18. Christa

As the lightsflashed behind me, I didn’t feel the usual panic I might have felt before. Instead, there was only a sad feeling of loss that my fun was over. When I woke up this morning on the floor, I never would have imagined my day would turn out this way, but when I saw the keys to the truck laying on the table, I figured why the hell not? I had to get home somehow.

Turns out, it was the best thing I could have ever done. I’d never felt such power beneath me as I had when I put my foot down on the gas and heard the engine roar to life. I didn’t regret a second of it. However, I couldn’t ignore the fact that I took the Lord’s name in vain. That did leave me a little uneasy, but not enough to repent for the amazing ride I just had. Hell, I was already on a downward spiral. I might as well enjoy the ride.

“Okay, just let me do the talking,” Max said beside me.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I’m used to this. You’re a good girl. Just keep your head down and everything will be fine.”

I snorted in amusement. I would never allow someone else to take the fall for me. Not even a man who kicked me off his floor after the night we’d spent together.

I rolled down the driver’s side window and waited as the police officer approached.

“Max, isn’t this a—” The officer tore his sunglasses off and stared at me curiously. “Surprise.”

“Hi, Officer Downey.”

“Christa?”

I beamed up at my childhood friend, nodding vigorously. “Yep. How’s your day going?”

“Uh…” He shook his head, still stupefied to find me behind the wheel. Apparently, it wasn’t that big of a deal to find Max breaking the speed limit. “Christa, do you know how fast you were going?”

I nodded happily. “I know. It was amazing.”

“It was illegal,” he said as if I didn’t understand what was happening.

“Oh, I know, but it was my first time speeding. I mean, other than the occasional time I went over the speed limit on accident. This was totally on purpose. You should write that down,” I pointed at his notebook.

He looked to where I was pointing, then back up at me. “You…want me to write down that you were purposely speeding?”

“Well, I was breaking the law.”

Max leaned across me. “Don’t write that down. In fact, write down that I was driving.”

“But you’re not driving,” I said, cocking my head at him.

He ignored me and continued talking to the deputy. “Deputy…Dooey?—”

The officer rolled his eyes at Max. “It’s Officer Downey.”

“Right, whatever. Just write down in your pretty notebook that it was me driving. I’ll get the ticket, and then you can go back to patrolling for miscreants driving like lunatics and I’ll grab a beer. Sound good?”

I gasped at him. “Officer Downey is a very good policeman and a loyal church-goer. You’re being insulting.”

“I’m telling it like it is. And if you get a ticket?—”

“Which I will because I’m driving.”

“You weren’t driving,” he snapped, then looked at Downey. “Did you hear me? She wasn’t driving.”

“I was driving,” I insisted, turning to Downey “And if you say it was him, I’ll file a formal complaint for failing to give me a ticket.”

Downey scratched the back of his head. “You’re going to file a complaint against me if I try to help you out?”

“It’s corruption,” I pointed out, trying to win this argument. “It starts at the highest levels and trickles down into every facet of our government until the people can no longer trust the people they put in charge. Do you want to be a part of that corruption?”

“Well—”

“Listen, Doogey?—”

“It’s Downey,” the officer corrected.

“You know what really happened. I know what really happened. Let’s call a spade a square and leave it at that.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” he frowned.

“Neither did I,” I told him. “That was a really bad analogy.”

“She’s drunk,” Max told the officer. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

I gasped, narrowing my eyes at him. “I am not!”

“You were passed out on my floor twenty minutes ago.”

“I was sleeping, which isn’t the same thing,” I hissed.

“Ma’am, have you been drinking?” Officer Downey asked me. Now he was really in police mode and I was most likely screwed.

“I…I was last night.”

“Can you please step out of the vehicle?”

“Shit,” Max muttered under his breath. “You should have just listened to me.”

“You should have kept your mouth shut,” I snapped. “Now you’ve done it.”

Officer Downey opened my door and I stepped out as gracefully as possible. I looked like hell, which was now obvious. When I went on this joy ride, it was supposed to be fun, but Max ended up ruining it.

“Ms. Corvin, please walk in a straight line.”

I sighed. “You know, five minutes ago, I was Christa,” I muttered, but I did as he asked. I knew I wasn’t impaired, but I hated having to do this. I was fine with the ticket for speeding. I was not fine with having to prove I wasn’t drunk.

“Deputy Doobey,” Max said, getting out of the truck.

“Sir, please remain in the vehicle?—”

“No, I’m not going to. You know why? Because this isn’t necessary. Just look at her. She’s not drunk.”

“Max,” I growled, “get back in the truck. I can handle this.”

“But you shouldn’t have to,” he snapped. “If you’d just let me take care of this?—”

“Sir, I’m only going to ask you one more time?—”

“Shut it, Dowdy!” Max shouted.

I barely saw the taser come out and I didn’t think. I just reacted. I jumped on Downey’s back, which forced him to bend forward. The taser went off and hit Max right in the crotch. He cried out as he fell to his knees and then to his back. I slowly slipped off Officer Downey’s back and placed my hand over my mouth.

“That’s my fault, isn’t it?”

Downey nodded slowly as he turned to me. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“What?” I said in shock.

“I can’t be known as the officer who let a woman jump on him. Christa, I would be the laughingstock of the department.”

“But I attacked you!”

“Not really,” he grinned. “Besides, I liked having you on my back.”

I slapped his arm, “Randy, that is not a very Christian thing to think after you shot a man in the privates.”

“Hey, just because I go to church doesn’t mean I’m a good boy.”

I blushed furiously at his insinuation.

“One date.”

“Are you trying to buy my silence?”

“Actually, I was trying to insinuate that if you went on a date with me, I’d make this whole thing go away.”

I glanced down at Max on the ground and then back at the man I’d been friends with for my whole life. “Okay, but you still have to give me a ticket for speeding.”

“How about I ticket him?”

I shook my head. “I think I’ve caused enough damage for one day.” Then I winced at the memory of what happened the other night. “Well, maybe more than one day. Help me get him into the truck.”

“Fine, but no more joy riding. Cragey has the next shift, and we both know you won’t get out of a ticket with a date.”

Cragey was the worst in the department. He handed out tickets for jaywalking.

I motioned for him to help me. He grabbed the wires and yanked, pulling them off Max. Then, the two of us hauled him off the ground and walked him over to the passenger side of the truck.

After getting him buckled in, I turned to Downey. “So, that date…”

“I’ll pick you up at seven,” he grinned. Then he stepped forward and brushed the hair out of my face. “It’s been way too long, Christa.”

And with that, he walked away. I didn’t know what had been too long, but I was in for it now. There was no going back.

Max groanedas I rolled him onto the bed. When I straightened, a man named Cash was staring at me expectantly.

“Do you want to run this by me again?”

I winced, not really wanting to go into detail. It sounded so horrible. Okay, it was really horrible, no matter how I explained it. “He was tased.”

“By an officer. You know, I’m calling the department. They can’t let just anyone have a weapon these days.”

I grabbed him by the arm and stopped him from going further. “You can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because…I sort of jumped on the officer, and that’s why his aim was off.”

Cash’s eyes bugged out in disbelief. “You…you did what?”

The last part was yelled, and that’s when I knew I was in trouble with him. “It was a reaction I couldn’t avoid. But it’s fine. I’m going out with him on a date and we’re going to keep the whole thing quiet.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Christa, you can’t just make deals with a police officer like that. That’s how you end up in jail.”

“He made the deal,” I clarified. “And honestly, he doesn’t want this incident getting out any more than I do.”

“Do you even know this man?”

“Oh, yeah,” I laughed. “I grew up with him.”

“But why were you pulled over to begin with?”

I could see I was going to have to explain the whole thing to him. He really didn’t want to let this go. After giving him a quick run-down of this morning’s events, I worried I had made Cash even more upset.

“So…are you going to fire Max?”

He looked up at me in surprise.

“I know he’s probably not the most reliable construction worker. He tends to drink a lot, but he’s a good man underneath. I know it.”

“Yeah? How do you know it?”

I shrugged. “Just a feeling I get.”

He nodded, then held his hand out to guide me out of the room. I followed him even though I wanted to check on Max again. After pulling the tasers out, Max had dug under his seat and pulled out a bottle of scotch, then chugged half of it before we even got home. There must have been too much damage to his little man to stay sober.

We stepped into an empty room and Cash closed the door. “Christa, what I’m about to tell you isn’t widely known, and I would prefer to keep it that way.”

“Okay.”

“We’re not a construction company.”

“Oh…” That was odd. Why would they hide that?

“We’re all ex-military. In fact, we’re a security service.”

“And you’re not telling everyone because…”

“Because it’s safer. There are things going on that we prefer to keep under wraps.”

“I don’t understand why you’re telling me this.”

“Because I think Max likes you, but doesn’t want to admit it. And I think you would be good for him.”

That was laughable at best. “I’m not sure you’re right about that.”

“He’s never hung around a woman this long, but for some reason, he was willing to take the ticket for you. That’s major for him.”

“It was just a ticket,” I said, feeling awkward now.

“See, the truth is, we’ve all done and seen things that are difficult to handle. Max has been drowning in a bottle for years. When I found him in the Caribbean, he was pretty much the same mess he is now. But if you could stick around, I know you could get to what’s really eating at him and possibly save his life.”

Whoa, that was a big ask, even for someone who believed very strongly in helping others. Besides, I’d just come to grips with the fact that Max was never going to want me. I had too much invested in him already, and I barely knew the man. I was falling for him, fantasizing about a life with him when he made it perfectly clear he would never give me more. I just couldn’t put my heart at risk like that.

“Cash, I’m sure what you’re saying is true, but he doesn’t want me around. And frankly, I can’t put myself through that.”

He nodded, clearly disappointed in my answer. “I understand.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to help him. The problem is I’m already in too deep with him, and he doesn’t return those feelings, no matter how much you want to believe otherwise.”

“But if you could just?—”

I shook my head immediately. “I’m sorry.”

“I understand.”

I wished he truly did. Cash was the typical man from what I could tell. He didn’t know my heart or all I risked. I knew myself too well. I was naive and foolish enough to think a man like Max could love me. I couldn’t let the delusion go on.

“I’ll drive you home.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

As I walked past Max’s room, I felt a sense of longing I’d never had before. But I kept walking, knowing there was no way this would ever work.