Chapter 2
Natura POV
“So, you gonna make me ask again. Who the fuck
was that?” Sage yelled.
He’d probably asked the same thing three
miles back, but I’d been too busy counting minutes, letting my mind build
dreams that always rotted away before they ever took shape.
Coldville was never going to be anything
better. And just like this town, I wasn’t going to be anything more than a
diner girl—get knocked up, call it quits. This generational curse Somebody
would have to break it. But it wasn’t going to be me.
I saw no way out. I was trapped, same as
everyone else. I tore my eyes away from the ruined streets blurring past the
window. I turned toward him just as he blew a puff of smoke in my face. “Can
you take that shit out?” I muttered.
He dragged on the cigarette harder, then
exhaled in a thick, dry swirl that hung in the air like storm dust.
“Who was that cop bitch? Never seen her
before.”
“Obviously from Sunnyvale,” I muttered,
reaching for the radio, anything to drown him out.
His hand slapped mine away, and instead of
turning the music up, he snapped the dial off completely. “This ain’t the time
for music. I wanna know who that bitch is and what she wants with me.”
Sage was already on every cop’s radar. The
whole station had a vendetta against him, and he knew it. Sage wasn’t exactly
bright, but I couldn’t blame him. School doesn’t do well with bad behavior. I’d
almost been kicked out a few times myself, only thing that saved me were my
grades and my momma’s tears.
His fingers suddenly knotted in my hair,
yanking hard enough to sting. “What the fuck does she want?”
“Jesus Christ! the typical!” I shouted; eyes
fixed on the road ahead. “They wanna know what you’ve got going on. The regular
stuff.”
“Well, yeah. And what did you say?”
“You know I don’t tell them shit.”
“You better not.” He jabbed a finger toward
me. “But who is she? You two looked all close and cozy.”
“I already told you a girl from Sunnyvale.”
Sunnyvale. The name said it all. Over there
the sun always seemed to shine; riches, wealth, the biggest houses, the finest
streets. The people over there? They looked down on us in Coldville like we
were dirt under their shoes. Coldville was the gutter; soaked in dirty
dishwater, crime, and violence.
“She looks like a fucking fag. You know what
we do to fags!”
I sighed. “She’s just a cop doing her job,
nothing else.” I turned back to the window, trying to block him out, though
curiosity still tugged at me, those scars on her knuckles, that mark on her
lip. She looked like the type who didn’t just follow orders—she fought.
“Well stay the fuck away from her.”
I scoffed under my breath.
“What’s that attitude for?!” he snarled,
yanking me back toward him.
Sage used to be handsome. Back when he spent
his days fixing old cars, muscles toned from honest work. But that life didn’t
pay enough, not for the lifestyle he thought he deserved. So, he turned to
dealing… and then, like a fool, started using his own product.
Rule number one: never use your own product.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My
voice broke into a whimper as I clutched his hand. His blue eyes darkened,
storm clouds rolling in.
“How can I stay away,” I whispered, “when
we’re always getting busted?”
The car jerked as he pressed harder on the
gas. “That’s how the streets are,” he growled. “You protect your king till your
final breath.”
Sage always thought he was running the game.
In reality, he was just a pawn, making sales for the bigger heads. They handed
him a few blocks to manage, tossed him some weapons, and suddenly he believed
he was royalty.
“I’m tired,” I murmured, barely subdued.
“Aren’t you—”
My cheek pressed against the hot glass of the
passenger window, the sun scorching through. The past few days the heat had
felt like hell itself, and winter would only bring a different kind of misery.
The weather never seemed kind in Coldville.
I cupped both sides of my face, trying to
soothe the sting.
“You’re tired of protecting me, bitch?”
“I’m sorry—” The word choked in my throat as
his hand clamped around the back of my neck, yanking me closer across the seat.
“How the fuck can you be tired of protecting
the one you love?” “These bitch‑ass cops don’t give a damn about us. They come
from their rich‑ass families and look down on us, like we’re shit to them.”
Because we are. That truth burned in my head. We are nothing but shit
to them. And maybe they have every right to turn their noses up.
Even I turned my nose up at what I was
becoming.
I’m only twenty‑one, and already my life
feels over. I feel broken. Used—not just by the system, but by the people
tangled up inside it.
I feel trapped.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice
shaking.
“You wanna be a fag like her—” He cut off as
his phone started ringing, vibrating in the holder. My eyes darted to the
screen and caught the name. He shoved me back toward my side of the seat, my
cheek still burning. My whole body ached, inside and out.
“You’re still talking to her!” I growled,
jabbing my fingers toward his face. He slapped my hand away. “And here you are,
talking shit about Sunnyvale, when you’re obviously banging one of their
sluts!”
“I’m not fucking her! She keeps calling.”
“I caught
you!” I screamed.
“It was a mistake!”
“You don’t just make silly mistakes when you
cheat, Sage!” I snatched the phone from the holder.
Both his hands flew off the wheel, lunging
for me, and the car veered off course, tires thumping over the dividing line.
He twisted my wrist hard enough to make me
yelp, and the phone slipped from my grip, clattering onto his side. Just before
the car smashed into the shell of an old building, he wrestled control back and
steadied us.
“You’re still fucking her! After everything I’ve
done—you’re still fucking her!”
“Shut up with all that shouting!” he barked.
“No!” I spat.
“Then get the fuck out!”
He slammed his foot on the brake, the car
slowing just enough as he leaned over, one beefy arm shoving against me while
his other hand clawed at the door handle. I fought to grab hold of him, to
anchor myself, but his elbows jammed me back, pinning me harder than any
seatbelt.
The door yanked open and before I could brace
myself, he shoved me out into the rush of the moving road.
My skin scraped and rolled over the hot
pavement before finally coming to rest against the rough surface of my face. I
screamed, the heat and sharp pain pressing into every inch of my cheek. I
quickly rolled onto my back, but the sun showed no mercy. Its relentless rays
beat down, making the heat unbearable.
“Sage!” I yelled, desperation cracking my
voice. “Come back! I’m sorry!”
Cars rushed past, their wheels whipping dust
and wind over my trembling body. But soon enough, the screech of brakes filled
the air, followed by a cloud of heavy, grainy dust kicked up right in my face.
************
Dante POV
A file landed on the shared desk between me
and Orion, sliding to a stop on top of my laptop. I sighed, leaning back in my
chair with my knuckles locked behind my head.
I shot a glare down at the file, then over at
my partner. “What’s that?”
“Your grilling technique sucks.”
“You know what I hate about men? Especially
the ones with smaller dicks than mine, they have more bitchy behavior than a
woman three days into her period.”
“You didn’t even grill the girl. She
obviously knows something.”
“How long has that girl been coming into this
station and walking back out? Exactly. That’s what I thought.”
“Mr. Toro’s got a soft spot for her. Doesn’t
mean you should.”
I unclasped my knuckles, sat upright, and
grabbed the files I’d left in the holding room. “I don’t have a soft spot for
her. Hell, I don’t even know her.”
“You’ve got one duty as a new cop, punch the
lights out of her. You know you want to.”
I growled, tossing the files onto his side of
the desk. “Don’t pass off snide remarks like we’re friends, fat boy.”
“Okay, gangbanger. Don’t think we don’t know
your file. You used to be quite the—”
“Shut the fuck up.”
He puckered his lips mockingly. “Am I tugging
at your panties?”
“With my cock so big I wear boxers, bitch. I
got nothing on the girl. She’s clean.”
“Orion!” Mr. Toro’s voice called sharply from
the office door.
“Sir?”
He stood in the doorway. “Didn’t I tell you
to send your partner to my office?”
“It slipped my mind, sir.” Orion smirked,
glancing back at me.
I stood up. “Where I’m from, cops like you
get beat.”
“Is that a threat, cock girl?”
“The biggest cock in the system.” I shoved
him, and he shook his head, glaring.
I turned and walked into the office.
“You sent her off?”
“She’s not talking.”
He sighed, rubbing his temple. “She never
rats out. I think—no, I know she’s scared. I’m sending you in there—”
“Because you think she and I are the same.
We’re not. I was who I was five years ago. I’ve changed, on my own. I didn’t
come here to be some rope to drag anyone out of their shitty life.”
“You don’t need to drag anyone out of
whatever life they’re in. But you do need to remember that you became an
officer to help the streets, not to form more thorns.”
“She’s not snitching. She’s protecting the
very thing that’s beating the hell out of her.”
He sighed deeply. “I know. I’ve always had a
soft spot for her. But maybe what she needs is some tough love.”
“She’s already getting enough of that.”
“The next time you grill her—”
“I’m not hitting anyone.”
He fixed me with a hard stare. “I understand
that in your past, you’ve hurt a lot of people.”
In the past, I was a weapon; used and broken.
I didn’t join the force to hurt anyone.
“But you need to use your strength when the
time comes. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Get back on street duty.”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes. Now go.”
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