Page 24 of Cop Blocked

My heart squeezes in my chest. What is this man doing to me?

Me: Are you keeping them?

Logan: I guess I am. I think they kinda like me.

Unfortunately, I do too.

THIRTEEN

Logan

Iwalk into the break room at the start of my next shift to grab a cup of coffee, and I’m greeted by Smitty and Rhys.

“Walsh,” Smitty grunts as he pours himself a cup of coffee.

“Smith.”

He huffs back, “Don’t be a dick.”

Someone has clearly peed in his Cheerios today.

“Didn’t know I was being a dick. You addressed me, I responded. What crawled up your ass and died?”

“My Gabby’s birthday party is tomorrow afternoon. Zoey is losing her ever-loving mind about it, and she won’t let me distract her. The kicker? She’s on my ass to make sure that you show up. Don’t ask why. I don’t have a damn clue, but you better not stand us up. I swear on all that is Holy, I will come to your house and drag you to my place.”

“Calm down, man. Seriously.” Rhys steps in and bumps into Smitty, on purpose. “By tomorrow night, you’ll be buried balls deep in your girl, and all will be right again in the world. Cut the rookie some slack.”

“Jesus Christ. You two are assholes. I’m not a damn rookie. I don’t need to know about what y’all do in your bedroom. And, Smitty, don’t be jealous that your wife likes me better than you.” I know I’m poking the bear with that last line, but Smitty deserves it. Plus, I have no idea why his wife is so damn insistent that I show up at this birthday party. Not that I hadn’t planned on it anyway. I’m not a complete dick. I accepted the invite. I’ll show up. It’s what I do. These guys are as much my family these days as the Defcon crew.

Smitty charges at me and puts me in a headlock before I can retaliate. Blame it on lack of coffee, since the asshole has essentially monopolized the coffee pot since I walked in the break room.

“Break it up!” Our Lieutenant walks in and barks at both of us.

Before Smitty lets me go, I give him a quick elbow in the gut for good measure then turn the blame on him. “He did it.”

Rhys snickers, Smitty grunts, and Lieutenant Cassel shakes his head at us. “Some days, I feel like I’m dealing with a bunch of children,” he says before handing all of us a stack of papers. “You boys have paperwork and OSHA compliance stuff to take care of. Get it done today.”

We all groan but take the stack of papers.

“One more thing. Don’t forget that we’ve made some changes to the schedules per our last union meeting. Rotating shifts begin next week. Every thirty days, we’ll be switching between days and nights. As long as you all can continue to handle it, you can work among yourselves to fill in which days or nights you’ll be working. I need final schedules by Friday.”

We all offer some form of acknowledgment before scattering to find a place to work on the forms.

“Four more pages of bullshit.” Maureen, the only female on this shift, sighs and kicks her feet up on the table, several hours later.

“Four, what the fuck did you do, steal the answers from someone?” Smitty damn near pouts.

“No asshole. I’ve been working on this shit all week, you know since boss man dropped it in our baskets.”

“Always the good little student.” I flip her off and turn my head back to my paperwork.

A paperclip pings me in the forehead. “One of these days, you’re gonna regret pissing me off, Walsh.”

I snicker back at Maureen. “Doubtful, you’re like a feisty little Leprechaun. I’m not worried, I’ve dealt with worse.”

Rhys and Smitty both laugh. Maureen glares at me before standing up. “I need some fresh air. Too much testosterone in here.”

“Fuck, it’s hilarious when she gets huffy,” Rhys says as she walks away.

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