Bad Boy's Touch (Firemen in Love Book 3) (23 page)

She came in and closed the door. I hadn't planned on having company today, so the place wasn't exactly up to a woman's standards of cleanliness, so to speak.

“Nice house. I figured it'd be your typical bachelor pad, complete with boxes of stale pizza on the table and laundry piled up in the corners.”

“Just 'cause I'm single doesn't mean I gotta act like a college frat boy.” I rolled off the couch and rubbed my sore back. “Have a seat and I'll fix you some lunch. I have to get back to work, though, so hope you don't mind leftover chicken thighs and mashed potatoes.”

Her belly growled again. She, clearly embarrassed of the noise, pressed her hand over it as if to cover it up.

Made me smile. Good, because I needed
something
to smile about after what happened at the Ventura place.

By knocking that tree in front of the firetrucks' path, I could have killed two innocent people, all because I thought I was doing right.

Jesus, I'd lost my mind.

How was I supposed to act normal after that? Maybe I was just as much a monster as the arsonist.

Or as much as my father, for that matter.

“You don't need to do this,” Madison said as I dug through the fridge. “I feel like you're spoiling me.”

“I happen to
like
spoiling you. And what kind of gentleman would I be, letting a woman go hungry?”

“Mm, that's funny. I never thought of you as a gentleman before.”

She sat at the kitchen table, and I said a silent thank you that I'd remembered to pick up the dirty dishes off it this morning.

Then it struck me: I rarely, if ever, had a girl sit at that table with me. I didn't much enjoy having women infiltrate my private spaces, so their time with me was limited to the bedroom or the hot tub, depending on my mood.

But with Madison, that felt different. I wanted her to stay overnight so I could snuggle up with her under the sheets. I wanted to wake up beside her and cook her breakfast.

Either I was finally growing up, or Jayce had been right – I
was
falling in love.

Funny, wasn't it? Just when I started to care for a woman at last, I did something so stupid and awful, it made me think I didn't deserve love at all.

She eyed the safe as I stuck our plates in the microwave. “When are you going to get that thing open? I can't hang out here forever. Once Harvey returns, Victor will wonder why I'm not with him. And there won't be anybody to defend James against whatever crazy story he thinks up.”

“You just eat,” I said, putting the food in front of her. “And I'll worry about the safe.”

She relaxed a bit and practically inhaled the chicken off its bone. Satisfied that she was at least eating, I went to inspect the safe.

“Figured a guy like Freddy would have better security than this. A fingerprint lock or something.” I turned the combination dial. “Makes my job easier, anyway.”

I got my drill from the garage and fired it up. Madison came into the living room with her plate, watching with great interest.

“You look like you know what you're doing. Done something like this before?”

“Of course I have. When I'm not busy getting chased by police and beating up punks, I'm robbing folks blind for extra spending money.”

“I sure hope that was a joke.”

The spinning drill bit met the dial right in the center. There was a horrific grinding noise that sent Madison scurrying back into the kitchen. Bits of plastic and steel flew everywhere as the bit bore deep inside.

When the drill started to smoke, I stopped. That had done enough damage. One good blow would have this thing open now.

“I can't submit this thing as evidence,” she lamented. “And to think, I used to play by the rules. Now I'm hanging out with a criminal and tampering with crime scenes.”

“I'm like an angel compared to all the other bad guys in this town. Now eat your lunch before it gets cold.”

Back in the garage, I pulled my best ax off its holder. This would do fine.

“Stand back,” I told Madison. “We're about to find out what kind of secrets a murderous drug dealer keeps.”

She jumped as I brought the ax down on the dial. With a loud clang, the blade cleaved the broken dial right off. Slowly, the door swung open.

Madison set her plate down and nudged me out of the way to get to it.

“Hey, a thank you would be nice.”

But she was too entranced by the safe to even hear me. I got down on my knees with her, admittedly just about as eager to see what waited inside.

She flipped on her flashlight and opened the door all the way. The first thing that caught our eye was money – a
ton
of it.

“There's so much.” She pulled out a yellow envelope thick as a phone book and fanned through the bills. “These are all hundreds. Must be at least twenty thousand dollars in here.”

“Yeah, and there's way more where that came from.”

We pulled out each envelope and set them aside, thirty seven of them in all. When we finished, we were surrounded with probably more cash than I'd ever see in my life.

I glanced at Madison from the corner of my eye. “So... What exactly we gonna do with all this? You did say you couldn't take it to your boss. Hell, guy like him would probably keep it for himself anyway.”

“It's drug money. What else am I supposed to do with it?” She pushed the envelopes away. “I feel dirty even touching it. God knows how many people's lives were ruined for all this cash.”

“Think of what you could do with it, though. My truck's been needing expensive repairs, and there's this sweet bike I've had my eye on for months.”

She glared at me. “You're seriously suggesting we steal this for ourselves? Do you realize how illegal that is – not to mention totally wrong?”

“It was earned illegally in the first place. We'd sure put the money to better use than Freddy was gonna do. You can donate some to charity if it makes you feel better.”

Her anger faded into a frown. I'd pissed her off, but so what? If you asked me, she was being way too idealistic about this whole thing.

Someone was going to get their hands on this cash. Why not us?

“You deserve it,” I said gently. “Think of all the good things you've done. You work so hard. Put your life on the line every day, but nobody ever really appreciates you for it. I know, because I'm the same way.”

“No, you're not the same. You're willing to do the wrong thing so long as it benefits you somehow.” She stared at the floor. “You and Victor aren't so very different.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders. “Take that back, damn it. I'm nothing like that asshole. He never actually cared about you.”

“Oh, and you do?”

This was it. The things I'd been feeling, struggling to keep to myself because I didn't understand them... I finally had to admit them to both Madison and myself.

“Yeah, I do.”

Confusion filled her eyes, and she wrenched herself away from me. It hurt, because all I wanted to do was wrap her up in a hug.

“You don't know what it means to care for someone. How could you? You think I don't know about your reputation?”

“Sure, I've been with a lot of women. I'm not gonna lie.”

Or maybe I
should
have lied. Madison's pain was palpable, and knowing I caused it hurt me too.

“Back in the day, my friends and I did plenty of dumb things. We were young. Irresponsible. But then, one by one, they grew up. They found someone who understood them, who they could love. Now I'm the only single one, but picking up girls at bars doesn't have the same appeal anymore.”

She put the envelopes of cash into neat stacks, as if she'd rather do anything but look at me.

“So you think it's that easy, then? You think you can just decide to commit, and that's all there is to it?” She scoffed. “Being in a relationship isn't like a one-night stand with some chick you met at the strip club. It takes
work.
”

The word “relationship” scared me a little. Despite feeling bored with the club scene and wanting something more, settling down was a disconcerting prospect. What if I got sick of being with one woman after being used to all the variety and novelty?

I'd feel like a total asshole if I ever hurt Madison like that.

“It's true I have no idea what commitment's like, but that doesn't mean I can't give it a try.” I reached for her hand. “We go good together, don't you think?”

“Dating involves more than just playing around and having fantastic sex.” She blushed.

“Those things are a solid start.”

She let me touch her, but I could sense her hesitance. Maybe she was right to be nervous. Some of the things I'd done, if she knew of them, would send her running for the hills.

“I... I don't know what you expect me to say. This is a bad time to be talking about this stuff.”

“Then just tell me you're all mine, and we can get back to business.”

“You're wrong if you think I'm that easy to convince.” She laughed, but then her eyes narrowed as she peered into the dark safe. “Wait a minute. There's something else inside.”

She pulled out a leather-bound notebook and opened it up. Inside was a bunch of names, dates, and dollar amounts in sloppy handwriting.

“Looks like some kind of ledger,” I said.

She looked sick. “I recognize some of these names. Valerie Hicks, went to school with her. Ray Ford works at my local grocery store. He's barely nineteen years old. Nice kid; just got accepted at Harvard.” Her gaze met mine. “What business would they have with Freddy Ventura?”

I took the book from her shaking hands. “I think, unfortunately, you already know the answer to that.”

The notebook fell open to the last page written in. This was dated April 28, over two weeks ago. I scanned the names – then spotted one that made me feel as queasy as Madison looked.

“Maddie,” I said softly. “I think you have to see this.”

She looked over my shoulder and read the words. “Payment of thirty-five hundred dollars, due Victor Patterson. What... No, that can't be the same person. I don't understand.”

“How many other guys you know with that name in this city?” I shut the book. “Does it really surprise you? I knew that fella was sleazy the moment I met him.”

“But he's the chief of police. He gets bad guys off the street. He doesn't
work
with them.” She closed her eyes. “Harvey told me a story about him earlier. I didn't want to believe it, but I guess it was true.”

“The question is, what's he being paid for? Doesn't look like he's purchasing from Freddy, like these other ones.”

The poor woman paced the room with tears in her eyes. When I got up to calm her, she fell against my chest and started to cry.

I let her sob without saying anything. I wanted to fix it, to make her better, but what could a guy like me do? Just as she said, I really didn't have a clue how to really, truly care for a woman. The last time I tried, it ended in disaster.

With my arms around her, her crying slowed. Then she looked up at me with a sniffle.

“I'm sorry. I just... I feel like the world I knew is crashing and burning around me all of a sudden,” she explained. “I idolized Harvey. He was my mentor, and now I find he's willing to throw an innocent man in jail. And Victor? I thought he was one of the good guys. He was my boyfriend. I
slept
with him! Christ, I feel so violated.”

I failed to understand what she'd found so attractive about the creep in the first place, but knew better than to say so.

“I trusted the system, only to find out it's corrupt at the very top. And who knows how much further down the chain that goes?”

“Yeah, there are bad cops out there. Lots of them, probably. But you're one of the good ones who does things right.” I dabbed her damp cheeks with my shirt sleeve. “At first, I thought you were kind of crazy for being such a stickler for obeying the law. Well, I
still
think you're kind of nuts, but I respect you for it anyhow.”

She managed to laugh through the tears. “I'm glad you do, but I'm afraid it doesn't matter. How can anything matter when I no longer know who's doing the right thing? Who I can trust?”

“Well, I think it's obvious you can't take this stuff to Victor now. So then what are you going to do with it?”

“I don't know. I could go over his head, but that's incredibly risky. What if his superiors are in on it? And if Victor finds out I tattled on him, I'll be out of a job. Probably worse.”

I didn't have any answers. My job was to run into fiery buildings and save people's lives – stuff that didn't involve any corruption or conspiracy, usually.

“I think you should play along with their game for now. Keep stuff quiet long as you can. See if you can pick up anymore clues as to what's going on here. I got a feeling this goes way deeper than we can imagine.”

She nodded. “You're right. I need to figure out who's on my side and who can't be trusted – hopefully before the real arsonist attacks again.”