“Mr Miyagi does karate.” I feigned offence. “Don’t insult me.”
Lee chuckled at my response and I went for him again, but this time he was quicker, and he caught my foot before it could descend. I lost my balance and fell to the floor, hard.
“Ah, would you look at that. Miyagi got taken down,” Lee teased, and I scowled at him, reaching around to rub the base of my spine.
“Thought you said you weren’t going to hit me.” I winced, pretending I was in real pain.
Lee’s smile fell and he hurried forward, holding out his hand to help me up. “Shit, did I hurt you?”
“I’ll survive,” I said, placing my fingers in his, but instead of letting him pull me up, I dragged him down, making short work of wrapping my legs around his shoulders and capturing his head in a lock. Grappling was kind of my forte, and I actually had a little experience with ground fighting. I squeezed my thigh muscles around his neck, and even though I knew he had to be hurting right then, he laughed.
“Is this what heaven feels like?” His chest rose and fell as he fought for breath.
I smiled wide, a little breathless myself from the effort it took to keep him down. “Pretty much.”
He struggled, moving his body and testing me, trying to find a way out of the lock.
“This is a good look for you, Snap.”
“I agree. I also think I just won.”
“Not yet.”
“Aw, that’s cute. You actually think you’re getting out of this, don’t you?”
In a shameless move, he turned his head to the side by the tiniest fraction and nuzzled his nose into my inner thigh. Electricity shot right between my legs, the shock enough to make me loosen my hold for a millisecond as he grabbed me and flipped me on my back. Before I knew it, he had my wrists captured in his hands as he straddled my waist.
“Well, what do you know,” he purred. “I managed to get out of it after all.”
I tried to kick my legs, but his body was pure muscle, and with the way he was holding me, I might as well have been weighed down by steel.
“That was another dirty move,” I complained, breathing heavily.
“Sorry, but you can’t complain about dirty moves when you use them yourself. I tried giving you a helping hand and you exploited my kindness.” He tutted, shaking his head at me smugly.
I had no intention of giving in. “You do realise there are a number of much more efficient ways you could be restraining me right now, yet you pick the sexiest option.”
“Yep, I’m well aware of that.”
I grunted irritably, uncomfortably aware of the strength of his thighs locked around mine and the way our bodies were so conveniently aligned. Flicking my eyes up to his, I was sure he saw my frustration. There was a softness in his gaze, and I exhaled a breath when he loosened his grip and lowered his body so his entire weight rested on top of me. His pecs were hard planes, his abdomen a firm press against my stomach.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, conscious of every breath he took. The noise of other gym users and trashy workout music streaming from the overhead monitors was a distant reality. There were any number of ways that I could have gained the upper hand right then, but it didn’t feel like we were sparring anymore, and I couldn’t have moved a muscle even if I tried.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” Lee whispered back, his nose dipping to the spot below my ear.
“You need to get off me. Somebody might see,” I said, desperate.
“I love that about you,” Lee continued to whisper, still nuzzling me.
“What?”
“How you act all tough, but as soon as I touch you, you melt and go all shy. It’s gorgeous.”
I was momentarily glad that this wasn’t a cop gym, and that none of my coworkers had a membership here. I could just imagine the crap I’d have to deal with if anyone I knew saw me in my current clinch.
“You need to get off me now.” I repeated my plea, trying to make my voice hard and failing. There was way too much air in it.
“If you want me to get off you, I will,” said Lee, moving his hips slightly. I felt something firm press into me and knew he was hard. This was so many levels of wrong, I didn’t even know where to begin. “Do you want me to?”
I closed my eyes for a second and tried to breathe. I’d never felt so weak, and we both knew I didn’t want him off me, not even a tiny bit. What I wanted was for us to be magically transported somewhere private where he could show me exactly what he planned on doing with the stiff length in his pants.
When I didn’t reply, Lee continued talking. “I can’t get your taste out of my mouth.”
The smallest whimper escaped me, and I felt myself grow wet at his words. I wanted so many things right then. In the end I opened my eyes, and I was sure he recognised the defeat in my expression.
“You win.”
I hated to admit it, but the way he smiled in response was beautiful. “Does this mean I get to come over tomorrow?”
All I could do was nod reluctantly. Maybe Alexis would feel like doing me a favour and sticking around the flat while Lee was there, like a buffer. She’d hate it, but hey, it wasn’t like I hadn’t done favours for her in the past.
“Okay, so….” Lee’s voice dipped as his eyes travelled over my heaving chest. “I guess the only thing left for you to do is kiss the victor.”
That did it. I couldn’t take any more as I twisted my wrists out of his hold and used my hip bone to break the tenseness in his thighs. Within seconds I was out from under him, walking to the other side of the ring and searching for my towel. Once I found it, I dabbed my brow and slipped out between the ropes.
“Hey, Karla,” Lee called after me. I turned and waited for him to say something. “I know you could have done that any time.” He stopped, not saying any more because he didn’t have to. We both knew what he was inferring. I could have gotten out from under him, but I didn’t because I liked having him on me, and that was the scariest part of all.
Chicken noodles were my dreamboat. I tended to get crazy hungry when I was on a shift, so the sight of Tony walking into the station with a bag of Chinese takeaway was like music to my ears, or, I dunno, a beautiful artwork to my eyes.
I was manning the front desk and decided to eat while I worked because the station was a madhouse. Halfway through my dinner, and having dealt with a number of drunks, one prostitute, and a woman who’d had her handbag stolen on the tube, I had a call come in about an illegal rave going on in a warehouse down in Brixton. They needed extra backup because there were hundreds of people there, a lot thought to be underage, and apparently some dodgy drugs were being passed around. It was with a forlorn sigh that I said goodbye to my noodles and hopped in the patrol car with Tony.
“Okay, here’s one for ya,” he began, and I knew I was going to be hit with a brain teaser. Tony and I had a thing for trying to figure them out together. When you worked with someone day in and day out, you came up with ways to pass the time. “If it were two hours long, it’d be half as long until midnight as it would be if it were an hour later. What time is it now?”
I glanced at him, screwing my mouth up in concentration as I repeated the question to myself over and over. The problem was, the more I repeated it, the less sense it made. In the end I just gave up. “Ugh, I’ve got nothing. I’ll have to think about it some other time. Hey, so what’s the deal with these drugs at the warehouse?”
“Little white pills,” said Tony. “Been going around for the last few months and a couple of kids have OD’d. They’re saying it’s E, but it’s not normal E. Tests done in the lab say there’s all sorts in there.”
I shook my head and looked out the window, my gut churning with anger and worry. Teenagers seemed to be willing to put anything into their bodies without a care to the fact that it could kill them. I noticed lights flashing behind us and turned to see an ARV following. My ex, Gavin, was more than likely inside. Fantastic.
“Is that really ne
cessary?” I asked, flicking my eyes to Tony and then back to the van behind us.
“Our informant says the rave is being organised by Tommy McGregor. He’s serious business and his people will likely be tooled up.”
“Oh, yay. So they’re sending us in to get shot at?”
“You’re in a delightful mood today. And no, the armed unit will go in first. We’ll be outside to clean up after.”
As though reiterating his words, the van overtook us. The name of the gangster running the rave kept ringing in my head until I remembered where I’d heard of him before. This was the same guy my dad had been trying to put away, the one he hadn’t been able to pin down. Since Dad tended to work on the more hard-core cases, I was guessing this bloke really was serious business, like Tony said.
Rolling down my window and letting the cold night air waft into the car, I heard thumping music echoing in the distance. We were close. Tony followed the van and turned into a fairly dilapidated area. Lights flashed glaringly from the windows of the warehouse, and I recognised Swedish House Mafia blaring from the building so loudly it was almost deafening.
“Never mind the drugs and the underage drinking — this place looks like it’s ready to collapse,” I said.
“Bloody disaster waiting to happen,” Tony agreed unhappily.
He had two teenage daughters, and these were the sorts of places he tried his best to keep them away from. A number of other police vehicles had already arrived, and I noticed a stream of people, all dressed in club clothes, running out a back exit of the building. The girls wore tiny dresses and skirts that barely covered their backsides, while the guys were decked out in jeans and muscle Ts. Some of them were even going topless, with luminous bands around their arms and necks.
“Hey, turn here and see if we can catch a few of them on their way out,” I said, and Tony swung the car around sharply. They were like ants scattering in all directions. Catching sight of two girls, I noticed they were pulling along a third and seemed to be crying out for help. The girl they were helping looked completely out of it, her head lolling to one side and her hair hanging across her face. I hopped out before telling Tony to go park and that I’d catch up to him.
“What’s wrong with your friend?” I asked in an authoritative voice as I ran up to the girls and shone a flashlight on them.
“She…she took something. I don’t know what, but she passed out a few minutes ago,” one of them answered, on the verge of tears. I felt a maternal sort of worry for them, because they couldn’t have been any older than sixteen or seventeen.
“Both of you go stand over by the wall while I check her out,” I ordered them.
“You’re not going to call our parents, are you?”
“Your friend might need to be hospitalised, and you’re worried about your parents finding out? You should be glad you’re not in her boat.”
They looked guilty and upset, but they did as I said. I knew they weren’t a bad sort, just misguided. A lot of girls would have abandoned their friend and run for the hills. I took hold of her and checked her vital signs. She was in a bad way. Settling her against my hip, I then led the girls to the front of the building, where a bunch of people had been rounded up. The paramedics were already on the scene, and I handed the girl off to them.
“Her friends said she took something. More than likely it’s those new pills that are going around,” I told the medic before I was called away.
“Sheehan, see if you can get that music turned off. It’s giving me a migraine,” a sergeant ordered me, and I hurried inside the building to see if I could cut the electrics somehow. It was dark inside, and there were still a number of members of the armed unit running around. I hadn’t heard any gunfire, which was a good sign. Maybe this would all be taken care of peacefully. I could understand the sergeant’s annoyance with the music, because it was even worse inside, and combined with the dim lighting, was a little disorienting.
I saw some wiring running along the skirting boards and followed it up two floors, hoping it’d lead me to a power source. I was on the third floor when I sensed movement to my right. Turning, I saw three blokes, one of them heavyset, running down the stairs. They must have been on the top floor and were trying to get outside without bumping into any police.
“Stop right there,” I shouted, but it was likely they couldn’t hear me over the music. And even if they could hear me, I doubt they’d have stopped. I chased after them, my booted feet pounding down the stairs. The two slim guys were fast, but I managed to catch up with the bigger one. We collided, and in his struggle to get away, I had to pin him to the ground, making quick work of cuffing him as I recited his rights. He swore loudly, and one of the guys he’d been with stopped running and turned around.
Time moved in slow motion when I looked up and saw Lee Cross’s blue eyes staring back at me.
Seven
A number of emotions hit me all at once, first shock, then disappointment, followed by the third, anger. I was pissed that he was there, because somewhere in the back of my mind I’d been holding out hope that maybe he wasn’t a bad guy, that maybe he didn’t consort with criminals. But hope was often futile, and mine certainly was.
This was a place for underage kids looking to party and criminals looking for a place to do business. Since Lee wasn’t an underage kid, I had to assume he was the latter. My anger rapidly transformed into determination as I stood and walked toward him, leaving the big guy cuffed on the ground. I half expected Lee to turn and run, but he didn’t. He stood in place. Perhaps he was just as shocked to see me there as I was to see him, or maybe he didn’t think I’d actually arrest him. Well, he was dead wrong on that account.
Somebody must have found out how to cut the music, because it went off suddenly and a stark quiet fell.
“Turn around,” I barked.
“Karla,” Lee began, but I cut him off.
“I said, turn around.”
He must have seen something in my eyes that told him I wasn’t playing games, because his jaw firmed and he turned. I began searching him, my hands moving carefully down his body to check for drugs or weapons.
“You’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used….”
“Snap, wait, will you listen to me for a second?”
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and shook my head.
“Stay quiet,” I clipped out, and continued telling him his rights. He didn’t have anything on him other than a wallet, a set of car keys, a packet of cigarettes, and a lighter. I pulled out my second pair of cuffs. When I looked down, I found that my hands were shaking, and I knew Lee must have felt it, too. A moment elapsed as I tried to gather some calm. My head was swimming, and the noodles I’d eaten earlier were gurgling around in my stomach, waiting for a chance to resurface.
Why did it have to be him? I could’ve handled arresting Lucifer himself, but not Lee.
For the second time in a matter of minutes, time stood still. I stared at his broad, muscular back and quietly gasped when he captured my shaking fingers in his. Everything slowed down, the air around me growing electric and tense. Lee’s thumb slid soothingly down the centre of my palm, and I shivered.
“Relax,” he whispered, and a string deep in my heart pulled tight. I swallowed, tried to steady my breathing, and abruptly shoved his fingers off mine. He made me feel so much, too much, and it was an intimidating task to assert my dominance over a man I desired. A man who was strong and virile, ever the alpha in any environment.
Finally, I snapped the cuffs closed and stepped away, my pulse pounding in my ears. Lee stood in place as I went and helped the other guy to stand, but I could feel his eyes on me the entire time. His friend must have been about two hundred and fifty pounds, so I was surprised he’d managed to run as fast as he did before I caught him.
As I led the two of them out of the building and lined them up next to the others who’d been arrested, I felt my throat grow dry with n
erves. DI Jennings was there, barking orders at people, and for a second I had a nightmarish vision of Lee telling her he knew me, that I’d been to his house and that we’d kissed. None of these things were crimes, of course, but, knowing Jennings, she’d find some way to use it against me.
Nerves coiled tight in my belly.
Lee didn’t breathe a word, though. No, he wore a blank expression, hands behind his back, a stoic figure as he stood at the end of the line. I was just about to go and find Tony when Jennings spotted me, lips pinching tightly in my presence.
“Don’t move a muscle, Sheehan. I want you to help keep an eye on this group. Make sure none of them think to do a runner.”
“They don’t strike me as the type to sacrifice a thumb to get the cuffs off, Inspector,” a familiar voice butted in. It was Gavin. This night just kept getting better and better. He held his gun at chest level, his dark hair cropped short to his skull.
“I just gave the constable an order, Matthews, so shut that hole you call a trap and do something productive,” Jennings snapped at him, and I sort of wished we were friends for a second so I could high-five her. Unfortunately, we weren’t, and a second later she was gone, off shouting orders to somebody else like the little Hitler that she was.
“Karla,” said Gavin, giving me a quick sweep up and down. “How’ve you been?”
I was overwhelmingly aware of Lee standing mere feet away, closely watching the exchange. “I was great until I clapped eyes on you,” I replied grumpily, and thought I saw the edges of Lee’s lips curve in smirk.
“Bloody hell, you on the rag or something?” said Gavin, annoyed.
I narrowed my eyes to slits and shook my head. “Just piss off, yeah?”
A couple members of his unit showed up then, alongside a few constables, including Steve. Christ, what was this, the flipping wankers’ convention or something?
A woman who’d been arrested and who was wearing an indecently short sequined dress shivered, holding her arms around herself.
“Would you look at this,” one of the armed police said, eyeing the woman lasciviously. “Didn’t think to bring a coat, did ya, darlin’?”