Breaking the Rules: Chapter Four
Standing from the window and watching her sleep, Jamie knew that they'd officially decided to be together, despite all the rules and regulations, as this was something that neither one of them seemed to have much control over anymore.
They wanted to be together.
For now, what was going on between them was nobody's business but theirs.
Eddie's eyes opened slowly, immediately darting over to where he stood. So much had changed between them, starting with the moment she divulged the reasoning behind her jealousy. The way he had reciprocated her feelings was unexpected, but saying she wasn't happy about it would be a lie.
"Good morning," he said in a whisper, moving away from the window.
Approaching the bed, Jamie placed both hands on the mattress and leaned in to give her a soft kiss. He knew working with her day after day, night after night, for the next how many weeks would present itself with several challenges.
Their feelings for each other would need to stay hidden.
Their jobs and their friendship depended on it.
Eddie's hands quickly roamed down his bare chest as their kiss deepened, and just before her fingertips reached the button near the waistband of his jeans, she felt his hands on her shoulders as he pulled back slightly and stood upright.
"Whoa…" he spoke with difficulty, once he felt her fingers loosen the button free.
When his eyes darted down to her, a smile spread across her face before saying, "What?"
"I don't think we have time for this," Jamie said, his hands covering hers. "We have a day tour, remember?" he asked, just in case she forgot.
Her smile lit up the space between them, as she gathered the sheet around her naked frame and stood to her knees. Getting lost in that moment, Eddie felt his hands rest gently against her waist as she faced him, and a part of her wanted him to know that she didn't regret the silent decision they had made the night before. Sure, they didn't exactly say the words about moving forward together, but their actions spoke for themselves.
He then moved his hands to her back, pulling her a bit closer.
"We don't have time for this, remember?"
A small chuckle escaped his lips, taking note of her reminder. Ever since they had taken the plunge and had sex, he couldn't seem to get her off his mind, not even for a second. "I know what I said…" Jamie moved one hand from her back and loosened the top portion of the sheet from her fingers, causing it to drop to her knees on the bed. "But, maybe you had the right idea."
Eddie fell back onto the bed in a string of laughter, just as he lowered himself to her.
Her body tingled from head to toe with the touch of his roaming hands, and she felt all warm inside with each kiss that deepened between them. There wasn't a better feeling than being with him, and while there were more risks than she could count by the two of them getting involved on a personal level, she couldn't push away the way he made her feel.
Jamie stood near a locker in the men's locker room, about to close it shut and head out to the hallway to find Eddie, knowing that he could probably find her either by the vending machine or getting some coffee. The two of them had worked up quite an appetite that morning, so neither one of them had gotten the chance to grab any breakfast. For him, not much of an issue; however, Eddie was probably raiding the vending machine for anything she could find.
"Hey, Reagan," a fellow officer called out, stepping out from behind a set of lockers.
Jamie nodded at the guy. "Hey, how is it going?"
The guy stopped near the lockers, and then looked straight at Jamie. "I guess I am set to ride with your partner today, I need a female for a decoy – you cool with that?"
Was he cool with Eddie being used as a decoy – again? No, he really was not.
But what could he say – I don't think you can protect her? That nobody could protect her out there the way he could? Obviously, he couldn't let on how he felt about Eddie riding with someone other than himself.
Stepping away from the locker, Jamie shrugged his shoulders. "I guess that's up to Janko."
The guy nodded in Jamie's direction, not sure if he was buying this calm and collected response considering the rumors going around the house about the two of them, but he took him at his word and walked out of the men's locker room.
Surprisingly, Jamie seemed to have difficulty tracking Eddie down. However, as he walked out of the precinct in search of his replacement partner for the day, there was Eddie waiting by a nearby patrol car, texting on her phone and unaware of his presence when he approached.
"What's going on?"
Eddie glanced up from her phone by the sound of Jamie's voice, and it didn't take long for her to sense that he was not at all pleased that the two of them wouldn't be riding together. In truth, neither was she. "Jenkins needs a female for today, and I thought maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea considering our situation."
Our situation?
If she was referring to the fact that their sleeping together blurred the lines between a personal and professional relationship, then yeah, maybe she was right.
The only problem he had with her riding with another partner, even for just a day, was that he wouldn't be there to watch her back when she needed it. He was left relying on some other officer for that protection. Jamie also knew, at some point, they were bound to be separated on the job, and he would need to put his complete trust in her abilities as a cop.
After all, he knew she was tough as nails, and someone he trusted out on the beat completely.
"I know Jenkins is lucky to have you other there, I just don't like the idea of you working two decoy assignments," he said, showing a bit of concern for her safety, partly as his partner on the job and partly due to the personal feelings behind it. "You have your vest on, right? You remember— "
Eddie cut him off, "Jamie, I have done this before. It will be fine."
Before anything more could be said, the two of them were greeted by their partners for the day. Eddie was assigned with Jenkins, who had been on the job around the same number of years as Jamie, but was nowhere near ready of a promotion. In fact, Eddie could probably teach him a lesson or two. Jamie's partner on the other hand, she was a rookie that seemed to draw quite a bit of attention from the other male officers, which of course Eddie didn't seem to forget by the looks she was sending.
Regardless of their partners, neither of them were comfortable spending their entire day tour apart.
This was good practice, though, showing them that this is what life will be like for them eventually. They'd no longer be spending 8-12 hour days together; instead, if they wanted to remain together personally, the hours they did spend together would have to be more quality in nature rather than quantity.
Halfway through the day tour, Jamie still knew very little about his rookie partner. All he knew was, she had transferred rather quickly from another New York precinct. He hadn't really questioned her on it, as he'd been distracted, considering Eddie was putting herself out there as a woman to lure in some drug dealer or gangster, details were a bit unclear.
A call came across the radio – officer was down a few blocks from where they were.
This was a few blocks from the area he knew Eddie would be that day, which maybe wasn't a good enough reason to take off from their assigned spot. However, Jamie struggled with the fact that if it was Eddie that was caught in the line of fire, how could he just sit back and do nothing for another officer – personal feelings aside, they always assisted another officer in need.
"Should we go after that call?" Bethany, the rookie cop asked, turning toward Jamie.
He nodded, answered the call, and then pealed out of the parking spot as quickly as he possibly could, accelerating speed while driving down the street and turning the corner at the stop sign. The patrol car finally came to a screeching halt, along with several others trailing behind him, and then Bethany and Jamie flew out of the car, in search of the officer in need of help.
There was no sign of Eddie, but Jamie eventually saw Jenkins walking his way.
"She is all right," Jenkins quickly blurted out before even reaching Jamie. Concern for his partner, maybe? However, by the look of it, the two of them weren't just partners. "She is over by the ambulance getting looked at, but I'm guessing she'll need a quick run to the ER for them to give her the all clear."
"What happened out there? I thought she was just a decoy."
Jenkins nodded, understanding why Reagan was grilling him. This was, after all, his fault. "She was just a decoy for this drug dealer, and it worked like a charm. She was amazing." He caught the slight smile on Jamie's face, pride maybe. "But then, I don't know, this kid came out of nowhere and—you know, I think I'll her tell you the rest."
With that, Jamie nodded at the two of them and excused himself in search of Eddie.
Eddie watched Jamie pace in the hospital room, waiting for the x-ray results of her wrist, which may or may not be broken. Luckily for her, though, she had saved a child from being involved in a drug exchange between a drug addict mother and her dealer.
"Have you heard any more on the little boy's mom?" Eddie asked Jamie, who seemed to be fixated on her wrist. If it was broken, she was off patrol for a few months until it healed, as she couldn't exactly take down a perp with a broken wrist. "Jamie – you may have another partner for a while, but it will heal."
Releasing her wrist gently from his hands, a slight smile escaped his mouth.
"I know," he replied with an exasperated sigh as he continued, "Hopefully, it's not broken."
Noticing the door was still closed, Eddie interlaced her fingers on her other hand with Jamie's, letting him know that this was all part of being a cop, which she knew he should understand more than anyone. "I may need some help tonight and maybe tomorrow morning," she hinted.
Jamie's eyes widened slightly, once she pulled him a bit closer and returned a smile in his direction. "I don't know, that wrist may be problematic."
By now, the two of them were standing close enough that it would have been so easy to lean in and share a kiss, but they also knew the risk of the door swinging open at any moment was a good enough reason to not go there.
A knock on the door was enough of a warning to pull the two apart.
"Good news," the doctor began as he entered the room, closing it behind him. "You just have a sprain, no broken bones in either wrist. For now, you can go home." He wrote down a few notes on the iPad in his hands. "No work of any kind for 48 hours. You'll need to ice your wrist to reduce pain and swelling for 20-30 minutes, every three to four hours for two to three days, or at least until the pain is gone." He looked at Jamie, and then back at Eddie. "After a week, you should be able to return to your normal work duties."
Eddie thanked the doctor, just as he wished her luck and slipped out of the room, closing the door.
Turning back to Jamie, she shrugged. "I'm betting you are not done with your tour for today."
It was true, he wasn't done for the day, but he'd made different arrangements for the afternoon. "Jenkins took care of it." He told her. "He owes me after what he got you into today. So, for now, my only duty is to take you home." She tried to argue, but he wasn't' about to let anything she said change his mind. "Are you ready?"
Reluctantly, Eddie agreed and the two of them walked out of the hospital room.
Stepping into the hall outside Eddie's apartment to answer a call from his brother Danny, the door shut quietly behind Jamie to avoid waking her. Eddie had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room, just minutes after they had sat down.
"Yeah, she's all right." Jamie told his brother on the other end. "She was riding with Jenkins today, he had her on some decoy assignment and they ran into a snag."
"I'm glad to hear that she didn't get seriously injured, and that she'll be back on the job in no time," Danny said on the other line. "It's important to have a partner that you can trust out there. I'm sure after today, she wishes that would have been you out there with her and not this Jenkins."
Jamie glanced back at the apartment door, nodding and answering in agreement.
After making plans to meet up at the gun range in a few days, to discuss what went down, Jamie stepped back into Eddie's apartment to find that she was sitting up on the sofa, obviously wondering if he had left or the reason he stepped out into the hall.
"Are you all right?" he asked, closing the door behind him and moving toward her.
"I hope you aren't going after Jenkins for any of this," Eddie spoke rather bluntly. "He had my back, just like any of us would for another officer. What happened wasn't his fault – it was mine." Jamie sat down beside her. "I saw that kid with a gun in his hand, and then I saw his mom, and even though this drug dealer was someone we need off the streets, I couldn't sit back and allow that kid to shoot him. I wrestled for that gun and sprained my wrist in the process."
Jamie placed a hand on hers. "What you did was brave. You saved their lives."
Nodding, Eddie leaned into him, as he wrapped an arm around her tightly to keep her close. There was silence between them for the next few seconds, but she finally looked up at him and said, "I suppose I don't need to ask you if you'll stay the night this time, do I?"
...