Knight, p.5
Knight, page 5
At least Raven and Robert had a good advocate in Auntie Lee and didn’t have to go into the system while their mother recuperated.
“It’s always the domestics with kids that rip me apart, too,” Chase said as he stuck his head into her office before she could answer the quick tap on the door. “Sorry to barge in, but I just got to my messages and saw that we’re supposed to go to a county meeting tonight. Want to share a ride?”
“Oh, hell, that’s tonight?” Cassidy said as she swung her chair around and looked at Chase. “When is it?”
“About an hour. I was going to finish up my paperwork, then hit the drive thru for a burger to hold me over until I get home,” Chase replied.
“Okay,” Cassidy took a slow breath and ran her hands through her hair. “Give me ten, then I’ll be ready. And a burger works for me, too. Thanks for the check-in. I probably would’ve missed the notice until ten minutes before I had to be there.”
“Let me go submit my files and I’ll meet you in the back lot,” Chase told her with a flicker of a smile, then he shut the door and left her alone.
Cassidy closed her eyes and did a quick breathing exercise to calm her emotions back down after dealing with the Blackwood kids, then shut down her system, grabbed her bag, and headed to the women’s locker room. She took a minute to freshen up and touch up her makeup, then went out to the lot and dropped her bag in her trunk just in time to see Chase come out. It was time to pull herself together before he saw just how much he affected her. She met him at his truck and climbed in to the passenger seat as he settled behind the wheel.
Chapter nine
“Thanks for this,” Cassidy said as the buckles slid around her. “I’ll spring for the burgers as my thanks.”
“You don’t have to do that, but sure. Thanks,” Chase said. He glanced over at her, then back to the road as he pulled out and headed through town to the burger place. The scent of her filled the cab of his truck and he had to stop himself from breathing it in as if it were the first fresh air he’d breathed after a fire. If he didn’t pull himself together, he was going to embarrass himself before they got their burgers and fries.
“Do you know what the meeting is about?” Chase asked.
“It’s where we tell them why we want to be chief. Why one of us is the better candidate. Then they vote – and we see who ends up being the boss or the assistant boss by tomorrow afternoon.”
“Oh, is that all,” Chase muttered and shook his head. “I’ve got nothing prepared.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Cassidy said. “You’ve got a better chance than me at the position anyway.”
“You’ve pretty much been doing the job for the last few weeks,” Chase said. “The other two LT’s have barely shown up. I’d say you’ve got a better shot.”
“I’ve got boobs,” Cassidy replied, tone dry. “While you have balls. That puts you at the top of their list.”
“I know that’s still a factor in some places, but it shouldn’t be,” Chase grumbled. He pulled into the drive thru and placed their order, then glanced over at Cassidy while they waited to pay. “You can eat a burger, large fries, and a chocolate shake and look that amazing? I’m in awe. I have to work out every day to maintain my girlish figure.”
Cassidy tried to not laugh, but couldn’t hold it in. “You’re far from girlish, Lieutenant Payne. Trust me on that.” She took the milkshake and bag from him as he passed them over to her. “I work out four days a week. I prefer holo suite running on a beach in Maui. It’s calming and rejuvenating.”
“How many miles?” Chase asked as he pulled into a parking spot in a corner so they could eat.
“Twelve to fifteen,” Cassidy said around a mouthful of fries. “I shoot for fifteen, but if I’ve been out on the street that day, I settle for twelve. I’m not a masochist.”
Chase blinked and gave her a wry smile. “No, of course you’re not.” He finished his burger and washed it down with the soft drink he’d chosen, then looked over at her once more. “I run five miles every day, then do weight training. I used to be the skinny kid who got beat up every day because I was smart and black.”
“I got hassled because I was indigenous. Both of my parents were born within the Qualla Boundary and are Eastern Band Cherokee. My mother was an investigator with the FBIS and my father was a firefighter.”
“So, you’re a legacy?”
“A legacy what?”
“Civil servant,” Chase said and balled up his trash and fed it into the processor in the console. “You ready to get going?”
“Yeah, I’m done except for my shake. I can finish that before we hit city hall.”
They were quiet on the short drive back across town to the brick and glass structure that housed the county courts and city hall offices. Chase parked and turned off the truck, then turned to look at Cassidy.
“Whichever one of us gets the chief position, I hope we can be friends as well as co-workers,” he said. “And I kinda hope you get chief, if I’m being honest. I’ll take it if it’s offered, but you’d make a good chief.”
“Thank you. I think you’d make a good chief, too,” Cassidy said as she slurped up the last of her shake and stuffed the cup into the processor. “And yes, I’d like to stay friends either way.”
They shook hands and smiled before Chase turned to get out of the truck, then came around to meet Cassidy so they could walk in together. A united front, no matter what was decided.
A little over two hours later, they were both back in the truck as Chase drove back to the station so Cassidy could get her vehicle. They were both quiet until the truck stopped next to her parked SUV and Chase turned to her. “That was not what I expected.”
“It was pretty much what I did expect,” Cassidy said with a sigh. “Congratulations, Chief.”
Chase reached over and took her hand. “Don’t. Don’t sell yourself short. I think you said exactly what needed to be said, and I’m not so sure you won’t get the chief spot. You were concise and clear and you spoke to local issues and local fears. I don’t have that kind of fresh view of things around here, so I could only speak in generalities.”
Cassidy liked how his hand felt wound around hers and almost missed hearing what he said. “Maybe a fresh view, combined with a close-up view, is what the department needs. What Lake County needs,” she said, then gently tugged her fingers free of his grasp. “We’ll see what the decision is tomorrow. For tonight, a glass of wine and a soak in my Doda’s hot tub is exactly what I need.”
“Be safe going home, Cassidy,” Chase said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He watched as she slipped from the truck and got into her own vehicle, then waited until she pulled out of the lot and headed towards home. He turned in the other direction and headed towards his home – even though he would’ve preferred to follow her.
Chase pulled in to his parking space and shut off the truck, then just sat there. He didn’t want to go in to the empty house, and he didn’t want to go to the gym and run off his restlessness. If he were being completely honest, he didn’t know what he wanted.
Okay, he knew one thing he wanted. Cassidy Redbird. The scent of her lingered in his truck and he could sit there and breathe it in. It held hints of peach and jasmine, and Chase didn’t care if it was soap or perfume – it was her scent and he wanted to wrap himself in it.
And he didn’t believe he had any right to want to wrap that scent around himself, or to even think about Cassidy Redbird that way. Not after what had happened in Raleigh.
Not after he’d let the last woman he loved get murdered right in front of him. Right in front of him and the child he considered theirs.
Janelle Washington had been with the District Attorney’s office in Raleigh for eight years when Chase first crossed her path. Long braids that she kept twisted into a knot at the nape of her slender neck and eyes that flashed fire when she was passionate had caught his attention as she went after a particularly heinous rapist in the courtroom. Legs that looked positively magnificent in her suit skirts kept him from being able to fully focus on the words being spoken back and forth between the lawyer and the witness.
She must’ve felt his eyes on her because she turned to look at him during the brief recess and gave him a faint smile before she turned back to her table and the system embedded in the glass top. The world of lawyers didn’t have briefcases and reams of paper any longer – it was all digitized and encrypted and served up on devices that kept everyone apprised of each and every document.
They went out for drinks that evening, and dinner the next night. Chase had never felt for a woman the things he felt for Janelle. He met her daughter, Janissa, two weeks later and the connection was instant. Within two months he had sublet his condo and was living in the rambling old house with Janelle, Janissa, and Sophia, the woman that was nanny, housekeeper, and family in all the ways that mattered.
When he’d asked her to be his life partner, she’d said yes before he’d even managed to get the words out. The band of rubies he’d slid on her finger had been his grandmother’s and she never took it off from that day forward.
Janissa called him Papa Chase, as her memories of her biological father were non-existent. Avery Camden had died from an aggressive form of cancer when Janissa was two. He missed her every day, but at nine years old she was safe at a boarding school in Chapel Hill and spent holidays with her maternal grandparents.
He remembered the day it all blew up as if it had just happened – even though it was coming up on two years past. Orlen Sims had been a big-time drug dealer for The Corporation and a six-month sting had Chase finally arresting him for a slew of charges from drugs to murder. It had been a major coup for his career and his name and face had been plastered across every vid screen and news feed.
A week after he arrested Sims, a strike team had attacked the house in the middle of the night. He’d shoved Janissa and Sophia into a bathroom and had them lock the door, but Janelle refused to hide. She pulled out her pulse weapon and shot one of the attackers, then went after another that tried to break down the bathroom door where her daughter hid. Chase killed the third, but he got to the bathroom too late to save Janelle. The shattered door lay across the threshold and the attacker blew a hole through Janelle as Chase came around the corner. He didn’t think about it, he vaporized the man’s head, then dropped to Janelle’s side. His hands were covered in her blood when he looked up and met Janissa’s horrified gaze. Sophia clutched the girl to her chest, but Nissa peered out under one arm and saw the whole thing.
He wasn’t safe to be around, so he put Janissa into a private boarding school with excellent security and set Sophia up in her own little house near Nissa’s maternal grandparents. The girl had family and safety, he made sure of that. It was the best he could do. He couldn’t risk her safety, and he couldn’t stop being what he was. A cop.
Chapter ten
Cassidy looked at the cup of coffee in her hand and made herself take a sip. She hadn’t slept much the night before, and from the look of Chase where he sat across the table, he hadn’t either. They waited in silence while the judicial board for Lake County determined which one of them would run the law enforcement branch of the county.
“This coffee sucks,” Chase muttered as he looked over at her. “Are you sure Haversham didn’t make it?”
“Officer Havisham isn’t allowed to make coffee any longer,” Cassidy said with a soft huff of laughter. “Not after he put half a can of grounds into the machine for one pot of brew. It was like syrup.”
Chase made a face of disgust, then gave her a smile. “Whatever they decide, I’ll enjoy working with you, Cassidy Redbird.”
“Same goes, Chasen Payne,” Cassidy said, their voices kept to a near whisper.
“Lieutenants,” the head of the judicial board spoke and brought their attention to the five members who stood at the end of the table. “We’ve reached a decision. Lieutenant Redbird, I’d like to congratulate you on being offered the position of assistant chief of the Lake County Sheriff’s department.” He then turned to look at Chase and said, “Lieutenant Payne, I’d like to congratulate you on being offered the position of chief of the Lake County Sheriff’s department. Congratulations to you both.”
Chase and Cassidy stood and accepted handshakes and good wishes from the board before Chase spoke up.
“Excuse me,” he said and the three men and two women turned to look at him. “You said that we were being offered the position. Which means we have to formally accept or decline, correct?”
“It’s a formality, but yes, I suppose you could say that,” the man who had made the announcement said.
“Chase, what are you doing?” Cassidy asked. She turned to the board members and smiled. “Then I, Lieutenant Cassidy Redbird, accept the position of assistant chief. Thank you for your consideration.”
“Cassidy,” Chase sighed. “I was going to give you a chance to take the chief spot.”
“Why, don’t you want it?” one of the women board members asked Chase.
“I wouldn’t have gone through this procedure if I didn’t want it – but Cassidy Redbird deserved the position,” Chase replied.
“Well, she’s officially accepted the assistant spot. Do you want the chief spot, or should we consider other candidates?” the head of the board asked Chase.
Cassidy turned to Chase and arched a brow. “If I have to work with some putz like Bobo Fitch, I’ll be very displeased.”
One of the board members coughed on a laugh and Chase grinned at her. “Fine. Since you put it that way.” He turned to the board and squared his shoulders. “I, Lieutenant Chasen Payne, accept the position of chief. Thank you.”
The board members gave them each a new badge and ID, then left them alone in the conference room.
“There’s a party at Red’s tonight. They planned it no matter what the outcome,” Chase told her. “Come with me?”
“Are you asking me on a date? How Halstead of you,” Cassidy offered, tone dry.
Chase ran a hand over his face and shook his head. “No, Redbird, it’s not a date. It’s a work function at a private home. Care to attend?”
Cassidy laughed at the expression on his face and nudged him with her elbow. “Lighten up, Chief. Let’s go celebrate.”
Chase caught her elbow in his hand as she stepped forward into a stumble, and it brought them face to face. His hands rested on her hips as hers instinctively braced against his shoulders. Unplanned, the embrace felt incredibly intimate.
Beneath the suit jacket she wore, her body was firm and warm. Her eyes had tiny flecks of gold in the dark brown that caught the light as she stared up at him. She smelled of peaches and flowers, and he felt drawn in.
Cassidy felt the pressure of his hands on her hips and the shift of his muscles under her palms - and her mouth went dry. She forgot where they were and stared up at him, her breath catching as sensations spiked through her. Her fingers curled into the lapels of his jacket and she felt the solid strength of him, the sense of protection and safety he radiated like the heat of his body under the fabric of his shirt.
He thought about kissing her, tasting those lush lips and pulling her against him. Slowly, he ran his hands up her sides and felt the silk of her blouse and the tremble of her body. The reality of the situation slammed into him, and Chase stepped back and released her. It took a heartbeat or two before the expression of desire shuttered into blankness on his face.
Cassidy watched him shut down and she felt disappointment. An odd reaction, she mused, when she felt like she’d just avoided being devoured.
“Let’s get going,” she said and turned for the door.
Chase didn’t say a word, just followed her out. He didn’t trust his voice – and what could he say anyway? Gee, I’m sorry you’re so attractive, but I’m a death sentence? A shake of his head and he made his way out to the parking lot and his truck.
“Meet you at Red’s?” he asked her.
“I’ll be there,” Cassidy replied. She got into her vehicle and let out a breath. Her knees were still trembling. New job, new title, and a new boss that had her all out of sorts. Life sure could get interesting.
“For two people who are now going to be working side by side – literally – y’all are doing a good job of avoiding each other,” Ellery said to Cassidy as they sat on the stone patio outside Red’s place. The firepit spewed sparks into the late summer twilight and the scents of grilled meat and woodsmoke filled the air.
Cassidy looked into her wine glass, then took a healthy swallow before she spoke. “He almost kissed me, and I really wanted him to.”
“He who? Chase?” Ellery asked as she turned to stare at Cassidy. When she saw the expression on Cassidy’s face, she sighed. “Oh, girlfriend, you’ve got it bad.”
“We can’t. We work together. We just cannot go there. Not if we want to keep the department from being as fucked up as it was under the Halstead’s.”
Elle leaned back and sipped her wine, her gaze going from Cassidy’s tense frustration to Chase’s thoughtful look from across the patio where he stood with Red, Grant, and Mykal. “I think you’re too worried about what the perception would be. People know – now – that the Halstead clan were a bunch of fucking bastards who spit in the face of anything resembling law and order. And people know that neither you – nor Chase – are like that.”
“How do people know?” Cassidy asked as she slumped back in the chair. “We’re still cleaning up the mess they left behind and I don’t see that much, on the outside, has changed.”
“You don’t see it?” Ellery asked, eyes wide as she turned in her seat to face Cassidy. “Are you kidding me?” She put her wine glass down and started to count off on her fingers. “No more random harassment stops. No more bribes and payoffs. No more sexual harassment at work - unless you count slugs like Beauregard Fitch.”
