Page 49 of Hot Cops

Johnny shook his head. “Vinnie the Snake don’t get pissed. He gets even.”

Bella took up the tale at this point. “They took my fur coat and then they threw us in the back of this black sedan and drove us out of town. I thought they were going to kill us.” She looked at Johnny, tears streaming down her face. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

Johnny reached over and took her hand. “It’s okay, muffin. You’re here. Johnny will take care of everything.”

Riley rolled her eyes. She hated when people referred to themselves in third person. Aaron winked at her. He knew all about that particular pet peeve of hers. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Aaron thinks you look hot with mashed potatoes in your hair.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Riley’s gonna kick you in the balls if you don’t behave yourself.”

He chuckled.

“So what happened next?” Bubbles asked. Riley could see her new friend was enthralled with their adventure and hanging on the edge of her seat. “Did they beat you with rubber hoses? Bury you alive in shallow graves? Strip you naked and cover your bodies in fire ants?”

Riley gestured to them. “Jesus, Bubbles. You need to stop watching mafia movies. Look at them. Do they look like they’ve been stripped and beaten?”

Trev shook his head. “No. They didn’t do any of that. They dumped us off in the middle of the damn desert. Left us there. We spent most of yesterday walking back. Had to sleep outside last night. Kept feeling like shit was crawling on me and I’m chafed on account of there’s so much sand in my ass. First thing this morning we caught a break. A guy in a pickup truck stopped and let us ride in his truck bed. He brought us the rest of the way into the city.”

“He was taking garbage to the dump,” Bella said distastefully and Trev sighed angrily.

“It was aride, Bella. Maybe you’d rather still be walking?”

“All I’m saying is, I’m a lady. He could have offered me a seat inside the cab and moved that stupid big dog of his to the back with you.”

“You’re lucky he even stopped, you silly?—”

Aaron whistled. “Story finished?”

They nodded.

Riley suddenly thought of something. “Hey, how the hell did you plan to pay for that all-you-can-eat lunch if Vinnie and his thugs took all your money?”

“They didn’t take it all,” Bella said, reaching down her top. “I always keep an emergency fifty tucked in my bra.”

Aaron narrowed his eyes and took the damp bill out of her hand.

“Hey!” she protested.

“That still doesn’t cover your share of the destruction back at the restaurant.” Riley figured that was as much of the money they’d ever get back. The rest was riding on Aaron’s credit card until the end of the month.

Bella looked at Bubbles. “I called Louis as soon as we hit town and asked for my job back. He said you filled in for me. Thanks.”

Bubbles seemed taken aback by Bella’s sincere gratitude. She shrugged and appeared embarrassed. “Sure. No problem.”

“Johnny,” Bella said. “When I was in that car and I thought I was gonna get killed, I realized I’ve been wrong to say no to you. If you’ll still have me, I’d like to marry you.”

Johnny’s eyes lit up. “And kids?”

Bella bit her lip. “Can we maybe just do the wedding thing first? Figure out the kids later?”

Riley rolled her eyes.Oh yeah. That’s a good plan.Who gets married without talking about all the important stuff? She looked at Aaron and thought about her desire for lots of kids.Shit.

Johnny kissed Bella and the two of them stood up. “We sure can, muffin. Why don’t we go home and celebrate?”

They said their goodbyes while Riley looked around the table. “And then there were five,” she muttered.

“Jo,” Trev started. “I’ve been a dumbass.”

Johanna nodded. “You can say that again. But you’remydumbass.”

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