Say It Ain't So (SWAT Generation 2.0 9)

Somebody had definitely dropped the ball, that was for sure.

His twenty-year streak had come to an abrupt halt last night. I would make sure of it.

“What’s going on?” Malachi asked as he walked through the door, his gun belt half-on as he looked down to buckle it.

“Patman body-slammed Sammy’s new girl to the ground last night at the citizens’ police academy,” Louis murmured as they watched him through the doorway, and I struggled to write my report. “His new pregnant girl. And Luke told him not to come back here. Yet he’s here, acting like he still works here, even.”

I could feel Malachi’s eyes on me.

“Pregnant?” Malachi asked.

I nodded once, jaw clenched, and filled out another line on the form.

“Your kid?” Malachi asked.

I looked up at him with eyes that were pure fire.

He held up his hand. “I don’t know, man. Maybe you met a pregnant one. You’re always a weirdo and get turned on by the pregnant chicks.”

I rolled my eyes.

But he was kind of telling the truth.

I did find pregnant women attractive. I wasn’t sure what it was about them that hit me the right way, but I honestly couldn’t fuckin’ wait to see Hastings showing with my kid.

The thought of it had me absolutely giddy.

Not that I would show any of them that.

“He’s heading this way,” someone murmured.

I dropped my pen to the table then, knowing that pretending to fill it out would be useless at this point.

Standing up, I placed both of my fists on the desk and leaned into it, hoping by grounding myself it would keep my hands off the asshole walking into the SWAT area as if he owned the place.

“Gentlemen,” Patman drawled as he looked around the room.

His eyes skipped over me as if he didn’t want to take too long of a look.

“Get out,” I snapped.

My voice sounded like I’d grated it out of a wood chipper.

Patman’s eyes came to me with a condescending brow raised. “I’m sorry, but who made you God?”

“You slammed my pregnant girlfriend to the ground last night.” I stood up straight and let him see just how pissed I was. “Did you think that I could forget about that so easily? You could’ve caused her to lose the baby! And you fucking knew, so you can’t even give me that excuse.”

Patman’s eyes rolled as he scoffed. “I did no such thing. It was barely a tap.”

“Barely a tap, my ass.” I rounded the corner. “I was watching, motherfucker. I know exactly what you did. Because I was worried about her being with you. And guess fucking what! I should’ve been!”

Patman curled his lip up. “She’s fine.”

“She is fine,” I confirmed. “But that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have hurt her last night. You have no fuckin’ clue what you did to her at the time. I can’t wait to see if the academy keeps you after she files assault charges on you.”

Patman’s chest puffed up as he rounded the only piece of furniture that was keeping him from being knocked the fuck out.

The moment he came at me, chest puffed, violence in his eyes, I found my excuse.

He pulled his arm back as if to hit me, but my fist connected with his jaw first.

The crack of my knuckles connecting with his chin was glorious.

Absolutely, positively glorious.

I would never, not ever, forget the feeling, either.

I’d resented Patman for years.

He was an asshole.

He was full of himself.

He’d given me a fucking concussion during my own police academy.

And he’d gloated about it.

But all of those things paled in comparison to last night.

This moment would stay with me forever.

Watching him fall down onto his ass and raise his hand to his jaw had me grinning.

“Enough.”

I cursed when I heard our assistant chief’s voice fill the room.

“I want to press charges!” Patman said, scrambling to his feet.

I rolled my eyes.

“If you’d like to pursue those assault charges,” Downy, the assistant chief, drawled from somewhere behind us. “Then, by all means, file them. But just remember that we have your assault on camera. An assault that you performed against a civilian taking one of your classes.” He paused. “We recommended to the civilian last night to file the charges, but I think we could persuade her not to.”

Patman looked like he’d rather swallow a bullet shot from a gun than to give in.

I knew I would. I wanted those charges pressed. I didn’t fuckin’ care if I had charges filed against me and lost my job. It’d be fucking worth it.

“It’ll look really fuckin’ bad,” Downy continued, his honeyed voice incongruent with the words coming out of his mouth. “What will the wife think? Didn’t she almost leave you a few months ago after you got fired?”

Patman said nothing.

“And she’s really fuckin’ broken up about your son,” Downy continued.

That had Patman’s back straightening. “Don’t mention my kid.”