by Mimi Barbour
Lisa caught the beseeching glance from Rikki in the mirror and mouthed the words “do it.” As soon as the car veered toward the pub, Aurora relaxed enough to take her revolver out from her fancy purse and shove it down the bodice of her gown. After a slight hesitation, she pinned the badge on the waistline of her dress.
Lisa did the same. The she leaned forward to catch Debbie’s attention. “Call the precinct and have them send some uniforms to Mike’s. Tell them to be on the lookout for a fully-loaded blue ford pickup, brand new, they can’t miss it, looks like a freakin’ chrome collection gone berserk.”
Aurora added. “If he gets anywhere near the front door, they’re to stall him. He’ll be pissed and mean so let them know to be careful. If they mess with him, he likes to carry a big knife in his boot and he knows how to use it.”
“Oh my God!” Rikki shrieked. “Kai’s gonna kill me.”
“Nah! But I will if you don’t step on it.” Aurora patted Rikki’s shoulder and grinned.
As soon as the car pulled to a stop, Lisa helped Aurora out so her dress didn’t catch on the door handle and then she spoke to the other two. “Drive around the back and wait there. Once Aurora talks her down, we’ll join you.”
No sooner were the words out of her mouth, a fancy blue pickup wheeled into the parking lot.
Shit! Lisa gritted her teeth and thought… what were the odds?
Chapter Eight
The girls quickly made their way into the pub where Eddie hovered near the door, waiting for them. He motioned them to the back hallway.
“Wow! You look wicked cool Aurora. Sorry to bug you tonight of all nights but the chick’s hysterical and wouldn’t stay if I didn’t promise to call your private number.”
“It’s okay, Eddie, I warned you she’d be scared. Can’t blame her for panicking after what she’s been through. Look the bastard is heading this way. He must have trailed her or something.”
“That guy has eyes all over the city. Keeps his girls in line that way. I’ll try and hold him off to give you a few minutes to get her out of here.”
“You’re a good guy. Thanks.”
Lisa checked the window, knowing they didn’t have much time. What scared the hell outta her was seeing Debbie approach the big bruiser who’d left his truck running in front of the joint. Her put-on wiggle would make any pro proud. She’d done something with her hair. Instead of her earlier controlled do, the waves were all over her head giving her a floosy kinda style. The neckline of her black evening dress had been pulled down over her shoulders to show a lot more cleavage than earlier.
Lisa might not have ever worked personally with Debbie, being as she was Aurora’s partner before her, but from the stories that Aurora and the others told, this woman had it all. Smarts and cool! She hoped one day she’d be as good on the job.
Quickly, she followed Aurora to the Ladies, stayed outside in the narrow hallway and let her partner enter. The door remained open enough for her to see the young teen, scrawny, hair sticking out all over her pixie face, dark eye-liner running in rivulets mixed with the tears pouring down her face.
“You c-came.” The teen rushed to Aurora and threw her bruised arms around Aurora’s waist. While her body shook with fright and sobs, she nestled her terrified face into Aurora’s neck.
“I told you I’d come, didn’t I? You can trust me. Look, sweetheart, I don’t want to make this worse but we have to get out of here. We’ll use the back door. Somehow that bastard tracked you and is heading into the joint.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth, and a disruption from the front broke out. Debbie’s plaintive whine could be heard clearly. “Hey, sweet thing, you promised me a drink and I’m parched. Ain’t you man of your word?”
“I’ll be with you in a little while, honey. First I have some business to take care of.”
Shock froze the girl in Aurora’s arms. “I can’t. He’ll see me. He’ll k-kill me.”
“I won’t let that happen. Both Detective Lawson and I have a gun and a badge and he’s not getting past us. Got it?”
Lisa knew they had seconds to make it happen. “Go Aurora! Get her into the car with Rikki. I’ve got this.” She took out her weapon and clasped it tightly in her hand, down low, near the hem of her slinky black dress. In seconds the back door closed behind the two and Lisa faced a maniac.
“What the fuck? Where’s my girl?” His appearance gave her pause. The lunatic wasn’t just angry; he looked huge and full of meanness.
Lisa kept her gun hidden. “Don’t know. I was alone in there.”
Debbie stepped into the picture, moseyed up beside him and leaned in. “Hey, big guy. Your beer’s waiting for you.”
This time the playfulness backfired. He pushed her away roughly and started forward past Lisa. The bathroom door slammed against the wall, sounding like an explosion. He lurched into the room and checked all three stalls.
Being familiar with the effects of crack, Lisa realized this deranged dude looked like a walking advertisement of the finer affects from a drug that could turn people into killers. Eyes flashing with venom, the man’s barely controlled voice held a craziness that sent shivers up her spine. His obvious fury could lash out with no provocation. Except she knew, he had lots.
Tightening her grip on what seemed like a very small item between herself and imminent death, Lisa worked hard to stay in her role as an innocent bystander. If they could play him long enough for Aurora to get away, they had a chance to walk out unscathed.
When a white blur moved up behind Debbie and caught her attention, she thought she’d lose her lunch. What the hell was Aurora up to?
“Hey girlfriend, we have a wedding to go to. Eddie says he’ll drive us over since the limo has broken down. Let’s go!”
Lisa watched Aurora motion to Deb, who moved backward slowly then faded from sight. Aurora, her badge gone, held her hand behind the fullness of her white silk skirt. Lisa knew she was being covered.
Keeping her arm down to hide her own badge, and with her weapon still concealed, Lisa pretended to giggle as she tried to pass the man who hadn’t said a word but who looked as if he’d lose it any minute.
Roughly, his arm reached out to grab, snaked around her waist and she was his prisoner. Here she’d tried so hard to keep her dress nice, and now this dumb crackhead was going to force her to fight. No way she’d shoot him, splatter her dress and have to spend the evening filling out paperwork.
Instead she threw her gun toward Aurora who caught it in midair. Then she trod down hard on his instep. As soon as she heard his roar, her elbow rammed him in the pit of his stomach. With a move perfected from a lot of use, she whipped around to jam her knuckles into his throat. Except that he’d moved aside and now held her shoulders, his fist raised to strike. Like most cops, Lisa hated woman beaters. Assholes who used their strength to hurt defenseless females.
She let him throw the punch and moved aside just as he would have connected. The sound of flesh hitting the brick wall was like music to her ears. “Guess you won’t be hitting anyone else with that fist for a while, dickhead.”
Smiling, adrenalin surging, she kneed him in the groin and then figured what the fuck. She followed up with a kick to the same place from her pointed evening shoes and loved the scream of pain that followed.
“You like hurting girls? Well guess what you piece of shit? Some of us girls like payback. You’re under arrest for assaulting a police officer.”
Standing over the whimpering felon, she looked up to see the uniforms waiting beside a smiling Aurora, who’d held them back from interfering. Lisa spoke up. “Hey, he attacked me first. What could I do but defend myself?”
The two smirking uniforms stepped forward and grabbed the dude roughly. One cuffed him while reading his Miranda and the other waited for Lisa to finish smoothing her dress and her hair and then he added. “We saw the whole thing. Nice moves by the way.”
“Thanks. Can you write him up?”
“Sure.
No problem. First off, his truck’s double parked. Next, we’ve got him on a multitude of charges. Just to name a few: creating a nuisance, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest—hell by the time we search his truck, no doubt we’ll come up with a few other violations.”
“Good! You can add soliciting prostitution also. We want this bad-boy put away for a long time. I’ll be in tomorrow to file charges.” Lisa watched as they half-carried the disgusting crybaby out of the bar.
Aurora reached out to smooth Lisa’s rioting curls back over her shoulder. “Come along, my friend. We’ve got a wedding to go to, and then some dancing afterward. And I do love dancing, especially with my soon-to-be husband.”
“I know. Look, I was kinda thinking I’d hang with you at the ceremony but maybe I should take Noel home with me and get an early night. You’ll still have everyone else to party with.”
“Not likely. You’re my bridesmaid and everyone else will have a dance partner except Jeff. No arguments. You have to dance with him.”
Chapter Nine
Once they arrived at the chapel, Lisa noticed Kai’s shoulders relax and his face light up with a sexy smile. Since it had the power to make her legs weak, Lisa wondered how Aurora felt? A glance sideways answered that question. Aurora’s face glowed. No other word could describe the look of anticipation and adoration that lit up her partner. She looked like a fairy-tale princess in gorgeous white silk, with her dark braided hair framing her face. Her blue eyes had lightened to soft crystals of pure love.
Yearning clutched at Lisa’s insides. A small prayer built and slowly took shape. Please Lord, one day! Before she could move further into the room, a small whirlwind detached himself from Mattie and flew across the room. “Auntie Lisa!”
She bent to scoop up her heart’s joy and did a little twirl around to please him since it was their normal greeting. “Hi, Scrapper. What’ve you been up to? Driving everyone batty with all your questions?”
Taking her seriously, he answered with a solemn look in his big brown heart-stoppers, which contradicted the huge grin on his chubby cheeks. “Nope! I’ve been a good boy. You can ask Auntie Mattie and Uncle Ham.”
“Uncle John to you, tough guy.”
“I like Uncle Ham better. It’s funny.”
Since the two had followed him over to her, Lisa looked up and saw the proud smiles neither could hide.
“What?” Lisa knew they were covering something. Once they shared, she also sensed that it would make her love her nephew more. It was just that kind of feeling.
Mattie answered. “This little man is a woman’s dream come true. He helped me make cookies for his lady— you know he calls you his lady—then he badgered me to let him get dressed in his new suit three hours ahead of time so he wouldn’t be late. Said he had a date and since it was his first, he couldn’t keep the lady waiting.”
Lisa’s breath caught as she hugged the now shy little monster closer in her happy arms. How could she ever exist without this little man now that he’d become hers? She hated that her sister had to lose her life for this turn of events, but all the love she’d had for Carly was now transferred to Carly’s curly-haired, three-year-old son.
Noel pushed back in her arms so he could see her face, his small fingers patted her cheek. “I saw Elvis. He’s here you know.”
“He is? Did you get a picture of him?” Lisa had allowed Noel to keep his mom’s cell phone since he’d been so attached and he basically used it to take a huge amount of random photos. Surprisingly for such a youngster he had a good eye and he’d gathered quite a portfolio of some pretty fantastic shots. He must have inherited this talent from his missing father since neither Lisa nor Carly had an interest in photography.
His father was another absent chapter from Noel’s life. Her sister had been very close-mouthed about the guy and Lisa had respected her wishes, intending on prying the information out of her once they lived together which was the plan before she’d died. Who knew their time would be cut off this way and she’d never get the chance? Pushing these unwelcome thoughts from her mind, Lisa forced herself back to the subject at hand.
“Auntie Lisa. Auntie Lisa?”
“Sorry honey, I was thinking of something else. So, did you get any good shots?”
“Yep! Mr. Waters took one of me with Elvis. If you like, I’ll get one of you and Elvis too.”
“Mr. Waters? You’ve met Jeff?” As if speaking his name out loud called to him, he appeared at their side.
“Uh huh. He’s my new friend. We had a man-to-man while we waited for you. That’s right, huh Jeff?”
Lisa interrupted. “Did Mr. Waters give you permission to call him Jeff?” Carly had been very strict with Noel’s manners and Lisa promised to carry on with her wishes.
“Oh yes. He told me I could call him Jeff, I just couldn’t call him late for dinner.” Noel’s giggles were infectious and everyone around him laughed, which again had him burying his face in her neck.
Jeff’s warm indulgence for the boy was obvious. The melting look of friendship he wore as he looked first at Noel and then at Lisa sparked the anxiety in her belly to start up again. A red flush began to build and would soon flood her throat and face. Disgusted, knowing this hadn’t happened to her since she’d been a teen suffering with acne, she swallowed and wished she could pull a Noel and hide her face in his neck.
Thankfully, before she Jeff saw her reaction, Aurora, with Kai’s arm possessively around her waist stepped close and said, “Five minutes and they’ll begin the ceremony.” She reached over and patted Noel’s back. “Hey Sport, how’s my favorite guy?”
Noel reacted to Aurora’s voice immediately. He twisted in Lisa’s arms so he could reach for his second favorite person in the room. “Auntie Wory!”
Lisa saw Aurora flinch but the smile on her face never wavered. The fact that Noel had been given permission to call her “Wory” shocked the hell out of everyone who knew her. Not another soul could call her by a nickname without a scathing putdown. From the first time the two had met, and Aurora had told Noel her name, he’d decided she was his Auntie Wory. Aurora had nicknamed him Sport and a special bond had formed.
Once Aurora had lifted Noel from her arms, Lisa had nothing to hide behind. She smoothed her dress and threw the jumble of curls that Noel had messed with over her shoulders. She licked her lips to see if she still wore the lipstick she’d replace in the car and was shocked at Jeff’s reaction. Lisa didn’t want to pay any attention to the man whose intense grey eyes followed her every move. If he didn’t stop staring soon, she’d punch the sucker.
How the hell could he tie her tongue in knots, when it blathered freely with every other person she knew and many she didn’t? Lisa turned away and pretended to check the other guests.
Within a few minutes, Aurora handed Noel over to Jeff’s reaching arms so the three men could tell the preacher to start the show and she took a moment to lean over.
“For crissake’s stop glowering at Jeff. You have to be nice to the guy tonight. He’s your partner for the wedding. Maybe you won’t have to carry on a conversation for the whole evening but at least have the first dance with him.”
Chapter Ten
Lisa watched as Aurora took her place next to a very serious Kai. His eyes were soft with love and Aurora’s returning smile blazed with devotion. If love created energy, Lisa knew that room resonated with its power.
As an avid fan of weddings, Lisa closely watched every action between the two in front of her. Even Noel sensed he needed to be quiet and sat on her knee enthralled.
Aurora’s wedding gown billowed out around her feet, revealing her tiny waist and smooth firm shoulders. Used to seeing her partner looking efficient and cool in her uniformed black pants and tight shirts, this petite person astonished her.
Kai in his black suit, blue shirt with matching tie and bald head appeared nervous. His hand clenched Aurora’s as if he were gaining support or maybe he was just afraid she’d run. That thought made
Lisa smile. She knew her friend was in the exact spot she wanted to be in one day, making promises to love and honor the man who held her heart.
The words of the traditional wedding vows were beautiful and Lisa applauded their choice to use them in their ceremony. Her eyes filled and she wished she’d been smart enough to bring a tissue.
A movement next to her brought her head around before she thought to blink away her tears. She stared into the eyes of the one man who’d made nervous become a familiar sensation.
Jeff’s reaction astounded her. She saw the fear and then affection appear as he reached into his pocket for some Kleenex. His whispered words made her grin. “I grabbed these for myself but I think you need them more.”
A well of emotion rose inside and she had to look away. Never before in her life had she connected that quickly with a person she didn’t even like to be around.
Aurora speaking grabbed her attention and she knew the time had come for her to say the words she’d been working on for the last week. It had been almost comical watching her write and rewrite, pulling at her hair, cussing a blue streak. It had finally been decided that they were to keep their vows to a minimum of two sentences each.
Her voice firm with commitment, Aurora said, “You will hold my heart, Kai Lawson, until the day I die and if it’s at all possible, I’ll find you again in my next lifetime.” Aurora’s voice broke and the following words were emotional and very, very touching. “You are my man and may God forgive me for being a rotten mother but I love you more than anyone else in this world.
Kai reacted like any man in love would and drew her towards him; his hands cradling her face while his eyes and lips paid homage.
The crowd’s collective sigh and the minister’s throat clearing drew them apart. Kai cleared his own throat and furtively wiped his cheeks before he spoke. On his first try, his voice startled everyone from the force he used. He stopped, reddened and coughed. On his second try, huskiness made him almost inaudible. Lisa strained to catch his words.