“You’re not getting away with not telling us your story,” Ruby reminds Stella.
When the new margarita is placed in front of her, Stella takes another drink, waiting for the rest of us to get ours. After the waiter leaves, we all lean in, waiting for Stella to tell us her story.
“Okay, so,” she starts. “I’d taken my nap, and then I got up, shaved everything and did my hair, my makeup, and put on a sexy dress. It had a slit, and it was very low cut. I even put on some boots. I was ready.”
“Over the knee boots?” Karsyn asks. “Like the type you could keep on during?”
“Yes, girl,” she answers. “I’d made him lunch that night, so I asked dispatch to let me know when and where he took it, so that I could surprise him. Ransom is a man of habit. There’s only a few places he takes lunch when it’s not The Café. I was parked basically in the middle of all of them when dispatch called to let me know where he was.”
She stops as our food is dropped off, and then we’re all waiting for the rest of the story.
“How did he react?” Kels asks.
“When I pulled up, you could tell he was surprised. He had this cute little grin on his face, happy to see me during his shift. I walked over to the SUV, opened the door, and told him he probably wanted to secure his gun because I wanted him to the fuck me.”
“Oh my God,” Alissa giggles.
“If any of you ask me about this later, I’m going to blame it on the margaritas and say you’re cray, cray.”
“Understood,” Ruby says. “But you’ve gotta finish this story.”
“He looked like he was about to stroke out, but when I grabbed him over his pants, he got with the program. He unholstered his gun and secured it, before getting out of the SUV and pressing me up against the back door.”
“Tell me you wrapped your legs around his waist with those fuck me boots you had on.” Alissa grins.
“Girl, you know I did,” she laughs. I wasn’t sure how we were going to do it, but he pulled me into the driver’s seat and pushed it back as far as Rambo’s cage would let it go.”
“Oh my God, what did Rambo do?”
I’m not sure who asks that question, but it’s one I have too. “Yesss...” I giggle as I take a drink.
“Y’all Rambo is used to us; he sat back there and slept. The entire time I was riding my husband,” she laughs.
“How exciting was it?” Karsyn leans on her elbow.
“Legit one of the best times I’ve ever had. If you all can convince your men to go at it in a police cruiser, it’s so worth it.”
“Well first some of us have to get police boyfriends,” Alissa reminds.
“I’m sure someone else besides Sully will move here soon.” Ruby holds her glass up.
“Yes, let’s toast on that.” Alissa puts her glass up to everyone else’s.
Hours later we’re closing the place down.
“We shouldn’t drive home.” Ruby giggles as she leans into me. “You think someone we know will come pick us up?”
I laugh along with her. “Hopefully Sully won’t mind.”
“Oh, I know my husband won’t mind,” Ruby snorts.
We’re all standing outside the restaurant when numerous Laurel Springs PD cars pull up. Stella puts her arm on my shoulder. “We didn’t even call them yet.”
Sully and Ransom get out next to each other. “Y’all didn’t have to.” Sully grins, shaking his head as he looks at me. “Management placed a call to dispatch, asking us to come get the loud ladies closing the place down.”
“Hector!” I yell at the manager. “How dare you rat us out?”
“I gotta go home,” he argues. “I didn’t feel safe knowing you all didn’t have a ride.”
“We gave you a great tip.”
“And I’m thankful, but I won’t have you ladies getting hurt on my watch.”
“Thank you, Hector.” Sully puts his arm around my waist. “We appreciate you, even if they don’t.”
“Traitor,” I hiss to Hector.
“You’ll still be back in here three weeks from now. I’m not worried.”
“He’s got your number.” Nick goes over to retrieve his wife. “C’mon, let’s get y’all home.”
Little by little, the guys separate us into groups that they can take along their route. But we keep saying goodbye to each other, until a few of us are put in the back of the patrol cars.
“I can’t believe you put me in the back of a patrol car, Caleb!” Ruby yells at her husband.
“You’re lucky I don’t take you in for being drunk in public.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
He laughs. “I’ll see y’all later.”
“C’mon, Counselor, let’s get you home.”
Trusting this man is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Putting my hand in his, I grasp our fingers together. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 22
Sullivan
“Domestic at thirty-five sixteen Laurel Court.”
I groan when dispatch comes over the radio with the address. Third time in the past month we’ve been called to this place.
“Neighbors are calling saying white male with no shirt on and a pair of jeans is beating a white woman in the front yard of the home. They’ve tried to intervene, but he’s got a knife.”
Immediately my adrenaline surges. The man at this home has been escalating, and I’m honestly surprised it’s taken him this long.
“Show me as responding,” I radio in.
“Me too.” Nick’s voice on the other end gives me a glimmer of hope. We’re both big guys and possibly together we can take him down.
Flipping on my lights and sirens, I press the pedal on my Charger, feeling it respond underneath me. It doesn’t have the same loud motor my Mustang does, but it has a lot of get up and go. While a huge part of me wants to race through the streets going as fast as I can, another part knows I have to be as safe as possible.
But what if I get there too late?
What if I don’t get there at all?
These are the questions always tumbling through my mind when we have calls like this.
“Get the hell outta the way.” I get in behind a truck, who must be out for a nice evening drive, because he’s going all of thirty miles an hour, and can’t seem to move out of my lane.
When I finally pass it, I glance over, giving a side-eye, only to see Mr. Honeycutt. He turned ninety-five last week. What the fuck is he still doing driving? I make a mental note to check on his license, before speeding up, hoping to get to my destination as soon as possible.
Rounding a curve, I spot Laurel Court. I’ve been here enough times since I came to town, I could get here in my damn sleep.
Fucking finally.
Flipping my eyes to my rearview, I see Nick in behind me.
Thank God I won’t be dealing with this call on my own. We pull up right beside one another, getting out at almost the exact same time. There’s a crowd gathered, and I’m almost scared to see what they’re looking at.