by Mia Taylor
“Why did you become a cop, Stark?” he asked suddenly.
She gave him a half-smile.
Okay. Maybe he’s not so bad. He wants to know about me.
“You want the long version or the short one?” she asked, prepared for that query. She’d played her first day out in her mind many times.
“The real version. Save the prose and BS for someone else.”
He’s profound, this one.
Inexplicably, a shiver of pleasure coursed through her like his brashness was a selling point.
“In a nutshell, my mom moved me around a lot when I was growing up. I think my biological father was abusive or something, so she was scared to stay in one place, but she always came back to Chicago.”
“Yeah, Chicago has that affect on people,” Silas agreed dryly. “It’s hard to escape once it’s in your bones.”
“When she died, I knew that this was the place that would best honor her memory, so this is where I stayed.”
Silas snorted after a silent moment.
“What?”
“I think you’d make a better lawyer or politician than cop,” he told her and she bristled.
Is he trying to insult me or is he testing me again? Is the whole day going to be a faucet of hot and cold with him?
She willed herself to calm down and not overreact.
He just told you that you need to think on your feet. He wants to see if you can.
“Why do you say that?” she asked pleasantly. “Do I look designed for expensive things?”
She batted her eyelashes flirtatiously and he snorted again. Melissa couldn’t tell if he was amused or growing more annoyed with her by the second.
“Because you didn’t answer my question in the least. I asked you why you wanted to be a cop and you told me why you stayed in Chicago.”
“Oh.”
He’s right.
“I’m nervous,” she muttered by way of excuse but she shook her head. “I guess because I didn’t want to worry about running anymore.”
“You guess?”
Defensiveness flooded through Melissa and suddenly she wished he would stop talking. She had no desire to have a heart-to-heart with this patronizing jackass, no matter how attractive she might find him.
And good God, he is attractive. But being an ass doesn’t make you handsome.
“I don’t have a cut-and-dried answer for you, Detective,” she answered in a clipped tone, hoping that was good enough to end his queries.
“You could have just said that to begin with. Go right at that light.”
Again, she peered at him out of the corner of her eye and put on her signal as the radio began to crackle.
“Advise all units, there are reports of gunshots on Milwaukee, near the preserve. No visible suspects. Please advise.”
“Are you shitting me? Another one?” Silas muttered before he clicked the radio on his shirt. “15-Charlie responding. We’re three blocks out.”
“I read you, 15-Charlie.”
“Do you know where that is?” Silas asked but his question was drowned out by the sound of the siren as Melissa activated it and did a U-turn in the opposite direction.
This is a coincidence. What happened last night was an isolated incident. This is Chicago, after all.
“Hey,” Silas said, peering at her face, and she glanced at him fully.
“What?”
“You did that quite instinctively.”
They shared a private smile but Melissa was forced to shift her eyes back toward the road again, lest she really did fulfill her worst nightmare and crash the squad.
“Have we met before? You seem very familiar to me.”
Melissa eyed him, the hairs on her arm raising.
He’s asking me this now?
“I don’t think so,” she replied quickly, darting her attention back to the road. She took another two lefts and ended up on Milwaukee, her pulse rushing in her ears as they neared the very same spot she had been at not nine hours earlier.
Oh God… no, not Portia…
But the slew of squad cars squealing to join the party told her that they were responding to the Waylands’ club.
Is this my nightmare or are the fates mocking me right now?
Once more, she thought of Cara’s endless warnings.
“Stay by my side and don’t make a move unless I tell you,” Silas ordered her. “Be alert and keep it together. Do you understand?”
“Of course.”
Easy for you to say, she thought, grimacing.
They jumped from the car to meet the other officers gathered at the entranceway to the club.
“What’s happening?” Silas barked at the cops. “Let me through.”
“We think the suspect is in the club but no one is letting us in.”
Silas grunted. “You think?”
“Gonzales and I followed him in our squad down this alleyway and he disappeared. You can see there’s nowhere to go but into that club, Detective.”
“How sure are you that he’s in there?” Silas demanded, his eyebrows raising to look at the other responding officers.
“Not sure enough that this won’t backfire without a warrant,” one of the women retorted.
“Shit!”
Silas looked around as if seeking help from a nearby car. Without thinking, Melissa ran back to the squad car and dug out her cell phone.
“Stark! What are you doing?” Silas yelled at her but she was already dialing out. To her relief, the call was answered on the second ring.
“Hey, baby. This isn’t the best time,” Louis muttered in her ear in a low voice.
“Because the cops are about to flood your club? Or because you’re being held hostage?”
The silence was deafening.
“Louis, are you in danger down there or are you harboring a fugitive? Answer me, because in a minute, you’re going to have to answer to someone else otherwise.”
“H-how do you know that, Melissa?”
“Know what? Which part? Hostage or abetting? Tell me, Lou!”
Louis’ voice dropped to a whisper. “Kenny came back,” he hissed. “He came back to shoot up the security system. I told him it was too late, that the cops already took what they needed.”
“Kenny?” Melissa asked in confusion. “Who the hell is Kenny?”
“He’s the idiot who shot up my club last night.”
“Jesus Christ, Lou. You knew who it was all along? Why didn’t you say anything last night?” Melissa yelled.
Idiots. My God.
“Oh, come on,” Louis snickered. “I ain’t no rat.”
No, just a moron.
“Where is he now?” Melissa demanded, checking her temper and shoving down everything she desperately wanted to say.
“He’s here, having a drink.”
“Having a—” She inhaled sharply and closed her eyes before speaking again. “The lot is crawling with cops, Lou. You need to get him out of there.”
“If he figures out that there are a dozen cops waiting for him up there, he’s going to kill me too!”
“Tell him not to be an idiot!” Melissa shouted. “He barely hurt that guy last night. He’ll probably get a slap on the wrist. Louis, if you want your club intact, you better tell that moron to come out with his hands up. What is he, 19? 20? He’s got his whole life ahead of him.”
“Are you here?” Louis asked in shock. “Are you arrested?”
“No, you idiot. I’m a cop, trying to negotiate the best move for everyone. Just get him out before your club gets demolished and that little brat’s life gets ruined. Tell him what I just said, word for word!”
She hung up the phone and tossed it back on the driver’s seat but before she could take a step, she found herself staring into August Silas’ piercing eyes.
“I knew I recognized you from somewhere,” he growled. “You’re the witness who left the scene last night.”
And just like that, my dream was crushed, Melissa summa
rized silently, the wind whooshing from her lungs.
Her mouth parted to explain but as she spoke her first word, the door opened in the alleyway and every officer reached for their weapons.
“WAIT!” she screamed, realizing what was happening. “He’s surrendering! His name is Kenny and he’s the man you’re looking for from last night. Kenny, show them your hands!”
Pushing past Silas, she bolted forward, praying that she was not walking into an ambush, but before she could get any closer, her body was tackled to the ground and she was pinned beneath her T.O.’s muscular frame, his bulletproof vest pressing against her as he covered her head from the spray of potential gunfire.
“DON’T SHOOT!” a man squeaked. “I’m giving myself up!”
Melissa tried to push Silas off her but he remained in place as a flurry of commotion ensued around them.
It was only when she heard the click of handcuffs that he finally released her from the ground, his face a mask of sheer fury.
“What the hell was that?” she gasped but her question only seemed to incense him more.
“I think,” he spat back, grabbing her arm and dragging her toward the squad car, “that was the end of your career.”
Chapter Four
Remember When You Did It?
“You have got to be kidding me!” August snapped when he opened the door to his apartment. Amber smiled beguilingly at him from her spot on the couch.
“You promised you were leaving today!” he exclaimed. “Where the hell is Sal?”
Amber barely looked up when her brother stalked into the living room, her eyebrows raising slightly. She wasn’t perturbed in the least by his outburst but she immediately sensed his foul mood.
“Long day at the office?” she asked, popping a Dorito into her mouth from the bag. August glowered at her, noticing the crumbs all over the tracksuit he was sure she’d been wearing for three days.
“When was the last time you took a shower, Amber?” he hissed.
She gave him a hurt look. “This morning. Can’t you tell by how silky my hair is?”
“Seriously,” he snarled, not in the mood to banter with his older sibling. “You need to go. I can’t stand not having my privacy.”
Amber lifted her head away from the TV and gazed at him pensively, concern flooding her face.
“That is true,” she conceded. “But that’s not what’s really bugging you, is it?”
“Don’t you go all Dr. Phil on me, Amber. I don’t need to justify my being pissed that my sister uses my place as an Airbnb whenever she damn well feels like it.”
“I don’t use you as an Airbnb. I don’t pay you.”
August didn’t even crack a smile and Amber sat up, alarm filling her eyes.
“What happened? Did you shoot someone today?” she asked quietly, reaching to mute the screen. Silence filled the room and August frowned.
“Of course not,” he retorted. “What a stupid thing to say.”
“Something obviously happened. What did you do?”
He opened his mouth to deny it but Amber cocked her head to the side expectantly and he exhaled in anger. If he couldn’t talk to Amber, who could he talk to?
“The rookie almost got herself killed on my watch,” he groaned, flopping onto the couch at her side. “I’ve never lost a partner, Amber, and I sure as hell am not about to lose a day-old rookie.”
“Almost?” his sister echoed, popping another chip into her mouth. “What happened?”
“She…” He inhaled and steeled himself from blurting out the whole story. The truth was, he wasn’t sure if he was more furious that Melissa had fled the scene or that she’d hijacked the case so brazenly.
“She what?” Amber’s loud crunching was beginning to get on his nerves.
“She’s not cut out for this work,” he ranted, rising, but with lightning precision, Amber’s hand reached up and she yanked him down with strength shocking for a woman so slight.
Of course, she’s no average woman, he thought irrelevantly.
“You’re being awfully hard on a rookie,” Amber commented, licking the seasoning off her fingertips in a manner which made him wince. “Projecting much?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Amber snorted. “Oh, how quickly the mighty forget their roots,” she taunted him. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten your first day.”
August paled at the reminder and shook his head.
“This is nothing like that!” he protested.
“My emails are nothing like her emails,” Amber chanted in a mimicking tone and August resisted the urged to punch her in the arm, mostly because he knew she would give him a bruising he wouldn’t forget.
“It’s not just that she disregarded my instructions and did some rogue, newbie stupidity, she also fled the scene of a crime last night.”
Amber’s eyes widened with shock.
“She committed a crime last night? The rookie is a perp?” She leaned forward like she was about to get to the best part of a movie and popped another Dorito into her mouth.
“What? No! She… witnessed a crime and decided not to stick around.”
Amber lost the look of surprise and shrugged, sitting back against the couch.
“Not illegal.”
“Amber, I don’t need your commentary. I know it’s not illegal. I’m just saying, there are reasons that she’s not cut out for policework, okay?”
“Hm.”
August hated himself for taking the bait.
“Hm what?”
“Why do I feel like you’re fighting with yourself?”
“I have no idea why you feel anything or if you feel anything at all. I bet Sal would have something to say on that matter.”
Amber snickered and returned to the chips.
“Sal has too much to say. That’s why he’s getting a time-out.”
“Whatever.”
“Is she pretty?”
The directness of the question filled him with heat and the unexpected reaction took him aback.
“I-I don’t know,” he replied, loathing even more how his voice sounded in his own ears. “I guess. I-in a rookie-ish kinda way.”
What the hell does that even mean? You sound like a blithering fool.
But it was clear to see where Amber was going with her thoughts and he tensed at the notion.
I’m too attracted to her. That’s the problem.
Maybe it had snuck up on him subtly, from the minute he’d seen her on the camera in Portia or perhaps it was the passion she’d displayed in the squad car when he’d tested her limits. Somehow, August knew he had developed feelings for this woman he barely knew.
“Ah. Now, I get it. What’s her name?” Amber chirped.
“It doesn’t matter,” August fumed, jumping up before Amber could stop him again. “She’s done on the force.”
“Wait, what? Just like that? Seriously, what did this woman do to warrant that? I need to know. I’m invested in this now.”
August stood, conflicted, as he debated whether to tell his sister the entire story, how Melissa Stark had endangered the operation without disclosing her part in the shooting.
But what did she do that was really so bad?
His cop training told him that she’d done everything wrong and yet he couldn’t actually understand why he was so angry about it.
In his mind’s eye, he recalled the intense panic he’d felt when Kenny Walters had opened the door to the speakeasy. His immediate reaction had been to protect Melissa.
It had been inherent, instinctive.
And pointless. Kenny Walters had turned himself in because of Melissa. She had potentially saved lives, even though she had not been authorized to do it.
“You seem confused, little brother. Maybe before you ruin this girl’s life, you should be sure you’re doing the right thing.”
I hate it when she’s right.
“Get out of my head, Amber.” He glared at her. “And of
f my couch.”
He turned and stormed toward his bedroom, ignoring Amber’s light chuckle as he did, and closed himself inside.
I’ll decide what to do with Melissa tomorrow, he vowed. Tonight I’ll sleep on it.
But as he lay on his bed that night, August was unable to do anything but picture Melissa’s stormy eyes in his head, the timbre of her voice echoing through his skull.
If I was going to do anything at all, I would have done it by now, he realized. There never was any sleeping on it.
~ ~ ~
Melissa Stark was in before him the following morning and he paused when he saw her sitting at his desk.
“This is my desk,” he snarled at her but he was secretly pleased to see her there.
“I know it is. I was waiting to talk to you,” she replied urgently. “You didn’t take any of my calls last night.”
She quickly rose from the chair and looked at him plaintively.
“I wasn’t on call last night,” August replied before he could stop himself. The fact that she’d called him filled him with a strange anticipation he hadn’t felt in a long while. “I didn’t know you were looking for me.”
“I’ll have to get your personal number, then,” she replied lightly but August could hear the seriousness in her voice.
“We have nothing to talk about, Stark,” he told her sternly. “Things could have gone very differently and we wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation.”
“I know,” she told him quickly. “I wanted to apologize for putting you in an awkward position.”
He eyed her warily. “You should be on desk duty right now,” he grumbled with annoyance he didn’t feel. “But the department seems to hail you as some kind of idiot whisperer, getting Walters to surrender like that.”
“You didn’t say anything about me being at the club on Sunday night.”
Her voice was barely audible and he shrugged, pretending that it hadn’t been weighing on him all night.
“You didn’t do anything illegal,” he said and he could hear Amber chuckling inside his head.
“I didn’t really do my duty either,” she muttered, lowering her gaze. “I just… I didn’t want to be tied up with something like that on my first day—”