Make Me (KPD Motorcycle Patrol 4)

I grimaced.

“Did you hear the deal that The Judge made with Royal?” I asked. “Brother’s protected as long as she stays the fuck away. What kind of fuckin’ trade is that? One kid for another?”

“St. James also has a lot of explaining to do,” I heard said.

I turned to find a man in a wheelchair staring at us from down the hall.

How the hell had he heard what we said? It wasn’t like we were talking loud.

“I have exceptional hearing,” Royal’s brother said. “Have you seen Royal? I’ve heard that she’s here.”

I stiffened.

“How?”

Jimmy pushed himself closer and didn’t stop until he was a few feet from both of us.

“I got my dad to tell me,” he answered simply. “The Judge isn’t all that bad—at least when it comes to me.” He paused, looking slightly sick to his stomach. “At least, I didn’t think that he was until today.”

I didn’t say anything, not sure what I should or shouldn’t say in this situation.

I mean, Royal was my woman, but I didn’t know her brother. I also didn’t know what she would want me to do in this situation.

But, before I could tell him anything at all, Royal came pushing out of the doors that led to the hallway we were standing in and came to a sudden halt upon seeing her brother.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, freezing.

Her brother crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “Mom gave me a ride. I’m glad she did because I needed to hear this. I can’t believe that you let him do that to you.”

Royal didn’t pretend to be confused about what he was talking about.

“Jimmy,” she said, sounding tired. “This is for your protection.”

Jimmy leaned forward in his chair, his elbows resting on his knees.

“That’s not your decision to make,” he said. “I’m a grown man. A legal adult. I’ve been making my own decisions now for a while without having to ask someone permission. When did you turn into them?”

Jimmy did have a point. He may have been in a wheelchair and handicapped, but he was a grown adult and he was able to make his own decisions. His brain wasn’t what was fucked up, his legs were. And it was time that Royal and her father started admitting that.

Royal gasped, and I saw the way that one accusation cut her to the quick.

“Jimmy…” she started.

“No.” He shook his head. “It’s time you listen to me.”

Captain Morgan shuffled his feet, then leaned his large shoulder against the wall beside him, settling in.

“Okay,” Royal said. “I’ll listen.”

Jimmy ignored her and sat back in his chair.

“You will not ignore me,” he said. “You’ll tell me what in the hell is going on that has The Judge in such a tizzy, and then you’ll go to dinner with me.” He looked from Royal to me. “With your boyfriend.”

My lips would’ve twitched had I wanted him to see that I was amused.

Good. So her brother wasn’t quite the pushover I thought him to be.

So that was exactly what Royal did.

In the main hallway of the town’s police department, Royal told her brother everything.

An hour later, we were eating dinner in a small and quaint diner that was not in Kilgore, but in Bear Bottom.

It’d been Jimmy’s suggestion that we travel a little farther outside of the town to eat. Something in which I’d agreed with wholeheartedly.

Marcus didn’t often venture outside of Eleventh Street, but he did have eyes and ears all over the town. People that were so scared of him that they were willing to talk about an innocent woman and a police officer rather than piss him off. Their thoughts were that they weren’t actually hurting us in any way, only telling Marcus what they saw.

But when we ended up dead, their consciences should be safe because they weren’t the ones to pull the trigger.

And, if given the chance, Marcus would pull the trigger.

“These are the best tacos I’ve ever had in my life,” I found myself saying.

“They are,” Jimmy agreed. “Dad rented a house for me and Mom to stay in for a while. I come here quite a bit because…”

Jimmy’s face flushed and he turned to his sister. His sister caught onto the flushing and leaned forward in her chair. “Jimmy…”

“Shit,” Jimmy said just as a cute, strawberry blonde with eyes only for Jimmy pushed her way out of the kitchen and went to the counter that separated the dining room from the back half of the diner.

The action of Jimmy showing his embarrassment was so cute that even I laughed.

“It’s not funny,” he replied darkly. “Shit!”

“Why don’t you go talk to her?” I urged.

Royal shook her head and stood up. “I have to pee. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.”

I had a feeling she wasn’t going to pee because she needed to, but because she wanted to stop by the counter and talk to a certain young lady on her way back.