2. Cage
Chapter 2
Cage
Cage Jenson was pissed.
He was so seriously irritated by the pile of police paperwork on his desk. All Cage wanted was to be out on the streets. But instead he was cooped up in his office.
With a heatwave across the city, the NYC police department buildings were hot, sticky, and full of grumpy cops.
Not exactly a laid-back atmosphere.
Still, the work had to be done.
There was no avoiding it.
‘Kaplinski, you got that homicide file I asked for?’ Cage called out.
‘ Nah , hasn’t come in yet,’ Detective Kaplinski called back, busy with his own work and slurping on his customary black coffee, even in the heat.
‘Jesus Damned Christ,’ Cage grumbled. ‘Would it kill anyone to do anything on time? Don’t answer that!’
Cage was in his mid-thirties.
Bring a cop was in his blood.
A Jenson family tradition.
One that he had been more than keen to take on and run with for another generation.
But life as a cop was never easy.
There was always a new drama lurking around the corner.
A new case.
A new series of problems that needed solving.
Cage could be grouchy and cynical at the best of times, but on a hot day it seemed like he was close to boiling over at any moment.
Cage leaned back in his chair and drained the remaining iced coffee from the plastic container.
Details of his latest case spun around in his head.
He needed to think.
Cage needed to bring his thoughts together and let his police brain get down to business. But in recent times, it wasn’t so easy.
Nothing had been the same for Cage since he lost a younger police partner a few years earlier. Nicki Roldo was her name. They had been a good team. The chemistry was just right. It was the kind of chemistry that had begun to spill over into their personal lives.
Tragically, Cage and Nicki’s professional and personal relationship never got the chance to flourish like it could have. It had been a vice bust that had gone wrong. Badly wrong. When his partner died, Cage felt like a part of him went too.
Sure, he still wanted to be a cop.
It was all Cage knew.
But something about Nicki’s death had brought out his cynical, pessimistic side. Ever since that fateful day, life had felt like a struggle.
As such, Cage rarely smiled.
This was a shame, because Cage was undeniably a very handsome man. He was tall, and naturally equipped with the kind of physique that most men would kill for.
Cage was strong, broad, and ripped.
He was chiseled from head to toe.
The truth was that Cage didn’t even work out all that much anymore. By this point his body had just become on solid piece of finely tuned muscle mass.
Cage was about as far from the stereotype of the fat, donut-munching cop as you could get.
But this wasn’t the only difference.
Cage also wouldn’t have been seen dead in the crumpled, stale old suits that most beat detectives wore either.
No, Cage was a man of style.
He prided himself on showing up each and every day in the most pristine, well-tailored suit. Cage’s collection was made up of suits from the finest tailors of Rome to London, England, with some pieces even coming from Tokyo, Japan.
Each and every one of the suits was customized to Cage’s exact fit.
In a life that provided him little joy, Cage’s tailored suits gave him at least a little something to feel good about.
Even Cage’s beard was a work of well-maintained art. It was always perfectly trimmed, dark brown with a smattering of white flecks.
If only the rest of his life was so perfect…
‘Jesus. I do not need this shit,’ Cage said, banging his fist onto the desk as his computer crashed yet again. ‘When the hell is the mayor going to give us a budget we can actually work with? This computer would have been out of date ten years ago.’
No one responded to Cage.
The other cops were just as over-worked and grouchy as he was.
This was just a typical day in the department.
Too much work and not enough time to do it.
The heatwave was annoying for more than just its impact in the office. It was a long held statistical fact that crime went up during heatwaves.
The added heat just made people take risks. Act out of character. Let their demons take charge and override their good sense…
This meant more work for cops.
Of course, it could have been different.
Rather than spending his days in the pit with the rest of the working detectives, Cage could have been in upper management.
All of his early career success had seen him marked out as a potential leader in the force. The higher-ups had offered him promotion after promotion.
But Cage had turned them down.
Each and every time.
Cage had never wanted to live a cushy office-based life. Sure, he would have been earning a much higher salary. And it would be a job with way fewer personal risks or threats to his life.
But that wasn’t why Cage had signed up.
He wanted to do proper police work.
On the street level.
Catching and putting the bad guys away.
Speaking of bosses…
‘Jenson! In my office, now!’ Sergeant Mase bellowed.
Cage got up from his desk and took the short walk over to Sergeant Mase’s office.
‘Yes, Sir,’ Cage said, taking a seat.
Cage had been in this position before. He could sense when he was about to take two full barrels of anger from his boss.
‘You’re too damned slow!’ Mase shouted, pacing up and down. ‘I’ve got targets to meet. And the time you spend on even the most basic of open and shut cases is getting out of hand.’
‘I’m being thorough is all,’ Cage replied, trying not to sound annoyed. ‘Each case has to be concluded properly. The public must trust us and know we’re doing our best for them.’
‘All the same, the amount of time you’re taking is fucking bananas ,’ Mase continued. ‘You have to speed that ass up. I’m not far off retirement and I’ll be damned if you push me into an early grave. Not every case needs the full Cage Jenson investigation. Just get your work done. Process it. Move on. It’s not hard.’
‘Sir, I appreciate what you’re saying,’ Cage countered, trying to sound as respectful as he could. ‘But I need to disagree. I will give my best to every single case. It’s the only way I know how to be a good detective.’
Mase rolled his eyes.
Standing with his hands on his hips, the frustration in Sergeant Mase’s face was evident. He could be very grouchy and blunt himself. He was known for it. But beneath it all, there was definitely a good cop there. Maybe even a little heart of gold too.
‘Listen, Cage. We go way back,’ Mase said, taking a seat. ‘I know you struggled after what happened with Nicki. It was tough. I’ve been there. I know how it feels. Trust me. But I’m speaking to you as a friend. Your work hasn’t been as good since that day. It’s not just the speed you’re working at. You just don’t have that same focus. Help me out here, man.’
Cage could feel himself getting annoyed.
He didn’t like how Mase was speaking.
The implication that he wasn’t a good cop stung Cage.
It stung him bad.
But Mase wasn’t finished yet.
‘I think you should consider taking some time off,’ Mase said, his voice serious and measured. ‘Take a step back for a minute. See how that feels.’
‘Respectfully, sir, there’s no chance,’ Cage barked. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to be getting on with. At my own pace. And with one goal in mind. Keeping the citizens of this city safe.’
Mase tutted and turned away from Cage.
Cage got up from his chair and walked out of the office.
He took a quick detour to the water dispenser and poured himself a cup. He downed it in one and immediately refilled.
Cage was furious.
The suggestion that he should take time off had not gone down well at all. It felt like an insult.
Cage prided himself on how good a cop he was.
It was his lifeblood.
There was no way in hell he was taking time off.
If anything, all Mase’s words had done was motivate him to take more work on.
Come in early.
Leave later.
The whole nine yards.
Cage took a second however and thought back to his old partner. He thought of what could have been between them and his heart sunk. It might have been hot and sunny in the city, but in that moment Cage felt as cold and gloomy as it was possible to feel. Maybe Mase had a point. Maybe his partner’s death had changed him.
It certainly affected Cage’s personal life.
Any idea of a relationship seemed crazy.
Cage saw himself as damaged goods now. The emotional hurt he had experienced with his partner had left the kind of scars that would probably never heal.
The hours Cage put into his work meant that he didn’t have the time to deal with a Little in his life. Not only that, but he didn’t think he was well adjusted enough to handle being a Daddy.
If Cage couldn’t give a Little the same amount of care and attention that he gave his case files, then it was a non-starter.
On this basis, Cage had decided that any kind of romantic involvements were pretty much out of the question for him.
He was married to the job.
That was it.
Nothing more, nothing less.
It didn’t mean that Cage still didn’t have his own kinks and desires. Of course he did. But Cage had the discipline to keep them locked away. That was the only way forward as far as he was concerned.
‘Cage, those papers still haven’t arrived,’ Kaplinksi hollered, shrugging his shoulders in frustration. ‘It’s a cop’s life, eh?’
Cage nodded his head in solidarity.
It was frustrating, but all part of the job.
Feeling a little calmer, and with the files he needed still not ready, Cage headed towards the reception to see if there were any new cases he could pick up.
This was something that Sergeant Mase frowned upon.
It was his belief that the detectives should finish their caseloads and wait for the juniors to bring through the new files. That way, Mase could choose who got what.
Cage always wanted to choose himself though. It was an old trick he picked up from his father. This way, Cage could lay claim to the juiciest cases.
But on his arrival in the reception area, Cage had to take a backward step.
Who in New York City’s name is that…?
Cage took a moment to compose himself.
At the reception desk was just about the cutest, most gorgeous young lady he’d ever seen.
Slender.
Incredible cheekbones.
Perfect, big lips and a tight body too.
Cage felt his Daddy-senses going into overload.
He had to get a grip on himself.
This was a professional environment. Cage was in a position of power.
This young lady looked upset… fragile and on the verge of tears.
It was time for Cage to put his best foot forward and show this young girl that she was safe and in good hands. That whatever her problem was, he could handle it.
‘Young lady, Detective Cage Jenson, at your service,’ Cage said. ‘I’m here to help you. Tell me everything…’