Chapter Twelve.
Hayden
“I want to press charges; she broke my nose,” Foxy yelled as she was dragged from the wagon and into the station.
“I didn’t see shit apart from you bitches trying to strip naked in the street,” I retorted. I slammed Foxy against the wall as more of her club was brought in.
“She called you her man,” Foxy muttered. “I’ll pay you a thousand to make these charges disappear.”
“What the fuck? Add the act of bribing a cop,” I yelled out to the booking sergeant. He nodded and glowered at Foxy.
“Stupid bitch, move, fancy trying to bribe one of the sincerest cops in the station,” he said.
“He isn’t honest if he’s fuckin’ a Royal Harlot slut!” Foxy shouted as she pushed back against me and tried to headbutt me.
“Ain’t fuckin’ her yet, but I will be, so don’t call my woman a slut,” I said and shoved her harder than needed into the wall again. Foxy spat, and I moved just in time as she attempted to kick backwards.
“Floor her,” Cassidy said, appearing, and both of us floored the spitting, vile woman and hogtied her ankles. She still bucked, but together we carried her into a cell and set her loose before slamming the door shut. Foxy flew at it, kicking and punching it.
“Jesus. Bad, bad-tempered bitch,” Cassidy said as we walked away.
“Ain’t she just. Your woman?” Cassidy asked.
“I like Sapphire.”
“That’s more than likely if you called her your woman,” Cassidy replied.
“As long as I stay clean and don’t compromise my ideals, what does it matter what Sapphire does?” I said defensively.
“To those of us who know you, no. But for the rest of the station, appearances count. Wylde, you just made a hell of a statement in there and in front of the station’s biggest gossip.”
“Then I’ll prove myself,” I responded.
“You need to keep everything visible and by the book,” Cassidy stated.
“I ain’t dirty, never have been and never will be!” I exclaimed loudly.
“Glad to hear that,” Hatton said as he walked past us. “Keep it that way, detective.”
I shook my head and headed back to my desk. Fuck what people thought, I was a good cop, and if anyone had any doubts, they could come and see me!
Sapphire
“Interesting, wonder if his father knows Mr Squeaky Clean is in here?” I asked Tinkerbell.
“Very much doubt it,” Tinkerbell replied as we both gazed at the mayor’s son, currently putting a twenty into a male stripper’s thong.
“Mayor Bauserman will shit a brick, his only son in a male strip club,” I said.
“Teddy’s his pride and joy; I often felt sorry for him. Bauserman put a lot on him to conform and be the perfect politician’s son. He was a nice kid who became slowly withdrawn over time, but because of Bauserman, he remained popular,” Tinkerbell explained.
“You knew him as a kid?”
“Yeah, we were good friends once. But I wouldn’t have pegged him as gay or bisexual.” Tinkerbell frowned.
“Think he’s acting out?” I asked, and Tinkerbell shrugged.
“God knows. He’s not exactly hiding who he is, is he?”
“No, which makes me wonder. Is he here to spy or just embracing his sexuality?” I mused.
“Yeah, it’s a worry. Teddy has bucked his father’s wishes several times.
He’s a nice man, quiet, keeps to himself; he refused to marry two women that Bauserman picked for him.
Even better, Teddy rebelled and rejected Bauserman’s Ivy League University and went to one of his choices.
And he declined point-blank to study politics.
Even worse, Teddy became the ultimate freelance photographer, which Bauserman hates. ”
“Why?” I asked, curious now.
“Because it’s not steady work, but Bauserman has no idea just how famous Teddy is. He’s never paid attention to his career. Teddy charges huge sums to film and photograph those extreme adventurers who take daring risks. You know those who jump off mountains into waterfalls and so on.”
“Doesn’t sound like he’s scared of much,” I said.
“No,” Tinkerbell said thoughtfully and tapped her chin. “He’s not. Considering the world views him as a quiet, unassuming man, Teddy’s got a core of steel not most see. Nobody would link him to being an extreme photographer. He also goes into dangerous places, such as war zones and the .”
“You sound a little starstruck,” I pointed out, and Tinkerbell grinned.
“I always had a crush on Teddy, but I was from the wrong side of the tracks. And the incorrect sex, apparently.”
“He’s a good-looking man,” I commented, and Tinkerbell nodded.
“Trouble,” I said, looking at a table with a hen party on.
Tinkerbell nodded. “Security has already clocked them. They’re watching,” she said and pointed to four of the security guards close by.
“They’ve been pushy all night,” I said, and Tinkerbell agreed.
“There’s always some entitled bitches each night. They soon learn a harsh lesson. Hands off means exactly that. There we go.” Tinkerbell nodded. A blonde woman leaned over and grabbed a dancer who’d been close to the stage.
He attempted to step back, but the woman hauled herself up on stage and grabbed his cock.
He knocked her hands away as two security guards swarmed the stage and dragged her down.
The rest of the hen party were cackling and heckling the woman.
Security yanked her off stage and gave her a firm talking-to.
She clearly wasn’t paying attention when she reached down and grabbed a security guard’s package.
Without a blink, she was yanked out of her chair, slammed over the table, and her hands were yanked behind her. The women all rose and began shouting, so the rest of the security team moved in. Within moments, the women were subdued, and Tinkerbell and I had made our way down to the floor.
“Are you pressing charges?” Tinkerbell asked the dancer and guard.
“How the fuck can you press charges? He’s a stripper!” the first bitch shouted.
“It states clearly that the dancers are not to be touched. You would have read the rules and signed a release when you came in. Luca is not a piece of meat but a dancer,” Tinkerbell said.
“He’s a male whore. A piece of meat!” the woman shouted.
“You’re pressing charges, Luca,” I ordered, and the dancer nodded, his jaw locking in place.
“Damn right, I am.”
“You too, Benny,” Tinkerbell said.
“Sure thing, boss, Josie called the cops,” the security guard said to a woman.
“Called them the moment she grabbed Luca,” Josie replied. Benny nodded.
“Put them in the holding room,” Tinkerbell said.
“Will do, boss,” Benny replied and began marching the woman he was holding off.
“Luca, take a break. Are you okay?” I asked. Luca was twenty-three and studying to be a nurse. He worked here at night to pay his way through college.
“Yeah, sadly it ain’t the first time nor will it be the last,” he said as he walked off stage.
“Incidents have dropped since it got around that we would prosecute?” I asked about checking with Tinkerbell.
“Yeah. We have one incident a week now. It’s not several times a night like it used to be. Three weeks of having bitches arrested soon sends a message,” Tinkerbell replied.
“Good. I hadn’t seen anything in the reports,” I responded, and Tinkerbell nodded.
She’d turned what had been a sleezy female strip club into a respected, clean, male strip club. We were dithering about opening a female one. There were some good dancers out there, but the women were just bitches to deal with.
“Look right,” I said as Teddy stood up when some uniformed officers stood up.
“Grab him!” Tinkerbell murmured and shifted forward.
Before Teddy could capture the attention of the officers and no doubt have it get back to his father, Tinkerbell locked lips with him.
My eyes widened when, instead of pushing her away, Teddy hauled her in close and kissed her soundly. That was not the action of a gay man. Was he bisexual? Either way, the kiss was hot, and Tinkerbell was plastered to Teddy’s lean, muscled body.
“Stop rescuing me, Tink,” Teddy said when he released Tinkerbell.
“Take him out the back,” she ordered as she turned him around so the cops couldn’t see him.
“Tink, I mean it,” Teddy warned, and she shoved him towards me before heading towards the cops.
“Come on, Teddy. Let’s get you out of here,” I said, and Teddy made a frustrated noise.
“She needs to stop rescuing me,” he said to me.
“You know something?”
“What?” Teddy asked.
“You’re the only person I’ve ever heard call her Tink and she’s not ripped their heads off. Even we call her Tinkerbell,” I replied.
A slow smile crossed his lips before Teddy caught me watching him closely. He wiped the smile and assumed an expressionless face.
“Don’t hurt her,” I ordered him as we approached the rear exit.
“That’s the last thing I’d ever do,” Teddy promised and headed outside. I watched him get into a car before he drove off. Well, now, that was an interesting night.
Hayden
This was not how I’d planned to spend my night.
Freezing my balls off watching a warehouse for an illegal shipment.
We’d got word from the informant line that the Royal Harlots were getting a delivery of drugs, and we’d also been given the location.
I’d been sitting in my car for three hours now with Cassidy.
“This is bullshit,” he muttered, not for the first time.
“We’ve gotta act on the tip-off.”
“And if we arrest Sapphire?”
“Then she’s not who I thought. And she fooled me with her alleged aversion to drugs.”
“Can you arrest her?” Cassidy pushed.
“In the blink of an eye, if I capture her drug running,” I promised.
Cassidy nodded and then sat up as a large truck arrived. It backed up to the warehouse loading bay that we’d been watching, and the driver jumped down. In the one light above the warehouse door, I saw a woman exit. Shit, that was Sparrow.
“Do we go in yet?” Cassidy asked.
“No. She could claim that the driver had the wrong warehouse. We need to let them take the delivery in and catch them with it,” I replied.