Tipsy (24 page)

“
This definitely will not be
my new hobby.” I assured him.

He pressed his forehead against mine
and groaned. My insides quivered at his nearness. “I gotta
go.”

Disappointment stole away the giddy
feeling of the moment. “Is being here going to cause trouble for
you?”

“
Nah. Don’t worry about me.
I’ll be fine.”

“
What’s going to happen?” I
asked. I couldn’t stop the fear that coiled through me. It was like
an oversized snake, wrapping around and squeezing until my bones
began to feel the pressure.

He planted a soft, full kiss on my lips
before pulling away completely. I pressed my lips together, trying
to hold on to him just a little bit longer.

“
You’re going to call Dee.
You’re going to tell her you were arrested and you need a
ride.”

That was
so
not going to happen. I shook my
head. “Nuh-uh.”

He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Leave through the front of the building with her. Have her drive
you home. There will be an unmarked officer behind you. He’s going
to be staked out by your place all night.”

“
What!” I shrieked, except
it wasn’t really a shriek because I was so tired my voice had
turned hoarse.

“
Dom saw you. He already has
you connected with me.” He ran a hand over his head, sliding the
cap back so a few wayward dark-blond strands stuck out of the
front, falling over his forehead. “Fuck. I didn’t want you involved
in this. I can’t be with you tonight, but I’m going to make sure
you’re safe.”

“
Where will you be?” I
asked, rubbing my arms against the sudden chill I felt.

“
Working.”

“
I wish you were some
grocery bagger at the supermarket,” I muttered.

He laughed, but then he
turned sober. “I wouldn’t blame you if you decided this was too
much. That
I
was
too much.”

“
I haven’t seen near enough
of you to have my fill yet.”

“
So what’s your limit? How
big of an appetite do you have?” he asked, arching a
brow.

Our conversation was playful, but
underneath, I knew what he was really asking. I knew what he wanted
to know but wasn’t so sure how to ask. It made me wonder how many
women had gotten a taste of life with a cop and ran the other
way.

“
I’m not going anywhere,
Blue,” I whispered. “It seems when it comes to you, I don’t have a
limit.”

“
Is that so?” Heat
penetrated his eyes.

I nodded. “You’ve never called, you
stood me up, you ‘broke’ into my house, and you’re hardly ever
around…” He frowned at his impressive list of flaws. “But I can’t
quit you.”

“
You strapped a pink cape
around my neck, come up with the most ridiculous plans I’ve ever
heard, have managed to drag yourself into a drug war, but I can’t
quit you either.”

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his
waist, pressing my cheek against his chest. “Think we’ll change our
minds when we have more time together?”

“
No.”

I didn’t think so either.

I enjoyed the feel of him against me
before I got back to the matter at hand. “My car is still at the
salon.”

“
Leave it. Someone can take
you over there tomorrow in broad daylight to get it.” When I didn’t
argue, he said, “You have keys to the salon?”

“
Yes.”

“
Can I have
them?”

“
They’re in my bag. In that
room.” I was going to have to throw away that perfectly nice
handbag. It spent too much time in Potty John’s room to ever be
usable again.”

“
Call Dee,” he said, pulling
me back, placing his hands on my shoulders and looking directly
into my eyes. “Go home. Lock your doors. Officer Sander will be
outside. You might not see him, but he’ll be there.”

“
Do you think something will
happen?” I couldn’t help but worry.

“
Dom would have to have a
death wish to come after you.” He growled. “But I sure as hell
won’t send you home without any kind of protection.”

“
When will I see you again?”
All this doom-and-gloom talk was making me anxious.

“
Soon.”

Vague answers were stupid. Because they
were vague. I liked definitive answers. I liked to know how many
hours I was going to have to worry and wonder about him.

“
Lay low, okay?” he asked,
taking my hand and intertwining our fingers.

“
I don’t think that’s going
to be a problem considering I’m pretty sure my boss trying to frame
me for drug trafficking was a quirky way of saying you’re
fired.”

“
I’m sorry,
Jules.”

I loved that he called me Jules. Yeah,
it was only my name shortened, but it spoke of familiarity, of
comfort. It was something a friend or someone close to me would
use.

“
Guess I better call Dee.
She’s gonna flip.”

“
Don’t tell her too
much.”

“
I won’t.”

He released my hand and walked toward
the door.

He stopped.

He turned.

He swept me up into his arms and
crushed our mouths together. Even though there was urgency
surrounding us, urgency in the way we kissed, Blue still took his
time. The way our tongues lingered against one another left me
slightly dizzy.

“
I’ll see ya later,
sweetness,” Blue said when he pulled away.

“
Bye,” I whispered,
practically melting into a nearby chair as he vacated the room,
pulling the door around as he went.

I sat there a while, pretty much in a
daze. Until reality set in and I realized I was free to go. Hanging
around here any longer was not my idea of a good time. I picked up
the phone on the desk and dialed Dee.

After several long rings, she picked
up, with a sleep-filled voice. “This better be good.”

“
Dee? It’s me. Listen, I got
arrested. I need you to come pick me up at the police station in
Jacksonville.”

“
Is this a prank call?” she
asked, much more alert but now totally suspicious.

“
I sorta wish it
was.”

“
This better not be
about
him
,” she
spat.

I sighed. “Are you coming or
not?”

“
Of course I’m coming,” she
bickered. “But I’m wearing my pajamas.”

“
See you in a few,” I said
and hung up.

The door to the office opened and
Watson entered the room. He was carrying my bag, which he extended
to me.

“
Thank you,” I said, taking
it and looking through it to make sure all my belongings were
there. I couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose at the faint smell of
urine. “You really need to Lysol that room,” I told
Watson.

He grunted. “I just consider it extra
punishment for the criminals.”

“
Well, isn’t that police
work at its finest?” I quipped.

He cracked a smile. “Did you call for a
ride?”

“
Yes, she should be here
soon. I’ll just wait out front.”

“
Stay in the building until
she pulls up.”

I nodded and a small sliver of fear
snaked its way up my spine. Would Dom come after me for this? Would
he even know I was arrested? Would he think I had something to do
with his stash being busted? How safe was I?

“
Do you think he knows I got
arrested?”

Watson regarded me seriously; his brown
eyes were kind. “I honestly can’t say. It’s possible, but then
again, he might not know. I should know more when they bring in
Susan for questioning first thing in the morning.”

Well, that didn’t really make me feel
better.

“
I have a patrolman assigned
to sit outside your house in an unmarked vehicle. He will watch
your house overnight. Keep your doors locked and you’ll be fine. If
you have any problems, scream loudly or flick the lights and he’ll
come inside.”

“
Thank you.”

“
No, thank you. This is the
information we’ve been looking for. This very well could be the
break in the case that we needed. You’ve saved a lot of lives by
coming forward tonight.”

“
I didn’t exactly come
forward,” I said, annoyed. “I was arrested.”

“
Yes. Well. My
apologies.”

I sighed. “No need to apologize. Those
men were doing their job.”

Watson sat down behind his desk. I felt
a little pang of sorrow for him. He looked exhausted. This case
seemed to be wearing on everyone.

“
Well, I’ll just go wait out
there. Good luck with the case.”

“
Blue called me about you,”
he said, stopping my progress out the door.

I turned back. “He told me.”

“
First time he’s ever asked
for anything, and it wasn’t even for himself.”

“
He asked you for
something?”

Watson didn’t seem surprised that I
didn’t know that. “Asked me to watch out for you. I get the
impression you’re very important to him.”

I felt a pang in my chest; a homesick
feeling unfurled in my belly and filled me with longing. Yeah, I
just saw Blue, but I desperately wanted to see him again. “He’s
very important to me as well,” I replied softly before turning
around and leaving the office.

26

Blue

The Mustang I was driving was parked
quite a distance from the station, on a back street that didn’t get
much traffic. I let it sit there and headed out to the impound
lot.

I needed an undercover vehicle that was
more undercover than my undercover car.

So I borrowed a pickup truck. It was an
old Ford with peeling red paint that had been sitting on the lot
for over six months. I’m surprised cobwebs didn’t fly out of the
tailpipe when I turned on the engine.

But it would suit what I needed it for,
no problem, and there was the added bonus that it looked like some
old man’s truck so it shouldn’t attract too much unwanted
attention.

I turned out of the lot and headed in
the opposite direction from which I was actually heading. I could
hear an internal ticking clock, reminding me that I didn’t have
much time, but being discreet was very important.

I circled around the town for a while,
keeping an eye on my rearview mirror, watching the traffic and
being sure that I wasn’t being followed. I knew the possibility was
slim, but I wasn’t going to leave anything to chance.

Finally I turned onto the street of
Razor’s Edge Salon. I pulled into the parking lot quickly and drove
around behind the building so from the street it appeared no one
was there.

Julie’s car was still sitting in the
lot and my stomach tightened thinking about how close to this mess
she was. All the more reason to get this case closed.

I let myself into the salon using the
keys and crept through the darkness quietly. I paused, listening
for the telltale signs that anyone else was in here. The place was
still and quiet, and after several long moments, I did a quick
sweep of the place just to be sure.

Once I was certain it was all clear, I
went into the back room and moved into the open door of the storage
room. Inside, I clicked on the single bulb overhead (there were no
windows in here for the light to be seen at the street) and
whistled between my teeth as I took in the boxes of drugs stacked
all around, pretending to be innocent.

A little moment of satisfaction rippled
through me because I had gotten here first. It seems the boys in
blue at the station managed to keep Julie’s arrest under wraps
after all. Thank God.

The fact that I was here doing this
wasn’t really protocol for this situation and this amount of drugs,
but it was necessary for closing this case. Seizing the drugs and
splashing this all over the media would slow down the crew’s
operations, but it wouldn’t stop them. Dom wouldn’t pay for
everything he’d done. The crew in Myrtle Beach wouldn’t pay for the
things they’d done either.

I didn’t just want these drugs off the
streets. I wanted the bastard scum who brought the drugs on the
streets gone too. The fact that Watson agreed to this (and bending
the rules) proved to me how badly he wanted the same things I
did.

I hefted several of the boxes into my
arms and made my way out to the truck. It took quite a few trips,
but I moved quickly and managed to get all the drugs stacked into
the bed of the old truck. I filled the entire bottom up with short
stacks so no one would even know there was anything back there
unless they physically approached the truck and looked.

After making sure the salon was the way
I found it, I pulled out of the lot and didn’t look back. Not too
long later, my cell phone went off. I glanced at the screen and
noted who was calling.

Show time.