“Well, that’s mature.” Quinn chuckled and poked Callie’s forearm to get her to look at her. “You really think it’s going to be a problem?”
“I don’t know,” Callie said with a shrug. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. “I think things are good between us, except she gets obviously upset when I say anything about work. It’s like she’s okay with it as long as it’s never talked about.”
“What are you two talking about so seriously?” Taylor asked from the end of the bar where neither of them had seen her approach.
Quinn straightened quickly and grabbed a towel to start wiping down the bar after she shot Callie a quick look that said good luck. Callie watched her as she walked away, and she had to stifle a groan when she felt Taylor’s hand on her shoulder before she gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“What’s going on?” she asked again.
Callie turned to face her and forced a smile. “Nothing’s going on. Why?”
“I’m not stupid, Callie,” she said, one eyebrow raised.
“Can we talk in your office?” Callie didn’t want to have this discussion, but she knew it would be better to just do it and be done with it. She just hoped Taylor wouldn’t shut her out.
“Okay, wow,” Taylor said, looking as worried as Callie felt. “This must be serious.”
Callie glanced at Quinn as she stood to follow Taylor to the office. Once the door was closed, the air was thick with apprehension, and Callie wasn’t sure where to begin. She waited for Taylor to take a seat at her desk before grabbing the only other chair in the room and pulling it over so she could sit next to her.
“You’re really starting to worry me, Callie,” Taylor said when the silence obviously got to be too much.
Callie leaned forward, her hands clasped in her lap, and took a deep breath. The only way to do it was quickly, like ripping off a Band-Aid, something her mother always liked to say. After a moment, she met Taylor’s eyes.
“I’m back on full duty.”
Taylor tensed, and Callie felt the air shift around them. Taylor was staring at her, and Callie refused to look away, afraid if she did, Taylor might just vanish. Her breathing quickened as she waited for some kind of response. Anything would be preferable to the silence surrounding them and seeming to cut off her oxygen.
“When?”
“Today. This morning. I thought about calling you, but figured it could wait until tonight.” Callie felt as though she were rambling. She closed her mouth and waited again.
“I can’t do this,” Taylor said as she shook her head slowly. Callie felt her heart break a little at her words. That and the tears welling up in Taylor’s eyes almost caused the same reaction from her. “I can’t.”
“Baby, we can make this work.”
“No.” Taylor stood and walked toward the door. She faced Callie again before opening it and walking out. “You don’t understand. This is like an open wound for me, Callie. I thought I’d figured things out, but I guess I haven’t. I just can’t do this. I can’t risk that pain again.”
Callie slumped back in the chair when Taylor left without another word. Without giving Callie the opportunity to say anything in her own defense. Who was she kidding? Nothing she could have said would change the way Taylor felt. Maybe it was better to end things now than to do it later, when she’d fallen completely.
“Too late,” she whispered, letting the tears fall.
* * *
“Are you okay?” Quinn asked, her voice full of concern.
“No,” Taylor answered, shaking her head but managing to not cry. Damn it, she’d really thought she could deal with Callie’s job. She’d been shot just over a month earlier, and who could say it wouldn’t happen again, but with deadly results? As long as Callie had been on desk duty, she’d been able to convince herself everything would be fine. But now? Not so much, apparently.
“Where’s Callie?” Quinn asked her.
“The office.” Taylor forced herself to meet Quinn’s gaze. “Can you please get her to leave? I don’t think I can.”
Quinn nodded, and Taylor felt a sense of relief knowing she could count on Quinn. She got drinks for a couple of people at the bar and tried not to look in the direction of the office, but when Callie and Quinn appeared, she found she couldn’t look away. The sadness in Callie’s eyes was obvious, and Taylor felt her heart clench. She turned her head, but Callie came to the bar and leaned across it.
“I’ll go, for now, but as long as Sharon is still hanging around here, I’ll be in every night when I get off work. I’ll give you your space, but I won’t leave you alone so she can hurt you.”
And then she was gone. Just like that. And honestly, she wasn’t entirely sure it hurt any less than it had when Andrea died.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Taylor looked at the clock behind her and sighed. It was the night before New Year’s Eve, and she just wanted to go home. The next night was going to be a bitch, just like it was every year, college kids or not. Quinn had wanted to stay, but Taylor convinced her since Callie was there, she didn’t need to hang around.
It had been two days since she ended things with Callie, but true to her word, she was coming in every night, because Sharon was still making nightly visits. They didn’t talk any more than was necessary, and there was no touching anymore, which made Taylor inexplicably sad.
There was only one customer in the place, Randy, and he was sitting at the end of the bar. Since it was only a little after midnight, she knew she couldn’t ask him to leave. He’d been coming in pretty regularly since the first night she’d seen him, the first night Sharon had made her presence known.
Taylor knew Callie had been wary of him at first, thinking perhaps he’d known Sharon, and they were just working on setting Taylor up for something. But since the night he’d told her he was a cop too, Callie had spent a lot of time talking with him whenever they were there at the same time.
“One more?” he asked with a smile. “Then I’ll go so you can close up a little early.”
Taylor nodded with a smile and filled a glass. She leaned on the bar to talk to him just as she heard the front door open. Fantastic. Another customer. She turned her head and almost groaned when she saw Sharon taking a seat at the bar.
“Fuck me,” she murmured under her breath.
“Sorry,” Randy said. “I guess I should have just left. Let you close before she got here.”
“Not your fault,” she assured him before turning and walking over to her. She wished Callie would get back from the bathroom already. “What can I get you?”
“The usual,” she answered with a smile. Taylor hated the fact she knew what the usual was for this woman. She quickly mixed her drink and took her money. She turned to walk away when Sharon’s voice stopped her.
“No girlfriend tonight?” she asked, sounding downright pleased with the notion.
Taylor didn’t answer, but simply smiled at her.
“And no bodyguards either?” Sharon winked at her, causing Taylor to cringe inwardly. “Must be my lucky night. I was beginning to think I’d never have a shot with you. Maybe you should ask him to leave. You know, so we can be alone.”
Taylor just stared at her, amazed by her brazenness.
“I don’t think so,” she finally managed to say.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did that sound like a request?” She moved her jacket just enough so Taylor could see the gun she was carrying. “You can get rid of him, or I can. It’s up to you. And don’t even think about telling him I have a gun.”
Taylor walked to the other end of the bar, honestly surprised she was able to do it on her shaking legs. She forced a smile at Randy and noticed Sharon moved closer, no doubt to make sure she didn’t mention the gun.
“I’m sorry, Randy, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” she managed to say in a steady voice. She unplugged her phone, which had been charging, and handed it to him. “Here’s your phone.” Now she found herself hoping Call
ie didn’t come back from the bathroom. She wouldn’t want them both to be in danger. She forced a smile. “Sharon and I would like to be alone.”
The look Randy gave her alleviated her fear that he wouldn’t understand what was going on. He glanced at Sharon and smiled at both of them.
“Sure thing,” he said as he got to his feet. He walked out of the bar without looking back, which obviously helped to relax Sharon a bit.
“Good job,” she said with a nod. “Now you’re going to go to the office and get your things, and you and I are going on a little road trip.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Taylor said, speaking a little louder than necessary. Her hope was Callie might hear them and know to not just walk right out there into the middle of what could easily turn into a volatile situation. Especially with a cop thrown into the mix.
“Feisty, huh?” Sharon laughed as she came behind the bar and pulled her gun out, shoving it into Taylor’s ribs. “Usually, I admire that in a woman, but right now, you just need to do as I say, or else you won’t be going anywhere again. Ever.”
Taylor tried to pull away from her, but Sharon held her arm tightly as she leaned in close to her ear.
“I promise you, you’ll soon forget your girlfriend, which shouldn’t be too hard, because I’ve noticed there’s been some distance between the two of you lately. I can make you feel things you never thought possible.” She laughed before kissing her on the cheek. “But only if you don’t make me shoot you. Don’t think I won’t if you decide not to cooperate.”
“Let me go!” Taylor yelled. She tried in vain to push her away, but Sharon merely laughed again before backhanding her across the face with the gun held in her hand. Taylor cried out as she fell to the floor, the pain exploding in her head. She refused to pass out because the thought of what could possibly happen if she did scared her to death.
“You fucking bitch!” Sharon yelled before kicking her hard in the ribs. “Why did you make me hit you?”
Taylor looked up to see her opening the register and taking out all the cash, shoving it into her pockets. She grabbed Taylor’s arm and tried to pull her to her feet, but Taylor wasn’t about to go along blindly with this obviously unstable woman.
“Get up!” she screamed.
Taylor wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be able to stay conscious. She just hoped to God Callie knew what was going on and would come to her rescue. The irony of the situation didn’t escape her. All along she’d been worried about Callie’s job being dangerous. Now here she was, being held at gunpoint, and she almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. With amazing clarity, she realized she loved Callie. Job or no job, she loved her. She just hoped she lived long enough to be able to tell her.
* * *
Callie heard the commotion coming from the bar area when she shut off the water after washing her hands. She took her phone out and called Taylor, but after a couple of rings it went straight to voice mail. Just as she was reaching for the doorknob, her phone vibrated in her hand. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Taylor’s name on the display.
“Taylor, what the hell is going on?” she asked, her hand still on the doorknob.
“Listen to me, Callie, this is Randy,” came the voice from the other end of the line.
“Why do you have her phone?”
“Sharon came in. I don’t know what her game is, but she made Taylor get me to leave. She slipped her phone to me, I assumed so I could call you.” Randy was talking quickly, and Callie was having a hard time keeping up.
All she could think about was that Taylor was in serious trouble. She cursed herself for having left her gun in the trunk of her car.
“I need to help her,” Callie said, sounding almost helpless to her own ears. “I have to go out there and help her.”
“No, listen,” Randy said. “I already called the Brockport Police. They should be here any second. You need to stay put and wait for help to arrive. You won’t be able to do anything for her if Sharon gets you too.”
Callie knew he was right, but her heart was racing. She remembered Quinn telling her once that Taylor kept a handgun in the office. She had no idea where it was, but she wasn’t going to hunker down in the bathroom when she had a chance to help her. She promised Randy she’d stay where she was and then shoved her phone in her pocket, thankful she’d had the sound turned off so Sharon couldn’t have heard it ring.
She gripped the doorknob tighter and closed her eyes as she turned it, praying Sharon wouldn’t be able to hear her. She pulled the door open and looked down the hall toward the bar. There was no sign of anyone, and it was quiet out there. She hadn’t heard any commotion outside the restroom door, so she was pretty confident they hadn’t made their way to the office.
She walked quickly and as quietly as she could to the office door and opened it, slipped inside, and shut it as softly as she could, then she flipped on the light switch. She began her search in the desk, but there was no gun in any of the drawers. She glanced around the office wondering where the hell it could be, and stopped when she saw Andrea’s firefighter helmet sitting on a shelf.
She moved to the shelves and picked it up. She smiled. It was there, right underneath the helmet. Was it possible Andrea was looking out for them? She put her hand over her heart and looked at the ceiling.
“Thank you, buddy,” she said quietly. She was happy to discover the gun was loaded because she wouldn’t have had a clue as to where to look for the ammunition. She made sure the safety was off before making her way down the hall to the bar.
“Get up!” she heard Sharon yell, and she tensed, listening intently for Taylor’s voice, but there was no response.
Callie took a deep breath in through her nose and let it out through her mouth before coming around the corner. Sharon was behind the bar, her back to Callie. There was a gun on the bar, not far from where Sharon was standing. She was bending over, obviously trying to pull Taylor to her feet, but Callie couldn’t see Taylor from where she was standing. She walked a couple of steps closer to the bar and aimed her gun center mass.
“Police!” she shouted, adrenaline pumping furiously through her body. “Put your hands up!”
Sharon grabbed the gun as she spun around toward her. Callie pulled the trigger without giving Sharon a chance to realize what was happening. Sharon dropped to the floor and the bottle behind her exploded as the bullet ripped through it.
Callie crouched down at the same time, just in case she got back up to take a shot of her own. She froze when she heard Sharon begin laughing.
“You’re a fucking cop?” she asked. “Well, isn’t that just fan-fucking-tastic. Say good-bye to your little girlfriend.”
Callie heard a glass break, and a couple of seconds later, there was a shot from behind the bar. Time seemed to stand still and it felt like her heart had jumped into her throat. She was having trouble breathing. She realized Randy had crouched down next to her, and his arm was around her shoulders.
“It’s okay, Callie, reinforcements are here,” he said softly.
She then noticed there were about half a dozen cops in the bar. Why hadn’t they shown up two minutes earlier? She jumped to her feet and tried to get to Taylor, but Randy stopped her, spinning her around so she was facing him.
“I have to make sure she’s all right,” Callie said, pulling her arm away from him.
“Callie?” she heard a voice behind her say. The relief washed over her at the sound of Taylor’s voice. Randy let her go and she rushed to Taylor’s side. She dropped to the floor next to Taylor, holding her head in her lap. “I’m okay, Callie.”
“I can’t say the same for Sharon,” Callie said softly, looking at the woman on the floor a few feet away, a hole in the middle of her forehead. Her eyes were staring at them, but there was no life there. She’d never been so happy to see someone dead in her life. That was when she saw the knife on the floor next to the body and realized what must have happened.
“Back
here!” she heard a booming voice say, and then there were cops and paramedics all around her. She got pushed unceremoniously to the side, and Randy pulled her toward the door.
“Give them room to work, okay?” he said, glancing over her shoulder toward the bar. “I heard someone say she hasn’t been shot, so she’s going to be fine.”
“She shot Sharon,” Callie said, meeting his eyes. He nodded. “Sharon’s dead.”
“Clear case of self-defense if you ask me,” he said. He guided her outside and to his car, where he got her situated in the passenger seat.
“She had a knife,” Callie said, looking back at the doors to the bar. “I think she must have dropped the gun when she went down to get away from my shot. Taylor had to have grabbed it, and when she came at her with the knife, she shot her.”
“Like I said,” Randy said with a grin. “Self-defense.”
“I could have lost her.”
“But you didn’t. She’s going to be fine.” They both looked at the doors when the paramedics came out with Taylor on a stretcher. “You should ride with her. I’ll call your sister and then meet you at the hospital.”
Callie got up without a word, and made her way to the ambulance.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Callie opened her eyes but couldn’t immediately identify where she was. She looked around the room, and the steady beeping coming from her left was enough to tell her she was in the hospital. She tried to sit up, but Quinn was at her side almost instantly.
“Whoa, there,” she said as she gently held her down. “Not a good idea.”
“What am I doing here?” she asked. “Where’s Taylor?”
“You passed out in the ambulance,” Quinn said. “When you came down from the adrenaline high, you just crashed. They hooked you up to some fluids and decided to monitor your heart until you came to, just in case.”
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