Suppression: Laurel Springs Emergency Response Team #2

by Laramie Briscoe

  “I think so.” He blushes. “I’ve never had shoes this nice before.”

  “Dude, I don’t think I’ve had shoes that nice before.” I laugh a little crazy-like because I’m so tired. “But my brother is going to love spoiling you. I do it to his kids all the time. Are you and Molly getting along?” They’re in the same grade, but I’m not positive if they’re in the same class or not.

  “Molly’s great.” He pulls a bowl out of the dishwasher, sits it on the table, and then goes to get the cereal we’ve learned he loves. “She lets me hang out with her at lunch and in the morning before classes start.”

  “That’s awesome, remember you’re going home with her today since me and Nick will both be at work a little later today. Are you cool with going to Caleb’s?”

  “Yeah, he played video games with me the other day, told me we’d be able to have a rematch.” He pours milk over his cereal, sits down, and begins to eat. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Just make sure you do your homework first. That’s a rule in their house, just like it’s a rule here.”

  I’m inhaling coffee, hoping it will wake me up, so that I’m not walking around like a zombie today. Zoning out, I’m mentally going over my day, trying to imagine what I have before me.

  “Kelsea, can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.” I set my coffee cup down before I pull out the chair next to him and have a seat.

  “What was it like growing up with a brother? I always wondered what it would be like having a brother or sister?”

  He’s so inquisitive about mostly everything, and he’s not scared to ask questions. In fact, we encourage it, so I’m thankful he feels comfortable enough to do it.

  “It’s kind of different in my situation,” I explain. “Caleb had already moved out when I was born. While he was there whenever I needed him to be, he didn’t live in the house with us. I do have to admit it was fun going to his apartment and then his house after he married Ruby. They didn’t have the same rules my mom and dad did.”

  “Like you got to stay up past your bedtime and eat what you wanted?”

  I laugh at how innocent he can be. “Yeah, exactly that. We’d stay up late watching movies, and he’d let me pick my dinner. It was fun, because those were things my parents wouldn’t let me do.”

  He looks down at his cereal, twirling his spoon in the milk. “Do you think I’ll ever be a big brother?” he asks quietly.

  The truth is I don’t know how to answer this question. Things are so up in the air between Nick and I, we aren’t sure how long we’ll get to keep Darren, and who knows what’s going to happen in the future. I feel bad because there’s no good answer.

  “I would say none of us know what the future will bring.”

  “So you and Nick aren’t gonna get married?” His eyebrows are drawn together in confusion.

  Man, I wish he were here to help me out with this. “Nick and I are working through our relationship, but no matter what happens, you will always be our number one priority.

  He seems to mull that over in his head before he takes another bite of cereal and opens the iPad Caleb gave him to play with. Letting out a breath, I pat

  myself on the back for handling this completely by myself. Quickly I make waffles, eat them, and then get Darren herded to the front door.

  “Got all your stuff for school today?”

  “Yup.” He shows me his backpack. “Did all my homework and Nick signed my weekly planner,” he confirms.

  “Alright, let’s get you to school and me to work.”

  When we pull out of the parking lot right on time, I know today is gonna be a good day.

  Twenty

  Nick

  When I hear the address come over the scanner, I know I shouldn’t respond, but I’m the closest one to the scene. Something churns in my gut telling me not to respond. It’s been two weeks since Darren moved in with us. We’re finally getting into a routine, and I think he’s learning what it’s like to have people who care about him. He’s more trusting than I ever was, and I hope it lasts. I know I’m learning what it is to care for other people too. But this? I really shouldn’t do it.

  “Is there anyone closer than me, dispatch?”

  “Negative Nick, you’re the closest. There’s been another call about him disturbing the peace.”

  Fuck me running.

  “Show me as responding.”

  “I’ll be about five minutes behind.” I hear Ransom.

  That gives me a little bit of comfort, but I know this isn’t going to go smoothly. Pulling into the neighborhood, I feel the cloud of despair fall over me, a darkness that I just never can seem to get away from. That darkness is why I sleep outside sometimes.

  “Dispatch, I’m making contact.”

  Stopping in front of the house, I can see Ezra. He’s standing outside ranting and raving at his neighbors. They’re screaming from their spot across the yard. Something tells me this won’t be easy. When I get out, I tighten my form and do my best to appear like I’m not bothered to be here.

  “They sent you?” He takes a drink of the beer can in his hand. “Of all people, they sent you?”

  “We don’t get to pick and choose our calls. We just kinda of get to make sure the public is safe and taken care of.”

  “Safe and taken care of?” He throws his beer can down.

  Instead of reprimanding him about littering, I watch as he puts his hand in his pocket.

  “Get your hands out of your pockets.”

  “Just getting me some chew.” He holds up a can of Skoal.

  He puts a pouch in between his lip and teeth.

  “Why are people calling you in?” I ask, resting my palm on the butt of my gun.

  “Just having a disagreement.”

  “Ma’am, can you come over here?” I point to his neighbor.

  My eyes watch her as she comes over. She looks like one of the good ones. She’s wearing a uniform for one of the local factories and she looks tired as hell. Like life has beaten her the fuck down and she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to come back from it. She stands beside me, I can see the fear in her body language, so I put myself in between the two of them.

  “Can you tell me what’s going on here?”

  “He’s drunk, again.” She points to Ezra. “When he gets drunk, he comes out here and starts yelling, then he starts throwing shit. Now that he doesn’t have his son to terrorize, he’s going to do it to the whole damn neighborhood.”

  “Shut your fuckin’ mouth or I’ll shut it for you.” He lunges at her, but I grab him by his shirt, hauling him back.

  “You need to calm down.” I push him farther away.

  In my peripheral vision, I see Ransom pull up. Thank God. “Want me to separate them?”

  “He’s drunk,” she yells.

  “She’s a bitch,” he yells back.

  Ransom pushes Ezra to the side, I take the woman, pulling her a little farther away. “What can we do to help you?”

  She crosses her arms, looking pissed. “He does this every night. Last night, he chucked a brick through my son’s bedroom window. He’s lucky my son wasn’t in bed.”

  “Did you call the police last night?”

  She breathes heavily. “No, typically I don’t want to ever get involved. It’s easier in this neighborhood not to get involved. Tonight he kept looking at every kid who rode by on their bike and he was screaming shit. It scared me. His poor son took all his anger, and now he’s not there anymore, I’m worried he’ll do something to one of the other kids.” She runs a hand through hair that’s about three months overdue for a color. “I couldn’t do anything to help his son, but I’ll be damned if I sit around and watch him scare every kid in this neighborhood.”

  Scribbling in my notebook, I do my best to keep my own feelings out of this. I can feel her eyes on me, and I’m wondering what she’s seeing.

  “He’s told everybody about you, ya know? Not personally but you’ve been his
biggest source of complaint as he screams. He enjoys telling people a cop from this neighborhood has his son. He says he’s going to kill you.”

  “He can try.” I don’t know whether I’m telling myself that, or telling her.

  “If you don’t calm down, you’re taking a ride,” Ransom speaks loudly to Ezra.

  “Fuck you!” It’s then I see him spit on Ransom’s shoes.

  Within the blink of an eye, Ransom’s got him on the ground, a knee in his back, pulling his hands behind him, cuffing tightly. When Ransom pulls him up, Ezra looks at me. “I’ll kill you, you took my family away from me. I’ll fucking end you. Don’t think I can’t.”

  He’s still screaming as Ransom puts him in the back of another patrol car that’s come to assist us. As he pulls away, I can’t get those words out of my head.

  Two hours later, I’m entering my apartment. Things have changed in such a short amount of time. It used to be I’d come home to silence, no matter the hour. Tonight it’s six p.m., and there’s noise, including laughter, coming from the kitchen.

  I do my routine of placing my gun in a lockbox before I announce myself. “What’s going on in here to cause all this laughing?”

  “We’re making a cake.” Darren giggles as he sticks his finger in the batter.

  “He said he’d never done it before, and I mean, everyone should make a cake and scoop up some of the batter. Wanna help?” She winks, sticking her finger in the batter, before she brings it up to her mouth, making a show of licking it off her finger.

  Kels and I, we haven’t had a lot of time alone since Darren came to live with us. My dick jumps against my zipper and I’m possibly harder than I’ve ever been. I walk over, standing behind her as I wrap my arms around her waist, leaning forward to take hold of her finger in my mouth.

  I know the second she feels my arousal against her ass. She melts against me, swirling my tongue around, I gather the batter, sucking strongly before letting it go. “That’s good, can’t wait until it’s cooked.”

  Darren is oblivious to the sexual attraction stretched between the two of us. Which is probably good for him. I let her go, watching as the two of them transfer the batter to two round cake pans. She looks at Darren.

  “You have about twenty-five minutes before these get done, time for you to take a shower, dude.”

  She puts them in the oven, and then gives him a pointed look. When he runs off, she grabs my hand, pulling me down the hallway. She waits until the bathroom door slams shut, before grinning and pulling me into our bedroom. The door shuts with a soft click as she turns around, pushes me against it, and hits her knees right in front of me.

  Reaching over, she gives the lock a turn, and then goes to work on my belt.

  “Kels, what the fuck?” I’m asking as she gets my belt off, zipper down, and button undone.

  “If you have to ask, I’m doing it wrong.” She grins before sticking her hand into my tented briefs, dragging my cock out.

  The head is sensitive as it brushes against the cotton, causing me to groan. “Oh shit,” I groan when she licks the underside up to the tip, taking it in her mouth. My fingers dig into her hair, holding her right where I need her to be. “Is this okay?” I ask as my hips start a rhythm that I can’t seem to stop.

  She pulls back, leaving my length in the cool air of the bedroom. “I want this, Nick. When I felt this against me, all I wanted to do was give you pleasure. I’m so wet right now.” She closes her eyes, licking my tip again. “But I know we don’t have time.”

  “The fuck we don’t.” I lift her up by her hair. She shivers as I make quick work of her sweatpants and the little scrap of lace she calls underwear.

  Laying down on the bed, I motion to her. “C’mere, Kels.”

  “What do you want?”

  I love that she’s still a little innocent when it comes to certain things. It makes teaching her so fucking fun. “Sit on my face and suck my cock at the same time.”

  Her eyes grow wide when she realizes what I’m telling her to do.

  “We don’t have much time.” She pulls her lip between her teeth.

  “Trust me.” I palm my length. “This won’t take long.”

  With my big hands, I help her straddle my face as she leans down to take my length down her throat. She goes to work on me, and I go to work on her, sucking on her clit, rubbing my tongue against her wet folds. She’s moaning against my dick, causing it to jump every time I feel it rubbing the back of her throat. She wasn’t lying when she said she was wet. My girl is soaking the fuck out of my face, out of the finger I’m pressing into her softness, taking it with a hunger she probably didn’t even know she had.

  I can feel her thighs, tightening against me. “Feel good?” I ask as I pull my face back slightly.

  “Yes,” she moans when I go back to work. Lick, suck, finger. Lick, suck, finger. She’s rocking against my tongue, taking me deeper and deeper, speeding up as I do the same. I can feel her body stiffen, can tell she’s almost there.

  “Come on, Kels,” I encourage her, rubbing my thumb against her clit, feeling the suction growing stronger on my cock. “C’mon baby, is this it?” I quicken my pace. “Right there?” And if my dick wasn’t in her mouth she’d alert the whole apartment building to what we’re doing. “Yeah, babe, ride it out.” She’s undulating against me.

  I pick up my pace against her, fucking her face with the taste of her on my tongue and the scent of her in my nose.

  “Oh fuck,” I groan, arching my back up off the bed as I spill against her tongue.

  We’re both gasping like we just ran a marathon, but damned if I’m ever going to be able to wipe the goofy smile off my face.

  Twenty-One

  Nick

  “Hey, I’m leaving for work,” I hear the whispered voice of Kelsea.

  “Yeah?” I answer, trying desperately to wake myself up. “What time is it?”

  “Five-thirty,” she answers, as she goes to the closet, bends down, and comes back over to the bed. She has a seat, as she goes about putting her shoes on. “Remember, I have an early shift today because we’re doing the free clinic? You have to get Darren to school for me.”

  Typically she gets him off to school and I pick him up. We’ve settled into a nice routine, and so far things have been working well. The problem with today is, I just got off-shift at three. “What time do I have to wake him up?” I yawn as I push myself up onto my hand.

  “Six-twenty,” she answers, reaching in to muss my hair. “You have to leave here by seven to get him there on time, so don’t let him jerk you around.”

  “Will he do that?”

  “With his breakfast, yes. He’ll keep telling you it’s okay for him to have Pop Tarts. That’s not the case, he can’t have that much sugar, or he will bounce off the walls and be very difficult to go into the school.”

  I’m doing my best to follow along but morning isn’t my normal routine and fuck if I’m not tired. “So what can he eat?”

  “I laid out a banana and put the cereal in a container for you. Just open the container, put milk in it, and cut up his banana. He can have a cup of juice if he wants.”

  “Okay,” I rub my face. “I might as well try to wake up.”

  “I’m really sorry today worked out like this. I know you’re tired.” She cups my cheek with the palm of her hand.

  “Not your fault,” I can’t help but turn into her caress. “Wish I could get you to tuck back in here with me.”

  She giggles and grins. “Stop trying to sweet talk me.”

  “Is it working?”

  She leans in, kissing me softly. “Probably better than you think, but I gotta go.”

  “Be safe today.”

  “You too,” she blows me a kiss as she leaves.

  Groaning, I get up and get going so I can help him prepare for the day.

  “I don’t want this cereal,” Darren pouts as he crosses his arms in front of him. “Kels always gives me Pop Tarts.”

 
Sighing, I do my best not to lose my temper. I’m tired, hungry, and not in the mood to deal with his attitude. “She told me you get the cereal. So you’re going to eat the cereal.”

  He frowns, and I do my best not to show my irritation. This is the first time he’s gotten attitude with me, but I’m aware he’s thrown it at Kels a few times. It’s not unusual. He’s had a lot of changes the past few months, and not every day can be good.

  “I don’t want it,” he sets his jaw looking at me.

  “You’re going to eat it.”

  “No I’m not,” he picks it up, throwing it across the room.

  Luckily I hadn’t put milk in it yet. The two of us face off with one another. His chest is pumping up and down as he looks at me. Calmly I reach into the cabinet, pulling out the box of cereal. “You’re going to clean that up.”

  “What are you going to do to me if I don’t?”

  “You’ll be grounded from playing video games tonight.”

  “How will Kelsea know?” He raises and eyebrow at me.

  “Kelsea and I are a team, and you know we are. As soon as I drop you off, I’ll call her, explain about this temper tantrum and tell her you’re grounded. Because we’re a team, she’ll back me up. You’ll go straight to your room after dinner.”

  “Why?” He hitches his chin in defiance. “So you can beat me without her seeing?”

  Sighing I tilt my head back. He’s so much like me. “Look, I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to push me to my limit. Trying to see what’s going to happen when I get angry, because you want to see if I’m like your dad. I’m not, and you’ll never push me that far. I can promise you that.”

  “How do you know?” He asks softly. “Sometimes I get so angry I want to hit something.”

  “I do too,” the honesty ripping me apart. “But I know what happens when you hit another person. Instead I do things with my hands, I go out on the balcony and take a breather. If I’m really pissed I go play basketball, beat the fuck out that ball until I’m done,” I walk over to where he is, bending down so we can look in each other’s eyes. “You can be angry without hitting or hurting another person. I promise.”