Page 98 of Cut Me Down

“I hadn’t brought her here yet. I wanted her to be comfortable.” He really does know me. As beautiful as this house is, I would’ve felt awkward here before. I still slightly do. I'll be afraid to touch and break something for at least a month. “I was going to bring her here tonight anyway. We can stay here from now on if that’s what she wants.” He reaches down and kisses my cheek as he grabs me from behind. He then looks up at Carter and nudges his head in Ser’s direction. “Carter, this is Serena. Ashia’s best friend.”

“Oh, right, the nurse.” He reaches his hand out to her, and something inside her clicks. She stands up a little straighter, and I watch as her eyes begin scouring his body. She’s clearly attracted to him and is not being subtle in the slightest. Carter isn’t bad looking, and more like Serena’s type. He has dirty blonde hair, dark blue eyes, stands about six foot three inches, and while he’s not near as muscular or toned as Damien, he still has some muscles. No visible tattoos. Not my type, but perfect for her. She steps forward and takes his hand.

“Oh, so you’re Carter. By the way, I’m more than a nurse.” She grins and winks at him. He looks a little taken aback but tries to compose himself.

“I-I know. I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend.” Carter stutters.

“Not near as smooth as you are, is he?” I whisper to Damien.

“I can only teach him so much.” He whispers back to me. “He’s a virgin.” I snap my head towards him in disbelief.

“Oh God, don’t tell Serena, you'll give her a new life mission.” I look back over to them, and she must be giving him a hard time, because he keeps cutting eyes at Damien to help him out. His stance shouts nervousness as he clearly doesn’t know how to take her forward glares and body language.

“Alright you two, let’s talk business.” Damien says before leading us over to the couches in the living area. Damien and I sit on the black leather love seat together, while Serena tries to sit in the middle of the matching sofa, but poor Carter sits all the way at the end to give her space. He either can’t take a hint, or he doesn’t want to entertain her. “Carter, give me the run down.”

“Both trucks were delivered to the PD Auto shop. Normally after we drop off goods to the PD they send someone out to collect it, but there was nothing on the police coms about a pick up. Chris stayed behind to watch, and two people came and took it no problem, even though they weren’t in uniform. The clean-up crew at Cut Me Down said they had to dip after PD arrived, but there was no chatter on that either. There were at least twenty reports of shots fired called into 911 dispatch, but no one was sent out. That Aiden kid was streaming on the truck chase, but nothing about the barber shop, so they must have kept it really quiet.”

“So, the officers that showed up to both locations either weren’t cops, or they were bad cops.” Damien states angrily.

“Exactly.”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“The city isn’t safe. For anyone. Dust is obviously receiving help from the police. We need to be careful with what we do from now on.” Damien says to me. “Dranan is doing everything he can to make sure he can operate how he wants.” I feel my phone buzz and it surprised me for a second. I completely forgot I even had it. I look down at my phone to see a text from Tony.

Tony:

Ashia, I hope to God your alright. If you can see this, do not come to the station, some weird shit is going on. If you're hiding, stay where you are.

“Babe, look at this.” I look up at him to hand him my phone and something flashes across his eyes. I can’t quite place it, and he doesn’t give me much time to decipher it before he looks down and stares at the message.

“You can’t trust him, baby girl. We don’t know who’s being paid.” He says sympathetically.

“Is that Tony?” Serena asks and I nod my head at her. “Oh, you can trust Tony. That pansy-ass momma’s boy is by the book. That’s why we didn’t call him when you started stalking her. If anyone on the police force is still straight, it’s him.” She tells Damien.

“Why else would he text me that?” I ask him, and he looks at me curiously. “He might be able to help you get some answers.” He looks over at Carter, who just shrugs his shoulders. I would be a fool to assume that they haven’t done their research on Tony. It seems that Damien has looked up anyone I’ve ever come into contact with, and I’m sure that my male, cop friend wasn’t excluded from that list. He presses the call button, places it on speakerphone, and lays it on the table so we can all hear. Pressing his finger to his lips, he shakes his head lightly. Telling us not to speak. It takes a few rings, but then Tony picks up.

“Ash? Oh my God, are you okay?” Tony answers in a hushed, worried tone. Clearly trying to keep anyone around him from hearing him. Damien remains silent, and it’s only a few seconds before we hear a loud thud, like a door closing, on Tony’s end of the phone. “Who is this?”

“Are you alone?” Damien says menacingly. Almost like a phone call from the horror movies we watch. Though, Tony doesn’t hesitate to answer.

“Yes. Who is this?”

“You know who this is.” There’s a moment of silence again.

“Are her and Serena safe?” Tony asks, his tone filled with concern.

“Yes, they’re both safe.” More silence, followed by what sounds like Tony swallowing a rock.

“I need your help.” Tony asks.

“You're an officer, what could you need from me?”

“Something is going on here, and everyone is acting weird. The Chief won’t speak to anyone unless he calls them in himself, most of the dispatch won’t speak to me, and there’s a lot of shit going unchecked. Something is wrong, very wrong. I don’t know who to turn to. The Mayor has been here for an hour talking to him, and still nothing.” I watch Damien as his thinking face takes over.

“Can you meet up?”

“Not at least for another hour. The station is crazy right now. Half of the force was pulled out by the Chief. I'm trying to reroute who’s left to help cover the calls they don’t want us to respond to without anyone knowing. I didn’t even know about Cut Me Down until my friend in dispatch called my cell.”

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