by Lexi Ostrow
She raised a perfectly manicured blonde eyebrow at him. “You say you’re involved with a co-member of the force?”
He almost puked in his mouth. “No, Ma’am. We met prior to her joining. We put an end to it once we realized she was a recruit. To be honest, Ma’am, neither of us are comfortable being without the other. It was one of the perks that drew me to accepting the job.”
“I see. But you are quite certain this line of work is what appeals to you, and not the promise of a social life?”
Jeremy felt like he was going to be physically ill. The one time he’d strayed from protocol, it had landed him in so much hot water. He was surprised he hadn’t run home to Montgomery yet. His eyes were fixed on Agent Malone’s as he spoke.
“I’m positive. I spent time thinking this decision through because I was uncertain I would like the monotony of drug wars, dealers and addicts. I like helping the smaller crime units out as well, but in the end, drugs are my specialty. Nothing feels better than taking them out before someone loses a brother, a husband or a son to drugs. I was afraid to lose everything I’d built with the LAPD. I can’t explain it, but the woman helped me to realize there was more out there than just living my job.”
Agent Malone nodded her head. “Well then, if you’re certain,” she reached a hand over the desk and he took it, shaking it once more. “Welcome to the DEA, Mr. Trellins. Please come back on Monday to fill out the needed paperwork and speak with your captain. You may have until January second to transition out of the LAPD.” She stood up and walked from behind the desk and made her way to the door, but stopped just as she stood under the doorframe. “I’m pleased to have you working for me, Mr. Trellins, or should I say, Agent Trellins.”
A part of him, on the inside of course, took pleasure in the way she called him Agent Trellins. He hadn’t been lying to her. Bridget had helped him realize there was something beyond the LAPD. He didn’t doubt his decision. She was just the icing on the cake.
It was unexplainable, but he somehow knew Bridget wouldn’t get upset with the long hours he would have to put in. She’d likely understand and quite possibly even want to help. They needed to take things slow, see where they headed. Jeremy had no doubt in his mind that one day he would stand before her and go down on one knee with a diamond ring in his hand.
“Umm, Mr. Trellins?”
He turned and saw the female agent that had escorted him in standing at the door. “Yes?”
“Is there anything else we can do for you today? Or are you ready for me to see you out? Protocol, you’re not an agent yet, so we can’t have you wandering without me.”
He could have kicked himself. Of course, they wouldn’t want him to remain seated in the director’s office when she had gone home for the day. He mumbled an apology and allowed her to lead him out.
“Sweet Jesus, O’Casey,” Santana grunted as Bridget successfully slammed her elbow into his stomach and wrapped her ankle around his right leg, dropping him to the dirty blue work out mat beneath them.
Santana tried to sit up but Bridget slammed her boot into his stomach, dropping him back down on the mat. It was probably what people would bitch about her, using excessive force, but today she didn’t care. She may be being a slight bit immature and taking the anger she felt towards Jeremy out on poor Santana simply because they were sparing.
Bridget dropped to the mat again and wrapped her arm around his neck and tugged backward. She didn’t let up and continued pulling his head toward her until she felt him tap her shoulder, indicating he was done. She let go of her chokehold, and for the first time, she realized how hard she was breathing.
“Let’s call it quits for the day, O’Casey.” Santana shook his head. “I can’t figure out how you pull off that kind of power.” He rubbed his neck and his stomach. “Remind me to let Juarez give you the final self defense test. I don’t think I can take a second round with you.”
She flushed and muttered, “I’m sorry,” before stepping back into the line of recruits beside Ashley.
“Pissed off much?’ Ashley asked in a joking tone.
“I still haven’t gotten more than seven words from him since that kiss.” She whispered back as quietly as she could to not draw attention to them.
Jeremy had given her one of the most promise-filled, lust inducing kisses of her life on Saturday and then he’d run off. She’d expected to not hear from him every day, they had never done that, but it was almost time for the Christmas break and the end of her training. She hadn’t seen him in four days, and he’d barely responded to her texts since.
“Have you tried just asking why he’s avoiding you?” Ashley whispered.
“Of course I did that. He said he wasn’t, and that he had news. Well, I’ve got news for him, . I don’t care what he thinks happened between us. This sure as hell set us back.”
Ashley looked like she was suppressing a laugh, which slipped out after seconds in a strangled noise. “Sorry, you said set you back. You aren’t capable of being that angry with him. Your eyes don’t match your words and you even softened when you spoke just then. If I didn’t know any better, I’d bet you’re in love with him.”
Bridget flinched at the words because she’d certainly been thinking all day Saturday. But then Jeremy had ruined those thoughts by being essentially missing in action for four days. Keeping his distance from her sure felt like his way of letting her know he wasn’t into it anymore.
“Shut up and go show Juarez that women can be just as deadly as the men here.” She pushed Ashley forward.
Bridget had meant it as a joke, but her tone was harsher than she’d intended. Ashley gave her a small smile and walked up to Juarez. They each had to spar with both trainers in order to prove they were competent in the sections skill set. She’d started with Juarez and he’d even tried to slip in a little hint that he knew she was seeing Jeremy. As of right now they’d never decided they were seeing each other, so there was nothing for Juarez to know. Which had only led to pissing her off so badly she’d done a worse number on him than on Santana. It was stunning how they appeared to not realize how easy they went on her because she was pixie like in build. It seemed Jeremy wasn’t the only male idiot on the force right now.
And if she and Jeremy were seeing each other, he damn sure hadn’t actually asked. Avoiding her wasn’t how a boyfriend treated the person he was in a relationship with. She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling angry again despite the knowledge that she’d scored extremely high on all the tests. Ashley’s words filtered back and she wanted to ignore them but the angrier she got the more she realized how much Jeremy did mean to her.
“Go get ‘em!” she shouted at Ashley as her friend bent her knees and tapped the floor, tapping into the drill.
She’d fully intended on watching Ashley, but a sudden movement near the door of the gym distracted her. The person who walked in surprised her even more so. Jeremy walked in, his short chestnut brown hair looked dark from what she assumed was water. The broad, smile when they locked eyes made her want to clobber him with something. Well, the part of her that didn’t want to bolt out of line and kiss him till he begged for mercy, wanted to beat his ass.
Jeremy mouthed something from across the room. She turned her chin up at him. There was no way he expected her to not be pissed off after all this time. She flinched as she caught the end of Ashley’s drill. She dropped Juarez to the floor, but it was choppy and she’d had to use her arms to bring him down. Ashley, however, seemed happy with her testing, so Bridget wasn’t going to bring her friend down.
Ashley’s eyes landed on Jeremy’s as she got back in line, and she tapped Bridget on the shoulder. “Do you see him standing there, or are you ignoring him?”
“I’m ignoring him. He doesn’t get to drop off the face of the earth and then show up looking like an Adonis and not get a little ire for it. Maybe if he’d shown up looking like death warmed over, I could have assumed he was sick. He however, looks like the cat that ate the ca
nary, which means I’m pissed at him.”
Ashley laughed and nodded. “Well, there are only two more people left, so you better get over being mad at him. Or find another way out, because you sure as heck know he isn’t going to let you walk past him.”
She thought about everything for a moment. Jeremy looked happy, but determined a few moments ago. Would he be foolish enough to out whatever weird relationship they had to the rest of the recruits?
“I wouldn’t hold your breath.” Bridget said. “He’s still pretending nothing is going on. Saturday must have been some sort of deal breaker. He probably realized how badly he’d broken the rules and that’s why he pulled a disappearing act.”
Ashley didn’t get to respond. Juarez drew the class’ attention, keeping Ashley from offering Bridget her opinion.
“Well then, I’m oddly happy to announce that every single one of you succeeded in executing this portion of training. Not one of you failed to get the upper hand. However, we weren’t giving it our full go. That will come next week when you take the final section of self defense training. So don’t get too cocky, recruits. There’s still time to fail.” Juarez joked, and gave them a big toothy smile to let them know he was kidding.
Bridget really had grown to like Jeremy’s partner. The older cop had reminded her a lot of her father. He was good at his job, but he didn’t forget to take things less seriously sometimes. Something she’d thought she’d helped Jeremy learn, but if he really had run away thinking that his time with her on Saturday had been a mistake, then there might not be anything left for them. She wouldn’t give this career up, and she wouldn’t ask him to. No matter how much her stomach fluttered and her heart raced every time she snuck a peek at him across the room, she would not be that girl, not when this was about making her father proud. Even if he would never really know that she was honoring him.
“Go change back into your uniform and take your lunch. Chase has some weapons training for you.” Santana’s grin was almost as wide as Juarez’s.
She had a bad feeling they were all in for something terrible after the meal break. Cops that smiled like that in training had evil secrets. She’d learned that early on in training.
“You see lover boy over there?” Marcus asked as he walked up to them.
“Yes, I saw him, thank you and I’m trying to figure out how to avoid him. He’s been an asshole the past week, and I don’t feel like talking to him right now.” There wasn’t an ounce of believability in her words and even Marcus knew it.
“Well, seeing as how you’ve been so secretive, you ever consider just walking out? Not like he will risk following you.”
Marcus headed for the door. She sighed and followed him. She’d expected a smart alec comment from him. It was his thing after all. What she hadn’t expected was for Jeremy to reach out and wrap his hand around her forearm as she moved past him. He tugged her to him as she tried to ignore his grip and pass him.
Her body crashed into his and for the slightest section she felt liquid heat pool between her legs as her body slid against his from the force of his action. She bit her inner cheek to keep herself from moaning. Jeremy’s arms wrapped around her and pulled her into his chest. His warmth radiated out over her skin and being in his arms completely stunned her. Bridget stopped fighting and simply stood there, trying to figure out what would happen next. She could feel several people staring at them and she didn’t understand why he wasn’t letting go; never mind why he had done it at all after his distance the past week. All she knew was if he didn’t let go any shot she had at even pretending to be angry with him would vanish into thin air.
Jeremy lowered his head and she knew he was going to kiss her. Her head disobeyed her brain’s shouts to pull back, and against her better judgment, she allowed her own head to tilt backward to meet his lips. When their lips touched she felt a tiny jolt of electricity course through her body. The kiss didn’t deepen, it remained chaste but it still turned her to putty in his hands. Bridget’s stepped back and closed her mouth, but her body felt like it was on fire.
“What are you doing?” she asked when she found the will to pull herself backward, but his arms remained around her.
Her head whipped to the side and sure enough the ten or so people still in the gym were now staring at them in earnest. Juarez smirked at her while Santana stood there a little slack-jawed, but they were all staring. She felt about as big as a germ and wanted to turn back time and stop Jeremy from deciding to out their secret.
“I took the DEA job,” Jeremy said, moments later.
She heard the words but she didn’t think she’d processed them. “You what?”
He laughed and she felt his body vibrate against hers from the force of his laughter.
“I accepted the offer to work for the DEA. My work here is wonderful, but I can do just as much good with them. It means I can kiss you anytime I want. If you’ll let me, that is.”
Honest to goodness clapping and cheers broke out behind them. As if they were in some cheesy movie, she sincerely felt like they were in one.
“Oh. My. God. Jeremy. You did this here?” As the clapping continued she felt some of the romance slip away and more of the embarrassment.
She tried to slide out of his grasp, trying to save any ounce of dignity she might have left, but she couldn’t. He kissed her once more before he released her.
“Yes, I did. Although, you’re right, I probably shouldn’t have done it here but I couldn’t wait any longer, Bridget.” He turned to Juarez and Santana and gave a little wave before looking into her eyes. “Since it’s the Christmas season, and one of you is my partner, how about you pretend you didn’t see this and don’t punish O’Casey, and by association, the entire class for a personal experience at work?”
She couldn’t process anything that was happening around her except embarrassment as it settled around her like a blanket. For all her time in the limelight, it never had invaded her personal space because she wasn’t a supermodel.
Part of her was screaming “he took the job” over and over as she tried to process what he’d told her. Her other half was shouting for her to run and hide. To pray that no one talked about what had just happened and to go back to their quiet blossoming affair.
“Just this once, since you’re a spiffy agent and all now.” Juarez gave him a mock salute.
Jeremy faced her once more. “If you don’t want to cut my manhood off for publicly embarrassing you, let me take you on a date tonight. A real one. Out in public in Los Angeles, and maybe just maybe it can end up how it did the night we met.”
She wasn’t certain which of the urges was going to win out. They were certainly tied. She nodded her head, not trusting her voice at first.
“Ok. Yes.”
He laughed. “I’m going to pretend stunned and amazed is why you’re not reacting any more excited about this.” Jeremy kissed her cheek. “I’ll pick you up at eight and we can discuss everything then. I promise.”
She nodded once more and he finally released her. She should have felt relieved, but she felt cold instead and wanted his arms around her again. Ashley’s recent comment about being in love with him flashed through her mind for a second time. She wondered if it was time to tell him time to tell herself really. But something about saying it first didn’t seem all that appealing, even with this rather grand gesture.
“Jeremy,” he turned around and looked back at her, “you’re a jerk for disappearing on me, but I’m honestly happy you did this. You’re a damned good cop, and you’re going to be an even better DEA agent.”
He flushed a little before giving her that small side smirk of his that melted her heart every time she saw it. Jeremy then walked down the hall without another glance in her direction.
“Well, it looks like someone was a little harder to ignore than you thought.” Marcus teased.
Bridget turned to look at him. Both he and Ashley had amused smiles plastered on their faces.
“Oh, shut up.
” She laughed after saying the words and shook her head.
Jeremy’s news had taken her by storm. Granted, she’d thought quite differently about his reasons for leaving her on Saturday. Nevertheless, she was glad that he’d taken a job that would allow them to come out of the shadows. The smile on her face felt as if it was going to be permanent and any anger she felt at her own embarrassment melted away.
“O’Casey!” Juarez called her name and jogged up to them, slightly out of breath. “You keep my partner on his toes. He needs a good woman. I’ll be damned if watching you kick his ass sometimes won’t be quality entertainment.”
Nothing would ever compare to these few moments. Trevor knew that as intimately as he knew his own mind. There was a rush of sensual satisfaction that accompanied each kill. There was just something about killing a police officer that got him off. He could take a guess at what. They had screwed his life up and ending theirs had just been a plan, now it was becoming an addiction.
Trevor could feel how rapidly his heart was beating, and his eyes were laser focused as they watched on the outside of the station. Ventura, they had been the cops with the second largest task force that had tracked the crew he’d run ran with down. His plans for them were special.
“Hey, Trevor, we going to sit out here all night freezing our balls off, or are we going to make a fucking move?” Carl, an explosives expert, asked as he stood beside Trevor.
“I’ve told you a hundred times. I want to take half the fucking building out. We can’t do that until later, or we’ll never make it anywhere near those doors.”
Carl sighed dramatically and Trevor made a note to put a bullet in the man’s head after this hit was over. He was a pain in the ass Trevor didn’t need.