Break Away Page 12

  “She should have filed a complaint.”

  “She did. The sheriff’s department investigated. I think they must have found other misconduct, enough at least that even they couldn’t completely ignore it. As far as I know, he was never charged or punished, but he resigned. By then we’d moved to Fresno.”

  “Son of a bitch. Is he still in the area?”

  “Last I heard he’d been hired by a police department in Colorado and had moved somewhere near Denver.”

  Levi made more notes on the pad. “Have you had any contact with him since then?” When she shook her head, he said, “I’m going to locate him, find out where he is now. Not that he needs to live here for the cyber-bullying, but if the post is related to the vandalism at your place and the hit-and-run, and he’s not in the area, then it’s not likely he’ll be our guy.”

  “Okay.” Now that she was done, she was glad she’d told Levi. A little of the weight she’d carried lifted, and she found she didn’t really care if Levi investigated Paul Clauson. She’d been a kid, and he was an asshole, and maybe a pedophile. She needed to let go of the embarrassment and the shame.

  With the interview finally over, Levi walked Zoey to her car in the police parking lot. A breeze had picked up that helped to cool the warm afternoon.

  “I appreciate you coming in. This is important.”

  She gave a short laugh. “I know what I said about the hit-and-run, Levi, about not wanting to prosecute if it was truly an accident. But after these latest instances, I’m feeling more than a little nervous. I want to know who’s behind them.”

  He ran a hand down her bare arm. “Like I said last night, call me any time, no matter when, even if you think I’m busy.”

  She hated the feeling of vulnerability brought on by the harassment, which put her in the position of having to rely on others for protection. “Okay.”

  “Brad wants to know if Thursday works for the security company to install an alarm system. He wants cameras. They’ll be doing your place and mine.”

  Zoey chewed on her bottom lip while she considered the logistics. “I’ll take Lucy with me to work, but I don’t want to leave my doors unlocked so the alarm crew can get in.”

  “You won’t need to. Brad will give them a key.”

  She nodded, catching her breath when he snagged her hand and turned it over in his. He rubbed a thumb over her palm, much as he had the previous evening when they’d been sitting on a bench looking out over the town. “Would you go on another non-date with me?”

  Her heart gave a strong thud. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

  “Why, you afraid you’ll start to like me?”

  “No.” That ship sailed years ago. “What do you have in mind?”

  “The Guns have softball practice this evening at five thirty. It’ll probably go for an hour and a half, then we’re all going out for pizza. You could join us.”

  “So this is more of a group thing.”

  “Right. No way is it a date. I wouldn’t want to challenge the ‘no dating cops’ rule. Pizza, beer, and a group of friends hanging out.”

  She didn’t give herself time to overthink it. “Sounds like fun. Why don’t you text me when you’re done with practice and I’ll meet you at the pizza place?”

  “Sure.”

  He dipped his head, then seemed to catch himself. “Damn. If this was going to be a real date, I’d kiss you good-bye. Can’t let that happen.” He straightened and started for the back door to the station. “See you this evening, Zoey.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Zoey stood in line at the post office. Three people were ahead of her, two looked like they had multiple packages to send. She wanted to get home, take a shower, then try to put a little effort into her appearance for her non-date with Levi. But she had a card to send her brother for his birthday, and she wanted to pick up the cool solar eclipse stamps that changed color with heat. He’d like that.

  Levi was sneaky. He’d slipped the idea of a kiss into her head, and it had lodged there ever since.

  Kissing Levi again would be disastrous. She knew exactly how hot a kiss between them could get, and from there it would be a slippery slope into more. She figured she was already on that slope by accepting his non-date invitations, but had she said no? Of course not.

  She’d tried to stick to her date-no-cops rule. Cops were controlling, some too easily abused their authority, and, as she’d seen more than once, were too often willing to sacrifice the community they were supposed to serve to protect fellow officers.

  Except Levi didn’t fit the mold. He seemed honest and caring, and restrained in his interactions with others. Despite that, she’d seen him drop the laid-back persona and shift to cop mode in the blink of an eye. Maybe he had to do that for the job, but she had trouble trusting him not to revert to type. You never could tell.

  He’d evaded answering her about what led to him leaving the Oakland PD, which had her wondering what he was hiding. She hadn’t searched him on the Internet, and she wasn’t sure why. Maybe she wanted him to tell her himself. He’d avoided the subject when she’d brought it up, and maybe he didn’t want to fight with her about something neither of them would change their minds about.

  She shuffled forward and bit back a sigh of impatience when the sole postal clerk chatted loudly with the next in line, a woman with a daughter due to go into labor at any moment, and could Patsy (the clerk) guess what the daughter’s rat bastard husband had done? Trying hard not to listen, Zoey told herself that the benefits of living in a small town far outweighed the drawbacks.

  “This is taking forever, isn’t it?”

  Zoey turned to the voice behind her. The woman, probably in her mid-thirties but making a valiant effort to appear at least a decade younger, rolled her eyes.

  There wasn’t much else to say but to commiserate. “Seems like.”

  The woman stuck out a hand and gave her a broad smile. “Are you new in town?”

  Her ripped skinny jeans were so tight on her thin frame that Zoey worried about the woman’s circulation, while her hair, held back with a big clip, looked overly bleached and brittle.

  After having her hand pumped enthusiastically, Zoey gave her a brief smile. “More or less.”

  “I’ve lived here my entire life. I know just about everybody.” Her gaze focused on the nametag on Zoey’s uniform. “And your name is Zoey Hardesty.”

  “Yep.” Something was off about the woman. On the surface she appeared friendly, but there was a calculating gleam in her pale gray eyes in stark contrast to the open expression. Only one more person was ahead of Zoey in the line and she felt like offering her a twenty to let her take cuts.

  “You’re a forest ranger. Says US Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, right there on your shoulder patch.”

  Zoey returned her attention to the woman with an effort. “Um, no. A wildlife biologist.”

  “Pretty much the same thing, right? You wear the same uniform.”

  Some things weren’t worth the bother of explaining.

  “Hey, we should hang out sometime. Do you have a boyfriend? He could come, too.”

  Even for a small town, this woman was over the top.

  The clerk called for the next in line. “My turn,” Zoey said, trying to refrain from leaping for the counter to escape her new pal.

  “Okay, I’ll talk to you later, Zoey.”

  ***

  Zoey opened the door of Gio’s Pizza and stepped inside. On the left was a glass barrier to the kitchen area, where a man with floury hands and a white apron tossed a round of pizza dough to spin in the air. She wondered if that was Gio. Several families sat in the booths along one wall for a weeknight dinner of pizza, or like the group at the table nearest her, calzones. A couple of older kids were hanging out in a partitioned area playing old-school video games that made beeping and buzzing noises. She didn’t see Levi or his team. It hadn’t occurred to her until she’d accepted Levi’s invitation that she’d be spendi
ng the evening with a bunch of cops.

  A little uncomfortable with that thought, she heard a loud chorus of laughter from a back room. She was crossing the dining area to investigate when Levi walked out of a hallway from the back. She gasped. He wore baseball pants and a sleeveless t-shirt that clung to his wide chest, and was all long-limbed and lean, his arms corded with well-defined muscles.

  He must have gotten a haircut after their “interview.” The sides were tight, and the thick, dark hair on top was shorter. He was the definition of eye candy.

  His grin flashed and his eyes warmed when he caught sight of her, and she felt an unnerving surge of happiness from simply seeing him. Her heart banged around her chest, and she prayed she wasn’t blushing.

  As he approached, she didn’t miss how his gaze traveled from her hair, over her breasts and hips, and down to her feet, taking in the dressy pair of flip-flops. With her hair held back from her face with a tortoiseshell clip, and a colorful skirt matched to a linen blouse, she knew she’d dressed for him, and from his expression he appreciated the effort.

  “Too bad a hello kiss is off limits. I’ll stick with I’m glad you’re here.”

  There he was with his talk about kisses again, which made kissing him the only thing she could think about.

  “You don’t have to keep pointing out that we’re not dating.”

  “Is that what I was doing?”

  “Ah, yeah.”

  “Hm. Seems I’ve got kissing you on my mind. Guess that’s my problem. I absolutely do want to go on a real date. But we’ll save that for another time.” He pointed to the back room. “We’re through here.”

  When he turned, she saw his shirt had HLPD printed on the back in big block letters, as if she needed another reminder he was a cop. He led her down the hall to a room with picnic-style tables put together end to end in long rows. The Guns softball team took up half the space, most of them wearing shirts identical to Levi’s.

  He motioned her to a spot next to Emma Gallagher, who sat beside her husband, Brad. Logan Ross, and his wife, Maddy, sat across the table, and beyond them were Jack and Dory Morgan.

  Zoey stepped over the bench and sat, Levi settling beside her.

  “Hey, Zoey.” Emma turned to face her.

  “Hey back. Where are the kids?”

  “Trish has them. The older two are staying for what they call a Gamma sleepover, but since I’m still nursing the baby, we’ll pick her up. I’m glad Landon is lending a hand since Trish is also watching Mason and Keeley.”

  “That’s brave of her to take on the brood so you all could have an evening out.”

  “I don’t know what I would do without Trish. She’s an awesome mother-in-law.”

  Brad leaned forward to look around his wife. “Hey, Zoey. Glad you’re here. We need a team mascot and I thought of Lucy. She’s gorgeous and an unusual breed so she’ll get a lot of attention. What do you think?”

  Emma turned to her husband. “Why a mascot? We’ve never had a mascot before.”

  “Blame the FD. Turns out the Hoses now have a mascot and they’re bringing it to the game. A Dalmatian pup. They’re planning to make a big deal of it. They want to bring a fire truck out on the field and let the dog ride along wearing a helmet. We can’t let them get the crowd on their side because they have a puppy.”

  Levi made a dismissive noise. He leaned forward, his arm brushing against Zoey’s and sending electric zings between them. “A Dalmatian? Those guys have no imagination.”

  “No kidding. What do you think, Zoey?” Brad asked.

  Levi’s hand found hers under the table and he gave her fingers a squeeze.

  She was so wrapped up in the zings now traveling up her arms that she blanked for a long moment before she was able to answer Brad’s question. “Ah, what would that involve?”

  “You bring Lucy to the game on Saturday. We’ll get her a bandana or something to wear. If you’re good with it, we can take her out on the field before the game. There’ll be a break for the seventh-inning stretch and we’ll do some crowd events. I’ll buy you both hot dogs and a beer.”

  Levi snorted. “Make that a tofu wiener, and Zoey might agree.”

  She elbowed Levi. “We’ll decline the hot dog and beer. Otherwise, it sounds like fun. Lucy loves being the center of attention. She’ll be a total ham.”

  A call came over the loudspeakers that an order was up. Brad rose to his feet and tapped Levi on the shoulder. “Help me carry the pizzas.”

  Logan also got up. “I’ll get a couple pitchers of soda and water.”

  The minute the men were out of the room, Maddy leaned across the table, eyes bright. “Okay, spill. Are you and Levi dating?”

  “No,” she answered quickly.

  Dory left her husband talking to someone farther down the table and scooted into the spot Logan had vacated. “I heard that. Why the heck not? That man looks at you like he’s hungry enough to gobble you up in one big juicy bite.”

  “And earlier he was checking out the window to see if you’d arrived only about a dozen times,” Maddy added. “I can tell when my brother has the hots for someone, and he’s got it bad for you.”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Then I’ll put it out there. If you don’t like him, why are you here?”

  Fair question.

  “I do like him. We’re friends. Okay, friends with sparks. We can’t act on the sparks, though.”

  “Why not?” Dory asked. “Sparks are the fun part.”

  “Says the woman who ignored the sparks with that guy over there for years.” Maddy pointed to Jack.

  Zoey liked these women and figured honesty was the way to go here. “I like Levi, but I don’t want to get into a relationship. And I don’t date cops.” She looked at the women around her and thought, oh shit. “Not that there’s anything wrong with dating cops. Obviously, you’re all married to cops and must have dated them at some point.” God, she sounded so stupid right now. “But it’s not right for me.”

  “It wasn’t right for Emma, either,” Maddy said. “At least when she first met Brad.”

  “Really?” Zoey asked, turning to Emma.

  Emma nodded. “True statement. I’d had bad experiences with police when I was younger and wanted nothing to do with him.”

  “What changed?” Zoey asked.

  “I guess I did. Brad is,” she grinned, “persistent. He made me see beyond the badge to the person who wore it.”

  “Break it up, ladies, pizza is here.”

  Brad set down what had to be a meat-lovers’ pizza in front of Zoey while Dory scooted back down the bench to her husband. The sausage and what she thought might be ground beef was still bubbling, and the pepperoni had oily orange liquid seeping into the cheese. Levi stood behind her, motioning to someone farther down the table. “We’ll switch you.”

  The meat-lovers’ pizza was whisked away and was replaced with a vegetarian pie loaded with mushrooms, peppers, onions, and olives.

  “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Did you want to stare at sausage and pepperoni?”

  “Not really.”

  “So I moved it.”

  Loud voices came from the hall and what looked like a dozen men and women streamed into the room, most wearing t-shirts printed with HLFD. When they realized that the opposing team had had the same idea for post-practice pizza, there was a lot of good-natured laughing.

  Eva rushed forward and Zoey rose and stepped over the bench to receive her hug before her friend turned and waved to the others from their table, many of whom had stood. “Hello, cousins and friends,” she sang out in her cheerful voice.

  Fists were bumped and hands shaken. Diego brushed Zoey’s cheek with a casual kiss. “Good to see you, sweetheart.” Levi stood behind her, and she bumped against him. Either he moved forward or she had moved back. In that crowded space she found herself standing with her back pressed against his chest, and it felt way too good.

  Then Justin t
ugged her away from Levi and caught her in a hug before giving her a smacking kiss on the lips. “How’s my girl?” The teasing gleam in his eyes told her he knew exactly what he was doing. She pinched him over his ribs. Hard. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Easy, darling. I’m just having fun. I bet he doesn’t know I’m gay.”

  Zoey felt a hand rest on her hip, and when Justin moved away, Levi pulled her closer. “What the hell was that about?” he growled.

  “He’s a friend.”

  “Casual friends don’t kiss on the lips.”

  She was saved from responding by the arrival of a big black man whose shoulders looked wide enough to fill the doorway. Justin crossed the room to clap him on the shoulder as he pointed to the cops. “You all are warned. At practice today, my man Tank here hit three homers and he’s got an arm like a cannon. Match Tank’s hitting with Diego’s base running, and you all won’t be able to catch us.”

  “Your friend’s trying to psych us out,” Levi muttered.

  “Is it working?”

  “Hell no.”

  For the next hour, Zoey ate pizza and talked with her friends. While there was plenty of trash talk between the teams, it was obvious they got along well. She was surprised to find how much time had passed when the group began to break up. Who’d have thought she’d have so much fun with a bunch of cops and firefighters?

  An hour later, stuffed from too much pizza, and with a box of leftovers on the passenger seat, Zoey turned into their driveway, Levi’s motorcycle directly behind her. He followed her and came to a stop in front of her cottage, where the porch light gleamed with welcome.

  She gathered her purse and the takeout box, and after locking her car, climbed the steps to where Levi stood in front of the door. He wore the reinforced motorcycle jacket unzipped and was pulling off his gloves to lay them on the small table. Lucy barked, then made her snuffling noises on the other side of the door.

  “Everything as it should be?”

  “Looks like.”

  She eyed him, not sure of his mood. “Thanks for checking out my porch for me. I’ll see you later.”