10 Years Later

I’d finally convinced Cammie to leave her damn house and go out to dinner with me at an actual restaurant. I loved spending alone time with her, but I hated that I hadn’t taken her out on a proper date yet. The gentleman in me wanted to treat her to a nice meal, pull her chair out for her, open the car door, and shit like that. I hadn’t been able to do any of those things, and it was driving me fucking crazy.

It’s funny how the right girl makes you feel. How you suddenly find yourself wanting to spend your hard-earned money on her, without feeling pressured or obligated to do so. How buying her roses just to leave them on her pillow didn’t seem like such a cheesy Hallmark thing to do.

Dinner tonight was going to be romantic and epic. I planned to pull out all the stops. Knowing the owner didn’t hurt my chances, either. I knew that I didn’t need to impress Cammie, but I still wanted to woo her.

Maybe I was sort of a cheesedick?

As I was sitting at the table in my apartment, sipping home-brewed coffee, my work-issued phone started to vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw my informant Eddie’s number flashing on the screen. It was still considered early morning LA time, but it was almost noon in New York.

“Hey, Eddie,” I said softly into the phone, making sure not to talk too loud so that it didn’t echo on Eddie’s end.

“He’s heading over to the docks. The LB docks. That shit make sense to you?” Eddie’s voice was muffled as he s

poke quickly in a low voice. There was no telling who might be listening, and he had a lot on the line by snitching to me.

“I know the place. You have any more info? He’s never gone to the water before,” I asked. In all the time that we’d trailed Mickey, he’d never once gone to any of the docks in the area, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

“Something about meeting a new guy or a new crew. Seems odd that he’d go in broad daylight for that kind of transaction and not send someone in his place, but that’s all I heard.”

“Thanks, Eddie. I appreciate it. Anything else?”

“That’s all I got for you.”

“Talk soon,” I said before ending the call and feeling a wave of adrenaline sweep through me. I rushed to pull my jeans on and button them before heading out to my car.

I dialed Tucker through my Bluetooth and when he answered the phone, his voice was still groggy. “What’s up, partner?”

“Just heard from Eddie that Mickey’s at the LB docks.”

“What the hell is he doing there?”

“Don’t know,” I replied, wondering the same thing myself.

“Should we meet there?” he asked, sounding more alert now. “I think we should only take one car in. What do you think?”

“I think we should only take one car in too.” My phone beeped, and I pulled it away from my cheek as my boss’s name flashed on the screen. “I’ll call you back. Boss is on the other line.”

Before Tucker could respond, I clicked over. “Thomas here.”

“Dalton. Did you hear about the LB docks from your guy?”

“Yes, sir. I just got off the phone with him.”

“I think we should send a small squad. What do you think?”

Pausing for a moment, I considered the risks associated with going in strong. “I’m not sure, sir. If there’s too many of us and we’re just observing him, we might stand out. But then again, if something goes down, we’ll need the backup.”

“I don’t know what Mickey’s up to. Keep your radio line open, your phone on you, and stay in touch with me every ten minutes.”

“Yes, sir,” I said quickly, then ended the call.

Hopping into my car, I called Tucker back. “The boss was wondering if we should squad up or not,” I told him as I shifted the car into drive and stepped on the gas.

“What’d you say?”

“I told him that too many people might draw attention to us, and we don’t know what Mickey’s up to.”

“Good call,” Tucker said, and I was relieved that he agreed.