Chance Encounter (God's Reapers MC Book 1) (6 page)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Olivia looked at the mess in front of her. Two boys who couldn’t be older than nineteen, one of them beat up pretty badly and David was here. Olivia had done her best not to think about him, but her best hadn’t been good enough. They had been so close earlier; she could still see his eyes every time she closed hers. But nothing had happened and nothing ever could. He was a handsome criminal, but she was a good cop, and she was not about to let him distract her.

She looked over at David, and he looked right back at her. She wished that he could act at least a little ashamed about being caught here today. But instead he was standing there in the bright sunshine, staring at her with a hint of sadness to his face. Her question hung in the air, but so far no one wanted to answer it.

“It happened just like Tommy said,” the boy with the beat up face said. His voice sounded nasally from his blocked nose, but he seemed otherwise fine.

“You know that it’s illegal to lie to an officer of the law, right?” Olivia said, glaring at the two boys. However, neither of them was impressed with her display, and so no one spoke.

“You get a good look at the guy?” Olivia asked, and when the two boys nodded she said, “Give his information to Officer Townsend, and we’ll put out an APB.” As Lance walked over to the two boys, Olivia advanced on David.

“Officer,” he said, waiting for her to speak.

“Do you want to tell me what you’re doing here?” Olivia asked.

“Two friends called me, and I came to help. Is that a crime?”

“No, but interfering with an investigation is, as is bribing an officer.”

“Well, I haven't done either of those things, so I guess I don’t have anything to worry about. Unless you plan on bringing me in on trumped up charges. But you’re a good cop, so we know you won’t do that.”

“Are these two members of God’s Reapers?” Olivia asked.

“No,” David said. “They are not members.”

“Are they associates of the club?” she asked.

“They are friends of mine. They got attacked; they called me to help them.”

“And what were you going to do?” Olivia asked. “You didn’t tell them to call the police. Were you planning some vigilante justice?”

“I got here thirty seconds before you did,” David said. “I just got finished making sure Joey wasn’t dying, and then you showed up. There wasn't time.”

“Can I have your last name? It’s for the report.”

“Creely. David Creely.”

Olivia opened her notebook, ordering her fingers to stop trembling. She wrote his name down and confirmed the spelling was correct. She was used to people being nervous or unsure of themselves when she was around. She was used to people sweating and fidgeting and getting tangled up in their lies. But then there was David, who looked at her in the eye, and spoke without hesitation. He had a quick answer to her every question, and he had no tells that he was lying.

“We should get those boys out of the hot sun and home, don’t you think?” David asked, cocking his head to the left.

“You going to put them on the back of your bike?” Olivia asked.

“No, and I doubt they’re interested in a ride in a police cruiser. I know Joey’s mom’s house isn’t far from here. We should probably call her, and she can come and get them.”

Olivia gave one last look at David. She wished she weren’t in uniform. If she could just get David alone, maybe she could convince him to leave the God’s Reapers behind. But as long as she was in uniform, he would always see her as a danger and a threat. She turned away from him and walked over to the two boys. A quick look at Lance’s paperwork showed that he had done everything right; he had gone above and beyond actually. So there was one thing he was a good at, which was good to know.

“So, if we find this guy, are you interested in pressing charges?” Olivia asked.

“Um....yeah,” Joey said. “I should talk to my mom first, probably,” he mumbled.

“Do you want to call her to pick you up?” Olivia asked, and the boy nodded, and she let him reach for his cell phone to make the call. “Set out the APB,” Olivia said to Lance, and he nodded and headed for the car. Olivia was sure that something else had happened here. She figured it was a drug deal gone badly, and David had been sent from the club to clean up the mess. She wondered what he would do, how he would handle the person who had stolen from them and beaten up his people. She remembered his words in the trailer; he had threatened violence and danger, and Olivia was relieved to see that it hadn’t come for her yet.

Joey’s mother came and took the boys home, and David left at the same time. As they drove the car back to the station, Olivia tried to force her heart to stop pounding. The threats in the trailer had seemed so mild earlier. Empty gestures, nothing more. But now, in the harsh light of the day, she saw them for what they were, the truth. Joey had his face smashed in by someone, and if she wasn’t careful that could be her, or Lance. But she hadn’t become a cop to avoid danger; she became a cop to confront it.

Back at the precinct, Lance put more effort and attention into his paperwork than he had ever shown anything else. While he did that, Olivia began to search for David Creely. She saw that he was thirty years old and born in Marina’s Crest. His juvenile records were sealed, but she saw that he had done six months in a state prison for interfering with an investigation. His mug shot showed a slightly younger David smirking into the camera. In the photo, his left eye was swollen, but he didn’t look bothered by it. There were a few more notes on his file, a few speeding tickets, and his known involvement with God’s Reapers, but not much else.

Olivia knew that she should go and find Detectives Evans and Farraday right away. She should have gone that morning, right after dealing with David in the trailer. She really should have gone after finding him in that alley, but she hadn’t. She hated to admit it, but she didn’t want to get him pulled into the station. He hadn’t technically done anything wrong. He hadn’t actually bribed her. There was no reason not to believe his story in the alley, other than the fact that he was a biker who had tried to bribe her earlier that day.

Olivia knew what long-term prison sentences could do to people. It could destroy them. She kept replaying their conversation in the trailer over and over again in her mind. Remembering how they had been close enough to kiss, and wondering what would have happened if he had closed that gap between them. Olivia leaned back in her chair; she didn’t want to have to send David to jail. She wanted to keep him out of it, but how? And was that really her job?

Olivia turned off her computer monitor and massaged her eyes. When she had been in the academy, they had emphasized right over wrong. They had made it seem so simple. Just follow the law; the law is right, and anyone who breaks the law is wrong. But now that she was out on the street she saw that it wasn’t that simple. There were people who had been left behind; people who had done time and seen it ruin their lives. David didn’t seem like a bad guy; he seemed like a guy who was doing his job, and probably doing it well.

Take a deep breath, Olivia,
she said to herself. You are not going to lose everything because you stood next to some hot guy in a trailer once. There’s no need to tell the detectives about David yet. If even one more thing happens with him though, Olivia knew she would have to tell them. So there she was, sitting at her desk, both praying for and dreading another meeting with David Creely.

CHAPTER TWELVE

David wouldn’t say that he was stalking Olivia Waters, that wouldn’t be accurate. After that first night he hadn’t spied on her in her house or followed her again. Not that he didn’t want to, but she knew him now; she’d be on the lookout for him. But he also knew where she hung out, where she liked to go. If he happened to be there when she was there, well, that was just a coincidence, nothing more.

So, as the sun set on a Friday night, David made his way to The Gray Lamp. He had showered and dressed, taking a moment to tame his hair, shave, and change into a clean shirt and jeans. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen that night. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted to have happen. He just wanted to see her again. He wanted to talk to her and convince her that he was trying to help.

In his entire thirty years on the planet, David Creely had never once been on a real date. He had never done all the normal things other guys did, asking a woman for her number, meeting at a bar, having those awkward first date conversations where you decide if you really like the other person. His life wasn’t like that. No, David had never done the dating thing, but that didn’t mean he was unpracticed. His life was filled with women who came, spent their time, and then left. Sisters, cousins, daughters of club members would appear one day and hang around for a few weeks or even a few months before they left to go visit a friend in Miami or an uncle in Philadelphia and were never seen again.

David had his share of romances but nothing real, nothing concrete. He had yet to find a woman he could depend on. Wasn’t that the whole point of being in a relationship, always knowing the other person would be there? He didn’t know what would become of Olivia Waters, if she planned on leaving or if Marina’s Crest was where she planned to spend her life, but the only way he would know was if he asked. 

He parked his bike in the lot and entered the bar as darkness fell outside, bringing a delicious coolness with it. Olivia was already there, an empty bar stool next to her. David would never in a million years have guessed that she was a cop. Wearing a pair of short black shorts and a green tank top, she looked like a college student. Her pixie cut hair was loose on her head and she wore only a little bit of makeup. Without thinking or hesitating, David walked up and sat down on the barstool next to her.

For a moment, he could tell that she didn’t recognize him. Her back arched and a snarl appeared on her face. She was clearly tired of men trying to pick her up at a bar. David ignored her, settling into his seat and waiting for her to notice. A full minute passed before she bothered to glance in his direction. He watched, as her long, swan-like neck turned towards him and her eyes flicked to his face, and then recognition hit and her jaw fell open as she stared at him in shock. She recovered quickly though, closing her mouth, grabbing her beer, and taking a deep swig before finally speaking to him.

“Come to offer me another bribe, David?” she asked, her eyes glued to the TV, which was currently airing an old episode of
Jeopardy
.

“I’ve have never in my life offered you a bribe, Officer Waters. I’m just here to grab a drink.” He ordered from the bartender and sat quietly next to her. She turned to look at him, appraising him with her dark eyes. He wondered what she saw when she looked at him. Her long, thin arms were propped up at the bar, and her fingers were playing over the cracks and crevices in the old wood. Her hand movements were intoxicating, dedicated and sure. It was too easy to imagine them doing something else, something wicked and far more fun.

“There’s plenty of open seats. Why did you sit in this one?” she asked, looking at him over her shoulder. He wanted to kiss that shoulder. He wanted to bite and kiss his way across her shoulder and up her neck until his lips were on hers. Maybe coming to this bar was a bad idea. Maybe he shouldn’t open himself up to this kind of temptation. But who was he kidding, he wanted to be this close to her; he wanted to be within reach of her. He thought back to Hillary’s ugly old trailer and what could have happened if he had leaned forward and kissed her. A black eye would have probably been the result, but it might have been worth it.

“Because, you’re the only other person in this bar that I know. I thought it would be rude to ignore you,” David answered.

She looked at him again. Those dark eyes were like a sensor, pouring over his face, trying to read something in his expression. David tried to keep his face as calm and still as possible, trying to hide the want that was bubbling up inside of him.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” she asked. “Something about the club....”

“No,” David said with a chuckle. “Is it always going to be this way between us, officer? Is it always going to be work, work, work?”

“What else could it possibly be,” she asked. She looked at him as she said that, and he saw in her eyes a flash of something—hope, desire? Was it possible that she was attracted to him, as well? Did she also wonder at what could have been?

“Let me buy you a drink and we can find out,” David offered.

“Ha!  A gang member buying me a drink. The brass would love that.”

“Let’s consider it community outreach then,” David said, motioning for the bartender. “Two shots of Jameson, and another round for me and the officer here.” Olivia didn’t argue with him; it looked like she was arguing with herself—going back and forth, deciding what she wanted to do. When the shots came, they cheered and took them in one big gulp.

“So, tell me Officer Waters, what brings you to Marina’s Crest?” David asked. His research had showed she was a transplant, but no reason for her move had been given.

“I grew up in Ohio. It’s nice there but cold, and I hate the cold. I love the heat. I’ve always wanted to live in the desert. So after the academy, I put in for a position in a bunch of different towns in the southwest and Marina’s Crest was the first one with an opening. What about you?”

“Born and raised,” David answered, raising his glass and tipping it to the Marina’s Crest all around him. “I’ve lived in some other places, other towns and bigger cities. But I would spend all of my time comparing it to here. I would compare the weather, the streets, the prices of things, and everything always came up short compared to Marina’s Crest. I would be sad every time I left and happy every time I came back. After a while, I started to wonder why I was leaving at all.”

“Why were you leaving?” Olivia asked.

“Work mostly. I have my GED but no real interest in college. It took me a while to find my feet.”

“And you found your feet in a gang?” Olivia asked.

“It’s a club, not a gang,” David answered. “And yes, the club took care of me. They helped me find work, find a place to live, and get my act together. The club taught me about leadership and being a man. It taught me to grow up and to think about things beyond myself. It’s a shame that the police and the club are on opposite sides. It doesn’t have to be like that. There are plenty of towns where the clubs and the cops work together to keep the neighborhood safe.”

“Do you really think you keep the neighborhood safe?” Olivia asked. “Don’t you think it would be safer if there were less drugs on the street?”

“I think that’s a fantasy. People don’t do drugs just because it’s presented to them. They seek them out. There’s a certain kind of person who needs that fix, and if someone won’t sell it to them, they’ll find another, usually more violent and dangerous, way to get them. Then, they get caught and put in jail, and they get out and do the same thing. We could pay for treatment instead of prison, but you know the taxpayers aren’t going to go for that. They want to lock every last junkie up, even though it only makes the problem worse.” Olivia sat back in her chair, not fully agreeing with him but not arguing with him either.

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about work,” she said, giving him a familiar smile.

“I agree,” David said. “Barkeep! Two more shots, please.”