Page 5 of Stilettos & Whiskey
The pretty lady leaned into the helicopter and grabbed her kit. “How did that happen?”
“Igor went for his gun. Julie jumped on his back and almost bit off his left ear,” Captain Stone said.
A worried frown on her face, the pretty lady hurried over to me. “Next time leave the bad guys to us, Julie.”
“Yes, ma’am. When I grow up, I’m gonna be a cop like my daddy.”
“You remind me of my daughter, Gemma. She wants to be a cop too and you’ve got her spunk.”
A wave of dizziness rolled over me and I threw up the trail mix I had just eaten. “I don’t feel so good.”
“I know, sweetie. I know.” The pretty lady pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and gently cleaned my face. “Where do you hurt?”
I touched the back of my head. “Here.”
She carefully probed my sore head. “I think you might have a concussion. We need to get you to the emergency room.”
“Okay, but I don’t think Papa Garza will take me, and he has been drinking too.”
“I’m going to take you in my helicopter. Would you like that?”
I grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am.” I got to my feet and almost fell over.
“Whoa!” The pretty lady caught me. “Easy now. Let me help you.” She led me over to the helicopter.
“You fucking little bitch, I never want to see you again,” Papa Garza snarled.
“You won’t,” The pretty lady snapped. “Julie belongs to us now.”
And to my delight, I did. A judge owed them a favor, and they got temporary custody of me. Gemma and I were instant best friends. The boys were another matter altogether.
Turns out Igor was a child molester, whom Papa Garza owed the astounding amount of five hundred dollars. Once the judge was informed of the facts, he severed my grandfather’s custodial rights. A year later, I was officially adopted, but I kept my last name to honor my parents.
It took another year before my new parents could talk me into calling them Mom and Dad. I had been siring and ma’aming them. Myfive brotherstreated me just like Gemma but nowthere were two of us and they didn’t quite know what hit them. When I had nightmares about the fire, and woke up screaming, my new family surrounded me with love. God, how had I gotten so lucky?
Chapter One
Since I was eight years old, Gemma and I had never spent more than a day apart. I couldn’t believe how much I missed her, but after her kidnapping ordeal, the trip to Kauai with her fiancée, Dante, was just what she needed. I hoped they didn’t get drunk and do something stupid like getting married in Hawaii. Mom would have a meltdown of epic proportions.
“Breakfast is ready, Julie,” Mom called.
“Coming.” Since the rogue CIA agent and his gang had been eliminated, I needed to move back into my apartment. I grimaced. Which meant I would have to deal with Bertha, the neighbor from hell again. How could one old lady cause so much trouble? The fact that she dressed and acted like she was sixteen was one of the reasons. She was also an exhibitionist who loved exposing her new 40DD boobs to anyone she came across, be it man or woman. Bertha weighed about a hundred pounds, and her new girls made her top-heavy. Add in her love of stilettos and she tended to topple over. A lot. The apartment manager and I had fished her out of the pool several times. Thankfully, her boobs gave her plenty of buoyancy, and she always popped to the top.
Bertha’s wild parties and gentlemen callers were legendary. The horny old goats were always ringing my doorbell by mistake and hitting on me. Ugh.
Since I was a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputy the manager always called me when there was a major problem. Like thenight Bertha and her friends went swimming in the pool at the same time a family was throwing a birthday party for their ten-year-old son. There wouldn’t have been a problem except the drunk old geezers stripped down. The kids freaked out and the parents went for their guns. What a clusterfuck.
The minute I walked into the kitchen, Mom frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“I still haven’t figured out a way to deal with my neighbor, Bertha.”
“She’s still having those wild parties?”
I shuddered. “I’ve seen enough shriveled dicks to last me a lifetime.”
Mom laughed. “I’ll bet. Have you talked to the manager about getting her evicted?”
“Yes, but Bertha owns the complex and she ain’t leaving.”
