Page 13 of Trial By Fire
Jackson laughed as he rubbed her back. Rolling her onto her back, he started kissing her. Fuck. It was only supposed to be a kiss to tide them over until he got back this evening. But those lips of hers had other ideas. So did her hands.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
Trish woke up with a groan as her alarm blared, letting her know it was time to get up and get ready for work. Rolling over, she knew that Jackson was already up and gone to work. For the last three weeks now, he’s been staying with her off and on.
They’d gotten into a routine once she’d given him a spare key to her house. He’d moved some of his clothes into her closet so that he didn’t have to get up earlier than needed to get ready and head to base. It was always a toss-up who made it home first. Some days it was her, some days it was him. If he was going to make it home before her, he made sure to text her to see what she wanted for dinner. If she got off before him, she would send him a text letting him know she was off and if he wanted her to pick up something, so he didn’t have to cook.
The damn man was spoiling her. Things were better between them this time around. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other. They talked more about things than they did the last time they were together. She talked to him more about her cases, bouncing theories off him, using him as a sounding board when she could. He talked to her more about the guys on theteam.They were in a real relationship this time. Last time there was no key sharing or really staying overnight at each other’s places like they were now.
She knew there were a lot of things about his job that he couldn’t talk about, but in general, she trusted him. She believed him when he told her he was working late or if they were being shipped out. She could read his eyes.
This time they were truly giving their relationship a chance. A real chance. Part of that scared her, but for the most part, it gave her hope. For her, he was it. Maybe that was moving too fast, but she couldn’t help how she felt. Part of her knew he felt the same way by his actions. But that little girl part of her was waiting for the other shoe to drop. She was waiting for him to run.
Trish arrived at work, nodding to Delbert. They were having issues with their case. They were working side by side with homicide and gangs on the little girl’s death. No one was talking though. It seemed as though everyone was afraid to talk, out of fear they were next. They had to find a way to take down this gang and rescue the other kids. Even social services didn’t want to touch the remaining girls in their parents’ custody.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Trish jumped at the voice who spoke up next to her desk. Looking up she saw Rover and two other men from his team standing behind him, all staring her down.
“Um, sorry. Mind was on the case. Wishing I could find a way to nail this son-of-a-bitch!”
“We’ll get there, tiger. Have patience. Where’s Del?” Rover asked, nodding towards his brother’s desk.
“He ran over to homicide to check in with them about the case. Seems they had something come up that was related to it. I’ve been looking over a few other things. You got something for us?”
“Yeah, there’s some rumblings going around. First, pencil dick hasn’t given you anymore problems, has he?”
Trish was startled at the question. Looking confused at Rover, it dawned on her. Well, shit. He knew Jackson. Jackson must have told him to deal with it or he would. Fuck!
“Uh, not lately. But then again, I didn’t see him around, much less paid attention the couple of times he was nearby. I think he’s chasing Conley now. She gets off on that kind of attention.” Trish shivered at the thought.
“Good. Means he got our message. If he gives you any more problems, let one of us or Delbert know. No more keeping it from us…I know you can handle yourself. We don’t trust the guy. You’re family. Not only are you Delbert’s partner and friend, but you’re also Jackson’s girl. We watch out for family. Just because we aren’t Uncle Sams’ boys anymore doesn’t mean we aren’t still connected to those still in.”
“Got it. Thank you. Sorry Jackson bugged you with that.”
“Don’t be. He should have spanked that pretty ass of yours for not telling us or Delbert about his stalking you.” Rover winked down at her, causing her to chuckle.
“You looking at my partner’s ass?”
“Seriously, Delbert? Out of that entire sentence that’s all you heard your brother say?” Trish threw a wadded-up piece of paper at her partner as she laughed, flipping him off.
“We have another body that’s tied to the Colombians,” Delbert said instead as he threw the paper back at her.
“Who?” Trish asked, looking over at her partner, worry showing on her face.
“The teacher. Her parents reported her missing a couple of days ago. They are just now figuring out that she was the one that called in about the girl.”
“Well, fuck! Looks like they are tying up loose ends. Sounds like something major is about to go down and they don’t want us to find out.” Trish sighed, leaning back into her seat frustrated.
“Sounds about right. Coincides with what we’ve heard lately.” Rover said, sitting on the edge of Trish’s desk, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“What’s that?”
Rover looked down at Trish, making her shiver from the intensity in his eyes. Made her think of Jackson’s when they do the same thing.
“Word on the street is that there’s a bounty on law enforcement officers. No one specific just yet, but any law enforcement. Female officers are to be brought to the gang alive, while male officers are to be taken out,” Rover announced his statement silencing the area.
