Servicing the Target (Masters of the Shadowlands #10)(34)

“How come you were so mad?” Uzuri asked. “Did something happen that…” Her dusky skin darkened with her flush, and she turned her gaze to the television.

Anne twisted around to study her uneasily. The girl was going to have to talk about what had happened in her past one of these days. Z’s patience with the submissive’s so-called hard limit on her history wouldn’t last much longer. He’d given her a deadline, which was approaching fast.

But this wasn’t the time. She softened her voice. “No, Uzuri. More like an accumulation of job and family frustrations.”

“Family can sure mess with your head,” Sally said under her breath, her mouth twisting with unhappiness.

Remembering what Sally had shared about her unloving father, Anne squeezed her hand, hurting for her. “Hey. In the past, right?”

“In the past.” Sally managed a slight smile. “So what did your family do?”

Needing to take the pain out of Sally’s eyes, Anne offered up more than she would have normally. “My father was career military and totally old school. Dad believes girls are to be protected. They don’t fight, and his baby certainly shouldn’t be doing anything where she could get hurt.”

“Bugger that.” After a second, Olivia pointed her finger at Anne and smirked. “So, because your daddy wanted to protect you, you instantly signed up for danger. First as a Marine, then a cop.”

Stunned, Anne stared at her. “I-I never quite thought of my career choices in that light, but”—she tossed Olivia a salute—“probably it was a part.” Although the overprotective gene that ran rampant in her family probably also played a part.

“I knew you’d been a police officer, but you were a Marine too?” Uzuri’s eyes were big.

“Tough jobs, you had,” Kim said. “So, is bounty hunting more fun than being a cop?”

“Not really.” Her brothers and Dan, a police officer in the Shadowlands, had discovered why she’d left law enforcement, but she’d never discussed it with anyone. But…here…here, she could share and receive only sympathy. The realization created a lump in her throat.

She cleared her voice, feeling as if she were uncovering an old wound. “I loved being a police officer, and I thought I’d like the people I was with. Unfortunately, in the station I got, if you didn’t have balls, you were mostly an irritant.” She imitated the lieutenant’s whiny voice. “‘Female cops put real cops’ lives at risk and take up paying jobs needed by men supporting families.’ As far as the lieutenant was concerned, women officers were only good for fetching coffee or possibly retiring long-dead cases.”

“Oh, that really sucks,” Sally said.

“Men can really suck,” Kim muttered.

“So you told them to sod off,” Olivia said in approval.

“Did you tie their balls into pretzel shapes before you quit?” Linda asked and made the rest laugh.

“I might have felt better about everything if I had.” But, over the years, apparently her frustrated resentment had eased. She knew who she was. What she could do. And had proven herself over and over.

“Did you like catching crooks? Is that why you’re a bounty hunter now?” Uzuri asked.

“I enjoy the chase, yes. Although, I’ve got a PI license and take cases for a friend now and then, I prefer the straight-forwardness of tossing a bad guy in jail—whether I do it as a cop or a bail bond agent.”

The main annoyance in the bail bond agent job—aside from Robert—was the way her uncles would have preferred to keep her in the office, not risking herself on the streets.

“The other people don’t give you grief for being female?” Sally asked.

“Not the same way. I lead the fugitive recovery team.” She grinned. “And, although I won’t tolerate being treated as less competent than a male, I rarely have to punch someone to prove I am anymore.”

Linda, mother of two grown children, smiled knowingly. “I bet you fought your way through grade school.”

“I came home with more black eyes and bruises than my two brothers combined.” Anne grinned. Looking back without the reddish lens of anger, she had to say, she’d had some fun.

“I don’t like violence,” Uzuri whispered, her eyes haunted.

Anne gentled her voice. Share with us, Uzuri. “Did you have to fight someone?”

“No. I don’t know how.” Uzuri shrank into the cushions.

Anne glanced at Olivia. Olivia tapped her watch…Uzuri’s deadline was going to end soon and then they’d get to the bottom of this.

“I didn’t fight at one time either,” Beth wrapped an arm around Uzuri’s shoulders. Beth’s ex had left her with scars that would never fade. “But I learned how.”

Sally bumped Uzuri’s shoulder on the other side. “Are you ever going to join our self-defense classes? Jessica hasn’t been able to come for a while, and Kari is hit-and-miss, because of baby Zane. One more person there would be good.”

“Maybe,” Uzuri said. But from the tone, maybe meant no.

Too softhearted to push, Sally changed the subject. “Speaking of which, you have baby duty tomorrow afternoon, right?”

Uzuri shook her head. “I have the day after.”