Page 97 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
“A unit has been dispatched to the address, ma’am,” said my nemesis firmly. “Now I need to get more information from you so that when the officers arrive they won’t mistake anyone else who might be on the premises for the intruder.”
A brief, horrifying vision of Nico being shot dead by police made my jaw snap shut. I managed to control myself, but only just. “Okay, yes. Ask me, ask me. What else do you need to know?”
There followed a laundry list of questions, which I answered to the best of my frazzled ability. When she started asking about weapons, I grew even more panicked.
“Uh, yes. We do have a weapon. My boyfriend does, I mean. A shotgun.”
“Is your boyfriend the homeowner, ma’am?”
“Yes.”
“His name, please?”
“Nico. Nico Nyx.”
There followed a silence so total I thought the line had disconnected. Then the 911 operator cleared her throat. “I’m sending additional units, ma’am. What is Mr. Nyx wearing?”
I knew it! This broad gave preferential service to famous people! If I ever had to call the police again, I’d say I was Kim Kardashian. I’d probably have five hundred cops on my lawn in three minutes.
“Black boxers. But the police will know it’s him because he’ll be the one holding the really big gun.”
That tidbit didn’t faze her. Now that she knew who she was dealing with, she had her game face on. “Please stay inside the dwelling in a safe spot until the officers arrive. If you see the intruder again, do not attempt to engage him. Where are you inside the house, ma’am?”
I told her. She asked a few more questions, each more detailed than the last, until she’d apparently exhausted all of them.
“Would you like me to stay on the line with you until the officers arrive?”
“No.”
“All right, then, ma’am—”
She kept talking, but I’d already hung up. I had no desire to speak with her for one second longer.
Within ten seconds, the phone rang. I jumped, heart pounding. “Hello?”
“This is nine-one-one operator LaTanya Jackson, to whom am I speaking, please?”
“It’s me! Kat Reid! You just talked to me!”
“Ma’am, are you all right?”
I stared at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were wild. My hair was mussed up. I looked like I’d been on a three-week bender. “Of course I’m not all right! There’s some kind of weirdo in the house and my boyfriend is chasing after him with a loaded shotgun!”
I heard a sound like fingers drumming on a desktop. “You shouldn’t hang up on nine-one-one, ma’am. We don’t know if it’s because you’re in imminent danger and have to put down the phone—”
“Nobody called me back the day we hung up on you when the paparazzi were stalking me!”
She didn’t have a pithy comeback for that one. “If you need to hang up, please let me know.”
I ground my teeth so hard I thought they might shatter. “I’m hanging up on you now, LaTanya. Okay?”
LaTanya sniffed. “Okay. Thank you, ma’am. Please remember to identify yourself to officers—”
“Good-bye!” I clicked off the phone. Well, at least I wasn’t afraid anymore. I was just pissed.
I heard sirens.
Unfortunately, the view on this side of the house overlooked the city. If I wanted to see the cops pull up, I’d have to go out of the master bedroom and cross the hall into one of the other rooms that overlooked the driveway. But I had no idea where Nico was at the moment . . . or where the intruder might be, either.
