"I don’t have time for this, old man. Where is she?" I demanded to know, my tone cutting and much gruffer than I'd intended, but he clearly took no offense. Instead, he grinned. I wanted to wipe that grin clear off his face with my fist. At that moment, I didn't care that I considered the Lieutenant a father figure.
"Boy, where do you think she is?" The Lieutenant responded condescendingly before tilting his head to the side and answering his own question, "In. My. Office. Right where you asked me to keep her until your slow ass could get here."
Smart ass.
"I told you I was in Centerville for a wedding. I got here as fast as I could," I told him, and he didn't respond right away. Instead, he pursed his lips and glanced away, a sign I knew meant he was thinking hard, preparing to give me my next lecture. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited until his eyes, now serious, came back to me.
He kept his voice low and out of ear shot of the others around when he spoke next. "She’s been sweet as pie to me and every other officer she’s come in contact with, but she’s made it clear that she hates you. I’m surprised she even brought your name up to Officer Corneal with the way she's been talking about you. Anytime your name has been mentioned, she goes she-devil and her horns come out. The hair fits.”
I sighed.
“Now, again, you’re lucky she only seems to have it out for you, or else Officer Corneal wouldn't have done me a solid and let her out. Of course, it also helped that she's pretty as fuck..." he muttered that last part and my whole body solidified.
“D.D.--” I began to warn, but he talked over me.
"Corneal even said the little thing went willingly and had a smile on her face when he picked her up at Shark's for fighting."
Shark's? Fighting? And why did he just call her ‘little thing’ like she was a cute puppy instead of a dragon that spits fire?
"But, she's had a lot to drink and a lot of time to think."
I groaned audibly, knowing this seemingly one-sided conversation was about to get worse.
"Right now," the Lieutenant shook his head, "that little thing in there is not too happy. She regrets calling you for one, but she’s got it in her head that you changed your mind and weren't gonna show, no matter how many times I told her you were gonna be awhile. She thought I was gonna lock her back up."
His voice, if possible, dropped lower. "Now, I don't know what the hell is going on between you and her 'cause you don't usually share personal shit, but I gotta say, when you called me and asked for the favor, I called Corneal to find out what the hell I was getting myself into.”
I sighed again and rubbed a hand down my face.
He shook his head and continued. “He said a woman named Missy…” I cringed at the name. “…called nine-one-one saying she’d just been attacked inside Shark’s Bar & Grill. Corneal and Officer Thomas took the call, showed up and met with Missy outside the bar. Her clothes were disheveled and she had bruising on her right cheek.”
I was sure that bitch deserved it, but I didn’t say it out loud.
“Thomas took Missy's statement. Then, Corneal met with your redhead, who didn’t have a hair out of place, but she confirmed, ‘happily’ - Corneal’s words - that she’d been in the cat fight with this Missy girl. Corneal took redhead's statement. Missy decided to press charges so Corneal had to arrest your redhead. That’s when redhead told him that she was married to one Mr. Adam Bryant with HPD, ‘sweetly and with a smile on her face,’ - again Corneal’s words.”
“He said he freaked, because she also had your last name, so he looked her up, and to his surprise, found out she was yours. Now, after he enlightened me with all this info, I thought surely Corneal had been smokin’ somethin’ on the crazy train, until I looked her record up for myself. Then, when I talked to the little redhead in person, and she confirmed, I thought I’d been smokin’ somethin’ and just couldn’t remember what or when.”
He paused, and then perked up. “Oh, and Corneal added that the redhead backtracked the moment he mentioned calling you. She started saying she didn’t know you, but he made her call you anyway, which is what Corneal said ‘started her pissy mood’. When I went to get her and introduced myself, she was sweet, but pissed when I reassured her that you were on your way. Since she’s been in my office, I’ve heard various versions of how much she hates you and why, and a number of vivid descriptions of all the ways she’d like to do you bodily harm. And as strange as it may be, it sounded pretty damn sexy comin’ outta that mouth of hers. Now, what I wanna know is…why the hell didn't you ever tell me you were married?"
Fuck. Fuck!
I dropped my arms to my sides, fisted my hands, narrowed my eyes and growled so low, the sound rumbled deep in my throat. This was none of his business; there wasn't enough time in one day, and I damn sure wasn't about to start telling my story at a police station, especially the one I worked out of.
"It was a long time ago and there's no story to tell. So if you don't mind, I have some business to take care of with a five-foot-three terror of a woman." Then I muttered under my breath, “Little thing my ass.” I ignored the genuinely confused look on the Lieutenant's face, edged around his uncomfortable stance and headed to his office.
My hand reached for the doorknob, and right before I turned it, I heard the Lieutenant say through a rough chuckle, "That why you won't divorce her, boy? ‘Cause it was a mistake?"
I froze, my muscles painfully tight, my back unnaturally rigid and I quickly thought about asking him what else my little wife had said, but I instantly decided against it.
Blazing, fury-filled, dark green eyes met mine as soon as I entered the office.
"Finally! Will you get me out of these fucking things?" Were the first words that flew out of her pouty mouth. I listened and watched, with deceivingly calm composure, as the handcuffs rasped against the material on the arm of the chair she was handcuffed to. She jerked her wrist a few times to express precisely what she wanted to get out of, but again, I ignored her.
I closed the door purposefully soft and leaned my back against it. I crossed my arms over my chest and disregarded the ache in my gut - or was it my heart - that came from hearing her voice and seeing her face after not having heard or seen either for years.
Well, technically the last conversation - more like shouting match - that I'd had with Mia was only a few months ago outside her apartment, but it hadn't been a good one, because I'd seen her with Ryan - the psychotic ex-boyfriend of my sister-in-law Lex, the ex-boyfriend that beat and nearly raped her over two and a half years ago - at a grocery store and I might have gone ballistic.
I also might have kissed her after she told me Ryan was an acquaintance of her boyfriend. A boyfriend that she'd absolutely refused to name, regardless of how hard I’d pushed. So being pissed, I’d quickly decided to slam my mouth down on hers and kiss the shit out of her.
And while kissing her, I'd planned to follow her and find out who the fucker was, so I could have him checked out, but as soon as I’d let Mia up for air, I’d watched pain flare in her eyes. Pain that I’d seen before and pain that I’d never wanted to see on Mia’s face again.
So, as much as it’d pained me to walk away, I had.
Mia's eyes narrowed and I narrowed mine right back. Redhead wanted a fight? This time, I'd give her one and I sure as shit was gonna make it good.
"Why are you still over there staring at me? Can you unhook me, please?" she asked, exasperated.
My brows lifted.
Unhook? Jesus.
She sounded like the same Mia, and resembled the same Mia I'd thought about often over the years, but there was something about her that was just...
Different.
She was clearly no longer the same girl, albeit a mature one, that I used to obsess over. No, she was now, indisputably, all woman. Even though she wasn't necessarily the most beautiful woman I'd ever been with, there'd always been something about Mia that could bring me to my fuckin’ knees, kiss the ground at her fe
et and like it.
Yes, she had been beautiful on the outside in a natural way. She looked sexy without makeup, when she first woke up in the morning, and because she had a bangin’ body, but it was what was on the inside of that tight little body that had mattered to me like no other woman had before.
It was her down to earth, holding her own, thinking she’d been ten feet taller than she was, kick a bitch’s ass kind of personality that had won my heart from day one. But it had been that hidden, soft, delicate side of Mia, only I'd been allowed to see, that had me obsessed with her. She'd made me want things I had never wanted, and I had wanted to give her things that she had never had before.
Her red hair was still long, but no longer the wavy and wild hair I used to grab in my fist while I took her hard. It was now tamed, perfectly straight and hung over her shoulders, the ends falling over her full breasts.
And the sexy, smoldering, dark green eyes that stared daggers at me right now, still held the same mischief and mystery behind them. They were also outlined with black shit.
It didn't look bad, it actually looked sexy, but it was just...
Different.
Her pouty, pink lips were still full and heart-shaped. Her skin still looked creamy and soft, but the signature and most important features on Mia's face were now missing.
My gut clinched.
The tiny, scattered freckles that had dusted her nose and the top of her rosy cheeks were no longer visible, which meant she either covered them with makeup or had them removed. The latter of which infuriated me for reasons unknown.
"What the hell happened to your face?" I asked, harsher than I should have. I watched as she frowned at my angry and equally odd question that hadn't come out the way I meant it, as usual.
Her eyebrows creased and she touched her cheek, right under her eye with her free hand.
"What's wrong with my face? Did that bitch scratch me? I don't feel anything," she asked and continued rubbing her fingers over her skin to make sure there were no marks.
"No, I meant your goddamn freckles. Did you have them removed?"
Could freckles even be removed? Fuck! I should have thought that through.
Her hand moved to her nose, but an instant later it fell to her lap and she scowled. "Can you just unhook me so I can get out of here?" she asked, ignoring my question completely.
"Nope. I think I'll stay right where I am until you tell me what the hell is going on. I left a friend's wedding reception because I got a call from you in...fuckin'...jail and I had to pull strings with my Lieutenant, to get your ass out until I could get here. Now I hear that you've gone and ran your mouth, so the whole building will know - if they don't already - that I have a wife. So, I think I deserve an explanation and not your attitude. I don't give a shit how drunk you are."
Her eyes widened in surprise and she opened and closed her mouth a few times like a fish, clearly unable to find a quick comeback. And that was out of the ordinary for the little hellion I used to know. I silently wondered if she'd lost her touch, but that thought was curbed the second her tight, slightly thicker, little body, in painted on, ankle length jeans perked up and her breathing accelerated. I watched, with much pleasure, as her chest rose and fell in rapid movements through the low cut, silky looking flowery top she was wearing. Other than her dirty palms and the knee area of her jeans being scuffed, she didn't look like she'd been in any kind of fight I'd ever seen.
"I was tipsy, not drunk, you asshole, but having these…" she shook her cuffed wrist again, "…slapped on, I sobered up real fast. And I don't know who the hell you think you are. You don't deserve a damn thing from me. If anybody owes anyone around here, it's you owing me!"
I stiffened. "Keep your goddamn voice down. Everyone can hear you out there and I work here," I ordered through my clenched jaw.
She gasped, her body drew back and her expression was that of utter disbelief. "You really think I care? After everything you've done to me," she asked, just as loud as before.
She was un-fucking-believable. If anyone knew how to push my buttons, it was Mia. I dropped my arms and pointed a finger in my chest.
"Everything I've done to you," I hissed, now raising my voice to meet hers.
"Yes, everything! You wouldn’t even be here if you’d have just signed the papers. Jesus, you cheated --"
"I never cheated on you," I returned in a near shout, but she continued like I hadn’t said a word.
"Oh, that's right. They were so-called 'extra shifts'. Did you forget what I saw? Did you forget that I saw you cheating with my own eyes? God…you must really think I’m stupid."
“Goddamn it, Mia. You know that shit’s not true,” I growled. She drove me fuckin’ crazy.
“Oh, really? Funny. I seem to remember it all vividly!”
I couldn’t let her keep going and I knew I had to get her out of here and fast. She would air out all our dirty laundry if I didn’t stop her. I moved.
She turned her face away from me the moment I made it to her, but she didn’t stop talking.
"You wouldn’t be here right now if you’d just given me the damn divorce. You promised me, promised, that you'd sign the papers, but you didn't because you're a jerk and you knew I couldn't afford to do anything about it. Seriously, the list of shit you've done to me is even longer than the number of bitches you've been with."
Fuck!
She was so close I could smell the sweet alcohol on her breath, and I knew she was drunk, but she also wasn’t wasted. I refused to respond and play into her hands with a response, because that’s exactly what she wanted.
No, I wasn't doing this with her here or now...but this wasn’t finished. I pulled out my keys and bent at the waist. She took a few deep breaths and I inserted the key, and just as I was about to unlock the cuffs, she turned her head. I turned mine and our faces were inches apart.
When she spoke, her eyes were just as void of all emotion as her voice. "I ran into Missy. Remember her?"
I closed my eyes. That was the second time tonight her name had been mentioned and I’d cringed every time. Missy was not only a bitch, but one of the worst.
“I know. What happened?” I asked miserably, because anything involving Missy couldn’t be good. Mia didn’t respond and she stayed quiet for so long I didn’t think she’d answer.
But when she did, she caught me completely off guard. "You've made my life hell since I was eighteen and it hasn't stopped yet."
I waited a minute, but that was all she said.
"Mia --" I started, but she cut me off.
"I was with Eric, and I'd already had a lot to drink when I saw Missy. She came up to me and we had words - about you and some other stuff. She got in my face, I got in hers, and then she said something that took it too far, so I hit her, once. Security broke us up before it got out of hand. It really wasn't a big deal and I thought she'd left, when she really went outside to call the cops.”
“When I was arrested, I made the drunken mistake of telling the cop about you. I wanted to call my boyfriend to come get me, but Officer Asshole wouldn’t let me. Not to mention, Max is out of town, and honestly, I don't want him to know about any of this, so I guess it was a good thing. I just want to go home and back to my life that thankfully no longer involves you." She took another deep breath before throwing the final blow in a deadly whisper, "I hate you."
And that’s when I saw it again.
The pain and the hurt.
I watched the tears swimming in her eyes, the green in them magnified, but she didn't let them escape and her pain was suffocating me. Memories of her crying, and why, hit me full force and all I knew was that I had to get out of the room and as far away from Mia as fast as possible before I did something stupid.
And this was definitely the wrong time to go down the bumpy road of telling Mia that the word boyfriend and the name Max weren’t going to be used in the same sentence much longer. This wasn't the place to have that discussion and it definitely wasn’t the tim
e.
I swallowed hard past the lump in my throat, unlocked the handcuffs and she automatically started rubbing her wrist with the opposite hand.
"Thank you," she whispered in relief.
"You’re gonna have to show up for the first court date, probably Monday or Tuesday since today is Friday, but I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I’ll see what I can do about the charges Missy pressed against you.”
She shook her head and muttered, “You don’t have to do anything for me. I’ll get an attorney.”
Her pride pissed me off. “Mia, I said I’ll take care of it and I will. But right now, I’m taking you home."
Her body jerked and looked horrified at my offer.
"No, thanks. I'll take a cab or something.
"Mia, I wasn't asking."
She threw daggers at me with her eyes. "Well, I'm telling you, I don't want you taking me anywhere." With that, she stood up and her shiny, black platform high heels added an extra five inches - at least - to her height which allowed the top of her head to reach my chin.
I made a mental note to ask her about the rather large tattoo on the top of her right foot.
Her outfit was clearly worn to catch the attention of any man, or woman, that caught sight of her. My jaw clenched and I had to bite my tongue to keep from jumping her ass for wearing something so tight and revealing.
She moved to walk around my body, shoved past my shoulder on her way out, but she stumbled. I was surprised and caught off guard, so I wasn't prepared, but I managed to catch her before she fell. Though, she'd already tilted so far forward that I caught her under her breasts and my front pressed into her back when her hips rammed into the desk.
"Shit," she hissed and, immediately after, snorted.
She fuckin' snorted. And then she started laughing hysterically.
"Jesus, are you still drunk?" It was the only explanation for her going bat-shit crazy one minute and then laughing the next.
"No, I'm not drunk...but I might still be a taaaaad bit tipsy." She got her balance, lifted completely, turned in my arms until she faced me and held up her thumb and index finger to indicate the "tad bit".
Adam, Enough Said (This Can't be Happening) Page 2