Forbidden With Me - Leigh Lennon
Prologue
Wells
Rain. There’s a whole fuck ton that beats down on our squad car. But what else should I expect in Seattle?
“It’s a quiet night,” Matt Montgomery, my partner and best friend, utters while we drive through a residential street.
“Ah, hell, man, don’t you know those words are bad luck?” I counter, turning toward him in the driver’s seat.
Knowing Matt Montgomery like I do, I just know a witty comeback is on the tip of his tongue when a call comes in. “Shooting reported 512 North 14th Avenue—details are still coming in. Proceed with caution.” Both Matt and I turn our witty banter off to focus on the job at hand.
The address, the road has a familiar ring to it. He turns on our sirens, tapping the gas as he makes a U-turn. “Fuck, man, let’s not crash on our way there,” I urge as the rain continues to beat down. Our nerves always ramp up with shootings in suburban areas, but Matt has never exhibited this rash behavior before. The man is usually as cool as a cucumber.
“Wells, that street. It’s my parents’. That address, it’s our neighbors, the Stricklands’, three doors down. Jules is babysitting there tonight.”
Matt’s family, the Montgomerys, have been my family since Matt and I graduated from the academy together. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery are the types to openly welcome everyone into their clan, and this is what they’ve done with me. I never missed my parents—my mother, a drunk, and my dad, a deadbeat—yet I love the family the Montgomerys are. The idea of Matt’s kid sister, Jules, in harm’s way causes me to want to storm the house—fuck protocol as we secure her. She’s not close to twenty and still has her entire life ahead of her.
With one glance at Matt, I see the vein in his neck pulsing under his skin. My hands are clammy as I reach for the radio in an attempt to gather as much information about this situation as we know. “Be advised,” the female voice on the other end begins, “you’ll be the first on the scene.”
Ah, fuck. I didn’t think I said it audibly, not until Matt replies, “Yeah, I hear you.”
As he pulls onto his street, his actions are on autopilot, but his question, his plea isn’t the normal cool and collect Matt Montgomery in uniform. “Promise me, Wells, no matter what happens, you’ll make sure my sister is safe.”
I’ve never had a best friend before. Matt is more—he’s a brother. Shifting my hand to his forearm, I realize my own pitch is as shaky as his. “I promise. No matter what, Jules will be okay.”
It’s the last words I speak to my best friend before he’s out of the car, crouching low and entering the backyard. Matt and I have always been in sync. When clearing the house, he’s in the back, and I’m in the front.
The rain continues to pour, and in the darkness of the night, the porch light is out. The entire house is pitch black, and I draw my gun, moving up the steps one foot at a time. Every step gives way to a small squeak, and as I adjust my weight, I’m counting down, the same strategy Matt and I’ve used since partnering together so long ago.
I’m on the last step, the door moving with the wind of the outside. I have my piece drawn and my flashlight next to my gun as we had been trained. It’s simple—the elementary skills that kick in every time I’m back in this situation, and it’s the reason I can put on this uniform every day.
Matt’s just entered the home with our countdown. I’m in the zone, about to cross over the threshold, when a flash of light shines directly in my face. The strong frame of the person pushing out of the doorway causes me to crash into the brick of the house.
In my six-foot-four frame, it’s hard to knock me off my balance, and when I pull myself up to pursue the perpetrator, a loud cry of a child has me internally questioning protocol. In the glint of the street lamp, I take in a long inspection of the man running from the scene—short, spiky black hair, a frame larger than mine, taller than me, and black boots. Not much to identify, but when my gaze looks back up from where I have turned around, clearing the doorway for more perps, he’s gone.
The loud sound of a child’s voice calls out