Page 12 of Abandoned

Zara walked ahead and pulled the door to the police station open and held it for Will as he led Brett inside. The three of them headed to booking.

The officer at the desk asked, “What do we have here?”

Zara put a hand on her hip. “Wife-beater.”

“She ain’t my wife, and I didn’t beat her.” Brett leaned into Zara’s face. “So, little miss sassy pants, why don’t you just shut up?”

Will yanked him away. “Let’s not go adding assaulting a police officer to your list of offenses, okay?”

“Then tell your filthy little heifer to get lost.”

Zara emphatically rolled her eyes and turned to start the paperwork the officer at the desk handed her.

Will hated that being called derogatory terms didn’t seem to bother Zara, but as a female police officer, he was sure she’d heard more than her share. It came with the uniform. But all of his self-control was necessary not to deck the lowlife for insulting the woman he cared about.

Without too much more trouble, they got Brett booked and escorted him to lockup.

The officer opened the door to the cell block, and they entered. Will gave Brett a little shove.

Brett growled.

From a cell to their left, someone said, “Well, if it ain’t Officer Too-Slow and his little wench Officer PMS.”

Without looking at the prisoner, Zara said, “What’s the matter, Ernie? Can’t make bail?”

Ernie reached through the bars to Zara.

If Will hadn’t been holding Brett’s arm, he would have charged across the hall and snapped the other man’s arm. “Hey, keep your hands to yourself.”

“Aww, she needs her partner to stand up for her.”

Zara whipped around, grabbed the man’s hand, and pressed it against the bars at an unnatural angle. “You wanna try that again?”

Will shoved Brett into the holding cell across from Ernie, slammed the door shut, and spun around.

Ernie whispered something to Zara.

She let go and stepped back quickly.

Will came up beside her. “What did he say?”

She shook her head, her face pulled tight in a scowl.

Will glared at Ernie, but to Zara said, “Let’s get out of here.”

She strode to the door, but as soon as she was on the other side, she seemed to deflate.

All Will wanted to do was take her in his arms, but that wasn’t an option; they had to keep some semblance of decorum, especially inside the police station.

She took a deep breath and shook out her arms and legs. “All right, back to the streets.”

Will grabbed her elbow and pulled her toward him. “Not so fast. What did he say?”

She shook her head. “I’m not repeating it. He was being disgusting, and it’s not worth giving more of my time to.”

“Do I need to go back in there and punch him?”

“Probably, but that won’t do either of us any good, so save your knuckles.” She took his hand and ran her thumb across his knuckles then dropped his hand suddenly, as if she had realized what she was doing. She pressed her index finger to his chest. “Catch you on the flip side.” She darted away.