The Cop Next Door

twenty

The noise of yelling and laughter caused me to toss and turn in the early morning. I groaned and slapped my hands against the pillows, pushing myself up and out of bed. Slipping into my robe, I stumbled down the stairs and found myself following the noise to the family room. Dax was surrounded by three men, all of them standing at similar statures and build. It must be true that attractive people stick together; all four men in front of me could've been mistaken for models. When I entered the room, they stopped talking and turned to look at me. I shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably under their stare. 

"Oh, amigo mío, ¿has traído un pequeño regalo para nosotros?" One of them directed toward Dax, stepping forward to intercept me. He offered his hand to me and I hesitantly took it, shortly before I felt a familiar arm grab my waist and pull me backward. My backside met with Dax's front as he placed a firm grip on my hip, keeping me in place at his side.

"Esta es Jane, mantendrás tus manos alejadas de ella, todos ustedes." Dax nearly growled, his grip on me tightening slightly. I bit my lip, feeling out of the loop among the ethnic men and their conversation. Although I was beginning to pick up on some Spanish, I still would get lost in conversations longer than a couple of sentences. Dax's attention refocused on me, his thumb rubbing a gentle circle into the fabric of my robe. 

"Jane, these are my best friends: Angel," The man whose hand I had almost shook waved with a smile. He stood just a few inches shorter than Dax, his hair pressed into a Nike baseball hat while he sported a black v-neck tee and a pair of maroon Chino shorts. "Benito," A man behind Angel popped his head out as his name was called. His skin was a chocolate brown color, his eyes a warm amber. Benito wore a pair of black jeans and white t-shirt that had something printed in Spanish. 

"Call me Benny." He stated with a smile accompanied by a cheeky wink. 

"And last, but not at all least: Chris." The last man took a step forward, but what surprised me about him was that he was wearing a military uniform. 

"It's a pleasure meeting you, Jane," He patted Dax on the shoulder, "I'll catch up with you some more later, I need to see my wife." He slipped past Dax and me, and walked down the hallway. Pieces of the puzzle started to fit together just as I heard a scream come from the other end of the house. 

"I called in a few favors to have Chris home for a of couple days," Dax chuckled, "I thought it'd be more fun to surprise Darcy than to have her in on it." I grinned, my heart warming with his loving sentiment toward his family and their happiness. 

"I can't believe one of your best friends ended up with your sister," I whispered to him in disbelief. 

"That how they met, actually; through me. He pursued her from the time we were fifteen to seventeen, until she finally gave him a pity date - which worked out well, as you can see." He nodded toward a frame on the wall that held a photograph of Darcy and Chris on their wedding day. 

"Oh shit, we've got to run," Angel knocked elbows with Benny, "We'll see you tonight though, D." Before anyone could say goodbye's, the two men were out of the door. I cocked an eyebrow up at Dax as he turned me around to face him.

"D?" 

"Oh, yeah," He chuckled throatily, "Our nickname in high school was the ABCD's. Angel was A, Benny was B, Chris was C, and I was obviously D." He placed his warm hand against my cheek, cupping my jawline gently. I leaned into his touch, fluttering my eyes closed in comfort. "They're putting a party together to celebrate me coming home," He placed a soft butterfly kiss to the base of my throat, "Come?"

By early evening, Dax had been called away by his friends to come to the party they had thrown for him. I opted for coming later with Darcy and Emilia, knowing she was the only person I was going to be talking to while Dax was busy catching up with everyone. When I walked into her bedroom, she looked me up and down with a frown.