Lorie O - Strong, Sleek and Sinful

“What the fuck?” Perry hissed.

Rad walked through Perry’s house and opened his back door, leaving it opened as he headed toward his car. Perry didn’t bother shutting it, either, as he stormed after the Chief.

“Are you implying that I’m under investigation? Tell me who’s trumped up charges against me.”

“No one has,” Rad offered easily. “Yet. Keep it that way. You hear me?”

Perry heard him but didn’t have a fucking clue what he was talking about.

Perry had the eeriest feeling that someone was watching him. The back of his neck prickled as he parked, taking up two stalls, and then headed up the broken sidewalk toward one of five duplexes that surrounded the small parking lot. Rubbing the back of his head and trying to get the sensation to go away, he knocked on the door and then glanced up and down the busy side street.

The front door to the adjoining duplex opened and an elderly woman, wearing a full, long paisley dress that hung to her skeletal figure, peered out at him.

“What do you want?” she demanded as if he’d just knocked on her door.

Perry knew Carl Ramos’ mother only through her son but knew her mind wasn’t what it used to be. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Ramos,” he said. “Do you know if Carl is home?”

“He’s out back playing ball.” Mrs. Ramos closed the front door before Perry could say anything.

More than likely so she could hurry through her house and announce to her son that he had company before Perry could walk around the duplex. When he reached the back side of the duplex Perry heard laughter and bantering and wondered if he’d inadvertently stumbled onto a Sunday afternoon party. A large gathering was the last thing he was in the mood for.

“Playing ball” was an understatement. Perry paused in between duplexes, feeling the cool breeze in the shade from the buildings, as he stared at the aggressive game of football going on in the open field between the homes and a row of trees that hid the industrial park spread out beyond it.

“Perry!” Natalie Anderson waved as she announced his presence, calling to him from the other side of the field. “You’re just in time. Just don’t take Carl’s side. His team is getting their ass kicked.”

“Fuck you, Anderson.” Marty Taul worked in Records at City Hall with Natalie. He leapt into the air, pulling off a decent interception, but then tumbled over Carl, who bulldozed into him. Both men went sprawling to the ground.

“I don’t do sloppy seconds,” Natalie hollered, laughing as she started around the field toward Perry. Over a year ago, Perry took Natalie out, which ended up with both of them drunk and naked. He seldom drank and sure as hell wasn’t used to tying one on like he had that night. From what he remembered, the sex was incredible, but neither spoke to each other much after that for at least several months.

“The game is probably over,” she said when she approached him. “And it should have ended long before now,” she added, grinning easily as she stared up at him with soft blue eyes.

“Looks like it.” Perry shook his head, watching the men help each other up and then laugh at how they weren’t as young as they used to be. “I’d say I showed up at the right time. I’m the only man standing upright.”

“They don’t hold a flame to you no matter how they stand,” Natalie said under her breath. Over the past few months she’d started flirting openly with him. Rumor was that she’d recently broken up with her boyfriend and was on the prowl for a new man.

Perry wasn’t going to be that man, but he didn’t mind humoring her. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” he drawled, and then walked into the backyard, reaching down to grab the football that had rolled away from the guys.

“Flynn. If you’d showed up forty-five minutes ago…,” Marty said, breathing heavily as he pressed against his lower back. “Carl, I’m going to have to head out, man. The wife will be home from shopping soon and we’re supposed to go to her mom’s tonight.”

“Fun, fun,” Carl said, rolling his eyes and slapping Marty on the back. “Tell her you threw your back out trying to beat me at football and so can’t go.”

“She wouldn’t believe me.” Marty winked at Natalie and then started toward the path between the duplexes.

“What brings you over this way?” Carl asked, catching the ball when Perry tossed it to him. “Seems a weekend for company.”

“Anyone else shown up from the station?” Perry asked, trying to sound indifferent.

“Yeah, actually. The Chief, if you can believe that.”

Perry met Carl’s gaze and his expression hardened, appearing almost wary. “Oh, really,” Perry said, trying to sound curious when he ached to grab Carl by the arm and force him to a more private location. Something wasn’t right, but worse yet, Perry sensed things were worse than he thought.

“I’m heading down to Lucy’s for a drink and to stare at the big screen in the company of strangers,” Natalie said, wrapping her arm around Perry’s. “Dare to join me?”

He hadn’t been to Lucy’s in ages but had dared enter the club since taking Natalie there on their date. He smiled down at her knowingly. “Sounds like a challenge.”

“Never,” she said, looking shocked. “Just more fun to zone out on the boob tube with a crowd around than alone in my apartment, unless I know that company will be showing up soon.”

“I hear you,” he said, deciding not to fall for the bait.

“I might head down to Lucy’s after a shower,” Carl offered.

Natalie turned the same welcoming smile to Carl. Possibly she was simply looking for company during drinks and watching the prime-time lineup. Or maybe she was horny and didn’t care who she took home with her as long as he fell into her criteria of “decent.” Either way, Carl’s offer was good enough for Natalie.

“Both of you come down. I’ll see you there.” She let go of Perry and took off around the duplex toward the parking lot.

Carl tossed the football into the air a couple feet and then caught it, heading toward his back door. “You going to head down there?”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Perry told him honestly. “I really showed up here to talk to you for a few.”

“No problem. Come on in.” Carl pulled his screen door open and held it, allowing Perry to enter first. “You want a beer?”

“Sounds good.”

“Rad come pay you a social call, too?” Carl pulled a couple cans out of his refrigerator and handed one to Perry. “Are we being written up on some bullshit or something?”

“I doubt it.” Perry followed Carl into his living room and reclined on the comfortable couch, relaxing into the corner and watching Carl do the same on the other end, kicking his shoes off before resting his sock-covered feet on his coffee table. Perry felt like doing anything but relaxing. “Something’s going on, though. If he came to see you and me, I’m betting he visited a few other cops on the force as well.”

“What the fuck for?” Carl gulped down a fair bit of his beer and belched.

“What exactly did he say to you?” Perry decided to ask the question before Carl could. He would rather form his conclusions after hearing what was said, and knowing nothing Carl told him would be altered based on anything he heard from Perry.

“He told me to start working with you, that we were partners and to start acting as though we were.”

“Said the same thing here.”

Carl frowned, staring at his beer for a moment without saying anything. Perry allowed the silence to grow, wanting to make sure Carl said everything on his mind, or that he had to share, before Perry added anything to it.