2.
Z ANE
I settled my ass against the side of the truck and crossed one ankle over the other to get comfortable. This part of the job wasn’t my favorite, because I hated to be bored, and doing nothing while I willed the vehicle I was looking for to appear was definitely boring.
But at least I got to hang out with my friends while I waited.
“Guess who I saw last night,” Cooper Aldredge, one of my oldest friends, said as he settled himself on the tailgate of the truck he’d parked in the spot next to mine.
His brother, Logan, was playing on his phone in the cab of the truck and warned, “You’re just gonna piss him off.”
“Just by saying that, we know it was Mindy,” Jonas said without looking up from his phone. Just like me, he was leaning against the tow truck I was driving tonight, and he looked just about as bored. He yawned loudly before he said, “Why are we supposed to care about what that bitch was doing?”
“Now, now, boys. ‘Bitch’ is such a harsh word,” Logan chided. “Besides, it doesn’t even get close to describing what a horrible person she was.”
“I don’t know what you ever saw in her,” Cooper complained. “She manages to be un-fucking-bearable on a good day.”
Jonas scoffed before he said, “When she was around, there weren’t a lot of good days. Thank God he came to his senses before she really sunk her claws in.”
“ He is right here, assholes.”
“We’re talking about you, not to you,” Jonas joked. “Are you even curious about what Mindy was up to?”
“I don’t give a shit. It wasn’t my business when we were seeing each other, and it’s not my business now. We didn’t have that kind of relationship.”
“She sure thought you did,” Logan pointed out.
Jonas laughed before he said, “She tried every trick in the book to lure him in, and none of them worked. That’s got to be annoying.”
“I should have known that was her plan after that first night. What woman leaves her bra at a one-night stand’s house?” I asked.
“One that wants a reason to come back.”
I frowned at Logan before I said, “Go ahead and whine about how I let it happen, blah blah blah.”
“You didn’t let shit happen. I think that’s why she got so pissed when you ended it.”
“Logan’s right,” Cooper agreed. “She lost her damn mind.”
“Look who’s home, boys,” I said as the car we were waiting on cruised past the intersection at the end of the block. We watched the man park and then get out and look around before he jogged into the house.
I didn’t have to tell the guys to hustle because they were already getting into their own vehicles. We’d been looking for this car for two weeks now, and the owner knew it, so he’d been taking every precaution to keep us from finding him, including staying away from home.
In my experience, no matter how vigilant people tried to be, they always slipped up somehow.
But the man didn’t have much choice in the matter today.
After creeping around his house for the tenth time in the last few weeks, Cooper smelled something that told us the guy really needed to come home.
Natural gas wasn’t something any of us wanted to fuck with.
If there was really a leak, he needed to take care of it before someone was injured or killed.
The fact that the person who reported the leak just happened to want the man to come home for a few minutes didn’t matter at all, especially after Cooper asked the neighbor who had been standing on their porch watching him creep around to come take a sniff.
We’d repossessed hundreds of vehicles in the last few years, from classics to food trucks, so the guys and I worked well together.
As I pulled ahead to get the right angle so I could back into the driveway, Logan and Jonas jumped out of the truck Cooper was driving to attach the target car to the tow gear with the heavy-duty straps.
As soon as I engaged the equipment, the system in my truck started recording and sent a signal to the body cameras that all of us were wearing, giving proof that we’d followed the rules and documenting what happened just in case something went south with the owner of the vehicle.
The guys worked seamlessly, and within seconds, the car was off the ground and secured. Logan hopped into the passenger seat of my truck, and Jonas got into Cooper’s. It took less than three minutes from the time we drove up until we were driving away.
“That guy’s gonna be so fucking pissed,” Logan chuckled.
I glanced at the rearview mirror and laughed before I said, “He already is.”
I had to give the guy credit. Obviously, he’d been working on his cardio and made it two blocks before he started to slow.
Of course, the fact that Cooper was pacing him in his truck and giving him sarcastic encouragement may have helped.
He finally stopped running and bent over to rest his hands on his knees and catch his breath, and Cooper pulled away.
The poor guy needed to gather his energy because he was going to be on foot until he found some other means of transportation.
But that wasn’t my problem.
It only took a few minutes to get back to the office.
While the guys dropped the vehicle, I went inside to check with our office manager and company super sleuth, Joan, to see if we had any other calls.
If not, we could go retrieve another car for a repossession order.
Joan’s cousin, Mai Harper, was in her office on a video call with a prospective client from the Dallas area, so I sat down in one of the extra chairs and pulled out my phone until they were finished talking.
Once they disconnected, Joan smiled at me and asked, “How did it go?”
I shrugged before I smiled and said, “Not the way he wanted, but we got the car.”
“Good. I’ll make the call to the bank and report that while you’re out getting the next one.”
“Which one is next?” I asked.
Mai frowned before she explained, “You’re gonna need to suit up for this one, buddy. It could get wild once you find it.”
“You know me. Wild is my middle name.”
◆◆◆
COURTNEY
“If you’re walking with me, I’m not going inside.”
“I guessed as much,” I replied as I pulled into a parking space near the side door of the middle school. I looked over at my fourteen-year-old brother, Dayton, and smiled before I said, “You can walk on your own, or I’ll carry your ass like a baby, but you’re going to school today.”
“Okay! I’ll go, but you don’t need to walk me inside, bruh.”
“Bruh me again, little shit, and see what happens.”
“You’re such a bitch.”
“You are not the first person to call me that, so don’t feel special,” I said as I opened my door. “Are you coming?”
“I hate you. As soon as Mom comes back, I’m going to go with her and never talk to you again.”
“Good luck with that, bruh .”
I smiled at the officer who was stopped near the reserved sign in front of my car and walked around the back to head off Dayton when he decided to run.
Was it horrible of me to consider how rewarding it would be to watch the K-9, who was standing obediently next to the officer, chase my little brother?
Probably, but since I was running on less than two hours of sleep and had been dealing with Dayton’s steadily worsening attitude since I found him walking down the street in the shadiest part of Rojo before dawn this morning, I was willing to give myself a pass.
I didn’t want the dog to attack him. Maybe just nibble on him and scare him straight. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?
Dayton spotted the cop as soon as he turned to walk into the school and did an about-face before he launched into a sprint.
Unfortunately for him, he only got a few feet before I stepped in front of him, lowered my shoulder, planted my feet, and braced for impact.
The boy thought he was for the streets, but I’d lived in them often enough that I knew he wasn’t.
Dayton bounced off of me and then pinballed between my SUV and the one parked next to us before I slammed a hand down on his shoulder to keep him still and cheerfully called out, “Officer Dumont! Thanks for meeting me here this morning.”
“It was my pleasure, Ms. Banks! I like to greet the kids as they walk through the doors in the morning.”
Dayton trudged toward Officer Dumont, his shoulders drooping and his head bowed, but he couldn’t resist flipping me the bird over his shoulder.
“Love you, too, Dayton! Have a great day in summer school.”
I got back into my vehicle and let my head fall back on the headrest behind me. I closed my eyes and sighed before I took a few deep breaths to set my mind right for what I needed to get done today while Alana was at day camp and the boys were at daycare.
It seemed like I had way too much to get completed in just a few hours, but I was nothing if not determined.
However, a steaming cup of coffee would make it a lot easier and even improve my mood, so I took off toward a shop I’d discovered a few months ago. It had the best lattes and was conveniently located next to a bakery that served nothing but sinful goodness.
As a matter of fact, I would probably be even more productive if I picked up something from there too.
It was a quick trip across town, and while the barista was making my drink, I walked through the door connecting it to the bakery and picked out a few things to eat while I worked and a bag of goodies for the kids to have after dinner this evening.
By the time I made my way back next door, my drink was waiting for me.
I decided to take some time for myself and sit in front of the window to people-watch, something I always found entertaining.
“My tattoo converts aren’t going to get any good ink colors from whatever you’ve got in that bag.
” The sexy voice I’d enjoyed so much last night sounded just as amazing as before.
When I turned around to get a look at the man, I saw he looked even more delectable than I remembered.
I smiled at him when he asked, “Mind if I join you?”
“Please do,” I said as I pushed my bag closer to the window so he had enough space to set down what he was carrying.
He must have seen me looking at the myriad of items on his tray because he sheepishly said, “Yeah, that’s all for me.”
“Of course it is.”
“You don’t seem shocked.”
“I’ve got four brothers and two young sons. Your breakfast is light compared to what a few of them can pack away.”
As the man sat down across from me, he asked, “Is one of your sons part of that sister-mama situation or . . .”
“No. I legally adopted him when he was an infant, so he’s my son. My brothers range in age from twenty-seven to fourteen.”
“The joyrider. I was wondering where he fit in because there’s no way you’re old enough to be his mother.”
“You remember him, huh?”
“He leaves an impression, that’s for sure.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose before I admitted, “When I took him to school this morning, the liaison officer was there with his K-9 partner, and for a second, I actually wished the dog would bite him.”
The man burst out laughing and asked, “If you think it would improve his attitude, I can ask my friend if he could arrange it.”
“Your friend is a K-9 officer?”
“He’s actually new to the K-9 unit, but yeah. His name is Officer Dumont, and his partner is Max.”
“You don’t seem like the type of guy that would willingly run around with cops.”
“But you let me sit down and share a table with you.”
“What can I say? I like to live on the wild side.”
“Most women like you wouldn’t be caught dead with a man like me,” he said honestly.
“What does that mean?”
“You’re all put together and perfect, and then look at me. A woman that looks like you would only give a man like me the time of day to stick it to their parents or something.”
“Put together and perfect, huh? I’m so far from either of those that it’s not even funny.” The man took a sip of his coffee and then stared at the tray in front of him, so I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t decide where to start.”
I put my arms on the table and leaned over so I could inspect his tray before I said, “Did you get those next door? I didn’t see anything like this in the case.”
“Janis set them aside for me to try. They’re some of her latest creations, so she wants me to report back on which things I liked the most and which things still need to be tweaked.”
“You’re friends with the baker too?”
“She’s part of my extended family, I guess you could say. Just like Brawley.”
“Brawley’s the police officer?”
“He is. I’ve known him all my life.” The man picked up a muffin and said, “Let’s share these, and then you can give her your opinions too.”
“You’re going to share your breakfast with me?”
He smiled at me and answered, “I’d like to.”
“Where should we start?” I asked.
“Probably with your name.”
“I’m Courtney.”
The man extended his hand, and I put mine in his as he said, “Zane Duke. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Courtney.”
“It’s nice to officially meet you too.”