Chapter 10 #3
Whether he was ignoring Brock or had legitimately lost interest, Myles turned his back and began chatting up a pretty, very young woman at the bar.
The woman looked no more than twenty-one, if she was that.
Blonde with big doe eyes and an innocent smile.
Too young to be a cop for sure. Maybe a civilian worker? Someone’s date?
Her dark red dress left very little to the imagination, and the way she was laughing and giggling at everything Myles said told Brock she was Slade’s target for the evening.
He couldn’t have Krista, so he was moving on to other prospects.
Brock only hoped this prospect was willing and not forced or coerced.
Krista’s hand linked with Brock’s beneath the table, and she gave it a gentle squeeze. He squeezed it back, and she gasped beside him.
“Too hard,” she whispered.
Damn it. He was tightly wound.
He glanced down into her eyes. “Sorry.”
His eyes swiveled back to Slade and the young woman. He watched as she ordered a drink from the bartender, then excused herself to the ladies’ room, leaving her beverage under the watchful eyes of Senior Constable Myles Slade.
And then it happened.
As inconspicuous as could be, but not nearly as stealthy as he probably hoped, Myles dropped something into her drink, quickly grabbed a stir-stick from the back and began swirling it around with the ice cubes until the tablet dissolved.
“Did he just … ” Krista started.
He did.
Brock was up and halfway across the room, stalking toward Slade like a bull after a red cape. Steam rushed from his ears as tunnel vision set in. Slade was in for a world of hurt.
Krista was by his side seconds later just as he came up nearly nose-to-nose with Slade.
“What did I just see you put in that girl’s drink?” Brock asked, the threads of his self-control snapping as he took in the smarmy look on Myles’s face and was forced to inhale that disgusting cologne he’d apparently bathed in before he came.
Myles rolled his eyes. The man appeared bored, but the tightening of his jaw told Brock otherwise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, dude. I didn’t do anything. Mind your own business.”
Brock snorted. He could hear his pulse thundering in his ears. A soft, gentle hand rested on his arm, and instinctively, his muscles bunched and tightened.
Myles’s eyes followed the hand before his gaze flew back up to Krista. “Are you with this muscle-bound moron, Matthews?”
Krista went to open her mouth, no doubt to try to diffuse the situation, but Brock cut her off. “She is. And I’ve seen the marks on her arms from your … interests. Leave her alone or you’ll answer to me.”
Myles puffed up his chest and took a step forward. “Are you threatening me? Are you threatening an officer of the law in front of other officers of the law? At our Christmas party?”
Brock’s eyes shifted just slightly.
Fuck.
He’d forgotten for the briefest of moments where he was and who he was surrounded by. Myles noticed the change and sneered. “You’re just a big dummy. Really, Matthews? I thought you’d go for someone with more brains than this ox.”
Brock’s fists bunched at his sides, and red clouded his vision. Cop or no cop, this fucker was going to pay. One day.
The young woman with the now drugged drink returned, equal parts fear and curiosity on her heart-shaped face. Krista grabbed her drink and then dumped it into Myles’s half-full glass.
Damn, his woman had balls.
Did he just call her his woman?
“You might want to watch your beverages around this guy, Ingrid. He’s having a hard time getting laid without a little help these days.
” She shot Myles a smug look before stepping in front of Brock.
Could she feel his need to punch, kick and maim?
Probably. He wasn’t exactly practicing his poker face.
“You going to drink your scotch now, Myles?” she asked.
Brock wanted to move Krista behind him to protect her and the baby, but the stubborn woman wouldn’t budge.
Myles’s cheeks were on fire. They had him.
Brock felt Krista shiver in front of him. He immediately placed his hands on her shoulders to ground her—to ground himself. Myles just continued to glare at her, his eyes growing fiercer and darker. They knew, and he knew they knew, that this was not his first date-rape attempt.
But Myles Slade wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Call it pride, arrogance, smugness or the true disgusting belief that he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong, the man was going to deny it.
His Adam’s apple bobbed twice in his throat before he threw his shoulders back and adopted a cocky smirk.
“I don’t know what you saw, Matthews, but I didn’t put anything in Ingrid’s drink.
” Then with a feigned look of boredom and confidence, he picked up his glass and took the smallest of sips.
Ingrid, the little civilian worker, had remained quiet and confused during it all and didn’t seem to relax in the slightest when she saw Myles drink.
She smelled it, too. The guy was garbage.
“Go find Helen and Cindy,” Krista said quietly, resting her hand on Ingrid’s arm. “They’re sitting over at our table with Allie and her wife.” With fear in her big brown eyes, the young woman nodded and scurried away.
Krista turned around and rested her hands on Brock’s chest. Her scent filled his nostrils, and his body immediately calmed. She motioned for him to take a step back, but he didn’t move a muscle, not when his woman, his child were still within arm’s reach of Slade.
“Brock,” she said through clenched teeth, “let’s not make a scene. We should probably just go home.”
“You stay the fuck away from Krista, you got that?” Brock said through his own clenched teeth, his voice a breath above a whisper.
Myles’s mouth drew up into a sinister grin. “Let’s not forget who has the law on their side. You come within ten feet of me, and I’ll shoot your fucking face off and get away with it … you got that?”
Brock stomped and motioned to lunge at Myles, his arms coming up as though he was ready to start swinging.
Krista pushed against Brock’s chest, determined to get him to move. “Just stop!”
Myles chuckled. “Fucking Neanderthal … ”
Brock’s entire body was in flames.
But before he could do anything, Krista was spinning back around, her finger right up in Slade’s face. Brock could barely hear her over the thrumming of his own pulse, but he did.
“We’re on to you, Myles. And we’re coming for you. I’m sure Ingrid wasn’t your first, and she definitely won’t be your last, you sad, desperate prick. Watch your back, because you’re mine.”
Slade’s pupils dilated, and his pallor slowly changed to a greyish green as her threat sank in.
“You are a disgusting piece of shit, and if I find out you’ve drugged other girls, I will take you down.”
Her shoulders were high, and her ribcage expanded rapidly. She was just as tightly wound as Brock. They needed to get out of there before one or both of them took a swing at Myles. Then shit would really hit the fan.
Blinking once, twice, three times and shaking loose the homicidal feeling inside of him, Brock grabbed Krista’s elbow. The woman vibrated.
No longer with concrete in his feet, he ushered them both to the door. Her elbow was on fire in his touch, and the way her nostrils flared told Brock that this woman was seconds away from blowing. He had to get her out of there.
The truck door slammed shut, and on instinct, Brock hit the lock button.
He’d gone through loads of training on bringing his heart rate back to rest within seconds and switching his focus from one target to another.
He was already calm, cool and collected again.
The same could not be said for his date.
The woman was like a jungle cat who’d just chased an antelope through the savannah for an hour.
Her chest heaved, a sexy vein along her delicate neck pulsed, and the way she bunched her fists made her knuckles glow a bright white in the darkness of the truck. She was wound as tight as a top.
Brock did the only thing he could do. He hauled her petite frame across the center console and into his lap, holding her, absorbing her anger and letting each shake and tremble of her muscles flow into him and disappear.
She didn’t say anything, didn’t even really acknowledge where she was or that she was in his lap, she simply stared out into darkness of the trees and shrubs and trembled in his arms.
He willed her to calm down, to settle. He ran his hand down her back and murmured shushes and other reassurances.
He could only imagine how she felt right now. Probably much like he did. It was never a thrill, never a good or empowering feeling standing up to a bully like Slade, threatening them and letting them know you were on to them.
And yet, he probably would have done the same thing. They couldn’t just let Slade get away with it, let him drug that poor woman or any other woman for that matter. The man was scum and deserved to be treated as such.
“What can I do?” he asked softly, weaving his hands gently into the hair at the nape of her neck and lightly turning her head to face him.
She blinked a few times as if not really seeing him, her blue eyes dark and more pupil than iris.
Her lip wobbled. “I hate him.”
“Me too.”
“This doesn’t feel good.”
“I know it doesn’t.”
“Instead it feels as though I have opened up this giant can of flesh-eating worms and they’re getting ready to wriggle and squirm their way into everyone’s lives, destroying and demolishing souls and bodies as they go.”
Well, that was graphic.
She shivered in his arms. He felt gooseflesh rise across her skin.
Shit, they’d left so abruptly, they’d forgotten to grab their coats. The truck was freezing. Her teeth quickly began to chatter. He had to get her warm. Get her home.
Delicately, he lifted her from his lap and placed her back on the bench seat, then started the truck and swung it around to the front of the resort. He rolled down his window and called the waiting valet over.
The young man was more than eager to oblige and was back in seconds with both their coats. Brock thanked the kid with a tip and handed Krista not only her own jacket but Brock’s as well. Then he rolled up the window, cranked the heat and peeled out of the resort.
They were silent for the rest of the ride home, both of them exhausted from the altercation but also digging deep into their own souls. Myles had hit all kinds of nerves and stirred all kinds of feelings. And one of those feelings had certainly been fear.
It didn’t matter that Slade was no longer Krista’s coach; this monster worked with her.
Worked with the mother of Brock’s child.
At any point in the day, she could be cornered by him, alone with him, assaulted by him—again.
And although Brock knew she was a ballsy little thing and could hold her own, Slade had proven tonight that he had no respect for the law …
or women. And Krista had poked the rapey bear, letting him know they were on to him. Slade was a problem.
He pulled into the driveway a short while later, but neither of them moved to get out. They just sat there, eyes focused on the front of the stark white garage door.
“I wanted to kill him,” Brock said finally.
“I know,” she whispered.
“You can’t keep doing this, Krista. You can’t keep doing this to me.”
Slowly, dramatically, she swiveled her head until she was staring at him. “What do you mean, I can’t keep doing this? I went on light duty just like you asked. But I’m not going to stop being a cop. This is my job.”
“I know, but Slade is dangerous.”
“You don’t think I know that?”
An exasperated sigh escaped him, and he finally let the heavy weight he’d been carrying on his shoulders all night slip off.
His body crumpled in his seat. “I don’t think you realize how close I came to putting my fist in his face tonight.
To making it so the guy would never walk again.
And I would have … for you. I would have …
for our baby. Consequences be damned.” He shook his head.
“The fact that you work with … so close with a guy like that, who has no qualms about abusing the law, hurting you, drugging women … ” He trailed off.
He pivoted to face her. “You’re killing me here. ”
“What do you want me to do? Quit?” she asked, a mite of fear in her tone.
He blinked but slowly shook his head. No, she’d hate him if he made her do that.
Resent him, possibly resent the baby. “Start thinking about more than just your job. Start thinking about you, about our baby … about me. You’re being reckless.
Irresponsible. You never should have threatened him like that.
Now he knows we’re on to him. Now he knows we’re coming for him.
What’s to stop him from going on the offensive and coming after you first?
” His chest expanded as he took in a deep and grounding breath.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you because you went all vigilante and tried to nail this guy to the wall.
You have bigger things to consider now. Other people counting on you.
I can’t be the only responsible person raising this child.
I can’t be the only person raising this child because you took matters into your own hands. ”
Her bottom lip wobbled again. But instead of breaking down, she clenched her jaw and turned to face him, conviction in her eyes. “Will you help me?”
Slowly, he nodded. “I’ll get my brothers on it.”
“What do you want me to do?” She pulled her gloves on. Now that the truck had been shut off, the seat warmers were no longer working their magic, and even Brock was starting to feel the winter chill seeping into his bones. He’d toss the furnace on as soon as they got into the house.
He unbuckled his belt. “Stay away from him.”