Kevlar to My Vest Read online

  We were both life-flighted from our small Texas town to the nearest medical center nearly an hour from our home.

  Adeline was the lucky one, recovering in a matter of months. I, however, had brain swelling and had to have a shunt placed in my head to counteract the swelling. They weren’t even sure if I’d be the ‘normal Viddy’ anymore once I woke up from my medically induced coma.

  And I wasn’t.

  I was a new Viddy. A blind Viddy.

  I had a lot of adjusting to do after that, but with the help of our loved ones, friends and family, I made it through.

  Most influential in my overall progress was the special education teacher, and mentor, Mrs. Abrams. Mrs. Abrams made me realize that I wasn’t actually ‘stupid.’ I just learned differently now.

  I was picked on a lot in high school due to my bald spot from the shunt. I still, to this day, had the bald spot. Only now, my hair is long enough to cover the eyesore.

  An especially funny comment from the hero of my audio book had me chuckling, bringing me out of my reverie of the past day’s events.

  After another ten minutes of listening to the book, my sleep timer went off, and the book quieted down into silence.

  The air conditioner was humming its usual quiet drone. The sound of my big deep freezer came on, too, making it almost impossible to hear over the sound of the two appliances.

  I was almost asleep when I heard it.

  The squeak-squeak that my kitchen window made each time it was opened.

  My heart, which had previously been thumping at a slow, steady beat, started galloping as the adrenaline shot through my blood.

  My hearing soared, making me hear the quiet rustle of fabric against fabric, as well as a spoon clink in the sink. I dropped to the floor, grabbing my phone as I dashed underneath my bed.

  I crawled as quietly as I could, pushing boxes out of the way as I went.

  Then I nearly smacked myself on the forehead as I realized I probably pushed the boxes out past the bed frame, which would surely inform whomever was in my apartment to where I was.

  Goddammit, Viddy. What the fuck were you thinking shoving all these boxes under here? I cursed myself.

  Once I was as far under as I could be, I started to rearrange the boxes before curling into a ball at the top of my bed, just underneath the headboard.

  Pulling my phone up to my chest, I said a silent prayer that the buttons on the side of the phone worked to call an emergency contact as it said it would, and held it for the allotted four seconds.

  Miraculously, it did work, and the number was dialing as I placed it against my ear.

  “Spurlock.” Trance answered tersely.

  ***

  Trance

  “Sit. The. Fuck. Down.” I seethed.

  My left hand was covering the side of my face, and my .40 caliber automatic was in my hand, pointing straight at the boy I’d just pulled over.

  “Get your hands behind your back. Now. I won’t fuckin’ hesitate to shoot you. Not after you just tried to stab me in the face.” I growled.

  “Unit 5-2. This is dispatch. Do you still need assistance?” One of my favorite dispatchers, Justice Lee (And no, she’s a mother of five… not a stripper), asked through the radio connected to my collar.

  Letting the bleeding cut on my face go, I reached across my chest and depressed the button before answering. “10-4. I need backup. 10-24. Two patients.”

  10-24 was the police code stating that I needed an ambulance. Personally, I thought it’d be easier to say that I needed a medic. The captain didn’t like when we clogged up the channel with useless chatter, though, so everything was kept to a minimum.

  “10-4. Medic 3 and a blue and white en route.” Justice Lee affirmed.

  “Don’t move a fuckin muscle. I’m serious!” I bellowed when the driver started to move up to his hands.

  He dropped back down quickly, letting his arms fall to the ground above his head.

  The girl was still in the backseat, freaking out, but at least now she wasn’t screaming.

  Radar was in the back of my squad car, going fucking nuts, which was what distracted me for the five seconds it took for me to look over at him. If he hadn’t barked, I’d have had that knife to the temple instead of it just slicing me from temple to cheek.

  Walking carefully, I dropped down until I had a knee in the boy’s back, and then cuffed him, leaving him there for the time being so I could go check on the girl.

  I was on the opposite side of the car when the boy decided to make a run for it, cuffs and all.

  Sighing, I hurried over to the cruiser, let Radar out, and commanded him to retrieve while I went and checked on the girl again.

  I heard the snarling and barking, but didn’t look up.

  Instead, all my focus was on the young teenage girl who’d been so brutally beaten that a small cramp started up in my stomach, threatening to repel its contents.

  “Honey,” I whispered softly. “My name is Officer Spurlock. You’re safe.”

  When she didn’t answer, I tried again. “Sweetheart, can you tell me your name?”

  “J-j-jenna. J-Jenna H-Hathway.” The girl sobbed.

  “Jenna, honey, can you tell me what hurts?” I asked slowly, moving the light over her body.

  “My t-tummy. A-and I t-think my foot is b-broken.”

  I had a feeling that her ‘tummy’ was actually something else, but I prayed I was wrong.

  I heard the distinctive ‘buurrrp’ of another unit pulling up, letting it’s siren chirp once. I looked up to find Loki stepping out of the unmarked with a smile on his face.

  “I passed something about 500 yards that way,” he said indicating the direction with his thumb. “I let Radar continue to play with his toy, though. You need any help?”

  His eyes were trained on my face, which I’m sure had a very nice gory effect to it. At the negative shake of my head, he nodded once and came up to the side of the car.

  His eyes darkened with rage when he saw the young girl who still had her head buried in the crease of the backseat.

  “Jenna, sweetheart. I have another officer here with me now. His name is Officer Rector. He’s going to stay with you while I go get my dog. Is that okay?”

  “Yes,” she moaned.

  I took her at her word and left just as two more cruisers and an ambulance pulled up.

  I ignored them as I took off at a slow jog towards Radar who had the teen pinned to the ground.

  Radar’s maw was at the kid’s neck, and I slowed down before coming to a stop at the kid’s side.

  “You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent...” I said as I read him his Miranda Rights.

  Once done, I called Radar to heel, stood the kid up to his feet, and walked him back to the cruiser where I practically shoved him down into the car’s backseat.

  It should be fun for him since Radar had to sit beside him.

  Although there was a divider between the two seats, he still had to stare at Radar’s eyes the entire ride to the cooler.

  The cooler was what police called jail, and this boy was going to be in it for a while.

  Not only did he resist arrest, he evaded the police, assaulted a police officer, and most likely abducted and raped a young girl.

  The boy was going away for a while, and with any luck, he was eighteen and would be there for a long time.

  “Radar, in.” I called.

  Radar went to his side of the car and got in without complaint.

  I left the door open for him just in case, and went to the side of the vehicle where they were working on getting the girl out of the car.

  “Hey man, she’s asking for you. Can you get her calm so we can get her in the ambulance?” The medic said from in front of me.

  The next thirty minutes was excruciatingly horrible. The girl was worse than I’d expected, and wouldn’t go anywhere or do anything unless I was with her.

  That was how I found myself driving the girl bac
k in my passenger seat because she refused to get in the ambulance.

  I’d dropped her off at the hospital where her parents were waiting at the ambulance bay.

  When they saw their daughter, they’d gathered her up and led her over to the gurney that the hospital staff had at the ready.

  After filling out my report, and chatting with the parents, I was physically and emotionally drained.

  Then I had twelve stitches placed in my face from temple to cheek, and I still had four hours to go on my shift.

  “What the fuck was that?” Loki asked me as he followed me to a local diner where we sat to eat.

  “What was what?” I asked curiously, handing Radar a bread roll.

  “You getting slashed with scissors. Did you not see them or something?” He asked.

  I shook my head. “Nope. The girl was moaning in the backseat, and drew my eye for a split second. I was lucky too. Then Radar barked. If I hadn’t moved, he would’ve stabbed me in the fuckin’ eye.”

  “You’re not so pretty anymore with that cut. What’ll the ladies think?” Loki goaded.

  I flipped him off and sat back with my own coffee.

  “The one that matters doesn’t even see, so how can my scar bother her?” I asked.

  “Viddy?” Loki asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah. We’re going riding on Saturday to Texas to eat at the fish place in Waskom. Want to come?”

  I’d noticed the change in my best friend since he’d taken the last assignment.

  Knew about the girl that he’d fallen in love with but refused to speak to or explain things to.

  He’d been working an undercover assignment portraying a tweaker when he’d met his ‘next door neighbor.’ They’d hit it off, but Loki was portraying a druggie, and was good at his job. Then she’d found out that he was a cop, making it even worse.

  He’d left for Florida, spending nearly a month with his family, and had just gotten back to work after his leave of absence.

  He didn’t go back into undercover work, though. Now he was a detective. He knew when enough was enough.

  He’d come back a different man. Harder. He wasn’t so easy to get along with now, either. He had a perpetual bad attitude and he refused to go out on runs. Hell, I hadn’t had him ride with me in well over four months now.

  Something was seriously wrong, and I had a feeling it had everything to do with the ex-neighbor.

  Not that he’d tell me.

  Loki’s eyes met mine, and something shifted in them. Something like guilt.

  He nodded once. “Yes. I think I’d like that.”

  Dinner was going surprisingly well for how the night had begun until I got the first phone call of the evening.

  “Hello?” I said around a mouthful of lasagna.

  “There’s someone in my apartment.” A whispered voice greeted me.

  The fork that had been in my hand dropped, clinking against the plate with a loud clatter.

  I sat forward, staring at my food unseeingly. “Viddy? What’s happening?”

  “I’m under the bed. There’s someone in my house.”

  She was speaking so quietly that I had to strain to hear her over the din of the busy restaurant.

  “Please.” She pleaded.

  With no word to Loki on where I was going, I shoved back from the table and took off, calling in backup as I exited the parking and headed towards my cruiser.

  “Unit 5-2 responding a 10-31 at the apartments South of the lake. Unit 1A. Requesting backup.” I bid urgently.

  “10-4 backup dispatched.” The dispatcher acknowledged.

  I had no knowledge of getting in the car, nor driving to Viddy’s apartment. The ten minutes in between leaving the restaurant and arriving were a blur. One minute I was letting Radar in the cruiser, and the next I was parking across three spots, two apartments down from Viddy’s.

  We went straight up to her apartment.

  I used the key she’d given me earlier that afternoon in case of emergencies, thankful that she’d done so. I was even more thankful that I’d programmed my number into her ICE-in case of emergency- contact list. I was number one. The police were number two. And Adeline was number three.

  Radar was close at my heels as I walked in the door, crouching down low just in case.

  Her apartment was completely black except for the blinking red light that indicated she had a message on her machine.

  Hitting the button on the barrel of my gun, I turned the LED flashlight on and surveyed the room.

  There was nothing there.

  Which was the case in the next two rooms I went through as well.

  I did notice that the kitchen window was open, the curtain flapping in the breeze.

  Finally, at the last room, Viddy’s bedroom, I pushed the door open to see a figure hunched over the bed.

  “Freeze!” I roared.

  The figure hunching over the bed froze.

  Reaching over with my free hand, I flicked on the light switch, illuminating the room in a bright fluorescent glow.

  And none other than Paul, Viddy’s ex, stood there.

  He was completely naked with a pair of Viddy’s panties in one hand held up to his face and his tiny little dick in the other.

  “Hands in the air.” I growled.

  “Backup. It’s me.” Loki’s voice called from the front room.

  “In here. Back bedroom. I’ve got him.” I called.

  Walking slowly forward, I took first one, and then the other hand, cuffing them quickly and efficiently behind his back. Just barely resisting the urge to slam the man’s face into the large wooden pillar that made up the bed’s footboard.

  Once done, I grabbed him by the wrist and ushered him in Loki’s general direction.

  With one disgusted snarl, Loki led him from the room.

  “Viddy?” I called eyes on the bottom of the bed.

  “Under here.” Came her muffled reply.

  Dropping down to my knees, I looked underneath to find a shit load of boxes.

  “Where under here?” I asked curiously.

  Her little hand poked out from between boxes, and I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

  “How’d you get back there?” I asked as I started moving boxes.

  Her head poked out, and my breath caught in my throat.

  Her hair was wild and untamed, just the way I liked it.

  Then, as her body emerged as she crawled out from under the bed and into my arms, my breath stalled in my chest.

  She was shaking like a leaf, and it took everything I had not to squeeze her too tightly.

  The adrenaline that was surging in my body for the second time that night, finally released, and I felt suddenly exhausted and drained.

  “You okay?” I whispered into her sweet smelling hair.

  She nodded. “Yes. Oh, God. That was horrible.”

  I silently agreed, hugging her a little more tightly.

  My hands ran up and down her back, petting her hair as it fell all the way down to her waist. It was soft. Almost like those slippery sheets that cost a mint. Satin maybe.

  Radar’s cold nose on her arm made her giggle, and she turned to embrace Radar with one hand, bringing him closer to the two of us before burying her face his thick fur.

  “She okay?” Loki said from the doorway.

  I looked up, startled, to find Kettle standing in the doorway, Adeline standing nervously behind him.

  I nodded. “She’s okay.”

  “Move so I can go in.” Adeline snapped from behind her husband.

  When he started to move, I snapped. “Stop. This is a crime scene. Go back outside until I can get her some clothes. I don’t want to contaminate the evidence by having all these people traipsing through here.”

  Adeline scowled at me fiercely, but I didn’t relent, which pissed her off. “Fine.”

  Kettle raised his head until he was staring at the ceiling. “Goddammit. This was such a good night, too.”

  “Who do I
have to kill?” Viddy whisper yelled at me.

  I looked at her strangely. “Do you mean Paul?”

  “No. Whomever thought it’d be a good idea to call my sister. My pregnant sister. My so pregnant she’s about to pop, sister. The sister who’s a raging bitch if she doesn’t get enough sleep sister.”

  “I heard that!” Adeline yelled from the living room.

  “I wanted you too, you mean bitch!” Viddy yelled from the circle of my arms. Standing up, she used first my arms and then my shoulders to push herself up.

  “Whore!”

  “Slut!”

  “Fucker.”

  “Lazy cow!”

  “Rancid vagina-!”

  Silence.

  Most likely it was because I’d covered Viddy’s mouth with my hand. Kettle probably had done the same from his end.

  “That was incredibly disgusting.” I finally said into the silence.

  “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” Viddy asked happily.

  “I don’t think I ever want to hear that one again.” I shivered.

  I sure as fuck didn’t want to be thinking of anyone’s pussy being rancid.

  “You do realize that there’re about ten cops in or around your apartment right now, don’t you?” I asked.

  Viddy shrugged and held her hand out to me.

  I took it, but I didn’t give her any of my weight.

  Walking to her drawers, I found a pair of sweat pants in the first drawer, and a t-shirt in the third, which I promptly helped her into before we left the room.

  Sure enough, there were five cops inside the living room, one being my captain. Then there were the firefighters, as well as multiple members of my MC.

  “Are they all staring at me?” Viddy whispered loudly.

  Her question elicited a smile from every face there, including her sister’s. “No, they’re not staring at you. They’re staring at the man who’s still naked and sitting on the floor of your living room.”

  “What?” She exclaimed loudly.

  “Yeah, Paul was masturbating to the smell of your panties when I got here. How’d he get in?” I asked, glaring at the man in question.

  His eyes stayed downcast, but I could see the blush stain his cheeks.

  “What the fuck?” She yelled. “You sick fuck!”