Chapter Two
Scott
In the faintly lit patrol car, I sit behind the wheel, scanning the deserted streets as I slowly drive. The occasional streetlamp outside casts a long shadow across the sidewalks.
“I'm telling you, Sarah is into me, man,” Derek says as he bites on a hamburger, sitting in the front passenger seat of the patrol car.
I smile at his obsession over a woman who I know for sure hates his guts, but Derek doesn't want to accept it. He believes that she adores him but is too shy to come to terms with it.
I'm tired of telling him to move on, that there is no future for the two of them. Since he's choosing to be blind, I'll let him learn the hard way.
“Hmm.” He sighs in satisfaction, munching on the burger, as he enjoys the taste of it in his mouth.
Suddenly, the air crackles and a female voice comes through our radio.
“Dispatch to officer McKinley. Come in.”
I reach for the device resting beside me and with practiced precision, I lift it to my lips.
“This is officer McKinley, patrolling sector five. All quiet on my end. Shift ends soon. All clear for handover. Over.”
Derek pauses the at sound of the voice of the woman he has a huge crush on. He swallows hard, suddenly unnerved.
“Copy that, officer McKinley. Over,” Sarah says and adds almost immediately, “Oh, and Derek…”
His eyes widen as he sits up eagerly.
She continues, “stop sending me flowers at work.”
I turn to him, controlling my urge to laugh.
“Okay, but so we're clear, I can send you flowers at home then, right? Got it.”
“No, no…that's not what I meant.” The words burst from her in a rush.
“I’m not going to stop until you accept me, baby.” Derek wiggles his brows with a smile.
I hear her let out a frustrated groan. “You know what? I can't do this with you right now.” She switches back to cop mode. “Officer McKinley, do keep me posted.”
“Will do, dispatch. Over and out.” I laugh lightly, combing my fingers through my crew-cut brown hair.
The call ends and Derek glowers at me.
“See, I told you. She likes me,” Derek says with his mouth full.
I scoff at him as I slowly drive into the next street. My eyes widen when I see a woman lying shuddering on the ground. She’s being held at gunpoint.
“Shit!” Derek exclaims softly.
Knowing my partner, he didn't exclaim because there is a damsel in distress who needed saving. His exclamation is a testament of his displeasure at the fact that he's having to handle trouble when his shift is almost over.
I turn the siren on and speed up to the scene. The mugger looks in our direction and tries to take off.
Derek might be annoying most times, but he is very athletic and fast. He bolts out of the car before I bring it to a halt.
“Freeze!” he commands as I step out of the vehicle. “Don't you fucking move.”
The mugger stops in his tracks at the sound of the gun being cocked.
“Hands where I can see them.” I walk past Derek with my gun ready to shoot should the mugger try anything stupid.
He raises his hands and I see his pistol.
“Drop the gun,” I instruct him, but he is hesitant.
“You heard the man. Drop the fucking gun!” Derek chips in, still pointing his own weapon at the criminal.
He drops it and I add, “Now, kick it away.” He obeys without turning back to look at us.
“Cuff him,” I say to Derek and he carefully walks over to the mugger while I keep him at gunpoint.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” Derek reads him his rights as he pulls him down to his knees and cuffs his hands behind him.
I walk over to the girl standing coldly by the wall. Her face is concealed by the shadows at the corner of the building.
“Are you all right, ma'am? Are you hurt?” I ask her with a smile.
As she steps out of the shadows and I see her face, my smile becomes something of a surprised expression. She’s so beautiful.
“I’m fine, thank you,” she replies with a grin that reveals her cute little dimples.
She walks up to me and adjusts her jacket. The girl is petite and lightly tanned. Her brown eyes shimmer golden under the streetlights.
“Hey, Scott!” Derek's voice steals my attention as he halts beside us with the mugger in his hold. “What do I do with this guy?”
I forcibly pull the mask off his face and my countenance falls.
“He's just a kid,” Derek declares, as surprised as I am.
The boy is no more than seventeen years old. He has a big build that can make one think he's an adult until they don't see his face.
I sigh and shake my head. “What's your name, kid?”
“Matt…Matt Franklin,” he stutters.
“All right, Matt. You're in trouble now, you know that, right?” I ask, detesting the fact that a kid his age was involved in something like this.
“Oh, man, mom's going kill me,” he grumbles. “I wasn't going to shoot her, I swear. The gun's not even real,” he confesses.
Derek takes the weapon and examines it for a while.
“It's plastic,” he says to me. “Fake.”
“You tried to rob me with a plastic gun? You've got some nerve, kid.” The girl frowns at him and I can tell that she's pissed.
“I'm sorry. I just needed some money,” he pleads.
“Then get a job, asshole.” Derek taps the back of his head.
“Gimme your phone,” I say to him, but he shrugs to remind me that he's cuffed and can't move.
I search him and take out his phone. I hit the power button and the screen lights up, but I don't have access.
“Password,” I request.
“Fuck you.”
“Excuse me?” My brows rise and I almost punch him in the face.
Derek, however, slaps him on the back of his head again.
“That's the password!” he yells, “The password is ‘fuck you’.”
“Oh,” Derek says as I type it in. It opens.
“I'm calling your mother,” I say, scrolling through his contacts and he immediately panics.
“No, please don't. I'm begging you. She'll kill me!”
“Oh, is that so?” Derek is sarcastic. “Then you’ll have to come with us to the precinct.”
“Take him away,” I say and Derek nudges him forward.
“Move your ass, boy.”
“Does this mean you're not going to call my mom?” the kid asks as Derek forces him into the back of the car and slams the door shut.
“Is this the part where you ask me to come with you to the precinct so you can take my statement?” she asks.
I smile. “I'm definitely going to have to take your statement, but coming with us to the precinct is your choice. Do you want to come with us?”
She looks at me and says, “I'm good, thanks.”
“Scott, you coming?” Derek asks me.
“I’ll meet you back at the precinct,” I reply and he circles over to the driver's seat.
I watch him drive away with the red and blue lights flickering in the darkness of the night.
“So, I guess we're doing this now,” she says to me.
She's shivering from the cold and maybe hasn't recovered from the experience, even though she now knows it was a boy that almost made away with her stuff…with a plastic gun.
“Yes, we are. Remember, it was your choice to stay here,” I reply. She probably would have been more comfortable in the warmth of the precinct.
She sighs. “All right. Let's just get this over with.” Her soft brown eyes go to the ground.
“What's your name?” I ask, taking out a notepad.
“Liz… I mean, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Jones. Everyone calls me Liz.”
“Any ID for me to look at?”
She reaches for her purse and takes out her ID before flashing it at me. I glance at the photo on the ID. She looks a bit younger but it’s her all right. I take a moment to look her over. She’s adorable, if I’m being honest. She’s five foot five, lightly tanned, with dimples, and blonde hair that falls in ringlets. Maybe it’s because she’s small, but I feel myself getting a bit protective.
“Okay.” I scribble her full name down on the notepad. “Liz— I can call you Liz, right?”
She squeezes out a smile and I continue.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Err… I was having a drink at the bar.” She points toward the building. “This guy walks up to me, we talked, and were heading to his car when the incident happened,” she explains.
“This guy you mentioned, where is he now?” I ask.
“He left me and ran away.”
I pause, a bit pissed. “He ran?” I ask, needing to be sure that I heard her correctly.
“Yes.”
“Okay. One last question so you can be on your merry way,” I say to her after noticing that she's freezing and is obviously tired of my questions. “What's your address?”
She goes silent for a moment.
She's thinking about her reply, which means that she's about to either tell a lie or conceal the truth.
“Uhm…” she swipes a hand over her blonde hair and scratches her scalp for a moment.
I've been in the line of work for a long time, and I can tell when someone is stalling.
“I uh…” She swallows. “I’m sort of new in town, so I don't have an address for now. But I'll find a place to stay for tonight.”
“So, you're stranded?” I ask, concern coloring my gaze.
“Yeah…something like that,” she drawls lazily. “I was supposed to stay with my cousin when I got here, but I can’t reach her.” She blows warm air into her palms.
It's freezing out here and she's shivering.
“Do you know where she lives?” I probe.
She looks almost sheepish when she shakes her head. “I know she lives in the city,” she offers.
I hold back from wiping a hand down my face. “Why would you come here without knowing where your cousin lives? What if she couldn’t accommodate you?”
She’s almost pouting with remorse at this point. “I have money. I was going to get a place to stay after tonight.” Her voice is small.
I sigh deeply. I didn’t mean to make her feel worse. “Okay, how about a hotel? The nearest one is still another couple of miles from here, but I can drop you off,” I say to her.
She glances up at me for a second and then looks away. I don’t think she likes my idea. I press my lips together, watching as she shifts from foot to foot nervously.
“Maybe I should have gone to the precinct after all. Homeless people and drunks get to sleep in a cell right? That’s where you put people who’re too drunk to give you info, isn’t it? Maybe you could just pretend I’m one of those folks,” she suggests.
I balk at her words.
“I can’t do that.” Damn.
“Oh, okay,” she mumbles.
“You could crash at my place for the night,” I offer, unable to leave her stranded like this.
I see the hesitation in her eyes after my proposal. It is evident that she wants to come, but I think she's afraid. I guess she has every right to be.
“The last guy that offered me a place for the night ran off on me when that mugger attacked,” she says.
Oh, so that's why she followed him to his car. Makes sense.
I understand now why she's skeptical. She's young and beautiful, and naive too. I can't leave her in the street like this, not in this cold weather. I couldn't live with myself if I did that.
“I'm a cop. You're safe with me,” I promise.
She's wary and hesitant, but I promise that I won’t leave without her.
“It's cold out here, Liz. Let me help you.”
She ponders that for a while before she gives in.
“Okay. But I promise that I'll be out of your hair by tomorrow morning.”
“All right.”
I lead the way and she follows behind me.
“Aren't you supposed to report back to the precinct or something?” she asks.
“Don't worry about that.” I smile at her and take out my phone.
I dial Derek's number and ask him to cover for me with our shift commander because I can't make it back to the precinct tonight.
“See,” I say, hanging up my phone. “All taken care of.”
She smiles faintly.
“You're in luck,” I say to her.
“How so?” she asks.
“My place is just down the street. It’s a couple of blocks from here.”
She grins at me, but I can tell that she's not comfortable. The jacket she's wearing doesn't seem to be shielding her from the cold.
I unzip mine and stop before her, prompting her to look at me suspiciously.
“Relax.” I grin. “It's just my jacket.”
I fix my eyes on her to help calm her down as I gently put the jacket over her shoulders.
“There.” I step away from her and move on.
She slips into the jacket and rushes to catch up with me.
We get to my place and we climb up the short flight of stairs to the penthouse after leaving the elevator. I say to her, “Brace yourself. I live with my brother.
Her eyes widen and I hurry to reassure her. “But don't worry, he's the easygoing one of us. You two will get along just fine.”
My voice bounces back against the walls as I talk.
We get to the door and the moment I open it, we're greeted by the sound of a video game. My brother’s not alone. Our friend and neighbor, Lucas Abenson is with him. They are busy watching the screen with their fingers darting across the controllers.
I call out to them ,but they are too engrossed to hear my voice.
“Guys!” I speak louder and the game immediately pauses this time.
“Hey, bro!” Callum says, turning back to look at me. “Oh shit!” He rises off the couch at the sight of Liz.
Her eyes widen at the sight of him as well and I smile lightly. Yeah… that’s usually the reaction.
My younger brother, Callum McKinley, looks a lot like me. Tall, tan, and wearing my whole face. He’s covered in lean muscle, has long hair, and eyes that are a softer blue than mine. A combination that gets him all the ladies… which is something I don’t share with him.
“Oh. You brought a… friend.” Lucas turns as well, his usual broody expression tinged with slight confusion as he sets eyes on the girl with me. I understand his confusion. Apart from me never bringing women home, she’s quite young. Not exactly up my alley.
Lucas Abenson is equally tall and muscular, but he's lightly tanned with a pair of green eyes and very light blonde hair.
“Guys, this is Liz. Liz, meet my brother, Callum, and our neighbor slash friend, Lucas.”
“Nice to meet you, Liz,” Callum says, friendly as always. He offers her his hand to shake.
When it gets to Lucas, however, he just eyes Liz. “Lucas Abenson. The neighbor,” he says.
Liz balks a bit at Lucas’s frosty introduction.
“And I'm Callum,” my brother says, dramatically sketching a bow. “At your service, ma'am.”
Liz stands there, blushing and smiling. I can tell that she's feeling a bit more at ease now. Callum tends to have that effect.
“Welcome to our humble abode, Liz.” Callum glides over to the couch and settles there.
She smiles at my brother, clearly grateful for the knucklehead’s silly presence.
But there are still a couple of loose ends that I need to tie up.
“What were you doing out there, Liz?” I ask and the smile on her face gradually vanishes.
She stares at me without a reply. Maybe the question had caught her off guard.
“Where are you from?” I ask.
She is quiet for a moment before saying, “A small town up north.”
“Okay. Does your town have a name?”
Again, she's quiet.
“Why are you stranded? What about your parents?”
She still doesn't say a word.
“Okay, Mr. Investigator. Time out.” Callum comes to her rescue. “The lady is clearly tired and needs to rest.”
He's right. I shouldn't be insensitive.
“Eat first, ask questions later.” Callum sits beside her. “What would you like to eat?”
“I thought you said to ask questions later,” I joke dryly.
My brother rolls his eyes at my humor and laughs.
“Anything is fine,” Liz says, a small, tired smile on her face. “My priority had just been a roof over my head and food later.”
Callum raises a brow at me and I fill him in. “Liz here is looking for a place to rent.”
She's a runway. She has to be.
“Oh, there's an empty room if you want to rent it,” Callum says to her, quick to offer help.
“And,” I cut in, narrowing my eyes at my brother, “there's a vacant apartment next door. In case you’re more interested in that.”
“Thank you.” She flashes her dimples at me with a grin that forces me to reciprocate the gesture.
I stare at her as Callum engages her in a conversation without asking any personal questions. She seems to be getting along with him just fine, and he is obviously intrigued by her.
Lucas, on the other hand, seems more cautious.
I can't shake the feeling that I had just opened a new chapter in my life by offering to bring her home.
What have I gotten myself into?