Hurt

by Bruce, Lila

  “Just go shopping on your own time. I’d like to finish getting this report typed up so I can off a decent hour tonight. I told Nicole we’d go out for dinner. I’ve been wanting to try that new Mexican restaurant down by McKenzie Arena.”

  “Do you even own a stove? You eat out more than anyone I know. I’m surprised there’s anywhere left in town that you haven’t tried.”

  “Whatever,” Jamie muttered. She sat back in her chair and leveled her eyes at her partner. “So, what did you think of our guy at the jail?”

  Samuels snorted.

  “I don’t think he’s smart enough to tie his own shoe, let alone plan and commit three home invasions on his own.”

  “I agree,” Jamie said. “We definitely have enough to tie him to them, though. I say we give him a couple days to stew in jail and then see if he’s up for a making deal to roll over on his buddies.”

  She popped the lid on her coffee and took a long sip.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Samuels said and then wrinkled his noise. “What in God’s name are you drinking?”

  “Coffee,” Jamie said as she began typing on her computer.

  “The hell you say, that is not coffee.”

  “It is coffee. Pumpkin spice latte.”

  “Jesus. That’s not coffee,” Samuels declared. He shook his head as he opened the top drawer to his desk and began rifling through it.

  “It’s a helluva lot better than that sludge you drink,” Jamie replied. She knew how Samuels felt about her minor addiction to flavored coffees—it was in his top five of ‘things to complain about’—but chose to ignore it. “You’re lucky,” she added with a smirk. “I wanted the chocolate peppermint, but they were out.”

  “God save me,” he muttered before abruptly stopping and looking up from his desk. “Oh, Megan Riley called.”

  “And?”

  “She said it looks like the case is going to extend out into next week. The defense is bringing in their own ballistic expert to say the bullets in Thompson’s gun weren’t the ones that hit the victims.”

  “You know, if that kid’s parents had spent half as much time and money on getting him off the drugs in the first place, there wouldn’t be a need for a lawyer now,” Jamie said, shaking her head.

  “Hey Tate!” Jamie suddenly heard one of the other investigators shout out as he entered the squad room. “You got company,” he said, motioning to the slender, dark-haired woman in a short black skirt trailing along behind him.

  “Okay, thanks,” she called back as she saved and closed the computer file she was working on.

  “Company, huh?” Samuels said. Jamie opted to ignore the avidly curious look he was giving her.

  “Yes, company. I do have friends, you know,” she replied as she stood and walked past him, choosing not to linger for the smartass comeback she was sure would be coming. Jamie waved at the woman and motioned for her to follow her into one of the empty interrogation rooms.

  “Well, this certainly is an…interesting place you work, Jamie,” Gina Southerland remarked in a slow, South Georgia drawl as she stepped into the room.

  “Never a dull moment,” Jamie replied, closing the door behind her. “I appreciate you coming down here to meet with me. I know it’s a little outside the norm.”

  The brunette gave a sugary sweet smile and shook her head.

  “Not a problem at all. I’m more than happy to accommodate a potential client. And I understand from what you said on the phone that you want to keep our little transaction secret from Nicole?”

  Jamie nodded.

  “That’s right.” As a matter of fact, she was fairly certain that if Nicole knew she was meeting with Gina Southerland, Nicole’s chief competitor, she would take her head off. While she knew that Nicole could run rings around Gina in the real estate market, this was one particular transaction—as Gina had called it—that Nicole needed to stay in the dark about. “From what I’ve heard Nicole say, the real estate market is picking back up.”

  “It certainly is,” Gina said with an over-exaggerated nod. “I think you’ve chosen an excellent time to sell. Nice two bedrooms in that neighborhood are at a premium right now. I’ve got the paperwork we talked about on the phone right here, if you’d like to look over everything.” She reached into the leather attaché case she carried over one shoulder and pulled out a manila folder. She laid the folder on the small metal desk that sat in the center of the room and opened it, setting aside the top two pages of paper. “These are the ones that you’ll need to sign.”

  Jamie nodded as she read over the pages.

  “And there will be no yard signs, nothing online that will alert Nicole to the sale?”

  “No. I’ll keep it as an exclusive property and off the M.L.S. I’ve already got a few potential buyers in mind, so with any luck it will move quickly.”

  “Great,” Jamie said. “I want this to be a surprise to Nicole, so it’s important it stays off her radar. We’ve been talking about moving in together for a while now, and this is going to be a sort of Christmas present. Do you have a pen?”

  Gina nodded and pulled one from the attaché.

  “Here you go,” she said. “If you don’t mind my saying, haven’t you two been together for a couple years now? I thought most self-respecting lesbians moved in together after the third date.”

  “Not quite a year and a half,” Jamie responded absently as she finished reading over the documents. She initialed and signed the pages at the spots Gina had marked and then handed the pen back. “And I’m just old fashioned about some things.” Jamie flashed her own sugary sweet smile at the real estate agent and she held out the signed documents. “You know Gina, comments like that are the reason Nicole hates you.”

  Gina grinned and nodded as she took the papers from Jamie’s hand.

  “I know exactly how Nicole feels about me. She’s not very good at keeping her feelings secret.”

  “Oh believe me,” Jamie said, “I’m well aware. Thanks again for coming down here.”

  Gina gathered up the remaining paperwork from the table and stored it back into her attaché case. “Anytime. I’ll give you a call once I have the buyers lined up and we can schedule the showings.” Gina followed Jamie to the doorway and then stopped. “Oh, and Jamie?”

  Jamie arched an eyebrow as she opened the door. “Yes?”

  “I just wanted to say, that, whatever our differences, your girlfriend is the second best real estate agent in Chattanooga and she is very lucky to have somebody like you.”

  “Why thank you Gina, that’s an awfully nice thing to say,” Jamie said, somewhat surprised by the backhanded compliment.

  “I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true,” Gina replied. “I can find my way to front door. I’ll be in touch.”

  Jamie waved and then watched the woman as she headed out of the squad room and down the long hallway that led to the building’s entrance, before turning back toward her desk.

  Samuels was leaned back in his chair waiting for her.

  “So, you want to tell me what that was all about?” he asked.

  Jamie tossed him a glance as she sat back down in her chair and briefly considered telling Samuels to mind his own damn business, but decided that would just make him start digging. She didn’t want to risk Nicole finding out. She shrugged and began to tap her pen on her desk.

  “Well, we’ve been talking about moving things to the next step and Nicole keeps mentioning, you know, moving in together and all. That was the real estate agent I’m listing my house with.”

  “Next step, huh? What does that mean?” Samuels sniffed loudly and cocked his head at Jamie. “You finally decided to make an honest woman out of her?”

  “Really, Samuels?”

  “Hey, just asking.” He bit on his bottom lip and glanced over his computer monitor to Jamie’s desk. “Since you are listing with an agent who is not your girlfriend, I can only assume that this is a surprise of some sort. You, uh, getting a ring for her too
?”

  “How is that any of your business?”

  “Your business is my business, partner. So—are you?”

  Jamie felt her cheeks heat up and hoped to God she wasn’t blushing. She shrugged one shoulder and motioned to the top drawer of her desk.

  “It’s in there. I picked it up a couple weeks ago.”

  “Hot damn,” he shouted and clapped his hands together.

  Jamie covered her eyes and tried to ignore the looks they were now getting from the other side of the room.

  “You do know what a surprise is, don’t you Samuels? Not a word to anyone. I don’t want this getting back to Nicole.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me. My lips are sealed,” he said with a smile.

  “Oh, please,” Jamie muttered as Samuels’ phone began to ring.

  “Investigations, Detective Samuels,” he answered. After a second he sighed and closed his eyes. “No, ma’am, we haven’t had any new information come in on your lawn mower in the past half hour.”

  Chapter Five

  Nicole woke slowly, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dark. A faint glow around the curtains hanging over the bedroom window told her that the sun was almost, but, not quite, up. She frowned as she realized that her left leg had kicked its way out from under the comforter at some point in the night and was now several degrees colder than the rest of her body. Nicole drew her leg up under the covers and snuggled closer to Jamie, sighing as the other woman’s warm body melted back against her own.

  Typically Jamie was the first awake, so Nicole smiled as she enjoyed the rare opportunity to watch the copper-haired detective who had stolen her heart sleep soundly in the bed beside her. Watching the rise and fall of Jamie’s chest, Nicole resisted the urge to reach over and touch her cheek for fear that it would wake the sleeping woman. Nicole loved to look at the soft lines of Jamie’s face and marveled at how deliciously kissable Jamie seemed right now, with the faintest streams of daylight accentuating the subtle blush in her cheek.

  The t-shirt Jamie had worn to bed had gotten twisted around her torso while she slept, and Nicole could see just the soft swell of one breast peeking out from under the white cotton. Nicole had picked up early on in their relationship that Jamie was self-conscious about her breasts and the bulk of her wardrobe was designed around downplaying their size. Nicole had never really commented about it to her and, to be honest, was more than happy to have the sweetly curved mounds all to herself, as it were.

  As the sun continued to rise, the room shifted from sleepy shadows to dim light. Jamie began to stir slightly, smiling softly and moving unconsciously closer to Nicole as she slept. Nicole finally allowed herself to steal a caress along the side of Jamie’s cheek and then continued upwards to push aside a few strands of hair that fallen across her face. The slight movement was enough, and Jamie’s eyes fluttered and then opened.

  “Good morning,” she whispered, glancing sleepily up at Nicole. “Someone’s up early today.”

  “Just a little. How’d you sleep?” Nicole asked, sliding one arm over Jamie so that her fingers fell along the side of Jamie’s chest.

  “Good. I had the nicest dream.”

  “You did?” Nicole murmured, absently tracing the curve of one breast.

  “Mm-hmm,” Jamie breathed, shifting so that they lay face to face, allowing Nicole’s fingers better access.

  “Do tell.”

  “Well,” Jamie said, arching slightly under Nicole’s caress, “first I met this really good looking gal.”

  “Gal, hmm?”

  “Mm-hmm,” Jamie said, closing her eyes. “And she wanted to take a bubble bath together…”

  “Really?” Nicole smiled as she gently stroked Jamie’s breast, enjoying the feel of the supple flesh beneath the cotton t-shirt.

  “Yep. It was nice.” Jamie stretched. Nicole could feel the t-shirt break free from Jamie’s hips as the other woman moved and she took that opportunity to slide her free hand under the shirt, cupping the bare breast underneath. Nicole slowly began to circle one hardening nipple with the edge of her thumb. “And then I let her make love to me all night long.”

  “Oh, you let her, huh?”

  Jamie opened her eyes and gave Nicole a lazy grin.

  “Mm-hmm, and now I’m trying to decide if I’m going to let her do it again this morning,” Jamie murmured as she brought one hand up behind Nicole’s head, brushing her lips along Nicole’s as the other hand began to roam. Jamie’s fingers slid down the side of Nicole’s hip, seizing the back of one knee and bringing it up to coil Nicole’s thigh across her own. Nicole arched her body forward, rolling her hips, willing the soft touch that was sliding up and down along the back of her leg to move higher, whimpering softly in frustration when it didn’t.

  “And what would stop you?” Nicole breathed as she parted her lips to allow Jamie’s probing tongue entry. Nicole moaned into the kiss, moving to wrap both arms around Jamie and pull her closer, enjoying the tingling feeling of Jamie’s soft skin against her own. After a moment, Jamie broke the kiss but still held her hand behind Nicole’s head, weaving her fingers into Nicole’s hair.

  “Well, someone mentioned last night they have an open house today,” Jamie whispered into Nicole’s ear, gently taking the lobe between her lips. “And I have this lousy job that expects me to show up on time.” She grazed her tongue along the edge of Nicole’s ear and Nicole shivered as she felt tiny sparks of electricity run through her body. With a groan she pulled away from Jamie and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

  “You’re right,” Nicole said, throwing back the comforter and sitting up in the bed with a sigh. Although, to be honest, she rather preferred the thought of spending a lazy day in bed with Jamie over the typical madness of an open house.

  “I usually am,” Jamie answered, stretching as she rolled over onto her back.

  “Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, now,” Nicole laughed as she rose from the bed and padded across the cold hardwood floor to the bathroom. “Do you mind if I get a quick shower before you? I need to stop this morning and get some doughnuts on the way to the open house.”

  “No, darlin’, you go ahead,” Jamie called to her from the bedroom. “I’ll put some coffee on, if you want.”

  “That would be wonderful,” Nicole answered as she pulled back the rose-colored shower curtain and turned on the water. She shivered slightly as she stepped into the spray and silently chided herself for not allowing the water time enough to warm up. I really needed to upgrade that hot water heater, Nicole thought as lukewarm water ran down her back. Mentally adding it to her ever-growing list of things to be done when she found the time, she briefly considered mentioning it to Jamie. The police detective approached almost everything like a challenge to be overcome, and would probably have a new hot water heater purchased and installed before Nicole could blink twice. But, Nicole thought, stepping out of the shower and wrapping herself in a big, fluffy bath towel, just because Jamie excelled in the ‘getting things done’ department, she didn’t want to take advantage of it. At least not for now.

  Nicole dried off with the towel and then, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, took a moment to survey her own naked body. Her sandy blonde hair, falling just below her shoulders, was getting longer than she liked to keep it. Nicole reminded herself to call and schedule an appointment to get her hair done next week. She also couldn’t help but notice Jamie’s love of eating out was beginning to take its toll on her hips. Not that Nicole was big into cooking herself, but, she thought, walking out into the bedroom, it was either that or start ordering salads if she wanted to continue to fit into her wardrobe.

  After quickly dressing into a neatly pressed pink and black three piece dress suit, Nicole headed out of the bedroom and down the hallway, following the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. As she neared the kitchen, she could hear Jamie’s husky tones speaking low.

  “I really didn’t think I’d hear from you again so soon. No, Saturday
should be fine.” Jamie was standing by the kitchen sink as Nicole walked into the room. Noticing Nicole, she smiled. “Let me call you back later,” she said into her cell phone and then placed it on the dark granite countertop.

  “Who was that?” Nicole asked, opening a cabinet in search of her travel mug. Locating the bright orange, double-walled tumbler, she stepped over to the coffee pot and began to fill it with the steaming coffee.

  “Nobody,” Jamie answered quickly and then moved behind Nicole, lightly kissing the back of her neck. “I need to go ahead and get dressed if I’m going to get to the station on time.”

  “Okay,” Nicole said, watching Jamie head out of the kitchen and back toward the bedroom. As a general rule, Jamie was an open book, so Nicole briefly wondered why she hadn’t elaborated on who she’d been talking to on the phone, but then had the thought quickly pushed aside at the sight of Jamie’s white t-shirt riding up over her hips as she walked. For a moment, Nicole almost regretted not blowing off the open house, but then, realizing she was going to be late herself if she stood around much longer, placed the lid on the tumbler and walked out of the kitchen.

  Chapter Six

  Jamie rubbed the end of her nose with one hand as she exited Big River Gold and Pawn Shop on the south side of town, trying somewhat unsuccessfully to dispel the lingering odor of dirty mop water. This was the fifth pawn shop she and Samuels had visited that morning, and somehow each one managed to smell worse than the last.

  “You want me to drive?” she asked Samuels as they approached their county issued vehicle, a dark blue 2009 Crown Victoria that had just a hair over two hundred thousand miles and an occasionally functioning tail light. To be honest, the inside of the car smelled only slightly better than the pawn shop. After their second wreck and subsequent total loss in less than two years, the Chief Deputy had relegated them to driving the worst car in the fleet.