Unfortunately for me, I had forgotten about the secret smiles my parents were shooting each other before bed, so I had no idea I would burst into their room screaming about a cell phone emergency, while they were in the middle of, what can only be described as, ‘the worst sight I have ever seen in my life’. No child should ever have to see parent sex. Ever. The image of it seemed to be burned on the inside of my eyelids, and I couldn’t shake it off. Even now, two hours later, it still just kept popping back in there, making me shudder and wince. It was all incredibly embarrassing. I’d stood there practically screaming “Sorry,” over and over again, with my hands pressed over my eyes, while they both tried to cover themselves up with the sheets. It was, hands down, the most awkward moment of my life. If a bolt of lightning had come down and struck meat that exact moment, I would have been grateful. My dad had just thrown my mom’s cell phone at me, ordering me to leave,while I j

As I suspected, my workmates found my newly acquired body art extremely hilarious. Even now, four days on, they were still ribbing me about it. On Thursday we were called out for a job. We were briefed on the way there. Eight men had gone into a bank intending to rob it, but the robbery had gone wrong when one of the clerks managed to press the silent alarm. Now, seventeen hostages were inside, and they were currently in negotiations to get them out of there. The on-site Captain had called for backup and I had a gut feeling that things weren’t going to go our way with this one. I sat on the edge of the van, across the street from the bank, listening to the officers all talking about how best to approach the situation and get the hostages out unharmed. A couple of things that the lead perpetrator had said, led them to believe that they had no intention of letting all the hostages live. They had already shot one hostage to prove they were serious, and were threatening to kil

‘Love's Train’ by Bruno Mars started blasting from my purse, and I smiled, knowing that was Jace’s song that I put on there for him. I grabbed my cell phone, wondering why he was calling at this time; it was only twenty to four.“Hey you, what are you doing calling me this early? Shouldn’t you be at work?” I asked, stopping at the edge of the road and smiling at DJ as he pressed the button for the crossing, tapping it over and over.“Hey, Ashley. Yeah, I should be, but I got sent home early,” Jace answered. Butterflies swooped in my stomach when he called me Ashley.“You did? How come?” I asked as DJ skipped along at my side, swinging my hand back and forth.“Er, it’s just a formality. It happens every time I-” he stopped talking abruptly. “Nothing, actually just forget it. I just called to say hi. How was school today?” Jace asked, changing the subject.As he spoke, I noticed that he sounded off. He’d made no jokes, no slutty comments, no flirting or pet names – something was wrong wi

I raised one eyebrow suggestively, silently asking if she meant me. She laughed and slapped me on the back of the head playfully, and held her hand down to DJ, who was pouting and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t want to go to bed. Can’t I have an early night? I wanna play with Jace,” he said, frowning and looking at me pleadingly. I smiled a little proudly that he seemed to have accepted me a little. “Do you mean a late night?” Ashley countered. “Yeah, please, Momma?” He gave her the begging face and she shifted uncomfortably on her feet. DJ turned to me. “Jace, can you ask her if I can have more time? We can finish the war,” he whined, giving me the begging face. My eyes widened. It was an incredibly cute face; I didn’t want to say no. I looked at Ashley, unsure what to say. “Er… I think Momma said it’s time for bed, Kid. We can play that another time, okay?” I offered, hoping he wouldn’t beg me because, if he were my kid, I would have given in alr

By the time I pulled away and pressed my forehead to hers, we were both a little breathless. The corners of her mouth twitched with a smile as her eyes met mine. She looked a little bewildered, like she had no idea what was going on around us. “Did that kiss make you forget your own name, or do I need to keep working on it?” I whispered, smirking at her. “I know it begins with R,” she joked, playing along. “Maybe you could work on it some more later.” I moaned breathlessly. “Definitely. Anyway, let’s go eat, I’m starving.” I pushed away from her and watched as she took a few deep breaths before straightening her shirt and pushing her hair behind her ear, like she was trying to calm herself down too. I followed her into the apartment and into the lounge. DJ was lying on his stomach, toy cars scattered everywhere, a little garage off to one side. His eyes lit up when he spotted me. “Jace! I saved you the red one. Momma wanted it, but I told her it was yours.” “