10. Archer
ARCHER
FIVE YEARS AGO
Realization had set in as to what we’d done.
Married.
I rolled back over to look at the gorgeous woman sleeping beside me. I should be freaking out right now, or at least trying to figure out how to get out of this mess, but I found I honestly didn’t care.
Her red hair was spread all over my pillow, and while the covers were pulled up pretty high, I suspected she was naked underneath the sheets, just as I was.
Not wanting to wake her, I moved carefully out of the bed to go to the bathroom. On my way there, I walked by my small armchair in my room, where I noticed what looked like photographs. It was too dark to see them clearly, so I swiped them and took them into the bathroom with me.
As I walked into the bathroom and closed the door, I turned on the light—which nearly blinded me—to see my face and Ace’s staring back at me from the photos.
There was no wedding dress or veil or anything else that signified that it was our wedding, as we were both in our regular clothes we had been wearing yesterday.
But an Elvis impersonator stood behind us, along with a woman I didn’t know, as we smiled for the camera.
In one photo, I was dipping her back for a kiss. Another had us in a tight embrace, smiles on our faces. The one thing all of these photos had in common was how happy we looked in all of them.
Moments of what had happened last night slowly started to come back to me, though a lot of it was blurry or vague in my mind.
Memories of me telling her I felt a connection to her and wanted to make a go of it with her—even though she was moving to California at the end of the week.
Another memory of Ace agreeing to try the long-distance thing with me for a little while to see how it goes.
We made plans to meet up next week once she got settled into her new place.
It was only a four-hour drive, so we figured we could take turns going back and forth for a bit.
Then an odd bit of jealousy raged in me about men who would see her on TV and want her. In my drunk mind, I came up with a plan outside the bar on how to remedy that—marry her.
As we walked out of the bar and headed for the taxi pickup spot two blocks away, we walked right by a wedding chapel, and I went for it.
We both laughed at the stupidity of it, but then she agreed.
She didn’t want to get a dress, insisting that if it was meant to be, it shouldn’t matter what clothes we were wearing.
I liked that, but I needed to get her a ring. Something to show people she was mine.
One perk of Las Vegas was that, chances were, right next to a wedding chapel, there would be a 24/7 jewelry store. I didn’t make much on my police salary, so I was limited on what I could get.
I bought her a beautiful ring with diamonds and rubies all around it to match her red hair. It was a simple band, no large center stone, but I figured I could add that later when I saved up enough.
Under the photos was the marriage license. The chapel had a limo that took us straight to the Clark County marriage license bureau, thankfully just before the doors closed at midnight.
With the photos in my hand, I made my way back to my bedroom after a quick pitstop to the kitchen for some glasses of water and pain meds, since we would need them in the morning for the inevitable hangover.
Deciding to go with my gut on this, I decided to try to convince Ace to stay married and see if we could make it work. I found that I wanted that very much.
I slid back into the bed and pulled her body snug up against mine. She mumbled and rolled into me. Her body then went stiff, and I looked down to see a pair of sleepy eyes on me. She smiled up at me, and that solidified that I would definitely be working to convince her to stay married.
“Good morning, wife,” I muttered to her softly.
It took her a few seconds to register what I said before her brow wrinkled in confusion. I reached down and grabbed her left hand and brought it up closer to her face, turning it so she could see the ring.
Her face went from confused to shocked to aware and recognition relatively quickly.
“I thought that was just a dream I had,” she said softly in a groggy voice.
“Nope,” I replied, holding up my left hand for her to see.
I explained everything I remembered to her, though I admitted some parts were a bit hazy. She filled in a few parts that she remembered, too, and we had a good, but nervous, chuckle at what had happened.
Then I took the conversation to a more serious direction—telling her I wanted to try it out. I wanted to see if we could make the long distance work if we could. She seemed hesitant, but I felt like I presented a good enough case to at least give it a try.
Then I presented her with my next argument that we should give it a go by devouring her body and showing her how good a chemistry we had together.
Regardless of whether or not that was what sealed the deal, it worked. She agreed to try it out with me, and I felt genuinely happy—the happiest I had felt since before my mother died.
* * *
Two days after we got married, I was still on cloud nine. Ace had spent her days while I was at work packing up her things to move. At night, she stayed with me.
Going back to work had not been fun, but there was empathy and sympathy all around from the department on what had happened with the trial. I didn’t find myself reeling in depression as much as I’d thought I would have been, but I knew Ace had a lot to do with that.
Manny, on the other hand, was still taking it pretty hard.
His brother Hector was about to come home on leave in a few weeks, and he was going to take some time off to spend with him, away from here.
They were going to go to Lake Mead , stay in a cabin, and fish.
He needed that, and I imagined his brother likely did too.
Manny had said he was on a top-secret black ops mission and was knee deep in some pretty intense shit.
A fishing trip would be good for both of them.
I put in a request to take some time off as well, but mine was to go help Ace move. I wanted to help her get settled and spend some time with her before she started her new job, even though she thought that wasn’t needed.
“You don’t need to help me move, Archer . That’s what a moving company is for,” she told me.
“Yes, but it’s my duty as your husband to help you.” I winked at her, eliciting a chuckle before she rolled her eyes at me.
Manny and I were called into the boss’s office to let us know someone from the gang unit reported that word on the street was that the Pagano Family wanted us dead so that when Joey Pagano appealed his verdict, we wouldn’t be there to testify again.
The captain was pulling us off active duty for the time being to lessen our chances of being caught in this mess. I had also asked him about Ace . It wasn’t just me. I had a wife to think about now.
Growing up, my mom and I briefly had extra police officers and security guards while my dad was running for a senate seat because an angry man had threatened my father.
Years later, my uncle Frank had told me it was because my father had slept with the man’s wife, and he blamed my father for their marriage falling apart.
Once the man saw how well-protected my father was, he decided to go after my mother.
My father—more concerned about the story making the news—had almost gotten my mother killed by not protecting her.
A week later, the man almost succeeded by shooting at my mother while she was out running errands.
A week after that, my mom and I were shipped to Georgia to stay with my aunt and uncle for the summer.
As a kid, I’d loved it, getting to spend more time with my cousin.
As an adult, I still struggled with how my father failed to protect my mother.
I wasn’t going to do that with Ace .
“You’ve got a few options,” Captain Kerrigan said. “ I can assign a plainclothes officer to follow you both, or I can put all three of you into a safe house.”
“I don’t need a safe house, but I won’t answer for Archer ,” Manny responded. “ Do we even know if this threat is real or just a smokescreen from Pagano ?”
He was right, and if it were just me, I likely would be doing the same thing he was, but I had Ace now.
I told the boss she was planning to move soon and start a new job, so we would take the plainclothes protection for now, and once she moved we could decide what to do then.
Plus , that would give Kerrigan a few more days to dig into the threat.
* * *
The next few days were a blur.
Helping Ace pack for her new job, fucking like rabbits, and looking into the threat from Pagano .
I should have spent more time on the latter.
Maybe if I had, Manny wouldn’t be dead, and I wouldn’t be sitting here at the attorney’s office signing divorce papers.
Divorce papers I didn’t want to sign but had to if I wanted to save Anna’s life.
“You sign these, and we spread the word that your marriage was just a drunken mistake and both of you regret it now,” the captain said.
“ I’ve already reached out to the Bakersfield PD , and they’ve agreed to put a plainclothes officer on her for two months, just in case Pagano’s crew suspects otherwise. ”
I hated it. With every fiber of my being, I hated it, but I knew it was the right choice. Manny was dead because of the Paganos . I wouldn’t let them get to Ace .
I signed the papers and spent the next few weeks in Georgia with my aunt and uncle, hiding out but also wallowing in my misery.
The only bright spot from that trip was hearing that any talk of killing Ace or me had all but disappeared now that Pagano’s appeal was denied. Oh , and I decided to start up a new company with my cousin and hopefully move to Georgia by the end of the year.