Games of the Heart (63 page)

Not in the slightest.

Mike closed the door behind him, pulled the badge from his belt and tossed it on the dresser, saying, “They all have past run-ins with cops, there’s strong evidence they committed the other reported cases and they were caught in the act by me. The spray paint and another three boxes of condoms were found in their car as well as evidence that ties them to the other acts of vandalism. They’ve been detained and charged. Their asses are sitting in jail for the night and Wannamaker has reached majority. He’ll be facing charges as an adult.” Mike’s hands went to the buttons of his shirt as he explained, “It’s piddly shit, vandalism, destruction of property, but we can nail them on months of that crap. A judge won’t be lenient. Still, it’ll likely be community service. All of them have juvie files but Wannamaker just opened himself a sheet since his eighteenth birthday was a month ago.”

“Community service isn’t the death sentence but I suppose I’ll have to find a way to live with that.”

Still smiling, Mike tugged this shirt down his shoulders, glanced at the floor littered with Dusty’s clothes, thought about it for half a second then thought,
fuck it
, and dropped it on the floor.

His hands went to his belt and he said softly, “Yard looks good. Thanks for doin’ that.”

She nodded, reaching out to her nightstand to set her book aside and when she settled back, she replied, “No helped, as you know. What you don’t know is that you need to have a chat with him. Those boys hit school, he and his posse are gonna take action. Fin isn’t the only one who’s gonna lose his mind about this. No has already lost his. And I’m not talking about the unfun chore of picking up seventy-two condoms and, by the way, we counted. I’m talking about that shit on his car. And also not that his car is out of commission and why it is but what they wrote about his sister.”

Belt undone, Mike nodded then he sat on the bed and went for his boots already knowing this would happen. His kids might fight but No loved Reesee and he was his father’s son. Shit was going to get ugly.

He dropped a boot muttering, “I’ll have a word.”

Then he finished undressing, tugged on the pajama bottoms he abandoned two hours ago and climbed into bed. Once there, he turned to his woman.

“How’s Rees?” he asked.

“Freaked, upset her brother and I were in the yard at two thirty in the morning cleaning up what I hope she still doesn’t know we were cleaning up. When I checked about half an hour ago, they were both out.”

Mike drew in breath then rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling.

Dusty rolled into him, pressing her soft body down his side and resting her warm hand light on his chest so he tipped his eyes to her.

“They’re asshole kids, Mike,” she said quietly. “It took us less than an hour to clean up. The big thing is No’s car but he can use my truck. I’m rarely in it and I can use Rhonda’s car if I need to. She doesn’t go anywhere.”

“Teenage war,” Mike replied and saw her blink.

“What?”

“Do you think for a second that anything I say or even
you
say is gonna stop Fin from seeking retribution?”

She scrunched her nose.

That meant no.

“And do you think, even if I succeed in talking my son’s ass down, Fin corrals No, he won’t change his mind and go all in?”

She pressed her lips together.

That also meant no.

“These kids are not good kids,” Mike told her. “I’ve seen a lot, Angel, and there are those you can look in their eyes and see that they might seek redemption. See that they might have somethin’ in them that’ll guide them to seein’ the error of their ways. The two minions do not have that. I’ll always give benefit of the doubt. Maybe someday they’ll sort their shit. But the decent person synapse does not fire for them. Wannamaker is a different story. Met his Dad tonight and he’s an asshole. Such a dick, swear to God, for a second I found myself wantin’ to take that piece of shit kid under my wing so he’d have some experience of a decent adult in his life. What’s broke inside him, his Dad broke. On top of that, he’s skinny, he’s got acne and if he didn’t become a bully, he’d be bullied. He looks in the mirror and for a variety of reasons does not like what he sees. It’ll take an act of God to sort his shit. This does not mean good things. Those kids get off on dicking with people. Fin and No without question, especially if their crews back them, can wipe the floor with those assholes. But that just begins bad blood that’s already simmering. I don’t find a way to nip this shit in the bud right now, we’re in for it. And whether you agree with this or not, normally, I’d let Fin and No deal. I’d advise but they’re both gettin’ older and they gotta learn to make the decisions that’ll lead them into the men they’re gonna be. What I do
not
like is that Rees is the target of their venom. That makes me jittery.”

“You talk to Fin, I’ll talk to Fin with you and for good measure we’ll have Dad there. And I don’t know if you’ll agree to this or not but I suggest Rees be there. He looks to her to ease him. He cares about what she thinks. Honestly, of all of us, I think the person who he’d listen to most is her.”

Mike looked back at the ceiling but he did it nodding. It was without a doubt that Finley Holliday had bonded with Mike’s daughter and thought the world of her. But this could swing two ways. She might talk him down or those kids might be persistent and Fin would do what he felt he had to do to protect her.

Dusty was silent for a moment then she asked softly, “How did you nab all three of them at once?”

Mike’s eyes went back to his woman. “Those kids are assholes but they’re not stupid. I didn’t go out the front, came at them from the side. They didn’t expect me and even if they did, they didn’t expect me to come from the side. When they saw me, they saw I was pissed. I trained my weapon on them and told them not to move a fucking muscle. They didn’t. Then I told them to get down to their knees. They did. I searched them for weapons then I told them to march their asses into my house. They did that too.”

Her eyes drifted and she muttered, “I would have run.”

“And you did that shit to my yard, you woulda got shot at.”

Her eyes sliced to his and she asked, “You would have shot them?

“No, I would have shot
at
them and scared the shit out of them. They might have gotten away but they’d be runnin’ in dirty jeans.”

She grinned at him, her hand sliding up to curl around his neck and her face getting closer as she whispered, “My alpha protective hot guy.”

“Don’t fuck with a man’s yard.”

Her grin got bigger.

“Or his son’s car, no matter it’s a piece of shit.”

Her grin turned into a smile.

“Or his daughter.”

Her smile died, her face got soft and her fingers tensed at his neck.

Mike lifted a hand, curled it around the back of her head, pulling her to him and feeling her soft hair gliding across his skin. He touched her mouth to his then released the pressure and caught her eyes.

“Shuteye now, darlin’. I’m wiped.”

“Me too,” she whispered then pulled away to roll toward her light.

Mike reached toward his and saw Layla was lying on the floor by his bed. No longer bed dog, now she was watchdog.

Shit, he loved his dog.

Instead of reaching to the light, he reached down and patted her rump. She twisted her head around to give him a look of appreciation but settled back, her eyes to the door, when he reached for the light, plunging the room into darkness.

Instantly, Dusty snuggled into him again and Mike shoved a hand under her to wrap his arm around her waist.

“I hope all this gets sorted before Hunter, Jerra and the kids get here for spring break next week. It would suck, vandals, kids fighting, sisters on a rampage, etc. was going down when we should be visiting and having fun,” Dusty remarked.

“I get the sense, it’s not sorted, they’ll deal,” he replied.

“This is true,” she muttered, settling with her head on his shoulder.

“Sleep now, honey.”

“Right.”

“’Night, Angel.”

“’Night, gorgeous.”

Dusty pressed closer and her arm around his gut got tight for a second then released.

Mike stared at the dark ceiling and, as Dusty’s body relaxed and her weight settled into him as she found sleep, in the silent darkness, he could no longer keep it at bay.

Something was coming and it wasn’t good. His gut had been tight with it all day. And that shit tonight wasn’t it.

And being a cop for twenty years, he’d learned to listen to his gut.

Quietly, he whispered, “Shit,” into the dark.

Layla gave a soft woof of agreement.

Right.

There it was.

Even the dog sensed it.

Shit.

Done with Your Shit

M
ike rolled me to my back and his hand slid down my side, in, down my belly, down, down. With his elbow cocked, his eyes holding mine, my arms around him, his fingers started playing between my legs with intent as I breathed hard and held on tight.

God, what he was doing with his fingers felt good.

God, it felt
good.

“Baby,” I breathed and he dropped his head, treating me to a slow burn kiss as his fingers kept at me.

That was better. Way better. God.
God.

We were in the burn phase of the kiss when my hips started moving, my belly tightened and Mike broke the kiss. I focused dazedly on him as I saw his eyes moving over my face, down my body to his hand between my legs.

My hips kept moving, my hands roaming the skin of his back as his eyes traveled back to mine.

“Jesus, fuck, you’re beautiful,” he murmured.

“Mike,” I whispered, my nails digging in.

“So fuckin’ beautiful.”

I lost his face when my neck arched and my eyes closed as it tore through me, an orgasm that had to be in the top ten of my lifetime (all of which were given to me by Mike) or maybe even the top five. When it started, I felt Mike thrust two fingers deep inside and I moaned.

Yep, top five.

I was still coming when Mike growled, “Spread,” and I did as I was told, lifting my knees automatically but when Mike positioned, he hooked an arm around the back of one anyway, yanked it high and drove in.

God. Gorgeous.
God.
Amazing.

I pressed my other leg to his side, one of my hands drifting up, fingers sliding into his hair, one of them going down to clench into his ass. I came down and saw his eyes on me, dark, intense, burning as his hips rammed into mine.

Then his head dropped and at my ear he grunted, “Your pussy when you come, near as beautiful as your face.”

“Honey.”

“Fuck, mind-blowing.”

I liked that. Yeah, I liked that a whole lot.

He kept driving in, harder, faster and I was so sensitive from my orgasm, his fingers playing between my legs, all that we’d done before, his words, the noises he was making in my ear, his cock beating into me, it built again and fast.

“Mike,” I whispered urgently, shocked. Mike had pulled off a double, repeatedly, but never one this soon after the other.

His head came up and his eyes moved over my face then his mouth took mine in a hot, wet, deep kiss that he grunted through, I panted through then I came, my whimpers drowned by his mouth.

“Fuck, Angel,” he groaned against my lips when I was done then he took them in another searing kiss, thrust hard and deep, stayed planted and growled his orgasm down my throat.

When he started coming down, he switched the kiss from deep to sweet before he swung my leg in at his back. I curled my other leg around his ass, he rested a forearm in the bed, the other one he pushed under me to wrap around and his lips slid down to my neck.

I sifted my fingers through his hair with one hand as I skimmed the skin and muscle of his back with the other and turned my head slightly to whisper in his ear.

“Never does it stay good much less get better every…freaking…time.”

His head came up and he smiled down at me.

I loved his smiles. Loved them. Every…freaking…one.

“Yeah,” he agreed softly.

It was Saturday morning, early. We were trying to be quiet because of the kids. We made love early mornings before they were up and at night after they went to bed and it was sure they were asleep. It was a good schedule that we were
so
working. Even with all the shit going down, in Mike’s bed, going to sleep after making love and waking up to the same, I’d never slept better.

Mike rolled to his back, disengaging from me but moving me with him and I shifted my legs as he did so I was straddling him but we were still pressed torso to torso. I lifted up my head and my hand drifted absentmindedly on the skin of his side and chest as I looked down at my man.

“Missed you last night, honey,” he whispered and I grinned.

It was Scary Movie Friday Night last night, Mike and Rees. No was out cavorting with some buds.