by Brandy Ayers
Ana turned, her heart hammering inside her chest, her head swimming slightly with the shock of seeing Justice Reilly standing with three other men across the room, all dressed in their sharp patrol uniforms, chests made even more broad by the bulky Kevlar vests beneath their shirts. “Justice?”
Silence filled the bull pen for three tense seconds before the olive-skinned man standing beside the man she had spent one amazing night with and never expected to see again spoke up. “Who the fuck is Justice?”
“I am, asshole.” Justice never diverted his attention from Ana, those green eyes that disconcerted her so much boring holes through her.
According to his name tag, the man was the ever-infamous Officer Wright. “Shut the fuck up. How did I not know that? I thought your first name was Rookie.”
Luke’s earlier warning about the guy now made complete sense. She really did want to cause him bodily harm at that moment. The guy didn’t seem to notice the tension that stood thick in the air between his fellow officer and Ana.
“You guys know each other?” Luke tentatively stepped beside her, his gaze traveling back and forth between them.
The moment seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Did they know each other? Yes and no. He probably knew her body better than any other man she had even been with since losing her virginity at sixteen. But during that night, their conversations never scratched much below the surface. They didn’t discuss specifics about their lives or careers. Obviously.
“Yes, our paths crossed once a few weeks ago.” Thankfully, Ana kept her voice even, not giving anything away.
Justice’s body, however, gave everything away. His large frame coiled tight as if holding himself back, his face hard but his eyes heated with unrepentant lust.
Luke took the awkward meeting in stride and marched on as if nothing odd had happened. “Detective Formosa, I would like to introduce you to Officer Bryan Coy, Officer Justice Reilly, and Officer Cole Wright. These three have been in the thick of the investigation into Richard Artiga and his drug operation. They’ll be at your disposal for the entirety of your time with us.”
Ana shook the hands of Coy and Wright first, dreading the moment her skin would touch Justice’s. But it couldn’t be avoided. It would look unprofessional if she slighted him. The whole of her body screamed for her to go to him, to find the pleasure in his arms he had so thoroughly given. Luke had said she could use these men in whatever way she saw fit, right? But her mind held firm control and gave him the same handshake she gave everyone else. His long fingers wrapped around her smaller ones. Their contact lasted no more than a few seconds, but in that time her panties soaked with arousal, and her nipples peaked at the memory of his rough, calloused fingers tweaking and pulling them.
“Nice to meet you all.” The words croaked out as she pulled her hand from Justice’s grip. “I look forward to working with you on the case. I’m confident we will be able to bring Artiga down and wrap this up as quickly as possible.”
Bryan and Cole nodded and gave her polite smiles. Justice continued to stare at her as if her face held the answers to the mysteries of the universe.
“I’ll want to sit down with one of you and go over the notes in the file one-on-one. I’ve read it, but it helps to have insights from the officers actually on scene.” Ana avoided Justice’s eyes as much as possible. They would need to have a little chat and work through the awkwardness if they were going to be working together. Until then, she needed to just avoid him.
“I can do that.” Justice spoke up first, even going so far as to take another step closer to her. “I’d be happy to sit down with you, Ana.”
“Happy” was the last word Ana would use to describe his voice.
“Actually, I think it should probably be Bryan to fill in the blanks for Detective Formosa.” Luke pointedly emphasized her official title. “He was the officer to arrest Camille Artiga, the first on the scene of the explosion, and the one to put the most hours in so far.”
Anger swirled in Justice’s eyes, and for the first time, he broke his intense inspection of Ana to glare at Luke. But in the end, he was an officer to the core and respected his superior. “Yes, sir. If that is what you would like.”
Bryan gave his coworker a suspicious look before addressing Ana. “No problem. These guys endangered the life of my wife and son, so I am as invested in capturing the assholes as much as anyone. We all are.” Bryan clapped a hand on Justice’s shoulder, obviously trying to defuse the situation.
“Sounds good. We can sit down after the briefing.” Ana turned to Luke. “Shall we get this thing started?”
With a nod, Luke led the way into the briefing room, with Bryan and Cole trailing behind him. It didn’t escape Ana’s attention that Justice moved a little slower than the rest, putting some distance between the other three before spinning around to confront her.
“What the fuck is this, Ana?” For some odd reason, the seething anger in his voice ramped up the already intense need throbbing through Ana’s system.
“I’m just as surprised to see you here as I’m sure you are, Justice.” She masked her growing desire for the beautiful man glaring at her with her own mask of anger. “I had no idea you were an officer when we met. We didn’t exactly talk about our careers that night. I thought all the guys from the MPD hung out at the Blue Line. It never occurred to me that the random guy I fucked from the bar that night might be local law enforcement.”
“I don’t bother with the badge bunnies at that place. I’ve always preferred the women at places I’m not known.” Justice advanced on her, backing her into a desk directly behind her. “That is until a leggy, mouthy woman ruined all that with one night of incredible sex before disappearing on me with nothing but a thank-you note.”
“We both knew what that night was about.” Ana’s chest heaved with the power of her breaths, the swell of her breasts brushing against Justice’s stiff uniform shirt. Even through her blouse and bra, the contact felt illicit. “Neither of us needed the awkward morning after, so I spared us both the trouble.”
“Yes. So glad you spared us any awkwardness.”
Luke’s voice echoed out from the briefing room, reminding Ana that this was neither the time nor place to have this conversation with her one-night stand come back to haunt her.
Justice seemed to read her mind, taking a step back from her. “This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.”
He spun back around and stalked into the briefing room. The hot, fucking prick took a seat right in the front row, where it would be impossible for Ana to miss him. She followed slightly behind, her head held high and determined to ignore whatever dramatics Justice was so intent on causing. She’d tried to escape entanglements like this back in the city. But here she stood, behind a podium, and smack dab in the middle of another damn office romance drama.
Fuck.
Chapter Four
Justice
Ana had been in his bed only a few weeks ago, and for only a few hours, but damn if she hadn’t left a lasting impression. She’d been all he could think of ever since. Well, her and the case they were tirelessly investigating.
Now that she was in his station, day in and day out, he knew the level of obsession he had developed would only increase. Shortly after the briefing, Ana had disappeared into one of the interrogation rooms to go over the files with Coy. Justice headed onto the streets with Wright to track down some leads they had managed to twist out of one of the drug dealers they brought in earlier in the week.
Justice’s body hummed with the knowledge that the woman who had so rocked his world on its axis sat in the same place he spent so much of his time. That at any moment he could reach out to her. Hear her voice. Touch her smooth skin.
“So, that detective is a pretty hot piece of ass, am I right?” Wright drummed his fingers against the car door, fidgeting with his omnipresent cell phone in the other hand. Truth be known, Justice liked Wright. He was a bit of a loose cannon, said whatever thought came into his
head at any given moment, and could be annoying at times. But a good cop through and through. Wright volunteered to go into the schools and give antidrinking and drug presentations, helped old ladies cross the street, and was a true family man. A video had even gone viral of him dancing with some little girls in the street the summer before. But the bravado he put on to make up for what he thought were his less than macho pursuits outside the job could get old.
If he said one more thing about how hot Ana was, he’d be walking a thin line with the normally even-tempered Justice. “Aren’t you married and about to be a dad at any minute?”
Wright grinned, but this grin differed from every smug smirk the guy threw out to his brothers in blue. This one was genuine happiness. “Yes, I am. Happily married to a woman so gorgeous she puts your Detective Formosa to shame. Even nine months pregnant, irritable, and hot all the time, she’s a fucking goddess.” Turning to Justice, Wright leveled him with a look so serious Justice honestly hadn’t been aware he could function on that level. “Every single time my wife talks to another man, no matter how innocent, I get the same look of fury that you had written all over your face when Ana walked into the bull pen this morning. You’re fucked, my friend.”
“You have no clue what you’re talking about.” Wright’s scoff of disbelief annoyed Justice, but mostly because he knew he was right. There hadn’t been a night since meeting Ana that Justice hadn’t thought of her. It took him way longer than it should have after that night to change his sheets, all because he didn’t want to lose the sweet scent of her on his pillows.
Justice shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. No matter how intense his lust for Ana felt, he had a job to do. So did Wright.
A moment later, they pulled up to their destination: a dingy, run-down apartment building. Middleburg wasn’t a big town, fewer than ten thousand full-time residents. More during the school year when college students would flood the nearby campus. In a town the size of Middleburg, there was very little leeway between the good and bad sides of town. The building they sat in front of was very decidedly in the bad part.
“What is this guy’s name again?” Wright flipped through the pages of the file sitting in his lap.
“Big Eddie. The dealer we brought in a few days ago said this guy dropped off one of the drug deliveries. The only reason he knew him was because they went to high school together.” Big Eddie was the first concrete lead they had gotten in weeks. Despite knowing the drug ring leader’s name and having physical descriptions of two suspects that rigged a meth lab to blow up a house not far from the station, they had been at a standstill for far too long. The few low-level dealers they brought in insisted they knew nothing about how the operation worked. They had all worked for another guy who went missing two years prior. Then out of nowhere, drug deliveries from strangers started showing up at their doors. A note had been attached to the first delivery. It told them they would get a twenty percent cut of the profits, where to drop off the rest of what they made, and that more deliveries would be on the way.
Rumors had swirled of one dealer who tried to keep more of the money and suddenly disappeared from thin air. They never met anyone other than the delivery boys, and they weren’t supposed to exchange names. More notes came after, offering bonuses to anyone who could recruit other dealers. Higher profits for reaching certain levels. The whole damn thing was run through notes but had the sophistication and organization of a freaking Mary Kay-esque outfit.
Hopefully, Big Eddie would have something else to help them move up the ladder in their investigation. He was the first delivery guy they had found. Everyone back at the station was hoping the same thing: that he would know where Artiga was holed up.
Justice and Wright climbed from the car and approached the building with caution, both scoping out the area for any possible trouble they could run into. But the street was quiet. At ten in the morning, most people would either be at work or sleeping off their nocturnal activities, whatever those might be.
The building had a panel of buzzers for each apartment, but according to a sign taped to the dirty brick wall, it wasn’t functioning. Some helpful citizen had propped the security door open with a brick, allowing them to proceed through with little effort. From what they could find in the database, Big Eddie, or Edward Casey, lived on the fourth floor in a small one-bedroom apartment. They made their way up the stairs, Justice leading the way, his hand resting on the butt of his gun still holstered at his side. Echoes of children crying and video games on full blast came and went as they passed each floor.
As they approached the door for Big Eddie’s apartment, both officers paused to listen for activity. The television inside was turned to full blast; apparently Judge Judy was not happy with someone in her courtroom.
“Gotta love some midday Judy,” Wright whispered.
Justice rolled his eyes at his partner and knocked on the door. “Edward Casey, police. Please open the door.”
Shuffling and cursing reached them through the thin door.
“Edward Casey, open the door or we will enter by force,” Wright called after another moment.
“Fuck, I’m coming, I’m coming. Don’t touch the fucking door. I don’t feel like replacing another one.” The door swung open to reveal a short, skinny redheaded man, much different than the picture they had on file for Edward Casey.
Wright laughed as he looked the man up and down. “You’re Big Eddie? Is that one of those ironic mobster nicknames?”
Jesus, Wright really had no filter.
“Fuck you, Officer. It was a football nickname, before I blew out my knee and landed in this shithole.” Eddie, apparently familiar with police protocol, asked to see their warrant, then stepped aside and let them enter the apartment. The place smelled of week-old lunch meat and beer.
“What took you so long to answer the door, Mr. Casey?” Justice walked around the furniture, taking in the bottle of lotion knocked over on a side table and the pile of used tissues lying on the floor next to the couch. Revulsion rippled through his body as he realized what the man must have been doing when they arrived.
“I see. A little nooner with Judge Judy? I can’t blame you, man.” Wright giggled under his breath. “I’ve got a thing for powerful women myself.”
“Jesus, Wright.” Justice shook his head and instructed Eddie to take a seat. “The warrant gives us permission to question you and take a look around the apartment. Do you have any weapons we should be aware of?”
“Couple knives in the kitchen. Shotgun in the closet.” He nodded to indicate a door behind Wright. “A Ruger in the bathroom, my Glock in the nightstand, and a can of mace under my mattress.”
Justice hitched one eyebrow up. “Scared of something, Mr. Casey?”
“Fuck yes, I am. Figured you boys would be looking for me sooner or later after Jimmy got picked up. Thought some old associates might come to see me first. If I had the money, I would have made a run for it a long time ago.”
“What associates did you think might come after you?” Justice pulled out his notepad, ready to scribble down any information Eddie could provide.
“Look, by now you know I used to deliver packages on occasion, but I hate to break it to you guys, I don’t have much to tell you. The only guy that I ever saw wore a ski mask and beat the shit out of me because I told my brother I ran into Jimmy. I didn’t even tell him where we ran into each other or what the circumstances were. Just that I saw him. But they knew somehow. They knew and they came to give me a warning not to talk to anyone else.” Eddie wrung his hands together, one leg bouncing up and down nervously.
“If you never saw anyone from the organization, how did you get the job?” Justice crossed his arms under his chest, leveling the squirming subject with his best glare.
“I used to pick up odd jobs out of one of those cash-for-labor places. There was a flyer posted outside. They were looking for discreet people with working cars. There was a phone number, but it went straight to voicema
il. I left my name, phone number, and address. The next day I woke up to a package inside my door with an envelope full of cash and a note. It said to deliver the box to an address and keep the cash. If I opened the box, they said they would know, and there would be consequences.” Eddie’s eyes shifted to Wright as he emerged from the bedroom carrying all the weapons from the apartment. “Jimmy was my third delivery. After I got the beating, I kept getting packages, until a month ago when they stopped.”
Justice and Wright exchanged a look, both obviously thinking the same thing. Camille had stumbled into the station a month ago. “Okay, Eddie, we’re going to need to bring you to the station for some more questions from our detective. You want to walk out on your own free will, or do I need to cuff you?”
“Fuck, man.” Eddie leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees and running his hands through greasy hair. “They got spies everywhere. They’re going to know I’m talking to you.”
“Not our problem, Big E.” Wright slung the bag full of weapons over his shoulder and stood by the door.
“Fuck. Okay, cuff me. If it looks like I’m not going down easy, maybe they won’t come after me.” Eddie stood, turned around, and put his hands behind his back.
As they made their way down the stairs and out of the building, Eddie fought and screamed the whole way, annoying Justice more than anything had in his life.
“I’m not talking, assholes. You can question me all you want. No way I’m turning rat.” Eddie kept screaming as they shoved him into the backseat of their squad car.
“You can stop now, Eddie. Fuck, keep your day job. You have no talent for acting.” Wright settled into his seat and turned on his phone as it started buzzing in his hand. “Holy shit. It’s time. Justice, you have to drop me at the hospital. She’s in labor. Holy shit. I’m going to be a dad!”
Justice smiled, and Wright practically bounced in his seat. Turning the siren on, they drove full speed to the hospital on the other side of town, Eddie congratulating and chatting with Wright the whole way.