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I buckled myself into the seat riding shotgun for the first time, a thrill I wouldn’t forget for a long time. “You two have history,” I said watching all the cars line up to exit into the street. It wasn’t a question. Dion and Brady had the flirty banter down to a science, and there was a look of genuine affection that passed between them that was hard to ignore.
“Yeah, good observation. I’m not ready for her. Not yet,” he said cruising slowly through the city. Then that subject was closed when a call came in. “That’s the alley behind Lucky Lopez. You know it, right?”
Hell yeah, I knew it. “Yes, sir. I know the owner, and I was recently at a bachelor party in one of the private rooms there.” That night had been fun, until it turned into a crime scene.
“North said you had some underworld connections. The Ashbys?”
I sighed and tried to hide my annoyance. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to outrun my family but did the whole damn precinct already know? “I am familiar with the Ashby family, and yes, my brother is the president of the Reckless Bastards.”
Dion flashed a bright smile that made his brown eyes light up. “No shit?” He shook his head and then laughed as the car came to a stop blocking the alley behind the titty bar. “No judgment here. That’s why North put us together, my father, my brother and two of my cousins run with the Killer Jags.”
“Seriously?” He nodded. “And that hasn’t made it difficult for you as a police officer?”
“Oh, hell yeah. Some cops look at me sideways like I’m only here to feed them intel, which is bullshit. It took a little longer to earn their trust, being a minority and coming from a gang banger family, but I did it. You will too.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but Dion seemed like a straight shooter, and I followed his lead as he exited the patrol car and found a gray-haired man with a thick, bushy beard on the ground leaning up against a dumpster.
“Public intoxication?” I asked hanging back and watching Dion in action.
“Probably.” He hit the dumpster with his stick to wake the man up, and as we drew closer, Dion grinned. “Dammit, Al, what did I tell you about falling asleep back here? It’s an easy way to end up run over or crushed by a dumpster.”
The man flashed a toothless grin, his eyes, one green and one brown, were bloodshot as hell. He was clearly homeless but in good spirits. “That you, Jenkins?” he asked, looking up into the bright sun.
“It is. Where are your glasses?”
The guy shrugged and tried to stand, but his legs were either weak from booze or a hard life on the streets. “Some kids stomped on ’em a few weeks back. Waiting on my insurance agent to get back to me on a replacement pair,” he said around a laugh.
Dion nodded, jaw clenched angrily. “I’ll get you a new pair, but I’m giving them to Ruby so you’ll have to go get a meal if you want to be able to see straight.”
“Yeah, okay. Fine.” Al gave a dismissive wave of his hand, but for some reason, I believed the old dude.
“I’m serious, Al. Whiskey alone can’t keep you alive. You need some food to soak up some of that booze.”
“Defeats the point of drinkin’, don’t it?” Al’s gaze landed on me and a smile lit up his face. “I see they got you training the green ones now. Impressive.”
The banter between the old man and my training officer stuck with me. Clearly, they were familiar with each other, but they didn’t have an antagonistic relationship; it was friendly, almost jovial. That was exactly the kind of officer I wanted to be.
“Yep. This is Officer Ellison. Show him why we shouldn’t haul you in for public intoxication.”
Al tried three times before he made it to his feet and blinked to focus his different colored eyes on me. “I been drinkin’ but I ain’t no drunk. I was just sleepin’ on account of all the rooms over at that Emerald Isle hotel are booked up this week.”
“Well, rookie, what do you think?”
I thought living on the streets was a hard damn life, spending every moment of every day scanning for danger and sidestepping people who meant to do you harm. He’d been drinking, sure, but the old guy didn’t appear to be drunk or dangerous.
“I think we let him off with a warning. And a promise to talk to Ruby at end of our shift.”
Dion flashed a proud smile. “What a softie. I’ll have to train that out of you.” He turned back to the old man. “Al, you got lucky.”
“And I thank ya for it, young man.” He shuffled around the side of the dumpster and pulled a black shopping cart filled with his possessions and a flannel blanket stashed on top to keep everything else in place. “Have a good day, Officers. Stay safe. This city ain’t what it used to be.” He lumbered off, humming to himself before he disappeared from sight.
