Temptation, The Complete Serial Series 1-4 (The Temptation Serial Series) Read Free Page A

in to the lot. A burly man with receding red hair and a pot belly climbed out of his car and ordered Shane to return to the pavement. Shane didn’t like cops. They’d never helped his sister Autumn out of the situation that asshole Johnny had her in, and Mr. Justice hated taking orders from anyone other than Morgan or Manny.
    Even so, all it took was one tick of Morgan’s head to have him back at her side. She sure had him trained, even though he sulked. It was actually pretty funny, and if this whole shit pile hadn’t fallen on me tonight, I’d be laughing my ass off and teasing him about it for the rest of the night.
    The red and blue lights whirred around and around, making me dizzy. It was an epileptic’s worst nightmare. Maybe I was epileptic. I was getting sick. My stomach roiled. The neighbors were probably getting an eyeful through their windows, but screw them. I held Morgan’s hand tightly.
    A skinny cop, the exact opposite of the burly one, stepped out of the cruiser and joined his partner at the bottom of the staircase. The pair of officers hoisted their belts and mustered their courage. I couldn’t help being reminded of the old television show that Daddy liked, Andy Griffith . The burly officer ( Andy ) and his lanky, very young sidekick ( Barney ) drew their weapons and headed up the staircase. Andy was huffing and puffing when he finally reached the top, but he made it. For a minute there I thought Barney was going to have to push his ass up the final few steps.
    They shuffled, one foot forward, all the way down the hall that led to my apartment door, alternating their backs to the railings and to the wall. Andy knocked and announced, “Police. Open up!”
    Of course there was no answer, so he signaled to Barney and then pushed the door open. With a loud creak, it gave way and Andy stuck his gun inside, using his left hand to flip the light switch. With jerky movements, they secured the living room and kitchen. I couldn’t see or hear them after that because Morgan was freaking out.
    “Oh my gosh. What if he left a severed head in there or something?” She covered her mouth with her fingers and her eyes were as big as saucers. She was serious, and I was mad because the same possibility had flown through my own mind not a minute before. “I saw that movie with Brad Pitt, Seven . Did you see it?”
    I growled at her. “Not helping, Sin.” I only called her that when I was pissed, and she knew it. That was Shane’s pet name for her.
    “Sorry,” she said with a wince.

 
    “Ma’am, you need to calm down.” Andy awkwardly patted my shoulder, but I was about to flip my shit. He had been in my apartment. He went through my drawers, took my favorite panties, left flowers and chocolate, and then stole my garbage!
    “Who the hell steals someone else’s trash? Some psycho, that’s who! And all you’ll say is that I need to calm down? Do something! Find whoever is doing this and put him in jail.”
    “We’re doing all we can, ma’am,” Griffith grumbled, giving me the same bullshit line they gave everyone when they had no damn clue how to help them. It was an empty attempt at reassurance.
    I scoffed. “I reported everything that’s been happening at work weeks ago and you’ve done nothing.”
    “We’re very busy, ma’am, but I assure you that we’re looking into it.”
    I planted a hand on my hip. “You’ll be handling a murder investigation before long, because he ’s either going to kill me, or I’m going to kill him .”
    Shane piped up then, looking between me and Morgan. “Go pack whatever shit you need for the next few weeks.”
    “I’m not leaving! They need to do something!” I argued, pointing at the officers. Andy had moved to the driver’s seat and was busy pulling something up on his computer while Barney twiddled his thumbs. Okay, he wasn’t really twiddling, but just standing there staring was basically the same thing. We needed action, not inaction. It was why