I sucked in my lips and stayed quiet.
“So are Roam and Sniff, aren’t they?”
I couldn’t keep it up. “They’re my boys.”
He watched me, his eyes scanning my face and something came over him, not the sexy something, something else. Something that looked an awful lot like concern.
“Jules, you know, you gotta keep a distance. You don’t, it’ll destroy you.”
“I can keep a distance.”
“Yeah? Like spendin’ your nights puttin’ your ass on the line, makin’ drug dealers pay for what they did to Park?”
My eyes slid to the side. “Um…” I mumbled.
“And runnin’ around lookin’ after two teenage runaways like they were your own flesh and blood?”
I brought my eyes back to him and stayed silent.
“That shit with Roam today at Fortnum’s… Jesus, Jules, you aren’t his sister, you’re his social worker.”
“I know that.”
“Didn’t look like it to me.”
“Don’t tell me how to do my job,” I clipped.
“I’m tryin’ to talk some sense into you.”
“You don’t know these boys.”
“Yes I do. I grew up with kids like them.”
This shut me up because that night I learned he had. It was somewhere I didn’t allow my mind to go because I hated the thought of someone as magnificent as Vance Crowe living on the street but now he said it straight out, it forced my mind to go there.
I felt my discomfort edge away and I just stopped myself from touching him.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He shook his head and his eyes got hard. “Jules, listen to me closely. I’m not another one of your causes. I survived. It was shit and I nearly didn’t but I came out the other side. What I went through, it made me who I am. You do your job, only your job, those boys’ll come out the other side too.”
Then I whispered, don’t ask me why, but I did, “I love them.”
He watched me a beat then his eyes changed again, not to the concerned look, or the sexy look, but the look he’d given me that day at Fortnum’s.
It touched me somewhere deep; somewhere I’d forgotten I had.
“They’re good kids, they make me laugh,” I went on, unable to stop myself. “They’re smart, sharp as tacks and not just street smart. All that and they’ve had no love, Vance, no love in their lives at all. Only abuse. They didn’t leave home because of teenage rebellion or family misunderstanding or minds not meeting. They left home because they had to, to survive or they’d go crazy or get hurt. The only people in their lives they can trust, ever could trust, are each other… and me. Now Park’s gone, it’s just the three of us. Park was their leader. He was the best of them, keeping them safe and straight even as he searched for release for himself. Without him, I don’t know if I can save them.”
Vance watched me while I talked but at my last words, he broke in. “They gotta save themselves.”
“They’re kids!” I protested.
“They’ve learned enough to know their lives are in their hands.”
“They’re kids, Vance.”
“Jules.”
“No,” I shook my head. “No. They’re special and if I don’t do anything else in my life, I’m gonna make sure they have one.”
“Jules.”
“No!” I shouted.
Vance stared at me then I could tell he came to a decision. “I’m not gonna change your mind, am I?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Then you gotta stop what you’re doin’ at night so you can be around to take care of them.”
I went back to silence.
Vance stared at me again. Then he muttered, “Shit.”
I couldn’t help myself. I knew he was giving up so I grinned.
He caught the grin and his eyes flashed. I stopped grinning.
“You go out, I’m your shadow,” he said. “Someone has to keep you safe.”
Um… no. I thought.
“No,” I said out loud.
“Yes.”
“No!” I yelled. “I know what I’m doing.”
“You don’t have a fuckin’ clue.”
I frowned at him. “Leave it alone, Vance. I know what I’m doing. I know you and all the boys think that I’m some kind of idiot female but I’m not. I know what I’m doing.”
He dropped to his side, taking me with him so we were face-to-face. “I’m keepin’ you alive,” he said.
“Vance –”
“You’re gonna stay alive. At least until we have a second date.”
I rolled my eyes.
It was my turn to give up. It was his turn to grin.
Okay, then I was going to get something out of it. “I want a favor,” I said.
His grin deepened and the change happened, this time it was the sexy change. “Yeah?”
“You’ll get a second date if you come into King’s tomorrow and talk to Roam.”
The change vanished. “I’m not takin’ him in.”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t want you teaching him. I just want you to walk up to him, talk to him in front of the other kids like you know him, like you respect him. Roam and Sniff. All the kids know about you, they respect you. You act like Roam’s your boy, it’ll enhance his reputation. It’ll mean something to the other kids. It’ll give him confidence.”
It would do more than that. It would give him just a tiny smidgen of what he wanted. It would be the first time he got even a taste of a life’s desire.
To Vance, it was taking thirty minutes and talking to a kid.
To Roam, it could change his life.
Vance didn’t answer, he just looked at me.
I leaned in, a bit, not much and then I whispered, so low you almost couldn’t hear it, “Please.”
Vance’s eyes changed again, they went soft and sexy and I felt my breath catch.
“I’ll do it.”
I didn’t realize my body was so tense but when he agreed I relaxed into him. His arms got tight and his hands drifted up my back, pressing me to his body.
“One condition,” he said.
Oh crap.
“What?” I asked.
“This second date is tomorrow night, you’ll be here and you won’t stand me up.”
“Okay,” I agreed instantly.
“That’s not the condition.”
Fuck.
“What?” I repeated.
“I take you out, after, I spend the night here. You don’t go out huntin’ drug dealers. You stay in, all night, with me, in this bed, naked and when I make you come you say my name.”
My stomach plummeted again, it felt good again but still, I just stared at him.
I couldn’t promise that. “Crowe –” I started.
“Take it or leave it.”
I could just not believe this.
“I’m asking you to do something nice for a kid and you’re asking… you’re… I don’t believe you.”
“Maybe I should tell you somethin’ about me. I learned early you don’t do somethin’ for nothin’ and you get the best deal out of your end as you can. I want you. I want to taste you. I want to fuck you. I want to make you come and I want to hear you moan my name when you do so I know that you know it’s me who made you come. You don’t agree, I don’t see Roam.”
I frowned at him. “I think you might just be a bastard,” I snapped.
“Get over it,” he returned.
I stayed silent trying hard not to scratch his eyes out or knee him in the balls.
“Jules, you want it too,” he told me and even though he was right, it still pissed me off.
“All right, fine,” I clipped. “Tomorrow night.”
God, the things I did for my boys.
He rolled into me again, pushing me to my back and I glared at him.
“Is our talk over?” I asked irritably.
“Yeah,” he said but the change was over him and he was
smiling at me. It was a small smile but a satisfied one.
“Good, then you can go.”
“In a minute.” His face was coming toward mine.
“No. Now,” I ordered.
“Not until I’ve had another sample.”
“Crowe!” I got out before he kissed me.
I pushed against him and tried to pull away but he rolled fully on top of me, pressing me into the bed and insisting with his tongue that I open my mouth. I resisted, trying to twist my head away but he didn’t stop. His hands were moving on my body when his head finally came up.
“Tomorrow night,” I said.
He didn’t say anything just looked at me with his eyes soft and sexy. His hand went under my shirt, sliding up the skin of my midriff and my body froze. It did this mainly because the tingles had started and the warmth of his hand felt nice but I was still trying to resist.
His head came back down again and his lips hit mine at about the time his hand cupped my breast.
My mouth opened in a gasp, his tongue slid in, my body melted, the tingles took over and Vance got his sample.
Chapter Six
Superheroes
After Vance got his sample, he kissed my mouth lightly a few times then lifted up and kissed my forehead then he was gone.
I lay in bed for awhile, recovering.
Then I lay in bed for awhile wondering how in the hell I was going to get out of tomorrow night.
I couldn’t sleep with Vance. Not only would he find out I was a virgin, I had no idea what I was doing (mainly because I was a virgin).
He was obviously good at it. I even knew a few women who knew firsthand he was good at it. How embarrassing would it be when I was not good at it?
I decided to think about it later, much later, after I’d jumped a plane to Nicaragua tomorrow afternoon and disappeared off Vance Crowe radar.
I jumped down off the bed, scattering and ticking off Boo who thought we were in for the night. I put on a chocolate brown turtleneck (as in, dark chocolate, almost black), matching cords, a deep brown belt and matching boots. The boots had low heels, they were comfortable and I could run in them. The best thing about the boots though, even with all that, they still looked killer (you couldn’t be a badass mother without killer boots, it was a rule).
I pulled back my hair in a ponytail and I was ready to roll.
Then I turned out the lights and I waited.
I didn’t put it past Vance to watch the house and then follow me.
After I figured he’d given up (if he was out there at all), I gathered my weapons, went out to Hazel and I took on the night.
* * * * *
My plan was simple.
Wreak enough havoc on the dealers and the suppliers of the dealers who made their sales in the places where the runaways hung out so that the dealers would eventually give up and find some other place to do business.
If the runaways followed the dealers, I would move to new turf.
I wasn’t taking on all Denver dealers, trying to shut down their business. I just wanted them to leave my kids alone.
I knew driving Hazel was stupid and I was considering dipping into the ever growing mortgage fund that Nick never touched and buying something for patrol that was less conspicuous than a red, cherry-condition 1983 Camaro. I just couldn’t find the time.
I patrolled and kept my eyes peeled for a tail. There wasn’t one.
Things were quiet. Some kids were out; it was cold, so not many. There weren’t any dealers around.
I was considering going to the bar where I’d seen Darius last night and watching him, or just giving up, packing it in and getting some needed shuteye when I saw them.
Martin and Curtis, two runaways from King’s. They were brothers, fourteen and twelve. They’d come in about a month after Park died and I knew it was because they heard about me (because of Sniff, everyone had heard about me).
They hit my caseload so I was working with them. They hadn’t told me much and didn’t spend the night at King’s but I was hoping for a breakthrough soon.
I watched as they ran out of an alley and down 15th Street. They were being followed by two dealers. I knew the dealers. They weren’t small time. They were serious players.
My heart started thumping and I followed them. The kids ducked into another alley and the dealers followed.
If I followed in Hazel, they’d see me. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad so I made a split-second decision.
Quickly, I parked on the street. I had my mace in my pocket, my stun gun and Glock on the seat. I grabbed the Glock, exited the car, left it unsecured, ran into the alley and hoped I wouldn’t pee my pants.
By the time I got to them, Martin, the older brother, was stand up wrestling with one of them, grunting and losing. The other one had Curtis against the wall.
Fuck.
I aimed my gun at the dealer on Curtis. “Back off!” I shouted.
His head whipped around. The other one got Martin in a headlock and twisted him around violently so he could look at me.
Their names were Clarence and Jermaine, no street names that I knew of. Clarence had Martin. Jermaine had Curtis.
I kept my gun and eye on Jermaine and channeled my internal badass mother.
“Back off,” I repeated, low.
“Holy shit!” Jermaine laughed. “It’s The Law.”
He pulled Curtis forward by his collar and slammed him viciously into the wall and I heard Curtis’s skull crack against the brick.
Um…
I… did… not… think… so.
My eyes narrowed and my head cocked to the sight of the gun.
In a serious, pissed off voice, I said, “I’ll say it one more time, let him go.”
To my surprise, he let him go. To my despair, he only did it so he could come at me.
Martin was still struggling against the headlock, intermittently groaning and whining. His feral noises of fear were spurring me on by pissing me off even more.
Curtis was standing frozen, likely partially dazed, partially scared stiff.
“Watcha gonna do Law? Slash my tires? Throw a smoke bomb? Light some shit on fire on my doorstep? You’re a fuckin’ joke,” Jermaine taunted.
Excuse me, I never lit poo on fire on someone’s doorstep. That was immature.
“Go. Now,” I returned, ignoring his words. “Leave the kids alone. If you go, no one will get hurt.”
“Fuck you, bitch,” Jermaine snarled and then came at me.
When he came at me, I switched my gun to the other hand knowing he’d get physical just to prove a point. The big man subdues the silly woman.
Fuck him.
Right away he gave me my opening, throwing out his arm to grab me. So I took it.
When he arrived at me, I grabbed his wrist and leaned down, ducking under his arm, using my leverage, his momentum and bulk, and I twisted his arm and flipped him up and around and he landed with a sickening thud on his back.
Then without hesitation, I aimed and kicked him savagely between his legs. He let out a ferocious howl and curled into a fetal position. I put my boot to his neck and leaned my weight into it (maybe a little more weight than I needed but I told myself that I was new to this and allowed myself some leeway).
Then I lifted my head, my eyes slicing to Clarence. I switched my gun to my right hand, cupped it with my left and aimed.
“Let him go,” I ordered.
Clarence was staring at me in shock, so much so he didn’t let Martin go.
I dropped my aim and fired. The bullet hit next to his left foot. He felt the impact and jumped but he didn’t let Martin go.
I lifted my gun, aimed it at his head and cocked my own to the gun’s sight. “I said, let… him… go.”
He let Martin go.
Martin ran immediately to Curtis.
I stood aiming at Clarence, my boot still at the writhing Jermaine’s neck and I wondered what the hell I should do now.
Then Clarence’s eye
s moved from their study of my gun to look over my shoulder.
“Holy fuck. It’s true,” Clarence whispered but loudly so I could hear.
Like a sixth sense, I felt rather than saw Crowe coming up behind me. Then he got up beside me and stopped, his eyes were on the man at my boot.
I guessed I was wrong about not having a tail.
God, he was good.
Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a shadow move from behind Clarence. I focused and Mace arrived at the scene. He was looking at Vance. At the sight of Mace, I got over my admiration of Crowe.
This is just great, I thought with mental sarcasm.
“Did I see what I think I just saw?” Mace asked to Crowe.
“You saw it,” Crowe replied then he looked at me.
It was dark; I couldn’t read his eyes and didn’t try. I looked back at Mace and Clarence.
Mace’s eyes had cut to me; he stared at me a second and I could tell by the white flash in his mouth area that he grinned. Then he grabbed Clarence’s wrist, twisted it around to his back and shoved him face first against the brick wall. He pulled some cuffs out of the back of his cargo pants and slapped them on Clarence.
“Stay,” he said to Clarence as if he was a dog.
I dropped my gun and put it in the back waistband of my jeans.
“You can take your boot out of his neck now,” Vance said to me.
I looked down. Jermaine was still curled up in apparent agony and not going anywhere.
“Whoops,” I muttered and lifted my foot.
Vance crouched and cuffed Jermaine. Mace had pulled a phone out of his pocket and he’d connected.
“Luke. We got a pick up. Yeah, another couple from Law,” he faded a bit into the shadows and I heard him say, “You are not gonna fuckin’ believe this…”
I walked to Martin and Curtis. “You guys okay?”
They didn’t speak, just nodded, mouths open in disbelief.
“Curtis, your head?” I asked.
He just kept nodding.
“Why were they chasing you?” I asked them.
They kept staring at me.
“Come on boys, spill. These are bad guys, worse than most. What were they doing chasing you?”
“We thought we’d help you go after the drug guys,” Curtis told me.
“Yeah, we been followin’ them two for awhile,” Martin threw in with pride.