The Bursting Heat (Book 2) ✓

09 - Catching up

Ralph

I knew I was walking on a thin line with taking Ali to the mall around other people, especially after she had to talk about her abduction. But I wanted to show her how strong she it. These past years didn't beat her. And I knew her, I had to do it as quick as possible, not leaving her time to overthink and scare herself, to convince herself she couldn't do something. She can, and I was going to make sure of it.

Like I promised, we got in the first place with clothes and let her decide what she wanted... She walked straight to the long-sleeved shirts and picked three dark ones. Then, to the section with the baggy sweatpants and picked two. After that she got some socks, simple underwear and sports bras. Everything was in dark colors. Everything was chosen in a way that hid her body as much as possible. It was hard to watch this girl who once loved all the colors to be included in her wardrobe to go for all the black. Like her life right now couldn't bear the colors, like she didn't like them anymore.

She was quick. We left after 15 minutes and like I promised her – no one got closer to her. I was like her shadow, walking behind her and scaring anyone who dared to come closer. After she saw how people around us were changing their paths to walk far away from us, she visibly relaxed a little. We went to the art shop and bought her everything she needed to draw those portraits and the tattoo. Again, she went for all the black supplies, walking away from the colorful paints and brushes. But I didn't let it slide this time. I pick some random paint set that had a lot of different colors, some brushes, thicker paper, because at least that I remembered from when she explained to me normal paper can't hold the wet paint. With full hands, I went to the cash register and added my items to Ali's.

"Umm, no, I won't need this..."

"You may, who knows. Better to have them." She was ready to say something more, but I thought better of it and let it go. I paid for all the stuff, and we were out the Mall in like 40 minutes.

The moment we got in my car, Ali visibly relaxed and let out a breath she was probably holding up throughout the entire endeavor.

"So, what do you want to eat?""

"I don't know..."

"That will be a first. Are you sure there's nothing you crave right now?" That was one of the things I loved about her. She always had a few options when asked what she wanted to eat. We never had to play the game I heard other couples do with women declining all the suggestions from the men. She always had two options and let me pick the one I preferred. Easy-peasy. Or it was easy-peasy. I guess we'll have to work on that, too.

"I don't know what restaurants you have here."

"Okay, fair enough, what about what kind? Do you have something in mind?"

"Um, no, whatever you'd like, I'm okay." Shit. Well, I asked a lot of her today, so I let this one slide...for now.

"Okay. Let's go with the easiest option – pizza." I decided to drive to and pick it myself because the restaurant was on my way. The whole time, Ali was watching through the window and observing the people on the streets. I'm sure it was hard to imagine the freedom these people have when she was robbed of it. But she'll get there soon, I was sure of it.

We got home, set the pizza box on the small table in my living room, and got comfortable on the couch and turned on the TV on the first show I could find.

"I don't want to pressure you... but you'll need to think about how you want to rearrange this place. We need some new furniture for your artsy stuff."

"You weren't lying about that?" She looked unsure.

"When did I lie to you?! Of course, I was serious. Do whatever you want, I don't mind it... honestly, I hope you get on this project soon. It's a kind of boring place to live in. I'm lucky that I don't spend a lot of time here."

"Why?"

"Mostly work." There was a long pause before she asked her next question.

"You became a police officer; I didn't know you wanted this..."

"Well, after...after I found out you were missing, I knew that I couldn't just stay in the Army with my thumb in the ass waiting someone to find you. I left as soon as I could and came home. Wasn't sure what to do with myself while trying to find clues about you. Met a friend, he suggested trying with the Police. I got in the academy, and after I graduated, I found work here. I wasn't sure I wanted to leave our town, because... because our families were there and I thought you could get home soon and I didn't want to miss it. But decided that being in the Police give more resources to work with in trying to find you and so...here I am."

"You didn't stop searching?" I heard the disbelieved in her voice, so I left my slice of pizza in the box, turned towards her, and cupped her face in my hands.

"Never. I was never going to stop searching for you." Her smile was tight, but still a smile...the tears in her eyes didn't fall this time.

"And the SWAT thing?" I let her face go, but I pull her whole body next to mine and put my hand around her. I needed to feel her, to be sure I wasn't dreaming.

"There were a lot of crimes at some point, and the town police couldn't keep up with them. They weren't trained properly for specific situation and me and the other men on the team were the one who volunteered most of the time to deal with the problems because all of us were with military background. After a while, the chief decided to make it official so Max, Luke, Dax, and me were the first on the team, Ollie and Cleo came later."

"Isn't it dangerous?"

"Yeah, it could be, but...it's a little bit safer than what I did in the Army, so there's that."

"Do you like it? Being a cop?"

"The cop part? Not so much. There are too many dumb people who can't follow the rules and think they are the shit. The SWAT thing – I like it a lot. And the team is very good, we are all friends, so that's a big plus."

"Do you have a lot of dangerous situations?"

"Umm, it depends, but I'd say not exactly. Most are some people who we need to be arrested, but we know they are a little twitchy, so our gear is a necessity in this kind of arrest. There are some calls about families or lovers that didn't end their relationships on the best of terms. Decided on revenge, but it didn't work like they hoped. We had one bank robbery a few months back. The men were pretty dumb there, actually."

"Really. I thought that this kind of crimes are the hard one to bust because they are well planned."

"Yeah, you would think that, but not these men. They got in the bank, locked the doors, and didn't know what to do next. Luckily, we had ears on the inside... Actuallythat's how Dax met his girlfriend, Lilly. She was the one who called us. We found out the men didn't know what to do and were just staying around. So, I blew the windows, we got inside the bank and arrested them."

"You blew the windows?"

"Oh, right. You didn't know that. Um, yeah, I deal with the explosive in the team."

"You deal with explosives?!?"

"It not that dangerous..."

"Pff, yeah, sure. It's not dangerous to be able to blow yourself up all the time while on work."

"We don't need them all the time. Honestly, we need them very rarely. Just when we don't have access to a place in any other way or if we want to surprise the perpetrators."

"Like you did in the house?"

"Yeah, like I did..." My phone starts ringing at this moment. "Shit!"

"What? Rafi? What's going on?" I could see the panic rising inside of her.

"Don't worry, it's just a SWAT call. I have to go."

"Right now?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I had to explain it to you before it happened but forgot. Don't worry, everything will be fine. Don't wait for me, who knows how long we'll be there." And with a quick kiss on her forehead, I left my house, hoping that she won't worry too much about me. Shit! 

***Well, sooner or later, she had to encounter his job as part of the SWAT team. Will she get used to him disappearing  so quickly - only time will tell...