Wannabe: An Against The Odds Novel

by Christa DeClue

  “Good luck. I’m going to let you ask him. Knowing you though, you’ll have him thinking it was his idea at the end of the conversation.” He stands to go back to his room. “Oh, by the way, Delilah said she’s getting impatient. We need to close this case or she’s coming to, and I quote, crash our party and burn them all to the ground.”

  “Tell her she has to get in line. I’ll get it done and then, as soon as you go back, she’s going to call me, complaining that I didn’t drag it out longer to give her some peace and quiet,” I call to his retreating back.

  I plop back on the couch cushions and feel my hair halo around me as I look up at the ceiling. I laugh to myself. She would too. She would burn them all to the ground and let the higher power sort them out. Danny and Del are the bloodthirsty ones, and I need them in my life now more than ever. I have a feeling a lot of blood is going to be spilled before this is over.

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Ryan

  “Doc, I realize you think I need to rest more, but I can rest better at home. I’m ready to blow this popsicle stand. You told me yourself that the bullets didn’t hit anything vital by some miracle. I can’t rest with nurses in and out of my rooms all night long. I’m weak, yes, but I know that I’m strong enough to go home.” My stubbornness and frustration are leaking into my voice as I talk to the physician. I’m finally sitting up on my own and I’m sore enough that I know I look like hell.

  “Sergeant Stone, I can’t tell you what you can and can’t do, but I will tell you it would be against my medical advice for you to go home this soon after being shot. But if you choose to still go home, you need to take it extremely easy. They might not have hit anything vital, but you lost a lot of blood and you can still die from blood loss,” the older gentleman retorts as he checks the dressings on my wounds.

  “With all due respect, sir, I think I will go home, AMA or not. I have a case to work and I have more reason now than ever to find these perps. I’m sure you understand,” I tell him in a firm voice. His gentle hands still on the dressings and I hear a deep sigh.

  “Why is it all of you law enforcement officers seem to be in a hurry to throw yourself back in a dangerous situation? You’re not completely healed, and you won’t be of much use to anybody injured.”

  “There are people that are counting on me, and I don’t intend to let them down, injuries or no,” I say with finality.

  “All right, Sergeant. I’ll have the nurse retrieve an AMA form and all of the paperwork you need to fill out before you leave. Just remember you’re not Superman. I don’t want to see you back in here again for at least a year. Okay?” The sternness in his tone has me shaking my head respectfully, and he leaves the room with pursed lips. I blow out a pained breath.

  I swing my legs over the edge of the hospital bed and feel the back of the gown gape open. I hear a wolf whistle and I whip my head around, groaning when I see Zaydra standing at the doorway. She smiles at the noise and approaches.

  “What the hell are you doing here? Come to torture me, maybe steal something while I’m incapacitated?” I tell her in a teasing anger.

  “Nah, you don’t have anything worth stealing. Except your girl, and we both know I wouldn’t have to steal her if it came down to it. My lovely fiancé has to do some work, and he told me you would most likely check yourself out today, no matter what the doctor said, so I’m here to be your ride. You’re welcome.” The cheekiness. I swear, she’s going to give me a headache. Wait a minute…

  “Fiancé? Since when?” I ask bluntly, feeling like I missed everything on the day I was laid up.

  “Since a few nights ago. He decided I couldn’t live without him. The audacity. He wants to be both daddy and husband. He’s getting a little greedy, if you ask me,” she tells me in a teasing tone with a wink, then flashes me the rock situated on her left hand.

  “I guess double congratulations are in order then. Miss Mom-slash-wife-to-be. Don’t go around your old stomping grounds because from the look of that rock, you’d be prime real estate for a pickpocket. But really, congratulations. I can’t think of two people more deserving.”

  She rounds the bed and gives me a light hug as to not aggravate my healing wounds. At the moment the embrace ends, Nurse Ratchet walks into the room with paperwork for me. She’s glaring at both of us so hard, I’m surprised neither of us has spontaneously combusted. Zaydra steps back and the nurse, whose name eludes me, busies herself with unhooking me from my IV. She’s muttering under her breath about “idiotic patients.” Zaydra leans towards my other side.

  “What’d you do to this one?” she whispers. I shrug at her helplessly because I have no idea why this particular nurse hates me so much. The nurse in question pins me with another look.

  “You need to sign all the release paperwork, specifically the AMA, because we can’t be held liable for someone who decides he knows better than the medical professionals,” she states matter-of-factly, and I hear Zaydra snort from behind me.

  “Oh, I like her,” she whispers again.

  “Your discharge medication has been sent to the pharmacy; you’ll need to pick that up on the way out. Absolutely no strenuous activity for at least two to three weeks.” Zaydra snorts again. “You need to take it easy. If you happen to develop a fever, you need to come back here ASAP, understood?” the nurse finishes, looking at me expectantly.

  “Understood, Nurse…?”

  “Amaris. Try not to get yourself killed, Sergeant. The hospital doesn’t need a lawsuit.”

  “Um, thank you, Nurse Amaris,” I respond, bewildered, as she holds out a pen for me, and Zaydra loses the fight with her laughter. Amaris waits, tapping her foot ever so lightly, as I quickly fill out the forms. When I’m done, she gathers them up, then reaches inside the cabinet for my personal belongings and sets them on the bed.

  “Good luck, Sergeant.” With that, she leaves the room.

  I turn to look at Zaydra with a “what the fuck” look on my face, but she’s too busy laughing herself sick. Women, I’ll never understand them.

  “All right, if you’re done with the laugh track, can you leave so I can get changed and then we can blow this joint?” I grumble.

  Zaydra bows mockingly and steps outside. I’m too old for this shit. I struggle to put my clothes back on but to my growing horror, putting a shirt on is more painful than I was expecting. I look angrily at my pile of clothes—jeans and a long-sleeve Henley. I clear my throat, realizing there’s no fucking way.

  Ten minutes of me standing there, looking at my own belongs angrily, is interrupted by a tiny knock. Zaydra opens the door and holds out a pair of sweats and a button-up to me. I’m about to ask how she knew, when she whispers, “Nurse Ratchet made a comment when it was taking a long time. Those are Collin’s, they were in the car. They might be easier for you to get into.”

  I take them from her with an embarrassed, “Thanks.”

  I imagine the struggle of getting into clothes after being shot is harder than wrangling cats. I’m out of breath and in a fuck ton of pain, but I have the sweats on and the button-up flaps with the blowing from the air conditioning in the room. I have no energy left to button it, so they’re going to have to be okay with it. I stumble out the door and Zaydra is immediately there. She throws my arm over her shoulders and bears more of my weight than I’m willing to admit.

  “Come on, big guy, let’s get you home,” she says without snark, for what I imagine is the first time in her life. I’m just grateful she’s here. I’m grateful my friends know my stubbornness by now.

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Amber

  “So, how do I go about bringing up this plan to Michael?” I muse to Danny. He glances over at me with raised brows, then shakes his head and focuses back on the road as he drives us to our destination. I fidget with the black skintight dress I have on in preparation for my bar shift at Dark Angels tonight. But first, I texted Michael for an emergency meeting at Hot Brews. Danny thinks I’ve got this in the bag, but we both know one thing about Mich
ael—he’s very territorial over the cases he oversees.

  “Well, I imagine you’ll be all like, ‘Mikey, sweetie, you just know that it would go so much faster if we all work together, and then we’ll all sing kumbaya at the end, cuz I wanna get my muff stuffed by the hot detective. So, get on board, kaythanksbye.’” His voice gets all high and nasally, imitating me. I give him a disgusted look, which he pointedly ignores, and stares at the road ahead of him.

  “First off, rude. Secondly, I do not sound like that. And thirdly, you’re a dick. You need to help me figure out how to get him on board,” I huff out.

  “Just explain it to him like you did to me. He’ll see the benefits outweigh the detriments. I promise, Bella Bear. Take a breath, you’re stressing me out. We have a break in the case. You haven’t been shot at or stabbed lately. Life is good.” His response calms me as he parallel parks the truck in front of the coffee shop. We both get out and make our way inside, and for once, Danny deigns to come with me to this meeting. It might have something to do with the fact I threatened to tell Del he used to sing in a barbershop quartet. Sucker… she already knows.

  Michael is seated at the same booth as last time. His eyebrows raise as he takes in Danny’s presence. The moment we sit down, he nods at Danny.

  “Evers, I see she roped you into this meeting. I’m guessing that means you both have a harebrained idea that you want me to get on board with,” he says to Danny with a hint of impatience.

  “No…” I say as Danny shrugs and says at the same time, “Pretty much.”

  I cut my eyes towards Moose with murder in my gaze and he swallows, then shakes his head adamantly as if the damage wasn’t just done. Traitor. I sigh, but dive in without any more pleasantries.

  “The break in the case is thanks to Briar. I’m sure Danny filled you in about that.” At his nod, I power on. “She’s getting me on as a member at Exile, but to ‘play’ at Exile, you have to bring a collared submissive, and neither Danny or you are options. I think we should bring in the local Narcotics division, to help us blow this case wide open. Most of them have experience undercover so it wouldn’t be that far of a leap.

  “It would also give us more manpower, and eliminate a hurdle I’ve been encountering. They already suspect I had something to do with Miss Bennett’s OD; this will stop the questioning and let me continue my investigation. We work together, with you in charge, of course, but I’ll be the main man on the ground. I think it’s the smartest option right now. I don’t think whoever broke into my apartment made me, so ‘Amber James’ meeting with the police wouldn’t be too much of a red flag.”

  My words taper off and Michael stares at me with his head tilted slightly, like he’s trying to figure me out. I see the wheels turn in his head, and I mentally steel myself for him to deny my request.

  “Narcotics has had longer than you have to solve the influx of laced heroin and they have yet to do so. At best, they are underfunded; at worst, they are incompetent. What makes you think they’ll be of any help to this investigation?” he questions me softly.

  “They’re on the same track as we are. They’ve made connections to sex workers and it won’t be long until they find Club Exile and they’ll find a connection to me. I know some of these detectives, they’re smart and capable. If we work together with local law enforcement, it could slow the progression of the body count. We could solve this faster and more lives could be saved. They might have information that we don’t, and vice versa. It’s the right move. I feel it in my gut,” I state in a firm tone.

  He glances at Danny, who nods his affirmation. Michael looks skyward as if he’s praying for strength.

  “You’ll be blowing your cover to a lot of people. Do you think this is the way to solve this case, or is this about coming clean to the friends that you’ve made here?”

  “My number one concern is about solving this and preventing more people from dying, but it would be a lie to say that the second thought never crossed my mind. You’ll just have to trust that I’ll do my job to the best of my ability, with or without distractions,” I say fiercely.

  “I’ll think on what you said. I make no guarantee of my answer either way. I need to weigh the pros and cons, but until I give you my answer, you tell no one else. Understood?” I nod. “Dismissed.”

  Danny and I rise from the booth and make our way outside to the truck. He opens the door for me and I hop in. Danny gets in and starts it before turning to me. “That went well.”

  I roll my eyes. “I’m officially breaking up with you, Moose. Now, take me to work.”

  He clutches his chest in mock horror and then laughs. “He’ll come around, it’s a good plan. He knows you’re smart and have thought it through. Give him time to weigh the outcomes.”

  ***

  I’m slinging enough cosmos to permanently memorize the recipe. I’ve never seen this many grown men drinking fruity drinks. If one buys one, a million of them do. Briar is doing the same thing I’m doing, but she hasn’t even broken a sweat. Bitch.

  I finally get to breathe after being bum rushed by a bachelor party. I look up and see Kenny slip something small to Tara, who disappears into the back, and my curiosity is piqued. Alarms start screaming at me when Kenny leaves the DJ booth and makes his way to the back as well. I look over at Briar, chatting up some business types.

  “Taking my break,” I call out and she waves me away.

  I make my way to the back, passing the office where I see Matt sitting at his desk, crunching numbers. I slip off my heels as to not make any sounds, and creep to the spot where I saw Tara and Kenny last time. Sure enough, they’re there, arguing heatedly. I’m hidden behind the rack that holds the back stock of toiletries, but I can see them perfectly. I can just barely hear their whispers.

  “I can’t sell this, Kenny. Maybe I should just meet with your suppliers and tell them their product is shit,” Tara hisses.

  “Shut up, bitch. You’re not meeting with anyone. You’re just the whore who pimps out the product and herself. You’ll sell it because I told you to fucking sell it.” His tone is slicing, and she flinches back from him. It’s that moment I realize Kenny is higher than a kite tonight, which means he’s more unpredictable. But Tara holds her ground.

  “I won’t, I’m done. I’ll figure it out another way.” She turns to leave, but Kenny grabs her by the arm and slaps her. At that moment, I jump from behind the rack and grab his arm before he can hit her again. He whirls around to see who has a hold of him and when he realizes it’s me, his fist shoots out. Tara runs from the room like a scared rabbit while I dodge his fist, but he clips me in the temple, so I throat punch him. He starts choking and wheezing but makes a grab for me again. He seems to have lost all good sense, so I kick his knee out and he goes down.

  Matt runs in the room moments later with Tara on his tail to see Kenny on the floor and me standing over him. I finally realize I have blood pouring down my temple. Matt takes one look at Kenny and grunts.

  “Get the fuck out, Kenny. I’ve made allowances for you, but you assaulted a worker. I’m done.”

  “The bitch hit me too! This isn’t fair, Matt. It’s her fault, not mine!” Kenny whines in a guttural voice, thanks to my throat punch.

  “I was talking about Tara. It definitely looks like Amber handed you your ass, but I’m not firing her. I’m giving her a fucking raise. Now get out!” Matt, aka the fucking boss, says.

  He calls Lance, the door guy, on the walkie talkie and has him come escort Kenny from the premises. Lance gets there fast, like it’s his one mission in life to kick Kenny out. Matt follows behind them while Kenny swears vehemently. He’s is hurling curses at Tara and I, but we steadily ignore him until they’re out of sight.

  Tara escorts me to a chair and indicates for me to have a seat. She starts doctoring my cut and giving me questioning looks. Finally, I grab her hand and pull it away from my temple.

  “What’s with the looks?”

  “I was wondering why you didn�
��t rat me out to Matt about the selling drugs thing. I know you heard it,” she says softly.

  “Everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt, and from the sounds of things, you actually weren’t very good at selling anything,” I reply with a wink. She laughs and goes back to bandaging me.

  “If only you had an idea of how true that statement is, sweets.”

  “Well, there you go. Besides, you deserve an award for putting up with Kenny because homeboy has major SDE,” I retort.

  “SDE?”

  “Small Dick Energy. Duh.” I wink and stand. She shakes her head and laughs again. My phone starts vibrating in my bra and Tara looks at me with raised brows.

  “Forget to leave your vibrator at home, Amber?” she jokes.

  “Nah, my neighbor Ronnie stole all of them, the perv, I’m using my phone now. Gotta get in where I fit in, know what I’m saying?” I blow her a kiss and pull out my phone. Seeing Ryan’s name, having switched it from “Stonewall Me Jackson” to “Sergeant Eats My Ass,” I get the warm fuzzies. I step away from Tara and answer.

  “Hey there, big boy, you looking for a date?” I say seductively, making fun of the way we met. I hear strangled female laughter and I’m immediately on edge.

  “Well, I wasn’t, but now that I know that’s how you answer your phone calls, I might be. How do you feel about girls with a bun in the oven?” Zaydra voices reverberates in my ear. She laughs a little harder at my audible huff.

  “Why are you with Stoney? And why are you calling me? Oh shit, did you steal Stoney’s phone, because that would be hilarious. Big Dick Energy right there.”

  “No, Ryan is home now, resting. He checked himself out of the hospital against medical advice and I helped him get home. I don’t really think he should be alone tonight. He was out of it with pain earlier and asked me if I had heard from you. Can you just come stay with him tonight? I feel bad leaving him alone…”