Chapter 19 #3
“Then we’d hunt them down, wouldn’t we? We’d skin them from arse to… Oh.”
Johnny smiled softly. “Yes. We would.”
“But Sam didn’t do anything wrong. She wasn’t like that, she just wanted to find out what they were up to.”
Johnny shushed him, tugging at his shoulder until he was perched on the edge of the bed. “And she did. We can’t undo how shit we were that night, but we can try and move on from it.”
Taylor shook his head. “How?”
“By looking after our own.” Johnny prodded him in the chest. “By never lying to each other. By telling each other when something’s wrong and not just running away from it.”
“But I’m so good at running away from my problems.”
Johnny chuckled, tilting his head and brushing his lips over Taylor’s. They were chapped as hell, but Taylor brushed back and found that he was smiling too.
“Digital penetration,” Johnny whispered.
Taylor blinked. “Sorry?”
“Nine down. Digital penetration.”
Taylor’s eyebrows pulled together as he glanced down at the crossword in Johnny’s lap. “Fingering?” he said, eyes flicking back up to Johnny.
A lazy smile pulled across Johnny’s lips, and even though he was beaten to hell he still looked so damned handsome. “I recommend it.”
Warmth spread along Taylor’s neck, and he glanced at Johnny’s bandaged fingers. “W-well, you won’t be doing any of that for a while, will you, JP?”
Johnny smirked, pulling Taylor’s bottom lip between his teeth. He let it pop out wetly, then said, “I have two hands.”
Someone cleared their throat from behind the curtain. “Can you guys not? It’s fucking disgusting.”
Johnny laughed and sat back. “Come in, Amil,” he said, leaving Taylor reeling.
“Only if you’ve stopped doing whatever the fuck that was.”
When Amil didn’t enter the cubicle, Taylor inhaled, stood, and pulled back the curtain. “It’s called having friends. You should try it some time.”
Amil looked him up and down, scoffing as he noticed the obvious tenting in Taylor’s hospital gown. “Yeah, because I kiss all my friends,” he said, huffing as he stepped into the cubicle.
Taylor followed him in. “You’ve gotta have friends to kiss ’em, dude.”
Amil scowled as he shoved a plastic bag into Taylor’s hand.
It had his emergency trousers, shirt and boots inside.
“You’re clearly well enough to be discharged,” he said, placing another plastic bag at the foot of Johnny’s bed.
“Get dressed,” he said to Taylor. “We need help at the nick.” He looked at Johnny before throwing a punnet of green grapes at him.
“Not you. You stay here and do what they say.”
Taylor looked Amil up and down, frowning. “You didn’t get the dirty mags.”
“As if I was going to buy porn on duty,” he said, shoving two bottles of energy drinks into Johnny’s lap. “Drink.”
Taylor laughed. “I just wanted to see if you’d get them.”
“Thanks, Amil, but you didn’t have to,” Johnny said, leaning back in the bed.
Taylor tutted. “If my man wants grapes, he’s getting grapes.”
Amil wrinkled his nose. “Jesus, just fuck already,” he said before ripping back the curtain and flouncing out. “I’ll see you in the car!”
Taylor snorted, watching him leave. As he turned back to Johnny his heart began pounding again.
“It’s okay,” Johnny said, tilting his head. “You can go. I’m safe here.”
Taylor swallowed and began brushing off his knees, as though having clean knees was suddenly the most important thing in the world. “I don’t want to.”
Johnny let out a breath. “You have to. I’ll be fine.”
Grumbling, Taylor poked the plastic bag. “Text me later?”
Johnny shook his head. “No phone. Smashed it, remember?”
Taylor sighed, dumping the uniform and boots onto the chair. He hesitated, gripping the trousers before pulling them on. “Then I’ll come back later, stay with you until you’re let out,” he said, hopping on the spot as he rammed his ankle through the leg hole.
“They won’t let you take up a bed.”
“I don’t give a shit, JP. I’ll sleep in the chair.”
Johnny huffed out a laugh. “Good luck with that. The matron sounds like a right ball-buster.” Johnny didn’t hide the way his gaze lingered over Taylor’s stomach as he pulled on the shirt. “Can you call in on Maman on the way home? I don’t want her hearing about it on the grapevine.”
Taylor nodded, grimacing as he yanked on his boots with no socks. “Yeah.”
He drifted towards the opening in the curtain, but stopped as he glanced over his shoulder.
Johnny grinned, a grape halfway to his mouth. “Looking for a kiss?” he said, way too smug for someone who had just been beaten up.
“Piss off,” Taylor replied, before stalking back into the cubicle, leaning down and gripping the front of Johnny’s gown. He placed a rough kiss on Johnny’s mouth, sucking his chapped bottom lip before turning and storming out.
His face was still burning as he made his way across the car park and slumped next to Amil in the passenger seat.
“That’ll be nineteen pounds, please,” Amil said, holding out a hand.
Taylor scowled and pulled on his seat belt. “Nineteen quid? Where the hell did you get the grapes, Waitrose?”
Amil frowned. “M&S.”
“Jesus, dude, I’m not made of money.”
“Bank transfer will be fine.”
Taylor grumbled, digging a hand into his vest and pulling out a crumpled ten-pound note. “I’ll have to owe you the rest.”
He pressed his forehead to the cool window as Amil started the car. “Thanks, by the way,” he muttered. “For getting to us so fast.”
Amil nodded, throwing a hand behind Taylor’s chair as he put the car in reverse. “We’re a team, right? Even if you annoy the shit out of me.”
Taylor smiled. “Yeah.”
Amil seemed even more impatient than usual as they drove through the town, his hand coming up to scratch his neck every five seconds.
“You good?” Taylor asked, tilting his head. “You seem agitated.”
Amil let out a strained sound. “I am. You’ll see why in a second.”
As they rounded the corner the station came into view, except where the road was usually clear, now it was completely rammed with police cars. “What the fuck is going on?” Taylor said, peering out the window.
Amil sighed, pulling the car into the car park. “The sarge locked up the entire block of flats. Half of Falkington are here to assist.”
“What?”
Amil shrugged. “Ask her.”
Taylor received several sideways glances from the other officers as he walked with Amil through the police station.
He counted at least fifteen prisoners, most of them fidgeting and complaining about being wrongfully arrested.
He had never seen the police station so alive, and as he reached the front of the line he saw Manders being booked in with Isla.
Taylor tried to hide his grin, but it was physically impossible.
“Look what the fucking cat dragged in,” Manders snarled, snapping his teeth as two other Falkington officers tried to pat him down.
Taylor smiled, ignoring him and turning to Isla. “Afternoon, Sargie. Why so many prisoners?”
Isla flushed, tipping her head in the direction of the back room. As she rose from her seat, Amil sat down behind the desk. Taylor had never pictured him as a custody sergeant, but now that he was there, all stern faced and zero tolerance for bullshit, Taylor thought it suited him perfectly.
“Johnny texted me,” Isla said, keeping her voice low as she opened the door. “Just before he was attacked. He told me about Sylvester’s twin—not that I believed it at first—but I was curious and I wanted a reason to process him.”
Taylor narrowed his eyes, dropping his voice even lower. “I might be a shit officer, but even I know that’s an abuse of our powers. Arresting an entire block of flats just because you’re curious—”
“Not really.” Isla spoke over him. “According to Wendy three of the assailants ran in the direction of the flats, plus Sylvester’s twin absconded when told to stop by a uniformed officer.
Due to the stress of the incident, Wendy couldn’t be sure of what the assailants looked like, so I arrested everyone in the vicinity.
Benny Pearce, Sylvester’s alpha twin, just so happened to still be in the flats when we went in.
” She grinned. “Falkington are processing him as we speak, and we found quite the haul of Love Dust.”
She held up her phone, showing Taylor a photograph of a bedroom containing at least twice the number of blocks they’d found at Jill’s house.
Taylor blew a whistle from between his teeth. “Drinks are on you later, Sargie. But why are you so interested in Benny Pearce?”
Isla looked at her nails, then back up at Taylor. “Cards on the table, no judgement?”
Taylor nodded. “No judgement.”
“As I’ve said, Sylvester’s DNA profile kept flagging up for the Reuben Atkinson case.
The Atkinson case was mine before I left CID.
It was handed over to another DC, but I…
I’ve never been able to let it go. I worked so hard to build a rapport with him, even when he went to prison.
Especially when he went to prison. I… Can I be honest? ”
Taylor nodded again.
“I rushed into becoming a sergeant. I should have waited, seen out the case and then applied for a post.”
“So why did you? If you were that passionate about it.”
Isla sighed. “I… I heard that someone in West Newton… someone else like me passed the promotion board. I thought I should strike whilst the iron was hot, you know? Take the chance whilst there was someone on the board who was tolerant of…” Her words trailed off as she looked at her feet.
“Of?” Taylor said, urging her on.
“Sigmas.”
Taylor slowly let out a breath, letting his eyes trail over her. In some ways it made sense. Why she had been so scared of pissing off the higher-ups. Why she barely had a scent. Why she could be snippy as hell when it suited her.
“Especially unmated ones,” she continued. “Because who the fuck wants to take a chance on a sigma that has no interest in finding a mate to keep them under control, right?”
Taylor hummed. “You don’t want to find a mate?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t. I don’t have an interest in sex. Like, at all. I’d like a companion or something, but nothing romantic.”
“Asexual and a sigma, huh?”
Isla rubbed the back of her neck. “Yep. Bad, right?”
Taylor shook his head. “Not bad, but… damn, girl. I could not imagine a life without sex.”
“Alright, PC Campbell,” she said, holding up a hand. “I get it. Don’t you think I want to be like everyone else?”
Taylor gave her an incredulous look. “Why would you want to be like everyone else? We’re all fucked one way or another.”
She laughed, sounding relieved. “Are you sure you’re okay to stay? I know you want to get back to John-Paul, but I could really use the help.”
Taylor nodded. “I’ll stay.”