A Bad Day for Sunshine

by Jones, Darynda

  Quincy held up a palm. “Hold up there, buddy.”

  “Really?” he asked, unimpressed. “This again?”

  “I don’t think our insurance would cover—”

  “I have my own. Let’s get this girl and go home.”

  They ducked down and hurried across the field, Quincy in the lead and Levi at their six.

  They got to the building and pressed against it. The only door sat on the side opposite them. They had no way to see inside, to make sure no one was in there with her. She couldn’t risk it. They needed another plan. If Levi was wrong—

  “I’m not,” he said beside her.

  “What do you—? How did you know what—?”

  “There’s only one suspect. Male, size ten shoe, one fifty to one sixty. No one else has been out here, and he is gone.”

  “Do you know what he had for breakfast?”

  He grinned down at her. “Go get your girl.”

  She tapped Quincy on the shoulder. He unfolded his tactical knife, slid it into his belt, and raised his semiautomatic to advance. Sun had only drawn her gun twice in the line of duty, but she’d never shot anyone. This would be her third draw. She hoped her record would continue.

  Quincy got to the door, listened, then shook his head, indicating no sound. Sun and Fields crept to the door, and after a three-count, Quincy and Fields kicked it in together.

  Quince raised his rifle and yelled, “Del Sol sheriff! Hands up!” The light on his rifle showed no other people in the room. “Sheriff!” he said.

  Sun rushed inside and found a tiny, shivering ball of a girl wedged as far into a corner as she could get.

  She knelt down. “Sybil? Sweetheart? I’m Sheriff Vicram. I’m Auri’s mom.”

  Her eyes were huge circles on an elfin face, but even in the light, her pupils were dilated. She raised her hands to defend herself. Good girl. Never stop fighting.

  “What did he give her?” Quincy asked.

  “No idea. Possibly morphine or Rohypnol.”

  Fields knelt down and found a clear vial. “Rohypnol.”

  “I think it’s time,” Quincy said to her.

  “Call them in.”

  As Quincy called in a rescue team, forgoing radio silence to get Sybil to the hospital, Sun tried to reach the girl. “Sybil, you did it. You led us straight to you. You and Auri. Such clever girls.”

  She finally blinked and tried to focus. “Auri?” She pointed.

  Sun turned to see Auri’s name in graffiti on the cinder block. No wonder she could see it in the windowless room. The paint was glow in the dark.

  “Auri,” Sybil repeated, nodding as though wanting Sun’s approval.

  “Yes. Auri.”

  Levi took off his jacket and wrapped it around Sybil while Fields called in a report.

  “You and Auri.” Sun drew her into her arms, and while one might imagine she would break down, she was simply in too much shock from both the ordeal and the cold.

  “We can’t wait,” she said to Levi.

  He nodded and lifted her into his arms.

  “Zee, you and Quince get the ATV.”

  “On it,” Zee said.

  “Quincy, we don’t know if this guy is out there. Stay sharp.”

  Quincy gave Sun a curt nod and took off in the direction from which they’d come, rifle at the ready. Levi carried Sybil, and Fields took point as they followed her team out. Levi’s role was as transparent as the rest of theirs. He was the knight.

  State police escorted them to the small Del Sol Urgent Care Center. Levi sat in the back with Sybil. She clung to him, her dirty fingers and broken nails digging into the flesh at his neck. He didn’t seem to mind.

  Emergency vehicles in every size and shape were waiting for them when they arrived. A medical crew had a gurney at the door as soon as they showed up. They didn’t know yet if they’d have to transfer Sybil to Albuquerque or not.

  The mayor was there, speaking to news crews. They called to Sun, but she strode past and inside the UCC.

  She watched the medical team work as she called Auri.

  “You found her!” Auri cried when she picked up.

  “You’ve seen the news.”

  “You found her. Thank you, Mom.”

  “Thank you, bug bite. I didn’t do it alone.”

  “You have to tell me everything when you get home.”

  “No, because you will be in bed asleep.”

  “Tomorrow, then. Promise me. Everything.”

  “Remember that whole no-more-secrets thing?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m pretty sure it applies here.”

  Sun hung up and looked around for Levi. He was gone.

  She’d been dealing with doctors and family and reporters. The mayor gave her a semi-approving nod. The St. Aubins were rushed in among a flurry of camera flashes and hugged their daughter for days. And the doctors agreed Sybil would be fine despite her state of near hypothermia and dehydration.

  Never one for the spotlight, however—even when it came to promoting his own company—Levi vanished before she’d gotten a chance to thank him.

  “Around the clock?” Quincy asked before checking out for the night.

  “Around the clock,” she said. With the kidnapper still out there, they’d have to keep a very close eye on the little ginger with olive-green eyes. In the meantime, Sun would contact some of her friends in the SFPD to see if they could borrow a safe house, although the St. Aubins might just want to take her somewhere safe. “Who’s up first?”

  “Your call,” her chief deputy said through a yawn. “Not sure I could keep my eyes open, but I can take point first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Thanks, Quincy. I’ll stay tonight and work on getting her moved somewhere safe. You get some rest.”

  “You got it.”

  He started to walk off when she added, “You know who would be great right about now?”

  He turned back. “Who?”

  “Lieutenant Britton. We could really use him, don’t you think?”

  Quincy frowned at her and said, “Who?” before doing an about-face and walking away.

  Expecting nothing less, she gave his back a sassy thumbs-up, swearing to get to the bottom of that fiasco. As soon as she had time to breathe, that is.

  After grabbing a cup of coffee, she sat across from the state trooper who’d joined her on the night watch. There were only a couple of hours before dawn when help was due to arrive. She just hoped she could stay awake that long.

  Of course, the fact that a tall, ebony-skinned hottie with an authentic U.S. Marshal’s badge sat down next to her would definitely help. He handed her a sandwich, then stretched out his legs, clasped his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes.

  “Come here often?” she asked him as she took a bite of the turkey club.

  “Every chance I get.”

  She moaned, having had no clue how hungry she’d been. “I don’t think you understand what carbs do to my ass.”

  “Nothing I wouldn’t like to do to it, I assure you.”

  A sharp tingle jolted through her, and she had to stop and count the days since her last visit from Shark Week, because what in the actual fuck? Was she ovulating? She was currently in the throes of drooling over not one, not two, but three men. It was very unlike her.

  It had to be Levi’s fault. Every time he looked at her, every time he got near, she felt like her girly bits had started their own reality TV show called Hormones Gone Wild.

  “Do you mind?” the trooper said, pointing toward the vending area.

  “Not at all. We’ll hold down the fort.”

  “Thanks. Be back in ten.”

  Sun took another bite, then balanced her coffee cup with her sandwich and massaged her neck with her free hand.

  “I can do that for you,” Deleon said, though how he knew what she was doing mystified her. He had yet to open his eyes.

  “Have at it.”

  A calculating grin slid across his fa
ce. “Not here.”

  She lifted a brow in question. As though he could sense her inquiry, he gestured toward an empty room.

  She scoffed, shook her head, then took a page out of his playbook. She leaned her head against the wall behind them and closed her eyes.

  But all she could see was that man. That infuriatingly exquisite man she’d loved for as long as she could remember. The way he carried Sybil through the snow. The way she’d clung to him.

  And he’d let her. Cradled her. Whispered words of encouragement into her ear every few yards.

  The clang of metal crashing onto the floor startled her out of her thoughts. “What was that?”

  When she didn’t receive an answer, she turned to Deleon, but he was gone.

  “Marshal?” she called into the empty hall. “Hello?”

  Another sound whirled her around. It came from one of the empty rooms. She put her sandwich and coffee on the chair Deleon had vacated and walked toward the noise, placing one foot carefully in front of the other. The lights flickered, enveloping her in absolute darkness for a few seconds at a time.

  Not creepy at all.

  She called out. “Are you okay in there?”

  When she still didn’t get an answer, she drew her duty weapon and held it down and to the side with both hands.

  “Marshal? If that’s you, respond if you can.”

  Could the kidnapper have come after Sybil? A hundred scenarios flashed in her mind. None of them good.

  OD’ing on adrenaline, she eased closer and closer to the door. “This is Sheriff Sunshine Vicram. I have my weapon drawn. I am giving you one final warning to identify yourself.”

  She heard rustling and the sound of paper ripping when she inched the door open, only to find Levi Ravinder sitting on the hospital bed, shirtless with his shoulders hunched, trying to wrap his ribs with a blood-soaked bandage.

  “Levi?” She holstered her weapon and hurried over to him. “What happened?”

  He glanced at her from over his shoulder, and the glare he gave her should have sent her up in flames. “Don’t you remember?”

  What the hell? Blood leached through the bandages from three distinct wounds at an alarming rate. She covered them and applied pressure, but it only seeped through her fingers.

  “I’ll—I’ll get a doctor.”

  He caught her wrist to stop her. “It’s too late.”

  “What?” She didn’t understand.

  The lights flickered again. When they came back on, his entire demeanor had changed. He seemed lost. Mesmerized. Quite possibly drunk, though she didn’t smell alcohol. He let his gaze wander the length of her.

  “Levi, you’re hurt.” She looked down, but the bandages were gone. In their stead was the wide chest and rock-hard abs she’d dreamed of more times than she could count. “I—I don’t understand.”

  He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her closer. “You have to remember to understand,” he said.

  Her gaze wandered past the expanse of his chest to the fullness of his mouth. The very one that sent tiny quakes shooting through her body like a freak electrical storm every time he was near.

  He bent his head and pressed his lips to hers, parting them with his tongue to explore her more fully.

  She sank against him. Wrapped her arms around his neck. Let her head fall back when he seared her throat with kisses.

  When he pulled her onto the bed, she tried to protest. Not very hard, but still.

  “Wait,” she said, panting into his hair. “We can’t do this here.”

  He lifted her shirt and trailed scalding kisses over her midsection, before saying, “Where should we go?”

  The heat of his mouth was something she never wanted to lose. “Never mind. Here’s good. Should we close the door?” She tried to raise onto her elbows, but he pushed her back down and spread her knees with his shoulders.

  “Hush. I’m concentrating.”

  The sound of his voice created a warmth that rushed through her veins and pooled in her abdomen. And while she should have been wondering what happened to her pants, she was instead marveling at the sensations rocketing through her.

  His mere presence did things to her. Things she only dwelled upon when she was very much alone.

  Only she wasn’t alone. At least she hadn’t been.

  She looked into the empty hall. “Where did Deleon go?”

  “I need these off.” He tugged at her underwear.

  “Oh. Okay.” She lifted her bottom so he could slide her panties off. “You know, there are nurses up and down these halls all night.”

  “They’ll have to wait their turn.”

  It made perfect sense at the time. As did his tongue on her clit.

  Her gasp echoed down the hall, and she covered her mouth with both hands, but only for a moment before she grabbed his hair. His tongue stroked the most sensitive area of her being. The feather-light touch caused wave after wave of unimaginable pleasure that soaked into her like rain on a parched desert.

  “Who am I?” he asked.

  She caught her breath, confused. “What?”

  He climbed on top of her. Balancing himself on an elbow, he pushed two fingers inside her. “Who are you with?”

  She caught his wrist and sucked in a lungful of air. “I don’t understand.”

  “Sure you do.” He pushed his fingers deeper, rubbing her clit with his thumb, the friction spiraling through her. “Who am I?”

  “Levi,” she said breathlessly. “Levi Ravinder.”

  “Good,” he said with a smirk. “Wouldn’t want you to forget again.” His lashes dipped as he studied her, then he wrapped a hand behind her knee and lifted her leg, sliding back down and reapplying himself to the task at hand. His efforts were valiant. His tongue sent tiny quakes of delight shuddering to her core.

  She twisted her fingers in the blanket underneath her as the pressure in her abdomen grew. Like a rising tide, the promise of orgasm pulsated and swelled until it exploded and flooded her entire body in sweet, sharp spasms of unimaginable pleasure.

  She couldn’t help it. She cried out, riding the waves crashing into her until she jerked awake. Coffee spilled over her hand, and she’d dropped what was left of her sandwich.

  “Crap,” she said, bolting to her feet. But the orgasm was still rocketing through her. She stilled and let the climax run its course. When the currents subsided, she turned to see both the state officer and Marshal Deleon watching her with something akin to shock and awe.

  “Sorry,” she said, but they both shook their heads.

  Deleon stood to steady her. “I don’t know what you were dreaming about, but I’d like to place my order now.”

  She tried to laugh it off. She failed. “I have to get this cleaned up. Be right back.”

  “Sheriff,” Deleon said, stopping her with a hand on her arm. “Go home. We’ve got this. You’ve been up for days.”

  “It’s okay. I won’t be going back to sleep.”

  And she wouldn’t. She’d had that dream before. Maybe not with that particular setting, and the wound and bandages were new, but Levi Ravinder in her bed? His fingers inside her? His mouth on her clit? Oh yeah. She’d dreamed that scenario countless times.

  One aspect of this dream was certainly new, though. Despite the fact that she’d been dreaming, she’d climaxed. In her sleep. That had never happened before.

  Sun got home just in time to grab a shower and take the wee one to school. “When can I see her?” Auri asked as she stole a huge swig from her coffee. Again.

  She was dressed in a cute button-down with a floral tie that matched her hairband.

  “Let me check with the St. Aubins. See how Sybil is doing before we throw her a welcome-home kegger.”

  “But I already bought the balloons,” she said, whining. “And hired the male revue. How did she look?”

  “Scared, sweetheart. Terrified.” There was no reason to lie to her. The real world could be a scary place. “I nee
d to get everything situated with our little Houdini, and then I need to find a child abductor.”

  Auri smiled. “You will.”

  23

  Not all Mondays fall on Monday.

  Stop in for a pick-me-up any day of the week!

  —SIGN AT CAFFEINE-WAH

  Auri sat in the hall while her mom and Principal Jacobs duked it out in his office, mortified she’d decided to go to school today. What had she been thinking? What must these kids think of her after the news broadcast?

  She cringed when the yelling coming from the office broke the sound barrier yet again. There was a lot of pointing and gesturing and gnashing of teeth. But some of that could be attributed to the interpreter they’d brought in for the suspension meeting.

  Thank God Cruz sat beside her to take her mind off all the ways the day could go south. He was looking over his shoulder and interpreting the events for Auri.

  “Your mom is furious. The broadcast news team is getting off scot-free. They aren’t even taking them off the news crew. Their parents are screaming censorship and threatening to go to a real news channel to plead their case as well as sue the school if any action is taken against their children.”

  Auri gaped at him. “Are you kidding me? They are doing nothing to those . . . those—”

  “You can do it,” he encouraged.

  “Those assholes?”

  “Not bad. And nope. Not a damn thing.” His voice sounded neutral, but the line of his jaw hardened.

  There was still one thing she didn’t understand. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

  “Hey, shortstop, don’t kill the messenger.”

  “Why are you friends with them, Cruz? They treat you like you’re one of them, but you don’t even seem to care.”

  “I don’t.”

  The dynamics of the school as a whole versus the enigma that was Cruz De los Santos puzzled her to no end. “Then I don’t get it. You’re nice to them. You hang out with them.”

  He lifted a shoulder. “It’s more of an understanding. They don’t mess with me. I don’t mess with them.”

  That was helpful. “What do you mean?”

  He filled his lungs as though he didn’t want to talk about it, but she raised a brow. A single, unrelenting brow, just like her mom taught her. It totally worked.