Internal Affairs of the Heart
(Alyssa Chau Series #3)
Notes and Disclosures: Most of the characters and settings in this story are borrowed from the amazing world of Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich. I am not making a profit from this story.
A/N: This is the third installment to my Alyssa Chau Series and takes place right after "Hair Today. Gone Tomorrow."
I want to shout out a special thanks to my bestest friend, Shazz, for all of her overwhelming love and support. Without her I wouldn't be continuing this crazy hobby of mine. This story is dedicated to her. Misty Plum's been modeled after her beauty, confidence, and fierce loyalty.
CHAPTER 1
"You want your fucking toast? Here's your fucking toast!" I chucked it across the room.
"What the hell is your problem, Cupcake? Are you insane?" the tall, hard-bodied, handsome Italian man shouted back at me, ducking the flying toast.
The crazy toast-hurling woman — that's me — Alyssa Chau. I've been told on several occasions that I have a hot irrational temper. This may or may not be one of those moments. I haven't decided yet.
The man — well, that would be my current boyfriend, Joe Morelli. He's one of the best detectives on the Trenton PD payroll. And I'm not just saying that because I'm biased since I happen to currently share his bed. I'm saying it because it's true and he has one of the highest number of closed cases. In fact, that's how we met. He was chasing a lead, I was held captive, and the rest was history.
We've been dating for about three months and honestly we fight like an old married couple. We're already shacked up together in the house that he inherited from his Aunt Rose in the heart of The Burg. Now before you get all mortified at how fast we're moving in our relationship, this is only a temporary living situation.
I'm currently homeless due to the fact that I became a target of some gang violence and my apartment was firebombed. So, while I'm waiting for my apartment to be available, Joe asked me to move in with him. And as you can see from the current events, it's going quite swimmingly. What started out at first as a fun co-habitation to an all-out dog and cat fight almost daily. And today's fight was about — you guessed it — toast.
"Cupcake, I have to be at work in fifteen minutes and I need my toast and coffee."
"So your job is more important than mine? Is that what you're saying? It's ok for me to be late but it's not ok for you?"
"I have a meeting this morning with the chief. If you knew there was only two slices of bread left why didn't you buy more?"
"Why didn't I buy more bread?" I screamed like a banshee. "Why didn't I buy the bread, you ask? I bought the milk yesterday because someone left one drop in the cartoon and put it back in the fridge. Who does that? And now I'm responsible for buying the bread too?"
Yeah, not our finest hour but this is what it's been like for a while now. Domestic bliss lasted for about a week before it turned into a war over everything from what was for dinner, who got to control the television remote, to how to properly load the dish washer.
"I'm at work all day. The least you could do was take care of the grocery shopping."
"You're a real piece of work, Morelli. You're not the only one running around working your ass off here. I don't even do the grocery shopping when I'm on my own, what makes you think I'm going to do the grocery shopping for you?"
"Cupcake, I have a real job—"
"—Excuse me? And I have a make believe one?" I bellowed.
I'm currently a career Bond Enforcement Agent also popularly known as a Bounty Hunter. How I fell into this career was a total fluke but the short version is girl gets laid off from cushy office job, girl's best friend blackmails cousin, girl's best friend's cousin gives girl job. And because this girl has no formal training, she often falls into garbage, picks up the occasional stalker, and often gets things such as cars blown up.
And apparently it often gives Joe heartburn because he thinks I can't do my job. Even though I may not nab my skips in the most conventional way, but I always get my man.
"You want your fucking bread. Fine! I'll buy your fucking bread," I threw my plate to the floor and yanked the toaster out of the socket and slammed it to the ground.
"You're fucking psychotic," he seethed.
I stepped up to him. "That's right, Morelli. I'm crazy," I raged with an emphasis on the word "crazy" while I waved my arms around maniacally — probably not the best way to defend my case to the judge when I get thrown in jail for domestic abuse. "What the hell are you going to do about it?"
"I'll tell you what I'm going to do about it," he pushed me back into the kitchen and grabbed my waist lifting me up on the counter and began unbuckling his belt.
"I thought you were going to be late for your stupid meeting with your chief," I smirked.
"I'll tell him I ran into traffic," he yanked down my panties and slid into me.
I yelped and wrenched his face down as our lips crashed into an angry heated kiss. And often our fights ended exactly like this. I wouldn't say that this is the healthiest of relationships but it was definitely fun in the heat of the moment.
I pushed Joe's chest away from me with my foot. "Get away from me, you brute!" I said playfully.
He leaned over and kissed me as he fastened his belt, "I have to run, Cupcake. I'll be home late tonight, so don't wait up for dinner. I love you."
I slid off the counter and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I-I — I'll replace your toaster," I said stuttered.
He shook his head and slipped out the door. I stared at the door as it clicked closed. What was wrong with me, it's not like I didn't feel "that" with Joe. I just for some reason couldn't get the words to come out of my mouth, I mean how hard is it to really say those three simple little words?
"I lo…lo…uhhh…uhhh…shit!" I swore to myself. I'm all kinds of messed up.
I looked over at the mess on the ground and found Joe's monstrous orange dog eating the toast on the ground. "Bob, stop it," I tried grabbing the bread from his mouth without any luck. He took off with a piece of toast in his mouth and one stuck to the side of his coat. Yeah that jelly is going to be a doozy to get out of his coat. I'll leave that for Joe to take care of tonight.
What? Don't judge me, it's not like Bob's my dog. Shit, maybe I am a really lousy roommate after all.
Sorry for the shortness of the chapter but I thought I'd go for a quick fun little intro before jumping into the nitty gritty. =)