Ridin' Solo (Sisters From Hell Book 1), Marika Ray [librera reader txt] 📗

food fill my belly, and I wasn’t so grumpy anymore. The new partner might be a pesky irritation, but my sisters—my best friends—were only a quick phone call away, and I had my nights all to myself in my own house.

3

Wyatt

“I think we need to set some things straight here.”

Day two of partnering with Captain Oakley Waldo and I’d already gotten my ass handed to me more times than I could count on two hands. The woman was a damn perfectionist with a chip on her shoulder the size of this sprawling county.

I hadn’t actually done anything wrong today. All our calls were answered and attended to in all the right ways. The suspect was talked to, arrested if needed, and all was done by the book. So, really, she had nothing to criticize, but criticize she did.

“What’s that?” I asked wearily.

Oakley spun the wheel, and we headed back down the east side of the county, just patrolling while waiting on a call to come in. The brown hills flickered past my window. It had been a relatively dry winter, leaving the threat of summer fires to look forward to.

“In these situations, let’s go with you being the good cop and I’m the bad cop. You smile and flirt too much to be the bad cop.”

I ignored the countryside to study her profile. Her light blonde hair was back in another bun that made me worried for her future hair loss. Her nose sloped perfectly over full lips that didn’t need paint to attract a man’s attention. The drab black uniform wasn’t exactly a suitable color to bring out her light blue eyes, but it matched her mood just fine. In her fight with the bull yesterday, some of that hair had worked its way free of the bun and hung around her face, softening her features and making me wonder what a relaxed Oakley would look like.

“I don’t flirt.” Maybe that would have been true in my past life, but not now.

Oakley let out a delicate snort that had me grinning. “Do too.”

Hearing that juvenile response in that smoky voice of hers did something weird to my gut. “Just because I’m friendly and ask people about their day doesn’t mean I’m flirting. You should try it sometime.”

“Flirting?” Her face scrunched up, and I had to swallow a laugh.

“Yeah, maybe that too. But no, I meant being friendly.”

She put her turn signal on and made a complete stop at the four-way stop sign, complete with the tires rolling back and spiders having enough time to spin a web from the wheel well to the pavement. I’d only been twenty-four hours in her presence, but I was coming to see that Oakley did everything by the book. No fudging. No skirting around the edges of propriety.

“I’m friendly,” she insisted.

I rolled my lips inward and held my breath. Laughing at her would only provoke her, and while that would normally appeal to me very much, I knew getting off on a good foot with my new boss was important enough to tamp down the teasing.

“All I’m saying is that we need to be a coordinated team when we respond to calls. Play good cop and let me lead. If I need your help, I’ll ask for it and vice versa. Okay?” she said into the silence.

I nodded, still not trusting myself to speak. She huffed, but went quiet, assuming I agreed. The tall trees flickered past as we drove on, the roads all starting to look the same no matter how hard I tried to orient myself to the new county. I was used to city streets gridded out in a way that made sense. Out here, the roads meandered like the construction workers had had too much to drink before getting down to work. Didn’t help that each of the roads changed names the minute they hit one of the small towns in our jurisdiction. Seems like they could have coordinated things a little better, but that was small towns for you. Fiercely independent. Which was exactly what drew me to working for the county sheriff’s and not the city police force. Well, that and that other thing I tried not to think about.

The dispatcher’s voice crackled to life in the quiet confines of the cruiser. “We’ve got a three fourteen in progress out by ol’ Tucker’s farm.”

I glanced over at Oakley. At her head nod, I grabbed the radio and let them know we’d be responding. She flipped on the lights and pressed on the gas pedal a bit, though we were still within a reasonable speed. I smirked, thinking of how she’d react if I’d been the one driving. I wasn’t known for holding back.

“Some of your codes differ from where I came from. Is a three fourteen indecent exposure?” I asked, wanting to be prepared for the call. I may not have all my orifices clenched as tightly as Oakley’s, but I still wanted to be damn good at my job.

“Yes. And considering it’s the Tucker farm, it’s probably Janine, their next-door neighbor, who’s a little questionable when it comes to her clothing practices.”

My eyebrow went up. “How old is Janine?”

Oakley flashed me a stern frown. “Old enough to be your mama, so don’t get your hopes up.”

I put my hands up instead. “Whoa, I didn’t say anything about that. Get your head out of the gutter, Captain. I just wanted to prepare emotionally if I have to arrest a nude grandma, that’s all.”

Oakley made that noise out of the side of her mouth that she made a lot around me. “Janine is a die-hard hippie who protests every spring about farmer Tucker leaving his cows out to pasture without providing a shade structure. She figures sunburning her naked body will draw attention to the fact that global warming is happening and the poor cows need help.”

I grinned, already happy I’d moved to wacky Auburn Hill. This was just the change