Ride Me Away by Jamie Fuchs Page A

down on the counter and left the bar, heading into the back.
    No wonder I haven’t had a boyfriend in years.
    I didn’t really know how to handle something like this. Following him might have just made him think I cared and encouraged more of this behavior. The last thing I needed was for him to fall in love with me right now.
    Instead, I took over his position at the bar and hoped that something interesting might happen for once.
    BANG!
    The front door swung open with a thud against the wall. Men in armored suits came rushing through.
    “Freeze! Get on the ground!”
    They pointed their guns at the three men and myself. We all raised our hands and laid down.
    God dammit, Jackson.
    One of them jumped on top of the bar and pointed his gun at me while another tied my hands behind my back. I heard the rushing of footsteps heading into the back room. Jackson had clearly obtained his warrant.
    I heard yelling and screaming from the back. It sounded like Ryan was resisting arrest.
    “We got some coke on these guys,” I heard one of the officers say from the other side of the counter.
    “Good, haul ‘em out.”
    I hated this part of the job; acting like a criminal just so I could remain undercover. None of them knew who I was, anyway. To them, I was just another low life.
    I heard the door to the back open up again.
    “Bastard set fire to his desk,” I heard another man say.
    “Fuck. Did you put it out?”
    “Yeah, but almost all of the papers got burned. We found a line of coke across his desk, though, so we can haul him in.”
    “Good. I want everyone back at the office for questioning. Get her outta here.”
    The officer that had been watching me forced me to my feet and pushed me out of the building, throwing me into the back of a cop car.

They tossed us all in holding cells at the station. They put the men in one and me in another. My hands were untied, but theirs weren’t. Ryan’s eyes never left me from under his brow. His gaze was full of worry and a hint of anger. I tried my best to avoid eye contact.
    The three men sat quietly, waiting for a lawyer before they would say anything. Max appeared to be the most nervous of them.
    Jag showed up about a half an hour later.
    “Jag? What are you doing here?” I asked as I stood up.
    “Better question is what are you doing in here?”
    “Looks like I chose a bad place to work. Turns out they were selling coke under the table.”
    “I could’a told you that. I thought you knew.”
    “A bit late for that now.” I gave him an ugly look, pretending to play the oblivious girl. I knew upstairs would have me out in a few days, but I didn’t want to make anything more obvious to Ryan. He was beginning to scare me a little.
    “They can’t hold you for long. Once they figure things out, they won’t be able to keep you in here past a few days.”
    “Yeah, I know. Guess it should have been obvious. These were the only three guys ever spending money in that place,” I said, nodding my head toward the men in the other cell.
    “I’ll see what I can do. Give me a call when they let you out of here,” he said as he turned to leave.
    A couple steps later, I called out to him. “Jag, how did you know I was in here?”
    He turned around briefly and said, “How do you think, hun?” before turning back to the door.
    Ryan’s stare was even more heated than before, only this time, it was directed at Jag. I needed to distance myself from him.

  A few days passed by and the police had nothing to continue holding me on. The bad news was that Ryan was in the same boat. They couldn’t pin any charges on him because Max had burned enough of the evidence.
    Max was going to trial. Despite his best efforts, they still had enough to likely put him away for a long time. The other three men were charged with possession and awaited trials of their own.
    I called Jag and waited in the station until he arrived for me. Despite all of my training, Ryan was strong, and if he got the