What’s the worst that can happen?
Oh. A lot, apparently.
5
Brody
When the call goes out from dispatch, a pit opens in my stomach.
Five suspects in custody.
Robbery.
The more I listen to the chatter between the dispatcher and the responding officers, the more I learn. An employee of the store is also being held on suspicion to aid and abet the robbery. The entire offense was caught on CCTV. No mention of London, but I know she’s among the five suspects. I know it.
I’m driving like a bat out of hell from the other side of town, hitting the gas through red lights and turning corners on two wheels. She must have left her phone at the Devil’s Den, because I tracked her there only to find her gone, a bunch of punk kids in her place, none of them willing to talk. More than anything, I just want to concentrate on getting to her and making everything okay, but I refuse to take her safety or freedom for granted. Picking up the radio, I bark into the receiver. “If one of the suspects is London Allen, keep her at the scene until I get there.”
A crackle comes from my dashboard mounted radio. “Copy that, Captain.” A long pause, followed by a snicker. “It’s London, all right. Didn’t know she was back in town. Girl’s always been trouble—”
“Don’t question her. Don’t even look at her.” The muscles in my throat are strained. “Do you copy?”
His tone changes abruptly. “Yes, Captain.”
I slam the radio back into its perch and peel into the parking lot where the robbery took place. Red and blue lights flash in the alley behind the Walmart and with a squeal of tires, I’m parked and exiting the vehicle, ignoring shouts of my name and storming toward the row of suspects lined up on the curb.
There she is.
Handcuffed in the middle of street scum, like a diamond mistakenly dropped among ashes. Her cornflower eyes find me immediately, then zip away, her chin turning stubborn. The tip of her nose turns red, though, giving her away—and my heart turns over.
Goddammit. This is my fault.
I came on too strong.
Didn’t give her a chance to trust me before I started asking her to consider the future. My poor girl probably got scared to death. Of course she fell back on bad habits. It was too much, too soon. Fix it.
Clearing my throat hard, I turn to the closest officer. “I’ll bring London Allen down the station and take her statement myself.”
“Keep a close eye on your keys,” warns the officer, smirking. “She’s been known to steal cop cars and take them for a swim.” He turns his back to the row of suspects and lowers his voice. “I wouldn’t mind taking her for a little joy ride, if you know what I mean.”
Rage makes my eye tick. “She’s my stepdaughter.”
The color drains from his face. “Jesus, I didn’t know—”
“Go near her and I’ll saw your dick off with a butter knife. Are we clear?”
“Yes, Captain.”
My hands shake with the need to wrap around his throat. “Get the fuck out of my sight. And if I hear that kind of filth out of you again, about anyone, I’ll have your badge.”
Head down, he scurries away and I waste no time approaching London. Though she’s stiff as a board, I help her stand and walk her to my police car, loading her into the backseat. I’m desperate to get the cuffs off her wrists, but I’m already putting myself under speculation with this personal treatment of my stepdaughter; releasing her too quickly would put me in jeopardy with internal affairs. I have no choice but to bring her to the station and take her statement. But it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let this angel spend another second behind bars.
On the drive to the station, the car is silent, thanks mostly to the thick partition between us. I suspect she would have stayed quiet no matter what, but I can’t tell if her pride has been stung or if she’s pissed over getting caught.
Minutes later, I lead her through the back of the police building into a private interrogation room and finally allow myself to touch her. Making sure the room is locked and there is no one on the other side of the glass, I grip her waist and lift her onto the edge of the metal interrogation table, curling my fingers into fists before I give in to temptation and skim them up her smooth thighs.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she bites off, still refusing to look at me.
I’m not having it. I capture her chin and lift, giving her no choice but to look me in the face. “What happened?”
She rolls her eyes. “You know what happened.”
“I want to hear it from you.”
Puzzlement shifts her features. “Why?”
It pains me that she seems genuinely confused. “You don’t think your side of the story matters?”
“It never has before.”
“It does now.” I brush my thumb along the curve of her jaw. “It matters with me.”
She searches my face. “Why?”
Because I’m going to love you, make you mine, keep you forever. You don’t know it yet but you’re looking at the man who is hungry for you every second of the fucking day. It’s too soon to spring any of that on her, though. Look what happened the last time I got impatient. She hauls off and robs a goddamn Walmart. “It matters because you’re my stepdaughter. That makes you my responsibility.”
“Is it your responsibility to touch me like you did this morning?” she challenges, huskily.
I fist the sides of her jean skirt and yank her closer to the edge of the table, making her gasp. “You wrapped your legs around me, little girl, if you remember.”
“I remember,” she breathes, quickly shaking herself. “What’s the point of telling you my side of what happened if you’re not going to believe me?”
“What makes you so sure?”
“No one ever does. Ever.” Pink climbs her cheeks. “I heard that officer laughing about the time I drove the police car into a lake. It was a stupid thing to do. I know that, but…there was a deer in the road. That’s why I swerved and ended up…never mind.”
“Keep going.”
“That’s why I drove it into the lake. Not to destroy property. I barely made it out of the car in time myself.” That nugget of truth pulls a choked sound out of me. For a moment, all I can see is London crawling out through the window of a police car, water pouring in from all sides, and it rattles me to the core. “I’ve done some reckless things, but I meant well some of the time.”
Her voice cracks on the final word and I can’t help it, I trace her temple with my open mouth, planting a kiss on her hairline. “Of course you did.”
“I just wanted to be in control of something. Everything, my whole life, every second of it, felt so…changeable. At a moment’s notice.”
I pull her close and she rests the side of her face on my chest, relaxing against me completely when my hands start to trace circles on her back.
“If you really want to know what happened today…”
“I do.”
She lets out a slow breath. “I fell back into my old pattern. There I was again…pawned off on another one of my mother’s men. Sometimes it feels good to be self-destructive when the alternative is sitting there and acknowledging how terrible I feel. You know? But…”