Lawmakers (14 page)

“Damn it, Rosalie, that’s all well and good, but you’re not a cop and no black belt is going to stop a bullet or a knife.”  Sean stood and towered over her. “I don’t want to see you hurt, I don’t want to see your mom and dad suffering because of you running in half cocked.”

“Low blow bringing in the parents,” R.J. said furiously. “I’m not the type to be a school teacher or nurse or any of those submissive types you may like.”

“Where the hell did that come from?” Sean asked.

“Yeah, you think women are supposed to be all prissy and shit, but that’s not me.” R.J. suddenly felt a little hurt. “Maybe I was meant to be a boy and then you wouldn’t think that I can’t handle my job.”

“Jesus, Rosalie, I know some damn good cops who are women…”

“Then only the women in your life can’t be in the dangerous work, huh?” R.J. pointed out. “Thanks for the help detective, I’ll make sure not to bother you the next time I need information.” She made a special effort to look around the room. “I think there are a few guys in here that won’t give me as much grief as you do.”

“Yet you always come to me,” Sean called to her back.

“Go eat cake,” she retorted and didn’t look back.

This time her footfalls were fast and clipped on the floor as she left the precinct.
Typical man
, she thought angrily. Her father and mother didn’t want her to be a cop because they didn’t want her to get hurt.  But had she been a boy would they have acted the same way?  Probably not, they’d more than likely celebrate each commendation and milestone with pleasure. Sometimes being a woman in a man’s world was hard, but by damn she was going to prove them all wrong and be the best at what she did.

R.J. got in her car and pulled out of the parking spot that she had barely gotten. In true New York fashion someone was waiting to claim the space she vacated quickly.  She headed to the address that was etched in her memory. She wasn’t going to let the kid spend another night not being safe with her mother. Her mother said that each night they had a bedtime ritual that Brandy adored.
Tonight she’d have that
again,
R.J. vowed.

She hated New York humidity. Summer in the city was like the bowels of hell. She looked forward to her air-conditioned apartment and a cool shower when she got home, but now there was work to be done. She sat outside of the address, a small duplex in the White Plains area of the Bronx and watched for movement.  One apartment was completely dark but the other had lights.

As she watched the shadows move from room to room she waited to see one small form to know where Brandy was.  It was even better when she saw the little girl come outside, her hand held by an older man.  The way he kept rubbing her shoulder made her skin crawl, and when she saw him leading the baby girl to a shed that connected to the house she didn’t need to see any more.  Charles wasn’t there and his mother sure as hell wasn’t either. This guy was going to do something very bad, she could see it on his face.  R.J. was out of the car in seconds. She didn’t even open the gate but hopped over the fence.

“Give me the little girl and I won’t hurt you,” she said to the man. “Johnny Ruiz, right?”

His eyes widened. “How you know me, lady? This is my kid.”

“No, it’s Charles’s kid and you’re about to do some not so nice stuff, huh?” She smiled at Brandy. “Want to go home to your mommy? She said to tell you that the snuggle train is waiting for you.”

The little girl nodded and began to cry. That was it for R.J. She’d break whatever she needed to on this guy to take the little girl home.

“Charlie is on his way back right now so you better leave before he…”

Johnny never got to finish his words. She punched him in the gut, and when he bent over she brought her elbow down on the back of his head.  She didn’t wait, just grabbed the little girl as she heard, “Hey, that’s my kid!” She ran across the street and then down to her car.

“Let me get her home, let me get her home,” R.J. muttered.

She strapped the little girl in the back seat and closed the door just as a meaty hand slammed on her shoulder and whirled her around. She dodged the punch and used a few moves of her own. Charles was a big guy, but after some effort she got his hands from around her throat with a move she knew and then kneed him in the groin. While he had held her she’d seen the glassy look in his eyes and knew that he was on something. When the knee strike didn’t stop him, he slammed her against the car. She looked inside the car window and saw the baby crying just as he dislocated her shoulder and a searing pain exploded through her body. R.J. couldn’t let him win, and even with the agony she was in managed to fight him back and get into her car.

“Don’t cry, baby, I’m taking you home.” She tried to give a smile through the pain and managed to start her car and screech away from where she was parked.

She looked back as Charles chased her, but gave up as she sped down the street. She knew she shouldn’t drive home in her condition but she couldn’t stop either, not in that neighborhood, in case Charles decided to hunt around for her car.  Finally, when the pain was too much, she pulled off near FDR Drive and used her good hand to grab her phone from her bag. First she called Brandy’s mother and told her to meet her at the Seventeenth precinct. Then she called the last person she wanted to, the guy she told to basically go eat cake.

“Hello?” Sean picked up on the first ring.

“Are you home?” she asked through gritted teeth.

“No, I’m still at my desk. Why, and why do you sound like that?” he demanded.

“Funny thing.” She blew out a painful breath.  “I got Brandy back but in the midst of it I kind of got my shoulder dislocated by Charles and I’m parked right where FDR meets West Manhattan by a Chinese place called Noodlemania and a McDonalds. I need you to come get me, I can’t drive anymore.”

“For the love of God, Rosalie!” Sean yelled. “I can’t believe… I’m coming to get you.”

R.J. sighed in relief not even caring about the anger in his voice. “Before you do, can you let someone at the front desk know her mother is on her way there? I called her first.”

“You called…” Sean sighed as if needing infinite patience.  “I’m on my way. I’ll yellow cab it so I can drive your car back.  Don’t move a muscle.”

“I’ll be here, going through the drive-through so the kid can eat. She’s hungry,” R.J. said.

“Motherfuck…”

He hung up, and she knew Sean had to be mad. One, he never cursed unless he was mad, and two, he never hung up on her.  Between him and her parents she was going to have a shit storm on her head. 
I’ll deal
, she thought because she looked at the little girl sucking her thumb in the back seat and when R.J. turned the little face beamed a smile at her. It was all worth it because Brandy was safe.

“Let’s get you some food sweetie pie,” R.J. said and moved the car once more to go through the drive-through for a kid’s meal.

After that, she sat holding her throbbing shoulder close to her chest and watching Brandy happily eat her meal.  She kept the car running to keep it cool even though she was cold as hell so she figured shock was setting in.  She watched the lights of the Noodlemania sign flicker while waiting for the cavalry to arrive in the form of Sean Gilead.

Chapter Two

Sean drove Rosalie’s car silently through Manhattan. How she made it from White Plains to the FDR he’d never know. Traffic was a bitch on any given day, and doing it with a dislocated shoulder was no easy feat. She should’ve passed out and wrecked, but not his Rosalie. She had the resilience of ten men twice her size. She’d have made a great cop if she didn’t take promises so seriously. Her parents didn’t want her hurt.

She was on the passenger side of her own car. Her hair was a mess and she was cradling her shoulder to her chest. Her eyes were closed but he knew she was wide-awake. She wouldn’t sleep until the little girl in the back seat was safe with her mother. God, he wanted to throttle her and shake some sense into her.

She’d gotten into a job worse than being a cop because she never had back up a radio call away. Knowing her, she’d probably still call one in and a thousand cops would descend to help her because of who she was. His Rosalie—he knew he should stop calling her that because she was truly never his. Only in his dreams had he kissed and held her, only in his dreams was he able to claim her. She refused to go to the hospital before the precinct so when he pulled up he saw a woman rushing to the car. He assumed it was Brandy’s mother since she could hardly keep still waiting for him to park.

“Brandy!” The woman was openly crying.

Sean got out and opened the back seat of the car. When he took the seat belt off the sleeping little girl and handed her to her mother she began to sob. He understood why R.J. did it, she wanted to help people and make a difference, no matter if she got hurt or not.  Before he could get to her she had slowly gotten out of the passenger seat and rounded the car to the sidewalk.

Brandy’s mother pulled her into an embrace. “Thank you, R.J., thank you so much! I owe you everything, everything! You brought my baby home.”

“It’s okay Lila, I couldn’t let her miss tonight’s snuggle train,” R.J. said. “But wow, it hurts to be hugged right now.”

“Did Charles do this? Oh my God, R.J.!” Lila began to cry again.

“Don’t worry, Lila is it?” Sean said “There is a be-on-the-look-out for him and his entire family for taking Brandy.”

“They’ll go to Florida and try to hide there,” Lila sniffed.

“And the U.S. Marshals will go get them if they are,” Sean replied. “They aided a known felon in a kidnapping and they committed assault. The list is long, and trust me, they will go to jail.”

“I hope you throw them under it, for all they’ve done,” Lila said fiercely.

“We’ll need you to go inside and fill out some statements, and then two officers will escort you home,” Sean said.

Lila nodded. “After I got custody I moved from our old place and the new place is in my sister’s name. They don’t know where to find us, but I appreciate the escort. My mom is waiting at home.”

Another officer was coming out and Sean asked him to escort Lila, who held the baby tight in her arms, inside to Givens who was still at his desk.  He’d let the older detective know what was going on before he left and he was waiting for Lila’s statement. Sean would be taking Rosalie to the hospital.

Lila kissed R.J.’s cheek. “Thank you again, and I’ll bring you food from me and mom until you’re all healed.”

“You don’t have to do that,” R.J. called to Lila as she walked away with the officer.

Lila turned around and smiled. “I know, but I’m doing it anyway.”

They watched as she walked into the precinct and then R.J. turned to Sean. “Okay, now you can take me to the hospital.”

“Right after I place you under arrest. Rosalie Domino, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent…” Sean began.

“What the fuck for?” Rosalie asked, outraged.

“Interfering with an ongoing case, trespassing because I know you went on the property to get the kid.” As Sean stepped closer and she stepped backward, he continued to speak. “For driving while injured, and no safety seat for a child under the age of five.”

She shoved him with her free hand and winced. “You asshole, I did something good. Brandy is with her mother. The stepdad was going to molest her, he was leading her out to a fucking shed. I did what I had to do.”

He stepped closer, reached out, and cupped her neck, pulling her to him. “For running in without thinking and scaring the shit out of me. For making me go crazy thinking I’d lost you before I ever did this.”

He didn’t care about hiding his feelings anymore when he pressed his lips against hers.  R.J. made a sound of surprise and then her body melted against him. Just how he wanted her, soft and sexy, when he speared his tongue into her mouth. He ended the kiss as quickly as he started it, knowing that her shoulder needed attending.

He pressed his forehead against hers. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”

She cleared her throat. “Um, okay.”

He’d never heard her voice sound so amazed and, dare he say it, sweet.   He helped her back in the car, got in the driver’s seat, and pulled away from the curb.

“I’m telling your parents and you’re going to catch hell,” Sean commented.

“I know,” she answered.

Much later, after the doctor had set her shoulder and she was full of pain medication, he took her home. Her arm was in a sling and she would basically not be working or driving for about six weeks. She promised to call her parents the next day, but he’d already tattled. Yet he agreed with everything she said because with the medications her filter for words had disappeared. She was saying what she felt, such as, “So fat he was an asshole man who didn’t think she was strong enough, my dad wanted a boy and my mother wanted grand babies.” She also let him know she was no Suzie Homemaker, schoolteacher, nurse type to sit home and make him pies.

 Again, he had to wonder why she had the perception that was what he wanted in a woman.  He got her to her apartment that was frigid like the Arctic Circle and helped her out of her clothes and into a nightshirt.  He had no problem looking at the satiny smooth, ebony skin when she stood while he helped her dress. In fact, he enjoyed it immensely. Then he helped her into bed before tucking her hair behind her ear as she settled against the pillows.

He’d be sleeping on the couch tonight since the doctor said she had to be monitored through the night and may need a second dose of pain medicine.  He looked down at her, the hair that was in big waves showing her Latina heritage. The dark cappuccino skin she inherited from her father and the sexiest lips he’d ever tasted.  She opened her soft brown eyes and it took a moment for her to focus on him as he cupped her cheek.

She sighed and pressed her face against his hand. “You’re nice, Sean.”

“Thanks for that,” he murmured, amused.  “Are you in pain?”

“I’m pleasantly numb, thank you for asking,” she said sweetly. “Am I still arrested?”