Fries Before Guys (SWAT Generation 2.0 2)

Dad frowned. “What are you talking about?”

I gritted my teeth. “Well, you would fucking know if you answered your goddamn phone.”

Dad’s brows rose. “I was in a closed-door meeting with the mayor—”

I interrupted him. “I watched Rachel Howell push my girl over a fucking wall, and her neck get broken!”

It came out as a dull roar, and I heard more than saw the room behind me go silent.

Dad stood up, his fists planted into the desk as he leaned over. His eyes were intent on me.

“What happened?”

A hesitant voice came from the doorway as a woman said, “I can help explain that.”

“Trammel,” Dad said as he gestured with his chin. “Get in here and start talking.”

Trammel was actually my cousin, Ashe.

She started here about a month ago, and I could already tell that she hated it.

Though, her staying and being here in the first place had a lot to do with Ford Spurlock and less to do with herself.

‘Trammel’ got to talking, standing by the door as if prepared to close it.

My dad shook his head and said, “Leave it.”

She nodded once and walked up to stand beside me.

“I’ve been calling the hospital every half hour for an update,” she said, her eyes on me. “Is she okay?”

I was honestly surprised that her first words were to me and not my dad seeing as my father was the chief of police and all.

It made me want to laugh.

I was sure it made my dad pissed.

But whatever.

“She’s going to be okay,” I said. “She just got out of surgery. They placed her in a halo brace.”

“She what?” my dad barked.

I turned to look at him and narrowed my eyes.

Then I explained everything that I saw, ending with getting into the ambulance to ride to the hospital with her.

“You didn’t stay to apprehend the suspect?” Dad asked.

I looked at him with a dark frown.

“I didn’t give a fuck about her,” I said. “I also deemed her as no threat seeing as she’s a little goddamn cheerleader that weighs about a buck ten.”

“I was there before the ambulance left,” Ashe interrupted.

I liked how she was sticking up for me.

I liked even more that she wasn’t bowing down to my father as if he was a god.

He wasn’t a god. He was a man that was tired as fuck and wished he didn’t take the chief of police position at least once a week.

Then again, she was my cousin and my father’s niece.

“Trammel…” My father started.

“Ashe,” she corrected him mockingly, acknowledging how my father only called her ‘Trammel’ at work now. “And I arrested Rachel Howell. She’s currently in the interrogation room with her lawyer. She refuses to speak to anyone but the chief of police. I tried to tell her you were in a closed-door meeting with the mayor, but she wouldn’t budge. Apparently, her father is a rather good friend of yours.”

I barked out a laugh at that.

Pierson Howell wasn’t a friend to my father. In fact, Pierson Howell was a douchebag who thought his shit didn’t stink.

He’d once been on the KPD before he’d retired when he hit it big, i.e., getting married to a woman who could support him and his lifestyle he wanted to live. Now he owned a house in a gated community, helped his loaded wife do whatever it was she did and raised asshole children.

Dad pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

“Fucking perfect,” he said, sounding tired.

I snorted and took a seat.

“I want her on everything you can book her for,” I said. “Assault. Attempted murder. Breaking her restraining order.”

“I’ve come to the same conclusion,” Ashe said softly.

Jesus, she was soft-spoken.

“Let’s go,” Dad said, standing up.

I got up, but my dad snorted and pointed at the chair I was just sitting in.

“Sit back down. You’re not coming with me,” he said. “You’re not biased about this at all.”

I ignored him and walked behind my dad and Ashe.

Ford passed us in the hallway, his eyes spotting Ashe and stilling.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he snapped. “Weren’t you supposed to be at your doctor’s appointment?”

Ashe flipped him off and kept walking, effectively dismissing him without a word.

“Looks like you have your hands full,” the mayor said as he saw us coming. “I’m done with what I needed anyway. Is there something I can be of service with?”

I was sure my father was about to dismiss his help. But I wasn’t one to let an opportunity go without capitalizing on it.

I stopped mid-step and turned to survey him. “There’s this girl…”Chapter 8Be mine wine.

-Valentine Card

Avery

“The mayor is here to see you.”

I blinked.

“I’m sorry, but what?”

Sierra started laughing.

“That’s exactly what I said, too.” She nodded. “But that’s really who is here. The mayor.”

I blinked my eyes, unable to come up with words, then shrugged.

“Okay,” I finally said. “Let him in.”