Damaged (2 page)

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I want to help you—
”

“I don’t need your help,” she snapped back at him
, twisting her fingers in her ponytail as she surveyed the area for the best escape. She needed to get home, away from this man who looked like he had way more questions than she was willing to answer.

“Why do you do it?” he aske
d, cocking his head to the side. “You’re damn good, but you don’t fit the profile of the average thief.”

Monica narrowed her eyes. “None of your fucking business. What’s your deal, anyway? Do you just stroll the streets at night, looking for troubled souls to save?”
With his arms crossed over his chest, he was an intimidating force. He was big, probably attractive too. Probably a fucking cop.
Dammit
. The last thought ramped up her panic another notch, but she played it cool.

The man
chuckled unexpectedly, startling her. This was funny?

“Let’s just say I know more about your lifestyle than you think.”

Monica stepped back a fraction, putting a little more distance between the two of them. His eyes tracked her every move. “I doubt that,” she muttered, stepping back again. Her heart began to race once more as he followed her movement, keeping her within grabbing range.

The man shook his head, holding his hands up. “You can trust me.”

Rule number one of survival…never trust anyone.

Before he could react, Monica bolted. She didn’t have a clue where she was headed, but she was getting the
hell away from this man, and home where she was relatively safe. Ignoring his shouts, she pushed on, letting the tears fall, not bothering to wipe them from her face as she sought refuge from the night.

Chapter Two

He had trailed her for months without her knowledge. She fascinated him in ways he couldn’t even explain. Ways that stopped him from arresting her on several occasions when he’d had the chance. After being assigned to the task force to investigate the frequent thefts around the city, Officer Seth Jackson had spent many nights on the streets, watching and waiting for the opportunity to finally catch the sneaky little woman off guard. Last night he’d finally had the chance to bring her in. To take one more thief off the streets of Detroit. But when he had stared down into those terrified, honey brown eyes, he’d been caught off guard, letting his feelings get in the way of his fucking work.

She was
tiny; maybe a hundred and ten pounds, but she had the attitude of a tiger. The files had the suspect listed as a teenage boy, approximately fifteen, but he’d noticed early on that her dark baggy clothes were just a ruse to sway suspicion and hide her gender. He knew nothing of her background and he didn’t know her name. Just looking at her, he knew she wasn’t a junkie. She wasn’t stealing for drug money, so that only left a couple of other options. Either she had a child, or she was being forced to work for someone. The fact that she had been willing to do whatever it took to get away told him that. She’d been in survival mode, but he had seen the disgust that flashed across her face for a split second when she had made her proposition, rubbing suggestively against him. That didn’t excuse the way his traitorous body reacted to the contact, though. His cock had been rock hard for most of the night, and that made him fucking sick. What kind of a monster was he to get aroused at a woman’s desperate attempt for survival? Clearly he needed his head examined.

Seth
sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face as he sorted through the pile of file folders stacked on his desk. Armed robbery, hit and run, domestic assault, it was the same shit in every one. The fact that he had a meeting with the chief to go over his evidence in the pick-pocket case in just a few short minutes wasn’t helping matters either. He was going to want to know what the holdup was, but Seth didn’t have anything new to report. And last night’s events were definitely staying off record. Chief Kesson would have his ass if he found out that he’d let the mark escape. He’d had her right where he wanted her, and he’d choked.

The phone on his desk sounded with a soft beep before the secretary’s voice came over the line. “Chief K
esson will see you now, Officer Jackson.”

Seth
hit the intercom and leaned toward the phone. “I’ll be right there. Thank you, Sue.”

Pushing away from his desk, he left his office and made his way down the long hallway toward the Chief’s office. Carlton Kesson didn’t fuck around when it came to th
e job. He was cold as ice, hard as steel, and could cuss a blue streak that would make a sailor blush. He didn’t take no for an answer, and he always got what he wanted. It made walking into his office to lie right to his face a daunting task. He’d been able to dodge the last two requests for meetings because of emergency calls, but today the odds weren’t working with him. It was time to face the music.

The massive black man behind the desk sat back in his chair
and pulled the reading glasses from his face when Seth pushed through the heavy glass door. The Chief’s keen brown eyes watched him until he was seated in the leather chair across from him.

“Seth
, so glad you could make it,” he stated, his voice deep and dripping with sarcasm.

He almost smirked, barely maintaining a blank expression. “Chief. What can I help you
with?”

Carlton tapped his pen against the arm of his chair in annoyance. “You know goddamn well what I want
, Jackson. What the hell is going on with your case? Every night you’re out on patrol, but you haven’t reported anything back or made any arrests. I’m not paying you to dick off, kid.”

Kid. The nickname he’d ear
ned after joining the force five years ago at the age of twenty-five. At the time he’d been the youngest, and despite the fact that he was now thirty years old, six foot three and two hundred fifty pounds, the name had stuck among his fellow officers.

“I’m not
dicking
off, boss. I’ve been on patrol, but I haven’t had any luck locating the suspect,” Seth lied, brushing imaginary lint from his t-shirt. “The thief is stealthy as fuck, and tracking the boy is nearly impossible. He knows his way around.”

Carlton stared back at him. The chief could smell bullshit from a mile away, and he was definitely on the scent.
“And your excuse for blowing your partner off last night when he was supposed to be on stakeout with you?”

Now that one he hadn’t prepared an excuse for.
Seth shrugged. “I forgot he was supposed to come along.” If that didn’t qualify as pulling something out of his ass, then he didn’t know what would.

Carlton barely contained his irritation, becoming visibly rigid, tightening his fists. “You forgot.”

Seth nodded, crossing his ankle over his other knee. “Yup.”

“
It’s insulting that you’d even think I’d buy that load of shit,” The Chief said through clenched teeth. “I should be able to rely on you of all people to make some headway in this case. I need to see some results, Jackson.” He leaned forward, pointing a thick finger at Seth, his face going ruddy. “Pull your head out of your ass and do your job, or I’m putting someone else in charge of this case.”

The smirk he’d been holding back slipped. “Ten-four, boss.”

What the Chief didn’t know was that he’d been out watching his mark every night, even the nights he wasn’t on duty. Truth was, seeing her in action was a work of art. Her victims never even saw it coming, and she was long gone before they discovered they’d been had. She fascinated him, yet he was no closer to knowing anything about her.

Carlton sat back in his chair and slipped his glasses back onto his face. “Get
the fuck outta my office, kid. I don’t wanna see your face again unless you’ve got a suspect in custody.”

“Got it.” Seth
rose from his chair and made his way to the door. He wasted no time getting the hell out of there. The big man had a knack for intimidating everyone he came into contact with. Seth had once watched him reduce the leader of one of the biggest gangs in Detroit to tears. It was awe inspiring and terrifying all at once. Best to stay on his good side.

When he returned to his office, he rolled his eyes as he walked through the door. Sitting in the chair next to his desk was his partner, Evan Forester. With his feet
propped up on the surface of Seth’s desk, he had his hands clasped behind his head while he lounged carelessly. For three years they’d been together, and that was as close to being married to another man as he would ever get. Evan was always in his business about something, and the look on his face today said that he had a whole lot on his mind.

“I called you last night
to pick me up for stakeout, but you didn’t answer. You didn’t tell me you had plans,” Evan drawled, flipping the toothpick in his mouth to the other side with his tongue. Running his hand through his short black hair, he was the epitome of laid back. He was similar to Seth in size, but an inch taller.

Seth
unfastened his duty belt and placed it on the desk before slumping into his chair. “I didn’t know I had to okay my plans with you, sweetheart,” he mocked. “I had shit to do.”

Evan narrowed his
sharp brown eyes. “What the hell is up your ass today?”

“You,” Seth
retorted bluntly while pulling out a file and pretending like it was the most interesting thing he’d seen all week.

“Not yet I’m not, but if you continue keeping me in the dark about things, I will be.” Evan knew him
better than anyone else in the precinct, and he knew when Seth was talking shit. How did you tell your partner that your head was all fucked up over a girl that you didn’t even know? A girl who was currently a criminal suspect in the case they’d been working for a month? The answer was simple.

You didn’t.

Fessing up to that tidbit of info would probably get him suspended, and definitely reassigned to another case. Neither of which he was on board with.

Seth
shrugged. “Then we’re all good, because I’m not hiding anything from you. Get your filthy boots off my desk.”

Evan reluctantly let his feet fall to the floor as a small smile tugged at his lips. “There’s a woman, isn’t there
? You’re getting laid, aren’t you?” He shook his head, grinning from ear to ear. “Dammit, you dog, I knew it.”

“No.” Seth
was going to break his partner’s nose yet. It was definitely happening, and he was going to enjoy it.

“Bullshit,” Evan snorted
. “Who is she? The little redhead from the diner that’s always flirting with you? No wait, I bet it’s that brunette with the tits that works the front desk at the DMV.” He held his hands out away from his chest insinuating breasts as he waggled his brows lecherously. He was such an asshole, but only because he almost made Seth smile with his shenanigans.

Instead,
Seth rolled his eyes and dropped his pen on his desk. Sitting back in his chair, he pinned his partner and friend with a droll stare. “None of the above. Get out of my office.”

“Aw, man, don’t be like that. If you’re gettin’ a little trim, I’m happy for you,” Evan sighed. “I just feel like we’re drifting apart, you know?” The bastard even pouted his fucking lip as he spoke.

“You’re an idiot.”

Evan grinned as he rose from his
chair, kissing the air in Seth’s direction. “Okay I forgive you. I hate when we fight.”

Seth
shook his head as the door closed behind his friend. He was a pain in the ass, but he wouldn’t want anyone else watching his back in the line of fire. If shit went down, he could count on Evan. No questions asked.

When he finally had the room to himself again, he pulled the mystery woman’s file from the drawer and flippe
d it open. Rubbing at the days’ worth of beard growth on his jaw, Seth picked up the pixilated security camera photo of the suspect. It did look like a young boy, but he’d felt every curve of her small body under him. She was all woman under her guise. Her age was difficult to pinpoint, but he estimated her to be about twenty—twenty-two at the oldest. From what he could see of her facial features, she was fine boned, making her appear younger than she probably was. She was attractive, and those eyes…he couldn’t get those honey gold eyes out of his head. She had been terrified, but pure determination sizzled in her gaze. She was a fighter through and through, which only intrigued him more. What had she been through that drove her to the lifestyle she led? There was only one way to learn more about her, and that was to continue watching her.

Sliding
the picture back under the paperclip on the top of the file folder, Seth flipped it shut before shoving it back into the drawer. No case had ever affected him like this before. Placing the belt around his waist, he grabbed his jacket from the hook near the door, swinging it on as he exited. He would go home to change before the stakeout like he always did. Blending in with the crowd was easy in street clothes, and if he got lucky, he’d encounter his suspect out on the prowl. The loot she’d made off with the night before wouldn’t have gotten her enough money at pawn to last her long, and if he was right about her having another mouth to feed, she would be on the streets again tonight.

Bypassing the front desk, Seth
left through the side door, crossing the parking lot to his car. The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, leaving very little daylight left. He had just enough time to get home, changed, and in position. Why he was looking forward to it was a mystery. He should be pumped up, ready to make an arrest, but he wasn’t looking forward to it for that reason. She was becoming a sick addiction.

He
needed to see her again.