Page 78 of Cocky Jerk

“Rough day?” Tank questions nonchalantly.

Like I said, the man’s a savage.

A brutal fucking savage.

Turning around, I cock my head to the side and glare at him.

“You could say that,” I grind out.

“I imagine it’s taxing breaking the heart of a young woman for the sake of an arrest,” he says pointedly.

“Probably just as challenging as breaking the heart of your only child for the sake of a patch,” I reply evenly and move to take the seat across from him.

Folding myself into the chair, I stare at him.

We’re two men divided by difference.

I’m a man baptized in boundaries.

He’s the man schooled in sin.

Our only common thread is the woman we both failed.

“Tell me something, officer—I can call you that, right?” I don’t reply, and he continues. “Do you want children someday?”

I have no idea where he’s going with this, but I’m pretty sure I ain’t going to pull a statement out of him if we keep shooting the shit like a bunch of broads at a beauty parlor.

“I didn’t want kids,” he reveals. “I knew my lifestyle wasn’t suited for children. But the man upstairs had a different plan for me.” He pauses and smiles faintly before continuing, “The moment I found out Antonia’s mother was pregnant, something changed inside of me. I wanted to be better. I wanted to be worthy of such a gift, but I had already made my bed. I took an oath and signed my life away, and I couldn’t erase that just because I had gotten my girl knocked up. No one was going to give me a pardon. You see, there’s a line. You’re sitting on one side of it and I’m sitting on the other. You can cross over to my side but I can’t cross back to yours because if I ever did, my daughter would pay the price and no child should ever have to suffer for the sins of their father.”

His eyes narrow as he leans forward.

“You did a shitty thing using my daughter to get to me, but your plan backfired because I ain’t giving anyone up. A lot of blood has touched my hands, but my daughter’s will never be on them.”

“I’m only going to say this one more time, so listen up, old man, I didn’t use your daughter. I pulled Antonia over a couple of weeks ago because she’s a piss poor driver. Tell me, did she get that from you?” I don’t let him answer the question as I continue, mimicking his stance by leaning over the table too. “I was prepared to pick up Antonia from work and bring her to your place. She wanted me to talk to you, to make you see what she sees in me.”

“All I see is a crooked cop who took advantage of my daughter.”

I take it back.

He’s no savage.

He’s a thickheaded son of a bitch with an anger problem.

“Look closer,” I tell him. “You’ll see a man who cares about her. I didn’t plan on your daughter. I didn’t want to share my life with anyone, but the way her existence changed you, it changed me too. I don’t have enemies.”

“You’re looking at one.”

“Because I came to work and did my job? Is that what makes me your enemy?”

He opens his mouth to speak, but I hold up a hand.

“I’m a cop and a mediocre one. That’s my only offense, DeLuca. If it wasn’t me who put those cuffs on you today, it would’ve been someone else. Another cop, probably a better one too. Arresting you would’ve been the highlight of his career.”

“Why not yours?”

“Because there’s a woman downstairs who is hurting because of all this and my career doesn’t seem all that important knowing that I had a hand in that. You got a choice here, Tank. You can keep your mouth shut and take the wrap for the guns, but with your record you’re looking at fifteen years. Let me not forget the charges they’re going to tack on from today. They got you assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon and newsflash, one of our guys is in critical condition from a gunshot wound to the neck. If he doesn’t make it—”

“I get it,” he interrupts. “Doesn’t change anything.”

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