A freak storm had stalled their ride, and of course, my dad would only ride six hours on a bike. He didn’t do cars for that long.
I was dressed head to toe in my gown and graduation cap, looking out at the crowd behind me with what I was sure was a worried look on my face.
Names of graduates were being called, and I was very close to being called up on stage to get my diploma.
My friend Brianne, who was graduating with me today, said, “He’ll make it.”
I pulled up the local news app on my phone, knowing that had to be a rising development going on in the area to keep him away and wasn’t surprised to see ‘breaking news bulletins’ flashing across the top of the screen.
“Wow,” I said, showing the phone to her. “Does that say what I think it says?”
She squinted at the display, and then her eyes widened in shock. “Holy fucking shit.”
Police Officer attacked by own dog, the news bulletin read.
I wasn’t worried.
I knew that whatever had happened, it didn’t have anything to do with Downy.
The attack had taken place over an hour before. If it’d been Downy, I’d have had half the SWAT team escorting me to his bedside.
“It wasn’t a stray, at least,” Brianne said thoughtfully.
I nodded. “That was the last thing we needed. It sucks that he was hurt by a dog, but the good thing is, it wasn’t some dog off the street that would set the town out to kill every dog it sees off its leash.”
Brianne nodded.
She was a huge animal activist and had been greatly upset, originally, when the dogs had been stolen from the animal shelter. Especially since she went up there once a week to help out.
I’d met Brianne my first day of sonographer school, and we’d been study buddies ever since. However, she had a family and three kids under four, so it wasn’t all that often, outside of school, that we got to hang out unless I wanted it to be at the animal shelter.
Which I couldn’t handle, because there was no way I’d be able to go to the shelter and not come home with a pet of some kind. One of which I couldn’t afford to feed, although I suspiciously didn’t owe anything for my rent this month, and I suspected it had to do with the red-headed boyfriend of mine, rather than my dad who still found a way to pay for some of my things, even though he was six hours away.
“Memphis Tennessee Conner,” Mrs. Bower’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker.
Sighing, I stood up, when a deafening roar filled the auditorium.
Startled, I turned around, frozen to the spot, to find not only the entire KPD SWAT team, Downy right in the front, but also my father and about half of his club members.
They were all standing against the far wall, beyond where I’d been looking for them in the seats.
Which shouldn’t have surprised me at all. They weren’t the type to take seats.
My mouth dropped open, and I heard Mrs. Bower’s snickering voice call my name again.
Turning on shaky legs, with what I was sure was a loony grin on my face, I walked up the steps to the stage.
My high heels cracked against the wooden stage, announcing my approach to damn near everyone that was within hearing distance.
“You did well, my dear. I hope to see you soon.” Mrs. Bower smiled down at me.
She’d offered me a job, and although I hadn’t accepted yet, I knew I would.
“Thank you, Mrs. Bower.” I smiled.
Patting my hand, she handed me my diploma, and I turned to the crowd, staring straight at my father.
Pointing to him, I gave him a smile.
“That’s my baby girl!” he boomed, using his cop voice so he could be heard over the crowd.
Causing the crowd, of course, to jump, because it was just that authoritative and demanding.
Smiling wide, I turned my grin to Downy and then blew him a kiss.
The manly man that he was, caught my ‘kiss’ and pressed it to his heart.
Full SWAT gear and all.
My heart was so full.
I loved that man with all my heart.
Walking down the steps, I kept my eyes on my feet as I made my way back to my seat, followed shortly after by Brianne.
“My husband was loud, but he couldn’t compete with your family,” Brianne teased, bumping my shoulder.
I beamed at her. “They’re pretty awesome, right?”
“My husband is a construction worker, and I wasn’t really aware they could get any more alpha than that… but I think your man has him beat.” She shook her head.
I snorted. Her husband was a big guy. Bigger than Downy.
He was also more muscled from hours and hours of solid, backbreaking labor.
He was categorized as a ‘construction worker’ but he owned his own construction business where he built houses.
“You’re nuts,” I teased her.
She smiled. “After having three kids, in four years, and not having my tubes tied? Yes, yes, I am.”
I snorted but didn’t say anything, as I thought about my own possibility with kids.
When I’d been attacked, when I was younger, I’d been given a slim chance of ever having kids. That didn’t stop me from wanting them, though.
Downy had never confirmed, nor denied, that he wanted any of his own, but I was willing to work on him.
At least trying to have them would be fun.
I smiled inwardly at that. Yes, it’d be fun indeed.
Another hour passed as we chatted back and forth, talking about everything under the sun while we waited for the ceremony to finish.
***
“I don’t think you’re supposed to get drunk on my graduation night,” I teased my dad.
“If I can’t get drunk the night my baby girl graduates college, when can I get drunk?” my daddy asked.
My mother snorted but refrained from saying what we were both thinking.
My father didn’t need an excuse to drink.
He and the men of his club drank damn near every weekend, and twice on Tuesdays.
“Hey,” my mother said. “Who’s that boy?”
I turned from my perch against Downy’s porch railing to find Downy’s brother standing off to the side of the party, looking for someone.
I straightened up and said, “That’s Downy’s brother. Be right back.”
Downy was across the yard talking to a few of the boys off the SWAT team and their wives. Reese and Luke. Nico and Georgia. James and Shiloh.
I didn’t know James and Nico as well as I knew the others. They kept to themselves. Their wives, however, were all very outgoing and welcoming, and I looked forward to getting to know them better.
Luke and Reese, however, I was starting to know very well. Since Luke was Downy’s best friend, I saw him more than the others, which meant I saw more of his wife as well.
Reese was quickly becoming a very good friend and confidant, as well as the shoulder to lean on when all the police business Downy was involved in was getting to me.
As I walked toward Downy’s brother, he turned to me and heaved a relieved sigh.
“Hey,” I said as I came up to him. “Are you okay?”
He looked nervous. “Uhh,” he said. “I need to talk to Downy.”
I blinked, but nonetheless said, “Okay, I’ll go get him.”
I would’ve taken Jonah to Downy, but he didn’t look like he was very comfortable there, and among the crowd, he’d draw more attention if he was with me rather than him just staying where he was.
“Okay,” he said thankfully.
I weaved in and out of the partygoers.
Circling around the huge bonfire that my father’s men had spent the entire afternoon erecting and thus being the reason why they were late.
Downy, at least, had a legitimate excuse.
As I got closer to the group, I caught Nico’s dark eyes, and he watched me approach with an unreadab
le expression on his face.
I smiled anyway, walking up until I was at Downy’s flank.
I scooted under his arm as he raised his beer to his lips.
He took it all in stride, switching hands so the beer was in the opposite one so he could wrap the arm around my side and pull me in close.
They were talking about the dog attacks, and what it meant for the community.
And as reluctant as I was to pull him away, I interrupted Luke and said, “Downy?”
He looked down at me and asked, “Yeah?”
I tilted my head in his brother’s direction. “Your brother is here.”
The men all raised their eyes in the exact direction that Jonah stood, taking him in with their laser-focused cop eyes. The women looked around confused, but that was understandable. From what Downy had told me, not many knew he had a family.
“Huh,” he said, starting in the direction of his brother, leaving me standing there watching him go.-
Once Downy reached Jonah, who began talking animatedly with his hands, I turned back around to find six pairs of eyes on me, taking me in. Sizing me up.
My belly started to roll in nervousness.
“T-thanks for coming,” I managed to say.
James, the cutie with the blond hair, smiled. My heart skipped a beat, and my face flushed. His wife giggled, as did Georgia and Reese.
Luke and Nico still continued to stare at me.
Finally, I lost the ability to hold my tongue, and I snapped, “What are you lookin’ at?”
James’ threw his head back and laughed, while Luke just grinned.
I think I might’ve seen a grin kick up the corner of Nico’s mouth as well, but I was sure it was the beer talking.
Luke finally answered. “We’re happy for our boy.”
I blinked. “You don’t have any boys… yet. Do you?”
I looked at Reese for confirmation, and her eyes got really, really wide as she gave me some look that tried to convey what she was thinking, but I didn’t comprehend.
I looked at her Dr. Pepper and asked, “Is that why you wouldn’t go have margaritas with me yesterday?”
Reese started to shake her head, but Luke let go of her shoulders and turned her so he could look at her face.
“I was talking about Downy, but now I feel like you should be telling me something,” he growled.
She opened her mouth twice, emitting a tiny croak, and said, “I was going to tell you!”
Thinking now wasn’t the best time to watch that conversation happen, I turned around and hurried back to where I’d seen Downy and Jonah last.
When I couldn’t find them in the spot they’d been, I walked around the side of the house to the front yard.
I froze when I heard Downy ask, “And you just thought it’d be a good fuckin’ idea to walk up onto a man’s property, one of whom you suspected of having an illegal dogfighting ring?”
Downy’s voice sounded rough, as well as concerned, but that’s not what Jonah heard. All he heard was the censure in his voice.
“Well, who the fuck do you think you are, yelling at me? I came up here to tell you because I’d thought my own brother would help me,” he hissed the word ‘brother’ as if it was a poisonous snake on the verge of attack. “If I’d known you wouldn’t be of any help, I’d have gone to the police department. I was just worried about my father catching me in the act, and I figured you’d be the best bet. Apparently, I was wrong.”
He started to walk away, but Downy stopped him with four words. “You are my brother.”
A tear started to form in my eye, and I smiled as I watched Jonah’s shoulders hunch. “You don’t act like you are. I only see you on the rare holiday.”
Downy was silent for a few minutes. “Your father doesn’t like me. I felt it’d be easier to keep the visits down to a minimum so he didn’t think worse of you.”
“Fuck my father,” Jonah hissed. “He’s the whole reason I lost my brother for my entire childhood?”
I blinked at the fierceness in his voice.
It sent Downy reeling, though. “What?”
“I’ve spent my whole childhood wishing you were around more. You have a better relationship with Ridley, and it sucks,” Jonah replied huskily.
I was pretty sure he was containing quite a bit of emotion, but his fifteen-year-old mind didn’t think that it was ‘manly’ to cry, so he was holding all of that emotion in.
“You can come over anytime you want to. I invited you along with her many times. I’ll try to do a better job of coming over. As long as you aren’t surprised when Jackson starts treating you like the plague, that is,” Downy drawled lightly.
Jonas snorted. “Jackson is never home. Mom’s never home. It’s like I live alone now since Ridley moved out.”
“Door’s always open, buddy. However, we need to get you down to the station to give a statement. That all right with you?” Downy asked his brother.
Jonah nodded. “Sure.”
Nodding, Downy turned, finding me at the corner of the house, and smiled. “Come here.”
I went, walking straight into his arms.
“How’d you know I was there?” I teased.
He always knew I was there. It must be some superhuman-alpha thing to always know when people were approaching, regardless of whether they made any noise or not.
“Will you tell the boys where I went? And stay here. Don’t go for a walk,” he told me.
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Sir, yes, sir. Anything else, oh Lord and Master?”
His eyes flared. “You can call me that later.” He leaned forward until his mouth was against my ear, and his dick was pressing into my belly. “When I’m fucking you so hard no sound can escape your lips because you’ve screamed so long and hard that you’ve lost your voice.”
He’d growled that statement against my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
“Promises, promises,” I teased as I skimmed my lips up the column of his throat, going on tiptoes to reach just short of his jaw.
His hands clenched on my hips, and he sighed before giving me a chaste kiss on the lips and stepped away.
“Be good,” he ordered, giving me a look.
I held up my hands, which inevitably still had the same beer in it that I’d had for the last twenty minutes.
He raised his brow but didn’t comment at my gesture, instead turning to Jonah and gesturing toward his cruiser. “Go wait inside while I go grab my stuff.”
With that, he disappeared into the front of the house.
I felt wetness on my hand and looked down to find Peter’s wet nose stuck against it.
I smiled and scratched him under his chin.
“Let’s go back to our spot, buddy.”
Chapter 21
Sometimes I open my mouth and my mother comes out.
-Memphis to her dad
Memphis
I woke up when a hard body slipped beneath the sheets with me.
Cracking open an eye, I glanced at the clock and grimaced.
“Four forty-five in the morning?” I croaked. “What’s the point of going to bed?”
An amused snort sounded from beside me. “Because I’m tired.”
I giggled, rolling over until my face was touching his chest and said tiredly, “That’s a good enough reason, I guess.”
He pulled me into his chest and started running his tongue down my neck with soft, languid licks when a huge, grating crash sounded from somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen.
Nails clicked and clacked on the hardwood floor as both dogs hauled ass toward the sound, and Downy, in his boxer shorts, wasn’t far behind.
I was up and moving, too.
However, not outside to the crash, but to the bed and then underneath, taking my cell phone with me.
I couldn’t tell you why I did what I did next.
Call it instinct. Call it fate. Call it whatever the f
uck you want, but I did it. And it saved both Downy’s and my life.
The phone rang so many times that I was scared he wouldn’t pick up, but he did.
“Baby?” my daddy croaked.
He sounded awful, which I guess he would since he’d spent the entire night drinking and had only gotten to bed around two hours ago.
“Daddy,” I whispered. “Something’s wrong.”
The lethargy in my daddy’s voice was gone. “Tell me.”
I decided not to tell him. Instead, I pushed the button for FaceTime and his face lit up the screen.
I was pretty sure he was naked, but luckily I only caught the top half of him.
I could make out my mother’s concerned face over the back of his shoulder.
When I was sure I had his attention, I hit the button that flipped the screen around, and poked just the very edge of the phone out from under the bed, propping it up against the metal bed frame.
I couldn’t hear a thing.
Not the dogs. Not Downy. Nothing.
Just as I was about to relay that to my father, something grabbed me around the wrist and hauled.
***
Stone
I watched, helpless, as my daughter was taken.
Some guy with a hoodie pulled low over his face.
White male. Five feet ten inches. A hundred and ninety pounds.
The phone that’d been, I assumed, sitting to the side of the bed because nothing was jostled as the man in black pants, black Doc Marten work boots, and a black shirt, didn’t touch it when he got Memphis out.
My wife gasped from behind me, seeing Memphis go down before our very eyes.
“No!” Memphis yelled. “Stop! Let me go! Downy!”
The heartbreaking screams of my baby girl reminded me of the ones I’d heard years ago going into the hospital.
***
Ten years ago
Words couldn’t explain.
As a police officer, of twenty years, I’d given my fair share of condolences.
Mothers. Fathers. Grandparents. Foster parents. Adoptive parents. Friends. Acquaintances.
It was never easy.
At all.
But I did it, and I did it because it gave me a sense of belonging.
I loved my job.
Although it was tough and rough, I wouldn’t change my career for anything.
Code 11- KPD SWAT Box Set Page 57