Operation: Endurance (When the Mission Ends) (6 page)

“Yes, sir.” She swallowed hard.

He gave a curt nod and then his voice softened. “I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but it does get easier. You just have to take care of yourself to get to that point. We aren’t going to let you self-destruct.”

She swallowed against the tears in the back of her throat. “Thank you, sir.”

He eyed her for a moment more before turning on his heel, opening the door, and moving quickly down the hall.

Julie slumped down in her seat then reached into her drawer for her purse. Inside her wallet was the card that Pete had given her.
Dr. Bart Eckert – Therapy and Counseling.
She flipped the card over in her fingers. Dr. Shelby was the second person to tell her she needed help. Could she really ignore this any longer?

But the last time she’d taken a therapist’s advice, it had just about killed her. A shudder rolled down her spine. She couldn’t think about that Valentine’s Day weekend and the events
that followed afterwards. She could never think about that again. Those memories would destroy her.

No, she could make a list of things that she could do to help herself get better. She pulled a sheet of paper from her notebook and ignored the shaking of her hand as she started to write.

The next evening, Julie grunted as she pushed a pile of the safety mats toward Pete.

“Too heavy for you, darling?” Pete gave her that cheeky grin full of those gorgeous dimples which continually melted the females in their class.

“Nothing I can’t handle, as well you know.”

“Too true,” he murmured as he rubbed his shoulder that he swore she injured during their last class.

What drove him to this type of work? Both working for the police force and volunteering here. It just didn’t seem to fit him. He seemed like someone who’d make a better radio personality than a cop. He was just a really nice, personable guy. What would motivate him to work with criminals day in and day out?

His muscles flexed under his t-shirt as he grabbed another pile of pads. He looked up and caught her watching him. “What?”

She glanced over at the clock. They were running early tonight so they had time to talk. “Why did you decide to become a cop? Is it something you always wanted to do?”

He flashed those dimples at her before he said, “How can you not love a job that comes with a set of handcuffs?”

She chuckled softly, but didn’t buy that easy, flirty answer. “
Nuh uh. I want the real reason.”

His gaze was suddenly much more guarded. His muscles became taut and the hardness in his eyes belied the easy-going guy she’d always known. His voice lowered. “Do you really want to know?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I do, unless you don’t want to tell me. If that’s the case, I can respect that and leave it alone.”

He ran a hand over his shoulder. “No, it’s okay. I can tell you. I just don’t tell many people about it.” He hesitated while he took a deep breath like he was steeling himself against the story. “In junior high, my best friend was mutilated and murdered. They never caught the murderer.
Partly because he was smart, but the blame could also be placed on the negligence of the police force. I swore I would do whatever I could to keep something like that from happening again. My best friend deserved a better ending than an unsolved crime.”

The anguish in his voice was heartbreaking and in such contrast to his normal upbeat, easy-going persona. She never would have guessed that flirty smile hid such hurt. It was a good lesson for her when she got caught up in her own drama. Everyone had hidden hurts within, but you needed to use them to become a stronger, better person. Pete had done that.

“I’m sorry about your friend, but I admire the way you’ve used that to inspire you. We’re all lucky to have you on our police force and here helping to train women to keep them safer. The world is a safer place with you in it.”

“Thanks. That means a lot coming from you. So what do you expect from our class tonight?” he asked.

“The only thing I know for sure is that you need to watch out for Toni’s wandering hands.” She rolled her eyes at him.

He gave her a half-smile. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m thinking it could be fun to see what happens if she catches me.”

“Seriously? You like her?” This surprised her, but she wasn’t sure why. Pete was in his mid-twenties and liked to have a lot of fun. It made sense that he’d be attracted to Toni, who was the same kind of personality. “Are you thinking about asking her out?”

“Thinking about it. She’s fun and she’s hot. I just wonder if any of what she does during class is for real or just for entertainment purposes.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Do you want me to feel her out?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “No. I can get my own date without you working it for me. We’re not in third grade.”

“Hmm… We’ll see.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the first of the women in the class so Julie never got to follow through on it.

After class was over, she grabbed Toni. “Hey, you’re picking this up really well. You were tossing Pete all over the place.”

Toni’s eyes sparkled. “Thanks. Is it wrong to be this happy about beating up on a guy?”

Julie laughed. “As long as you don’t do it unprovoked, I think it’s okay to be pleased with yourself and your progress.”

“Cool. I think all that physical activity earned me a reward. I don’t suppose you’d want to go grab a mocha with me, would you?”

Julie really should help the guys restore the order to the room, but when she looked over to where they were working, they’d already gotten everything done. Pete watched her talking with Toni. When he caught her eye, he raised a questioning eyebrow. Yeah, playing matchmaker was going to be fun. She turned back to Toni. “Well, it looks like the guys handled all the work without me so I’d love to. Were you thinking The Mocha Mermaid?”

“Where else would we go for mochas?”

“My thoughts exactly. Just let me go tell the guys goodnight.” The girls walked over to the three men who looked none the worse for wear after being tossed around all evening. She turned toward Lyle and Stephen. “Thanks for the help again tonight. We couldn’t do this without you.”

Stephen piped up, “I would say you’re welcome, but,” he arched his back as if in pain, “these girls are getting too tough.” He flashed an appraising look at Toni. “I’m not sure how much more my body can take.”

“Aww, don’t act like you’d actually quit. This is the closest you get to female attention all week,” Lyle taunted.

“Yeah, I get the feeling that you’re one of those guys who just views this kind of thing as foreplay.” Toni winked at Stephen and Pete’s jaw clenched.

Ooh, this wasn’t going as planned, time to bring it to an end. “We’re going to head out. Pete, I’ll call you about the plans for our next class.”

“Sounds good. You two have a good night.”

Toni had already turned toward the door so she missed Pete, vehemently shaking his head as he was telling Julie not to say anything to Toni. Julie mouthed to him,
It’s okay.

His shoulders slumped. Obviously the guy didn’t trust her to keep his crush hidden from Toni. He probably had good instincts like that.

* * *

As the women sat down at one of the small round tables of the quaint, but bustling, coffee shop with their mochas, Julie’s noticed the gorgeous charm bracelet Toni was placing on her wrist.

“That’s beautiful.” Julie reached across the table and lifted Toni’s wrist to get a better look at it. It was completely full of dangling silver charms.

“Thanks. I’ve had it almost my entire life and I wear it all the time. Every charm on it means something, but it’s too much to wear during class.” She gave a small laugh. “Although I think it could work pretty well as a weapon if I needed it.”

It occurred to Julie that she didn’t really know anything about the fun-loving girl. “So did you grow up in Lubbock or are you a transplant?”

Toni rolled her unusual turquoise eyes and laughed. “Definitely a transplant. I moved here when I came to Texas Tech for college and then just never left. I grew up in a tiny, Podunk little town in Oklahoma. I had to get out of there before I became barefoot and pregnant like every other woman in town of birthing age.”

That was all said with such vehemence and outrage that Julie couldn’t help but laugh. She really did love this girl’s sass. “So I’m guessing there’s no Mr. Toni or kids at home?”

Toni visibly blanched. “No, thank God for small favors. It’s just me and Sam, my chocolate lab.”

“Oh, I love dogs. You’ll have to bring him by sometime so I can meet him. What do you do? I’m assuming you have a day job.”

Again, Toni started with that self-deprecating chuckle. “Actually, right now, I don’t. I’m living off my ever dwindling savings account. Until a couple of weeks ago, I ran the office for a law firm, but the owner didn’t take too kindly when I decked his grabby son. This was the same grabby son who works at the firm and was sexually harassing me. So now, I’m out of a job and looking for a new one. I never realized before how small the Lubbock business community truly is. The lawyer is making a lot of noise and blackballing me anywhere I might have an actual chance to get a job.”

“That’s awful. Isn’t there anything you could do? I don’t know, sue or something for wrongful dismissal?”

Toni was already shaking her head. “They’re lawyers. I don’t stand a chance against them. Honestly, it’s easier just to let it go. Although, I may just have to move somewhere else if I want
to work.” She looked forlornly around the red, black, and white tiled coffee shop filled with university coeds studying. “I just really love the feel and attitude of this town. It’s always felt right to me. I don’t want to move.”

“I’m sorry. That really sucks. I’ll keep my ears out for open jobs. You ran a law office so maybe I’ll hear something about a doctor needing someone to run his reception area.”

“That would be great. Thanks, Julie. In the meantime,” she got a mischievous glint in her eye, “what can you tell me about the hot cops?”

Julie laughed. “I wondered how long it would take you to work up to that. Which one do you want to know about?”

Toni sighed longingly. “Any of them. My sex life is almost as pathetic as my work life and all three of them are gorgeous.”

“Too true. They are very pretty, aren’t they? And honestly, they’re really nice guys. I mean really, they volunteer their time to do these classes when they could be out or at home watching a game. How can you not love that about a guy? They truly want to help women so they’re able to protect themselves. And they wear a gun every day during the daytime. Have you ever seen any of them in uniform?”

Toni shook her head.

Julie fanned herself with her hand. “They’re hot. All three of them. Seriously, there is just something about that uniform. Yummy.”

“Hmm…” A dreamy smiled crossed Toni’s face. “I can just imagine.”

“But I have to say, I think Pete likes you.”

“No way.” Toni immediately perked up, her back straightening. “Has he said something?”

“Well, I’m not really at liberty to say, but I’m thinking he wouldn’t turn you down if you wanted to ask him out.”

“Me?” Toni’s voice squeaked and her eyes widened. “You think I should ask him out?”

“Yes! Absolutely. Oh come on. Don’t give me that shrinking violet act. I’ve seen you in action. You don’t have a shy bone in your body.”

“No, I’m not shy, but I don’t normally ask the guy out. Usually he does the asking. What would I even ask him to go do?”

“I don’t know. He’s a normal outdoorsy kind of guy. He likes sports and does about every outdoor activity under the sun. He makes a mean grilled steak and believe it or not has a thing for the symphony.”

“Symphony?” Toni wrinkled her nose.

“Okay, I’m just making suggestions. This time of the year is about the best there is in West Texas. You could take him and Sam out for a picnic at Buffalo Springs Lake.”

“Hey, that might work and Sam would love it. And with it being a picnic, I could get away with picking up fast food fried chicken and wouldn’t have to cook it myself.”

“You don’t cook?”

“No, I hate cooking. I’d eat out every night of the week if I could.”

“Well, I love to cook and always make way too much for one. You should come over for dinner one night.” This was just the type of thing Julie needed. She could plan a meal and focus her energy on someone else.

“You’re going to feed me real food? I’m there. Just tell me when and where.”

Julie pulled out her calendar. “How about Sunday night? I can try out one of my new recipes on you.”

“Really? I’d love that.”

“Do you have any food allergies?”

“No way!” a woman from the next table over said angrily. “This asshole did it again. That’s the third rape in the last two weeks!”

Julie met Toni’s wide, shocked eyes.

Toni whispered, “Have you heard about this?”