12. Declan
Chapter 12
Declan
A s soon as roll call is over, I go directly to the detective bureau and for Detective Smith and Detective Kowalski’s desks.
“Morning Hayes. What’s got you slumming it over here in the DB office?” Smith asks as he sips bad coffee from a tiny paper cup.
“I talked with Riley yesterday and got more of the story of what’s been going on. Thought we could talk? She gave me copies of everything, too. I think you may want those as well.”
Kowalski picks up her notepad, “Great. Let’s go into the conference room.” She leads the way. “Want any coffee?”
“That swill? Never. Thanks anyway.”
She laughs as Smith follows us into the conference room and for the next half hour I give them the details, copies of the emails, her timeline, and the pictures Riley’s been collecting.
“This is really thorough. I’m surprised Atlanta couldn’t do more with all of this information,” Smith says as the three of us walk out of the room.
“Yeah, I thought the same thing.”
“We’ll take it from here. Just keep her safe, okay?” Kowalski says as if she needs to tell me that. I’ve been away from her for about an hour and a half and I’m already jonesing to see or at least talk to her to make sure she’s okay.
“Will do. Gotta get out there on patrol. Let me know if you have any questions,” I call to them over my shoulder as I leave the detective bureau and make my way out to my patrol car. Jax has been covering my zone so that I could talk to the detectives.
I’m just about to climb into my patrol car when I hear my name. “Hayes!” I look around the parking lot and see Elijah Ford walking towards me. “Hey man. What’s with the face blanket?” I tease.
He strokes his beard, “Trust me. I can’t wait to get rid of this. It’s hot as hell in this Florida heat. I heard Riley’s back in town. That true?”
“What’s it to you?” My guard goes up. She’s mine.
He smirks at me recognizing my hackles are up. “Relax man. I wouldn’t dare tread in your house. I was just asking. Wondering how’s she doin’. That’s all,” he holds his hands up in defense.
I relax a bit, but not totally. I’ve seen him dog around town. He’s got quite a reputation with the ladies. Hell, I’m not sure there’s any left he hasn’t slept with. “She’s good.”
“I heard about what happened at her parents’ house. That’s fucked up. You on it?”
“Kowalski and Smith are working it. What’s happening with you?”
He suddenly looks ragged. “This case is a mess. Working with these guys that’ll do anything for a dollar. Bad, bad things. It’s fucked up, man. I can’t wait until this undercover case is over.”
“What kinds of things?” He’s got my curiosity piqued.
He shakes his head, “Can’t talk about it yet, but you don’t want to know. Don’t want that shit in your head, man. Trust me.” Eli looks haggard and worn out and I can tell that whatever it is, it’s bad and he’s probably right – I don’t want that shit in my head. It’ll make me worry even more about Riley and Nicholas.
“Ford!” The desk sergeant calls from the doors to the office.
“Gotta go. Stay safe, brother.” He slaps me on the shoulder and then jogs to where the sergeant is standing.
“You, too,” I call after him and I climb into my patrol car. I want to talk to Riley even more now.
After a few traffic stops and a couple 911 calls, I finally meet up with Jax in the parking lot of where the Bean and Bagel used to be. There’s finally some construction happening here and we’re all glad that things are moving in the right direction for Hudson’s girl, Kate. Not to mention, we miss her coffee and bagels.
“Hey man. Thanks for covering for me while I was in the DB this morning.” We’re each sitting in our own vehicles; he’s facing one way and I’m facing the other with our windows down.
“No worries. You get everything sorted out for Riley?”
“I’m not sure about sorted out, but I gave them all the information that Riley had about this fucked up situation.”
“Wanna tell me about it?”
“Honestly, I’m not too sure what’s going on. Five years ago, she posted a picture of her ultrasound when she got pregnant and ever since, this guy has decided her son is his and he wants him. Been chasing her around Atlanta, posting shit on her social media, and it seems he’s followed her to Hibiscus Harbor. He even tried to kidnap the kid from daycare once.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah.”
“Hate to ask, but are you sure he’s not really the father? I mean, she’s been gone a long time. People change.”
“Nick Masterson was the father.” I tell him to shut him up. She’s not changed one bit. She’s still my little geeky girl.
Realization hit him, “Wait. That guy on River’s team?”
“Yep.”
“Fuck. He was one of the troops killed with River, right?”
I only nod.
“Shit. She’s really had a time of it, hasn’t she?”
I nod again as I watch a few cars hit the brakes as they realize they’re speeding and see the both of us sitting in the parking lot. It’s actually pretty comical. We all know they’re going to speed up again as soon as they’re out of sight.
“So, now what?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I suppose we have to wait it out. Right now, she and Nicholas are staying with me. Her parents are in Europe somewhere, so we just have to wait and hope that forensics gets something from her parents’ house, or he makes a stupid ass move and I kick his ass. Quite honestly, I’m hoping for the latter.”
“What school is the kid going to?”
“Little Tykes over off of Main Street and Flamingo Drive.”
“Okay. I’ll make sure to hang around that part of town as I’m doing my patrols.”
“Thanks.”
The radios crackle to life, “PD324 respond to domestic at 812 Federal Highway.” The dispatcher calls Jax.
“PD324 responding.” He responds on the radio.
“PD334 responding as backup.” I answer as well.
“10-4 PD324 and PD334.”
We both flick on our lights and sirens to get through the Monday lunchtime traffic.
It’s been a long day and I’m finally on my way home to see Riley. I’ve resisted calling and texting her in fear of freaking her out and coming on too strong. After dinner last night, she and Nicholas went to bed, and I slept on the couch again. We haven’t had any time alone to talk after our kiss, and I’m really hoping to have some alone time with her this evening.
“Riley? I’m home.” I call out to her as I come in the front door. It’s weird not to have Bella greet me as I walk in, and alarm bells are going off in my head. Something doesn’t feel right. “Riley?” I’ve got my hand on my gun as I walk through the house looking for whatever is spooking me.
“In here.” I hear a small voice coming from my bedroom.
I open the door slowly, still with my hand on my gun at my hip and I find a white as a ghost Riley sitting all curled up in a ball on my bed with Bella lying next to her with her head on Riley’s lap. I like the fact that she’s in my room and on my bed, but not like this. Something’s wrong. Really wrong.
“Baby, what’s going on?”
She looks up at me and that’s when I notice the tear stains on her face. “This is never going to end, is it?”
“Are you alone?” I look into my bathroom and through the French doors outside to the back patio, but don’t see anyone or anything amiss.
She nods and then hands me her phone. Her hands are shaking like a leaf.
I take her phone from her hand and sit down next to her on the bed. “What’s going on?”
“He’s still following me. This is never going to end and I’m going to lose Nicholas,” she sobs and I pull her into my arms.
“That’s not going to happen. I will not let that happen, Riley.” I caress her hair down her back as she cries into my uniform shirt. I can barely feel her through my bullet proof vest, but I don’t dare let her go right now to take it off. Not when she’s this upset. “Tell me what happened today. What’s on your phone?”
I swipe open the phone to the text messaging app and find a picture of a smiling Riley at Mia’s grand opening the other night. She’s standing inside Magical Moments talking to Mia and Ian. Scrawled across her image in the picture is a giant red X and the words ‘He’s mine. I want him’. My heart sinks as my blood boils and I close the phone. “Riley, where’s Nicholas right now?”
“School. He’s probably safer there than with me,” she sobs.
I start rocking her back and forth as I hold her. “Shh. That’s not true. I’ve got you. Let it all out, baby. I know you’ve been strong for so long carrying all of this weight by yourself. I’m here now. I’ve got you. I’ve got you both.”
As she cries herself out, still shaking like a leaf, I text the desk sergeant and ask that a unit sit at the school until we get there to pick up Nicholas. She quickly agrees and lets me know that she’s got a unit down the street and will be there shortly. I then forward the text message to Kowalski and Smith.
Riley pulls out of my arms and sits back against the headboard. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
She looks around my room. “For invading your space. For crying and losing my shit. For bringing this shit to your doorstep. For everything. God, I must look wretched.” She wipes away the mascara that is streaking down her face. “I’m good.”
“Riley.” I wait until she looks up at me. “You’re welcomed into my space any time, although I’d prefer it if you weren’t crying – I’ll take you in my room, in my bed, anytime.” That makes her smile. I’m glad she’s smiling, but not exactly the response I was hoping for. “We’re gonna find this guy and put an end to it. I promise.”
She doesn’t believe me – I can see it in her eyes as she looks away. “Who were you texting? Never mind. It’s none of my business,” she waves me off as she climbs out of my bed.
I hold up my phone. “The desk sergeant. I asked her to send a unit to sit at Nicholas’ school until we pick him up. And I also sent the picture to the detectives.”
She stops and turns towards me, and I take the opportunity to pull her to me now that we’re both standing. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you or Nicholas, Riley. You both mean too much to me.”
“You barely know us.”
“I’ve always known you.” I lean down and place a kiss on her lips. “I don’t want to freak you out, but I want to know all of you.” I kiss her again. “Every part of you.” I lean in and kiss her ear and feel her shiver again like she did the last time I kissed her there. “Are you okay with that, my lady?”
She nods as she holds onto my arms.
“Use your words, Riley.”
“Yes,” she whispers as our lips collide.
This time, I don’t hide my need to adjust myself and Riley smiles shyly as I do. “I need to get out of this uniform and although I want to throw you on my bed and keep going, we should go get Nicholas from school.”
“You’re right, but I like that bed idea, too.” Her eyebrows wiggle and she smirks at me as I adjust myself again.
“Woman. Get out of my room before I can’t control myself any longer.” I point to the door with a half-smile on my face.
“You’re no fun,” she teases as she sashays out of my room but turns around just before leaving. “Thank you for being here for us, Declan.”
“You’re welcome, Riley. Let me get changed and we’ll go get him and bring him home.”
She nods as she closes the door, and I realize I just called my home theirs and it’s doing things to me that I didn’t expect. I’m not sure what to do with these feelings but I’m just going with it.
I’m falling for Riley and her son.
Once I’ve managed to contain my hard on for Riley and change my clothes, I go in search of her and Bella and find them both sitting on the couch. Seems like Bella is taking this protection detail seriously and I’m thankful for her.
“I want to show you something. Come over here.” I push a few buttons on an end table and a secret door opens from underneath it. Inside is one of my many weapons. I pull it out and hand it to Riley. “I have these stashed all around the house. The code is 34953 on all of them. Each table has one.” I point around the room.
“Is this safe? I have a four-year-old running around here.” She watches as I handle the gun making sure it’s loaded and there’s a bullet in the chamber.
“Yes. Completely safe. If he doesn’t have the code, the drawers won’t open and if the wrong code is entered three times, it permanently locks until a master code is entered.”
“Why do you have so many and why are they all stashed away – hidden?”
“I’ve done some undercover work over the years. It’s best to be prepared. Let’s just leave it at that, okay?” I hand her the gun. “Do you know how to shoot?”
She pulls back the slide and checks the chamber. “Do you know who my brother was? Of course, I know how to shoot.” She looks down slide to the sight and releases the slide to a loud click.
I smile at her and she’s suddenly really hot. I take the gun from her. “Give me that. You’re making me all hot and bothered again.”
She smirks at me. “Girls with guns get you goin’?”
“That sounds like a really bad eighties song title.” I adjust myself as I place the gun back into the hidden drawer and lock it back up. “There’s none in Nicholas’ room or yours, but they are in here, the kitchen, and the master bedroom. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Do you want one to carry with you?”
“Are you kidding? Four. Year. Old.” She sounds out like I’m an idiot and she’s right. I’m an idiot.
“Sorry. Good point. Speaking of which, let’s go get him. I’ll drive. I’ve missed my truck.”
She tosses me the keys. “I’m starting to like driving it. People get out of your way.”
I laugh as we climb in, “I’m taking it back when this is all over, but we can get you one if you want.”
What the hell am I doing? I’m in deep here.