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JAMESI ran down the street with the determination of a man on a mission, chasing a guy who felt it was okay to snatch and grab an elderly lady's pouch. Of course, I just had to be the one who had wandered around the corner at the exact moment all this was going down - as if some supernatural power was on the old woman's side. She might not have known this, but I was a cop, so It was my job, after all.To be honest, this was one of the reasons I joined the police force. Why I became a detective. I wanted to be the one chasing after guys like this. Guys who thought they could do whatever the hell they wanted on these streets.And although I knew I should be investigating big cases-cases that involved the Bologna or the Morellos, the worst and most dangerous families ruling these streets of Boston for lord knew how long, I'd take anything that has to do with protecting civilians in a heartbeat. Even if it meant me chasing dumb criminals who had shit for brains. What could I say? I loved my Job.Sweat pooled underneath my arms and I couldn't help but groan to myself in annoyance. This guy was making me sweat, so now I was going to have to kick his ass.The guy made a sharp turn and ran into a grocery store. Rookie mistake. Everyone knew you should never run into a shop unless you knew for sure there was a back exit. And it seemed like this guy was more stupid than I thought because I was a hundred and one percent sure he didn't know since I knew there was no back exit to this particular shop. Well, I won't complain. He just made catching him a whole lot easier.I stormed into the store behind him and launched myself forward, grabbing him by the back of his jacket collar, pulling him down, and slamming his face into the floor before I pressed my knee into his spine.I pulled his arms behind his back and cuffed him. "No one makes me sweat and gets away with it." Unless you were a six-foot-tall brunette with a decent-sized pair of tits and a mouth like a Hoover vacuum."Fuck you," the little asshole spat from the side of his mouth since his face was almost engraved into the cement floor."Jesus Christ. Rio? I should have known it was you." I pulled him up by his arms, turned him to face me, and shoved his back into the counter."You're a special kind of stupid, aren't you? How many times do I have to drag your ass down to the precinct before you realize you're too dumb for this shit?""Suck my cock, officer." He smiled, showing me a silver filling between his front teeth.I raised a brow. "Oh, you got new jewelry. Whose corpse did you steal that from?""And suck my balls while you're down there too."I noticed Mrs. Bossi staring at us from behind the cash register. "Sorry about this one's dirty mouth, Mrs. Bossi.""It's okay, dear. I hear more cursing than prayer these days, anyway. What did this one do today?" She glowered at Rio."Disrespecting the elderly again, I'm afraid." I turned him around and started frisking him when I felt a little bump in his jacket pocket. "Rio, is that what I think it is?""No," he replied over his shoulder."How do you know what I think it is?""Uh...I don't."I reached into his pocket. "Then how can you answer that question?""Because you're an asshole."I snorted before pulling out a little plastic bag with white powder in it. Bingo. "Rio, is this cocaine?""No.""God, you're a terrible liar." I jerked him back around and held the little bag in front of him. "Are you moving up in the world?"He smiled that disgusting silver-filling smile of his. "I have no idea what that is.""Really? Well, let me enlighten you, then." I brought the bag closer to his face. "This is what you call a real-fucking-stupid move." Rio continued to grin like an idiot."Where did you get it?"He turned his head and looked to the right, but I jerked at his collar, forcing him to look back at me. "Who are you dealing for, Rio?""The Bologna." His answer was clipped, and I immediately felt that familiar tingle at the back of my neck. It happened whenever I heard the name "Bologna."I frowned. "You answered that pretty quickly. You sure about your answer?""What the fuck, man? You asked me, and I answered."I studied his ugly face for a few seconds, wondering why the hell he answered so damn fast. Around here, people didn't go tell everyone who they worked for on the street - especially a cop. So, either Rio was incredibly stupid, or he was lying.I pulled him away from the counter. "I'm sorry for the mess, Mrs. Bossi. I'll come back around later and help you clean up, okay?"Mrs. Bossi smiled. "You are such a gentleman, James. I'll make sure I have some of my mushroom risotto packed for you.""Ah, Mrs. Bossi," I winked at her, "you know exactly the way to my heart." I pulled Rio away from the counter and smiled warmly at the old lady I'd come to know during the last two years. She is a good old soul."So, Rio, did I ever tell you about this girl I knew a few years ago?" I dragged him toward the door. "She also had the whole gap thing going with her front teeth, only she didn't patch it with a gold filling. But let me tell you, that girl sucked my cock like a champ.""That's because your dick was small enough to fill her gap," Rio shot back. And then his face just happened to collide with the wall right next to the door. "Motherfucker!"Again, his face hit the wall. "Rio, you need to go through the door, not the wall, my man." I smiled wickedly like I was trying to shove the fact that I had perfectly spaced teeth in his face."You're the one slamming me into the damn wall, you psycho.""Me?" I feigned a look of innocence. "I would never do such a thing." And then Rio's face slammed against the wall for the third time, right before I finally led him through the door to the sidewalk.The precinct was about a block away. Unfortunately, all this went down while I was on my way back from my lunch break, which meant we were going to have to walk. Where's a fucking squad car when you need one?People stared at us while we made our way down the sidewalk. I didn't care. If I had to care about what other people thought, I'd be bat-shit crazy by now. The fact that I was half-African made for some serious gossip, and some piss-poor jokes back at the station. Especially since I was the best damn detective, and those doughnut-eating, useless, lazy asses I was forced to work with daily were jealous as fuck. And not only was I the best detective Boston had seen in a long time, but I was also the prettiest. I got more pussy in one week than those fuckers got in a year combined.I glanced at Rio walking with his head hanging down."Oh, come on, you and I both know getting arrested makes you even more badass on these streets. And let's face it, snatch-and-grabbing an old lady's purse is a real badass.""Go fuck yourself, Gunner."I noticed a pole about six feet in front of us. "Mind the pole." Too late.The sound of Rio's face hitting the pole vibrated next to me, and Rio cursed the longest f-bomb sentence I'd heard in a while."You should watch where you're going, Rio."He opened his mouth, but then I glanced down the street at the ten-odd poles all lined up. Rio shut his mouth. Good boy. Now he knows not to fuck with me again._________________________A/N: Welcome to the first chapter of TLAB. Enjoying the story yet? If yes, don't forget to let me know in the comments section. Just so you know, you are my inspiration for writing!Xoxo Jenivalwrites β€πππππ JAMESWe finally walked through the revolving doors of the local district station, and I smelled the fat-induced, sugar and spice scent of a fuck-load of doughnuts. Really? No wonder all cops get stereotyped as doughnut-eating slobsβbecause it's true. In all my years in the force, all these fuckers did was prove every horrible thing ever said about them. No wonder they hated me for being the best of them all. Jealousy they say kills. "It was nice seeing you again, Rio," I said as I shoved his ass into a chair. "Larry, book him for snatch and grab. I found this on him too," I grunted and tossed the bag of cocaine to the uniformed cop standing around like he had nothing better to do. As if there weren't things like drugs, child kidnappings, or the mafia soiling our streets. Sometimes I feel like the police were given their uniforms so they could look pretty for the magazine. "And it was a real pleasure doing your job for you, Larry," I spat before adding, "Again." "Fuck y
πππππ JAMES I turned back to Roman and noticed him staring at me. True as fuck, a grin started up at the corners of his mouth, almost reaching his eyes. Seriously? That was all it took to crack any kind of expression onto this guy's face? Un-fucking-believable. I leaned over my desk. "You know, we're supposed to be partners, and among other things, that also entails you having my back." Roman's dark brows slanted down. "If I remember correctly, you said you didn't need a partner. Your exact words, I believe, were, 'I don't need any motherfucking middle-aged bastard being my partner.' Ring a bell?" "None whatsoever." Roman snorted and got up from his seat. "Whatever, man. Just make sure you keep your nose out of the feds' business with the Bologna. Believe me, you don't need to get caught in the middle of shit like that." "Thanks for the warning, partner." "Anytime." He grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and sauntered out of the building. I couldn't believe they
πππππJAMES Now, I had to admit, I was slightly disappointed at how cool and calm she looked. She hadn't even broken a sweat during the fifteen minutes she was cramped inside that stinking room without a clue as to what she was doing there.Slanting my head, I continued to look at her. This was the first time I'd seen her in person. All the other two thousand, one hundred and thirteen times I'd seen that face was when I stared at a picture of her in a non-weird, non-perverted kind of way.I'd been keeping a very close eye on the Bologna, studying them-her parents, her two brothers, and her. For the last sixteen months, I'd been glued to every move that my family made. And by now I sure as hell knew a lot about Vanessa Bologna.For instance, I knew she was twenty-four years old, her birthday was February fourteen, fucking Valentine's Day, and she was in her third year at Columbia University Law School. Currently, she was home for summer vacation, one of the three times a year she
πππππππ VANESSAI decided to do this whole fake-public-profile-picture-on-social-media thing myself to protect the little privacy I did have. The issue of privacy was one of the reasons I didn't come home very often. My parents usually had to beg me relentlessly for two months straight before I eventually agreed to visit. I didn't like the way I felt when I was here in town, the way everyone made me feel. As I said, I wasn't stupid. I was not oblivious to what my father did, and neither was the rest of Bostonβthe world, for that matter. Wherever I went, I was labeled as the daughter of the infamous mafia boss everyone knew he was but was unable to prove. I'd long made peace with the knowledge that whispers would always follow me wherever I went, no matter where in the world I was. But here in Boston, my hometown, it wasn't just whisperedβit was screams. No one here even tried to be inconspicuous when they talked about me, about my family. And I hated it. I hated every secon
πππππππ VANESSAThe moment I began making a move for the door, Detective James stopped me with his voice. "We are not done yet, Miss Bologna." I made a slow turn towards him and leaned over the table, getting as close to him as possible. "I have a life I need to share with my one point two followers. I don't want to disappoint them." "I wouldn't want to interfere with that, now, would I?" His eyes darted down to my chest, and then I realized I just shoved my cleavage in his face. "See something you like, Detective?" "Absolutely." He glanced up from my cleavage to my face. "And, unlike you, I'm not afraid to admit it." I bent a little lower, purposely allowing my blouse to gape, even more, making sure he got an eyeful of something he would never have. "Believe me, I'm not afraid to admit when I see something I likeβ¦or want." "That makes you a liar, then." "And what exactly gives you that idea?" "You arching your back so you can shove your tits in my face." His eyes fli
πππππ JAMESIn life, you got two types of women. You got the women who thought they were hot, pretending like they knew how to use their bodies to get a man's attention, but they didn't. Sure, they would probably end up getting a man's attention - or his responsiveness - now and then, but only because seeing how pathetic they were guaranteed a quick and easy lay. Not a good lay, just an easy one. You know, like a good jerk-off in the shower. It didn't satisfy you completely, but it was sufficient to get you through the day. And then you got the kind of women who didn't need to use their bodies to get a man's attention at all. They didn't walk around thinking, "If I sway my ass a little to this side, and then a little to that side, I'll get the men drooling." No. They walked the way they walked, and they talked the way they talked. And without even trying, sexual energy seeped through every pore, sensuality emanating from their every move, and they wore eroticism like a second s
πππππJAMESA month? A fucking month? "Are you serious? You want to take Bambi away from me?""Who the fuck is Bambi?"I tap against the gun at my side. "This sweet little thang right here.""Well, that sweet little thang is no longer yours. Bambi and badge on my desk in five."Goddammit."Way to go, dumbass," Larry sneered from the side.I wanted to smash his face in, but assaulting a fellow officer would be the final nail in my career coffin right now. Besides, I needed to act like a grownup, not letting insults get to me."I knew your brown ass wouldn't last around here."Ah, fuck. How was I supposed to act like the grownup now?"It's African, you fucking tit-head!" I launched myself forward and punched him in the face, hammering that last nail into my now-dead career. And since that career was already bolted shut with a fuck-load of nails, I punched the asshole again. Why? Because I fucking wanted to. It was like trashing the school with toilet paper. You didn't know why the
πππππππVANESSAAbout five years ago, the heat on my father and his activities was pretty intense. Until the Morellos moved in on what my dad called our territory. Then the heat got worse as the Morellos started wreaking havoc on the streets. I wasn't exactly sure what they did, but by the way, my dad and brothers always cursed whenever the subject of the Morellos came up, I'd say it was pretty bad shit.Still scrolling down James' page, I decided there wasn't much else to see or to stalk. So, I went back to my page, contemplating whether I should remove James Gunner as a follower. He was probably using it to keep tabs on me, watching me, waiting for me to slip up so he could get what he wantedβincriminating shit on my family. Plus, now he knew ninety per cent of my status updates were bullshit anyway. What if he called me out on it?While I stared at the screen, a notification popped up saying James Gunner commented on your post.Shit, shit, shit.I slid my finger across the s