Chapter 1 #3
Closing a case was a reward in itself. I had been sitting on the sidelines for too long.
Instead of doing what I loved to do, I was stuck at home doing PT and breathing exercises in my living room in hopes of keeping at least some of my edge.
At this point, I was scrolling the want ads for some kind of temporary fix that would scratch my itch until I could go back to work full time.
I wiped the counter down, picking up my car keys to clean under them. As soon as I could, I tossed them to the side, hating what they now represented. My keys were a reminder of yet another thing I needed to take care of. I didn’t have the bandwidth to worry about my car.
My old hoopty had seen better days. For the past week or so, it had been jerking and idling so rough that I hated to drive anywhere. I knew my ride was on its last leg. I just couldn’t afford to do anything about it. I’d taken it to the shop and got a three-thousand-dollar estimate for repairs.
After making a few calls and describing what needed to be done, I heard more of the same.
I just didn’t see how I could swing it without getting a loan.
I swallowed my pride and asked Hale to help me with the repairs since he was always screaming how I could ask him anytime I needed something. That had yet to be seen or proven.
Me: I need 4 new fuel injectors for my car. I got a quote for 3k for parts and labor from a few places. I only have about $1500. Can you help me with anything?
So far, I hadn’t gotten a response from him.
Not that I was surprised. It was only the second time that I had asked for anything aside from the agreed upon amount of money that he gave me for Bella every month: five hundred dollars sent directly to my account on the first of the month like clockwork.
Not that I regretted having my daughter, but I wished that I had had the foresight to dodge that bullet. I sat on the couch watching my baby play with her blocks and couldn’t help but smile.
In spite of it all, she was the reason I was still breathing. Bella was my entire reason for being. I knew that she was also the reason people all of a sudden thought they could decide what I was strong enough to handle.
My phone rang on the end table, and I didn’t even have to look to know who was calling. I let it ring a couple of times before picking it up and answering.
“Jameela,” he said, the irritation laced in his tone.
“What is it, Tremaine?”
“You know what it is. You don’t need to be late today. I hope you’re on your way.”
“The meeting isn’t until ten o’ clock. Why are you calling me now?”
“I know what time my meeting starts. I need you to be here early. You can’t keep taking advantage of our situation, Jameela. People are already talking as it is.”
“Let them talk. You are the one that wanted everything to be a big secret, not me. Besides, why should I care? I’m not there to hear it.
I’m on medical leave, remember. The extended medical leave you insisted on putting me on.
That’s probably what’s making people talk in the first place.
Who else has been forced out like this?”
I heard him sigh before he responded. “You’re still very much a part of this department, Officer Sutton. I expect you to be on time.”
“Wow! Just a few weeks ago, you were ranting on and on about how I was a liability. Now, I’m part of the team again?”
“Be on time, Jameela,” he spat before hanging up.
By nine thirty, I had dropped Bella off with Miss Ramirez, a middle-aged Hispanic woman who babysat the kids in my building. Bella loved going over to play with the little ones. Miss Ramirez was so sweet that I never worried about leaving my baby with her.
Being twenty minutes early for the meeting should have been good enough for Hale, but who ever knew how he would decide to feel from one minute to the next.
He was a spoiled brat on a good day and a dick on his worst. Once I stopped letting him have his way, his true colors immediately started to show.
As much as he claimed to still care about me, he did little to nothing to prove that fact.
I walked into the precinct feeling like I was walking into my second home. After a few short stints with homicide and cybercrimes, I found my home working in the narcotics department, just like my dad. Following the money had led me to some places I would never have thought I would have gone.
When he was a sergeant, Hale and I went undercover as a couple. He played the doting boyfriend who got his wealth from drug money and spoiled his girlfriend. He was able to infiltrate a narcotics ring and take down a decade long operation. He got a promotion. I got to be a single mother.
Even with the awkwardness between me and Lieutenant Hale, I loved what I did. The smell of shitty coffee and radio chatter put me right back in my world, or what used to be my world anyway. Now I was stuck at home watching cartoons all day while I daydreamed about the job.
I walked through the building, nodding to a few of my coworkers as I passed.
I wasn’t in the mood to hang around and talk today.
I wanted to get in and out of the mandatory meeting as soon as possible.
In my haste to get my visit to the precinct out of the way, I should have figured I would run into the main people that I wanted to avoid.
As soon as I entered the break room, I spotted Lieutenant Tremaine Hale and Officer Kelly Gibbs standing by the coffee maker. Her wavy ponytail swung as she howled laughing at something he said that couldn’t have been all that funny. Tremaine was not that funny.
She noticed me first, her cheeks flushing slightly as she straightened her posture and tried to recover from the shocked expression she initially wore. I wondered if she knew about our history. There were whispers, but no one knew for sure.
I had never cared for Kelly. Even before I was certain that she was sleeping with Tremaine, I knew she was a climber. We’d worked together briefly in the past. It didn’t take long for me to see how ambitious she was.
Kelly wasn’t afraid to sleep and brown nose her way to the top. She didn’t mind crawling to the top on her knees, while I had always believed in working for what I wanted. With me out of the picture, she was gunning for my spot in more ways than one, apparently.
“Sutton, I wasn’t expecting to see you today. I thought you were on leave,” she mentioned.
“I don’t need you thinking about me at all. It’s a mandatory meeting. According to Lieutenant Hale, everyone has to be here.”
My voice must have alerted Hale to my presence because he finally turned to face me.
When our eyes met, his mouth lifted into that charming smile that could still make my knees weak if he caught me off guard.
Silently, I cursed him for looking so good.
His butterscotch skin was highlighted by the hazel eyes that used to make my panties disappear.
“Jameela, step into my office for a minute,” he ordered before turning and walking away.
Instead of protesting his request like I wanted to, I followed Tremaine into his office.
I only walked in far enough to close the door behind me because I wasn’t in the mood for his antics.
He walked over and sat on the edge of the desk.
He folded his hands across his lap as he let his eyes rake over me from the feet up.
“What is it, Tremaine?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips.
“You look good, Jameela.”
“I’m here for the meeting you thought was so important, not for whatever you think this is.”
“Jameela, I know you think that I’m being an asshole, and maybe I am to some extent, but you have to know that I’m only doing what’s best for you. I care about you, Jameela.”
“Who are you to determine what’s good for me, Tremaine?”
“Baby, that knife could have killed you. You act like you don’t get that.”
“Don’t call me baby,” I snapped.
“Jameela, do you know how torn up I was when they told me you were unconscious with tubes and shit coming out of you?”
“But I’m better now.”
“Your doctors said full recovery could take a year.”
“Yet I’ve already been cleared. I’m ready to come back.”
Hale stood from his seat and took a few steps to close the space between us. I hated the feeling of static in the air as he moved closer. If I took a step back, I would have run into the door. I didn’t want to look intimidated, so I stood my ground.
“And what about Bella? You have a daughter now, Jameela. This isn’t the life for a mother.”
Those words were like a slap in the face. He had no right to speak on the daughter that he barely wanted anything to do with.
“Don’t you dare use my fucking daughter as an excuse to keep me benched, Tremaine.”
He scoffed. “Correction, our daughter.”
“Right! Our daughter that you can’t be bothered with aside from trying to tell me what the fuck to do with my life when it comes to her.”
He reached for my hand, but I pulled away. “You know I care, Jameela. I care about both of you.”
“Care? Did you really just use that word?”
He cared enough to sneak around with me for months, but not enough to man up when the pregnancy test came back positive.
Since the day shit started to get real, he had made one broken promise after the next while keeping me far away from his everyday life.
I was stuck at home alone while he got to portray himself as the devoted, concerned lieutenant.
“You know I care about you.”
“Then let me come back to work,” I urged.
“Not yet, Jameela.”
“Then help me with the car, Tremaine. I need a reliable way to get around with our daughter.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“I already know what that means. Don’t even fucking worry about it, Tremaine.”
“That’s Lieutenant Hale. Just because you have a fucking attitude, yet again, doesn’t mean you get to come in here and disrespect me.”
That got a low chuckle out of me.