I was careful, super careful, always.
As I was now. I was going just under forty.
Shit.
I pulled to the side and the cruiser pulled to the side behind me.
Then I watched in my mirror as Officer Rowdy Crabtree sat in his cruiser for a couple of minutes talking on the radio. Then my rapidly beating heart slid up into my throat as he opened his door and folded out of the vehicle.
My window was already rolled down so I didn’t take my eyes off the mirror until I lost sight of him at the side of the car. It was then I turned my head to the window.
I got him when he arrived at my window where he immediately bent at the waist, his shades hit mine and I smiled.
“Hi Officer,” I said.
“Miz Walker,” he did a mini-dip of his chin, “license and registration.”
“Can you tell me why you stopped me? I was a mile under the speed limit,” I replied.
“License and registration.”
Shit. Shit. Fucking shit!
I turned to my purse, grabbed my license then bent to the glove compartment and found the registration. Then I turned back to him and handed both out of the window.
He studied them, as cops do. Then he looked down his nose at me while I peered out my window up at him.
“My understanding, Miz Walker, is that you are now a resident of the state of Colorado.”
“Um… I am.”
“Plates on your car say Texas.”
Shit. Shit. Fucking shit!
Was that bad? Could I get a ticket for that? A fine? Didn’t I have a window to get that shit done?
I didn’t know. I wished I knew.
“Driver’s license is from Texas too,” he went on.
“Uh… well, I just moved here not too long ago –” I started but he cut me off.
“I do know that, Miz Walker, but vehicle registration, plates and driver’s license should declare the proper information, including address. You live in Colorado, these should state Colorado.”
“Okay,” I told him. “I’ll see to that on Monday. I have the day off. Won’t be a problem.”
“Monday isn’t now, Miz Walker,” he replied.
Dick.
He was fucking with me; I knew it, just because I was married to who I was married to.
The thing I didn’t know was just how much he intended to fuck with me and from what happened to Ty and what Tate said, the how much could be a whole lot and none of it I would enjoy.
And worse, Ty would lose his mind.
I opened my mouth to speak but saw another cruiser heading our way and I didn’t like that. Carnal wasn’t a big town when it came to it but the town was one thing and the city limits another. The Police Department had a big area they covered that went beyond the town proper, out across the valley and up into the hills where there were quite a number of developments, homes, ranches and even some businesses. This meant the Department didn’t just have Andy and Barney keeping an eye on things. They had manpower and seeing as they’d played Ty the way they’d played him, I’d paid attention to this manpower and noticed there seemed to be a lot of it, not just cruisers but also plainclothesmen with badges on their belts I saw in the grocery, at La-La Land coffee, in the bakery, in the sandwich place.
They were all over and they seemed to make a suffocating point of being very visible.
Like now.
It made matters worse when the second cruiser slowed and swung a wide u-ey to come to a halt behind Crabtree’s.
This did not bode well. One Carnal uniform and that uniform being Crabtree was bad enough, I didn’t want to have to deal with two.
My heart started racing harder as the adrenalin surge spiked and my hand inched toward my purse with my mind on my phone as I kept my eyes out the window then I looked up to see Crabtree had his head turned to the cruiser and his jaw was hard.
Hmm. That was interesting.
I looked to my side mirror and saw a uniform get out, one I’d seen but didn’t know.
“Got this, Frank,” Crabtree called but I kept my eyes to the mirror and watched the second officer continue to approach.
“Need a quick word, Rowdy,” he stated when he got closer.
“In the middle of somethin’, man,” Crabtree replied.
“Need a quick word,” the one called Frank repeated.
“I said, in the middle of somethin’.” Crabtree was getting impatient.
Frank came to a halt a couple of feet from Crabtree and I turned my head to look at him.
“And I said, need a quick word,” Frank returned, his voice low and tight.
Crabtree made an irritated noise and Frank’s shades dipped down at me then he gave me a chin lift.
“Ma’am,” he said.
“Officer,” I replied.
“We’ll have you on your way in a minute,” he informed me and I hoped that meant good things.
At that, Crabtree stalked angrily back to the cruiser and Frank followed him.
I turned forward and waited, eyes glued to the mirror because they were nose-to-nose and it didn’t take a behavior specialist to see the conversation wasn’t about who was going to bring the beer to the Department picnic that weekend.
This lasted awhile, long enough for Crabtree’s face to get red and my heart, already hammering, hammered harder and my skin, already tingling, tingled faster because he was already a dick, I didn’t need to be dealing with an angry dick.
Then Crabtree stepped back, thrust my stuff at Frank, Frank took it and Crabtree stomped to his cruiser. He was in and had it fired up, reversing and nearly clipping Frank who was walking to me as he squealed out and my head turned to watch as he drove thirty yards then did a hair-raising u-ey and sped back into town.
By this time, Frank was at my door and I stopped craning my neck out the window to stare after Crabtree and tipped my head back to him.
He was offering my license and registration to me.
“There you go, Lexie,” he said quietly and I blinked behind my shades at his use of my name but my hand drifted up and I took the documents. “May wanna see to gettin’ to the DMV soon’s you can.” He was still talking quietly.
I nodded and whispered, “Okay.”
“On top a’ that is my card. You get…” he paused then finished, “any further attention, I’m askin’ you to call me. Not Ty. Not Tate. Me.”
What the hell?
“Uh….” I mumbled.
“Smart way to play it,” he kept talking quietly, “not to rile your man or the ones got his back.” I stared at him, stunned he had this info as he paused then finished, “I think you get me.”
I didn’t.
“I can’t keep things from my husband,” I told him.
“They play with him, he’ll deal. They branch out to you, what’s he gonna do, Lexie?” he asked, gave me a second and then advised, “Think about that.”
What I thought was, if Ty knew they were playing with me and I didn’t tell him, he’d lose his mind. He would, of course, lose his mind that they were playing with me but he’d lose his mind more if he knew I’d endured it, didn’t tell him and contacted Officer Frank, a man in a Carnal PD uniform I did not know but I did know I couldn’t trust.
Ty knew I could take care of myself, he knew I knew the score and he knew I had his back. He wouldn’t like it if this continued happening but he’d deal. If I kept something from him, he might not.
This, I wouldn’t know until hours later and events that led to heartbreak, was a very bad decision.
At the time, I just nodded because I was beginning to shake and I needed to get home.
“I have perishables in the car,” I told him softly.
He nodded. Then he said, “Sorry, Lexie. Really sorry.” He tapped both hands on the edge of my window and finished, “Drive safe.”
Then he lifted his hands in front of him, stepped back and moved away from my car.
I tossed the stuff in my hand to the passenger seat, put
my car in gear and carefully checked all my mirrors before I pulled out, terrified, in my state, that I’d not pay attention and get hurt or hurt my baby so I paid acute attention to my every move. And I did this until my baby was in the garage and the garage door was falling behind her.
Home. Safe.
I sucked in breath.
Then I grabbed my purse, got out and flew up the steps.
“Yo, baby doll,” Julius greeted from his place camped out in front of the television.
“Uh… hey, Julius,” I muttered distractedly, moving directly to the island, putting my purse on it and, with trembling hands, digging for my phone.
“Hey, Lexie, you okay?” Julius asked and I had my phone in my hand and my thumb was finding Ty.
“Uh… uh…” I put my phone to my ear because I’d dialed Ty and my eyes went to him to see he’d made it to the kitchen. When he saw my face he stopped dead. “Kinda… no.”
“Mama,” Ty said in my ear and I dropped my head and looked at my hand holding onto the edge of the island.
“Uh, hey, honey.”
Silence then, “What?”
God, he could hear it in my voice.
“I got… um,” I swallowed. “I got pulled over on the way home.”
Now I got total silence on the phone.
Silence on the phone but in the kitchen a big, angry man rumbled, “Fuckin’ shit.”
When what I got over the phone lengthened, I whispered, “Ty?”
“Please tell me you were speeding.”
“No.” I was still whispering.
“Fuckin’ with you?”
“Crabtree,” I confirmed. “Until another cop stopped, named Frank and he –”
Ty didn’t let me finish. He bit off, “Right.”
“Honey, I –”
“Later, babe.”
“Ty, I –”
“Later, babe.”
Then he was gone.
Shit.
Shit, shit, fucking shit!
I dropped my phone hand and looked at Julius.
Then I whispered, “I shouldn’t have told him.”
Julius shook his head. “My woman got pulled over by some dirty, cracker cop who was fuckin’ with her, makin’ her look like you do right now, which means you’re feelin’ exactly what you look like you’re feelin’ right now, or worse, just so he could fuck with me, she didn’t tell me, I’d lose my fuckin’ mind.”
I nodded. This was good.
Then I asked, “Is he gonna lose his mind anyway?”
Julius held my eyes. Then he said, “Don’t know, baby doll. But do know, he does, he won’t lose it at you.”
“He’s got a lot to lose if he loses it with someone else,” I reminded him quietly, my voice trembling.
“He does, Lexie, but he’s a man and it’s his decision to lose it to make a point about someone fuckin’ with his woman. You just gotta let him make his decision then you gotta roll with it.”
It was then my whole body was trembling and it wasn’t the only thing. There was wet trembling at my eyes.
Then I was engulfed in a bear hug, Julius’s arms tight around me, Julius’s answers weighing on me.
I still didn’t know if I did the right thing.
I would find out later, after I pulled myself together, after Julius helped me bring up the groceries and put them away and after I’d calmed down over a beer that I didn’t.
Not at all.
* * * * *
Ty hit the backdoor and my eyes were already there because I’d heard the Cruiser pull in under the house.
I felt hope. He was home. Not in a jail cell with some dirty cop calling his parole officer to tell him to start the paperwork to send my man back to California.
I thought this was good.
The expression on his face said I was wrong.
I felt my face pale then I felt my breath stick in my throat when his eyes found me and his powerful arm slammed the door so hard the glass shook and it was a miracle it didn’t shatter.
Instantly, Julius saw it, felt it or both and he stepped toward Ty and whispered, “Walk.”
Ty didn’t take his eyes off me. His long legs took him to the island opposite me; he stopped and put his hands on top of it in a way that stated clearly he wanted to use his hands for something else.
The minute his hands hit counter, he announced, “Went to Tate.”
I nodded because I thought that was good. Tate was better than losing his mind on Rowdy Crabtree.
Even so, I was confused because he looked beyond pissed. He looked enraged.
“Went to Tate,” he repeated.
“Okay,” I replied.
Suddenly he leaned forward in a way that made me lean back even though the island was between us and he barked, “Went to Tate, Lexie!”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Told me,” he went on and I shook my head, still confused.
“Told you what?”
“Told me you played me.”
My breath stuck in my throat.
Oh God.
Oh God.
“What?” I pushed through the breath clogging my throat.
“Couldn’t believe it, not you,” he replied.
“Ty –”
“Not you,” he repeated.
“Ty,” I whispered, I’d started trembling again, knowing this was bad, very bad, the worst and he moved, his long legs taking him to the stairs and I watched, still confused but also terrified. So terrified all I could do was stare at the stairs and not move.
Something was wrong. Very wrong. Cataclysmically wrong.
And I knew what that wrong was.
And I wanted my feet to take me to the stairs so I could sort it out with Ty in private but I was so terrified of what I’d done and his reaction to it I couldn’t get my feet to move.
“I’ll talk to him,” Julius muttered but I still didn’t move though I saw him at the stairs because I was still staring at them.
And I stared at them feeling my breath stick in my throat, my heart beat hard and fast in my chest, my palms itch and my blood race, hot and frantic in my veins.
Then I saw legs and heard Ty rumble, “Not your gig, brother.”
“Walk, listen to me –”
“Not your fuckin’ gig,” Ty cut him off, rounded the stairs and came straight to the island.
On it he slammed down rolls of cash.
“Fifty K. Your pay. I’m outta here, you got an hour to get your sweet ass outta my house.”
Yes. Yes. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Cataclysmically wrong.
And I knew what it was. And I knew by his face he meant every word.
Still, I whispered a shaky, “What?”
“You played me, Lexie, you... fuckin’… played me,” he growled, leaning into me. “Goin’ to Tate and Deke behind my fuckin’ back. Spreadin’ for me to keep me distracted. Your pussy’s got no chain?” he asked, his words pummeling me then he leaned back and clipped, “Bullshit. Just as heavy as all the fuckin’ rest.”
Each word hit me like a blow.
“Ty, I –”
“Played me,” he finished for me then lifted a big hand and jabbed a long finger at me on every “you”. “You did not rot in that fuckin’ place for five years. You do not got a skin tone that makes you a mark. You like black cock but takin’ black cock, babe, does not make you black. You do not get to call the plays with this shit.” He jerked his hand back and his thumb to himself. “I do.”
“Listen to me.”
“Time to listen to you, Lexie, was fuckin’ weeks ago before you spread your fuckin’ legs, just like fuckin’ Misty and fuckin’ played me.”
His words hammering me, the blows so vicious it felt in places my skin had split open, I still found the strength to shake my head and take a step toward him saying, “Please, lis –”
“Do not get near me, bitch,” he growled and I froze, my eyes locked to his, the blood going so fast through my veins it felt like I was burn
ing alive. “An hour,” he bit off. “I come back, you are out. You aren’t, Lexie, I’ll put you out.”
Then he turned, rounded the island and prowled to the door.
Then he was gone.
An hour later, so was I.
Chapter Fourteen
Shattered
Ty
Ty Walker opened the backdoor to his house and walked in to a big, seriously pissed off black man with tree trunk legs planted apart and beefy arms crossed on his chest.
He knew he’d get that when he got home.
He also didn’t give a fuck.
He closed the door and looked Julius right in the eye.
“She gone?” he asked.
“You are one serious dumb fuck.”
“She gone?”
“Oh yeah, brother, she’s gone.”
Ty Walker’s jaw clenched so hard he was lucky it didn’t freeze shut.
He jerked up his chin and headed to the stairs.
He was nearly there when Julius spoke.
“She loved you.”
That was bullshit. She didn’t.
She did, she wouldn’t have played him. She knew what playing him would do. She knew, he found out, she’d be right where she was now, wherever the fuck that was, but wherever it was, he did not fucking care.
Walker kept moving to the stairs.
Julius kept speaking.
“You broke her.”
Ty rounded the railing and tried to shut him out.
Julius kept at him.
“Never seen a woman break like that.”
Fuck, the man needed to shut the fuck up.
His foot hit the first stair.
“Shattered,” Julius called after him.
Walker kept moving.
He hit his room and stopped dead.
Right in the middle of the bed was fifty thousand dollars in cash and four jewelry boxes.
Four.
She’d even left her wedding rings.
He stared at them then he closed his eyes tight and dropped his head.
Then he opened his eyes, moved to the safe in the closet, opened it and went back to the bed. He stowed the shit, closed the safe and kicked himself that he didn’t come upstairs with the fucking bourbon.