Addicted to You SAPD SWAT Series

by Mays, Nikki

  “Nothing Doll. I just know that the rest of my life will never be boring with you around.” He tells me.

  “I’m going to choose to take that as a compliment about how amazing our life together is going to be.” That better be how he means it.

  “Take it however you want. I love you with craziness and all.” He reaches down and kisses the top of my head. Yeah, I’ll just go with a compliment on this one.

  Chapter 9

  Michelle

  It’s been about a month since the Gerry Incident, as we’ve taken to calling it. Damon and I moved back to our place a few days after the whole thing happened. There haven’t been any more break-ins luckily, well none that we know of anyway. That’s been the worst part about all of this, is the not knowing. But we haven’t noticed anything weird, so I’m putting it in the plus column.

  The only downside is that Damon has been somewhat obsessive with keeping tabs on me. I swear that he has become my overly large shadow. And if he can’t be with me, he makes sure that someone else can be. I’m lucky if I can even pee by myself at this point. I know that it’s coming from a place of love but it’s driving me crazy. I now know exactly how Mel felt and can totally understand why she would sneak out to the store. I mean, that backfired when she got kidnapped, obviously. But I still definitely get where she was coming from.

  I, however, will not be trying to ditch my Siamese twins. We all saw how well that worked out for Mel. Morris was even with her at that point.

  My only true normalcy is at the shop. Once I’m in my kitchen I can ignore everything else going on and get into the zone. I swear, nothing centers me more than baking up some yummy goodness. I’ve even almost perfected my damn macaroons. I’m pretty sure that they’re going to be the death of me. Well, the death of my sanity at any rate.

  We’ve been pretty swamped today with it only being Mel and me in the shop today. Got to love that stomach bug that’s going around. There’s nothing worse than being surrounded by a ton of smells when your stomach is off. So, it’s been just us for the past two days. I’m exhausted and I can only imagine how tired Mellie is with having a little man at home. We both look like walking zombies at this point.

  “How would you feel about closing early today?” I look up at the sound of Mel’s voice. “We’ve just finished the afternoon rush. I say we stay open for another hour but close up if it doesn’t get busy after that. We would only be losing about two hours.

  “Yeah, that’s fine with me. I’m dragging and I can only imagine how tired you must be with MJ and Morris at home. Luckily for me, Damon’s been picking up dinner so that I don’t have to cook.” I tell her.

  She looks beyond relieved that I agreed to close early. “Morris has been making dinner, so that hasn’t been bad. But MJ is going through a phase that consists of him screaming like we’re killing him if he isn’t touching me at all times. I know that I’ll miss this when he’s older, but right now I would like to use the bathroom by myself. Legit, I had to hold him on my lap while I peed yesterday.”

  “Is that normal?” I question. I get that he’s little but shouldn’t he want to be off exploring or something?

  She leans against the doorframe and lets out a huge sigh. “I don’t know. I’m apart of a few mommy groups on Facebook and the other moms say that it’s totally normal for kids to go through phases like this. I don’t know. And I feel bad about leaving him with mine or Morris’ mom now, but he gets into everything. We can’t have him here anymore. He’s just not as compact as he once was.” A frown marred her beautiful face.

  I start cleaning up so that we can get out of here as soon as possible. “Do you think that’s why he’s being so clingy? That he’s so used to being with you all the time, that it’s throwing him off now.”

  “It probably is which sucks since there’s nothing I can really do about it. I feel like such a horrible mom leaving him all the time but at the same time, we have a successful business. A business that keeps diapers on his little butt. I feel damned if I do and damned if I don’t.” Mel states sadly.

  I finish cleaning my utensils and walk around the counter to stand in front of Mellie. “I’m sure pretty much every mom on the planet feels like this. Being a mama is hard work. Cut yourself some slack chickie. You’re running a business with a husband and child. You’re like Wonder Woman minus that weird headband thing.” I tell my wonderful bestie.

  I seriously don’t know how she does it some days. She’s here giving one hundred percent and then goes home and gives her family a hundred and ten percent. I hope that I’m half the mom she is when the time comes.

  “Right. That headband is just weird. Like it doesn’t conceal her identity. She’s just walking around day to day without anyone noticing and then all of a sudden she puts the headband on and BOOM, she’s Wonder Woman!” She gesticulates with some crazy arm moves. With her lack of coordination, I’m surprised those gestures didn’t send her flying onto her butt.

  “That’s the part that you took away from what I said? Just about the headband?” Cause, yeah, that was the important part.

  She rolls her eyes at me. “I obviously heard everything else. The headband thing is just weird and bothers me.” She shrugs.

  I’m about to say something else to her when the bell above the front door goes off.

  “And that’s my cue to get out there. Hopefully, I can get them in and out quickly and we can be locked up. I’m so over today.” She calls out over her shoulder on her way back to the front of the shop.

  I completely agree with her. I’m ready to get home and park my butt in front of the TV with a glass of wine and some popcorn. Some Captain America and Thor action sound like a good ending to the day. Yeah, I can definitely get down with watching Thor swing that huge hammer. Hmm, maybe I can get Damon to pretend to be Thor and swing his hammer?

  I shake my head at myself.

  Yeah, I don’t really see him agreeing to that. It is a nice little fantasy though. I wonder if I could at least get him to dress up as Thor next Halloween. That could fuel some really good fantasies for years to come. Even when we’re like eighty, I can still think back to that one Halloween. Or maybe I can get him to be the James Dean to my Betty Paige. Although, since I dress like her often that’s not really a great costume. Yup, Thor is much better. I can get a black widow costume. I’m sure he’d enjoy that.

  “Shell...” I hear Mellie call from the front sounding odd. I hope that she hasn’t gotten herself stuck somewhere again. Just the other day, I had to help her off the floor. Instead of getting out of her desk chair to pick up her pen, her lazy ass decided to just try to reach sideways. She ended up toppling over, with the chair ending up on top of her. I had to come in and help her up. After I took a few pictures for Morris and Marc obviously.

  I finish wiping down the mixer and start walking to the front. “I’m coming!” I yell. “But if you’ve fallen and can’t get up again, I’m not helping you.” I freeze as I enter the front of the store.

  Mellie is standing there with a man in a baseball cap. That’s not unusual. What is unusual, however, is the fact that the man has a gun pointed at her. A gun that he swings in my direction when I enter. A gun that looks like it’s about to take everything away from me.

  Holy fucking shit! What in the...wait is that Todd? No, it couldn’t be. The guy with the gun lifts his head fully and yup, it’s Todd, my dads assistant. Ookaaay.

  “Umm, Todd, what’s going on?” I ask because honestly, I’ve got nothing here. Mellie looks like a combination of scared and pissed. She’s standing there with her arms crossed glaring daggers at him while trying to move backward. Right, because pissed off is going to help us here. Please let her keep her mouth shut.

  She looks over at me in confusion. “You know him?” She asks me.

  I glance at her while still keeping Todd in my view. “Ahh, yeah, this is Todd, my dad’s “right-hand man” as he calls him.”

  “Why does he have a gun pointed at us?” She que
stions and truthfully I’m pretty curious as to the answer to that question myself.

  “I have no clue. Have you asked him yet?” Todd is looking between the two of us with an incredulous look on his face.

  “Negative, ghost rider, the only thing he said was to get you, so that’s what I did. Is this one of the guys that you’ve rejected over the years?” She looks over at him with pursed lips. “Cause I could see why.”

  “HELLO!” Todd yells. “He’s standing right here and can hear you. Are you both kidding me? I’m pointing a gun at you and you’re going on like I’m not even here. What is wrong with the two of you?”

  “We could ask you the same thing, buddy.” Mellie drawls. “We’re not the ones walking into your place a business, holding you at gunpoint. So really, I don’t think that we’re the ones with the issues pal.”

  While he’s somewhat distracted with Mellie being a fluffing idiot, I reach into my back pocket and remove my phone. I shift towards the counter, that way he hopefully won’t see my hand underneath. I click nine one one and press the green button. Hopefully, whoever answers will hear what’s going on in the background and send someone. I’m pretty sure they have a tracer thing, right? Or shit, does that only work on landlines? Garcia is always able to track people on Criminal Minds, so that has to be a thing, right?

  I leave the phone on one of the shelves under the counter. I pray that the person who answers can hear something. I don’t want to take the chance of him seeing the phone in my pocket and taking it away. It’s pretty much our only hope at this point. Well, that and if I can get to my Ruger LC9s.

  All of the guys went on and on about Mel and I carry at all times. Both of us learned how to shoot years ago, so neither of us put up any fight about it. Mine is so compact that I actually forget it’s in my bag most of the time. We’ve even been going to the range with the guys at least once a week to “stay sharp”. All of the guys are an incredible shot, but Damon is on a whole different level. It is amazing to watch him shoot.

  I don’t know why, but for some reason, I left my purse under the counter after I went to pick us up some lunch earlier. Honestly, I’m beginning to feel like it was divine intervention or something.

  Todd is standing there glaring right back at Mellie. Jesus, these two. “The only issue I have is that I’ve been invisible for too long.” He hisses at her. “I am tired of never being seen as an option.” He looks to me when he says this.

  Mel gives a very unladylike snort. She could seriously give Miss Piggy a run for her money. “See!” She looks over at me in triumph. “I knew it was one of your rejects.”

  I pinch the bridge of my nose. It’s like this bitch has a death wish. Does she not notice the psycho holding a gun? “You really think now was the best time to say that?”

  Todd scoffs at her statement. “I’m not a reject.”

  Mellie taps her index finger to her lip. For the love of God Mel don’t be stupid. “You’re right.” Whew. Todd smirks at her in the victory. “You would’ve needed to be a contestant to be rejected. You’re a never was.” Todd’s staring at her dumbfounded. I’m right there with him. What in the hell is she thinking?

  “Really? What the hell is wrong with you?” I hiss at the woman trying to get us killed. She flicks her eyes to the counter and then towards Todd. She’s giving me an annoyed look. She flicks her eyes back toward the counter and then back to me, making her eyes go wide. Oh, I get it now, she’s staling. Which is a good idea, aside from pissing the guy with the gun off. If we get out of this, we are having a long talk about stalling tactics. Because the one she’s using is absolute shit.

  She shrugs like she doesn’t have a care in the world. “What’s wrong with me?” She asks. “What the hell is wrong with him?” She points to Todd, who is looking thoroughly confused. I’m guessing he thought that he would be in charge here and it’s not going according to plan. Welcome to life with Mel. “All I wanted to do was close The Sweet Grind up early and go home. Instead, we’re stuck standing here with this wannabe reject, pointing a gun at us. Excuse me if I’m not exactly feeling hospitable. I’d like for him to get to the point and then to get the hell out.”

  Okay, she probably could’ve gone about that in a better way. But I will congratulate her on giving the person on the other end of my phone some pertinent information. That didn’t even cross my mind until she said the name of the shop. Huh, I guess they don’t need a tracer thing now.

  “You want me to get to the point? Fine, I’ll get to the fucking point.” Todd says in a shrill voice. Yikes! Way to piss him off and make him goes crazier Mellie.

  She gives me a wide-eyed look. I look back with a glare. Yeah, chick, this is your doing.

  This bitch did not just purse her lips and roll her damn eyes at me. Right, you did nothing wrong, Mel. Everyone pisses off the person holding the gun. That’s a totally normal thing to do.

  I’m seriously going to slap her if we get out of this. Acting like I’m the problem here. Okay, well since I know him, there’s a good chance that I am the issue, but still.

  Todd starts pacing back and forth looking like a tweaker. “For years I’ve loved you.” He says looking at me. Umm, say what? “I have watched you date other guys who didn’t deserve someone as amazing as you. You dated that Gerry asshole who your father hated. I had to listen to him go on and on for years about how you stayed with him. Everyone saw how he treated you and despised him.”

  Geez, okay I get it, he was a horrible mistake. The only good this about this weird speech is that every time he paces back the other way, I inch closer to my gun.

  “I was so happy when you finally dumped that loser,” Todd says while giving me the creepiest version of a sweet look. “I decided to give you some time after that before making my move. When you started dating again a few years ago, I figured that you would finally be ready. Then Damon came along.” He spits his name out like a curse.

  I’m suddenly very glad that Damon is not here. I have a feeling that Todd would’ve used that Glock by now if he was.

  “Okay, but I didn’t initially have anything to do with Damon,” I say to keep this crazy conversation going to give the police some time to get here.

  “No you didn’t and it was actually kind of perfect. Did you know that he practically stalked you for two years?” He asks with way too much glee.

  “So I’ve heard.” I draw as Mellie snorts.

  “It was absolutely brilliant! He got rid of all the other scum vying for your attention and completely stayed away from you. I got to stay in the shadows and stalk your stalker.” He chuckles creepily to himself.

  Huh, and Damon says that I don’t pay attention to my surroundings. He got stalked too. Ha! Wait until I rub that in his face. Hell, Declan and Marc helped him and not one of them noticed. Mel’s staring at me with wide eyes. I can’t tell if it’s because of Todd’s unsettling chuckle or the fact that she just realized that the guys kind of had a stalker too. She widens her eyes even more and gives me a half smirk. Yup, she just realized it too. We’re never letting them live this down.

  “But then he had to go and screw it all up!” And we’re back to the shrill girlie voice. Seriously, I didn’t realize men could get their voices that high. Well except for a gay man finding out about a Versace sale. But honestly, who wouldn’t screech a bit at finding that out? For real though, what woman doesn’t love shopping with a gay man? They are always on point.

  “He just had to go near you!” Oops, should probably pay attention to the lunatic ranting at me. I’m becoming as bad as Mel with the daydreaming. “But I figured that you would dump him eventually. You’re so outgoing and friendly. He’s mean and surly to everyone he comes into contact with. I figured he wouldn’t last a month.” Todd shrugs. Has he ever heard the expression “Opposites Attract”?

  “Damon’s not mean or surly, he’s just quiet.” I defend my man. Todd and Mellie both scoff at me. “Okay, he’s a little surly but sweet when you get to know him. He’s not
outright mean.” I amend as Mel snorts. I turn my head to glare at the traitor. “Being mean to your brother doesn’t really count. You should know that better than anyone.” I say with a raised eyebrow. She just purses her lips at me but thankfully remains silent.

  Todd is blinking rapidly at us with his head tilted. “Right. Be that as it may.” He stares at us like we’re some weird science experiment. “I still didn’t think that he would be in the picture for very long. I figured that my time would come when you rid yourself of him.” Who talks like this, really? “I even started to set things up for myself.”

  I look over at Mel and she has the same confused look on her face. “Umm, how did you do that?” I ask and Mel nods her head.

  “The drawings of course.” He scoffs at me like it should’ve been obvious. Right, because he signed the things and handed them to me in person. This dude is batshit crazy.

  Did I receive a few drawings of myself? Yes. Coincidentally, I actually have one hanging up above my mantle at home because it was really good. I’ll be destroying that now obviously. But they never had a name or anything on them. I truly thought that it was some awkward teenage boy, too embarrassed to hand them to me in person. I look over at Todd. At least I got the awkward part correct.

  He is the epitome of awkward geek. Scrawny with ill-fitting clothes? Check. Bad haircut? Check. Humungous glasses? Check. No style to speak of? Check. Weird personality? Check. I mean he’s bad by today’s standards. Geek chic has been in for years now. So, really he has no excuse. There are a ton of options out there for him. He looks like he hasn’t improved since eighth grade. He has a damn bowl haircut. Need I say more?

  “And these drawings were supposed to make her fall in love with you, without knowing that they were from you?” Mel asks sounding as skeptical as possible. I’m right there with her though.

  “How could you not know that they were from me?” He asks in an offended tone. “I’ve told you several times how much I enjoy drawing. I’ve even told you that I would draw you something.” I can see the hurt in his eyes.