The Sweetest Thing (Book 1) ✓

06 - Gotcha

Dax

I was feeling her eyes on me the whole time my team and I discussed our strategy. Honestly, I was amazed to manage to listen to what was told around me and not think about the red head behind me. Well, I'm not thinking just about her. See, I was good at multitasking.

The plan was simple, we've done it hundreds of times. But the difference in this case was that we didn't have as much information as we'd like to, but...we are a damn good team, so... I'm not that worried. When I was putting my gear on, I decided to finally have a quick look at Lily and catch her staring at me. The moment our eyes connected, she averted hers, looking at my dog like he was the most interesting thing in the world. But her cheeks were getting more and more red. I guess now I know that I was affecting her, too. It wasn't just me that felt the attraction. Good to know. Very good.

"Are you ready, boys?" Max asked us. "Ollie, Luke, you two go out and cover the stairs. Cleo and Dax, you are by the windows. Take Ace with you, too. Ralph and I will go ask them some questions. Be ready for everything. Go!"

Ollie and Luke left the apartment first, using the fire exit. I walked to Lily and took Ace's leash.

"Be careful, okay. Don't act on anything you hear. Just stay here. Lock after we leave and be quiet. If something goes terrible, hide in your bedroom and call the police."

Lily was watching me with horror in her eyes. Shit! I didn't mean to scare her, but I wanted to be sure that she'd be safe. I took Ace from her, who wasn't all that happy about it.

"C'mon boy, we've got work to do." Me, Ace, and Cleo left the apartment too and walked around the building until we were on the right side. Over the radio, we gave the others the signal that we were in position. Everyone was ready.

"Showtime." We heard Max and a second later a loud bang from Ralph, who broke the door. Then the screaming of the commands "Get on the ground! Police! Get on the ground, NOW!" We saw three men jumping from the windows. Are they crazy? It was the third floor; they could break their legs! Not that I'm complaining about their stupidity, but...c'mon. The moment they hit the floor, one of them screamed in pain, and Cleo was on him within the second, restraining his hands. The other two knew how to land a high jump because they rolled over the moment their feet hit the ground. After that, they started running.

"Police! Get on the ground, or I'll let the dog go after you! Get on the ground, now!" I was screaming at them while running. No reaction. In that case...

"Ace, catch!" My dog started running after one of the men and I went after the other. The moment I was catching my runner, I heard loud screams from my right. I quickly put zip tie handcuffs on my dude and walked over with him to Ace, who was the other man. He was biting his leg and snarling at him, while the man was screaming and rolling in pain.

"Get him off me! Get him off! Call him down!" I waited a little bit. Maybe it wasn't the smartest decision, but, well, he was the one running from the police. He must know the consequences of that. I called off Ace, who was still high on the adrenaline from the chasing. I put the man in handcuffs like his buddy who was sitting on the ground next to me, then went to my dog to rub him for the amazing job.

"Good boy! Yeah! You are a good boy. Good job." I heard over the radio, one by one, my team saying that they cleared their position and how many they've got.

"I'm clear. I've got one, and Ace has got one, too." He was getting a big, juicy steak tonight!

"Alright, boys, take them to the front of the complex. There's a van waiting for them." I took my runners and guided them to where Max told me. I saw the other dudes that were in the apartment, already sitting in the van, which was now full.

"Where to put them, boss?" Max turned around and looked at me. He came quickly and took one of the suspects and started leading him to one of the patrol cars.

"Take yours to the car over there," and he pointed at a car to the right. There was an ambulance next to the patrol car, so when I was close enough, I said to no one in particular that my suspect's foot needed to be seen because of Ace. One medic came and took the man from me, leading him to the nearest curb to sit down and look at his leg. The whole SWAT team gathered, and everyone was telling the others what happened to them. After a while, the narcotics unit came and went to gather evidence from the apartment. The suspects were all gone by now. When we were on the third floor, I managed to take a quick look at the apartment that we busted. It looked awful. I don't know if someone was actually living there or just used it as a lab. There were bags of all kinds everywhere you looked. Some glass flasks, creased money, and piles of white powder. Yup. Drug lab it is.

I knocked on Lily's door and waited to hear a reaction from inside. After a while, I heard her footsteps coming closer.

"Hey, Lily. It's us. Everything is clear. Can you open, so we can get our stuff?" I heard the lock, and the door was open. Lily took a step back to let us in, and everyone quickly gathered their stuff.

"Yo, girl, you should definitely come with us! We are going to the 'Bronze Lantern' after we get our papers done. I mean, we wouldn't be able to do this hit without your help. We owe you."

"Cleo is right. You should come with us. I know that you might be tired, but I bet you are more hungry than tired." I tried to persuade her. I really wanted a little bit of time with her. Didn't want it to end right now, I don't know why...just knew that I didn't.

"I-I don't know. I don't want to intrude. And I don't know where this place is and how to get there, I'll just stay and..."

"Uh-uh. You are coming. I'll give you a ride. And I can write my report here or in my car. It's not a problem. Just need to leave it in the station before we go to the bar. What time will we meet there?" I asked my team.

"I think in an hour and a half, maybe two, we should all be ready by then." Luke answered my question.

"Okay then. You guys go, and I'll stay to write here. Just need to go take the papers from my car. Are you OK with this plan, Lily? And while I write, you can catch a quick nap. I promise I'll be quiet." Please say 'yes', please say 'yes', please say...

"Um, okay. That sounds good." Fuck yeah! I smiled foolishly at her and saw her cheeks getting red. Damn, if it didn't make me smile even wider. It was starting to become my favorite thing - making her blush.

"Then it's settled. I'll go with them to my car. You can keep Ace here. It looks like he likes you more than me, which shocks me, but whatever. I'll be right back." I quickly took my papers and went back to the apartment. The narcotics unit was still collecting evidence. They probably will be here for the whole night. There's a lot of shit in there that needs to be documented and collected. I knocked on Lily's door and heard her saying it was open, so I just walked in and locked after me. Found her in the living room, sitting on the couch with Ace at her feet.

"I was serious that you could take a nap. It'll take a while to write my report, no need to stay here. I mean, I'd like your company, don't get me wrong, but you didn't have a chance to rest all day, and I'm sure that your wound isn't very happy about it."

"Yeah, it isn't feeling very well. Okay, then. I'll go to my room." I helped her up from the couch, and she walked to her room with Ace going after her. Bastard. He dumped me so quickly. I mean, I understand him, and I'll dump myself for her too. She was just so... I didn't have the world to describe her. Her head was shorter than mine, her hair was dark red with little purple parts in there, that you could only see in the sun. A little wavy, it reaches under her shoulders. Her eyes were like honey, so warm. Full lips that always took my attention. And then her breasts. They looked so perfect...she wasn't on the skinny side and I loved it; she loved when you have something to explore without seeing bones, something to hold on to...and her curvy body was perfect for it. I-I don't know when it happened, but I was very attracted to her. Just, she had something that made me want to be around her all the time, to talk with her, listen to her voice, watch her...I-I didn't know what to do with myself.

After an hour, I finished my report and walked to her room. There, I saw her sleeping on her bed with Ace right beside her. I've never wanted to be in a dog's place like right now.

"Lily?" She made some kind of throaty sound, then turned her back to me, sheets over her head. "Lily, wake up. I'll leave you, but you need to eat. C'mon, get up." There were some movements under the sheets, then her sleeping head popped from under them.

"Dax?" She looked so confused seeing me. Her brain still couldn't catch up.

"Yeah, Lily. It's time to get up. I finished my report, and we need to go soon, because I don't know about you, but I am starving." Her eyes became more focused, and I saw the moment when she remembered what happened and why I was in her room.

"Oh, okay... just give me a couple of minutes to get ready."

"Need any help?"

"No, thanks, I can manage it on my own."

"Okay. I'll leave you now. Don't go back to sleep." She smiled at that and removed the sheet from her body. "C'mon Ace, let's leave Lily for a while." My dog wasn't very happy about that, but he came with me in the living room.

I was watching through the window when I heard her footsteps.

"I'm ready to go." I turned around and found myself smiling at her. She wasn't wearing anything special, just some blue jeans, a white shirt with a leather jacket and black ankle boots. But she looked so good in it that I just stood there for a while staring at her.

"Dax?" she started blushing and tried to look everywhere but at me. "Are you ready to go? You said you were starving." I shook off the trance I was in.

"Yeah, we are going." I walked toward her and stopped just in front of her. "You know the drill." I widely smiled. She rolled her eyes but put her hands on my shoulders, then put her right leg around me, and I helped her by getting her left one and circling it around my waist. Then, I hugged her closer to me and walked away from her place with Ace behind us.

"Is this bar far away from here?"

"Not exactly, but I need to stop at the station, and that will make our trip a little bit longer."

"Okay." She just rested her head on my shoulder and let me take her to my car. I can get used to it, for sure.

***Vote if you had moments when you didn't want to walk on your own...it's so inconvenient sometimes.