Tamed by Love (Agent Lovers Series Book 2) (3 page)

“What else? See you soon!”

Gray turned toward Terence who had been listening to the conversation and now noted the obvious with a chuckle. “Your wife’s in trouble? That’s no good.”

“You can say that again. But that’s nothing compared to the trouble Liz will be in when I get my hands on her.” Jeff and Terence followed Gray to his car after he furiously stormed out of the house. They didn’t want to miss out on what would happen when Gray got Liz out of jail.

“Terence, don’t we know someone at the 18
^th
? Your old partner is a policeman now, if I recall. Or is Josh somewhere else?” Gray asked as he steered the SUV onto the highway, accelerating quickly.

“As far as I know he’s still there, unless he got transferred recently, but I doubt that. He wouldn’t voluntarily ask for one.”

“Can you give Josh a call? Maybe he can help us. If possible, I’d like to do it without waving my ID under their noses. Townsend doesn’t need to know that Liz and Jennifer have been arrested.”

Terence pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, scrolled through his contacts, and called Josh. He picked up on the second ring, and Terence explained the situation.

Josh broke into a fit of laughter. When he recovered, he arranged to meet them in front of the precinct.

“Josh’s taking care of it. He’ll be waiting for us.”

Gray made it to the 18
^th
precinct in record time but chided himself for driving like a madman. Liz was safe now, so he should have taken it easy. But he was itching to give Liz a piece of his mind.

***

In front of the station, Chris shifted nervously from one foot to the other and ran his fingers through his hair. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Gray pull up. Finally he could spring Jennifer. God knows how they ended up in jail!

“So, I’ll see what we can do for your wives,” said Josh, after a brief greeting.

He led the four men into the old, redbrick building, whose façade had seen better days. Dark stains from years of harsh weather ran under the window sills like traces of tears, and the plaster was crumbling. The interior of the station, however, was starkly different from the outside.

Policemen sat at brand new, highly polished wood and metal desks, equipped with the latest computers. They sat on chairs that looked comfortable enough to sleep in. Next to several chairs along the wall, a chocolate brown leather couch had been positioned in the corner with a coffee table in front. Everything was squeaky clean and the atmosphere was extremely serious.

Gray and Chris waited impatiently for Josh to come back with some news. Their former colleague had withdrawn to one of the offices with a uniformed police officer and was arguing with him. When it was over Josh didn’t look pleased. He walked out of the office and over toward the guys. Gray held his breath. Josh could usually maintain his good mood in the face of anything, so if he was this upset, Liz and Jennifer were definitely in deep shit.

Josh couldn’t maintain a professional demeanor for very long, and a grin spread across his face. “They were picked up because after the fight, they couldn’t prove their identity and had insulted the officers to the point of pissing them off.”

That took a load off Chris’s mind; he shook his head and whipped out his wallet. “How much is the bail?”

“It’s already been taken care of. I just spoke with one of the officers who took her in. He’ll forgo the rest, provided that…”

Expectantly Gray and Chris looked at him. What now to cap off the whole thing?

“…that you teach them some manners!”

“Then it’s hopeless for both of them!” said Terence, getting an approving slap on the shoulder from Jeff. But Gray and Chris just glared at him. Josh shook his head and asked the husbands to follow him. Terence and Jeff watched, grinning, and waited in the lobby.

After a while, Chris and Gray emerged with their wives and led them by their elbows to the exit.

Jeff assumed both couples kept quiet so they wouldn’t make a scene. And since all the officers were closely watching them with curiosity, he expected they were secretly hoping the couples would make a scene.

Terence coughed into his hand hoping to conceal his laughter, as he followed his friends and their unusually docile wives out into the street. He was sure Liz and Jennifer wouldn’t remain passive once they were outside. He didn’t want to miss that for anything!

Next to the parked cars, Gray and Chris scrutinized their wives closely. Luckily, both women were unscathed. Jennifer’s dark-green shirt had a long tear in it that almost split it in two, and she had tied it together over her chest. There was obvious disapproval in Chris’s eyes as he scrutinized her half-naked body, and it made Jennifer cross her arms over her chest. She lifted her head proudly and looked at him expectantly.

“I’m happy neither of you are seriously injured, as far as I can tell.” Concern and relief resonated in Chris’s voice. “Now tell us, what happened.”

Jennifer smiled. “Let’s go home and I’ll tell you on the way.” Chris nodded, unlocked the passenger door of his black Jeep Grand Cherokee, and helped Jennifer get in.

Gray watched the Jeep disappear down the road before he turned back to Liz. Her leather jacket had clearly suffered. The right shoulder had been ripped and the rest of the jacket was barely held together by an occasional thread.

“Well?” Gray tried to pull himself together. “What did you do to wind up here?”

“Nothing bad,” she said with a wave of her hand but wouldn’t look directly at him. “As we already said, we were at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“
Nothing bad
doesn’t look like this.” Gray took a deep breath. It wasn’t easy for him to control himself. His lips formed a thin line, his eyes were narrowed and his brow was furrowed.

“Why don’t you just watch the local news later? If I’m not wrong, Jennifer and I will be on it. That way I can save my breath.” She smiled and got into the car.

Terence laughed but fell silent when he saw the look of concern on Gray’s face.

Gray got behind the steering wheel, waited until Jeff and Terence got in the car, and drove off. The only thing he wanted was to get home as fast as possible. When Liz reminded him that she still had to pick up her motorcycle, Gray huffed.

He followed the directions Liz gave him and parked his car on a side street near Liz’s motorcycle. He held out his hand. “Liz, give me the keys. Jeff will ride your motorcycle home.”

“No way! Nobody else is touching my motorcycle.” She quickly jumped out of the car and slammed the door.

Gray watched as she swung up onto the heavy bike and rode off. Then he swore as he watched Liz shoot between the other vehicles on the street at break-neck speed. He was surprised that she actually stopped at the red light. Shaking his head, Gray merged with the traffic and followed Liz. He watched her extremely risky maneuvers several times before she finally disappeared from his view. It was only thanks to her quick reflexes and reaction time that she avoided an accident.

Jeff and Terence watched in disbelief but kept their comments to themselves; Gray was already mad enough. Liz rode her motorcycle just like she did her job. This woman was suicidal.

A second after Gray parked in the driveway he jumped out of the car and stormed toward the house. They heard him yelling at Liz even before he reached the front door.

“Is it always like this with the two of them?” Terence asked as he closed the back door.

“Not always. But Liz certainly has a knack for pissing him off.”

“I believe that! The next few days will be interesting. Although, I don’t understand their relationship at all. I keep asking myself what’s wrong with her.”

***

“Are you trying to kill yourself? The way you drive, anyone sane person would assume that,” said Gray after he planted himself in front of Liz in the middle of their bedroom.

“I always drive like that. Nothing’s happened yet, so what’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem? You want to know what my problem is? You know exactly what this is about! I don’t want to have to visit you in a hospital or identify you in a morgue because you don’t have any regard for your own life. That’s what’s wrong with me!” Gray was beside himself. When Liz shrugged, disinterested, he completely lost his composure. But instead of yelling at her even more, he drastically lowered his voice, seething with rage. “Give me the keys! You won’t get them again until you know how to drive without endangering yourself or others.”

Liz shook her head, crossed her arms and looked at him with hostility. “Not a chance! That motorcycle belongs to me! You aren’t my father and you don’t own me. And I wouldn’t allow even him to keep me from driving
my
motorcycle! You’re certainly not going to keep me from it.”

“Oh, but I am!” Gray snatched her leather jacket from the bed and rummaged through the pockets looking for the keys. When he found them, he put them in his pocket. Satisfied, he looked at his wife with blazing eyes. “I’ll keep them for now!”

“Is that your way of giving me my freedom?” Outraged, she reminded him of their conversation in the limousine after they were married.

“You can still go wherever you want – on foot; at least then there’s less a chance of something happening to you,” he said and disappeared from the bedroom. Liz swore at him through the closed door. She was angry, and that gave him a little satisfaction; after all, he was royally pissed at her because her behavior put her and others in danger.

When he was about to go down the stairs, he heard another angry scream and then a bang. Obviously another alarm clock had bit the dust. Maybe he should start buying them by the case, so he could at least get a discount.

He headed for the kitchen, where his brother gave him a mug of coffee.

“You took away her keys?” Jeff asked frowning.

“What other choice did I have? Her driving’s going to kill her.”

“Not just her driving. You really have your hands full with her,” said Terence as he saw Gray’s pained expression. “Or Chris with Jennifer.”

“Did you at least find out what led to their arrest? How did the fight start?” Jeff asked as he crouched down to pet Lucky, who sat at his feet.

“With all the excitement, I forgot to ask. But I’ll find out.” Suddenly he stopped. “What did Liz say right before she got in the car?” Quickly he grabbed his phone and called the local news station. He kept getting transferred before he finally got to the station manager. “You can’t air that piece under any circumstances!” he said to the man on the other end.

“I’m sorry; it’s too late. It’s going on next. What do you have against the piece, anyway?”

“My wife was heavily involved; that’s why!”

“I understand. I’ll see what I can do so the people aren’t identifiable.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Gray hung up, went into the living room, turned on the TV, and sat on the couch; he wanted to see what in the name of God had happened. After all, Liz probably wouldn’t tell him anything. Terence and Jeff joined him and settled into the armchairs.

“Is it time for the highlights of the day already?” Jeff teased.

“I’m sure it is.”

The three stared at the screen and listened to the newscaster. “We’ve just received a recording from our news helicopter. Apparently, two incredibly brave women stepped in to break up a brawl before it got too out of hand. Let’s have a look from the sky.”

From a birds-eye view they could see the footage from the helicopter. The camera swung away from the street where Liz’s motorcycle had been and stopped at a brawl developing between several men. The reason for the altercation wasn’t clear. All six guys were going at each other furiously. In the background was a small café. When the first of them went down, the door swung open and Liz and Jennifer stepped onto the sidewalk.

At first they tried to stop the fight with words, but it didn’t work. The brawl grew. Eventually there were more than ten men rolling around on the ground and hitting each another. Liz and Jennifer tried to calm them. The atmosphere escalated when police officers who had been notified, tried to intervene. The six officers were clearly inferior to the furious thugs. Again the two women went between them and supported the police. One officer lay on the ground with three attackers on him, so Liz grabbed one of the thugs and put him out of commission with a skillful blow. The next guy followed right after that. Then three thugs rushed Liz and someone pulled her away by her jacket. She flew backwards against one of the parked police cars and slid to the ground. The thugs once more attacked the policemen, who were trying to regain their footing. Jennifer was then pulled away and thrown on the ground next to Liz.

Liz and Jennifer sat on the asphalt next to the vehicle catching their breath, looked at each other and leapt up at the same time. With a bounce in their step, they plunged back into the fight.

“I bet those two were having fun!” Jeff said, transfixed.

“You’d win that bet hands down!” Gray said.

This time Liz and Jennifer had had enough and put the thugs, one after another, out of commission. The café’s patio furniture was completely broken; one of the windows was destroyed, too, because Jennifer sent one of the thugs through it with a nasty kick. The last three thugs were being held down on the ground by the police and were placed in handcuffs, while Liz and Jennifer paused to survey the damage to their clothes.

Three more cruisers rushed to the scene and more officers jumped out. Two headed for Liz and Jennifer and spoke with them. Gray could see by Liz’s gestures that she was worked up and he watched as Jennifer held her back so she wouldn’t attack either of the officers. Apparently Jennifer was rebuked for it and then it was Liz who had to calm down Jennifer. Eventually they were put in handcuffs and disappeared into the back of one of the cruisers. The footage ended shortly after their arrest and the broadcaster appeared again, smiling.

“Both women appeared very courageous. The reason for their arrest is unknown. From all appearances, they saved the police from further harm. As soon as new developments arise in this story, we’ll let you know.”