I turn off the faucet and motion for her to scoot back so that I can open the dishwasher door. When I load it and switch the latch, I rest my hip against the countertop myself. This is hard…really hard.
“No. I counted yours because of my quick fascination with you. You were so closed off emotionally that when we started sleeping together and I learned of that first cycle, I wanted more…I wanted…intimacy and that seemed to have been my only connection in a sense.” I shrug. “So, I started to count not only your menstrual cycle, but each time we smashed. It became my little obsession.”
There’s silence. I know my lady’s phasing, incommunicado mind is hard at work. I can only imagine with what.
“Do you still do that…document each time we…smash?”
“Not in a write it down matter of speaking, no,” I answer honestly. “Why do you ask?”
Rayna moves from the counter and makes her way to the doorway off to the great room when she shrugs. “I don’t know. I was just going to ask how you’d record round two of this evening.”
My cock springs up as she leaves me in the kitchen alone.
Chapter 15
James Lombardi
I smooth my dress shirt and flatten my tie as I sit in this sterile conference room. I hate wearing this formal shit. I know it’s policy, but the moment I’m out in the field this clown costume comes off. I’m anxious about this meeting. My optimistic side is telling me I’m being acknowledged for successfully apprehending the region’s third largest gun trade organization. Last week ended a six-month sting operation that drained the fuck out of me. I worked twenty-hour days with the South Bay Metropolitan Task Force to bring Louis Suarez and his crew down. That had me in San Francisco with a temporarily assigned group that Captain Munick loaned me out to.
It was good work I did up there, and hopefully now Captain will come off my ass and loosen my leash on the Jacobs case. I came home for a few days in October and paid Jacobs a visit at the club he has on Santa Monica Blvd. I’d learned of Harrison’s arrest and thought to use that to ruffle his feathers. He came off high and mighty like a king in his damn minstrel’s gallery overlooking the dancehall instead of the great room.
He’s a reserved man. When I hit him with the news, he didn’t react the way I thought he would. He didn’t even blink an eye when I mentioned Harrison’s arrest. I’ll bring his cocky ass down now that I’m done with the Suarez assignment.
I wish they’d hurry. I’m meeting Terry in an hour. Drumming my fingers, I hear the door open and in comes Captain Munick, Major Pennington, a few Lieutenants from the division and—Attorney General Kamala Harris? What the fuck is this? My fucking heart is about to beat out of my chest. A.G. Harris doesn’t meet to congratulate on a job well done for a case the size of Suarez’s. Like a nervous prick, I stand and assume the salute.
Not even half of them acknowledge it as they take to their seats. Captain Munick nods and once all are seated, he offers me to take mine. At this time the table attendees are opening files and folders, scrambling for pages. I didn’t receive a fucking agenda.
This isn’t looking good for me.
“Sergeant Lombardi, thanks for being here. You’re versed with who’s here at the table so let’s get right to it. This deposition—” Deposition? “…will be recorded starting now.” Major Pennington hits the tape recorder and Munick begins to call out the names of all present. When he mentions the reprimand of Sergeant James Lombardi, I nearly shit my trousers.
He shifts his head from the recorder that’s in the center of the table and looks over to me. “Sergeant, authenticate your presence; please state your full name with ranking.”
I clear my throat and straighten in my seat. “Sergeant James Lombardi.”
“Sergeant,” Major Pennington takes over. “…have you just concluded the South Bay Metropolitan Task Force special assignment that resulted in the apprehension of Louis Suarez?”
I’m so fucking lost right now. What is this? I swallow.
“Yes.”
“Which case were you assigned to prior to that mission?”
Clearing my throat again, I answer, “I wasn’t exactly assigned a case in particular, but as you know in the CBI, we can make inquiries into suspicious or potential illegal activities in between assignments. So, I was looking into the Harrison/Jacobs’ pros/case.”
Munick moves forward in his seat. “You’ve used two acronyms, Sergeant. This goes against policy when giving an official statement.”
I know we aren’t supposed to use short titles and acronyms, but my ass seems to be on the line here and I don’t know why.
“Please clarify,” Munick grills.
Goddamn prick!
“CBI…Criminal Bureau of Investigations,” I grit through my teeth. “Detective Darryl Harrison and Azmir Jacobs…pros/case…prospective case.”
“Thank you,” Pennington offers. “When did you start looking into the Harrison/Jacobs’ prospective case, Sergeant?”