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“You’re not a cop anymore Onyx,” she said, cutting him deeper than she could possibly know. “So hop back on the Segway and go check out the happenings at the smoothie stand, Paul Blart.”
“I was joking.” Onyx held his hands up in surrender and tried to smooth over the argument because it was his fault this time. They didn’t have that relationship, and in a way it was killing him. His dry wit got him through some sick and twisted situations as a cop and saved him from eating his gun when he woke up a limb short.
Hollywood, Red and Hack walked up the hallway, stopping by the supply room.
“You being robbed?” Hollywood asked with zero concern and the same dry wit that got them both past the hard nights as he peered in the room, “Hey Topaz, how are you doing?”
“Just fine. Thanks for asking.” She turned to cut between the men. Escaping from the group.
If Onyx was honest with himself, it was him she was running from with her box of drugs. Onyx regretted teasing her. She took him way too serious sometimes.
“Breakroom.” Red pointed and the men finished their journey.
Hack pulled out a chair and sat down. “Ladies, I have to talk to you.”
Red chuckled, “I’ll lady you, Hack. What’s up?”
Red and Hollywood pulled out chairs and sat down.
Onyx leaned against the counter with his arms crossed.
“Hollywood, thanks for coming straight here,” Hack said to Hollywood, even though the man was still dressed in his Sherriff browns.
Wearing the leathers of the Steels still made Onyx, uneasy around his former brethren. Even though Hollywood wore the same when he was off duty. Too many biker club run-ins in LA had left a bad taste in his mouth.
“I was checking out the Hard Road and what was going on in our area,” Hack opened the laptop he tended to have at the ready like most men have a gun.
“What do you have for us?” Red asked.
Onyx now wondered if he should be listening. An enforcer didn’t hold the rank any of these men did. Hack was a treasurer and founding member and Hollywood was sergeant at arms. Onyx had fast tracked to enforcer because of his relationship with Hollywood, but this seemed like an executive officer discussion.
“Three rescues all at once. I was wondering if we can handle that many?”
“Let’s see if we send a couple men to each, I think we can handle it,” Red answered. “Depends if we’re monitoring or getting involved.
“I can go,” Onyx volunteered. “You and the LAPD both certified me as a first responder.”
Having a dying rescue dropped on their doorstep Red decreed all rescues through the Hard Road website, a dark net domestic violence escape site, were to at least be monitored. Some men believeif I can’t have you then no one can,so even the best laid plans can break left and turn into a violent mess. Leaving dead and injured in their wake.
“We’ll have church tonight and decide who’s going to do what.” Red stretched, then got up when his wife Roadkill waved a chart at him from the doorway.
* * *
Topaz arrangedthe last of the Advair into the box with a few treats and cash rolled into a mini M&M container. The care package she put together for her Nanna was a regular practice. Using her insurance for some asthma meds, the samples she got from Red helped to bridge costs. Her grandma had been the only one who’d been there for her after the tragedy that sent her on a tailspin. Talking to Doc for ten minutes had her mind unearthing up shit it shouldn’t be and she wasn’t in the mood for feelings or emotions.
Pulling up a chair to the desk in her room, she grabbed her old scrap book from high school. Flipping the pages right now brought up the good memories she held. Her finger kept running over the dried corsage from homecoming.
Cheerleading was everything to her back then. She had even made captain in her senior year before everything went wrong. New Bend, Arkansas had been a perfect place to grow up, or so she thought. Much like the kids in Turnabout, fun, adventure and security. Dating the quarterback of the football teamrounded out a life fit for aHallmarkmovie, until it took a turn for the worse and became aLifetimeone.
The picture from the dance had been turned around in her scrapbook. Unwilling to throw it away, but knowing she’d break down if she saw the smiling kids standing in the perfect pose. Closing her eyes, she floated back to high school, waiting at her locker trying to not be obvious in her want for him to walk down the hall and clasp her hand. Only Onyx swam in front of her eyes instead of her boyfriend, Byron, who had meant the world to her.
The similarities between the two of them was uncanny. Every time she ran into Onyx she remembered Byron in high school. It was as if he’d grown up and his ghost was haunting her. The pain of it all could crush her completely if she didn’t try to make him the villain tormenting her life.
Every time she ran into Onyx, did they have to have an argument? She hated that she was so rude to him. It was just the way it had to be. If she thought of him any other way, it would be bad. Even if Turnabout wasn’t New Bend,there were some things that are wrong, no matter how you try to excuse them.Her cousin’s words a warning before a harsh reality.
She stood and sealed the package to her grandma. Printing on the front her Grandma’s name and address. No return address, she knew better. Where she lived was her business, not her family’s and they’d made it more than clear what would happen if she darkened their door.
Grabbing her cell phone, she decided a call to Delaney was in order. Waiting for the other woman to answer it took three rings and she heard the sweet voice of one of her dearest friends. “Hello Topaz. How are you?”
