Join the Club (SWAT Generation 2.0 7)

I wasn’t grinning an hour later when I pulled over a speeder who instantly recognized me.

“Are you Mr. June, or Mr. July?” she asked, eyes wide as if she’d just been pulled over by a celebrity, and not a cop.

“My name is Officer Pena,” I said. “License and registration, please?”

The girl immediately bent over the center console of her truck and reached for the glove compartment.

She wasn’t wearing pants.

My eyes went wide as I stared—I couldn’t help it, okay.

Just as fast, she leaned over and handed me her paperwork, smiling huge.

I chose not to call her on the no pants thing.

I didn’t want to deal with the paperwork.

Only, when she held out her hand with the registration in it, her hand unsteady, letting me know rather quickly that she was either drunk or on drugs.

Son of a bitch.

“Have you been drinking tonight?” I asked.

She nodded. “At Pete’s. I had a couple of beers. Officer, will you sign something of mine?”

I’d sign her ticket, that was for sure.

“Do you have any pants in your car?” I asked.

She reached down and pulled her skirt down to cover her ass.

I hadn’t even realized that she was wearing one.

“Sorry, this sucker doesn’t stay in place at all.” She didn’t even have the decency to blush. “Do you want me to get out?”

I nodded.

“We’re going to do a field sobriety test,” I said. “In front of my vehicle and behind yours.”

She got out of the car and had to latch onto the door to stay upright.

There was no doubt in my mind that she was on something now.

I pulled my light from my belt and shined it on the road behind me. “Follow the outer white line. Try to walk it.”

She did, bobbing and weaving the whole way.

I gestured for her to sit on the bumper of her car and said, “I’ll be back. Gonna get my field sobriety kit.”

Thirty long minutes later, where the lady tried to grope me twice, I had her in the back of my car and we were heading to the police station.

Thirty minutes after that, I was doing much the same all over again, only this time with a couple of seventeen-year-old kids.

In all, I’d taken eight people to the station that night for a trip at the Kilgore Bed and Breakfast, also known as the overnight cells where they would be waiting to see a judge in the morning for their crimes.

“What is it, a full moon?” I asked come morning after I’d dropped off my eighth person.

“You asking me?” the front desk sergeant asked. “I’ve had to deal with all your lock-ups today.”

I snorted and grabbed for my keys just as Detective Sallow walked up with my brother two paces behind him.

Both of them starting their shift at the same time that mine was ending.

They were talking quietly as they walked in, and only when they got closer did I realize it was about their sons.

Neal Sallow looked up as he got to me, gave me a chin tilt, and then left before any words could pass between us.

Booth came to a stop next to me and looked at me with surprise.

“What was that about?” he asked curiously.

“That’s about me warning him off of Delanie,” I said. “At the school the other day before we left for Austin.”

Booth nodded his head in understanding, his eyes focusing on me for a bit.

“Long shift?” he asked.

“Oh my God!” a woman said as she was led from the back part of the station to where she would be visiting a judge in about twenty minutes. “It’s Mr. June and Mr. July! Can y’all sign my pants?!”

She wasn’t wearing pants. Though, I didn’t point that out to her very drunk ass.

A mini-skirt covered her lower body. Unlike what it was doing earlier.

Booth took one glance, dismissed her easily, then turned his gaze back to me.

“It was one of those nights, eh?” he joked.

I slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Gotta go. Have to be somewhere.”

Booth watched me go, his eyes curious the entire time.

I knew he could tell something was up, but he couldn’t quite figure out what.

He’d know by the end of the week, though. If he didn’t hear it from Priscilla, he’d hear it from me.

Neither one of us had ever been good at keeping secrets from each other.

The drive back to Delanie’s place took less than two minutes.

I was just arriving at the same time as Asa’s bus.

He saw me and changed directions, running up to me to give me a hug.

I laughed and picked him up, carrying him, backpack and all, to the front door of the bus.

“See you in a bit, buddy. Have fun at school, okay?” I said, looking into Asa’s laughing eyes.

Asa squeezed my neck and kissed my cheek. “Love you, Uncle Bourne.”

“Love you, too,” I said as I put him on the stairs of the bus.