Maybe Swearing Will Help (SWAT Generation 2.0 3)

The kid’s truck came to an abrupt stop, and the cops swarmed him.

Ashe, standing not even a foot from where the truck had passed, stared at us in abject horror.

Literally, right before my eyes, she’d nearly been run over.

Right. Before. My. Eyes.

I used a little more force than I probably should have, slamming my hand down hard on the kid’s head and shoving him down onto the ground beside the mangled truck.

“You’re done.”

I gave my position up to Sammy, understanding that I wasn’t in the right state of mind to be dealing with the little shit.

Once I was up, I looked around for Ashe, finding her standing next to my cruiser with her arms crossed over her chest, watching the scene.

The boy who’d been shot in the nose was in the ambulance not a foot away from her, which was where Ashe’s attention was directed.

I used the time that she wasn’t paying attention to me to walk a bit away and draw in a few deep breaths, trying to tell myself to calm the fuck down.

It didn’t work.

Not only didn’t it work, but it also made me even more angry.

When I turned back around next, it was to find Ashe staring at me from only a foot away.

I cursed as my heart started to pound.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

I looked around and found that not one single person was paying us any attention.

Then, without thinking first about what I was about to do, I hooked my hand around her neck and yanked her to me.

She squeaked and came, her body colliding with mine.

I couldn’t feel a fuckin’ thing due to the body armor I had on, as well as the thick weapons belt that was around my waist and hers.

But the skin of her neck?

It was soft.

So fucking soft.

And her lips when mine met hers? Those were soft, too.

They also tasted like cherries.

At first it took her a long moment to respond, but when she finally did, it was with her whole entire heart and soul.

My kiss was, sadly, interrupted by a clearing of a throat.

We both pulled back as if we’d been lit on fire.

“What,” Luke said, looking between the two of us. “Was that?”

Neither Ashe nor I said a freakin’ thing.

At least, we weren’t planning on it.

But Luke’s unforgiving gaze had Ashe shrugging.

“Let’s call it a momentary lapse in judgment brought on by adrenaline, and me almost being ran over by that truck that took out my cruiser.” She pointed.

A cruiser that was now in the middle of the road and slowly being pushed up onto a flatbed tow truck.

Luke’s eyes went from me to Ashe.

“You almost got taken out by what?” he asked.

I was sure he was hoping for a different explanation, but he wouldn’t be getting one.

“It happened exactly like I just said.” She shook her head. “Little fucker.”

“He broke his hips.”

We both turned to see Sammy standing there, arms crossed, watching the three of us.

He was paying extra special attention to the amount of space that wasn’t between Ashe and me.

A gap that was slowly being closed without either of us consciously doing it.

I stepped back, causing Ashe to frown.

She looked down at her feet as if she was surprised to find herself standing where she was.

“How do you know?” I grumbled darkly.

“Because he has a hip bone poking out of his torso on each side,” Sammy answered.

I kind of felt bad now for yanking him out of the car the way I did.

Then Ashe shifted on her feet, and I suddenly wasn’t upset at all.

The little fucker could’ve killed her.

More so, I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to handle Ashe having this job.

But I couldn’t bring that up with her or she’d lose her shit.

Thinking about what could’ve happened was putting me in such a terrible mood that I didn’t know how to function.

I ran my fingers over my brow as I said, “I can’t even think straight right now. I’m fucking starving.”

“Follow me to the sub shop up the road,” Luke ordered. “We can discuss what happened. And what to tell Downy when he has to tell people what happened later.”

I looked at Ashe, contemplating asking her to follow us, but someone called her name, and she skittered away.

“Ashe was first on scene,” I admitted. “You should maybe ask her to come, too.”

Luke looked at me with amusement.

“Trammel,” Luke called. “When you’re done here, meet us at the sub shop.”

She gave a thumbs up as she spoke quickly with another officer.

I followed Luke to the sub shop, not liking how the farther I got away from Ashe, the worse my hands were shaking.

Luke eyed me as I purchased my sandwich and drink.

Before I’d even made it to my seat, the lady was bringing it out, momentarily taking my mind off of Ashe and to something much less heart-attack inducing.