“Shut up,” Green hissed out the side of his mouth.
“One dollar of damage that wasn’t absolutely one hundred percent unavoidable and you guys will be on a two-week suspension.” Day stood glaring back at them. “How’s that for my last act?”
Ruxs puffed up to say something but Green quickly put his hand up, and thank the heavens, Ruxs didn’t speak what he’d been about to say.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll be cool. No need to even mention it again,” Green said spinning Ruxs in a one-eighty and moving them both out the door. As they made their way across the sparsely occupied bullpen late on a Sunday evening, Green gave his partner the side eye. Letting him know he wasn’t pleased with his mouth. If God, Day and Syn weren’t following a few feet behind, he would’ve thrown Ruxs in the bathroom and made his mouth pay for all the bullshit it just spouted.
When Ruxs looked his way, Green winked at him conspiratorially. He could wait until they got home to inflict his own punishment.
“Curtis hasn’t come back yet?” Ruxs said taking long strides down the hall. “How long does it take to eat a burger and fries?”
Green had sent Curtis out to grab dinner about an hour and a half ago. “He’s probably taking his time, thinking we were gonna be a while longer. We’ll just swing by —” Green stopped short as soon as he moved through the thick double doors at the parking lot exit of the precinct. The sight in front of him almost making him drop to his knees.
Ruxs gasped next to him, his throat making a sound like he’d just been punched in the gut by the world’s strongest man.
Jesus. Please. Green struggled to breathe while he tried to process the scene before him, tried to think like a cop, tried to quickly assess every possible exit strategy, hopefully Ruxs was doing the same. He didn’t move a muscle, nor did he turn and acknowledge when his lieutenants and his sergeant came out the doors next. The sounds of their conversation dying mid-sentence as they took in the scene in the parking lot.
Here Comes More Trouble
“Dad,” Curtis cried.
“It’s okay, son.” Green’s voice was too shaky to sound convincing. Ruxs wasn’t even sure he believed it.
Ruxs clenched his fist at his sides. His hand aching to reach for the weapon secreted at the base of his back.
“Didn’t expect to see me so soon, huh Detective Ruxsberg? Imagine that. Here I was, just waiting in the parking lot for you to come out, so I could kill you, when I asked this nice young man here if he knew you.” The gun pressed hard into Curtis’ temple. The attacker’s face was just barely visible behind his son’s head. “And you know what he said back to me?”
Ruxs didn’t make a sound. No one moved.
“He said, ‘Yeah, Ruxsberg and Green are my dads.’ Well, well, well. Detective Ruxsberg has a nice little family. He doesn’t care about destroying other people’s families though.”
Ruxs finally found his voice. His anger pouring off him in waves. “Jacobs, no one destroyed anything of yours, especially your family.”
“The hell you didn’t!” Jacobs barked, his voice just an octave below screeching. “You took the woman I loved. Shipped her away like she was nothing.”
Ruxs moved to step forward, his patience already gone, but Green grabbed at his arm. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Ruxs shouted. “Are you talking about my mother? She went to rehab you, asshole!”
Jacobs moved back towards his raggedy-ass Buick that was parked behind him, holding Curtis with his back tight against his chest. “I know that!” He pointed the gun at him, which was fine with Ruxs, as long as it was off of his son. “She broke up with me. Said that we couldn’t be together anymore. She was gonna get clean and … and… find her son.” Jacobs said the last words with utter disgust. “She chose you.”
Ruxs stood there with his mouth hanging slightly open. He wondered for a second if Jacob had the right woman. His mom had hated him for years. Now she’d chosen him not only over drugs but over a man too? He blinked rapidly. What the hell had his partner said to her?
“If you really love her and want to be with her, then go to rehab too. If you’re not constantly trying to pump her full of drugs when she gets home, then you might can be together. But if she knows you killed her only son and grandson, then you’ll never get that chance.”
Ruxs could hear Green talking beside him, trying to negotiate. Trying to say anything positive to get the gun away from Curtis’ head. It was going to take some work and they only had a small window of time before the parking lot held more than just the few of them. The scene would soon be flooded with officers, snipers, SWAT, and news helicopters. And there was nothing scarier than a cornered addict. Jacob was clearly high. His eyes were bloodshot, there was white salvia caked in the corners of his mouth and in the cracks in his lips. His hand was gripping the gun so hard his knuckles were white, his pointer finger hugging the trigger. One scare, or wrong move and… Oh, god. Ruxs couldn’t finish that thought.