Page 25 of The Sunny Side (Rojo 2nd Generation: Rojo Police Department #3)

C LANCY

I hadn’t been living around here very long, but I felt like I knew my way around already. With that being said, I estimated that the ride to my house from the center of town usually took about fifteen minutes. Twenty at the most.

It took three years and eleven days to get there tonight.

That probably had something to do with the fact that I was nervous, excited, exhilarated, and terrified all at the same time. Yes, Brawley and I had been seeing each other for a few weeks and talked via text all day and then spent most evenings together, but this was still very new to me.

Yes, I was a cautious person by nature. It only made sense after being around people I knew I couldn’t trust most of my life.

Somehow Brawley seemed to understand that and hadn’t pressured me to go any further than I was ready for, which I thought was very noble, but it had served to ramp up my attraction to him in a way that was almost unbearable.

I was usually very reserved, even after becoming intimate with someone, but I felt like I could let myself go with Brawley. That had opened the door to feelings I wasn’t used to. The ability to compartmentalize my emotions had always come in handy, but I couldn’t do that with Brawley.

Probably because my brain was filled with visions of him naked half the time, and when he said such sweet things in that sexy voice of his and actually seemed to mean them, I turned into a pile of hormonal need.

For instance, I wanted to beg him to pull over somewhere and kiss me again and maybe even rip off my clothes and bend me over his motorcycle.

Over the last three weeks, we’d tiptoed very close to the naked fun times I knew were on the horizon, but something had always managed to get in our way.

Just the other night, we were half-naked on my couch when his phone rang.

He and Max got a call from dispatch and had to leave.

Last night, I’d planned on asking him to stay with me but Cupcake’s digestive system had other plans, and I ended up cleaning dog puke out of Brawley’s shoe instead of screaming his name in bed.

All of that had just added to the sexual tension. It was quickly turning to sexual frustration. If I didn’t get naked with him soon, I might spontaneously combust.

And then, of course, I was excited and terrified because my mouth ran faster than my brain, and I blurted out feelings I hadn’t yet had time to analyze. I felt giddy when Brawley told me that he felt the same way. I had never told a man I loved him before.

Ever.

I had never even said those words to my own father, mostly because love had nothing to do with our relationship. He felt expectations because he thought of me as a possession, and I felt obligation because, in essence, he had been nothing more than my keeper.

Since I’d become close with Brawley and gotten to know him so well, I’d felt excited, but strange every time we spoke. The more time we spent together, the more I became convinced that this foreign emotion I felt was love.

I knew what love was, of course, but I’d never experienced the kind I felt for Brawley.

I’d learned that from movies, TV, and the romance novels I loved so much.

That’s probably why I didn’t really trust myself or how I was feeling.

In all of those instances, there were hurdles that had to be scaled before the people could get together, and he and I hadn’t met any obstacles yet unless you considered what had happened years ago.

But that didn’t change how I felt right now or how terrified I was at the thought of handing the man my heart and expecting him to take care of it.

I wasn’t going to think about that anymore, though. Not tonight. Tonight, I was going to enjoy my time with Brawley and finally get a release for the sexual frustration that had been building for weeks.

The gates were already open when Brawley turned onto the street that would take us into the neighborhood.

When I heard him start cursing, I leaned to the side so I could look over his shoulder to find out why he was upset.

All I saw were vehicles and motorcycles lined up against the curb surrounding the park in the middle of our neighborhood.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’ve been invaded,” Brawley grumbled.

“By who?” Brawley answered me, but I was sure I didn’t hear him correctly, so I asked, “Did you say Vikings?”

“There’s no way I can get past them to go home, and we definitely can’t stop at your place.”

“Why not? Who is it? Should we call the police?”

“Probably,” Brawley answered, his voice easier to hear over the sound of the engine now that he was coasting down the street. “But then again, there are already at least half a dozen cops here.”

As we turned down my street, I watched the people in the park start waving at us and motioning for Brawley to pull over.

“Well, shit!” Brawley exclaimed just before he pulled into my driveway. He shut off the engine and sighed before he said, “It’s gonna be a while before we can get any time alone.”

“Why? Who are those people?” I asked as I twisted around in my seat and watched people start walking in our direction. “Oh! Your sisters are here. And there’s the lady from the bakery!”

“Brawley! Come on over!”

“I’m coming,” Brawley yelled as he got off the trike. He put his hands on my cheeks and studied my face for a few seconds before he leaned in and gave me a fiery kiss. “I want nothing more than to drag you into my house and have my way with you, but that’s not going to happen right this minute.”

“You’d rather go to a party than . . .”

“Absolutly not, but there are people here I want you to meet, and I’m not sure how long they’ll be in town.”

“Who?”

“Technically, you’ve already met him, but you probably don’t remember,” Brawley said as he put his hand out to help me. “It’s my friend that was with me the night of your wreck. He’s the one that ran up the mountain to call for help.”

“You mentioned him before,” I said as I threw my leg over the tank and stood up in front of Brawley. “He’s got an old man name . . . um . . .”

“Orson.”

“Yes!” I looked over at the park and asked, “He’s here right now?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Why is that unfortunate?”

Brawley pulled me into his arms before he said, “Because I’d rather be in bed with you.”

“Patience is a virtue, right?”

“I’ve never met anyone named Patience, but they sound like an asshole.”

◆◆◆

brAWLEY

I had been ready to leave half an hour after we arrived at the park. I wanted to drag Clancy away like a caveman to finish what we’d started in the parking lot earlier.

Having my friends in town was great because even though we only lived about five hours from each other, too much time always passed between our visits.

However, as wonderful as it was to see Orson and some of the other Colorado family who had made an impromptu trip to Rojo, I was ready to wrap it up.

I loved my friends and family more than anything, but they could be a little much in big groups. No, that was wrong. They were a lot. I could visit with any of my friends one on one or even in small groups, but being out here with a hundred of them laughing and talking was overstimulating.

A few of them had even said that they were surprised I was still here, used to finding I’d slipped out without saying anything so I could have some peace and quiet. But that was then, and this was now - and the biggest difference had everything to do with Clancy.

That old saying about how opposites attract seemed to be true.

Clancy was outgoing, vibrant, and quick with a smile.

She could make conversation with anyone, and whether it was the clerk at the corner store or a group of people she’d just met an hour ago, she could always find a friend.

We’d been together in several social situations since we started seeing each other, and every time I saw her in her element, I couldn’t do much more than watch from the sidelines.

I knew that Clancy had been raised in the upper echelon of Denver society, so she was comfortable mingling with what I referred to as the country clubbers.

But after spending time with her, I saw that she was genuinely comfortable with people from all walks of life.

Clancy talked to everyone, freely passing out smiles and laughter and engaging with people that she didn’t seem to have anything in common with on the surface.

For instance, right now, she was playing cornhole with three of my friends who were an ex-con, an herbalist, and a musician .

. . not exactly people you would think of as friends to someone from the upper crust of society.

It was no surprise that Clancy had charmed them all, though. It looked as if Hawk, Fauna, and Roar were enjoying being her teammates while the four of them talked shit to the opposing team.

I was still watching Clancy when her sister Darcy came over and sat beside me on the bench beneath the tree. I smiled at her before I turned my attention back to the boisterous group playing the game.

“I thought for sure that you and my sister would be doing the no-pants dance right now, yet here you are, wishing you were anywhere but while she flits around like a social butterfly.”

“She really is, isn’t she?”

“Tansy and I are social in a different way than Clancy, but we do enjoy spending time with other people.”

“Isn’t it all the same?”

“Oh, God, no. Tansy and I like to dance and sing karaoke with a beer in hand, while Clancy would rather join book clubs and have engaging conversations about plotlines and characters for three hours while everyone nibbles on crackers dipped in someone’s grandma’s super secret award-winning cheese ball recipe.

” I cackled with laughter, and Darcy just smiled.

“You can put Clancy in any situation from the country club with mindless chatter to an impromptu get-together at a park teaming up with people she just met for yard games, and she’s happy. You, not so much, huh?”

“I like to hang out with my friends and family, but I like them in smaller doses.” I chuckled and said, “And for shorter periods of time than they usually prefer.”

“Your friends are going to be in town for the rest of the weekend, aren’t they?”

“Orson said they were leaving after lunch on Sunday.”

“Well, it’s Friday, so . . .”

“So what?”

“Why are you still here?”

“She’s playing a game, and I don’t want to interrupt her.”

“Do I need to paint you a picture and give you written instructions? Clancy can’t keep her eyes off of you, and I know for a fact that she was planning all sorts of naughty things for tonight.

Yet, here you are, gabbing with me while she’s over there proving to the world that she doesn’t have an athletic bone in her body.

Walk over there, throw her over your shoulder, and carry her off to ravish her in ways she’ll be dreaming about for the next ten years.

I’ll take her place on the team, and once we get finished joking about what a caveman you are, I’ll help them lose the game. ”

“You don’t think she’ll mind?”

“Even if she does, I’m sure you’ll think of some way to get her to forgive you.

” Apparently, Darcy could tell that I was fighting the urge to take her suggestion, something I’d been thinking about doing for the last half hour anyway, because she nudged me with her elbow and said, “Risk it for the biscuit, buddy. Sack up and get going.”

I laughed as I stood up and grinned at Clancy’s sister before I said, “You’re quite the little shit stirrer, aren’t you?”

“I give out advice like a daycare passes out germs. You’re welcome.”

I was almost to Clancy when she yelled, “Phoenix, you’ve got a lot of room to talk, insulting my playing capabilities, when you’re walking around with a face that looks like a pie someone dropped on the floor!”

I didn’t wait to hear his reply. It was probably going to take a while for him to form a sentence anyway, considering how hard he was laughing.

I kept walking, weaving through our friends, until I bent at the waist and scooped Clancy up.

I proceeded to throw her over my shoulder and then took off for my bike.

Clancy let out a loud yelp and started wiggling, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying over the hooting, whistling and clapping coming from all around us.

When she didn’t stop, I slapped her ass and said, “Be still, or I’m gonna stumble over a clump of grass and hurt us both, which will be very unromantic in the grand scheme of things. ”

“You think this is romantic?” Clancy screeched.

“Well, my other idea was to drag you over to a picnic bench and rip your clothes off right here in front of God and everybody, so . . .”

Clancy kept squirming as she interrupted, “I’m not all about performing in front of a crowd, but does this mean you’re going to do something like that when we get to your house?”

“The second we walk through the door.”

Clancy stopped arguing and wiggling, making it much easier for me to navigate the uneven ground.

It was time for the recluse and social butterfly to have some time alone. I knew without a doubt that everyone around us understood. We had all seen our fathers do this to our mothers at one point or another - and, as disturbing as the thought may be, we understood why now that we were adults.