before and, truth be told, I never wanted to be. When I reach the door, I knock with a double tap. "C'mon in." Opening it enough so that I can sneak my head in, I glance at the Chief. "You wanted to see me, Sir?" "Yeah, come in and have a seat. There's a few things we need to discuss." I don't like the sound of this shit at all. Going in, I have a seat in the chair facing his desk and prepare to get my ass handed to me. "Officer Fugate has made a complaint and I'm bound by state laws to investigate those complaints." "I told you what happened," I defend myself. "He'
Alisa"Thank you for coming tonight," he says as we enter my apartment. "You don't have to thank me. You've saved me more times than I can count." I grin, taking my jacket off. "Come sit over here on the couch with me. You look a little stressed." "They do that to me." He waves his hand toward the street where his parents have just left. "They always make me feel like I'm not good enough, as if I should've done something different with my life." "I know how that feels." I beckon him over with a crook of my finger. "Let me take care of this tension for you, Archie. Let me show you what the fuck your parents are missing." Something about the way they don't appreciate their son has me wanting to show him just how much I do. How important he is to my life. One of the ways I can think of showing him is with my body. Fuck if that isn't exciting. Reaching for my shirt, I pull it over my head, motioning for him to do the same. In a lazy game o
ArcherI'm heading into the squad room at the station to pick up some supplies when the phone in my pocket rings loudly. There aren't many people I have set ringtones for, but this one? I hate when it rings. It's my parents. Not wanting to make whichever one this is wait, I hurriedly answer. It's always struck me as odd. They were so quick to get me out of their lives, yet they do everything together, including share a fucking cell phone. That's right, they share this phone, which means I never know who I'm going to talk to when I put it to my ear. Talk about a surprise every time I answer. "Hello?" I wait for the response. It's always delayed as if they're on some far away phone line. "Archer, it's Dad." No fucking shit. "Hey Dad," I answer, wondering if he'll continue on or if I'll have to pull the words from him like teeth. "What's going on?" "Your mom and I will be in Laurel Springs tonight. We'd like to have dinner w
AlisaHis body over mine is equal parts hot and hard in all the right places. Our naked skin slides together as he leans down to take the tight bud of my nipple in his mouth. "Yes." I tilt my head back against the pillows, allowing him full reign over my body. "Please don't stop," I beg as I rake my hands over his strong back before digging my fingers into the hair on his head. "Never gonna stop," he promises as he sucks at the prominent tip, before letting it go and moving further down. I'm still unsure of how we got our clothes off. All I know is they're in a pile next to the bed. He moves down my body, kissing my stomach before he drops onto his knees and pulls me to the edge. Separating my thighs, he props them up on his shoulders, gazing up at me with those dark eyes before he dips down. His warm mouth covers my pussy, going straight for my clit and lapping against the trembling flesh. "Archer," I moan, lifting my hips to meet his mouth. "It's been so fucki
Archer "Look guy." I hope me using that term pisses him off. "This isn't even your jurisdiction. What the fuck right did you have to pull her over?" "It's Officer Fugate," he corrects me, before continuing on. "She failed to signal a turn." I'm real annoyed. "You got that on your dash cam?" I point to where his camera is mounted on the dash. "It wasn't on." He shrugs. "How fucking convenient for you." I smirk, shaking my head. "It's something the garage knows about, but the budget is lean over in Calvert County." He eyes me. My gaze is on Alisa who's sitting in her car with her hands locked around her steering wheel. She's white-knuckling as he and I stand out here, yelling at one another. "I'm not allowing you to ticket her without proof. Did you radio it in?" His cheeks go red, which tells me all I need to know. "You son of a bitch. You think you can intimidate her? Officers like you give the rest of us a bad name." Going in