SLAM HER(54)

The officer climbed out of his cruiser. I stepped off my ride and turned.

The officer took out his gun and shot right at me.

Bang! Bang!

Two bullets zinged right by. He missed on purpose, for whatever f*cking reason, but he sure as f*ck had my attention.

He closed right in on me, then swung his gun, cracking me across the jaw.

I fell back and he ordered me to the ground.

“What the f*ck is this?” I yelled.

“You’re f*cked,” the officer yelled. He dropped a knee right my ribs. “Chief wants you locked up for a long f*cking time now.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

The officer put the gun to my head and ordered me to my stomach. I had no choice but to listen. The prick cuffed me and stood me up. He walked me to his cruiser and threw me against it.

“Are you going to answer me?” I screamed.

The officer smashed my face off the hood of the car. He leaned down and smiled at me.

“You were f*cking tailing his daughter,” the officer said. “And you just left her apartment. You’re f*cked, Slam. You’re not going to see the sun rise.”

I was supposed to be out killing the man that killed Chief’s wife. Instead, he thought I was hurting his daughter.

Of all the bad shit my father ever did to me, there was one thing that stuck in my mind. He was hammered one night and he looked right at me. He said. “Son, stay away from *. It’ll kill you.”

Those words popped into my head.

Looks like my old man was right.





thirty-two



(belle)



NOW



I heard the pounding on my door and I jumped up. I scrambled to get dressed and ran out of bedroom to the kitchen to get a knife. When I answered the door and saw my father standing there, it was a complete shock to me.

“A knife to answer the door,” he said.

“Dad? What are you…”

“How long has he been following you?”

“What? Who?”

“Slam.”

My heart sank. My eyes went wide. “What are you… wait…”

“Longer than I thought,” he said. He curled his lip. “I knew this would happen. That scumbag gang is going after you to get to me.”

“What?”

“I’m going to show you what I do to people who mess with my daughter.”

“No. It’s not what you think.”

“We got him, Belle,” Dad said. “One of my guys has him on the side of the road. He’s cuffed. He can’t hurt you.”

I put the knife down. I shook my head. “He’s not hurting me. He’s not following me.”

“I got a call about him following you. Then I got another call of him leaving here. He was spying on you. Probably surveying the building for an attack.”

“No!” I called out. “Will you listen to me for once?”

“Belle…”

“Slam isn’t trying to attack me. Slam… we’re together. In love. For real.”

My father’s face dropped. “What?”

“He saved me from Kyle. That guy you were forcing on me? Kyle tried to hurt me. You wouldn’t listen. Slam did. He took care of things.”

“What did he do to him?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Kyle left. I’m sorry if Slam’s a bad guy to you, but he’s not to me. We love each other.”

“So he was here…” My father’s eyes moved up and down me. “So that’s what he does? He comes here for a little while and then leaves you.”

“No. He said he had something to do. For me. Personal. I don’t know.”

“Jesus Christ,” Dad said. He swallowed hard. “This is what it’s come to? You and some biker?”

“I’m not sorry for that,” I said. “You don’t understand how good he is to me. What he means to me. He’s done more for me than you have. He listens. He cares. He loves me.”

My father nodded. “You think I don’t love you, Belle? You’re my only daughter.”

“You always waited for me to get killed next.”

“Christ.”

“It’s the truth. Now let him go, Dad. Slam has done nothing wrong. He wasn’t setting me up for anything. He was going to take care of something and then come right back here.”

“He’s been here before.”

“Plenty of times,” I said.

“How… long…”

“Long enough,” I said. “That’s how long. I didn’t just meet him last night. I’m not some whore.”

“Stop it,” Dad said. “I don’t want to think anything like that.” Dad then turned and took out a cell phone. He called someone and spoke in some kind of code. I wasn’t stupid. He was telling his crooked guys to stay away from my apartment and away from Slam. Then he faced me. “Belle…”

“What I don’t get is that you’re the same,” I said. “You arrest Slam for breaking the law but you do it too.”

“I have to do what I have to do to survive.”

“So does he.”