“That’s what they all say,” Oakley muttered under her breath.
I leaned closer, liking the way she stiffened in response. “What was that?” Oakley had a section of hair braided today. It was still all pulled back in a low bun, of course, but the feminine flair when she was normally so stiff and proper was driving me batshit crazy.
Oakley rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to respond when the dispatcher’s voice came through the radio.
“Got a lookie-loo saying there’s something happening at an abandoned warehouse up by San Mateo county line. Give it a look-see, will ya?”
We both paused after the radio crackled. I hooked a thumb at my dash. “Is she for real? What the fuck is a look-see?”
Oakley smiled and shrugged, clearly enjoying the slang. “Guess our ghosts-of-relationships-past conversation will have to wait,” she said as sweetly as I’d ever heard from her. The sweetness—even fake—combined with that smoky quality of her voice sent a fissure of pleasure down my spine.
I flipped on our lights and mapped us into the location of the warehouse. “You could just tell me now. I have a feeling the conversation will be short.”
Oakley’s jaw dropped open, but she shouldn’t be surprised. My style of communication rested on a firm foundation of teasing. “Rude.”
I chuckled. “Maybe. But accurate.”
She took a hand off the wheel and smacked my arm. The abandoned warehouse had a long driveway which Oakley drove down while I swiveled my head to see if anyone was home. Nothing popped out at me, so I thought the “lookie-loo” might have been wrong.
“There.” I pointed at two guys standing by the back corner of the warehouse, under a tall pine tree that had dumped half its pine needles on the metal roof of the structure. The one guy looked familiar, setting off a buzz of dread in my stomach. We were pretty close to the county I grew up in. “I’ll get this one.”
Oakley shrugged and said nothing about me handling this alone. When we got the call, I’d figured we were about to bust up a highly dangerous deal for horse feed or chopped firewood, but if I actually knew that one guy, he wouldn’t be out here for anything but drugs. If it was a drug deal, we were either too early or too late as I hadn’t seen money change hands.
I surprised them both when I approached, the familiar guy stepping back and tilting his head like a curious dog. Shit. I did know him. Had partied with him years ago. The taller guy jumped back and pulled something out of his pocket. I stepped back with my hands up, wanting to placate him since he was now armed.
“Wyatt? Is that you, man?” Ben, the guy I’d known in my prior life, put a hand to his forehead. “Holy shit. Dude, are you a cop now?”
I heard Oakley running across the driveway. She probably had her gun drawn the second the asshole reached for his pocket. I didn’t pay Ben any attention as he blabbered, though I wished he’d shut up. My entire focus had to be on the taller guy who held a switchblade in the air between us.
“Hey, hey. Put that shit away. I know this guy.” Ben seemed to think pulling a knife on a cop wasn’t already a serious situation.
“Drop the weapon and put your hands up!” Oakley shouted from behind, gun trained on the ground.
He looked over his shoulder at her and then swiped at me before darting away. Oakley chased after him as I grabbed my wrist. The fucker had cut me, but my watch had taken most of the beating when I lurched back.
“Stay here,” I told Ben, running after Oakley.
Damn, that woman was short but quick. She leapt onto a bale of hay by the side of the warehouse and then jumped, landing on the guy’s back. He stumbled and went down to one knee. In the next second, he swung her off his back and tried to run again. This time I was close enough to tackle him, taking him down to the ground and keeping him pinned while Oakley scrambled to get him cuffed.
She breathed hard next to me, a few strands of hair escaping her bun. We searched his pockets and found a few packets of a white powder we’d have to bag for evidence. Didn’t look like this was a simple weed deal.
“You okay?” I asked, wanting to make sure he hadn’t hurt her when he flung her off.
“Good.” She was all business. “I’ll get him in the car, you deal with your friend.” She flicked a glance at me, my heart stuttering at her guarded expression.
Fuck. She’d heard Ben say he knew me. This was not good. I got the guy standing and made sure he cooperated with Oakley before heading back to talk to Ben, who stood by his car.
“Hey, Wyatt, buddy. I promise you that wasn’t what it looked like.” He had a smarmy grin on his face. “Can you just look the other way for me?”
I lifted an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. “You got lucky, Ben. I didn’t see money exchange, so I can’t arrest you.” As his grin grew, I frowned harder. “I suggest you keep yourself out of this county. I’ll have no problem arresting you next time.”
Ben stepped back and opened his car door. “Okay, okay. Don’t worry. I don’t enjoy driving this far out, anyway. Wait ’til the guys hear what you’re doing now.” He shook his head like he just couldn’t believe it.
My elevated blood pressure was causing my eyes to feel like they were going to explode. “Yeah, about that. How about we keep my job just between us?”
Ben froze, one leg in the car. The fucker had a drug problem, but he wasn’t stupid. “I suppose you letting me go is worth keeping
