Here Without You (Red Hook 4)

“We will make sure nothing bad happens to you, Holly,” Matt assured her firmly. She looked up at him and nodded. He was a good officer. She knew that he took his job seriously. “Thank you both for showing up so fast. I didn’t know what to do. I have a baseball bat, but that is all. Guns terrify me.”

“Maybe you should stay with Faith tonight,” Drake suggested, patting her back gently. “Otherwise, you will not sleep a wink. I will have Tony and Greg drive by to make sure your house is safe.”

Holly sighed. She hated bothering her sister, but Drake was right. She would not be able to sleep, thinking of Gerald Ferguson all night.

“Okay. I have to clock in at eight a.m. tomorrow.” Holly gave in. “I can drive myself over to her house.”

“We’ll follow you, just to make sure,” Matt insisted. He looked like he would not take no for an answer, so she gave in. She wanted to argue with him that she didn’t need him—she was a grown woman, after all—but she didn’t want to waste time. “Let me grab my uniform.”

* * * *

Matt and Tony rode by the empty grasslands where a lot of kids hung out and threw parties. Gerald was twenty-four, but they suspected he sold drugs to some of the younger kids. He always attended parties and tried to act like he was younger. Pete was just a user. He couldn’t handle having drugs on him and not doing them. They got lucky and someone said Gerald was by the abandoned barn, drunk as a skunk.

They found him lying on a bale of hale. “Hey, if it isn’t Red Hook’s finest! Go ahead and search me. I have no drugs on me.”

“Yeah, you probably sold them all,” Tony sneered, looking at him with disgust. He reeked of vodka and cigarettes. His jeans were dirty and his hair messy.

“Where were you earlier this evening?” Matt asked him. A young girl had been sitting with him, but had run off when she saw them walking his way.

Gerald shrugged. “Don’t remember. Why? Did you want to hang out with me?” He laughed, but Tony and Matt didn’t.

“Were you in town?” Tony continued to question him, looking at him mean and hard.

“Who knows?” He had a smart attitude and Matt wanted to shake him, but he held back. “Is there a law against it now? I am a resident of this fine town, too.”

“If you bother people, there is a law against it,” Matt told him, giving him his hardest, coldest look. Gerald realized they were serious and swallowed hard. He stayed silent for a minute and his smile disappeared. Matt stepped close to him and was satisfied when Gerald’s eyes widened with fear. “If I catch you snooping around, peeking into windows or even looking the wrong way at anyone in town, I will chew you up and spit you out.”

“And when he is done, it will be my turn.” Tony cracked his knuckles. “Do we understand each other a little better now?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Gerald’s voice was a little shaky, but that helped Matt feel a little satisfaction. He could still see Holly’s scared look in his mind. He would love to have had an excuse to punch Gerald in the face, but putting fear in him would have to do. “I hate going into town. I hate running into stuck-up people.”

“Good,” Matt said, and walked away.

When he got in the car, Tony chuckled. “Feel better?”

“Some.” Matt sighed. “I would have liked to see a little more fear in him. You’re getting soft in your old age, bro. There was a time you had people pissing in their pants just by looking at them. Gerald wasn’t that scared.”

“I am not that old, son, and he was too drunk to know when his life was in danger.” Tony defended himself. “I happen to be in my prime at thirty-five. Don’t forget, you just turned thirty-three. You are catching up quick.”

Matt laughed and punched his brother in the arm. “Hopefully Gerald won’t be bothering Holly again.”

He wanted to drive by the Blakes’ house and make sure she was okay there, but he imagined his brother telling him he was turning into a stalker, so he stayed quiet. He was tired of being without her.

Chapter 6

Matt leaned against Drake’s police vehicle. They should be starting their patrol. Instead, Drake was involved in a passionate, public kiss with Jasmine, his girlfriend.

“She is going out with her girlfriends, not going to war!” Matt yelled out loud. Drake let go of Jasmine and grinned at Matt. “I am reminding her of what she has waiting at home for her. Sorry if my heart is not encased in ice.”

Jasmine laughed and pointed at him. “Yeah, iceman.”

She was all dressed up in a red, sexy dress. Matt knew Holly was going, too. He just wished he could kiss her and have her come home to him. She had looked at him with such bitterness that he wondered if he’d ever have another chance with her. It was a depressing thought.

“Ouch.” Matt put his hand to his heart. “Your girl is mean, Drake.”

Jasmine laughed and got in Alicia’s car.

“Behave. No fights,” Drake warned Alicia. She rolled her eyes and waved good-bye.