“Is this how you get so many women, Jake? You know, the rest of us just ask ’em out, and if they say no, we let ’em go.”
“You’re a barrel of laughs, Doug. Just get a fucking blanket and help me get her covered up.” Though traffic was sparse, he didn’t need any late-night drivers witnessing a trooper manhandling a half-naked woman.
A second deputy had arrived, assessed the situation, and was already coming toward them with a yellow blanket, the kind all officers carried in their patrol cars. He opened it and threw it to Jake, who hastily wrapped up the woman, pinning her arms to her sides.
“Thanks, Aaron,” Jake said, scowling at Doug. “You can have her.”
“Ah. Not sure I want her, dude,” Aaron replied. “She seems like trouble. Doug, you got here first. She’s all yours.”
“Fine, but we gotta get her shirt back on her somehow. I’m not dealing with the transport and the Breathalyzer with her wrapped in a blanket.”
Jake handed the squirmy bundle to Doug and walked over to retrieve the woman’s shirt. He put it over her head, coming face to face with her.
“Oh my God. Jakie?” she screamed in his ear. “Is that you? I know you.”
Jake panicked. “I don’t think so, lady.” She was about his age and obviously did the bar scene, but Jake would have remembered if she’d been one of the women he’d taken home.
“Last year. I met a trooper. He took me home to show me his patrol car, and we, um, well, you know. I had just broken up with my boyfriend and felt like crap. You were so sweet about it. Don’t you remember me, Jakie?”
“Stop calling me Jakie,” he sulked. Shit. That sounded exactly like something he would say. And do. He had to get out of here.
“Classy, Jake,” said Doug. “You know, one of these days, you’re gonna meet a woman that’ll make you want to give up your womanizing ways and settle down. You really oughta cool it with the bimbos.”
“Hey,” said the woman. “Are you talking about me?”
“No,” said all three officers in unison.
“I’m already on overtime. My sarge is going to kill me. I gotta get home,” said Jake. “I’ll email you my notes on her driving prior to the stop and what happened before you got here. You got this?”
“Yeah, go on. Later, man,” said Doug.
Aaron nodded his farewell and headed back to his own rig.
Jake got back into his car and tossed his campaign hat onto the passenger’s seat. He closed his eyes for a brief second, desperately trying to remember this woman, but she was lost in a sea of nameless faces. Giving up, he started the car.
“Three-seven-nine, Seattle. I’m clear. County’s handling.” He put the mic back in its holder and got the hell out of there. He was already late getting off, and his sergeant hated it when he had to adjust for unexpected overtime.
This was his last night shift for a while. He just had to make it home without stumbling upon any other nefarious folks. Then, after a three-day weekend, he’d be back on day shift for a month. It wasn’t as exciting as the night shift, but it did have one benefit—Hannah.
CHAPTER TWO
Hannah topped off the coffee order with a squirt of whipped cream and a plastic to-go lid. She slid it into a sleeve and inserted two skinny straws.
“Patty,” she yelled out to the mob of customers. “Sixteen-ounce pumpkin spice latte, twelve pumps of sweetener.” The woman shot her a dirty look, probably for announcing her excessive level of sugar intake, and without so much as a thank you, snatched the cup and left.
“Twelve pumps?” asked her coworker, Ashley, over the hiss of the milk frother. “That’s got to be a record.”
“It made me sick just pumping it. I can’t imagine drinking it. There should be a limit. I don’t want to be responsible for her diabetes,” said Hannah, moving to grab the next order.
“Yeah, well, free country and all that,” said Ashley.
“True. And thank God for that. Plus, I said I wasn’t going to be so judgy. I should mind my business.”
Ashley laughed. “Not so judgy? Yeah, right.”
“Hey, I’ve been doing better,” said Hannah. “Haven’t I?”
“I seem to recall some complaining about a lady and her kid not even thirty minutes ago.” She raised her eyebrows in accusation.
