My heart skips at those three words.
Did he mean them?
Is Wyatt mine?
Because I know one thing.
I am definitely his.
CHAPTER 31
TWO MONTHS LATER
WYATT
Washington slams his locker, “Cocker, you mean to tell me that you’ve been seeing her for two whole months and nothing has happened?”
Even Eudy looks up from his report to hear my answer.
Buttoning a short-sleeve shirt up I shrug, “That’s right. Hardest thing I’ve ever done. Harder than the Academy.” Aside from the one time in her office, I’ve kept my hands off of her. Barely made it out that night without taking her on that messy desk of hers, so I haven’t tempted myself again by going that far.
“I don’t understand you,” Washington grumbles.
“You know how much I want to rip Diana’s clothes off every time I see her? Any idea?” I pause and they stare at me. “It’s bad. Can’t be alone with her for long. Have to be out in public. Whenever I drop her off, she’s tugging at my buttons, my zipper, and yet here we are, getting to know each other without sex.” I exhale, “Yet. It’s painful but…fun.”
“Wasn’t it you who said I needed to get laid?”
“And you did.”
“That is not the point!”
I check myself out in the mirror, like what I see, and lock up. “You forget that I don’t have the bad attitude you had. Look at this.” I point to my face. “I’m smilin’ — see that?”
“I see it but I don’t understand it.”
“Confidence, Wash, confidence. I’m a man who is in control of himself — I’m proving it — and when you have that, you have everything.”
Larter walks into the locker room. “Hey Eudy, give me that. I’ll fill it out tonight.”
The three of us freeze, staring at him in shock.
Deputy Eudy hands his partner the tablet. “Why?”
“It’s your anniversary tonight.”
“So?”
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
Eudy looks at me and Washington for affirmation that this isn’t a dream. We are just as mind-blown. “Thanks Larter. Christy will appreciate it.”
“No problem.” He sits down and gets to work, face casual as Eudy gathers his things.
Wash and I slowly back out just in case Larter has been replaced by a robot sent to destroy us.
Under my breath as we get some distance, I say, “See, people can change.”
“You going somewhere fancy?”
Glancing to my black slacks and shirt I ask, “This?”
“Don’t play dumb.”
“I’m meeting her parents tonight.”
Washington stops in the middle of the desk cops and shouts at the top of his lungs, and they are big lungs, “Shut the fuck up!”
“Thank you for not drawing attention to it.”
“You’re meeting her parents?!”
Everyone looks over. Especially the women I’ve seen without their uniforms. Sucking on my lips a second I sigh, “Yep.” Raising my voice I announce to the station, “I’m meeting my girlfriend’s parents tonight. Nothing big, just their anniversary and I’m her date. There, ya happy? Miracles are real.”
A few people look confused like we were at Larter offering to help Eudy do his job. Crooks being booked couldn’t care less, they hate us. The female officers I used to be intimate with, return to working because they figured out last month that I was off the market. They’re over it. Much to the dismay of my ego.
Slapping Washington’s back I push him toward the exit. He chuckles, amused at himself. “I can’t believe you’re even calling her your girlfriend and you haven’t—”
I push him again, and that booming laugh fills up the whole room.
“Cocker!”
We look back to Chief’s office, find her standing in the door crooking her finger before she vanishes.
He and I exchange a look, and walk over.
“You’re off duty, go home,” I tell him.
“Not getting rid of me that quickly. I’m curious.”
“I have an idea, why don’t you delicately close her door like you’re scared?”
He eyes me. “That’s not funny.”
“You did that.”
“I am scared!”
I walk in and greet Fiore, “Chief. Need me?”
She points to her screen. “Something you want to tell me?”
Innocently I ask, “What?” and even lean in. “I don’t see anything.”
Fiore crosses her arms. “Don’t play coy. Where’s your fan group?”
“What fan group?”
“Cocker!”
I pick up a photograph, turn it around and see her husband and daughter. “I didn’t know you were married. He like his balls busted?”
She grabs it. “Give me that.”
Chuckling I flip around and head out. “You know I love you!”
“I don’t know how you did it, but I’m glad it’s done!” she calls after me, amusement hiding behind her mask of anger.
Washington and I stroll out as he asks, “You got them to dissolve it.”
“Just had to find the creator and give her what she really wanted. She made an announcement about being respectful toward me, unpublished the group and boom, no more group.”
“What’d she want for it?”
Sun hits our faces, clear blue sky overhead, thanks to late summertime hours. “She wanted dinner with me.”
Washington balks, “Say what?”
We parked next to each other, so I’m stuck with him. For now. “I dug deep, found who started it all and sent her a message. Told her as much as I was flattered, the group was hurting my future in the force, how important my job is to me, and asked if I could take her out to dinner. Would that be cool. She said yes, gushed all over me for two hours. Sweet girl. Really shy. Just needed some attention and a bit of confidence building.”
Washington stops at his Range Rover. “And you did that
