It’s a fleeting thought, a professional cop thought.
The kind I can’t help but have, as much as when I record in my mind how tall someone is or where they live. What they were wearing last time I saw them.
Stuff like that.
Just mental chatter I can’t help. Like the radio that garbles for twelve hours a day every shift.
A piece of my mind I can’t help anymore.
Once a cop, always a cop.
I figure Moose is the same. Sussing things out in his own way, and like me, he’s just enjoying the downtime we both have.
He with his bone and meat. Me with the girl of my dreams.
“Hi Moose,” Naomi eventually murmurs, covering herself and responding to him, obviously waiting for her to notice him there as well.
We both chuckle and he gives us our space, seating himself down by the bed for a change, showing some real manners.
“You ready for something to eat?” I ask her, reaching over and sighing pleasantly when she grabs my hand in both of hers, dragging it under the covers to feel her all over some more.
“Maybe I got something you wanna eat?” she teases me, and I wonder if I haven’t unleashed something I can’t control, but she puts me out of my misery quickly.
“I’m kidding, Parker. I could eat a horse. Everything down there needs at least twenty-four hours before we have a replay,” she giggles.
“I didn’t hurt you?” I ask, sounding worried, but I know what she means.
“You didn’t hurt me. But I might walk funny for a while,” she confesses.
Moose whines and I prop myself up on one elbow, wondering if he’s eaten too much or if something got stuck.
Another thought flashing through my cop’s mind.
The cop mind I know we share as a team.
Ah Jesus, not tonight. Please not tonight.
“What is it?” Naomi asks, putting her hand on my arm, feeling my reaction to Moose.
“Nothing,” I tell her hopefully. “Let’s get downstairs and eat, eh?” I suggest and we all head downstairs.
Naomi in one of my shirts and nothing else and me in the robe I thought she might like. But once I see her in my shirt, I’m hooked.
The meat’s warm and rested, and everything else is ready to serve.
I’m partway through plating up for Naomi when I hear it.
The payback for the best day of my life.
My beeper lets out a shrill alarm sound. Something that could never be mistaken for anything else.
Straight away, Moose heads for the door and stands alert, ready to have his harness fitted.
I move by instinct, but Moose is whining because I’m slow today.
“What’s that?” Naomi calls out, almost shouting until I check in on the beeper by acknowledging it.
My phone rings a second later and I only have a few minutes to explain to her once I get the message.
“It’s a call. Emergency. All tactical and K9 units required… I’m sorry Naomi, but I gotta go, this is what we do,” I hear myself telling her, feeling like an asshole but needing to saddle up and move out.
I push what food I have ready in front of her, putting my hand on her shoulder before I move to get ready.
“Stay inside until I get back. Don’t open the door, not for anyone but me, okay?” I instruct her.
“I’m scared, Parker,” she tells me honestly.
“I’ll be home as soon as I can, but… Just promise me you’ll stay here. Go nowhere and don’t open that door. Okay?” I ask her again. She gives a sharp nod.
“Good girl,” I whisper hoarsely, kissing her briefly but then dashing to the closet by the front door, suiting up in tactical gear before I prep Moose in much the same way.
It’s a rare thing but not totally uncommon.
And almost always, non-drill calls are always on a day off or when you just don’t feel like it.
The city that never sleeps.
As per our training, we’re ready and on the road in less than two minutes, the details on my dashboard once we’re in my truck and on the road.
The gates close behind us and Moose and I are back at work.
Another day another dollar.
But there’s something different now, we both feel it.
We both have something waiting for us both once we get home.
“Let’s do this buddy,” I encourage him, but I can see his own senses are picking up something I don’t.
Something I can’t.
The same keen sense a dog has that we humans never understand, and one I see day in day out, taking it all for granted.
Tonight though, it gives me a chill.
Moose looks at me, almost right through me as he seems to sense everything that’s about to go down before we even get there.
And that scares me for the first time in my whole career.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Naomi
Like so many things lately, when it all changes it happens so quickly.
One minute I’m snuggled up with Parker after he’s claimed me, feeling so content so safe once he starts to serve the amazing dinner he’s prepared for us both.
The next he’s on call, disappearing out into the night to deal with god knows what. Even taking Moose with him too, leaving me all alone again.
It’s like he said though, it’s his job. It’s what they do. I’ve seen enough in one day now to start to realize maybe I don’t like what he does.
Maybe I just want Parker and even Moose all to myself.
Just the three of us, uninterrupted.
Like a family.
I stand in his hallway, feeling the emptiness of the house all of a sudden, remembering what he said about not going anywhere and not opening the door to anyone.
Why would I? And where would I even go if I wanted to?
This feels like home now, even as empty as it is and I try my best to eat a little something but end up starting to clear everything away, making sure there are plates of food ready to reheat once Parker and Moose get home.
I keep the candles going, it feels more
