Distracted: An Everyday Heroes Novel (The Everyday Heroes World)

by Michelle Fernandez

  “You have no idea how many times I’ve dreamed about this, Sabrina.”

  “No more dreaming, Spencer.” Her breath accelerates as does mine.

  I slip my hand between us and circle my finger over her clit, adding friction as she presses down on me. Her hand against the fogged window above me as she braces herself, riding me. I’m so sensitive and I feel her pussy contract as the velvety wetness coats my dick.

  “Oh god!” she moans as her hips pound against mine.

  I shift up to feel her. I don’t know where it begins and ends. It doesn’t matter because she feels so fucking good. Holy shit, I’m going to blow. “Come for me, baby,” I demand.

  It’s as if all my prayers have been answered.

  This moment is intense.

  The chemistry.

  The connection.

  Then confliction plays through my head. Why the hell did I wait this long for her?

  “I’m so close,” she whispers seductively, and it’s such a fucking turn on. “Don’t stop, Spencer.”

  “Holy fuck!” I grit my teeth as my muscles tense, the intensity grows, and our climax climbs as my hands grip her waist, guiding her.

  My gaze travels up her torso as her hair falls down her shoulders. My heart stops and I can’t breathe. Jesus-fucking-Christ, she’s beautiful.

  All this time, deep down, I’ve fantasized how it would be. In my dreams, we’re good together. Hell, we’re fantastic together. But this reality, this togetherness, takes it to a whole new level.

  I’m so wrapped in how I feel about her as her chest falls onto mine. Our bodies are perspiring, and our breathing is calming.

  I squeeze her just a little tighter. She’s my best friend, my Buttercup, and I just hope tomorrow there will be no regrets.

  Spencer

  Present Day

  “Suspended?” I yell as my eyes go wide. “Come on, Chief! You’ve got to be shitting me.”

  Chief Delgado narrows her eyes at me. “Do you know how many strings I had to pull and asses I had to kiss to keep you from getting fired for doing a stunt like that?”

  I stifle a laugh. “It was a legitimate arrest.”

  “Hayes, it’s not the arrest that got you in trouble. It’s the manner of the arrest and how you went about it. You could have been killed, not to mention leaving Adler behind with no backup. What if something happened to her?” the Chief says, pointing at Teagen Adler, my partner standing next to me.

  “Chief, I’m fine,” Teagen speaks up, lifting the sling from the bullet graze. “It’s just a flesh wound. Can you cut him some slack? We got the arrest, and this case is finally closed.”

  “Shut your mouth, Teags,” I mutter through the corner of my mouth. “Don’t need you in trouble too.”

  “Detective Hayes, this hurts me more than it hurts you.”

  Doubtful.

  “I need your sidearm and badge.” Chief Delgado’s voice is low and serious.

  “You can’t be serious! If I hadn’t taken a chance, that bastard would’ve gotten away.” Now I’m fuming. “And because of me”—Teagen makes an obvious clearing of her throat—“I mean, us, these bozos will be resting in the fine establishment of the Men’s Central Jail for a very long time. Justice has been served.” The last line, I chuckle because I sound like a damn superhero.

  “And because of your dumbass move, you will be resting on your suspension.” Chief Delgado looks over to Teagen. “During Detective Hayes’s leave, work with Solis on the next shipment Darius spoke of.”

  “Fuck!” I growl as I run my hand down my face. “This is my case. My arrest, goddamn it!”

  “Spence, please. Don’t dig a deeper hole than you already have,” Teagen says.

  “You should listen to your partner.” Delgado puts her hand on her slender hip and raises a brow. “Speak another word, and I’ll add extra time off because I can,” she sneers. There’s a moment of silence as Delgado sifts through the case file. “It’s not over, and we need to catch the ringleader. And since this wasn’t a quiet arrest, he probably skipped town.”

  “How long is my suspension?” I can’t believe this is happening to me. I got the asshole selling Rohypnol to the bartender. It was an undercover sting Teagen and I had been working on for several months, and it was a clean bust.

  Well, until a man from Teagen’s past happened to be at the bar and recognized her. This bit of information I didn’t share with Delgado only to cover for my partner.

  “Six weeks. For now.” Delgado sits in the large black leather chair behind her desk and steeples her fingers. “You are a damn good detective. But you almost cost the lives of innocent bystanders. That Tombstone shootout is why the commissioner is already under a lot of heat with the escalating crime, and you just added your carelessness to his list. Take time off. Go on a vacation. Go home. Hell, do whatever it is that you do. Just don’t get into any more trouble. Adler and Solis will take over from here on out.”

  “But this is my case—”

  “Was your case,” Delgado finishes, then looks over to my partner. “Detective Adler, you mind giving us a moment?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Teagen nods, then gives me a knowing look. “I’ll wait outside for you, Spence.”

  “Thanks,” I say as I watch Teagen close the door behind her. The entire precinct is a bunch of nosy fuckers, many gawking through the glass windows. I don’t know why they bother putting glass walls in this place if they can hear us.

  Delgado pinches the bridge of her nose then points to the chair. “Spencer, have a seat.”

  She’s my ex-wife’s cousin, and I hate it when she uses my first name.

  “I’ll stand.”

  “Don’t make me ask twice.”

  I breathe in through my nose and do as I’m told, waiting for more to come. When Delgado is on a roll, it’s never-ending.

  I should’ve known today was going to be a shitstorm when I woke up this morning. The smell of bad juju lingered in the air. The loud roar of a jackhammer pounding the ground outside my apartment, cutting off the hot water. Then my Harley wouldn’t start this morning, forcing me to take my truck. Don’t get me wrong, I love my truck, but driving through LA traffic, a Harley is easier to get around on than with my GMC causing me to be late to work.

  I look at my watch as if I have someplace to be. “What’s this about, Melinda,” I address with sarcasm.

  “Look, I’m sorry things didn’t work out with you and Tanya, but these cowboy stunts have got to stop.” She leans closer with her elbows on the desk. “I can’t go to bat for you any longer.”

  “I can’t believe you’re bringing Tanya up, Mel. I’ve been divorced for almost two years. Teagen and I worked our asses off. And you think my stunt”—I hold up my fingers to do air quotes—“has something to do with my ex-wife? You’re fucking nuttier than she is.”

  Delgado narrows her eyes. “You have no idea what Tanya’s been through after your divorce.”

  “Let bygones be bygones. And frankly, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Very well, let’s keep this professional.” Delgado straightens her back. “I have a meeting with Commissioner Adler after Internal Affairs is done looking into this debacle.”

  I can’t believe this. Un-fucking-believable.

  “I have nothing to hide,” I tell her.

  Melinda pulls a photo out of a folder and tosses it my way. “Just to be sure, this had nothing to do with her?”

  I don’t pick up the photo. I just glare at it.

  Dark hair, dirt smudged on her face, and she’s beaten to a bloody pulp where she’s almost unrecognizable. Even though her eyes are shut, I know their color, and her name is in bold as guilt overwhelms me.

  Rebecca Ramirez. My girlfriend in college and the reason I didn’t return to baseball.

  I close my eyes and scratch the scruff on my jaw. “This conversation is over,” I dodge her question as I stand.

  “Yes. Just like this case. You found your closure.”
>
  Closure. Sounds surreal hearing that word. The people responsible for Becca’s death are behind bars. To hear their admission after I showed those assholes Becca’s photo is the resolution I’ve been waiting for.

  Melinda takes in a deep breath as she tucks the photo back in the folder. “Maybe this time off will be good for you. Why don’t you go home and see your family? How long has it been since you’ve been back?”

  I look at the window and storm clouds are covering the skies of Los Angeles. “Too long,” I say. “Too long.”

  “You’re giving up, just like that?” Teagen’s voice roars through the line as I drive north on Highway 101. “That’s not like you, Spence.”

  “Who says I’m giving up?” I say, looking to my left at the early morning surfers while

  the traffic ahead of me is a beast. After my ass chewing with Chief Delgado, Callie called and informed me about Sabrina’s grandmother’s passing. I debated if I should be at the funeral. The last person Sabrina will want to see is me. I’m sure of it.

  But after much debate with myself, I packed my bags and now I’m inching through Malibu during the morning rush hour. I glance at my digital clock on the console, and I know I’m going to be late. I should have driven out last night to avoid this traffic.

  I can’t imagine what Sabrina must be going through. In the last six years, she’s lost her

  parents in a car accident and now her grandmother.

  It will be awkward to see Sabrina again after all these years. Last I heard, Sabrina’s a single mom raising a kid and the guy skipped town. Bastard.

  “My sister called. A family friend passed away, and her funeral is today. I’ll be back at the end of the week.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss, Spence. Were you close to her?” she asks, empathy in her voice.

  I stifle a chuckle, not laughing at Nonna’s death, but how the woman gave me a hard time as a kid. I don’t think she liked me very much. “I was close to her granddaughter. Real close.”

  “Is this the Sabrina you were close to?” she implies.

  “Yeah.”

  “Does she know you’ll be there?” she asks. When you have a partner like Teagen and spend countless hours together, you get to know each other. Not in the way some of the guys at the station think. Sure, Teagen’s hot, but not my type at all.

  Teagen Adler. She’s tough as nails. When she was assigned to be my partner, I was not happy about it and fought tooth and nail for someone else. The guys were no help, razzing me about her, not because she’s hot, but because she’s the commissioner’s daughter. And that is why I think I am in deeper shit than I should be. I put Commissioner Adler’s daughter in harm’s way, not Detective Teagen Adler, my partner.

  Not only is she my partner, but my best friend nowadays. I was with her when she got shot during a bank robbery while she was off duty last year. I brought her food every day, and she kept her mouth shut by helping me work this case when I opened it up again.

  “I’m not sure, Tea,” I respond, looking in my rearview mirror and the reflection of Los Angeles behind me. “I’m going to stay out of her way. I’m the last person Sabrina will want to see. She made that very clear when she changed her number.” When I asked Callie for a forwarding number, my sister promised Sabrina she wouldn’t give it to me. I can take a hint.

  “Well, this is your chance, Spence. As much as you’ve brought up your past, she always seemed to be part of everything you did.”

  “She was. But the past is the past.”

  I remain silent. I wish things were different with us. I wish we never had sex that night. Not that I regret it, it was amazing. But at least I would’ve had Sabrina in my life for the last six years.

  Teagen is the only one I’ve told about that night with Sabrina and knows all the crap with Tanya I’ve dealt with. I was a bastard for having sex with Sabrina that night, all the while dating Tanya. Then Tanya’s surprise pregnancy, city hall marriage, and then the miscarriage. I didn’t want to be an asshole and leave Tanya. She needed me. When she wanted to try again for another baby, that’s when I told her I didn’t want to be a father. Our marriage lasted another year until I served her divorce papers.

  “You’re right. Your past is your past, but it shouldn’t define you.”

  I break out in a fit of laughter. “Where did you read that from, a fortune cookie?” I say, hoping Teagen reads in between the lines, and realizes I don’t want to talk about Sabrina. Because if I talk about her, I’ll want to be around her. All I’ve got to do is pay my respects, spend a day or two with my parents and Callie, then get back to Los Angeles.

  “Whatever, Spence. You know I’m right.”

  “Speaking of being right, do you think Delgado was right to suspend me?” I ask, inching through traffic.

  “It doesn’t matter what I think.” She takes in a breath. “Spencer, why didn’t you let me tell Delgado I told you to go after Montoya’s guy? That he was the first one to fire his gun at me?”

  “It wasn’t worth muddying up the waters. It is what it is, Tea. Besides, you need to keep yourself clean and out of the media.”

  “God, I hate being the commissioner’s daughter.”

  “It’s gotta suck. But, not as bad as my dad coming down on me for being a cop and not pursuing my baseball career or taking over the family business.”

  “I think we’re even.”

  “Hey, don’t forget to check on the name Darius gave us. He mentioned the next shipment is with Max.”

  “Yeah, sure. On one condition.”

  “What’s that?” I ask, finally pressing on the gas after passing the three-car pile-up.

  “Fix your wrong with Sabrina. I may not know her, but I’ve been in her shoes. Sleeping with your best friend and skipping town. Then a few months later, you get married without even letting her or your family know, was not cool on your part.”

  “Who are you, my mother?” I scoff. “I already apologized to my family.”

  “Well, that just leaves one more person to make it right with,” she replies.

  “It’s easier said than done, Teagen.” I groan, running my hand through my hair.

  “And since when have you ever taken the easy way?”

  I chuckle. “And that’s why I’m on a six-week suspension.”

  Sabrina

  “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

  I hold my little girl in my lap as tears wet my cheeks, falling behind my dark sunglasses.

  Father Joseph continues his eulogy as I move my eyes from the casket to beyond it. Nonna touched so many peoples’ lives. The women from her bridge club, book club, and swim class.

  Old friends from high school are here, including the Malone brothers: Grant, Grady, and Grayson. Betsy Malone stands next to her husband. We all called him Chief when we were kids. Chief Malone’s hand rests on the shoulder of Luke, Grayson’s son, who stands in front of him. Luke must be at least seven or eight now, and he looks uncomfortable in the dark blue jacket, white button-up shirt, and dark slacks.

  A hand grazes my shoulder. I look up to see Tyco’s gentle eyes, and another tear drips off my jaw and onto my black dress. He’s been such a good friend, calling me every day and asking if I needed anything. He’s the one who made all the arrangements, and I don’t know what I would’ve done without him. We’ve gone on dates and had a great time. But we realized we are better at being friends than anything more.

  My gaze wanders to my KSIG family that took the day off to be with me today. Except for Rochelle, who couldn’t be here. She’s stuck in Las Vegas with her assignment and wasn’t able to get away. My former boss, Knox Fremont, stands next to his stunning wife, Isabella. Dylan positions himself next to his wife, Phoebe, who is holding their newborn. Then there’s Booker, with his wife, Chloe.

  Gabby’s grip tightens around my hand as if I was her lifeline. We will need each other, and I hope that she’ll stay in town long enough to reconcile Nonna’s things. But knowing Gabby, she’s a runn
er, always has been. She never could face adversity head-on. That’s one reason she divorced and took her inheritance from our parents’ death and traveled the world.

  “Lilliana Deluca touched so many lives. Look around. You are all connected to this wonderful woman. She was your friend, an aunt, a grandmother, a great-grandmother. . .” The priest’s voice fades as the sun’s rays flash off a car door window. In the distance, the sound of the car door closes, and I see someone approaching. I know that walk all too well.

  My heart falters as I watch Spencer move across the green grass and stand quietly behind the crowd. I know he’s looking at me through his dark shades. The weight of his stare grows heavy on me as my arms wrap tighter around Lily.

  I can’t stop watching him from behind my dark sunglasses. He runs his hand through his blond hair. He’s so handsome as his broad shoulders and tapered waist fill the black suit. It’s hard not to love that man. I sigh inwardly because I thought I was over him, but apparently, I’m not.

  As people leave, one by one, I can’t speak. All I can do is nod. Gabby went with Callie. Gabby isn’t the kind of person who shows emotion. Even though she didn’t cry, I know she’s sad, and I wonder when she’ll break.

  Lily sits on the grass, waiting for me while playing with Astra. She didn’t want to leave my side, and quite frankly, I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. But I needed this time to say goodbye to Nonna and thank her for the motherly advice she gave me since Mom was gone. My balled up tissue is falling apart in shreds as I sob and dry the last of my tears from my cheeks. My heart aches and my chest is tight. She’s really gone.

  “Bye, Nonna,” I say as I lay a rose on her casket. “You still make me smile even when I’m sad.”

  A throat clears behind me, and I turn to see Spencer. He removes his shades and reveals those sparkling blue eyes I’ve missed so much.

  “Hey,” he whispers, then his gaze goes to Lily behind me.

  “Hey.”

  “I’m sorry about your grandmother.”