Page 13 of The Sunny Side (Rojo 2nd Generation: Rojo Police Department #3)

B RAWLEY

“Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

I heard my friend typing before he stopped and sighed. “I do now. What’s up?”

“When was the last time you checked on the princess?”

Orson scoffed before he asked, “Why? Did you have another dream about her?”

“Um, no. She was walking her dog at the park this evening, and I knocked her out by nailing her in the head with a tennis ball.”

I heard Orson’s chair squeak before he yelled, “You did what?”

“It was a fucking accident, Orson. Jeez. What kind of man do you think I am?”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist. I know you wouldn’t do that on purpose. What shocked me was that she was in Rojo. You were in Rojo, right?”

“Yes! I was at the park by my house.”

“What was she doing there?”

“I’m not sure, Mr. Private Investigator.”

“I haven’t looked her up in . . .” I heard his keyboard clicking and then he said, “Damn. I guess it’s been a few years. She had just graduated and moved back to Denver.”

“Well, she’s moved again, and now I’ve got her dog.”

“You kidnapped her fucking dog?”

“I’m gonna punch you in the fucking throat next time I see you. No, I did not kidnap her goddamn dog. I kept the dog when they took her away in the ambulance.”

“Are you gonna give it back?”

“You know what? I’m gonna break your fucking nose instead.”

“Such violence coming from an officer of the law,” Orson teased.

I ignored him and asked, “What’s she doing in Rojo?”

“Hold on . . .” I heard drawers opening and closing and then Orson said, “Shit! I can’t find my Magic 8 Ball. I guess you’re going to have to ask her yourself when she arrives with the SWAT team to collect her dog.”

“Have you ever talked to someone and wondered why you’re their friend?” I asked. When he started laughing, I hung up without another word, irritated that the spoiled princess who thought I wasn’t good enough to darken her door was in my town.

That led to another question that I needed to have answered before she came to pick up her dog.

Actually, there were several people who could help me, and I considered which one to call first. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to deal with Petra Parker’s attitude right now, so I decided to call my friend Noble’s dad, Marcus.

Luckily, he answered on the first ring. When I apologized for calling him so late, he laughed and asked, “How old do you think I am, Little Bear?”

“You’re not old, you’re timeless,” I said, smiling at the nickname even after all these years.

“And you’re full of shit,” Marcus replied. “What can I do for you?”

“I have some legal questions that can’t wait until Monday.”

“Since when has anyone in the family cared about business hours? All of the crazy shit they get into happens in the evening or on weekends. Are you in trouble, Brawley?”

“No, sir, not yet, but I’m wondering if I might be.”

“Where are you? Are you alone?” Marcus asked with no more teasing in his voice.

“I’m at home by myself.”

“Talk to me.”

“I don’t remember if you were involved, so you may not know about this. Do you remember when I was a kid and helped that girl that had been in a wreck?”

“Vaguely. That happened in Colorado, didn’t it?”

“Yes. When I went to the hospital, I met her parents, and they didn’t want me to see her. I felt like I needed to, though, because I’d made some promises to her. I wanted to make sure she was okay so I didn’t have to fulfill them.”

“What kind of promises?”

“That I’d stand up at her funeral and tell everyone to fuck off.” I didn’t tell him about the kiss, because I didn’t think it was important, even though she sure as hell did at the time.

Marcus chuckled before he asked, “So, you wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to die after all?”

“Yeah. I was really worried about her.”

“Her parents . . . Shit, Little Bear. I know something else happened, but I can’t remember the details.”

“I would imagine so, considering the hundreds of other fires you’ve put out over the years when it comes to all of us,” I reminded him. “Basically, they said I couldn’t see her, so Orson and I waited around until they left, and we snuck in to see her anyway.”

“That figures.”

“She was unconscious, so she didn’t even know we were there. I went back the next day and tried again, but while I was sitting beside her bed, her mother came in and lost her shit. The next thing I knew, the cops got called, and I was ordered to leave the hospital.”

“Let me guess, you went back anyway.”

“Of course I did.”

“Then what happened?”

“Her mother started ranting about how she didn’t want to see me and said the girl was afraid of me, which I knew was bullshit, but what was I supposed to do?”

“Did she call the cops again?”

“Yes, and when I went to see her that evening, she found out and the cops showed up again !”

“I know this is going to sound crazy, but did you ever think that maybe you should have just left it alone?”

I ignored the sarcasm since I considered that a rhetorical question and said, “Her mom said I was a stalker and filed paperwork to keep me away from her.”

“Your dad came to me with questions, and I assured him that as long as you kept your distance, nothing more would come of it.”

“When I was in the police academy, they did a routine background check and found that there was a protective order still in place. I would have lost my position if Nick hadn’t stepped in and let me stay.”

“I remember hearing about that.”

“Well, I guess she is now a resident in my neighborhood, and I accidentally hit her in the head with a tennis ball and knocked her out.”

“What?”

“And now I’ve got her dog.”

“ What ?” Marcus yelled. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”

More to myself than Marcus, I asked, “Why does everyone assume I stole the dog?”

“Did you?”

“No! She was walking the dog when all of this happened, so I took the dog home with me when she left in the ambulance.”

I explained what happened and how confused the woman was when she came to and that I didn’t really have much choice but to bring the dog home. Marcus chuckled before he said, “None of you kids can be normal, can you?”

“Since she was walking at the park in my neighborhood and Heath seemed to know her when he showed up, I have to assume she’s my neighbor. And since I have her dog, that I did not fucking steal , she’s going to eventually show up to get it, and I’m going to have to interact with her.”

“So, you’re wondering if the protective order is still in place.”

“Exactly, but for obvious reasons, I don’t want to call the station and ask them to check the status.”

“And you also don’t want to get in hot water if it is still in place, although the water is really muddy when it comes to her voluntarily coming to your home, except that, whether it was an accident or not, you assaulted her.”

“I swear it was an accident!”

“I get that, Brawley. I know you’d never hurt a woman on purpose. However, with the history between you, the perception may be different from a law enforcement or judicial perspective.”

“What do I do?”

“For now, avoid her like the plague. Find someone else to hand over the dog. Don’t seek her out in any way or speak to her at all until I figure out if that protective order had an expiration date.”

“That’s what I thought, but I needed professional confirmation. So, what am I supposed to do with the dog?”

“Call someone and have them run interference for you.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

“And make sure it’s someone who isn’t a shit-stirring, sarcastic asshole.”

“Do we know any people like that?”

Marcus was quiet for a minute before he said, “I can’t think of any right off the top of my head.”

◆◆◆

CLANCY

“Thank you again for giving me a ride. You’ve gone above and beyond for a stranger, and I appreciate that.”

“You’re my neighbor, so we wouldn’t have been strangers for long, right?”

I smiled before I said, “I suppose not, but thank you anyway.”

The man at the gate waved at Heath as he drove through and entered the neighborhood. After he turned left on Pecan, he pointed and asked, “That’s your house, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“And your sisters live out here, too, right?”

“Yes, Tansy and Darcy are renting here. Darcy lives on Nolan, and Tansy lives on Armadillo,” I explained. As he turned right on Alamo Way, I snickered before I asked, “Who named the streets in this place?”

“My brothers and I did. I’ll admit, it was late and we were all exhausted, so we may have made some off-the-wall choices, but I like the theme.”

“And what is that exactly?” I asked, honestly curious.

“Texas stuff.The Alamo.Nolan Ryan.Pecan.Ranger Blvd.”

I laughed before I read the street sign out loud as we passed it. “Prickly Pear?”

“I really like that jelly,” Heath admitted sheepishly. “My brother is a die-hard football fan and named another street Oilers Place as a form of rebellion because they moved his favorite team to a different state.”

“That sounds like a perfectly sound reason for a street name,” I lied with a straight face. When he rolled his eyes, I burst out laughing before I said, “Almost as reasonable as naming a street after your favorite jelly.”

“Josh and I may have had a few too many, but Adam was sober, so I put the blame on him.”

“So, you have two brothers?” I asked, just to make conversation.

“Six brothers and two sisters,” he replied.

“Good grief! And you seem relatively sane. I can’t imagine having six more siblings because both of mine are certifiable at times.”

“Everyone in my family has their moments including my parents since they were single-handedly trying to populate a small town.” Heath pulled to a stop in front of a house across the park from Darcy’s and said, “This is Brawley’s.”

There was an SUV parked in the driveway that proclaimed the owner had a K-9 unit with the Rojo PD. I sighed before I said, “Obviously, he’s a dog lover, so that makes me feel better.”

“His partner isn’t really a dog. It’s a human with fur and a tail.”

“My dog has quite the personality too,” I assured him as I got out. “I think they all do.”

“If you ever spend time with Max, you’ll understand what I mean,” Heath said cryptically. Once we were on the porch, he rang the doorbell and then smiled at me before he said, “I’m sure Brawley will be glad to see you’re okay.”

“It’s not his fault. I should have been paying more attention, but I was zoned out, thinking of paint colors and shelving ideas.”

The door opened and a gorgeous woman gave me a disgusted look before she smiled at Heath and said, “Give me a second and I’ll get the dog.”

Heath reached out to hold the door for me, but the woman stood in his way and said, “You can come in, but she stays out.”

Heath took a step back and asked, “What the hell, Lotus?”

She raised her eyebrows at Heath before she told him, “I said what I said. I’ll be back.”

Heath frowned as she turned her back on us and walked away, but he didn’t make a move to go inside. Instead, he said, “I’m not sure what that was about. Lotus is usually so cheerful it hurts.”

“Maybe she’s upset that her husband and I . . .”

“Brawley isn’t her husband. He’s her oldest brother.”

“Maybe she’s protective,” I said hesitantly, not really sure how to deal with such hostility from a perfect stranger.

Suddenly, she reappeared with Cupcake in her arms and another black and white dog at her side. He wasn’t looking at us, though. He was watching Cupcake, and both dogs were whining.

“Here,” she said as she thrust Cupcake toward Heath. When I reached for her, the woman glared at me. This time it didn’t shock me but pissed me off.

I took Cupcake and held her against my chest as I snapped, “Thank you for your hospitality and for taking care of my dog after your brother knocked me out.”

“Watch yourself or I’ll take my turn next,” the woman threatened before she stepped back and slammed the door in our faces.

“Whoa,” Heath said uncomfortably. “That was unexpected.”

“What the hell did I do to her, and why can't I speak to Brawley? I’d like to thank him for his help all those years ago. I was told that someone rescued me, but I had no idea who it was, or I would have thanked him sooner.”

“Your parents clearly didn’t want that to happen.”

“Well, they’re not part of the equation anymore, so now I’d like to speak to him,” I said as I reached out to push the doorbell.

Heath blocked my hand before he suggested, “You should talk to him another time when Baby Bear isn’t foaming at the mouth.”