Badge Bunny (Legacy in Blue Book 1) Page 2

  “Why would he do that? You should be having a party.”

  “We are going to party.”

  Shelby never understood the distance between me and my father. She came from a two-parent household filled with love. I came from a single parent household where the parent regularly delegated his responsibilities to someone else. My sister Fern was only six years older than me, but that didn’t stop him from making her the stand-in mother. Then when she no longer conformed to his ideals of the ways in which his “perfect daughter” should act, he sent the rest of us off to a school that provided dormitories during the week. So, for the last six years of my life, I spent most of my nights away from home.

  My sister Ivy and I shared a dorm until last year when she graduated. She called me on the night of my birthday and apologized that she wouldn’t be around when I came home because she moved in with her boyfriend Tyler. So tonight, I have a bit of a fuck the world attitude.

  “Shelb, he’s been avoiding me since the day I was born. It’s par for the course.”

  “That’s a shitty deal.”

  “Meh, I’m used to it.”

  My eyes burned with unshed tears. Usually I was able to push my feelings aside concerning the relationship that I had my dad, but for some reason this year it was harder. Maybe it was because I was finally an adult and he missed my whole childhood. The thought of him having the choice to be in my life all this time and he never took the chance, and now I was an adult with the ability to make the decision to cut him out of my life.

  “Doesn’t make it right.”

  “What about the rest of your family?”

  “Reed has night patrol, Fern is anywhere but here, Ash is moonlighting as a bouncer at Underground, Alder is in Vegas with his buddies and Ivy just moved in with Tyler.”

  “Ew, she moved in with Handsy McGroperstein?”

  Tyler, the creep, constantly found subtle ways to touch anything with a heartbeat, and Ivy lived in denial because she thought she was in love. Maybe she was, after all, I had never been in love. All I knew was that the person I hoped to fall in love with wouldn’t feel the need to act on attraction he had for anyone but me. With that in mind, it was hard not to predict a tragic ending to their relationship. I had hoped she would see him for who he was before it got to this step, but sometimes you have to let people make their own mistakes.

  “Yep.”

  “I thought for sure she’d be here.”

  “Whatevs. Ivy’s in the honeymoon period of her relationship. They’re probably having tons of sex.” I laughed. “Now, let’s focus. I have one goal tonight, and I will not fail it.” I responded.

  On nights like tonight, I wished my mom was still alive. A girl was supposed to share all those exciting milestones in her life with her mom. Granted, I likely wouldn’t have divulged my exact plan for tonight, but I think she would have gotten a kick out of me getting ready. Especially since, out of all her girls, I looked the most like her. Some days it was a curse, however, during those moments of wondering, being her doppelgänger made up for it. Fern looked more like my Dad’s mom, and Ivy didn’t look like any of the women in our family.

  “I hope you didn’t shovel shit in these boots.” I wrinkled my nose as I push my feet into the black cowboy boots Shelby brought to go with my chosen attire. I had plans for these shit kickers. I only hoped she didn’t actually kick shit in them, because that wouldn’t be sexy at all. I wanted to ooze sex appeal tonight, and these boots would go awesome with my daisy dukes and red corset.

  “You said that you wanted authentic cowgirl.”

  “Authentic looking…not authentic smelling.”

  “They don’t smell, whiny pants. I actually bought them for you for your birthday, you ungrateful bitch.”

  “Awe, thanks.”

  A moment passed where Shelby had a look across her face that I couldn’t place.

  “I just want to say this before Chandra gets here.”

  “Okay?”

  “You don’t have to go all the way tonight you know.”

  “I know, but I want to.”

  “We made that pact, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to hold you to it. We both know Chandra wasn’t a virgin anymore when she joined in. That’s probably why she was so quick to jump on the bandwagon.”

  “I don’t want to go away to University still a virgin and lose it to the first or second frat boy that I see.”

  “I know.”

  “I don’t want to wake up in the morning, do the walk of shame and then have it spread like wildfire through school that he popped my cherry and has another notch on his bedpost. I don’t want to have to see him in my classes after everything is done and be the laughingstock.”

  The last thing I wanted was to have people whispering about me when I should be focussed on classes. I wanted something anonymous; someone who didn’t know that I was the Chief of Police’s daughter. A man who wasn’t looking to have a King daughter as a notch on his bedpost. I also didn’t want some inexperienced high school jock fumbling his way through things making the night something to remember for all the wrong reasons. It might have been crazy, and I knew losing my virginity would be a big deal, but I didn’t have a boyfriend and really didn’t want all the hassle.

  “Okay, but only if you’re sure.”

  A knock sounded at the door, then I hear it creek open. Ivy and I have always had an open-door policy on the weekends with our friends. All they had to do was knock once and then they could enter. It’s not like I have to worry about intruders here. There are guns and I know how to use them. If I can’t get to them, my Krav Maga classes will come in handy.

  “That must be Chandra!” Shelby squealed.

  Footsteps thundered up the stairs and Chandra burst through the doorway swinging a platinum blonde wig around in circles like she was a cheerleader at the high school football game. Shelby and I both giggled at the display when the wig was launched towards my face where we both sat on the bed.

  “Put it on birthday bitch. You’re gonna get yourself some tonight.”

  “I don’t know why you have to wear the wig. Your hair is awesome, and you’d look more like yourself.”

  “I don’t want to be myself tonight, Shelb.”

  “Then you don’t have to be, babe!”

  Shelby was the only one of my friends that I confided in about my true homelife. Having a distant father and no mother could affect anyone. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that on some deeper level that I wasn’t affected. Most daughters would be affected by an emotionally distant father. The one thing I had going for me was the fantastic relationships I had with my brothers. They were probably the reason I didn’t dislike all men.

  For one night I wanted to forget the past and the future and focus on the present. This was a night to let go of everything and be someone else.

  “Then you don’t have to be, babe!”

  “Something borrowed…” Chandra teased.

  “I’m just punching my v-card, not getting hitched.”

  “And here I thought you were waiting until marriage. Well at least you’ll rid yourself of that pesky thing before you are all shrivelled up down there.” Shelby chimed in.

  “God you’re crass!”

  “You love me.”

  “Sometimes.”

  “Admit it, you lurve me.”

  “Shut up and finish helping me with this stupid wig.”

  “Quit fucking with it Vi!” Shelby chastised me. “You said you wanted to wear it.”

  “But it’s itchy.” I whined, shifting the wig back and forth on my scalp. I knew this is going to be a horrible idea. It didn’t rank as high as the pact we made last August to lose our virginity by the end of senior year, but it is a close second since I was wearing this ridiculous wig as step one in my hymen obliteration.

  “You’re the one that’s so scared someone will recognize you.”

  I stopped shifting the wig covering my long straight obsidian locks. I only hoped I would stil
l be able to get in the club using my ID while wearing a disguise. My eighteenth birthday had come and gone, so I was finally legal in every sense of the word. The main reason for this outfit was there was a photo of everyone in the family in the paper last week that was taken when my dad was recognized for his years of service with the city police. My family was well known because of who my dad was. Being the Chief of Police’s youngest daughter prescribed how I needed to behave in the public eye.

  Noticeably absent from the candid family photo was my eldest sister Fern. It had been five years since she got kicked out of the police academy and essentially banished from the King household. Rowan’s death turned dad into a tyrant and he just wouldn’t accept failure on any level. She still came to visit once a year, but we never spoke of dad and she never went to see him. I often wondered who would cave first in their never-ending battle for superiority. If I had to put money on it, I’d pick my dad. He was oblivious to most things going on around our family because he was too deeply ensconced in the politics of policing the city.

  “I still don’t understand why I’m dressed like a hooker. I’m also going to freeze my ass off out there. It’s the beginning of fucking January, bitches.”

  “Bitch, those are my clothes.” Shelby swatted my shoulder. “And for your information, we have jackets, chickee.”

  Oops.

  “You say you didn’t want anyone to recognize you, so we got rid of your church smocks.” Chandra chimed in.

  I had plenty of chances to lose it at a party with some rando from public school, but I had no desire to spend the evening with an amateurish boy fumbling in the dark. An experienced man was what I needed to rid me of the last of my innocence, and I definitely wasn’t going to find him at the all-girls private school Dad enrolled me in when Ivy graduated.

  We needed a bar, preferably one frequented by my perfect fantasy guy. A man with a badge. Go ahead and diagnose me with a father complex, I don’t care. Maybe the reason I wanted a man with a badge is because my dad never wanted any of his daughters to date a cop. You know what they said about wanting something you couldn’t have. Well, the Chief had a surprise in store for him because not only would I be seeking out a man in uniform; I planned on becoming a woman in a police uniform or going into criminal psychology when I graduated and eventually working in corrections.

  There was an undeniable hotness factor to men in a uniform, preferably paired with a badge. My sister Fern would have said I was crazy to swoon over anyone like our dad, but he has nothing to do with my obsession. Actually, allow me to rephrase. I didn’t now, nor would I ever have daddy issues. However, due to my enrollment in Westfall Girls Academy, the only men I came in contact with were either related to me or worked for my dad. There was no way I would be allowed to go anywhere near the officers that worked for my dad.

  So, when my friends talked me into a night of debauchery, I conceded. My only stipulation was that we go to a club that I knew was frequented by the unattached men on the force frequented. My perpetual cloak of invisibility allowed me to pilfer that information from a conversation between my brothers Reed and Ash. I also knew that they would not be attending say club because they had both requested an extra shift. I only hoped I could avoid running into Ivy, and her ass munch of a boyfriend Tyler and his wandering hands.

  “Ooh baby, you’re looking completely fuckable. I know I’d do you, that is if I was into munching rug.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind when I strike out tonight. Maybe I can talk you into being my first.”

  “Sweetheart, I’ve got all the wrong equipment. If it’s a pimp that you’re looking for, I can find a pole for your hole.”

  “Oh my God!” Shelby squealed. “And Vi thought I was crass.”

  “What?” Chandra placed her hand on her chest, feigning shock and outrage. “That is the goal for tonight isn’t it? She needs a pooch for her hooch, some tail for her pail…”

  “Okay we get the point.” Shelby cut her off. “Now is everyone ready to go? Who’s driving tonight?”

  “Not it!” I yelled. “I’m planning on having no reason to come home tonight.”

  “What if he wants to come to your place?”

  “Can you imagine? Sorry Chief, I just have to fuck one of your deputies.” Chandra cackled.

  “Do they even call them deputies?” Shelby inquired.

  “No, they’re called constables until they make sergeant.” I answered robotically. There’s only so many times you can listen to your family discuss police rankings before you can repeat them in your sleep.

  “Whatever, ladies, let’s get our jackets on and bounce.” Chandra called out.

  Chapter Two

  Mike

  “What an epic night,” I said to Reed, my partner at District Two Police Precinct and best friend since we graduated from the police academy.

  “You’re still riding the high from that chick flashing her tits at us,” he teased.

  “They were some sweet tits. Too bad we had to arrest her for indecent exposure.” I replied, recalling the perky globes and the nipples I would have loved to get a chance to tweak.

  “She wasn’t even drunk. Daddy will probably bail her out before princess has to spend too much time in the clink.”

  Reed didn’t know much about my past, but I understood where he came from. So many of my friends growing up didn’t have to worry about what they did because their parents had enough cash or clout to get them out of pretty much anything. It was depressing to think that some of them had enough power to even escape being convicted of murder.

  “Are you from the 1950s or something?” I joked. “You weirdo.”

  “Fuck you, asshole,” he countered.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come tonight, man?” I asked, knowing Reed would probably turn me down because he had been staying home more often lately.

  “No, I’m beat. I’m going to just go home, have a beer and pass out.”

  “Alright.”

  Deep down, I would like to think I wasn’t losing my wing man, but the realist in me knew I was. He gradually started losing interest in casual flings a couple weeks ago. He grew more accepting of the idea of having someone to come home to. I didn’t begrudge him for wanting more, but it definitely wasn’t the life I wanted for myself.

  Pushing a baby carriage was so far away from where I wanted to be right now that it might as well be Jupiter.

  “Don’t dip your wick in anything too skanky. Wouldn’t want it to fall off.”

  “Don’t you know it. I’m going to find me a nice innocent badge bunny.”

  He barked out a laugh. “Is there such a thing as a badge bunny that’s innocent?”

  “There has to be one somewhere. You know about that two sides of the same coin bullshit.”

  “Whatever you need to tell yourself at night to pump up your ego to conquer the masses.”

  “Mark my words, I’m going to be successful finding a unicorn tonight.”

  “I’ll put a fifty down on that.” He pulled a crisp, red fifty dollar bill out of his pocket and slapped it on the dash before he hopped out of our cruiser. “Just watch she doesn’t poke you with her horn.”

  “Hope you’re willing to lose your rent money, because I never strike out. When I’m on the hunt, my arrow strikes true.”

  “Now I know I have to leave when you start referring to your dick as an arrow.”

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

  “You’re definitely not a poet.”

  “That’s only cause you aren’t a chick. I’d be slinging romantic lines left and right if you had tits.”

  “Hardy har. Go get drunk.”

  “That’s the plan, Stan.”

  “See ya.”

  “Have a good night.”

  The shrill sound of my parent’s ringtone invaded the cab of my truck. When I was eighteen, I changed it to the sound effects from an eighties horror flick and haven’t had a reason to change it back. I sure as hell
didn’t want to answer at this time of night. Nothing good could ever come of my parents calling late on a Friday night. They were up to something and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with whatever they were cooking up. Regardless, my past experiences pushed me to answer, even if I would rather not know what their newest reason, I was a disappointment and disgrace to the Sinclair name.

  “Hello,” I answered using the handsfree.

  My dad’s voice boomed through the speakers. “Junior, your mother tells me you aren’t coming to Sunday brunch at Silver Springs.”

  The Silver Springs Golf and Country Club was my parents’ ultimate and predictable choice for brunch every Sunday. The place was like Mecca for all those who belonged to my parents’ elitist society. Congregation occurred every Sunday as a means to flaunt and compare their accomplishments like two macho men flopping their dicks onto a table and measuring them.

  Completely unnecessary and crude.

  This same group of individuals believed it was completely acceptable for a twelve-year-old to be shipped off to year-round boarding school in another country. Sure, my parents allowed me to come home, but it was only for special events and holidays. Saving face was the only reason they retrieved me at all, with hope that it proved that they weren’t a dysfunctional family.

  Additionally, it was more than a little annoying that he still referred to me as junior, considering I was the eldest of three. Extremely fitting that I was also the only disappointment. The middle child, Victor, was six years younger than I was and was a self-entitled moron. Claudia was the youngest, and I was eight years old when she was born. She was the least annoying of the two, but still acted like she was a princess. I hoped she would grow out of that phase. Shortly after my sister was brought home, I was sent to boarding school.