by Terra Wolf
I quickly got up in order to look through Camden’s diaper bag. I kept it exactly for this purpose. Well, to turn over to the cops, at least. I didn't realize the cops would be Harrison himself. I pulled out a small business card and handed it back to him. “What are you going to do with it? I mean what are you going to do to them?”
“I think I’m going to go undercover. And then the precinct and I are going to take them down. It's that simple.”
It sounded anything but simple. He hadn’t met that man, who was a freaking creep. “It's that simple? It sounds dangerous! You can’t just waltz in there with these people! Look how easily they found me. Do you think that they really don't know about you? I mean how else could they have known about Camden?”
“I'm betting that they do know about me. But I'm also guessing that they don't know what I look like or my name. Besides I’ll disguise myself a little bit. I've always enjoyed the dramatic side of undercover work. I’ll have a new identity. Nothing to tie me to you or Camden.”
“I'm not worried about Camden or myself. I’m worried about you! This isn’t regular police work, Harrison, this is some crazy organization. People with money. You said yourself about the murders that you couldn't figure out what was going on. You already know that they’re one step ahead of you. What if they figure you out?”
He sat back in his chair, looking more casual than he should have for such a serious conversation. “Forget that, this is what I do for a living. I love this shit. Taking down the bad guy is what I live for. So don’t you worry. I'll handle this.”
I tried to pretend that I wasn't worried. I couldn't lie to him and tell him that I knew he would be okay. I had this terrible feeling that buried itself deep in my stomach, but he looked so confident that I didn't have the heart to knock him down. Maybe I was just overreacting. This was Harrison's profession and maybe he did have the element of surprise on his side.
All that I knew was now that I had my little family together, I didn't want to let them go.
“Are you hungry?” He asked me.
“Yeah, kinda,” I admitted.
“I’ll order pizza, I mean you like pizza, right?” He smiled and I felt my heart skip a beat. God, he was gorgeous. Why had I thought my feelings would change? Being this close to him, I just wanted him to hold me again. Cradle me in his arms and keep me safe. Lay kisses on my lips like he did that night.
He got up and passed Camden to me. As he leaned down to place him in my arms our faces almost touched. I wanted to reach up to kiss him so badly.
I held my breath as he moved away. “Harrison?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
He smiled again, so genuine. “Of course.”
Chapter Seven
Harrison
I sent the squad a text with an address. They all met me at a diner downtown that I had gone to since I hadn’t gone to the one Penny worked at anymore. I sat in a corner booth alone, holding a coffee mug between my hands. I knew once they got here they’d be worried. We hadn’t been here, as a group, in a long time.
I remembered the last time Sarge brought us here, to tell us that his mother had cancer. That woman was a saint. She took all of us in like we were her own. She was a human and her husband a shifter. But he had passed away when Sarge was just a kid. So she had always been on her own, and she was a tough broad. But kind, too. At Christmas time, she would knit scarves, and she always had cookies for us sitting in the office. She was everything to all of us. Some of the other guys didn't have great relationships with their parents, myself included. I talked to my mom occasionally, but she was never the warm and fuzzy type. My dad had split when I was just a cub. I had no idea where he was.
I wouldn’t do that to Camden.
Penelope and he would be my whole world now.
I knew as soon as they started to slide into the booth one by one that they knew something was up. They were too quiet. Judith had only been with us a few months after Sarge told us about her cancer. She passed away in hospice with Sarge and his wife, Natasha, next to her. But every time I looked at him, I thought of her. Even if it was only for a fleeting second, she crossed my mind. And I felt terrible that he didn’t really have any family left. Again, he had Natasha, and she was wonderful. But she wasn't the family he grew up with. She was his new family. It just wasn’t the same.
The guys ordered drinks and Sarge ordered breakfast, his staple diner food, and they looked at me expectantly. They knew something was up.
“Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Gavin asked. “Because last time we were here…”
“Somebody dropped a bomb?” Sarge asked us. Nobody made eye contact.
“Well that's what I'm about to do, then.” I paused and thought about what I was going to say. I honestly had no idea how to tell them this. They heard about Penelope when we had that one night stand; well, at least Gavin had. I couldn't remember if I told the other guys about her. I wasn't really the feeling and sharing type. Especially because every time I mentioned going home alone, all that I got was more jabs and joking comments about how I couldn’t keep a woman around. This time, it was something completely different. This time it was real.
“I have something to tell you guys. But it's going to come as a bit of a surprise for all of you, because it certainly surprised the hell out of me.”
Sarge's eyebrows came together. “What’s going on, Harrison? You know that no matter what it is, we’re here for you, man.”
I did know that. That's how it always was. We were a team. “Do you remember Penelope?”
They all shook their heads except for Gavin. He looked right at me. Grady looked completely lost.
“One night stand? The diner waitress?” Gavin asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. It turns out she's going be a little bit more than a one night stand.”
“We already knew that. You were so hung up on that broad. There was something about her that you just couldn't shake.”
“Turns out that she can’t really shake me either. Especially since we have a baby together.”
Sarge and Gavin both smiled, Grady looked absolutely horrified, and Jackson just sat there looking stoic. His typical way.
“You have a kid? You, James Harrison, have a kid? That blows my mind!”
Sarge patted me on the back while looking proud. Grady was still dumbfounded. “I mean, do we even do that? We have kids?”
Everyone got quiet. No one at the table had any children. But obviously someone had us. “Less brains than this cup of coffee,” Sarge said to him. It lightened the mood and everybody laughed.
“So Penelope, then? What’d she name the little bugger?”
I nodded, “His name is Camden. He's two months old. And I just found out yesterday.”
Sarge looked confused. “Why now? What made her come out of the woodwork?”
“That's why I brought you all here. She and Camden are being hunted.”
Happiness quickly drained from the group. “Hunted? How?”
Gavin looked at me knowingly. His observations of the crime scene were right. All shifters were in trouble.
“This guy from some agency approached her at work. Offered her a lot of money for her and Camden to come to some facility. They want to do tests on him. So she packed up their things and she ran. Don't tell me that one of you didn't know that she was coming for me. She got my information from the precinct.”
They all exchange nervous glances. Finally Sarge spoke up. “Listen man, we knew how broken up you were when she left. You’re kind of the emotional one of the group.”
I couldn't help but laugh at him. “This from the guy who wrote his own vows.”
He playfully punched me in the arm. “And don't you forget it. But she just came in looking like a mess, man. I knew when she said she really needed to talk to you that it must be important. I couldn’t turn her away.”
“Well, it was important. She's hiding in my house for now. Guys, we gotta do somet
hing about this. All these grisly murders and now this? Someone is targeting us.”
“So what's the plan? You didn’t just come here to tell us this news. I know you, you’re an action man,” Gavin said.
“Yeah, I have a plan. It's been a while since I’ve been in deep like this. I want to go undercover. I want to break into this facility from the inside out. I want to know everything that they're doing. Why bodies? Why a blood trail? What do they want with my kid?”
Everyone nodded at me from around the table. I knew I wouldn't even have to ask them. They were in.
Sarge looked directly at me. “How long until this plan of action goes into play? I mean, we need to get moving. We’ll help you out in any way that we can.”
“I don't really have one yet. I was thinking of pretending to be some type of security officer? Maybe looking for a job? See if they would buy it.”
Grady spoke up. “I've got a guy in tech who can make a pretty realistic looking email, like a for a job opportunity. If he can work something out for you, that would get you in. But a testing site? This is going to be insane. You’ll have to do a lot better than just showing off an email. You’re going have to convince them.”
“I guess we’re lucky that convincing is one of my strengths.”
Chapter Eight
Penelope
I wore an apron. I knew it was insane. I also knew that guys like James Harrison liked girls like me in an apron making them dinner. Camden sat in the corner in a bouncy chair cooing to himself.
He had a bouncy chair now. That was something new. So much was new. It wasn't that I hadn't been able to provide for him before, but now, Harrison had money for everything. I mentioned that I saw a bouncy seat that I thought Camden would like and suddenly we were taking one home. I needed a couple of new bottles. so when I went to pay, Harrison was there giving them his credit card. I felt bad taking his money. I knew that I shouldn't, that Camden was his baby, but I didn't come here because it was his responsibility to raise our son. I came here for help, for safety. I didn't want him to think I was taking advantage of his generosity.
I played a quick game of peekaboo with Camden as he sat in the seat. I stirred the pot on the stove. Homemade sauce, just like my mother used to make my father. I had a feeling that Harrison would appreciate a home-cooked meal. I wasn't sure if he could cook or not, but I kind of doubted it. Before he asked me to move in, he said he ate by himself almost every night. He was definitely a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Hopefully he would appreciate a real meal. He only ever drank water, which was still evident by the lack of anything in his fridge.
He took me grocery shopping, and said anything I needed or wanted I should get. Mostly that meant fruits and vegetables and ingredients to make my pasta, and some formula for Camden. We didn't need much. We'd been living on a lot less. I protested about him paying for so much, but he wouldn't hear of it. He said that now that we were staying here, we needed to get used to being taken care of. If he only realized how difficult that would be for me, maybe he wouldn't have suggested it like it was no big deal.
My father had passed away when I was fourteen, and my mother had never really been the same after. And then it had just been the two of us, and while that was a great relationship, when she remarried, I moved away and our relationship changed. It wasn’t that he was a bad guy. He just wasn't my dad, and I struggled with that. But she was happy, and I was happy for her. My mother was a wonderful woman and she didn't deserve to live her life alone.
I remembered the night we got the call. The police officer on the other end of the line asked for my mom. When I questioned him, he wouldn't tell me what was going on. That was when I heard those words: it's going to be okay, it was an accident. What they didn’t realize was that how that accident completely changed my life. It changed how I viewed people and the rest of the world.
After a year, I packed my father's clothes and took them out of my mother's closet. I knew she'd never be able to do it herself. She never said anything to me about it afterwards. One day they were gone and she acted like she didn't notice. I knew that she had, but if that's what she needed to tell herself to make herself feel better, then so be it. They vanished, just like he did.
I never asked to see the body. My mother had identified him and that was good enough for me. I wanted to remember him as he had been, happy and healthy and whole. I didn't want to remember him lying in a morgue, splintered into a million pieces after a horrific car accident. That wasn't my dad on the table. I wouldn't let that be my memory of him.
I heard the door open, and suddenly I didn't know what to do. Should I welcome him home with a hug and a kiss? Were we even there yet? Sleeping together a couple times and having a kid together didn't mean that we were any sort of official couple. As he rounded the corner, I wanted to reach out and welcome him home, but he didn't move, so neither did I.
“I hope you like pasta. I remembered you always liked to eat it at the diner.”
His face brightened. “That’s great. I had a long day.”
“It seems like every day is a long day for you.”
“These past few weeks have felt like that. Thanks for making dinner. You didn't have to…”
I interrupted him. “Yes, I did.” He took us in without question, this was the easy part. “The least I can do is make sure you come home to a good meal. Besides, I haven't had anyone to cook for in a long time. At least, no one who appreciates my mother's recipe like I do.”
“Well, I certainly have an affinity for red sauce. But can we sit down for a second? We need to talk.”
There it was. The I don't think this is going to work conversation. I had been so sure that coming here was in Camden’s and my best interest. But maybe I'd been wrong. This was too much to put on Harrison. He hadn’t asked for this. Neither did I.
My heart clenched in my chest.
“Let's eat when we talk, it always seems to make these things a little less uncomfortable.”
He nodded and pulled down two plates, scooping out food for both for me and then himself.
“This smells amazing,” he said as he sat down at the table, immediately taking his fork and digging in while I sat quietly for a moment, before his eyes came up to my face.
“Oh shit, are you religious? I don't pray or anything, but you totally can.”
I laughed at him. “No, I'm not religious. I just don't think I've ever seen anybody eat like that. This isn’t your last meal on earth.”
He stopped shoveling for a moment and smiled at me between mouthfuls of spaghetti.
“I haven’t had a good meal like this in a while. Well, since the diner.”
“You stopped coming.”
“I thought you wanted me to remember?” He paused for a moment, looking pensive, then set down his fork.
I looked at Camden, who had fallen asleep in his chair. “I remember.”
“I wanted you to stay. I think I’ve made that clear.”
“Well, I’m here now.”
He reached across the table and pushed an auburn strand behind my ear. “You certainly are.”
I chewed on my lower lip. If he was about to push us out, I needed him to do it fast. Because my feelings for him had come flooding back. And I couldn’t stop them.
“Do you want me to leave?” I asked.
“Leave?” He looked concerned. “Why would I want that?”
“Because this is too much, because you can’t handle it.”
“Penny, no! I want you here always. I wanted to tell you I’m going undercover for the next week or so, getting information from the organization that came after you. I had the guys in tech look into the name and number of the man who gave you the card. It links to a chemical facility just outside the city. We think that’s the organization behind the attacks. Purest something or other. I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I wanted to tell you that you’ll be alone for a while, but I have people on it. There will be eyes on you.”
I sigh
ed, feeling relief, but also fear. I didn’t want him to go. “Will you be okay?”
He lifted my chin. “Of course I will. I’ll come home to you, I promise.”
I leaned forward ever so slightly. He took it as a sign that I was finally letting him in. His lips grazed mine carefully at first, and then he kissed me fully. It nearly took my breath away.
All this time I had wanted him.
Needed his touch.
And it was finally here.
Our moment.
Chapter Nine
Penelope
“How long will he sleep for?” He whispered to me.
“Camden? A while yet.”
“So then we have some time. Let’s make good use of it.”
He took my hand and led me away from the table. “But what about dinner?”
“Dinner can wait,” he said with a devilish smile.
I’d go anywhere with him. I followed him into his bedroom. He pulled me towards the bed and tugged off my apron.
“How did you know I had a thing for girls to cook?” He whispered to me, nuzzling against my hair.
I smiled playfully as he laid sweet kisses down my neck. “Lucky guess?”
He moved up my neck and just underneath my chin leading back up to my lips. He tugged on my T-shirt pulling it above my head and over my arms exposing my voluptuous breasts. I had on neon pink bra and panty set, it was my favorite.
“I forgot how good you looked,” he said licking his lips.
He unclasped the bra and I moaned as his mouth devoured me, lingering on each breast as he took his time. “We have to do something about these pants.”
“I can't be the only one who's getting naked it around here,” I said as I tugged on his shirt. I yanked it off and threw it to the side relishing in his muscles. He was built like a statue, with thick pecs and a six pack at least. Maybe eight, if that was even possible. I pulled on his belt as I sat down on the bed. He climbed on top of me and licked his way up from my stomach all the way to my lips singeing my flesh as he went. I felt like I was on fire.