Page 30 of Cop Blocked

He huffs. “Dude, shut up. You know as well as I do that kids love you. You’ve always done great with them.”

“They give me hives. I nearly passed out in the store because I had to buy a gift.”

“You did not.” My oldest friend chuckles.

“Oh, yes, I nearly did.”

“I’m going to ask again, do you like her?”

“That’s the kicker. I like her a hell of a lot.”

“Then give it a go. Just go in eyes wide open and know that you cannot play games with this one. If you think for two goddamn seconds that you can’t handle the kid thing, then you owe it to her to give it to her straight and walk away.”

“Christ. When did you get so fucking wise and shit?”

“Around the time I met Bri.”

Now it’s my turn to laugh. Gunner’s right, Bri, was the game-changer for him.

“It’s not that simple. I wish it was. Now I’ve even got Smitty breathing down my back and wanting to kick my ass. It seems like he doesn’t think I’m good enough for someone like her.”

“Yikes. It sounds to me like there’s more to it than that, something Smitty isn’t saying.”

“Fuck if I know. This has been fun and all, but I’m not really in the mood to talk about all this.”

“Yeah, well. We’re all here when you do. In the meantime, don’t fuck things up,” Gunner warns again.

“There’s a damn good chance I will,” I remind him.

SIXTEEN

Rachel

“Time for presents,” Zoey calls out.

I grab a seat on the sofa and pull Piper into my lap.

Dylan and Zoey sit on the floor beside Gabby and start handing her gifts. She rips through them like a tornado while Zoey reads the cards and encourages her to thank everyone.

“This one is from Uncle Logan.” Zoey opens the card and gasps. “Logan!” She quickly looks around the room, then her face falls.

“His other gift is in the garage,” Rhys speaks up. “He, uh, he needed to leave, said he had to get back to those kittens he’s been nursing.”

Zoey wipes a tear from her face and hands the card to Dylan, who grimaces and mumbles, “That fucker,” under his breath.

“Well, we’ll have to call him a little later and thank him.”

“You might want to see what else he did first,” Rhys offers as Gabby holds up a pretend set of keys.

“There’s a Barbie Hummer sitting next to my truck,” Dylan tells his wife. “He bought one with a remote control so we can help her drive.”

I have no idea what was inside the card that has my friend so worked up, but the thought of Logan picking out a hot pink power wheels car for Gabby tugs at my heartstrings.

While they finish opening gifts and move on to the cake, I decide to send him a text.

Me: How are the kittens? Piper said you named them Smokey and Lucky. I was hoping you’d stick around so we could talk.

I can’t hide my disappointment when the party ends, and I still haven’t heard back from him.

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