Cuff Me Read online

  “So, they go from shaking to killing? That doesn’t really make much sense.” Nate commented.

  I rolled my eyes and finished getting dressed. Once my gun belt was on, Alex got a call and got all stoic. It lasted a few seconds and sounded pretty serious.

  “What was that about?” Nate asked him first. Alex ticked his jaw, as he always did when he was tense.

  “Some assault in an alley near the crime scene of our vic. I don’t know all the details, but it sounds like our guy’s MO.”

  “Another dead victim, then?” I concluded regretfully. A dead victim didn’t do much for us in terms of catching the suspect.

  “No actually, he’s en route to the hospital. I need to go down there and get a statement, maybe see how similar he is to the other victim.” Alex went all detective-mode and the realization loomed in the air over all of us.

  Maybe we were jumping to conclusions, but another incident meant the suspect was escalating, but why would he leave him alive? If it was anything like the old crimes years ago, then it would get worse.

  I thought about getting in contact with Keeg again, hoping he might have some insight to who was doing this.

  “What else was there?” I asked Alex.

  “All the vic said was that the guy was Irish.” He shrugged.

  Damn. It didn’t take me long to put them both together. It was definitely a repeat of those crimes from years ago. Keeg didn’t tell me any specifics about the stuff from back then. Just that the Irish were going after some rich businessmen. It didn’t make much sense since the Irish had tons of cash flowing in from their ‘pursuits.’ I wasn’t understanding why they had to shake people down. Maybe they needed some free lawyer or something? I didn’t fucking know.

  “Seriously?” Nate said.

  “Yeah, I need to go get all the information down.” He posed to leave but Nate called him back.

  “You know what this means right? About Rose?”

  Alex and I nodded.

  “Look, I hadn’t told you guys yet, but someone was watching Rose last night,” Nate explained.

  About a thousand scenarios ran through my head. Rose wasn’t safe—that was at the forefront. I knew I had to be worried about it in the beginning, but I never expected it to actually take form. She lived close to the crime scene, so she was already exposed to any connections with the crime. Not to mention her being a primary witness; at that point no one else had seen anything.

  We had been keeping tabs on her since the incident, so nothing serious had happened. But obviously, it wasn’t enough to keep her safe.

  “What if she needs real witness protection?” I said, my voice graveled at the severity of it.

  She would have to change her whole life around, and not to mention she would not ever really feel safe again, even if she was being watched. I didn’t want that for her at all. She had so much life to her. This case—whatever it turned out being, would put a damper on that.

  “I don’t know. She might? The guy looked pretty amateur, but he was taking photos of her. That isn’t a good sign.”

  We all went silent, doing our own thinking. I had a lot of feelings about Rose but didn’t really know what to do with them. I mean, Rose was beautiful. Really fucking sexy in all the right ways and it kind of drove me mad a little bit, because I wasn’t sure if she was up for what we offered. Rose was really head strong and knew her own way, it was just as intimidating as it was attractive. I didn’t want to change her, and I was afraid putting all that security on her would do that. I was fine keeping tabs on her in my free time, but having extra uniforms would just make her feel…I don’t know.

  She definitely couldn’t be changing in the window. That was only for us. Fuck, I knew it was serious when the thought of sex didn’t do anything to stop my thinking.

  “Maybe not officially. For now. But if someone is watching her, that’s serious. Obviously, we can’t handle it ourselves. It would be worse for something to slip by us because we didn’t make the right call,” Alex said.

  “You just described our job, man. Nothing much different here except our dicks are involved.” Nate said.

  “Well, mine is.” Alex cracked a slight smile. “We don’t have to tell her everything. Just let her know we’re just being safe. I just don’t want her to worry.”

  “Okay. But it would be worse if she does find out and she thinks we assumed her stupid or something, or couldn’t handle it,” I said.

  Alex huffed. “Right.”

  “Look, I think we’re getting ahead of shit. Let’s just check out this new vic and go from there. If we link everything together, we’ll make a decision then,” Alex decided.

  He could always be the level headed one that made the most logical choice. It sounded good, but my head was still swimming with all the fucking unknowns. Was Rose even safe at that moment? I already worried about her from day one, but just knowing that someone was taking photos of her, that someone could really be planning something…

  I almost wish she never made a statement that first day. Never even called the police to begin with.

  But then how would I have met her? Of course, it was my fucking luck that the woman who got my wires all crossed was one that could be in danger. I took on a job that required me to protect people all the time, so why was it so hard to protect Rose?

  It felt like every choice I was trying to make towards her was wrong. I was second guessing everything and I didn’t like it, because I just wasn’t wired that way. All the cases I worked required some hard choices and a tough gut, so I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t apply that to Rose. Sure, I worked mostly on exploited children cases, but I had the basic skill set of a cop.

  Rose had a way of making me forget everything I trained for and stumble around looking for the right answer.

  “Sounds good, man. You should head to the hospital…is it the same one Rose works at?” I asked.

  “I would assume so. I’ll check in with you guys later, maybe come down and see what’s up?” He asked us.

  We both nodded. We had nothing planned for the day other than patrol.

  “Yeah.”

  Nate and I gave each other a look as Alex left.

  “So, someone was really watching Rose last night?” I asked him.

  I sat on the bench next him and he nodded in response. It seemed to be weighing pretty heavy on him. “Yeah. At first, she called me when she was coming home, but she didn’t tell me why at first. Not until we were at her place and she told me she felt like she was being followed. Later on, I saw a guy on her water tank with a camera.”

  “Fuck. Any chance they were on something else? Maybe some landscaping shit or something.” I was semi-hopeful, but it didn’t seem likely otherwise.

  “Not likely. Just doesn’t seem so since she felt like someone was watching her earlier. I don’t know.” Nate hated the real stuff, and if he couldn’t make a joke about it, he would rather avoid it.

  “I don’t know anything at this point.” I almost laughed.

  “Yeah. Let’s go run patrol and then head to the hospital,” Nate said.

  We left together and tried not to talk about how worried we were about Rose.

  Chapter Seventeen: Rose

  I was somehow beside myself since the night before. Finding out I was being watched was still a shell shock to me.

  I wished I was just overreacting at the grocery store, but I wasn’t.

  There really was someone watching me, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. All I could do was go to work and pretend everything was okay. I had gotten super good at that over the years—the pretending.

  I was two hours in before I took a much-needed break to the restroom. When I saw my face in the mirror, I felt almost unrecognizable. I always had a permanent tired look that I covered with concealer, but this time I could really see it in my eyes. I didn’t get much sleep after Nate took off just because I was still scared, even though he took watch outside. I wished he could have just snuggled up in b
ed with me and did…well, more than snuggling.

  I could still taste his lips, and the tang of his tongue fighting against mine. I don’t think I had ever gotten so turned on from making out. I was practically humping his leg just to relieve some of the pressure. He was just so warm and strong, his masculinity flooded through my veins and through my core. I wanted him so badly, as much as I wanted all of them—and I still wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  I left the restroom and Dina was right there to corner me. “What’s up with you today?” She was chipper, always smiling.

  I hoped I could be like that one day. Truly happy, as she was with her husband. I never really thought of things like that until a few weeks ago when I fell into a shitty situation, only diluted by the three men plaguing my every thought.

  “Nothing. Just tired,” I lied.

  I made my way back to the nurse’s station with her on my tail. She never gave up if she wanted information from someone. Especially me. It only took me a few minutes to finally spill.

  “Someone was following me last night.” I took her to our usual hideout corner. I spoke quietly but she exclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear, defeating the purpose. I managed not to roll my eyes.

  “What? Are you serious?” She grasped my arm like I didn’t have feeling in my extremity. When I winced she pulled away apologetically, but her eyes were still wide with worry.

  “Yeah. I was at the grocery store when I first thought someone was following me, but I thought I was just being paranoid. Turns out, I was right. When I got back home, I saw someone taking pictures of me from across the street,” I explained.

  A heavy silence fell over us. It was different saying it out loud to her because she wasn’t directly involved in the situation, so it felt more real. Nate was there from the beginning, so I never had to really get into it with him. Dina just looked at me all worried and concerned, and I almost felt like I had to convince her that everything was okay. Even though I knew it really wasn’t, and I feared how things would turn out.

  “Holy shit. Are you okay? Shouldn’t you be under protection or something? That’s serious shit!” she shrieked.

  I almost smiled at her response. She was such a supportive person, and she didn’t even have to be. I appreciated that from her, and I wished I could show it in return. But to be honest, her life was pretty normal. I didn’t even think people like that existed anymore, but there she was right in front of me.

  “I’m okay. And…the two cops and that detective I told you about have been watching me. Nate was there with me, but he didn’t say much before he left. They’re all trying to tell me as little as they can.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

  It was ridiculous, but I understood where they were coming from. I knew they trusted me but part of their jobs, I figured, just wouldn’t let them tell me every detail of the case. There was something more, but I was still a witness in their case on the surface.

  “Okay…it’s still super scary. Sorry, that doesn’t help?” she said almost to herself. “Who is Nate again? And the other two?” she added.

  I sighed heavily. My chest tightened at the thought of them. I definitely needed some girl talk about it, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to reveal everything. I was even still on the fence myself.

  “Nate is one of the cops. He’s…well, they’re all beautiful. I mean, I thought super sexy cops were a myth, but they aren’t. Nate and Max are like magazine cops with muscles and sexy eyes. Alex is the detective, he’s always dressed up in a suit, even with a vest. But…they’re all kind and protective. It was weird at first but…I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know? They sound amazing.” She giggled.

  “Yeah, but it’s…isn’t it weird?” I said in a hushed whisper.

  “Not really. It isn’t impossible. Lots of people are attracted to more than one man at the same time. As long as you don’t get your head all screwed up,” she added with a smile.

  I grinned at the thought. “I think it already is.” I giggled.

  “Hmm. As long as they’re there to protect you, that’s good. So, any other details?” She mocked a wink.

  I just shook my head. “Yeah, right.” I hopped off the bed. “We should get back to work.”

  It seemed as soon as I said it, the work came to us. Both of our pagers went off and we rushed into the ER. As soon as I saw the man being wheeled in, it was like being taken out of the room and transported back to that horrible morning.

  The suit was almost exactly the same. Even the damned haircut. The only difference was that he wasn’t dead. In fact, he was screaming about just how alive he was.

  “He tried to kill me!”

  I thought he was just being hysterical, but he had a gun shot in his leg. I briefly noticed Dina nudging my side, and then leaving to take care of him when she saw I wasn’t responding. I knew I had to get out of my own head and focus. After a few calming breaths, I could.

  “Sir, you need to stay calm, so we can take care of you.” I went into full nurse mode and tried to pretend like I wasn’t imagining him in a bunch of different scenarios.

  Was he sent here on purpose to watch me? Anything was possible in my eyes.

  “I was robbed. That dumb bastard…he took everything! The fucking Irish thug—I can’t believe this.”

  At least he wasn’t yelling anymore, but he was still pretty hysterical. I was cleaning his wound and knew I would have to put him under because he wouldn’t keep still. The ER doctor wasn’t the most patient with those who didn’t stay still. The wound looked deep, and I hoped he wouldn’t need surgery or have any nerve damage. It was just above his knee on the side of his left thigh.

  “I understand, sir. We’re going to take care of you. We’re going to give you some medication to help you relax.”

  He nodded slightly and calmed down a bit. He was older, and slightly balding. I didn’t see a wedding band, but I figured he just wasn’t wearing it. I was probably jumping to conclusions thinking he had anything to do with the other murder, but I didn’t have much time to myself before the doctor showed up.

  He took one look at his wound and decided to admit him. He was wheeled off in under two minutes. I groaned to myself and went off to the nurse’s station to do the paperwork. Dina had gone off, I didn’t know where. I watched the door every few seconds, waiting on the police.

  When Alex walked in, Nate and Max were just on his tail. They spotted me instantly and I thought fuck the paperwork as I got up to meet them.

  “I’m guessing you’re here for the gunshot victim?” I asked. They were so imposing standing directly in front of me.

  Nate and Max were in their black uniforms, and Alex had on a stark white dress shirt that bounced off his eyes. I was a few feet away and I could still smell them. The scent mixing together…gah, it was maddening.

  “Yeah,” Alex said. Though they were all looking at me like they had never seen me in a pair of scrubs. Or never seen me at all. I didn’t look all that special, but they made me feel like it.

  “He was admitted. I can see where they took him.” I turned to step off, but Nate stopped me.

  “Are you okay?” He came closer, blocking the others from my view. “I told them about last night.”

  I had to actively stop myself from rolling my eyes. “Oh. I’m fine,” I said to all of them. Their hard looks told me they didn’t believe me.

  “I can get his records for you. Usually you can’t get his statement yet, but—” I shrugged as I led them to the desk. The stark white walls did nothing to calm the screaming red of my desire.

  “We get special treatment,” Nate joked. I grinned at his response.

  The paperwork hadn’t taken me long, so he was already in the system.

  “He’s on the second floor. Trauma unit. Do you think he has any connection to the other guy?” I asked them, thinking they had already seen him.

  “Why do you ask that?” Alex cocked his head to the side, his brows drawn together. My eyes passe
d over his body and tried not to picture him naked. Try being the operative word.

  “Uh, because he looked like him,” I shrugged. “I guess that’s pretty dumb. I’ll show you the way.”

  They followed after me to the elevator. Every female in plain sight was ogling them and it made me jealous. Seriously, jealous? I couldn’t even believe it.

  “It isn’t dumb. It’s an important observation,” Max assured me.

  The elevator was too small for all of us, it seemed. Especially with them looking at me the way they were. Like they would stop the elevator right then and take turns claiming my body as theirs. I found it odd to believe: I had sex with Alex, made out with Nate, still imagined what Max tasted like…it was surreal.

  “Yeah well. He was a real case. Kept screaming about some Irish thug robbing him. Said he tried to kill him.” I almost laughed like it was absurd, but they weren’t looking at me like that.

  They were looking at me like they had seen a ghost, and exchanged a look I didn’t understand. Before I asked them about it, the elevator opened, and we were at our destination. I shook off the crazy feeling I was getting and took them to his room.

  The man was doped up on meds, watching the television with a deep scowl on. The nurse was in there changing his drip and I told them they could go in. I stayed behind and used the computer at the nurse’s station on that floor, and tried to eavesdrop but it was useless. I definitely didn’t know how to read lips.

  I just knew the handsy nurse was overstaying her welcome. She was pretty and thin and blonde and fucking infuriating. Ugh, and it was only two minutes maybe, that she was in there trying to talk the three of them up. I guess I couldn’t blame her for not being able to choose one?

  I wasn’t being rational anyway. It wasn’t like I had some sort of insane claim on them, as much as I wanted one. Whoever the nurse was tried to take her sweet time changing his drip and checking his bandage when really, she could just leave. There was nothing wrong with any of his shit. My blood was almost boiling by the time she left with a dumb smile on her face.