Page 44 of Creed

With narrowed eyes, I open it and breathe out in relief when I see she hasn’t taken it. I stuff the bag under my arm to take it straight to the trash. I should probably worry about how it must be a mindfuck for her to continue to lose her birth control, but I hope she’ll be pregnant by the time she figures out how they keep getting “lost.” It’s not like she’s minded us being so careless, as if she’s accepted she’s mine from the very beginning.

And I saw it. That night when I confronted her about the possibility. I saw the disappointment in her eyes when she told me she wasn’t knocked up from our one time in Arizona. The longer I get to know Morgan, the more I realize she wants things she doesn’t think she can have, and sometimes she needs to be nudged into it—like moving back to Bluport. She probably wanted to be closer to her dad long before now, but his health scare pushed her into finally making the jump.

I roam through her closet and the pile of clothes scattered about in her room. It’s blatantly obvious what’s missing: her uniform. She’s working. The one place she can easily avoid me. I laugh out loud, shaking my head, and then close her apartment backthe way she had it. If she thinks that will stop me, she’s about to realize why I’m the one my brothers call into their crazy shit.

I’m in a daze as I walk down the stretch of road and into the grocery store to grab my supplies. I’ve had to distract the cops before, knowing the lines of what will push them too far. I also know I have the privilege of provoking them in such a way and not having to fear for my life.

The cashier gives me a wary glance but doesn’t say anything as they ring me up, and I’m back to walking down the uneven sidewalk. I’ll have to remind a brother where to find my stashed bike. It doesn’t take long for me to wander around and find a patrol car loitering in a parking lot.

Fucking lazy pigs, and just my luck, it’s not the woman I’m looking for. My fingers curl around the bag of tomatoes when I get a look at his face through the windshield. His eyes flicker up just as I step into his headlights, his eyebrows furrowing.

I pull a tomato out and throw it, snickering as it splatters all over the windshield. His red and blue lights flip on, and then the windshield wipers.

“Ortega. This is your only warning, or I will arrest you for vandalism,” he calls out through his speaker.

His threat isn’t even over before I throw another, and then another.

He climbs out of his vehicle, gun drawn.

“Drop it! Hands up!” A little dramatic, but whatever works.

I do what he asks, trying to stifle my grin as he does everything I want by stuffing me in his backseat, driving me to the one place she can’t outrun me.

The fucking brat clearly switched to a few overnight shifts. To avoid me? I don’t know, but no one ignores me, especially not my woman. I hold back my grin and swallow my laugh as the officer shoves me into the cell, slamming it shut with a loud clank, and I start counting the minutes until she finds out.

* * *

Thudding footsteps and the turning of keys have me rising from the harsh cement bench. I grin as Judge is ushered in, followed by the exact woman I was looking for.

“Are you serious? You threw tomatoes at their cruiser until Hutchinson had to arrest you to stop?” Morgan hisses.

Judge stifles his smile behind her.

I curl my hands around the bar, moving closer to her. “You were ignoring me.”

She inhales sharply, blinking a few times before taking a step back. “You’re telling me you got arrestedon purposebecause I didn’t pick up the phone?”

“Because you were ignoring me. Don’t insult my intelligence, Morgan. I know you were avoiding me.”

She has the decency to look away, her throat bobbing with a thick swallow.

“I want to know why. What happened?”

Morgan sighs, shifting on her feet as she glances between Judge and me. Her jaw works back and forth, her irritation clear. “I saw you.”

My eyebrows crinkle in confusion. “Saw me?”

Her arms cross. “With that blonde. You two all over each other in front of that barbecue restaurant.”

It takes a moment for me to register what she’s saying. What fucking blonde? I haven’t been with anyone since I’ve seen her in town. Then I have to swallow down the laugh that almost bursts from me. “Wait. In front of Nash’s place? We weren’t all over each other.”

A growl-like sound rips from her throat. “I saw you. Why are you lying?”

I snap closer to the bars, pushing my face between them. She startles, but doesn’t move away. “I’m not. I think you believe what you saw, but it wasn’t like that. I was comforting her.”

Morgan scoffs. “Comforting. Right. That’s what they call it now.”

“Bri and I, we have a lot of history. We broke up right before I left for Arizona, and I was letting her know I wasn’t looking to get back together now that I’m back in town.”