AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll go in and grab us a table,” Jamison said. He got out of the unmarked police car and walked into the front of the diner while Stone quickly called it in that they were on lunch. When he got the all-clear, he started for the diner, thinking about the stack of pancakes that he was going to down. God, he wanted some hashbrowns and bacon too.
He walked into the front of the diner and noticed that no one was by the hostess stand waiting to seat him. He looked around for Jamison, hoping that he already found them a booth when he spotted him kneeling in the corner of the restaurant while some asshole, who looked to still be a teenager, held a gun to his head. Stone knew the area well enough to know that the kid was probably a gang member looking to cut his teeth and gain the title of cop killer. That wasn’t going to happen today—not on his watch.
Jamison looked scared out of his mind. He was in his beat uniform, and the kid probably saw him coming, but Stone was in street clothes. He looked like any other guy living in Texas, with his jeans, boots, and cowboy hat. He pulled his badge from his belt buckle and shoved it into his pocket.
“Hey man,” he calmly said to the kid. “You don’t have to do this.” Jamison looked up at him and Stone have a slight shake of his head, not wanting the rookie to give him away.
“Who the fuck are you?” the kid spat.
“Just someone who’s been where you are and knows that it’s not worth it. You’ll go to prison for the rest of your life if you kill that cop,” he said.
The kid barked out his laugh, “They’ll have to catch me first and my gang won’t let that happen.”
“Oh yeah?” Stone asked. “Where’s your gang now?” he asked. The kid quickly looked around and then back at Stone. “They took off when they saw that cop walking in here, didn’t they?” he asked. It was a guess, but from the teenager’s face, he had guessed correctly.
“So what?” the kid shouted. “This is my kill and a way for me to make a name for myself.” Stone looked around the diner, trying to decide if he wanted to tell the kid who he was or if it might just get both him and Jamison killed sooner. There were about a handful of people in their seats, all either terrified or crying. Two waitresses stood behind the counter, and he was betting that there was a cook in the back kitchen. It was probably the way that the other gang members left too. He hadn’t heard any gunshots on his way in, so he was guessing that they didn’t hurt anyone on their way out. Hell, they probably saw Jamison walk into the place and got scared and bolted.
“Were you robbing the place when he walked in?” Stone asked.
“That’s none of your fucking business,” the kid spat. “You don’t know me.”
“Listen, I was you when I was about your age. I grew up on the wrong side of town and joined a gang by the time I was fourteen. Drove my poor mother crazy with worry and my dad left when I was just a kid. I shouldn’t have done that to my mom, but I can’t take that back now—it’s too late. I can help you, though. You don’t have to put your mom through any of this. Just put the gun down and I can help you.”
The kid pointed his gun at Stone, and he wasn’t sure that his plan was working out. He was hoping to talk him down, not draw his gunfire. He held out his hands as if trying to get the kid to reconsider when he fired the gun at Stone. Searing pain in his thigh was the last thing he remembered before he dropped to his knees. He watched as Jamison grabbed the gun from the kid, who looked at him in complete disbelief, and then the rookie dropped him to the ground.
“Call 911,” Jamison shouted at the older man sitting in the booth closest to him. “Tell them that a Texas Ranger has been shot and to send an ambulance.” He cuffed the kid to the closest barstool and hurried over to where Stone lay on the ground.
“You’re going to be all right, man,” he promised. “The bullet hit your thigh. I need some clean towels,” he shouted at one of the waitresses. A pretty blond one hurried back to the kitchen and came out holding a stack of towels against her body. She handed them to Jamison, and he thanked her, as he pressed a bunch of them to Stone’s thigh. He shouted out in pain, trying to stay calm, but the pain was unbearable.
“They’re on their way,” the older man shouted to Jamison. “They said that they’d be here in about five minutes.” Jamison nodded his thanks, keeping his hands and his eyes on the wound.
“Looks like it’s still lodged in there, man. I’m afraid that you’re going to need surgery. You’re lucky that it didn’t hit an artery,” Jamison said.
“I’m not feeling very lucky right now,” Stone grumbled. “I got shot and I still never got my greasy breakfast.”
“You saved my life, man,” Jamison said. “I’ll bring you your fucking breakfast as soon as you’re out of surgery.”
“It was nothing,” Stone lied. Right now, it felt like a very big something. “How much longer?” he asked.
“They’ll be here any minute,” Jamison assured.
“Good, because this hurts like a bitch and I’m ready for the good drugs that they give you on the way to the hospital.” Jamison laughed and put some extra pressure on his wound, causing him to cry out again. “Easy,” Stone commanded.
“Sorry,” Jamison said. “They’re here.” He nodded to the front door where EMTs were crowding into the small diner, along with the cops who had showed up at about the same time.
“Thank fuck,” Stone said. He wasn’t sure how he’d gone from hungover and hungry, to laying on the floor with a bullet in his leg, but one thing he was damn sure of was that he’d never go out drinking with his new brothers-in-law on a work night ever again.
Jolene
Jolene Lewis wasn’t about to be late for her physical therapy appointment with the sexy Texas Ranger. She had been lucky enough to be assigned his case while he was still recovering in the hospital, days after he had been shot in the thigh.
His work had made him go to mandatory PT in order to return and the guy was nowhere near ready to report back for active duty. Hell, he wasn’t even ready to report back to desk duty. He could barely put any pressure on his right leg and driving was a definite no-no.
“Who are you getting all dolled up for?” her brother asked. Her older brother had moved into her two-bedroom apartment a few months back after he broke up with his bitch of a girlfriend. Jo was happy that he had caught Melanie in their bed with the refrigerator repairman. He was still mourning the loss of his relationship with that she-bitch, but Jo was happy to have her old brother back. Jacob had turned into someone she didn’t recognize after moving into Melanie’s place. He stopped coming around and calling her, and God, she missed him. Now that he was free of his ex, she planned on helping him figure out a new path—one that didn’t include a bitchy girlfriend who kept him from his only family.
It was just the two of them after their parents passed in a horrible car accident when she was just eighteen. She had come to depend on Jacob, and he took care of her. Now, it was her turn to take care of him.
“I have a home-based visit with a client,” she said. “Don’t forget that you have that job interview with the tech company downtown today at three. I ironed your lucky shirt and you’re all set to go. Just remember to take a shower this time.” The first interview she got her brother, he forgot to shower. He said that he didn’t see the point of it, since the only person that he wanted to smell him had cheated on him. That was when Jo reminded her brother that other people could actually smell him, whether he wanted them to or not. She made it a rule that she wouldn’t cook dinner for him unless he smelled fresh and clean from the shower. She even made a point of smelling him, just to show Jacob that she meant business—and smelling her older brother was the very last thing she wanted to do. But it worked. He had started to snap out of his depression with the added bonus of him smelling better. It was a win-win in her book.
